33 Impervious Truths About Reinvention
33 Impervious Truths About Reinvention - GairMaxwell.com
You don’t need to consult a psychic or a Wall Street economist to know the hurricane force of change will amp up even further in 2016.
And 2017.
And for a few years after that.
Once you get past 2020, I’ll grant you, it gets harder to see.
Which is why any effort to reinvent your business or brand; your community or your career will hinge to a large degree on knowing that no matter how much technology and society changes, there are certain timeless principles that will bend, but NEVER break.
Let the intellects and left-brain brainiacs fret and focus on their detailed plans.
The wise have always quietly relied on timeless principles.
Like palm trees being pounded by a tropical storm, these 33 Impervious Truths will always remain standing after the rain stops and the winds die down.
Considering these truths as “impervious” is to suggest the following:
- They are equal parts waterproof, watertight and weather-resistant.
- Equal parts unbreakable, unwavering and unyielding.
- Rigid, rock-solid and set in stone.
In effect, the 33 Impervious Truths become the palm trees you can grab hold of and cling to no matter what unfolds over these next few years and beyond. In other words, it’s a lot easier to deal with change if you have a changeless core built from within.
#1. Effortless Success Does Not Exist.
Anders Ericsson and Malcolm Gladwell were right. You’ve got to put on the hard hat and invest your 10,000 hours. Life (and Business) is about Process before the Prize. The degree to which you prepare is the degree to which you will be successful. Will you become stronger than your excuses?
#2. Not many people buy ideas. Some people will buy a man with an idea. People will always buy a man they believe in.
No matter the intelligence and worthiness of your argument, it will always fall on deaf ears if people think you’re a jerk. If you are a smart person you will be heard more often and by more people once you become a nicer person. Here is the good news. Attitude is a skill than can be learned. No different than archery, algebra, golf, how to dance the foxtrot or write JavaScript.
#3. The True Purpose of a Business
The true purpose of a business is not generating profit or making money. It’s not about getting the customer what they need or providing a platform so you can follow your passion. The true purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. That’s it. Harvard’s Theodore Levitt had it figured out back in 1960. So much so that his essay entitled Marketing Myopia still ranks as one of the greatest chapters ever written in the history of business literature. When it comes to business, learn what Levitt had to say and always put vision before money. You can download the original article here: Marketing Myopia
#4. There is always a wide gulf between opinion and expertise.
Opinions are cheap and easy. That’s why open-line talk shows and chat rooms exist. Expertise from someone who has “been there, done that” is something you should expect to and be thankful to pay for.
#5. No matter how sophisticated the technology, nothing replaces human interaction when it comes to business, life and romance.
Face to face and person to person. A reliance on digital conversations through e-mail and texting inevitably leads to more misunderstandings and drama. Got a problem with someone? At best, see them in person. At the very least pick up the phone.
#6. There are two kinds of people in the work force. Those who are Coachable and those who are not.
Carol Dweck identified this dynamic with her brilliant research and eventual work called Mindset. It’s the difference between having a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset. McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc captured the spirit of Dweck’s work decades ago when he proclaimed, “I’d rather be green and growing than ripe and rotting”. Or as John Wooden once said, “Promise to give so much time improving yourself, that you have no time to criticize others.” Wooden was the legendary basketball coach who won more than a few titles at UCLA who personified the ideals of character over winning.
#7. Love many. Trust few.
The more successful you become, the bigger the bulls eye becomes on your back. The biggest and sharpest darts will not come from your enemies, but from friends and family who profess to love you the most.
#8. “Brand” is the most misunderstood, misapplied word in the business vocabulary.
A “brand” is NOT a logo, slogan or trademark. A “brand” is NOT your current advertising campaign. As identified by Karen Post, in her book Brain Tattoos,a “brand” is really a story embedded in the mind of the market. If you have any doubt about this definition, just ask Volkswagen.
#9. There are reasons why not all stories are created equal.
Every story needs to answer these three questions: Who is the hero? What does he or she want? What’s in the way? To be truly effective, a story must also align with at least one (if not two or three) of the Seven Basic Plots; stories told since the beginning of time that will attract and hold any audience. For centuries, people have NOT followed leaders or companies. They have followed the stories they represent. And he who has the best story wins.
