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"All my life people have been laying down rules or telling me what I need to do in order to be successful. I choose not to play their game. From my years as a successful small businessman in printing, marketing, and business development in South Dakota, through my time as the CMO of a Fortune 100 company, and into my current work as a speaker, bestselling author, host of a national TV show, and creator of the C-Suite Network, people have asked me one question more than any other: 'Jeff, how did you do it?' My answer is: 'I think big and act bigger.'"
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"Someone is sabotaging your organization. Not deliberately. But that doesn't matter. The damage that this person is causing is just as bad, and maybe even worse, than it would be if he or she planned it. Day by day, operating under the radar, this person is undermining the work of your company. In effect, he or she is putting sand in your machine. And if you don't identify and redirect that person's destructive behavior (and eliminate its cause), your company's gears may suddenly grind to a halt."
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"They say that if we have more followers in our online, social media world, then we will be deemed more important. They say that the more people you know via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the others, then the more influence you and I will have. They say that if we would connect more then we will be more connected.
I say they are wrong.
Who 'they' are is one issue. What 'they' say is another.
Here is the most important fact: Social media doesn't create social intelligence. In fact, the more socially connected we are virtually online, the greater the risk of creating social dysfunction in our actual lives."
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"What if big ideas don't work? Let's examine the premise. You own a business. That business provides goods and/or services. You try to distinguish those goods and/or services by some means. Your widget is the best, or cheapest, or most coveted because of its uniqueness, or you simply promote your widget with advertising that drowns out the competition. But in a world of near instant commoditization and destructive price promotion, the eventuality is that these approaches wane over time, and so begins the quest for the big idea that you believe is going to save your business. These big ideas typically come in the form of a new campaign tagline or logo, or a new way of talking about an old idea, or they come with a general makeover. Not necessarily lipstick on a pig, but the vast majority of re-branding efforts are simply a new way of looking at the same old thing. Rarely are they grounded in the principles of the organization. Rather, something else that feels all shiny and bright. With time, the veneer rubs off uncovering the fundamental truth that resides beneath. If you are best in class, not much reason to talk about it. Customers know. If you are the lowest price and the best deal there's little need to worry. Customers know. But, if you're truly caught in a competitive environment where the buyer has choice, the knee jerk reaction is to think of something big."
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"Over the next few years, you will experience up to 100 transformative moments every year. 100 moments yearly that may or may not determine the future, but will most certainly reveal your future.
Your future reveals itself only after you choose how you will face every disruption and opportunity that comes your way.
What goes into your choices—your beliefs, unconscious biases, values and emotions—drives every situation as much as any disruption that is thrown at you.
The future is personal."
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