“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatama Ghandi
“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at your self then make a change.” Michael Jackson
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
“Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” Frank Herbert
It appears the biggest hurdle for us changing the world is the guy we shave with.
It probably should not be classified as battle, but I eavesdropped on three wives (one of which was mine) having a “who knows the best vacuum” debate this weekend.
It went like this…
Wife 2: “I really want a __________ (brand name) vacuum.”
Wife 1: “Oh, I was going to ask for that brand for Christmas, but was told by soooo many people not to.”
Wife 3: “Well, if my vacuum didn’t have a chord, I would vacuum everyday!”
Wife 1: “You should see my chord. Press a button, and the chord winds itself back into the vacuum.”
Wife 3: “No way.”
Wife 1: “Way.”
And for five more minutes they had their vacuum debate…
Welcome to our new business ecosystem.
The goal in this new ecosystem is to be the last brand standing or Best In Class for your product or service when three wives strike up their battle royal.
The three wives care more about each other’s opinions than any direct mailer, infomercial, tweet, or even a Super Bowl ad. Said another way, it’s all about the social boat we sail on, and we hate to rock the boat.
This should make us all question our marketing dollars.
Never once did they mention how well the vacuum sucked. That’s the reason for a vacuum debate, right? Not so much. Best In Class, here, was all about functionality, noise levels, and chord winder-uppers.
This proves the Simon Sinek belief when he says, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
Today, may we waltz well within the symphony of our businesses.
My daughter is 10 months old. Currently, we have only a few conversations that she can understand. And most of them go like this….Can you dance??? Can you clap??? Want to play your piano???
Creativity and music is the only language we have right now between the two of us.
There are some things words cannot say.
As a leader, please do not mute the music or mock the poetry of those you are leading.
As a coach, this would have been an excerpt from my post game speech to the team the last few nights.
“Go find your kicker and go slap an attaboy on his helmet. He can’t help it that we put the team into overtime.
We fumbled, we pulled facemasks, we dropped passes, we misread the offense, and we threw interceptions to make the game closer than it should have been.
It was us that got us into this mess.”
Great leaders don’t allow their followers to single out the blame.
Ashton.Gustafson 