Scott Monty | Timeless Wisdom

Go Play Outside

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How many times as children did we hear from our parents, or as parents ourselves say to our children, "Go play outside."? 
 
It's code for: you've spent enough time inside / in front of a screen / annoying your sibling / bugging me; go do something else. 
 
It's a good lesson. 
 
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 "Geniuses differ from ordinary men less in the character of their attention than in the nature of the objects upon which it is successively bestowed." </div>
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– William James [<a href="https://ctt.ac/ifgd7" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
Regardless of what vertical industry you ply your trade—manufacturing, retail, food and beverage, technology, financial services, etc.—or the department in which you sit (marketing, HR, communications, IT, etc.), it's important to get out of your bubble. 
 
It's easy and tempting to simply rely on the experience of what we know and of those around us. But when we open our eyes to things that aren't obvious, to instances that we might think don't apply to us or our area of business, it can be transformative. 
 
While I was on the communications team at Ford, we made it our business to study other industries and their approach to marketing and communications, rather than blithely following our competitors. Our aim was to be the best in all industry, not just the best in our industry. 
 
The human mind and spirit doesn't care whether you're trying to sell them a car, a burger, a phone, a pair of jeans, or a summer vacation. It cares about the overall experience, the information required to make a decision, and how they felt while the experience was happening. 
 
So go find some examples that resonate with people, that make you feel a certain way, and that stand out from the same-old, same-old of your industry. 
 
Go play outside. 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pied_Piper.jpg" target="_blank">The Pied Piper of Hamelin</a> by Kate Greenaway, 1888 (Wikimedia Commons)

Go Play Outside

How many times as children did we hear from our parents, or as parents ourselves say to our children, "Go play outside."? It&...

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Do This One Thing

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We think we know Abraham Lincoln pretty well. The 16th president of the United States stands as one of the greatest leaders of all time -- one who guided us through the U.S. Civil War with wisdom and patience, while riddled with self-doubt. 
 
He is on the penny and the five dollar bill. The Lincoln Memorial stands in a prominent place in Washington, DC. John Wilkes Booth made him a martyr; the Gettysburg address made his words immortal. 
 
But after having served a single term in Congress, Lincoln returned to Illinois and considered himself a failure. He had hoped that his service to the cause would have resulted in a presidential appointment in an important office, but was disappointed when it didn't happen. 
 
During the next five years, he withdrew from public life and lost interest in politics. 
 
But far from being an unproductive time, Lincoln threw himself into his legal practice and more importantly, into a prolonged period of intense "personal, intellectual, moral, and professional growth," as recounted by Doris Kearns Goodwin in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Turbulent-Doris-Kearns-Goodwin/dp/1476795924" target="_blank">Leadership in Turbulent Times</a>. How did he do it? 
 
Through tireless and honest self-examination. He knew that if he wanted to make an impact on the world, this effort had to be relentless and sustained: he needed "a willingness to confront weakness and imperfection, reflect upon failure, and examine the kind of leader he wanted to be." 
 
The Abraham Lincoln we think we know is held to ideals of great wisdom, insight, and success. But becoming that Lincoln required a great deal of work. 
 
The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said: 
 
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"Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous."</div>
 
And he was right. What we contemplate helps us to determine a path forward. We all make mistakes -- in personal relationships, with co-workers, on projects -- it's part of being human. But if we fail to learn from those mistakes, we'll find ourselves making them over and over. 
 
You've probably come across senior leaders who think they know everything, or those who belittle others, or who are inexperienced. But those aren't the most difficult clients to coach. It's the ones who won't take the time to reflect on themselves who are problematic. 
 
<a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2018/09/emotional-intelligence-and-power-of.html" target="_blank">Emotional intelligence</a> consists partly of self-awareness, and you can't have self-awareness without self-reflection. 
 
An <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/03/why-you-should-make-time-for-self-reflection-even-if-you-hate-doing-it" target="_blank">an article in the Harvard Business Review</a>, Jennifer Porter wrote: 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions."</blockquote>
 
Abraham Lincoln's habit of self-reflection, taken up in 1849 following his defeat for a second term in Congress, formed the basis of what he needed during the Civil War. 
 
For without the intense self-discipline to scrutinize himself, he would not have developed the habit that allowed him to block out the chaos of the early 1860s and take the counsel of his team of rivals that fueled his decision making during the war. 
 
Even when we've failed—especially when we've failed—we need to be brutally honest with ourselves. For only then can we forge a path forward that shows us the gaps we need to fill and the strengths we need to play to. 
 
 
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Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Do This One Thing

We think we know Abraham Lincoln pretty well. The 16th president of the United States stands as one of the greatest leaders of all time -...

If You're Committed to Transformation, You Need Start Small

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Resolutions are hard. It's probably why we only make them once a year. 
 
January is the natural time to do that, as we look to turn the page and make a change. But doing so requires a degree of self-awareness and an understanding of what we can realistically commit to. 
 
Whether we're planning new campaigns, a daily routine, or a way to engage with our direct reports, building in new habits requires a set of gradual, rather than drastic, changes. 
 
And waiting for the payoff requires patience. 
 
Which can be difficult when Wall Street wants quarterly results and your boss wants this month's numbers. 
 
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“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” </div>
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– Charles C. Noble</div>
 
Changing behavior takes time. But it's the first step toward making broader changes that are essential for personal and business growth. 
 
It's what will make teams think about each other differently and commit to working together in different and better ways. 
 
It's what will pave the path for considering customer-centric approaches to experience design. 
 
It's what will lead toward improved technology purchases. 
 
But committing to that enterprise technology system out of the gate? That's a mistake. Because you haven't built the muscle memory through force of habit yet. 
 
After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.

If You're Committed to Transformation, You Need Start Small

Resolutions are hard. It's probably why we only make them once a year. January is the natural time to do that, as we look to turn t...

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

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The last day of the year seems the perfect time to share this classic poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Written in 1850, "Ring Out, Wild Bells" is part of In Memoriam. 
 
It looks backward and forward, and represents the kind of reflection that we naturally gravitate toward at the close of the calendar year. 
 
