Phoenix Rising

Use eMarketing to Change Your Marketing Game

eMarketing is a powerful revenue tool - for marketing and sales. 

Noone knows that better than Ardath Albee, author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale.

In her newly released book, Ardath gives every B2B marketer the tips, tricks and tools they need to create eMarketing approaches that power prospects from initial engagement til they cross the revenue line.

Today's B2B marketers have more opportunity to positively impact sales revenue than ever before. Thanks to Web 2.0 we can attract prospects, begin our customer relationship, inform and entice qualified buyers - without ever directly engaging more expensive sales resources to nurture buyers along the way.

What an opportunity to change the game!

eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale is just the book to help your marketing team produce the most qualified prospects ever - prospects that are engaged and ready to buy.  Albee helps your marketing teams create compelling content that informs prospects at each stage in the buying process – moving them forward through the buying funnel, quickly and effectively.

The goal?  Contagious content that sells for you.

I've worked with Ardath for almost a decade now. I have never met anyone who better understands the ins and outs of eMarketing. Thanks to Ardath's expertise, my clients have effectively used eMarketing tools to increase revenues, shorten sales cycles, enhance sales productivity and increase marketing Return on Investment.

Check out her book and follow her recommendations. Your marketing and sales teams will benefit,  just as my client have.

Are you Expanding or Contracting?

We're all trying to do more with less.

But what happens when we cut things a little too lean and the result just plain sucks? OOPS.

As the child of two depression kids, I was raised to be frugal, to 'save for a rainy day' - to be always ready for economic disaster. I stopped short of stuffing the mattress with cash. But for years I was afraid to spend money on the right things in my life. I was a hoarder and I admit it.

Contraction is not a path to success.

That's true in life and business.When we contract our beliefs, our actions, our spending - we're asking for contraction in the results.

A former client called me last week. I'd helped them define their go-to-market strategy and positioning. They'd decided to go with someone more 'cost effective' for the much larger execution project. I wasn't willing to drop my rates (which I'd already heavily discounted on the promise of the entire project) so they moved on.

My client told me that the results had been less than he'd hoped. They weren't awful, but they weren't what we'd expected. My response?

You get what you pay for!

I didn't say that to him directly - I'm not that obnoxious!  But I thought it. And I bet he did as well.

The strategy was compelling, powerful and high value. The execution required an investment that matched that power. Instead of entering the market with a bang, they'd entered with a whisper. 

I gave him a few thoughts on how to address the issues and salvage the opportunity. All of which involved spending more money than if he'd done things the right way in the first place.

Be thoughtful when cutting corners!

Contraction is great for silly dollars. We all know there are ways to save and reduce spending, in our business and in our lives. But we must be conscious and selective about where we cut - and where we invest.

If all we do is contract, then how will we ever expand?

I learned that lesson recently in my own life.  I had a choice. Go with a New York publisher for my book - change it, dilute it, make it conform to their (boring) norm. OR, invest in myself, breakout and take a new path. Publish it myself - my content, my way.

I chose the latter - after a lot of gnashing of teeth and other body parts.Talk about mom and dad's voices in my head! But it's the right thing to do.

With the help of a great friend and mentor, I found the perfect publisher!  I met them last week and I love them!

Still, for my little depression-trained self - it's scary. But I know that contracting myself and my ideas is not the best path. So I'm practicing what I preach. I'm expanding and investing in myself. I've never been more assured that I was on the right path. It feels great.

Expansion breeds growth.

When we expect to expand, we open ourselves to the possibility of positive outcomes. We invest in those outcomes. When we contract our thinking -  we plan for the potential negative and it comes right to us.

So the next time you're trying to find a way to cut corners on that important project, think again.

Are you being smart, or simply contracting out of habit?

Be the Pig!

Changing the Game can save our butts.

This little pig Changed  the Game on the Queen of the jungle.  The result was, well - see for yourself.

How often do you change the game?

The world changes all around us, every day. Sometimes opportunities to change our business game come with new and shiny products, markets, customers and a happy fanfare.

Sometimes we are forced to change our game as part of a crisis or upheaval.

Changing the Game empowers us to grow and improve.

When we embrace change, look for a new way to play our 'game' we ditch the status quo and seek new ways of doing and being and thinking.

