Be Different or be dead

May 31, 2021

6 really simple ways to have the spotlight shine on you

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6 really simple ways to have the spotlight shine on you.

There is an urgency about moving on in your career; you’re not getting any younger and the competition isn’t getting any easier.

These six practical and proven ideas will help you either get going or will accelerate you down the current path you’ve chosen.

Invisibility begets ignorability

Get noticed in a crowd of people all looking to advance themselves. You must be competent in your current role, of course, but if you are indistinguishable from your colleagues, you have no way of being on a decision-maker’s radar.

It’s funny that getting noticed is uncomfortable for many people; they don’t like drawing attention to themselves. It’s almost like we’ve been taught at an early age that it’s somehow “not right” to do things that make us stand out in our class – we think it makes us arrogant and narcissistic.

Well, you need to get over that, if that’s how you feel.

Develop a ’be visible’ plan that, in a simple and factual way, presents your achievements and what you do day-in and day-out to execute your organization’s strategy.

Value is the end game

Create value that people care about. The focus must be on the benefits you create for the organization (and for people), as opposed to delivering a project or beating a due date, for example.

For instance, it’s admirable that you completed your project two weeks ahead of schedule, but what’s more important is the benefits you delivered to customers or employees or shareholders, earlier than expected.

Realize that the project or task you’ve been given is just the internal vehicle for adding value. Keep your eyes on your contribution to the marketplace within which your organization operates.

By the way, if you are successful with this approach, other organizations will notice.

Differences must define you

Be the only one that does what you do. If you’re not different than everyone else in some meaningful way – in a way that contributes to the goals and objectives of the organization – you will be viewed as nothing more than a common member of the herd and will have difficulty achieving a breakthrough in your career.

Sameness begets mediocrity; copying shows zero originality

You must find your own way to break the mould of commonness  and it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here are five ways to do that:

✔️ Invent your own problem-solving method using crowdsourcing, or canvassing others;
✔️ Do more of what was asked;
✔️ Do the opposite of what the pundits preach;
✔️ Use trusted external resources for added credibility;
✔️ Launch additional projects from your original task.

Doing it is 10 times better than talking about it

“A little less conversation, a little more action please.” – Elvis Presley

It’s not about intent; it’s about getting stuff done  in the trenches where life is messy  and people never behave the way you expect them to.

It’s easy to declare what you want to achieve and sell your idea on its theoretical merits. But in the final analysis, unless that notion actually produces something, it’s basically useless.

Getting it done relies largely on the right hemisphere of the brain where emotion, passion, tenacity and perseverance live, not the left brain that houses logic and intelligence.

Expending emotional energy to overcome barriers is vital to implementing a good idea.

My rule of thumb is to spend 20 percent of your time on the idea and 80 per cent on implementing and tweaking  it.

Find a ‘done it’ mentor

Find a mentor who has done stuff. Most people look to the p the west erson who knows stuff as their source for career advice and guidance. After all, most “experts” have knowledge credentials posted after their names – doctorates, and master and bachelor degree designations, for example.

In my experience, however, the people to look up to are those individuals who have proven they can deliver results. They are the ones who should be listened to and followed.

I know many smart people who have achieved less than their potential because they put all their trust in the way things should work – based on theory – as opposed to pouring their energy into finding a way to make them work in the hard realities of people’s biases and internal politics.

My mentors always had the subliminal tag “master crafter in doing stuff” associated with their name.

Be open to anything

Do anything asked of you and do it with eagerness and an open mind. I have seen many high-potential people fall by the wayside because they were picky about what they did to the point that they refused to take on certain projects because they didn’t want to set themselves up for failure by trying to achieve something they felt they were not qualified to do.

Unfortunately, their actions were perceived as an unwillingness to help the organization achieve its strategic goals, to take on the personal risk necessary to deliver even though they may not be perfectly qualified.

And they found themselves in the camp of individuals who were never again asked to lead projects of a strategic nature; their career stalled.

The point is, upwardly mobile people are expected to overreach  every once in a while, to go for something that is beyond their capability. They treat the opportunity as a source of learning and growth and are okay with the inherent personal risk involved.

These six tips won’t be found in any textbook. They are all based on what actually worked for me in the real world. Good luck.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 5.31.21 at 07:43 am by Roy Osing
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May 24, 2021

5 reasons a fresh start for people is an impossible dream

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There are 5 tenets to what people mean when they say they want to start fresh.
They want to:

▪️ lose yesterday and build a new tomorrow.
▪️ forget the pain of the past and seek future pleasure.
▪️ throw away the track record of yesterday and start over again with a clean piece of paper.
▪️ build new relationships to replace the old.
▪️ forget what was learned in the past in favour of acquiring new knowledge for their next chapter.

A fresh start seems to imply that the past offers little value as one considers building a new future.