No matter what 2018 has brought you, it's a chance to wipe the slate clean and begin anew in the year ahead. 
 
<h2>
In Memoriam [Ring Out, Wild Bells]</h2>
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 
   The flying cloud, the frosty light: 
   The year is dying in the night; 
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. 
 
Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow: 
   The year is going, let him go; 
Ring out the false, ring in the true. 
 
Ring out the grief that saps the mind 
   For those that here we see no more; 
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor, 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 
 
Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
   And ancient forms of party strife; 
   Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws. 
 
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, 
   The faithless coldness of the times; 
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes 
But ring the fuller minstrel in. 
 
Ring out false pride in place and blood, 
   The civic slander and the spite; 
   Ring in the love of truth and right, 
Ring in the common love of good. 
 
Ring out old shapes of foul disease; 
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; 
   Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace. 
 
Ring in the valiant man and free, 
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand; 
   Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be. 
 
 
Wishing you all the best for a happy and prosperous 2019. 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/421658" target="_blank">Waltham Abbey, Essex</a> by Peter De Wint, c.1840 (The Met, public domain)

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

The last day of the year seems the perfect time to share this classic poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Written in 1850, "Ring Out, Wild...

Once More, With Feeling

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Vincent Price's name is synonymous with Gothic horror. He famously said, "It's as much fun to scare as it is to be scared." 
 
But Price's interests went beyond the sense of fear. He was an art collector and consultant who earned a degree in art history and opened his own gallery. He had roles that spanned the stage, radio, television, film and animation. He we even a gourmet cook with a cookbook to his name. 
 
But it was one of his cult classic films that really brought his sense of horror to life. 
 
In 1959, Vincent Price teamed up with the director William Castle to makes one of the most camp, carnivalesque horror masterpieces of that decade, The House on Haunted Hill. But the lesser-known follow-up <a href="http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/161103%7C0/The-Tingler.html" target="_blank">The Tingler</a> went even farther with a classic “mad scientist” role. 
 
The film follows Price’s pathologist Dr. Chapin and his research into how the spine “tingles” when experiencing fear. He discovers this is caused by a parasite that attaches itself to the spine which, if scared badly enough, will grow and eventually kill its host. 
 
The only antidote is screaming — the louder the better — to neutralize the terrifying effects of “the tingler.” 
 
The film begins with an onscreen appearance by the director, who warns his audience that the physical sensation of tingling so central to the movie may also be experienced by some people in the theater. 
 
In reality, this was caused by one of Castle’s most famous gimmicks — electrified buzzing gadgets that had been placed underneath random audience members’ seats. The Tingler's shadow was shown across the screen, as if it was loose in the projection booth. The audience was warned, and then…ZAP! 
 
Trashy, outrageous, and proudly silly, Castle was a true master of understanding the centrality of sensory affect to the horror experience. He knew that horror was as much — if not more — a physical experience as an intellectual or emotional one. 
 
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<h2>
The Sound of Travel</h2>
If you ever took an Amtrak train through a major station on the East coast, you may have heard the soft flipping of the split-flap schedule board that used to inhabit train stations in Boston, New York, Newark, and Baltimore, and is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annemariekelly/2012/01/17/scented-ads-not-just-for-perfume-anymore/?mod=djemCMOToday#7da351d845a6" target="_blank">preparing to be retired in Philadelphia</a>. 
 
It's visceral. And it was an important part of the rail travel experience. The same way a used bookstore provides a sensory experience that a Kindle cannot. 
 
Humans are sensory creatures, and we experience books by smell as well as by sight and touch; similarly, travel includes sounds as well as sights. The board updating was a reminder — in those days before the dings and buzzes of smartphone reminders — to look up and the board and check the status of your train. 
 
But more than an analog travel assistant, that soft flipping was a visceral component of the commuter's experience, just as the clickety-clack of the rails was. 
 
It made up part of the romanticized image of rail travel that brings us back to a more genteel, sophisticated time of travel (or at least that's what our imagination tells us). Grand temples of transportation. Well-dressed individuals. Gate attendants and stewards who weren't quite as surly. When travel was less of a rush and more of a joy. 
 
Whether or not that image is true, it occupies a place in our mind. And the removal of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-flap_display" target="_blank">Solari board</a> at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station takes us one step further away from it. 
 
Now we have to be satisfied with travel alerts that ding and buzz in our pockets on our smartphones. 
 
Perhaps one day, our children will romanticize that experience in turn. 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“But there can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson...Shall they not always live in Baker Street? Are they not there this moment, as one writes? Outside, the hansoms rattle through the rain, and Moriarty plans his latest devilry. Within, the sea-coal flames upon the hearth and Holmes and Watson take their well-won case...So they still live for all that love them well; in a romantic chamber of the heart, in a nostalgic country of the mind, where it is always 1895.”</blockquote>
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— Vincent Starrett, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes</div>
 
 
<h2>
I'm Sensing Something</h2>
The good news is there are a few brands who understand the power of many senses and are working to incorporate more into their marketing and promotions. 
 
McCain Foods, the frozen food manufacturer, is <a href="https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/mccain-cooks-potato-scented-bus-stop-campaign/1115738?mod=djemCMOToday" target="_blank">installing the smell of baked potatoes</a> to 10 bus stops around the U.K. as part of its £1.4 million push for Ready Made Jackets. 
 
At several movie theaters across the U.S., the ads really smell — like cinnamon rolls. Pillsbury is <a href="https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pillsbury-pump-cinnamon-roll-smells-movie-theaters/315892/?mod=djemCMOToday" target="_blank">pumping the delicious scent into 25 theaters</a> as part of a campaign that attempts to spark sales for its refrigerated dough by linking cinnamon roll smells to holiday memories. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6DyZtox_jlA/XBH2pMMzyII/AAAAAAABB_8/12I28ymYqzk9ewm_GqgR7KBbOQwjG42XgCLcBGAs/s1600/Smellevision.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="953" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6DyZtox_jlA/XBH2pMMzyII/AAAAAAABB_8/12I28ymYqzk9ewm_GqgR7KBbOQwjG42XgCLcBGAs/s400/Smellevision.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey, who would have thought that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_qvjwLmrHo" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank">Elmer Fudd would have predicted the advent of Smellevision</a> in 1940?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
Remember scratch and sniff books when you were a kid? Well, they're back, but this time in magazine ads for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annemariekelly/2012/01/17/scented-ads-not-just-for-perfume-anymore/?mod=djemCMOToday#6b6cb00445a6" target="_blank">household items, cleaners, medicines and more</a>. 
 