Changing the game can take a market by surprise, propelling us to leadership. Changing the game can leave a competitor wondering what hit them.Changing the Game can be the difference between winning and losing - for ourselves, our businesses and our dreams.

Think what we can do when we change the game!

So let's all get out there and Be the Pig!

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Wanna learn how to Change Your Positioning Game?

Join me for a for a FREE Webinar

Tuesday, October 27th, 1:00 pm EDT

If you’d like to learn more about my approach to Positioning That Works, 
please join me for this FREE Webinar. We’ll discuss:

• Why evidence is the critical part of our stories.

• The best questions to ask our customers to create compelling messages.

• How to create a Positioning Matrix from the 3 Pivot Points of Positioning.

• How to use this Matrix to dynamically spin story threads for each situation. 

• How to leverage 3rd parties to share your truth.

Click here  to register. 

Sponsored by Treehouse Interactive

Buzzwords are BS!

I’m not talking about technology or industry specific buzzwords. I’m talking about marketing buzzwords – that cross every industry and market.  Words like biggest, fastest, cheapest, newest, most reliable, most secure, most efficient, market leading, world-class, new and improved, leading edge. OMG.

Three adjectives and a noun are not a value proposition.

I used a Random Positioning Generator with my clients for years.  As a joke. It contained four columns of words. The first three included ’chest thumping’ marketing buzzwords The fourth included relevant nouns. My schtick was to select a word from each column and create a positioning claim.  I’d have a competitor’s claim that matched that statement in my back pocket. (Yes, I planned them ahead of time.)

My client’s yukked it up as we played.  Until their value statement popped up among the combos. They’d laugh, but they got the point.

Buzzwords make it harder to create distinction.

When we sound just like everyone else – we’re creating noise – not value. By the way - that noise is annoying to our audience.  When they see the same claims yet again – they get annoyed, click and move on.  Another business opportunity lost in the BS. How deep does it have to get before we learn?

We can communicate our value without the BS.

Here are some simple ideas on how to create compelling value propositions.

Use words that matter to our customers. The more precise and specific the better. Listen closely to the words and phrases customers use to describe the benefits that our product brings to them. Capture those words -- and use 'em!

Keep It Simple. Yes, the KISS principle applies. Simple statements don’t have to be fluff – they can be quite powerful. Simplicity brings clarity – and clear messages are the Holy Grail of positioning.

Apply our value. Asking our audiences to extract the value from generic, buzzword-ridden claims is risky at best.  Real positioning power comes when we apply a clear and concise value claim to a real-world scenario that our audience ‘gets’.  

Powerful value statements are clear, concise and relevant to our audience.

So unless you’re selling to full blown BS artists – stop with the buzzwords.

Get specific, get compelling and get the business.

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FREE WEBINAR – Positioning That Works

Tuesday, October 27th, 1:00 pm EDT

If you’d like to learn more about my approach to Positioning That Works, 
please join me for this FREE Webinar. We’ll discuss:

• Why evidence is the critical part of our stories.

• The best questions to ask our customers to create compelling messages.

• How to create a Positioning Matrix from the 3 Pivot Points of Positioning.

• How to use this Matrix to dynamically spin story threads for each situation. 

• How to leverage 3rd parties to share your truth.

Click here  to register. 

Sponsored by Treehouse Interactive

Mine’s Bigger than Yours!

Is anyone else tired of all the hype marketing?

I don’t mean all marketing. I’m talking about the hand-waving promises that are so unrealistic as to be laughable. Perfect teeth in 4 days, hair re-growth in a few applications or a perfect body in only 2 weeks thanks to some revolutionary rubber band. Stretch it 3 times a day and look like a fashion model in no time. Wow.

Do buyers really fall for that stuff?

I guess they do, or we wouldn’t have those ads all over the place, now would we?    Still, I don’t think it works for the majority of cases in the B2C world. Certainly not for B2B type audiences.

Yet we see similar claims from B2B vendors. Promises to reduce cost, eliminate debt, increase revenues - make you profitable or bring 100,000 users to your door TOMORROW. All with not a lot of proof to go along, just fantastic claims. I call it chest thumping. I also call it the Dinosaur Way of Marketing.

Those approached don’t work anymore folks.

Our audiences are too smart.

