Transformational leaders change the world by generating enduring enthusiasm for a common cause. They present innovative solutions to solve significant problems. They inspire people to want to change, so that positive energy sustains the change over time. If a leader’s inner commitment to change is to have any effect, they have to communicate to the people they aspire to lead.
Traditional model of communication:
Define problem >> Analyse problem >> Recommend solution
Successful leaders communicate very differently from the traditional model, they communicate by following a hidden pattern:
Get attention >> Stimulate desire >> Reinforce with reasons
From ‘The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative’
by Stephen Denning
“It is the perennial debate… between the beliefs that all creative acts are born of (a) some transcendent, inexplicable Dionysian act of inspiration… or (b) hard work… I come down on the side of hard work… Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.”
What is your creative ambition?
What are the vital steps to achieve it?
How do you begin your day?
What are your habits?
Twyla Tharp in The Creative Habit: Learn It And Use It For Life
You gotta love this book just from its title: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Levitt & Dubner, 2005). These articles, and studies, and books, and journals following the trend, are addressing the implications of a globalised economy increasingly founded on the exchange of intangibles. That’s one of the reasons everyone is crazy about brands and branding, the whole love-marks thing. And that’s why we find perfectly rational economists talking about sumo wrestlers and drug gangs.
The equation of classical economics, that markets will always seek equilibrium between demand and supply, only works when we’re all making rational choices all the time. And we don’t, we just don’t. Tag something in your product range with the word ‘FREE!’ and see what happens.
1. Take an existing or potential product or service.
2. Set your timer for 120 seconds.
3. Before your time runs out come up with 9 (or more!) reasons why a customer of this product/service might say ‘thank-you’.
4. Change the grateful party to your business partner or supplier and repeat.
From: The Idea Accelerator: How to solve problems faster using Speed Thinking by Dr Ken Hudson
“None of the people who are racking up amazing success stories and creating cool stuff are doing it just by working more hours than you are. And I hate to say it, but they’re not smarter than you either. They’re succeeding by doing hard work.
Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you’d rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier.”
Seth Godin
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