 
If we can use more than one sense at a time, we stand a good chance to win not only hearts and minds, but memories. And a memories are linked to experiences, we'll be calling up on powerful emotions that can better engage our customers. 
 
 
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Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senses_(Rembrandt)#/media/File:The_Senses.jpg" target="_blank">The Senses</a> by Rembrandt, 1624 (Wikipedia - public domain)

Once More, With Feeling

Vincent Price's name is synonymous with Gothic horror. He famously said, "It's as much fun to scare as it is to be scared.&q...

Empathy as a Differentiator

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You're selling a commodity. 
 
It doesn't matter whether your company produces cars, provides consulting services, operates a retail establishment, or makes ice cream. 
 
Whatever it is that you do, you have a competitor that does the same thing, and there's one thing that keeps your customers from defecting. 
 
They may buy someone else's product because it's cheaper. Or more convenient. 
 
But what you you could make them feel a certain way? 
 
If you've ever been on hold for a customer service call — one where you're worked up over an issue — and you're only getting more angry because you have to wait to speak with someone, then you're not going to appreciate the unfeeling and disembodied: 
 
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"We regret any inconvenience you may have experienced."</div>
 
That sounds like something a lawyer might have written. 
 
But imagine if you could make your customer feel relieved, or entertained, or at the very least, listened to. 
 
The simple gesture of saying, "Oh, that's terrible," or "I'm really sorry to hear that," goes a long way. 
 
It puts more humanity into the situation and lets your customer know that there's someone like them at your company. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Acquire the habit of attending carefully to what is being said by another, and of entering, so far as possible, into the mind of the speaker.”</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Marcus Aurelius [<a href="https://ctt.ac/e2dSR" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
A couple of hundred years before Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire, Cicero was impressing the Roman people in his turn in the Senate and as a well-known orator with a similar turn of phase: 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words."</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Cicero [<a href="https://ctt.ac/aU74I" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
It's not always easy to imagine a situation or the world view as someone else might. But if you can at least show them you're trying, it's a start. 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gu%C3%A9rin_Andromaque_et_Pyrrhus.JPG" target="_blank">Andromache and Pyrrhus</a> by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1810 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Empathy as a Differentiator

You're selling a commodity. It doesn't matter whether your company produces cars, provides consulting services, operates a reta...

Make Better Customer Experiences the New Normal

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On Wednesday, December 5, 2018, America had a national day of mourning to mark the passing of George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States. 
 
So much has been written about his life and legacy in the past few days, but one thing stood out to me, and I'd like to reflect on it here with you, if you'll allow it. 
 
You've likely seen the letter that President Bush left for President Clinton as Oval Office changed hands. Just in case, here's what he wrote: 
 
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Dear Bill, 
 
When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too. 
 
I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described. 
There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course. 
 
You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. 
 
Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. 
 
Good Luck — George</blockquote>
 
Just imagine leaving a kind and gracious note for someone who has handed you the worst defeat of your professional life. 
 
As Jay Baer might say, that's how you <a href="https://www.jaybaer.com/hug-your-haters/" target="_blank">Hug Your Haters</a>! 
 
Shock and awe. Surprise and delight. 
 
You've heard the phrases before: those that indicate we're astonishing someone with something unexpected. When we come out of left field and make someone feel special when they're least expecting it. 
 
If done well (assuming people like certain surprises), it can drive brand loyalty and create a fanbase. 
 
I was reminded of this when I witnessed all of the praise being heaped on George H.W. Bush following his death of Friday, referring to his decency and kindness. It's a little unnerving to think that decency and kindness are rare or out of the ordinary, but here we are. 
 
We've seen it happen in the world of digital and social media as well. 
 
 
<ul>
<li>When someone receives <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2018/11/human-emotions-win-every-time.html" target="_blank">a handwritten note</a> when they're used to reading tweets and texts, that's a stand-out moment.</li>
<li>When someone gets <a href="https://youtu.be/cgIQiLmhf3s?t=672" target="_blank">a phone call from the CEO</a> when they're considering a rival brand, that's remarkable.</li>
<li>When customer service makes someone feel like they're the only person in the world at the time, that's something that people will talk about.</li>
</ul>
 
 
But why make this the exception? Why not aim for making this a regular way of doing things? 
 
The question is: can you scale it and make it happen again and again? That's the crux of the book <a href="http://talktriggers.com/" target="_blank">Talk Triggers</a> by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin. 
 
They identified four criteria that result in talk triggers, or built-in differentiators that create customer conversations: be remarkable, relevant, reasonable, and repeatable. 
 
Because you need customers and employees to appreciate you for the culture and experiences you create on a regular basis, not the exceptional stand-alone efforts that are just stunts. 
 
Once you get beyond the surprising, then you're just left with the delightful. 
 
And isn't that what everyone wants? 
 
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/540039813&color=0c69a5" width="100%"></iframe> 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_Horatii" target="_blank">The Oath of the Horatii</a> by Jacques-Louis David, 1784 (Wikipedia - public domain)

Make Better Customer Experiences the New Normal

On Wednesday, December 5, 2018, America had a national day of mourning to mark the passing of George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the Uni...

How to Truly Surprise and Delight

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1UIZ1IkxeJE/XAZEq7ygppI/AAAAAAABB5g/J2eFWGqVrgYWErKPl7DjbBukqnwVVivDQCLcBGAs/s1600/Edouard_Hamman%2B-%2BDisillusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1017" height="566" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1UIZ1IkxeJE/XAZEq7ygppI/AAAAAAABB5g/J2eFWGqVrgYWErKPl7DjbBukqnwVVivDQCLcBGAs/s640/Edouard_Hamman%2B-%2BDisillusion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
It's kind of sad when we celebrate what should be accepted as normal, isn't it? 
 