They can find out every 'truth' they want to know about us. Give them a search engine and they are off and running on a fact finding frenzy.  They roll their eyes when we start to claim leadership and do the chest thumping sell. They politely wait for us to finish – sometimes - and then take a dive deep into our real-world experience at the first opportunity.

Think about the way you use the web for your own buying decisions. 

Do you read the vendor website - or do you go to the reviews, the ePinions, Consumer Reports?  Odds are you look for others like you that have reviewed your products.  You don't go drink marketing Kool-Aid for your new refrigerator from the guys who built it, now do you?

Why should our B2B audience be any different?

They aren’t.  They want to know why they should trust us, why they should partner with us. Customers and prospects want to see our expertise in action. They want to know that we understand their business, that we've helped others like them to do cool things for their business. They want the evidence, not the claims.

B2B customers don't want positioning claims and Me, Me, Me Marketing.

They want the truth, and the evidence to support it.

Just like each of us when we begin a purchase a decision for a new car, television, appliance or home. We don’t want to hear the hype, we want just the facts. So why should we expect our own customers to want hype from us?

When creating a marketing story, it’s time we start thinking like a customer. Better yet, it’s time we let our customers and their successes speak for our abilities. Instead of thumping our own chests, we can let others speak our praises, demonstrate our value, prove our success.

It’s called ‘telling the truth’ and ‘being humble’.

Wow, what a concept.

________________________________
FREE WEBINAR – Positioning That Works

Tuesday, October 27th, 1:00 pm EDT

If you’d like to learn more about my approach to Positioning That Works, please join me for this FREE Webinar. We’ll discuss:

• Why evidence is the critical part of our stories
• The best questions to ask our customers to create compelling messages.
• How to create a Positioning Matrix from the 3 Pivot Points of Positioning.
• How to use this Matrix to dynamically spin story threads for each situation.
• How to leverage 3rd parties to share your truth.

Click here  to register.  

Sponsored by Treehouse Interactive.

The Tower of Babble

Communication is such a funny thing.

It's one of the most important things we do. After all, pretty much everything, in business and in life, is based on communicating.

Since we have the same vocabulary, same language (country to country) and are taught the same grammar - we'd think communication would be the easiest thing in the world.

So why do we have so much trouble getting on the same page sometimes?

Every communication is unique, based on our own experience.

What one person takes one way, another may take in a different way. What one expert assumes is a known fact, some may not know at all. Some may have a different perspective on that same fact.  If we base communication on that 'known' - well, we are in trouble.

Yet we do just that every day.

Take for example my horse trainer Deb. When we first started working together, we had a really hard time getting into sync. After some struggles - we finally realized that Deb's knowledge was based on principles of natural horsemanship - and mine was based on the 'normal' approach I learned in my younger years. Deb's basis was totally different from mine - so we couldn't communicate efficiently. Once we backed up, reviewed some fundamental principles and got in sync - everything got better. 

Communication happens when we base our discussions on a common experience.

Everyone hears a bit differently - based on their experience, history, knowledge and perceptions. How many times have you been knee deep in a discussion, wondering why the other person isn't 'getting it' - only to find that they were on a different track than yours? 

When communicating - we have to take those differences into account. We have to plan for them.Yet everyone has a different experience, so how do we embrace all of those variations in our audiences?

We can't.

It's impossible. There are too many variations out there. As many as there are people. But don't despair. Since we can't cover all the perspectives, we simply bring the perspectives into alignment with our own.

How? 

By providing a common experiential framework for everyone. We can begin our communication by laying a common groundwork for all. We can set the stage, frame the contextual and situational aspects of our communication focus. 

We can share a common starting point with our audience.

It doesn't have to take a long time, be a deep discussion. We can frame our communication focus in a few select, high impact words. Authors do it all the time. They bring us into a book in one sentence or less.  My favorite example of building a great communication basis?

"It was a dark and stormy night."

The Power of a Brand

All I wanted was to buy and Apple iPhone. It became a rather frustrating journey. I was so disappointed. I have always been a huge Apple fan, and they'd let me down. I shared my story on this blog, hoping I'd been fair and balanced in the telling. The post attracted quite a few responses - both public comments and private emails.

Everyone found a way to support Apple.

I was puzzled. I reread my post, thinking I hadn't been clear describing the situation. In my reality, ATT was the hero and Apple was the dark knight.  It was clear to me. 