#10. Focus and it will expand.
If you can’t figure out how to serve one customer or talk to one person, it doesn’t make any sense to scale your capacity to reach 10,000.
#11. You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Gandhi was right about that. Terry Fox was one of those who listened.
#12. Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford was the guy who nailed this one. Terry Fox was one of those who proved it. But, be prepared for you will pass through four stages as outlined by Gandhi: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you … and then you win!
#13. Fear is a lying, cheating and merciless bastard.
Fear is the jerk that keeps you silent, stuck and playing small. Fear never goes away. Constantly lurking, always hovering and ready to sabotage your greatness. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is seeing fear for the illusion it is and moving forward anyway. Think of fear as False Expectation About Risk.
#14. Magic happens just outside your comfort zone.
The bigger you make your world, the bigger the size and frequency of your opportunities. This also happens to be true for your business, your brand or any other form of human endeavor. As my late mother was fond of saying, “Take a chance, Columbus did”.
#15. You are the sum total of the books you read and the 5 people you most associate with.
Birds of a feather feast together. If you’re starving, you’re with the wrong flock. Jim Rohn is the go-to man on this subject.
#16. The more you learn, the more you earn.
The books you read, the seminars you pay for out of your own pocket, the on-line courses you take all play a role. There is no better investment than self-education.
#17. When evaluating any business opportunity there are three crucial questions to consider:
Gene Simmons from KISS taught me this one since he gets approached every day by people pitching him their latest hair-brained schemes. Simmons always wants to know these three things: Is this the right thing? Is it the right time? Is this the right place?
#18. Punctuality and professionalism will never go out of style.
Unless your name is Axl Rose, fashionably late is for amateurs.
#19. Avoid and steer clear of “The Drama Triangle”.
Dr. Steven Karpman figured this one out. In every interaction there is potential for a “dance” that involves three players: The victim, the villain and the savior. Like another triangle near Bermuda it can suck you in and never let go if you let it. BTW: No one will see themselves as “The Villain” in their own movie.
#20. Recognize the 4 People you meet on the Ocean of Life
Drowners, Drifters, Surfers and Sailors. Once you know who they are, it becomes much easier to decide who to invest and spend your time with.
#21. Nothing good happens after 11 o’clock.
Have you ever noticed things only tend to get weird after midnight?
#22. No one is coming to fix you.
Life is the biggest D.I.Y. project of them all. You will need help along the way and that’s more than OK. Just don’t expect to be rescued.
#23. Focus on the Front Windshield
That’s where you see the future. The open road of opportunity. The past is like the rearview mirror. You need to glance every once in a while, but stare at it for too long and you’ll keep driving off the road; hurting yourself and others. Only you can bring the past with you. Only you can leave it behind.
#24. Just because you are “busy” doesn’t mean you are productive.
We all have the same inventory of 24 hours, It’s been that way since Italy became the first country to introduce the 24-hour clock in 1883. France followed in 1912. During the First World War, the British Royal Navy adopted the 24-hour clock in 1915. The Canadian armed forces first started to use the 24-hour clock in late 1917, however, the US Army did not officially adopt the 24-hour clock until the Second World War was well underway on July 1, 1942.
#25. Successful reinvention of any kind is the culmination of a million baby steps; not giant leaps.
Lao Tzu was right. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. I know you should have started ten years ago, which also would have been the best time to plant a tree. The next best time to plant a tree is today.
#26. Seek first to understand before being understood.
Stephen Covey was right about this, the most important of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. There is good and evil in the world, but not as much as you think. For the most part our differences are just failures to communicate. But, when we fail to see another person’s point of view the lazy way out is to divide them into groups called “good” and “evil”.
#27. Not even Jesus could be a Prophet in his own land.
The people and places you get the least respect is from the people and places where they think know you best. Just ask the 33rd President of the United States, Harry Truman. The former dirt farmer from Missouri never did win the approval of his mother-in-law, who always believed Harry was unworthy of her daughter’s hand.
#28. Effective Persuasion works like a Magnet.
