Reinvent Yourself Week – Look and Ask Around

Published on September 10, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Branding, Career, Implementation, Performance, Special Week, Tools

2

A 360 degree survey can be scary, but it’s a great tool to get a sense of how others perceive you. It can be tremendously instructive and beneficial. I did one through a leadership class several years ago that really helped me redefine some of my behaviors. There are various ones available online.

Another fast way to get some sense of potential areas you can use to define “your category” is to ask yourself and others three value-related questions:

  • What are the TOP 3 things I do that ADD INCREDIBLE VALUE for others?
  • What are the TOP 3 things I do that DON’T DELIVER INCREDIBLE VALUE for others because we can’t/don’t focus enough time, attention, and/or resources on them?
  • What are the TOP 3 things I do that ADD LITTLE OR NO VALUE for others?

Look for themes among the answers and consider using areas of incredible value as potential category definers. Areas where you could deliver value but don’t are potential opportunities for more concentrated effort. Areas where you’re delivering little value could be areas to attempt to eliminate from your routine.

Soliciting reactions about yourself from others may feel intimidating, but assessing and using the responses wisely gives you an advantage most people are unwilling to pursue.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Reinvent Yourself Week – Look Inside for Distinctive Talents

Published on September 9, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Branding, Career, Performance, Special Week, Tools

9

Distinctive talents are skills closely associated with you where you continually improve as you do them, you benefit others, and you create a spark that attracts people to be a part of the energy you’re radiating. Building your list of distinctive talents begins with answering these questions openly & honestly:

  • What things motivate you to get up every morning?
  • How are you of the greatest service to others?
  • What activities bring you the most happiness and contentment?
  • What functions, talents, and skills do you (or have you) used that give you the most fulfillment in your professional life, family relationships / duties, spiritual life, and personal interests / hobbies?
  • How would you spend your time, talents, and attention if you didn’t have to work?

Hint – Stumped for answers in some areas? Ask a few acquaintances what they think your distinctive talents are.

After answering all the questions, go back and circle the 5 or 10 or 15 answers that truly fit the distinctive talents definition. Since these areas are likely to be the most intuitive for you, you think less about the mechanics of doing them and simply perform them really well. This makes them ideal to incorporate into creating a new “category” where you’ll be the best in the world.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Reinvent Yourself Week – The Blue Man Group

Published on September 8, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Career, Innovation, Special Week

0

“If you invent your own instrument, you’re automatically one of the top three musicians in the world on that instrument.” – Matt Goldman, Co-Founder of the Blue Man Group (August 2008 “Inc.”)

This is a great strategic concept that any of us can apply personally or in business. What is an instrument, tool, process, or category that you can invent which creates a new area where you are, by definition, one of the best performers in the world?

This week, we’ll work through ways to answer that question.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Creative Quickie – Don’t Speak Your Goals

Published on September 5, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Career, Creative Quickies, Implementation, Performance, Strategy

1

This is a non-traditional approach shared by motivational speaker Ed Foreman: when you have a big goal that you tell others about, many of them will try to explain why you shouldn’t have a goal that big or how come you’ll never achieve it.

His answer? Keep your big goals to yourself and don’t share them with others. In that way, you avoid all the negative advice and can move toward your big creative goal mentally unfettered.

I dismissed the approach when I first heard about it, but my wife of 21 years (as of today) has used it to cross numerous projects off her list without having to listen to me explain why we shouldn’t be doing them!

Happy Anniversary Cyndi!!!

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Sure I’d Like to Help Brainzooming Grow Mike!

Published on September 4, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Branding

0

Next week is the 200th Brainzooming post. Starting this blog has been a great personal growth experience, providing an opportunity to interact with people and to create a new outlet for ideas and cartoons. Ideally, it’s also been beneficial for you, the readers.

In June, I asked current readers for input. Your comments helped re-shape the blog’s content and style. Your ideas have been very beneficial.

I’d like to ask your help again to expand the blog’s readership. Specifically I need your help in growing the new reader pool for the blog by 200 people more than typical in the next two weeks.

