Buy a Birthday BMW M5 for @nanpalmero #BMWFund

bmw tweetIt all started this morning with a fun tweet by @alanweinkrantz who decided to raise funds to buy me a BMW M5 for my birthday.  Since Alan is my friend and I want to honor his request and those that have been tweeting about it since, I’ve set up a Paypal button here to make contributions.  So go crazy, donate a nickel and get one other person to do it and have them do the same.  Let’s see how far we can take this.  Maybe my 30th birthday will be the one where Twitter bought me a new car…or not.  But nonetheless, it’ll be fun to see how far it goes.  Let’s swing for the fences and see what’s possible.

UPDATE: The official BMW blogger, Thomas Gigold aka @gigold for the 2009 IAA Frankfurt Auto Show (@iaablog) has written about this fund raiser in German and English.


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Do Something Worth Talking About, Go Viral

A word that people can’t stop saying is “viral.”  Everyone wants their ideas, videos, books, products and services to all go viral.  On the other hand, we’re stuck making the same old boring thing, slightly repackaged in hopes that people will notice.  What you really need is a dramatic difference.  Notice that it’s not a minor difference, it’s not a slight difference, it’s a DRAMATIC difference.  Eureka! Ranch, where the Swiffer Sweeper and the American Express Centurion Card aka the “Black Card” were developed, say that a dramatic difference causes organizational chaos and provides a 370% better chance of success and profitability.  That means, you have to change systems, move people, add new support or whatever else is required to cause a massive shift.  So, if you want your (fill in the blank) to go viral, be remarkable and do something dramatically different.

The video above caused my wife to repeatedly say “I wish we could go back and do this” is a perfect example of doing something dramatically different.  After one week and at the time of this writing, this video had over 7 million views.

As seen on MySA.com

Pixar vs. GM – FIGHT!

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This weekend, Pixar took top honors at the box office with Up, smacking about $70 million dollars out of our pockets and tickling the cranky critics.  At the same time, GM is approaching bankruptcy and, if it clears, will be the third largest in the history of this country.

Why bother mentioning both of these companies in the same post?  Although it would be insane for me to say that I know what that one thing was that sunk GM and made Pixar a winner, I will offer up food for thought.  GM lost the race because they offered too many choices (aka brands) to allow for their success and Pixar kept it simple.

In 2008, GM manufactured Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  General Motors began by purchasing different car and truck companies in its early years, but kept the manufacturing, looks and brand personalities separate.  More recently, it merged different brands and models together.  No longer was it clear to GM and its customers what a brand or model stood for and why it was necessarily different or better than its shared parts cousin.

Pixar’s history is quite different.  Since the launch of Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has only launched one movie every one to two years.  Pixar has been nominated six times and has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature 4 times since its inception in 2001.  The company’s movies consistently earn well at the box office and are well received by critics and viewers alike.

If you review the mission statements/objectives of these companies, you will notice that GM’s generalized statement talks about providing their customers “superior value” from “products and services.”  Contrast Pixar’s objective to “develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.”

When you overwhelm your employees with too many options, you make it difficult for them to provide a clear and concise sales message for a particular item.  Additionally, it does not allow your company to focus on what matters most and what your company can be the best at.  At the same time, too many choices confuse your customers.  The decision becomes overwhelming and customers become lost.  Could you slice your product offering in half, leaving more time to better your best offering?  What effect would this have on your employees and your customers?  I’d love to get your feedback in the comments!

As seen on MySA.com

So Much Culture, Boy George Is Envious – Zappos

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Yesterday, a tweet from Mark Ruddock, CEO of Viigo got me thinking about corporate culture.  He said “Playing with Android all weekend … finding myself intrigued by the way corporate cultures are reflected in their products.”  He went on to say “UX (user experience) lacks holistic finesse of iPhone … and core operations (such as eMail) lack UX efficiency of BlackBerry…many facets beautifully engineered behind the scenes … however I have a real sense it was built by geeks for geeks”

I thought these were great points.  Whether you understand what Mark tweeted, the part that stuck out was he could tell the culture of the company simply from an inanimate object.  You likely feel the same way when you pick up a MacBook Pro.  You know that Apple cares about aesthetics, they care about materials, user experience and quality.  Even if your company is service based, your customers can still feel the culture as they interact with the people in your company.

I toured Zappos back in January.  Zappos started life as a shoe company but chose to be a retailer in general, the main thread holding it all together was service.  It showed.  Every room we walked into, the Zappos folks would stop what they were doing, bring out noise makers, clap, or stand up and greet us.  It was a small gesture, but I will forever have a special appreciation for their example of quality service.  Their corporate culture was amazing, contagious and unforgettable.  Yes, I’m also a customer and have received world-class service, too.