Like when people get excited about receiving praise or a handwritten note. 
 
Or talk wistfully about a leader who treated people with kindness and compassion. 
 
Why aren't we simply doing things that were once expected? That were once the price of existence? And doing them because they're the right thing to do – not because we want something. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Mark Twain</div>
 
Early in my career at Ford, I was at a conference in Paris, and I remember meeting someone for the first time with whom I had corresponded with online for a few years. 
 
We chatted for about 10 minutes or so, and when we were done, I remember her remarking at how blown away she was that I put my phone away, gave her my undivided attention, and just listened to and talked with her. 
 
While I was glad that we met and spoke, I was left with this feeling of melancholy: wistful that attention, consideration, and kindness were now considered exceptional rather than the norm. 
 
 
The simple act of doing what's right is a powerful strategy. 
 
What's within your power to change such that your customers, employees, colleagues and friends see you as a kind and decent person or brand, leaving them more gratified than astonished? 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edouard_Hamman_-_Disillusion_-_WGA11202.jpg" target="_blank">Disillusionment</a> by Edouard Hamman, 1851 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

How to Truly Surprise and Delight

It's kind of sad when we celebrate what should be accepted as normal, isn't it? Like when people get excited about receiving pr...

Your Path to Success Requires This Characteristic

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65HDwEIcEYQ/W_-Q5B4jWyI/AAAAAAABB14/3yh-4dpusCAHc0a2FFLDMAvQdbR_jpM5ACLcBGAs/s1600/Seneca%2B-%2BTriumph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life. - Seneca" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1106" height="520" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65HDwEIcEYQ/W_-Q5B4jWyI/AAAAAAABB14/3yh-4dpusCAHc0a2FFLDMAvQdbR_jpM5ACLcBGAs/s640/Seneca%2B-%2BTriumph.png" title="Seneca on what triumph means" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
 
His father was a dress cutter who did not get much work after the Great Depression began. As a result, his family had to live in a one-bedroom apartment in New York, where they barely scraped by. 
 
As a boy, he read voraciously in that small apartment. His parents, Jack and Celia were Romanian-born immigrants, and were happy to indulge this passion and even bought him a bookstand that he could keep on the table so that he could read during dinner. He particularly enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories. 
 
When he was able to go to the movies, he enjoyed the dashing and heroic Errol Flynn. 
 
The young boy knew what a sacrifice all of that was for his parents, and inspired by those books and the movies he watched, he vowed to grow up to write the Great American Novel. 
 
At 16, his Uncle Robbie helped him land his first job as an office assistant at a publishing house. There he'd fetch lunch, proofread, and refill artist's ink jars… Not exactly a glamorous path toward becoming a writer, but it was a start, and it was close to the action. 
 
But when he finally was given a job as a writer at that office, he did something strange: he refused to use his real name. 
 
You see, he aspired to something greater. And he felt that he would sully his real name if he used it in connection with a job that was not as serious as he'd like. 
 
But the boy — now a young man — was a natural storyteller. And his stories took off. At which point, he abandoned his dream of being a novelist and legally changed his name to his pen name: Stan Lee. And you probably know his catch phrase: "Excelsior!" It's the official motto of his home state of New York and it means "ever upward." 
 
Stan took the detecting skills of Sherlock Holmes and the swashbuckling acrobatics of Errol Flynn and merged them into his characters. By the tender age of 19, he was granted editorship of Timely Comics, which would evolve into Marvel Comics. 
 
Lee died in November 2018 at the age of 95, but when he died, not many people were aware that he suffered from a debilitating malady. 
 
He had created the super-strong Incredible Hulk. He invented the wisecracking, web-swinging Spider-Man. And the mystical, magical Doctor Strange. By the end of Lee's life, Marvel had a library of some 8,000 characters. 
 
And these characters were more human than its rivals in the D.C. Comics universe. They had teenage angst. They couldn't hold relationships. As many as 180 of them — including Daredevil —  were blind. 
 
Stan believed that making them more empathetic would bring readers closer to them. Stan Lee himself was closer to them than you might know. 
 
For you see, this master storyteller — the man who breathed life into these characters, who wove their stories with wonderful color, who made cameo appearances alongside each of them on the big screen — this man, Stan Lee, in the last few years of his life, couldn't see any of that. 
 
By the time he reached his early 90s, Stan suffered from macular degeneration. He was legally blind. 
 
But he kept taking interviews, going to screenings, and speaking at Comic Cons. 
 
Excelsior, indeed. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Success comes to the lowly and to the poorly talented, but the special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life."</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Seneca [<a href="https://ctt.ac/me9wY" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
It seems like the ultimate irony that a visual storyteller should be robbed of his sight. It's along the same lines of Beethoven gradually <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmonty29" target="_blank">losing the ability to hear</a>, yet producing some of the most glorious music the world has ever known. 
 
How many of us would survive, let alone thrive under such circumstances? 
 
It takes a certain kind of internal fortitude to handle that. Self-confidence. Even <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2018/11/on-gratitude.html" target="_blank">gratitude</a> for that which we still retain. 
 
When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem "Excelsior," he noted that it was inspired by the Latin phrase Scopus meus excelsior est ("my goal is higher"). 
 
<h2>
Excelsior</h2>
The shades of night were falling fast, 
As through an Alpine village passed 
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, 
A banner with the strange device, 
      Excelsior! 
 
His brow was sad; his eye beneath, 
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath, 
And like a silver clarion rung 
The accents of that unknown tongue, 
      Excelsior! 
 
In happy homes he saw the light 
Of household fires gleam warm and bright; 
Above, the spectral glaciers shone, 
And from his lips escaped a groan, 
      Excelsior! 
 
"Try not the Pass!" the old man said; 
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead, 
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" 
And loud that clarion voice replied, 
      Excelsior! 
 
"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest 
Thy weary head upon this breast! " 
A tear stood in his bright blue eye, 
But still he answered, with a sigh, 
      Excelsior! 
 
"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! 
Beware the awful avalanche!" 
This was the peasant's last Good-night, 
A voice replied, far up the height, 
      Excelsior! 
 