Then I saw more comments, each different in its 'excuse', yet every one supporting Apple. WOW. It was a trip.  Some were pro-Apple, some anti-ATT, some forgiving of Apple and not-so-much-so of ATT. Check out some of the common themes. I added my reality in italics just to make it more interesting.

• That's what happens when you have a high demand product and limited supply.  iPhone 3Gs' are readily available. Pretty much anywhere. ATT had 6 in the store of my model and color.

• ATT service sucks more than their network. ATT offered to 'waste a' $700 phone so I wouldn't be out of service for 4 days. I personally like their cellular service and have been with them for 10 years.

• That's ATT's system problem not Apple's. Not what the folks at both companies told me. But more importantly, not the point.  I paid Apple for a service (fast shipping) that I wasn't going to receive. They treated me poorly when I pointed that out. That's the crux of the matter.

Then there was my favorite.

"If you would have just been patient and accepted the shipping delay and lived with your Palm for the week it would have been pretty easily solved.  Your lack of patients and the whole immediate satisfaction thing is annoying and difficult to always cater to."

Say what?  I paid for fast shipping, and I did it for a reason. My Palm is rebooting faster than I can dial a number. Palm users know what that means.  Bye Bye phone. Plus, I paid for a service and Apple wasn't going to deliver it.

When you have a great brand, you can get by with a lot.

Apple proved that to me yet again yesterday.  When you have a strong brand, you can make mistakes and refuse to acknowledge them, you can inconvenience your customer and they will keep on coming back for more.  They’ll even make  up excuses for you –just to keep you on the pedestal – whether you deserve to be there or not.

Hat's off to Apple for that power.  I love it. Don't we all wish we had that brand power?  Yet, in reality I'm kinda glad we don't.

Think what it would mean to customer service standards:)

____________________

On a personal note, my iPhone arrived today. Well, part of it did. I signed the FedEx release form, left it by the door. Apple shipped 2 packages, FedEx had one signed form. So they left one of the boxes and took the other, leaving me another form to sign.

This just gets better, doesn't it?  But - my iPhone was in the box, and I love it already! I set it up and played a bit. SO COOL. Then the big step – I synchronized with my Outlook Contacts.  Opened the phone window and there they were. SIX copies of each contact, without a phone number to be found.

Here we go again...

All I Wanted Was to Buy an iPhone

“I'm sorry, we can't find a way to sell you your iPhone.  You'll have to wait.”

Those are the last words I expected to hear in  the AT&T store. I’d run in all excited to purchase my new iPhone yesterday. You see, my Palm Centro is on its last legs. After playing with my friend’s new iPhone on Sunday, I was jazzed.

I ran home on Sunday night and placed an order with Apple. I even paid for fast shipping, so I could get it ASAP. Yes, immediate gratification was in charge!  Monday morning, I received a notice from Apple, stating that the phone would arrive by Friday or the following Monday. You call that ASAP shipping?

Strike #1 Apple.

I called Apple's customer service desk, and explained my situation to the nice man in India five times. He kept explaining that five to six days was fast shipping. In whose world?

Strike #2 Apple.

He finally accepted my opinion on his fast shipping, after I explained my locale and situation. I live 6 hours from the Apple distribution warehouse so a week is not ASAP.  After much pushing and begging, he offered to reverse the order so that I could go buy the phone in a local store.  I remember thinking "Why does buying something have to be so hard?" Little did I know...

I headed out later on Monday to the local ATT store to buy my new iPhone. I was so excited – I love new toys! I found a salesman, Jeff, who got a kick out of my excitement! We picked out my iPhone, accessories and headed for the checkout. Jeff entered my phone number, started to check me out – and then got this confused look on his face.  “Have you already bought an iPhone?” Ah, the Apple thing. I explained what had happened. He shook his head and took a deep breath.

“I have to talk to my manager. I don’t think we can sell you a phone."

WHAT???

Long story short.  Apple did cancel the order. But it takes 3-4 days for Apple to clear the transaction from ATTs system. In the meantime, they put a hold on my ATT account – so no new purchases or changes can be made.  So basically – I can’t have a new phone until Apple's system releases my account. You gotta be kidding me? What transactions takes 4 days to clear in this digital age??

Strike #3 and you’re OUT Apple.

I’m a customer ready to make a purchase. I have cash in hand. And I can’t buy?

