Gates’ Stanford Speech; Partnering with Sumos; 5 Ways to Extend Paychecks; Fortune Stories Needed
June 26, 2014
Seeking Advisors; Secret Society; #1 Job for Customers; Carrot Clarinet
July 10, 2014

More Facebook, More Depression; Salim Ismail; Office Branding; Better Elementary School?

"…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  (it's summer – much shorter insights)

A great burden was lifted from my shoulders the day I realized that no one owes me anything.

 

Harry Browne
1933-2006, Author and Politician

Singularity U — the Founding Executive Director and Global Ambassador for Singularity University has a new book coming out this fall entitled Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, cheaper than yours (and what to do about it). I couldn't be more excited that he'll be joining Ben Horowitz as the other "celebrity CEO" keynoting the Growth Summit in Vegas Oct 28 – 29.

Office (and company) Branding — summertime is a great time to spruce up the office environment. See what Texas-based Miner Corporation has done, with the help of Erik Darmstetter and his team at Salesby5, to fully utilize their wall space to bring their vision and values alive throughout their offices – and to brand the company to the public. Consider a similar office makeover welcoming back employees this fall from their summer vacations (Erik can help – he loves doing this kind of thing).

Social Media Branding (Problems) — Significant changes in how Facebook is managing content means less than 7% of YOUR fans are seeing your messages. This and revelations about other social media sites are shared in a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled "Social Media Fail to Live Up to Early Marketing Hype." What works, as Ritz Carlton has discovered, is quality vs. quantity. Take 3 minutes for your marketing team to scan the article and then discuss at your next marketing meeting. And thanks to Erik Darmstetter for pointing me to this article.

More Time on Facebook, More Depression — because it can make you jealous. This Fortune article on the "7 Deadly Sins of Googling" is worth the 2 minutes to scan. I've fallen prey to some of these sins. And this pointed warning, to quote the article:

"Social media can lead to envy. It can lead, possibly, to depression. In a 2013 study, University of Michigan researchers Ethan Kross and Philippe Verduyn texted people while they were using Facebook, and found that as time on Facebook increased, a person's mood and overall satisfaction with their lives declined. In other words, Facebook can make you jealous. It can make you feel more alone than connected."

Summer is a great time to go off the grid – try it.

Need a Better Elementary School for Your Children? — daily huddles, data, and priority setting help drive accountability and engagement at the new Acton Academy elementary school. Kaylie Reed (EOer Sam Reed's wife) is the founding teaching, along with Jeff Sandefer, the founder of the innovative Acton MBA, of this new style of elementary school. This article by Kaylie details the "blended learning" approach they use — combining leading edge use of technology to deliver content along with highly interactive and student-centered classroom experiences to expand understanding. It's worth forwarding to the principal of your local elementary school (I did) and if unresponsive, Acton is looking for partners wanting to open an academy in their city.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program, the “Birthing of Giants” and WEO’s “Advanced Business” executive program both held at MIT. Founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company with over 150 coaching partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past three decades helping companies scale-up. The “Growth Guy” syndicated columnist, he’s also the Venture columnist for FORTUNE magazine. He’s the author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0); Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; and along with the editors of Fortune, authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times," for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword. Verne also chairs FORTUNE Magazine’s annual Leadership and Growth Summits and serves on several boards including chairman of The Riordan Clinic and the newly launched Geoversity. He is an investor in many scale-ups. A father of four, he enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.