When I played in my old band, The Jesters, it was hard to define what genre we were. We started out as a ska band with a big horn section (this was the late 90's when ska was having a moment). And with those horns, you know that we had to add a healthy dose of James Brown-influenced funk. But if you had just come into our show for one song, there was also a good chance that you might hear a punk song. Or old-school hip-hop, reggae, 80's pop, jazz, or even 60's surf. That's the beautiful thing about being in a band with a lot of talented musicians from wildly different backgrounds. Everyone brought their own ideas and songs into the … [Read more...]
Why Grungy Studios Make Beautiful Music
Recording studios are rarely glamorous places. If you aren't in the music world, you might assume that all of them are the posh creative dens that you saw in a documentary about your favorite musical legend. Those are the studios for true rockstars. In reality, most music is recorded in conditions that are less than ideal. Even if it is a nice studio, when you add a bunch of people, long hours, and the stress created because you need to get it perfect, it gets cluttered, sweaty, and well, smelly, pretty fast. When you get right down to it, a lot of the music you enjoy is recorded in pretty grungy circumstances. This just goes to … [Read more...]
Expected Emergencies Aren’t Emergencies
It was horrible watching my friends in Texas deal with Midwest-style winter weather. Life ground to a halt and parts of the state were declared a national emergency site. I have friends in Austin who were without water, electricity, and heating gas for days. That takes the regular challenges sub-freezing temperatures and makes it even more brutal. Luckily, they were able to weather the crisis and get back on their feet. At the same time, the Chicago area was dealing with 3 feet of snow that had accumulated over three weeks of super-cold weather (it didn't go above freezing for a month). Nobody was excited about it, but life pretty … [Read more...]
3 Simple (and Forgotten) Steps to Great Sales Coaching
Here's a central irony of sales coaching: Most of the time, your reps already know what they need to do to succeed. It's rare that they are completely oblivious on what path to take or what decisions to make. But they aren’t actually doing what they know they should be doing. And that’s because they have an area (or areas) of weakness that keep them from moving forward. This isn't a sales challenge, this is a human challenge. Everyone has specific areas where they struggle that become their Achilles heel. Your job as a coach is to put a laser focus on that area over and over to help them move forward and grow. Don't … [Read more...]
When – Daniel Pink
I think it's appropriate to start my thoughts on When with a proverb on planting trees: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." Not only because When is all about how to choose the best times to do things, but because this half-written article has been sitting around waiting for me to have some extra when in my schedule to finish it. Yes, it would have been better to finish it up when I first read the book. But the second-best time is today. And in When, Dan takes his magnifying lens and explores what we know about how timing affects our success personally and professionally. Big Thought Dan … [Read more...]
15 Important Business Lessons I’ve Learned in 15 years of RockStar
It’s still hasn’t sunk in that I started RockStar Consulting fifteen years ago. I’d like to think that I had a master plan when I hung a shingle and decided that I was going to be a professional coach and speaker (“author”, “podcaster”, “thought-leader” weren’t even on the radar). But no, looking back, I just couldn’t find a job that seemed like a good fit. So I’ve been making up my job for the last decade and a half. It’s been a pretty amazing way to pay the bills. I’ve had the opportunity to help thousands of professionals on all the continents (still waiting for a speaking gig at McMurdo Station). I’ve met lots of wonderful people … [Read more...]
The 5 LinkedIn Posts that Will Deliver More Credibility
The perfect LinkedIn post... Doesn't exist. So don't try for it. Over the years I've spoken with so many professionals who don't share content on LinkedIn because they are frozen. They are paralyzed because they don't know how to craft the perfect post that goes viral, shares a ton of value, drives high-quality conversation, and gets a bunch of leads all at the same time. But they are making a simple and understandable mistake. Because if you don't post much, it's easy to fall prey to the thinking that each post has to do a lot of work. That makes each post harder to craft and it gets easier to put off engaging on LinkedIn. … [Read more...]
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