Why bother talking about culture at all?  Because your company is going to have one whether you’re doing anything about it or not.  My suggestion is that you make conscious decisions to make your culture remarkable.  If you don’t, the culture is going to be what it becomes and that may or may not be a good thing.  Having made a decision on what your company culture is the first step.  The next step?  Tell your people what the culture is, then develop core values, a purpose and a brand promise that all support this culture.  When you do this, it makes the culture easier to understand and to spread, especially to new hires.  Further, it helps those in the company make the right decisions when facing tough obstacles.  Go on, make your culture remarkable.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the photo, that’s Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  He takes pictures with famous folks and does bunny ears.  So, naturally, I asked.

As seen on MySA.com

Why Is The Internet & Technology So Hard?

Have you noticed that there are pieces of technology that should be wildly popular, but they become overly complex so the soccer moms never seem to quite transition over to them? Interestingly, this is not a new concept. Aesop did this centuries ago with his simple fables. Simplicity is able to transcend languages, cultures and physical boundaries. What happens is that we get excited about our work and try to include as many features as possible. Doing so oftentimes complicates our attempts and the message gets lost along the way. Let’s take a look at some examples of this. Remember, I’m not saying that these examples are failures; I’m merely suggesting that you consider how these changes could affect the adoption rates.

WordPress vs Blogger

WordPress is an amazing platform for blogging and websites. Its flexibility is incredible and Google loves it for SEO. If I were to set my mom up on it, my phone wouldn’t stop ringing with her requesting technical support on how to post, add a photo or change the header. As a matter of fact, my wife, Ashley, ended up leaving WordPress for Blogger. As a photographer, she wanted to be able to change her header without knowing HTML, CSS or any other programming language. Needless to say, she couldn’t figure it out. Am I saying that Blogger is the platform everyone should use? Absolutely not! What Blogger did right, though, is make it easy enough to make changes that she could figure it out on her own. In WordPress, she had to upload updates via FTP. Haven’t we evolved enough online to not have to FTP anymore? This created a massive barrier to entry for her and it led to a defection. My suggestion? Make WordPress crazy simple so people that are non-techies are able to join, making the platform more accessible to the small business owner or personal user that doesn’t have a techie on staff.

Firefox vs Internet Explorer

Firefox is quickly growing in popularity as a browser. Depending upon the statistics that you see, Firefox and Internet Explorer (considering all the versions) are running about even. Firefox, similar to WordPress, allows for amazing flexibility. Similarly, though, the non-tech crowd oftentimes hesitates changing from their convenient and well-known, Internet Explorer, to the oftentimes superior Firefox. Typically, you can accredit this to transitioning to the unknown and not experiencing enough pain with Internet Explorer to warrant a change. Additionally, when you change to Firefox, not everything is the same. Some examples include Firefox not having an easy to find “Print Preview” button, not having a default “run” function when you want to download a file, or having the ability for the next tab to open to your selected home page by default. These are all easily remedied by plug-ins or settings within the browser, but why is that required? Why not have a simple mode that pre-selects these expected features when you install Firefox to make the transition less scary, safer and manage expectations.

iRiver vs iPod

On paper, iRiver should be ruling the world right now. Many of their devices use standard USB ports to connect, allow for common batteries, have a better sound processor for louder and cleaner sound as well as oftentimes beautiful design and quality. On the other side, you see the iPod. The iPod has had issues with non-removal batteries, proprietary plug and inferior sound quality. As you well know, it wasn’t enough for iRiver to take over. iRiver has failed to recognize that the overall experience in using their devices is also important. At this point in time, it’s easy to argue that the iPod has name recognition and bigger marketing budgets that allow for it to win. This wasn’t necessarily the case. What has made the iPod successful is that its entire ecosystem is cohesive. Apple has made it convenient to locate music via iTunes, where the attorneys did the back end work to get the deals done, the engineers worked with the folks doing the user interface to make the device beautiful and functional and the overall feel is excellent. Are there better media players with more features and higher quality? You bet. It’s just not enough.

Take a look at your offerings. Are you making them easy enough for your users and buyers to be able to use them right away? Is your offering easy enough that your fans will be able to recommend your products and services to their less tech-savvy friends with ease, knowing that they won’t have to do a bunch of handholding to get everything rolling? Can you get all your members of the design, sales, marketing and engineering teams together so they can make sure all the parts in the offering work together seamlessly? These are the keys to winning.