To be fair - the ATT manager offered to sell me an iPhone at full price for the week. I’d return it when Apple released my account. ATT would sell me a new one at the discount for my upgrade – and then THROW AWAY the brand new iPhone I bought at full price.  OMG – what a waste!

I declined.  That just didn’t seem fair to poor ATT.  Just because Apple can’t ship in a timely way and saw fit to highjack my account, why should ATT pay for it?

So here I sit, no iPhone and helpless to do anything about it.

Sigh, I can’t even go buy a Blackberry Storm. They stopped me from buying anything.  I called Apple again and finally found a manager after a long begging session with another outsourced rep who badly needed to buy a clue.  That manager stepped up and attempted to get my iPhone here sooner, due to my inconvenience.  So I’ll have a phone by Wednesday (we hope). Now why didn't the first rep offer that same timeline???

I give Apple three strikes and a BIG OUT for Customer Service.

What do you think?

When the Expert is Just Plain Wrong

We're all taught to trust the experts,

whether they are a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief (I had to do that:)). Seriously, we all look to the experts for sage and sound advice.  In business and our personal lives, we trust them to help us see  more deeply into whatever situation we're facing. 

What happens when the experts are wrong?

We retain business experts to help us learn about new markets and situations. We rely on them to fill in our gaps, to add their in-depth knowledge to our business planning. We seek out those with demonstrated success and longevity in a specific market, who have the hands on experience to help us succeed.

But what if these experts are stuck in their own status quo thinking? What if they can't see the future, the changes, the evolution that's happening in their own field of expertise? What if their expertise is jaded (and diminished) by the 'way they've always done it'? 

We have to take responsibility for our own destiny.

I'm speaking from my own experience here. These past few weeks I have been working with an 'expert' in a particular field of new interest for my own business.  I hired a person whom I thought was the best. Great experience, lots of references from close associates. I was so excited!

Almost from the beginning of our work together I had the strong belief that my expert's recommendations  were out of sync with my focus. Did I listen to my own internal warning system?  Nope. I kept changing my approach, my plan, my thinking to follow his guidance.  I stuffed my own knowing into the closet and followed the experts' advice.

Your intuition can be stronger than the best expert around!

I found myself feeling less and less excited about the work. I started to dread focusing on this aspect of my business. I was grumpy and confused. The more advice I received from my expert, the more lost I felt.

Last week I sat down and took a strong look at what was happening around this project.  Here's what I found:

My core focus had shifted so much I didn't recognize the work anymore. Neither did my friends, who I approached for their thoughts. My audience had shifted as well - suddenly I was focused on a whole different group. The work had been diluted to the point that I cringed as I reviewed it.

I'd been transformed into this 'expert's' version of me. 

I lost myself in the process. Wow. I dug a little deeper and realized that this expert did know his stuff.  Problem is that his experience and focus was in a different niche of his broad market than the one I wanted to address. We were (and are) out of sync. Needless to say - we've gone our separate ways and I'm now digging out to find the original core of my ideas.

I've learned a valuable lesson. Thanks to this experience - the core ideas are returning even stronger.  Not because of what the expert told me to do. His advice sent me off in the wrong direction for what I intended to accomplish. Now I'm taking what I've learned from my friends and mentors about this new area -and filtering what is right for me, my goals and my work.  My ideas and my commitment are stronger than ever - because I'm trusting my intuition and my own expertise to know what's right for me.

Don't dismiss your own knowing, no matter what the experts say.

Cats with Shiny Objects

Mighty Mouse taught us that focus is key to competitive success.

Vision and change is also key to business growth. 

We must seek out and embrace new ideas, new ways of being, new markets and new opportunities.We must evolve and change to thrive.

So, how do we blend vision and focus?

The key is to identify and focus on those truly great ideas - focusing until we bring them to fruition in our business. That may sound easy, but all too often it's not. Why? Because new ideas and opportunities keep popping up. What's new is often more interesting and exciting. 

Companies are often like cats with shiny objects.

  

Ever watch a cat with lots of objects in motion around it?  Kitty will change her focus every second chasing that new and different thing. That's great for keeping kitty engaged and out of trouble, but it's not so good for business success.

