The problem with taking offence is that it is really hard to figure out what to do with it after you are done using it. Offence is not given, it is taken. Better to just leave offence on the table and walk away. Offence untaken quietly disappears. Responding to people you disagree with [and in…

"Comparison is the thief of joy." ~ Theodore Roosevelt “Comparison is the death of joy.” ― Mark Twain “I cannot say this too strongly: Do not compare yourselves to others. Be true to who you are, and continue to learn with all your might.” ― Daisaku Ikeda The reason we struggle with insecurity is because…

It's easy to imagine habits like smoking after a meal, biting your nails or saying, "you know" after every sentence. An event or a time of day triggers us, and we go with the habit. It's easier than exploring new territory, it's merely a thoughtless response to an incoming trigger. Like a small drops of…

Professionals are able to get their work done without using emotion to signify urgency. When a doctor asks the nurse for a scalpel, she does not have to raise her voice, stamp her foot or even make a face. She merely asks for a scalpel from the nurse. When a pilot hits a tough spot,…

Are you better at what you do than you were a month or two ago? A lot better? How did you get better? What did you read or try? Did you fail at something and learn from it? Does that mindless stuff you do at work when the boss is not looking (or all those…

Looking at the world, you either see what is or see what you are hoping for. Our temptation is to see what we are hoping for. At the Vuka Advisory Board for Entrepreneurs we get to see some entrepreneurs who look at the world and see what they are hoping for. Entrepreneurs bury their heads…

Our society has shifted and every company needs to make the shift if it wants to grow. Either: You are going to spam the world, yell at them, run promotions, distribute flyers, cold calls, send emails, and send sales people screaming pick me! pick me! yelling at everyone to get some attention; or You can…

Most of entrepreneurs and marketers, particularly in the marketing of social-change groups, focuses on educating people and getting them to make different (and better) decisions. But most actions are not decisions at all. In Bethlehem and some of the coldest places in the country, storeowners keep their doors closed (it's cold!) and if they were…

Entrepreneurship is about change: changing people's actions, perceptions or the conversation. Successful change is almost always specific, not general. You don't have a chance to make mass change, but you can make focused change. The challenge of mass media was how to run adverts that would be seen by just about everyone and have those…

If Debonairs disappeared tomorrow, who would miss them? Could you find a replacement pizza? A replacement place to work? What about your personal marketing, though? If you disappeared tomorrow, would the customers you call on miss you? The places you are applying for a job? The guys on the board of directors you sit on?…

Disruptors have discovered that if they are able to express any problems as a series of challenges, they can build a team capable of rising to those society's challenges. Businesses, whether they make dog food or software, don't sell products; they sell solutions Every successful disruptor look internally, questioning issues, questioning environments and assumptions about…

First, let’s understand that if you work every day at a company that makes money by producing something, then you cannot afford to blow that up. You cannot afford to say, “We are going to stop making the Ford Figo.” You cannot afford to say, “We don’t do Outsurance Life insurance anymore. It is what…