At break of day, as heavenward 
The pious monks of Saint Bernard 
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, 
A voice cried through the startled air, 
      Excelsior! 
 
A traveller, by the faithful hound, 
Half-buried in the snow was found, 
Still grasping in his hand of ice 
That banner with the strange device, 
      Excelsior! 
 
There in the twilight cold and gray, 
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, 
And from the sky, serene and far, 
A voice fell like a falling star, 
      Excelsior! 
 
 
Pushing forward while others are quitting may seem like folly to some. But for those with a vision — a higher goal — seeking to make a difference in the world, there's something pushing us onward. 
 
If you cultivate a team to share that vision and to share the burden together, the journey becomes a joy, and completing it is within your grasp. 
 
Going it alone — well, you may end up like Longfellow's fateful traveler. 
 
 
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/536630199&color=0c69a5" width="100%"></iframe> 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scene_from_Shakespeare%27s_The_Tempest#/media/File:William_Hogarth_017.jpg" target="_blank">Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest</a> by William Hogarth, 1735 (Wikipedia - public domain)

Your Path to Success Requires This Characteristic

His father was a dress cutter who did not get much work after the Great Depression began. As a result, his family had to live in a one-...

How to Boost Your Self-Confidence Every Day

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SNL9hmXZLcQ/W_yRScPPeAI/AAAAAAABBzQ/_XmqV1KqciwWlKX3ZS3qkybps3TKZveQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Henry%2BFord%2B1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Henry Ford and Model T, Hotel Iroquois, Buffalo 1921" border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1145" height="502" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SNL9hmXZLcQ/W_yRScPPeAI/AAAAAAABBzQ/_XmqV1KqciwWlKX3ZS3qkybps3TKZveQgCLcBGAs/s640/Henry%2BFord%2B1921.jpg" title="Henry Ford with Model T" width="640" /></a></div>
 
We all get into ruts from time to time. 
 
Maybe we get a sense of complacency as we settle in to a routine. Or perhaps we stumbled on a project or commitment, and recovery seems a little more difficult than usual. 
 
A more common occurrence is that we spend too much time on social media, seeing the happy faces and perfect scenes that our friends post, and we compare it to our own unfiltered lives. 
 
In any of those circumstances, your self-confidence can take a hit. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Henry Ford [<a href="https://ctt.ac/wHBG6" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
 
Let me share a bit of a personal story. 
 
As a small business owner (I'm the principal of <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/p/consulting.html" target="_blank">Scott Monty Strategies</a>, where I advise brands and executives on smarter digital experiences for customers using Timeless Wisdom), I often work in isolation. Meaning that I don't have the same kind of regular interaction with colleagues I might have in an office setting. 
 
That means there's not a lot of opportunities for feedback (well, other than the kind comments I get on my newsletter, podcast and posts here). Absent that, self-doubt can begin to nag, which has the potential to be defeating. 
 
But there are a few things I've noticed that change the tenor of that thinking right away: 
 
<ol>
<li>Talking with a trusted friend or colleague — by Messenger, text, phone, or video — does wonders. True friends know your capabilities and can set you straight.</li>
<li>Asking for feedback from a variety of sources and balancing the positive and negative.</li>
<li>Recognizing past failures and understanding what went wrong. Because through that, you'll learn to keep the same thing from happening again.</li>
<li>Thinking more positively. It sounds trite, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale even wrote a book about it (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Power-Positive-Thinking-Norman-Vincent/dp/0743234804" target="_blank">The Power of Positive Thinking</a>), but it works. An early mentor once told me that I needed to believe "I have arrived" as I approached new assignments. And it worked. </li>
</ol>
The great philosopher emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius" target="_blank">Marcus Aurelius</a> believed in this self-talk. So much so that he kept a daily journal of his thoughts. We now know it as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0812968255/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1543274092&sr=8-3&keywords=Meditations+hays" target="_blank">Meditations</a>, one of the most widely read and appreciated works in western philosophy. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” </div>
 
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Marcus Aurelius [<a href="https://ctt.ac/8598y" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
 
This isn't necessarily just a personal exercise, either. Reflections on how you've interacted with your team: your direct reports, your peers, your manager, your customers. On tasks you've completed or added to your list. 
 
When we take the time to reflect on what we thought, how we acted and interacted, it can lead us toward where we need to be. 
 
So, that angry tweet you sent, that conference call where you "multitasked," or that project you procrastinated on — all of those are worthy of deeper reflection and documentation. 
 
Is what you did and said today who you want to be? 
 
The choice is entirely yours. 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_1921.jpg" target="_blank">Henry Ford with Model T, Hotel Iroquois, Buffalo, NY 1921</a>, Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

How to Boost Your Self-Confidence Every Day

We all get into ruts from time to time. Maybe we get a sense of complacency as we settle in to a routine. Or perhaps we stumbled on a p...

On Gratitude

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-etjFE4-L9pc/W_aTVRZ7ZsI/AAAAAAABBew/p0MNC0LctOcJTgEK6rHwSO9g_fiEHwFHgCLcBGAs/s1600/Cicero%2B-%2BGratitude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1123" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-etjFE4-L9pc/W_aTVRZ7ZsI/AAAAAAABBew/p0MNC0LctOcJTgEK6rHwSO9g_fiEHwFHgCLcBGAs/s640/Cicero%2B-%2BGratitude.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Waste no more time in arguing what a good man should be. Be one."</div>
– Marcus Aurelius</blockquote>
 
She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke and the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in the pants. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled. 
 
She continued to hold him until he picked up her purse and then she said, “Now ain’t 
you ashamed of yourself?” 
 
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes’m.” 
 
  “If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman. 
 
  “Yes’m,” said the boy. 
 
  “Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him. 
 
  “I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy. 
 
  “Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got 
nobody home to tell you to wash your face?” 
 
   “No’m,” said the boy. 
 
  “Then it will get washed this evening. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.” 
 
So she took him to her sparsely-furnished studio apartment in a half-nelson, got his name (Roger) and instructed him to wash his face. 
 
She found out that he, like her, hadn't had his supper yet (remember - it was 11 o'clock). But that he did want a pair of blue suede shoes. 
 