That's not meant to be an insult by the way. I happen to be just such a cat. I see a problem and then next thing you know, I'm free associating all over the place to solve it. I bounce from one extreme to the other and everywhere in between, trying on new ideas and approaches until I find one that I know is right for my client. 

That's the key  - right there. 

We have to know when to settle on an approach and get focused.

Constantly chasing the next great thing is a big problem in many businesses. Sure, innovation is great.  But there's ALWAYS going to be some new shiny object. We can't drop our most recent focus to move to the next, and the next. We never get anywhere. We spin our wheels, waste time and money.

It's a delicate balancing act.

The key is to blend the curiosity of a cat exploring new ideas - and the discipline of Mighty Mouse, focusing once we set our course, to the exclusion of competitive and other distractions. Listening carefully for new ideas that fuel our current focus, expand it, evolve it - without distracting our overall efforts.

Focus implies a constant, vision an ever-changing horizon.  The ultimate? To blend the best of both worlds. It's not simple to balance between two seemingly diametrically opposed viewpoints. Yet is a critical factor in our business success.

If they can do it, We can do it!

 
 

Lessons from a Mighty Mouse

So you think your competitor is scary?

Put yourself in Mighty Mouse's shoes, er, paws.

Our heroine appeared in this leopard's habitat just after the keeper dropped off breakfast. Mighty Mouse headed straight for the food. She ignored the leopard. Nothing was going to deter her. No matter what the leopard tried, Mighty Mouse stuck to her focus. When she had her fill, she moved on, unharmed and a much happier (and fatter) mouse.

What can we learn from Mighty Mouse?

Competitors are looming around us.

We're all after the same piece of the pie, er steak.

Do we focus on the competitor? Or on the goal?  You can see what little Mighty Mouse did. She focused on her goal.  She knew exactly what she wanted, and she kept her eyes on the ball, er beef.

The competition will try to distract us.

Sometimes they get really pushy.

That didn't bother little Mighty Mouse. She stuck to her focus no matter what her competitor did to distract or dissuade her!

She didn't change her tactics just because the competition got nasty. She didn't start throwing FUD or engaging in the leopard's tactics. She had a lot to lose if she played the leopard's game. So she kept to her own game plan. She ignored the leopard and went for  the gusto!

Even with fierce competition we can be successful!

If we stay focused!

Mighty Mouse attained her goal. She fed herself until she was stuffed. Her 'friendly competitor' stayed close by and watched. The leopard didn't know what to do. It was dumbfounded by this little mouse who refused to be swayed by its usual tactics.

Think what we can do when we stay focused!

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These shots were taken at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire by photography student Casey Gutteridge.  Way to go Casey - what a great example of being at the right place at the right time!

Right and Wrong in the Eyes of the Beholder

Have Right and Wrong become a subjective decision?

Not so long ago  we had a clear and consistent value system. Today we ebb and flow based on the situation and those involved. What's OK for one business executive may not be ethical in another executive's eyes. 

That makes for an interesting playing field, doesn't it? 

How can we stay in our own ethics and yet hope to compete when others can change the rules based on their own personal opinions? For example, when one company sees predatory pricing as 'just part of the game' and another views it as ' not acceptable' - who gets the advantage? What about when your competitor is willing to throw nasty accusations at you, but you're not willing to step into the fray by attacking them publicly in return? How can we possibly win in those conditions?

Do we stretch our own ethics to remain competitive?

I hope not! My friends call me a PollyAnna, but I still believe in the innate goodness of humanity. I also believe that customers see through the folks who are twisting ethics to make their own gains.  I certainly sense them, and based on the social media discussions all around us - I'd say a lot of professionals are calling a spade a spade when it comes to business ethics. I believe that customers are just as insightful - and many are saying enough is enough! 

 Customers recognize vendors with questionable integrity.

It may take a while (and heaven knows that patience is on my list of things to acquire) but I believe that businesses and people who thrive thanks to questionable ethics will be found out.  Just look at our recent economic history - and the backlash against Wall Street from the American public. As my mom used to say, "What goes around comes around." What better place for that to be true than in business!

So why do some people push the envelope of integrity?

I was chatting with a friend about an ethical issue he's having out on the social nets. Someone is representing their thoughts and their writing as coming from him. Who knows why. My friend had to publicly declare what was going on so folks would know the truth.  My friends' comment about it was right on - and made me sad.

"Some people just don't know right from wrong."