And of course this thinking is a nonstarter; throwing the baby out with the bath water makes no sense at all, and it will never allow you to refresh yourself the way you want.

Regardless of the overwhelming desire to strike out on a new journey and rid yourself of what you don’t like about your present circumstances, there are pieces of your life up to now that have been amazing for you and should form an integral part of your future.

I think a fresh start should really be looked at as another start, building on what you’ve achieved so far to reach greater and more importantly different heights. It also implies that you want to make another try  which is the right thing to do when you’re dissatisfied with your current state.

How do you start again to satisfy your craving for change and at the same time preserve your ‘specialness’ that made you who you are today?

Define your ‘west’ vision

What the hell do you mean by “I need a fresh start?”

Fresh starts don’t happen ‘in the moment’, they need at least a modicum of thinking about what you want to do — note that I’ve avoided the word ‘planning’ which I think would have scared many of you off

Your fresh start vision doesn’t have to be crystal clear but it does have to be directional with enough clarity to inform the actions needed to make the fresh start happen.

So at this point, paint a picture of what your new future looks like in general terms.

Try not to be too granular in your new ‘I want’ a new start definition:

I want to travel the world.
I want to move to Europe.
I want a new career in marketing.
I want a new relationship.
I want to learn a new language.
I want to homeschool my kids.

Declarations like these define your ‘start again’ context and where you will devote your time and energy. If you don’t do this work, your attention will be scattered with the likelihood you will miss your refresh mark.

Inventory your likes and dislikes

A start again plan typically includes casting off things about you and your life that you don’t like to make room for the new exciting things you decide to do.

Taking a self inventory of what you like and dislike about yourself is where you begin this work.

So, you need to create two lists that are a ‘character bifurcation’ of how you see yourself, defining the unique special features you want to retain and build upon to be different and those you want to let go of.

Select 3 likes

Your new start up plans I’ll fail if you try and take on too much; if you try to build your new future on too many of the features you really like about yourself.

It gets too complicated to create a fresh beginning from 10 traits you don’t want to lose than it is to build from a handful, so think about focusing on the 3 traits you really like about yourself — your confidence, creativity and love of people for example — and that you believe will contribute the experience you will require as you begin to ‘head west’.

These 3 strengths will be the nucleus of the energy you will draw on to unfold your new tomorrow.

Define what you need

Even with your best likes, however, ‘head west’ beginnings will be deficient in the ingredients needed to achieve the new destination; there will always be a deficit that needs to be filled — it wouldn’t be a new start if you didn’t have to acquire something new.

Try to define one or two new things — nirvana would be only one — you need in addition to what you already have in your kitbag to start fresh.

Look for help

It’s quite normal to find a mentor to help us with our career, so why not find someone to help us morph our lives into something new and more exciting — a new start mentor.

A life change is normally a risky affair so find someone who has experience in navigating through the turbulence of leaving behind equity that has been hard fought for over one’s life and adopting a new course.

New start mentors don’t offer solutions, they provide a ‘boots on the ground’ view of what life change entails so you can make informed decisions.

By now you’re probably exhausted by the regimen I’ve prescribed to launch your new beginning; the process feels complicated, time consuming and tough work.

But it is a disciplined process; new starts rarely happen through serendipity, by falling in a bucket of sh*t and come out smelling like a rose.

If that’s what you’re hoping for, kiss your fresh start goodbye.

If you want a life makeover, be prepared to do the work.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 5.24.21 at 04:49 am by Roy Osing
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May 17, 2021

Why marketers should try to make people emotional rather than buy products

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Why marketers should try to make people emotional rather than buy products.

Marketers should refocus their attention to building solutions for the heart; customer offers that stir their feelings and emotions.

We live in a product flogging world.

Products are pushed at us. Technology rains down on us through mass communications.

What businesses supply (as opposed to what we want) is jammed down our throats with the hope that we will bite-and-buy what they offer.

People buy what they want, desire and crave, not what they need

People buy on the basis of what they yearn, crave and ache for; to achieve happiness in a world with pressure and stress on their lives.

Product flogging is intrusive and completely out of sync with this reality, and is a recipe to fail.

Happiness is driven by what we experience rather than what we consume in material goods. Fond memories of a family vacation are long-lasting. The new car is fun for a while but soon feels no different than just the one we just traded in.

This is a game-changer for product floggers. Rather than push features, technology and price, the challenge is to create broad-based appeals to the full spectrum of feelings that an individual has.

The marketer’s goal is to illicit a warm feeling rather than to satisfy a need

The marketer’s objective in this sense is to elicit a positive emotional response from the customer, rather than satisfy a consumer need.

“When people were asked to recall their most significant material purchase and their most significant experiential purchase over the past five years, they reported the experiential purchase brought them more joy and enduring satisfaction, and it was clearly ‘money well spent’ compared with the material purchase,” wrote Thomas Gilovich, Professor of Psychology, Cornell University in Determinants of Happiness.