To inspire great Love and Attachment from your words, you must also inspire a similar degree of Hate and Aversion. Otherwise you run the risk of wandering through the land of Indifference. It’s a perfectly safe place to be if political correctness and conformity is your goal. But, when it comes to communication, Indifference is a death zone as potential customers don’t give you a second look, let alone think about you in the first place. Just like the power of a magnet, persuasion works the same way. The ability to attract is only equal to its power to repel. Which means a message or story that lacks power or potential to offend will also lack the power and potential to persuade.
#29. There are no limits to what you can do or imagine. The only limits are those that are self-imposed.
If you suffer from an imagination deficit, fix it, fill it or outsource it. Or better yet, read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. As Hill put it, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”
#30. The customer may not always be right, but he is always the customer.
The best feedback you will get is from the customer who is not happy. Only 1 in 26 will actually tell you they are not happy, most will grumble and walk away, never to return. Along the way they will share their story with about a dozen or so people. But, if you can address the real issues of the unhappy customer, you have a chance to create one that will be forever loyal. Loyal customers beat “satisfied” customers every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Would you rather have a spouse who was “satisfied” or loyal? Another sure fire way to inspire loyalty is to always deliver a little more than what was expected or promised. It could be the book or game tickets you mailed to your client out of the blue or the flowers you brought home, “just because”.
#31. Do you own a business or do you own a job?
In other words, do you really own the business or does the business own you. As Michael Gerber outlined in the E-Myth Revisited are you working “on” your business or “in” your business? When I was just getting started in business a mentor of mine graciously accepted my invitation to breakfast and laid it out for me. David Hawkins explained it all comes down to whether you want to produce a revenue stream or build a company? I walked away from my bacon and eggs that morning realizing that one strategy was to collect as many golden eggs from as many gigs as possible or to grow and nurture a goose and maybe an entire flock of geese who would produce many golden eggs, preferably while I slept. Both strategies have their pluses and minuses, however one timeless truth remains. If you are never working “on” your business”, you will always work “in” it. And if you’re not planning your exit, you will never be able to.
#32. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
That’s how the Vietnam War was decided. The Americans had the weapons, but the North Vietnamese carried the cause in their hearts. If you are the leader of a company or a solopreneur, never forget that when the owner gives up, everyone gives up. By the same taken, if the owner stubbornly refuses to surrender and the cause is just, people and customers will stay in the foxhole with you. Your job as CEO is to reassure and inspire those who are hunkered down, ready to take a bullet on your behalf.
#33. It is never too late to be what you might have been.
Mark Twain once said, the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. Simon Sinek brought the idea back and dusted it off in his fascinating TED Talk. If you head down this road you will quickly discover that the bigger you make your “why”, the easier the “how” becomes. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get on with your life’s work. What matters is refusing to throw in the towel simply because you think it’s “too late” in the game. Only you can decide whether to wander among the living dead or live and love the way you were meant to.
JUST FOR FUN … HERE IS SOME “IMPERVIOUS” BONUS MATERIAL
#34. Wisdom is the foundation of confidence.
And the world doesn’t care if you get confident or not.
#35. Greatness is not built on what you stand for.
The greatest brands, businesses and people are regarded not by any mission statement B.S. they stood for, but instead by what they stood against. From Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King and Terry Fox. Whether it’s fighting against injustice of any kind or refusing to compromise on your brand promise like Ben & Jerry’s or Ferrari the world pays a lot more attention when you make a decision to say NO.
“If history is the study of change over time, “reinvention” is the ability to navigate the tsunami of change. Placing our own stamp on history by discovering our own story; telling and living it to our full potential”.
GAIR MAXWELL
P.S. If there is someone you know that would enjoy this deep dive on the 33 Impervious Truths, please send them this post. It might be the unstoppable force they need to withstand any change winds blowing in their direction.
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Learn more about Gair’s keynotes, seminars and consulting programs at www.gairmaxwell.com. His book, “NUTS, BOLTS AND A FEW LOOSE SCREWS” waits patiently for you at Chapters.ca and Amazon.com. His newest E-Book, “THE BRANDING HIGHWAY“ – How to Accelerate and Differentiate Your Marketing Without Spending a Fortune on Advertising is available as a free download by clicking HERE.
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EOS Implementor and Coach
9 年gair, this awesome, thank so much