   “Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates 
Washington Jones. “You could've asked me.” 
 
She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop. 
 
When they were finished eating she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s. " 
 
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Good-night! Behave yourself, boy!” 
 
The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, ma’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door. 
 
And he never saw her again. 
 
 
<h2>
The Meaning of Gratitude</h2>
The above was an abridged version of a short story by Langston Hughes called "<a href="http://staff.esuhsd.org/danielle/english%20department%20lvillage/rt/Short%20Stories/Thank%20You,%20Ma'am.pdf" target="_blank">Thank You, Ma'am</a>." Young Roger received a gift from Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones that was far more valuable than the ten dollars. Roger was given the gift of dignity, respect, and the ability to make his own decisions. 
 
We're taught from a young age to show respect and gratitude by saying "please" and "thank you." And to show how special those words are and the effect they can have, what did our parents call them? "Magic words." 
 
"Can I have a glass of water?" you might ask. And the reply would inevitably be: "What's the magic word?" 
 
In recent years, when someone says "thank you," I regularly hear other people respond with: 
  "Sure." 
  "You bet." 
  "No problem." 
 
Or when the host of an audio program thanks a guest for being on, they say "Thank you for having me." 
 
Whatever happened to "you're welcome"? 
 
The words we choose matter. Whether we're saying them to customers, employees, colleagues, friends or family members. The way we treat others is what comes back to us. 
 
Our world of texting, messaging, and general electronic shorthand may have devalued the principles of respect, consideration and honesty. Regardless of the mode of communication, these are timeless and universal. 
 
To strengthen relationships, we should make those principles clear in every interaction. 
 
Yes, even to Alexa. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others."</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Cicero</div>
 
For it's through those repeated interactions, those repetitions of timeless and universal principles that our customers and peers will see us as that which we wish to be. 
 
Thank you for your thoughtful and patient attention, this week and always. I'm grateful that you're here. 
 
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/533260401&color=%233a312e&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe> 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennie_Augusta_Brownscombe#/media/File:Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg" target="_blank">The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth</a> by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914 (Wikipedia, public domain)

On Gratitude

"Waste no more time in arguing what a good man should be. Be one." – Marcus Aurelius She was a large woman with a large pu...

The Creative Class and Servant Leadership

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JGQKGojkpbE/W_OaSu8166I/AAAAAAABBZ8/RVxtoj2EiCUzGqCF0zI1yARaCj2JriHzACLcBGAs/s1600/Jacques-Louis%2BDavid%2B-%2BThe%2BDeath%2Bof%2BSocrates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1199" height="420" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JGQKGojkpbE/W_OaSu8166I/AAAAAAABBZ8/RVxtoj2EiCUzGqCF0zI1yARaCj2JriHzACLcBGAs/s640/Jacques-Louis%2BDavid%2B-%2BThe%2BDeath%2Bof%2BSocrates.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
Those of us who create with words, sounds and images as part of our work have a special talent. 
 
We can touch the hearts and minds of people whom we've never met, and give them something to think about, something to feel, something to take action on. 
 
What a wonderful gift that is. And in this week when many in the United States are giving thanks, it's an appropriate time to reflect on <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2018/05/with-great-power-comes-great.html" target="_blank">the responsibility that accompanies that gift</a>. 
 
While we have platforms to influence and touch the lives of others by leading, we also have an opportunity to serve at the same time. The concept of <a href="https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/" target="_blank">servant leadership</a> is bound by the desire to serve first, then to lead. 
 
In 1999, Fred Rogers (yes, Mister Rogers, <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2018/07/four-leadership-lessons-from-mister.html" target="_blank">whom we've discussed here before</a>) gave an acceptance speech when he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In part, he said: 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants. It doesn’t matter what our particular job, we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen – day and night! 
 
Who in your life has been such a servant to you … who has helped you love the good that grows within you? Let’s just take ten seconds to think of some of those people who have loved us and wanted what was best for us in life -those who have encouraged us to become who we are tonight – just ten seconds of silence. 
 
No matter where they are – either here or in heaven – imagine how pleased those people must be to know that you thought of them right now. 
 
We all have only one life to live on earth. And through television, we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative imaginative ways.</blockquote>
 
You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcNxY4TudXo" target="_blank">watch the entire speech here</a>, including a wonderful gift that Rogers was given at the beginning of the segment. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some have few and give everything away."</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Fred Rogers [<a href="https://ctt.ac/ul_kS" target="_blank">click to tweet</a>]</div>
 
 
So whether you're creating a campaign, leading a team, training a new group of employees, giving a speech, or making a show that will be seen on screens around the world, you are endowed with a special gift that will touch the eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of others. 
 
May today and all the days ahead be a blessing to you and to those you choose to serve with your gifts. 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Socrates#/media/File:David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates.jpg" target="_blank">The Death of Socrates</a> by Jacques-Louis David, 1787 (Wikipedia, public domain)

The Creative Class and Servant Leadership

Those of us who create with words, sounds and images as part of our work have a special talent. We can touch the hearts and minds of pe...

How to Be More Charming

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n22Hv-NQBTg/W-1gz1l2A6I/AAAAAAABBSo/ykS-J3bu6X0i27DfCwyLUnq1U2w1PX6ZgCLcBGAs/s1600/Camus%2B-%2BCharm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="862" height="446" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n22Hv-NQBTg/W-1gz1l2A6I/AAAAAAABBSo/ykS-J3bu6X0i27DfCwyLUnq1U2w1PX6ZgCLcBGAs/s640/Camus%2B-%2BCharm.png" width="640" /></a></div>
 
What is charm? 
 
In a certain sense, it has to do with grace and good humor, with comportment and instilling a feeling of warmth in others. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay on Manners, wrote: 
 
I have seen an individual whose manners, though wholly within the conventions of elegant society, were never learned there, but were original and commanding and held out protection and prosperity; one who did not need the aid of a court-suit, but carried the holiday in his eye; who exhilarated the fancy by flinging wide the doors of new modes of existence; who shook off the captivity of etiquette, with happy, spirited bearing, good-natured and free as Robin Hood; yet with the port of an emperor, if need be,—calm, serious, and fit to stand the gaze of millions. 
 