As seen on Sparxoo.com

The Nickels and Dimes of Social Interactions

The importance of saying please and thank you

With the surge in shortened communications, such as Twitter and text messaging, there seems to be a loss in the nickels and dimes of social interactions. Those small but valuable tokens are the words “please” and “thank you.” I know, you only have 140 to 160 characters to get your point across. I know you’re busy and moving quickly. Just remember, everytime you choose to have an interaction with a person, be sure to drop them a nickel or a dime. Just like compound interest at the bank, those nickels and dimes turn into dollars later.

picture by EJP Photo

As seen on Salesby5.com

Hope Destroyed Causes Destruction

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Over 1,000 POWs were held in a North Korean camp during the Korean War.  This camp was not surrounded by the typical barbed wire, armed guards or dangerous fences.  The POWs also experienced less violence than most other prison camps.  Interestingly, this camp did not have any POW attempt to escape and also had the highest death rate in the history of the United States.

The soldiers in this camp had every shred of hope withheld from them.  Any positive correspondence from their family at home was never delivered, while any letter mentioning a death, divorce or overdue bill was promptly delivered.  The soldiers were encouraged to tattle on one another.  When a soldier did so, he was rewarded, but the one whom had been tattled on was never punished.  This created rifts between the men.  So much hope was drained from these men, that they would leave their each other outside in the elements to die because it “wasn’t my job” to do anything about it.

Today, you have the power and opportunity to provide hope, caring and support to those around you.  Talk to those around you and find out how they like to be recognized, whether in public or private.  Find out what their preferred means are of receiving the praise.  Some people prefer a quiet thank you and recognition, while others will appreciate a handwritten note.  Look for opportunities to showcase the best of one of your coworkers or employees today.  Won’t you try it for a week, then come back and post the impact on Friday?  If you need help in gathering some details, take a look at these resources.  I’d love to see the stories.


photo by Franco Folini
As seen on MySA.com

What Makes a Great Leader

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My first real job during and after college was working for Candy.  Candy is an amazing leader.  From time to time, I’d blow it.  I would fill out an application incorrectly for a client, miss an overnight shipment drop by mistake because I put it in the FedEx box instead of UPS or I broke the refrigerator.  Each time as I would sheepishly approach her about it, she would respond, “If that’s the worst thing that happened today, you’re doing great! Most people can’t even say that.”  She knew that I gave her my best.  Some of these mistakes could have had significant impacts on the business, but she always maintained an amazing attitude.  Of all the things she taught me over the seven years I worked for her, and there were many, her amazing attitude was the most powerful.

Now, working with the fantastic SalesBy5, I have an amazing team surrounding me, with another great leader.  Sometimes, things don’t always go the way I need them to.  Hey, mistakes happen.  Every time, I think about how Candy would respond. I try my best to always issue the same response, and then help my team get back on their feet to get the situation resolved.  For me, an amazing attitude is easy when things are great.  When the amazing attitude remains even when circumstances aren’t great is when you see a true leader.  Remember, leadership has nothing to do with your title; it’s an attitude.  I hope I can live up to the examples set for me.

What do you think it takes to be a great leader?  Please share your thoughts in the comments!

As seen on MySA.com

How to Make Work Suck Less

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When I was a kid, every 6 weeks I was required to present my report card to my dad to review and discuss.  In 5th grade, I came home with a report card that only had A’s and B’s on it. He saw the number of B’s and determined that it was excessive and that I was to be grounded.  My dad was always creative in grounding me.  This time we went to K-Mart where he purchased different colored pocket t-shirts.  He informed me that during the coming 6 weeks, I would strictly be wearing these pocket t-shirts and my hair gel would be taken away.  Needless to say, I can’t wear a pocket t-shirt to this day since it is still associated with punishment.

According to the Gallup Organization, looking at grades this way is not unusual.  Here’s what their studies found:

“We presented parents with this scenario: Say your child returns home with the following grades: an A in English, an A in social studies, a C in biology, and an F in algebra. Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter? Seventy-seven percent of parents chose to focus on the F in algebra, only six percent on the A in English, and an even more minuscule number, one percent, on the A in social studies. Obviously, the algebra grade requires some attention because to progress in school and secure a place at a college or university, the child cannot afford to fail a subject.” (emphasis mine)

How would life be different for you and those around you, though, if you looked at maximizing your strengths and managing around your weaknesses?  First, it’s important to recognize that a strength is an activity that you are good at AND fulfills you.  It must meet both of those requirements or else it’s not a strength.  On the other hand, a weakness is an activity that you may or may not be good at, but leaves you drained, bored, or in essence, weak, after completing it.

When a person has their strengths (as defined above) engaged, they find that they have greater energy, are more engaged and are more productive.  A study by Marcus Buckingham shows these results in large corporations.  Strengths becomes even more powerful when a company (hat tip to Rackspace) or organization makes an effort to have everyone play to their strengths together.  If you’re interested in your personal development, Buckingham’s book Go Put Your Strengths to Work can help.  Would you like more details on how this works for you or your company?  Drop me a line, I can help you better understand how applying strengths can raise the performance of you and your team.

As seen on MySA.com