It seems true at face value. Just look at the world around us. From major sports figures and performance drugs, to businesses cheating on their financial reports to our own democratic process. Everywhere we turn it seems that someone is stretching integrity - or ignoring it completely. What does that say about us, our businesses, our whole way of believing and thinking?

Somewhere, deep down inside, we all know the fundamentals of right and wrong.

When the bankers played their financial games - they knew deep down inside that they were in the wrong. They just didn't listen to that knowing. They followed their darker instincts, along with the herd of others who were doing the same. But just because someone else is doing it doesn't make it right. Anything but.

It's time to listen to what we know - and act upon it!

We know right from wrong. Our core small voice tells us whenever we step beyond the boundaries of honesty and fairness. When we push the line on ethics - we know it full well. Our conscious is screaming at us all the way across that line.

Can it be that easy to find the ethical path of integrity?  I think it can be. Just listen to the voice deep inside us - to the core truth that lives in us all. We can all hear it. We can stand up and be counted for integrity in business. Put the reality on the table when we see questionable business ethics.  Be gracious, but be firm.

If we all stand for the right - hopefully we can change the eyes of all beholders.

I Really Should...

'Should' can go the way of the Woolly Mammoth.

It limits us, keeps us in a repetitive pattern of thinking and behavior. Think about it. Our parents used the 'should' word to teach us their version of right and wrong, to take responsibility and to follow the local cultural and social rules. And yes, some 'shoulds' are good things. We should be responsible, contributing members of society. We should follow the important guidelines of humanity. We should brush our teeth:)

The problem?

'Should' limits our new thinking and behaviors.

An early mentor asked me to listen to my inner 'shoulds' for a day'. It was an unforgettable exercise. Why? I learned that my 'shoulds' were creating an inner struggle. They wanted to keep me and my behavior in line with the accepted norms of the day. Not one single should was supportive of being different - or distinctive. As you can guess - I wanted a different path. So the internal dialogues began.

I should stay in my job, not build my own business. I was too young, it was too high risk. But I want to be a consultant and help many companies. I believe in me.

I should work fewer hours, stop traveling and settle down.But I love my work and want my freedom to explore this world of ours.

I should be afraid to travel to alone. But I want to climb the Himalyas, see Machu Picchu, dive in untouched waters.

I should work 5 days a week, 8-5 and live a normal life. I don't want others' normal - I want my own lifestyle and pace. I want to be free.

Thanks to that mentor, I began to break free of my 'shoulds'. I started my consulting business at 29 and never looked back. I worked my tail-off and found fulfillment in my own way. I traveled to Nepal and climbed through amazing mountains - including a Millenium trip to Everest. I dived with sharks and kayaked with whales in the middle of nowhere.  I work a lot of hours, but on a very different schedule than the norm - one that supports my life priorities.

My point? I chose to abandon the 'shoulds' in favor of my truth in my life in my present.

Business 'shoulds' are really no different.

'Should' keeps us stuck in our status quo.

When you hear someone say 'We should', it's a surefire flag that we're thinking in the wrong direction - toward the status quo. By its very nature 'should' keeps us in past thinking. It's a harbinger of programming based on the history of our business, of business in general and 'good sense'.

The problem is that many of our business 'shoulds' aren't valid  anymore. The world changes, our market  moves, our competitors are playing differently.  Sticking to our 'shoulds' destines us to failure - we don't evolve. We stay stuck in whatever belief that 'should' represents.

'Should' can also give us the wrong message.

Case in point. We should take care of our customers. 

Sounds reasonable doesn't it? ONLY if you constrain it. How many companies spend fortunes taking care of customers who aren't reciprocating by being reasonable, or true partners? How many times do you try to take care of someone and get bit by your response? Wanna read a great take on this 'should'? Check out Scott McKain's post on the Ultimate Customer Experience.

Let's all kick 'should' out of our business vocabulary.

We already know the fundamental principles about honesty, integrity and doing the right thing.  That's the primary value 'should' brings. Embrace those principles and we'll no longer need the 'should' word.

To be successful, we have to think beyond the status quo. We have to think forward, not about what we 'should' do, but about what we can do that is new and different.

Wow, we've come full circle back to Tuesday's post.  Instead of asking "What should we do?", ask something much more powerful.

"What CAN we do?"