If you asked young Archie that question—What is charm?—he would have had a hard time answering. 
 
Archie came from a working-class background, his father a worker in a clothes factory and his mother a seamstress. Archie just wasn't exposed to the refinement and sophistication that we associate with charm. 
 
It didn't help that his parents never showed him the kind of love and attention that an only child might usually expect. It may have had something to do with his older brother dying before Archie was born. The result was that his mother did not know how to give affection and did not know how to receive it either. 
 
When he was nine, his father sent Archie's mother away to a mental institution and told Archie that she went on a long holiday, and later that she had died; when he was 10, his father remarried and started a new family that did not include little Archie. 
 
Due to this alienation from his parents, Archie had a nervous disposition, finding it difficult to socialize and develop any meaningful relationships with his peers. 
 
He managed to get himself expelled from school and joined a troupe of performers as a stilt walker and an acrobatic dancer. While he enjoyed performing, he preferred to keep a distance from the audience. 
 
But over time, something changed in Archie. He went from that socially awkward adolescent to a garrulous, sophisticated adult. He transformed his stagecraft from stilts and juggling to mastery of comedy and drama alike. 
 
His father's jobs in the textile industry must have been deeply ingrained in Archie, as he became universally recognized as a man of style. His appeal was broad, as he showed the coarse how to have class and the over-refined how to have the common touch. 
 
That is one way to <a href="https://www.weeklystandard.com/joseph-epstein/charm-is-a-disappearing-luxury-like-chivalry-and-good-manners" target="_blank">define charm</a>. 
 
And it's certainly a way to define Archie Leach, otherwise known as Cary Grant. 
 
 
<h2>
Charm: A Powerful Skill for the Emotionally Intelligent Leader</h2>
Cary Grant's evasiveness and self-awareness was legendary. In one apocryphal story, in his later years he was sent a telegram from an inquisitive magazine reporter: "How old Cary Grant?" He supposedly replied, "Old Cary Grant fine — how you?" 
 
You've probably come across a small handful of people in your life who you just have to admire. They light up a room when they walk in. They have an ease of conversation with people. They make you want to spend more time in their presence. You can't help but want to be like them. 
 
You might call this charisma. But charisma is slightly different. Charisma has to do with presence and power. Charm? Charm requires a certain presence, but power is not typically seen as charming. 
 
Charm operates almost on the plane of magic. It can be learned, but not taught. It's hard to define, but we know it when we see it. And it certainly involves having a sense of self-awareness and of reading an audience. The types of things you'd see from an emotionally intelligent leader. 
 
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"Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question." </div>
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— Albert Camus</div>
 
 
When you exude charm, like Cary Grant, you don't need to ask anything of the people around you. The famous movie critic Pauline Kael wrote this about Grant: "We smile when we see him; we laugh before he does anything; it makes us happy just to look at him." 
 
That's quite a talent. 
 
Can you make your customers and employees do things without even asking? If you can get your brand—personal or otherwise—to have that kind of effect on your intended audience, you're charming. 
 
Warm and social, cheerful and energetic, good-natured and irresistible, charm is in short supply these days. We could do with repeat viewings of old Hollywood classics with William Powell and Myrna Loy, Laurel and Hardy, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and others who had a distinct sense of charm. 
 
Perhaps we can pick up on some aspects that made them charming, and assemble a version of charm that works for us, as elusive as that may be. 
 
After all, Cary Grant himself said, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant." 
 
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Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jacques-Louis_David_-_Mars_desarme_par_Venus.JPG">Mars Disarmed by Venus</a> by Jacques-Louis David, 1824 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)</div>

How to Be More Charming

What is charm? In a certain sense, it has to do with grace and good humor, with comportment and instilling a feeling of warmth in other...

Human Emotions Win Every Time

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The world could do with a little less technology. 
 
I'm not trying to be a curmudgeon like <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2018/10/the-future-has-already-been-here.html" target="_blank">Dr. Conrad Gessner</a>. It's just that every now and then (hopefully more now than then), it's helpful to put down the device and talk to a real human being. 
 
And yes, I recognize the irony of me saying this to you over the Internet. 
 
We've gotten to such a point when people are pleasantly surprised when they're referred to by name or when they receive a handwritten letter. It's counter-intuitive, since we live and breathe text messages, PMs, DMs, emails, and more. 
 
But to me, the spirit of personalization and the power of analog are alive and well. It's why I keep a collection of fountain pens and stationery on my desk. And I make a habit out of sending real physical notes to people every week. 
 
That level of effort and personal touch speaks volumes to those who receive it. It's not only out of the ordinary, but it tells them that they matter to you. 
 
The photo above is one of my favorites. It's from nine years ago, and it represents a gesture that I didn't think much of, but that meant a great deal to the recipient. 
 
I met <a href="https://brainsonfire.com/robbin-phillips/" target="_blank">Robbin Phillips</a> at an event in Minneapolis, and she noticed my Ford lapel pin. During our conversation, she said she'd like one too, so I took her card, slipped it into my pocket, and continued the conversation. 
 
When I arrived back in Detroit, I wrote Robbin a short note, including a pin in the envelope, and sent it to her. That's pretty much where I thought the story would end. 
 
Well, it turns out that the interaction and simple gesture <a href="https://brainsonfire.com/2009/11/30/keeping-promises/" target="_blank">meant a great deal to Robbin</a> — so much so that she took a photo and wrote up her impressions on her site. 
 
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"Love is not to be purchased, and affection has no price." </div>
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— St. Jerome (<a href="https://ctt.ac/Fa4xg" target="_blank">click to tweet</a>)</div>
 
While it's possible to give customers deep discounts, or to put contracts in place with expensive influencers, these tactical marketing efforts are tenuous and temporary. Why? Because you've purchased a behavior. 
 
But what is affection? 
 
Typically, it's the way a parent feels toward a child, or perhaps the way an owner feels toward a pet. It signifies security, protection, and comfort for the receiver of the affection. It also allows the recipient to learn and grow. 
 