Here’s how you can help. If you find value in the content, please forward the site’s URL / link with a brief comment to 10 or 20 friends that might also find benefit in it. Heck, if I may be so presumptuous, copy and send the paragraph below, if you’d like:

I just wanted to pass along a daily blog that I’ve been reading on innovation, creativity, and strategy. It’s an interesting mix of topics that helps in thinking about work and even personal life in new ways. Thought you might be interested in checking it out at http://brainzooming.blogspot.com. The posts are pretty short and available via email. Check it out!

Your referrals are vital in helping grow the readership base so that we can get more comments, interaction, and feedback to continue shaping the content to address challenges and opportunities the readers face.

Remember, we’re going for 200 new readers. And as a thank you, to the person who cc’s me (at email address – mike@mikebrownspeaks.com) with the most invites to potential readers (across both BrainZooming and mikebrownspeaks readers), I’ll send a copy of “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath.

So get cutting and pasting, help the blog grow, and get your chance to win “Made to Stick.” Thanks for your help!!!

Mike

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Creativity on the Road in Kansas

Published on September 3, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Creativity, Diversity

0

Back in Hays, KS with my parents over Labor Day, we took a road trip inside a road trip, heading to central Kansas on Saturday. It was reminiscent of trips when I was young, taking pictures of abandoned farmsteads and interesting buildings as inspiration for drawings and paintings I was doing then.

The first stop was the Smoky Hills Wind Farm along I-70 around Lincoln, KS. It’s a great example of functionality (power generation) tied to natural resources (there’s lots of wind in Kansas) and the surroundings. Although the wind turbines can appear stark and modern, their interplay with the rolling hills of central Kansas is fascinating and natural.

Because of how the interstate winds through the hills, the turbine placement, and the effects of foreshortening, there are several instances where the blades appear to be emerging from trees or waiting for vehicles to drive right into them. Click on the pictures here to get a better feel for this.

There are other instances where the juxtaposition of the turbines and an old conventional windmill sets up an intriguing contrast. And even with the current level of completion, the wind farm’s visual impact is quite striking. I can’t wait until it’s fully operational.

Afterward, we headed north to Lucas, KS to visit “The Garden of Eden,” a 22 year project started in 1907 by Samuel Perry Dinsmoor. He fashioned limestone and 113 tons of cement into a faux log cabin and sculpture garden featuring the fall of man and various populist issues of his time. It has to be seen to be fully appreciated.

We also discovered that Lucas has positioned itself as an outsider arts haven with a number of exhibits and a Grassroots Art Center. Additionally, we happened upon The Great Toilet Seat Art Show and Auction, an exhibit of interestingly decorated toilet seats that are available for purchase and online viewing!

If you’re traveling through Kansas on I-70, Lucas is easy to overlook (I haven’t been there in more than twenty years), and the wind farm is impossible to miss. But both destinations, though very different, are very cool representations of Kansas and the creative aspects of its heritage.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Did I Write That? Or Did You?

Published on September 2, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Collaboration, Creativity, Diversity, Innovation, Performance

2

On my Labor Day road trip, I listened to “Live at the BBC,” a 2-cd set of recordings The Beatles made on BBC Radio from March 1962 to June 1965. It made me think about an old book definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in the musical creative process.

“The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono” is a transcript of interviews the pair did with writer David Sheff right before Lennon’s death in 1980. In one section, Lennon walked through the entire Beatles catalog, discussing the creative origin of each song with Paul McCartney. Sometimes it was true collaboration; at times it was the other person adding a small, yet critical element that made the song. Many times, particularly in later years, it was primarily individual creation. Yet because of publishing agreements, and perhaps a recognition that their creative styles were inexorably shaped by each other, all of their songs were jointly credited as Lennon-McCartney.

R.E.M. in its original line-up also credited every song to all members – Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe – irrespective of how it was composed, acknowledging that through the recording process, each band member had shaped the final creation.

I’ve always loved that creative team approach. In the best creative work in which I’ve participated, I enjoy the phenomenon that once it’s done, it’s very difficult to actually recall which person contributed which theme, idea, line, or edit.

That truly reflects a collaborative creative team.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle Plus

Continue Reading

Page 166 of 196« First...164165166167168...Last »