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"Why does society tend to work in opposition to we if we is clearly a superior strategy? Why don't human beings make stronger moves to get past me ... ? Because psychologically and historically, me is a durable way to survive and succeed. Politics and business are competitive and capitalistic. Head-to-head, me appears to be the most viable strategy. But perception isn't reality.
Social science and history expose me as a less steady way to survive, and a fragile way to thrive. And when me leaves work and goes home, stakes can get even higher. Emotions are closer to the surface. Love is deeper. Commitments are stronger. Me collapses entirely as a carryover strategy from boardrooms to living rooms."
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"The blinding rate of innovation over the past few decades has turned yesterday's 'impossible' into today's 'of course.' But one area has experienced a near complete lack of innovation over that same time period: the ways executives manage and problem solve have barely changed. In fact, management innovation has done little to nothing to ease the burden of dealing with the growing complexity and decreasing resources that most large companies face.
The key to innovating management practices lies with two old terms that frankly are now rather tired, due in no small part to the fact that so few companies do either of them well for extended periods of time. Those two terms, inextricably linked, are employee engagement, without which you will not succeed at the second, which is continuous improvement."
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"Consider the last time a hard sell worked on you—or when you were last 'convinced' to do something. Having a hard time coming up with an instance? While a common sales practice, an overt sales pitch is more likely to cause a customer to run rather than to buy.
[...] The bottom line is that no one wants to be assaulted by one-way communication (a sales pitch). Rather, customers need to be invited into two-way conversations where we can be heard and understood.
Whether you're selling a product, your services, or yourself—you must learn to persuade differently in order to close more deals. You must learn to ditch the pitch."
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"People buy you first! It doesn't matter if you're meeting people for the first time in a social or business situation, you won't get far unless you sell yourself first. This comes as a surprise to many people who just show up without thinking about the impression they make on others. In the case of sales professionals, they may prepare their presentations well, but not pay as much attention to preparing themselves as to how they, personally, come across to potential clients.
The basic premise of this article is that 'it matters.' It matters if you show up 20 minutes early (awkward in social situations), 10 minutes early (usually appropriate for business), on time (okay in social situations, maybe not for business) or 10 minutes late (never acceptable).
It matters if you're dressed and groomed appropriately—including whether or not you're wearing the right shoes (and that they're in good condition).
When you want to capture the attention of others and have them view you as a competent individual, dress and act like one—appropriately for the situation in which you're meeting them."
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"The biggest invention of our digital age is one we rarely think of: ourselves. [...]
Mankind lived for hundreds of thousands of years with almost no change; then, with the Industrial Revolution we learned to inhabit a world of continuous improvement. But now, we deal with lives that experience the equivalent of an Industrial Revolution every few years. We've survived it, we've adapted to it, and now we are learning to thrive in it. And, though we barely noticed the change, we now live differently, learn differently, communicate differently, an ultimately, think differently. ... In other words, we have internalized Moore's Law. Its beat is now our heartbeat; its pace of change is now the heartbeat of civilization."
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