Furthermore, experiences create more happiness than material goods because they are a personal expression of what we desire. They belong to us alone and no one else.

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel — Maya Angelou

The payback is long-term customer loyalty; the better they feel, the longer they stay.

These 3 steps will get you started.

1. Establish the ‘Experience Creator’ position in marketing to augment in the standard product management role.
These are the experience packagers; the folks that integrate, brand and price the value elements necessary to deliver the complete experience that customers covet.

This position is a synthesizer who brings together the appropriate combination of the organization’s products and services to create an emotional response that bonds the customer’s loyalty.

2. Include feelings as a key element of marketing and customer research. What experience would make someone happy, special and fulfilled? What does the person crave?
Develop feelings objectives for the offer you bring to market. What feeling do you intend to cause by the offer: contentment, trust, joy,...? If you’re serious about stirring emotion then you need to have a target that embodies the marketing intent.

3. Measure the emotions evoked by the experience packages you create; “How did it make you feel?” not just “Did it do what we said it would and does it meet your needs?”

Memo to marketers: forsake your flogging ways and start creating personal experiences for your customers.

The world is full of floggers.

If you want to make a difference and stand-out from the flogging herd let experiences guide you that produce an emotional response that keeps a customer with you forever.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.17.21 at 05:08 am by Roy Osing
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May 10, 2021

How to make yourself undeniable and win every contest

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How to make yourself undeniable and win every contest.

Undeniability is the condition where an individual won’t be put off their goal.

It’s a force that moves inexorably towards the intended finish line and there’s nothing anyone or anything can do to prevent it from achieving its intended purpose.

Successful people tend to have the ‘undeniability factor’ working for them. When they put their mind to doing something, they simply cannot be denied achieving their intended outcome

How does one acquire undeniability? Do they learn it in school? Do they acquire it with life experience? Are they born with the undeniability gene? Or is there some other reason some have it while others don’t’?

The reality is that it’s probably a bit of each.
Like most profound and complicated-to-explain things in life, I believe it’s a combination of a number of factors that are at play when undeniability is being formed in a person’s motivation profile.

But it’s what you observe in real life situations that offers more understanding than hypotheses tested in a lab environment ever will.

And so, after witnessing (not a large) number of undeniability ‘masters’, these are the 5 like-no-other attributes they possess that give them their affliction:

Goal setting

Undeniables are tenacious goal setters with a substantial number of them in the audacious category.

The goal setting process instils urgency and a sense of commitment which provides the energy to relentlessly move forward.

They set goals for everything no matter how small. If it’s worth doing, they need to set a goal to get it done.
Their goal setting infatuation makes them the antithesis of most people who thrive on activity and business and achieve terribly little.

Personal conviction

When they set their sights on a goal, undeniables are all in. They’re not ‘slightly interested’ in achieving their goal; they are and passionately driven to do so.

And it’s not out of intellectual interest in the subject matter; it’s a drive in their gut that makes them move on it relentlessly.

Bravery

Undeniables are brave; they are fearless in pursuit of their end game.

Trepeditiousness knows no part of them. They understand the risks but nevertheless drive forward often right into the face of adversaries. Walking into a buzz saw isn’t a pleasant experience for them, but they’re ok with doing it if it’s a requisite to achieving their purpose.

And their bravery is supported by the fact that they know their stuff; it’s what makes them special and gives them the confidence to move often against the crowd and willing to accept all of the consequences that often befall a contrarian.

They are the expert in whatever they’re targeting to achieve, which is mandatory to meet the challenges they face in advancing their agenda.

Mentors

Undeniables have a stable of like minded (but different) mentors to draw on for advice and guidance consistent with each unique journey they pursue.

Bumps in the road require different perspectives on how to maneuver through them and having a mosaic of experience to tap into allows the undeniable to consistently achieve their goals.

Their mentors are special with each one of them having an unparalleled history of getting stuff done as opposed to having only a lofty academic pedigree for credentials. Undeniables hunt for the ‘been there done it’ mentor and they accept nothing less.

Age and maturity

Undeniables start early in life when their energy reserves are high, curiosity is growing and passion is honest.

They were researchers of anything that interested them, spending hours and hours trying to understand every aspect of the topic in their crosshairs.

They realized very early that their exam goals could be achieved by working out a rigid (and sometimes ‘unrealistic’) study schedule and by putting in more hours than anyone else.

They also have an idea of what they wanted to be when they grew up before their schoolmates. They had a rudimentary career plan that not only defined the few choices they were interested in, it also defined the possible routes to achieve each one.

Undeniables are special people  that achieve success in spite of those around them who try (often unknowingly) to deny them.

Study the traits I’ve given you and see if you can emulate them — this stuff is ok to copy because there are so few of them in the world you will be viewed as an original.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.10.21 at 04:53 am by Roy Osing
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