What's behind the absence of affection, then? Since affection is unilateral—that is, there's no expectation that the affection is returned—the absence of it can be viewed as selfish. When brands are simply seeking a transaction, it can feel as if they're withholding affection as a condition of a customer's action. 
 
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"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives." </div>
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— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (<a href="https://ctt.ac/3dPYO" target="_blank">click to tweet</a>)</div>
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When customers, employees, friends and colleagues don't expect to hear from you is when a simple gesture matters. While databases, algorithms, and other systems can help you remember when someone's birthday or anniversary is, or when they've achieved a life events, it's still up to you, the human, to place a call or write a note. 
 
We can teach machines how to learn, how to respond to questions, how to perform mail merges, and how to anticipate our needs, but we can't teach them to do what it takes to be truly human: that is, to feel and express emotions. 
 
That's entirely on you. 
 
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Human Emotions Win Every Time

The world could do with a little less technology. I'm not trying to be a curmudgeon like Dr. Conrad Gessner . It's just that ev...

The Reluctant Leader in All of Us

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When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. </blockquote>
 
You of course recognize that as the first sentence in the Declaration of Independence, one of the founding documents of the United States. 
 
In the early days of forming republics, honor and integrity are necessary to set us on the right path. Society looks for persons of character who aren't interested in power themselves, calling upon them to serve the greater good. 
 
Consider the legendary leader who retired from public life to work on his farm. He was then granted the leadership of his country twice, but held onto that power not a day longer than absolutely necessary. He consistently demonstrated great honor and integrity. 
 
You might think I'm referring to George Washington, the father of our country, who left his army service after defeating the British to retire to his farm Mt. Vernon, and later had that retirement interrupted by two terms as the first president of the United States, choosing to withdraw from public life. You might think that. 
 
But you'd be wrong. 
 
You see, in this case, there was a startling precedent some 2,200 years before. In 458 B.C. following a military defeat, the Roman Senate authorized the nomination of a dictator. A group of senators informed Cincinnatus of his appointment, finding him while he was plowing his farm. He went on to serve as dictator twice — only long enough to see Rome through its crises. 
 
The parallels between Cincinnatus and George Washington are obvious. But beyond their rise from private to public life and their place in our minds as legendary heroes of their respective countries, there's one thing that gets overlooked: their reluctance to even serve in the first place. 
 
Neither of them wanted the job. 
 
 
<h2>
Washington's Flaw</h2>
While history has heaped praise on George Washington (rightly so), this selfless leader was eternally self-conscious. He didn't have the benefit of the classical education that many of his patrician peers had, so he cobbled together his own curriculum, which left him feeling as if he had a second-rate education. 
 
When he was unanimously selected as president by the Senate, Washington expressed his "inability to perform" and hoped that they wouldn't regret their choice. This was part modesty, but it was also part of an innate fear of failure that Washington had. 
 
Having been through so many battles — some of which ended in defeat — Washington was no stranger to failure. But he shared something beneath that fear of failure that afflicts so many of us. 
 
He was afraid to be judged. 
 
In his Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, Washington suggested that those who try but fail should not be judged: 
 
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"When a man does all he can though it succeeds not well blame not him that did it." </div>
 
Think about that for a moment. When you fail, what is your fear? Sure, no one likes to lose or to miss an objective. But many people fear judgement more than failure itself. 
 
We were all fearless once, but along the way we learned timidity. Perhaps you've been part of a company that says they embrace failure, that it's part of the culture. But then when you do fail at something, you suddenly discover that you're penalized. When this happens over time, our natural response is to simply stop trying. To stop taking risks that might lead to failure. 
 
In his book <a href="http://jayacunzo.com/book" target="_blank">Break the Wheel</a>, Jay Acunzo refers to the <a href="http://jayacunzo.com/blog/adobe-99u-guest-post-the-3-psychological-reasons-we-cling-to-conventional-wisdom-and-how-to-break-free" target="_blank">Pike Syndrome</a>: a feeling of powerlessness caused by repeated negative events. Like the pike who was separated from the minnows by a pane of glass, no longer tries to attack the minnows once the glass is removed. 
 
So what's the answer? Ralph Waldo Emerson explored this in his essay "<a href="https://emersoncentral.com/texts/essays-first-series/self-reliance/" target="_blank">Self-Reliance</a>," in which he championed doing what you think is right despite what others may think: 
 
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"The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion." </div>
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— Ralph Waldo Emerson </div>
 
Over time, if you build up self-reliance and self-confidence, you can move away from the fear of being judged. Meanwhile, simply accept that the fear is real and focus on what is within your control.</div>
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Then you'll be confident in showing who you are, as Emerson requested. 
 
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"Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself." </div>
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Other people's judgments don't affect your abilities. </div>
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Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus#/media/File:Cincinato_abandona_el_arado_para_dictar_leyes_a_Roma,_c.1806_de_Juan_Antonio_Ribera.jpg" target="_blank">Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome</a> by Juan Antonio Ribera, 1806</div>
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The Reluctant Leader in All of Us

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an...

Leading with Enthusiasm not Fear

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Can you remember the managers you worked for who inspired you the most? What stands out about them? 
 
We all seek different things with our teams, so your mileage will vary. But I'll bet you thought about someone who supported you, who took the time to understand your challenges, who gave you responsibility, and the room to fail and to learn from those failures. 
 
Now what about the other kind of manager—the kind you might not have enjoyed? 
 
Perhaps it was the micromanager, or someone who pressured you with unrealistic deadlines, or who took credit for your good work, or barked orders without rolling up his sleeves. 
 
The juxtaposition of those two types of managers is the difference between a boss and a leader. 
 
<h2>
Bossy = Fearful</h2>
A boss thinks in terms of "me," while a leader thinks of "we." A boss will take credit or blame others, while a leader will give credit and shoulder the blame. A boss issues commands, while a leader asks and listens. 
 
A boss depends on the authority of the job title, while a leader leans on the entire team and builds mutual accountability and trust. A boss instills fear while a leader inspires with enthusiasm. 
 
 
In the <a href="https://www.fullmontyshow.com/2018/11/november-5.html#TopStories" target="_blank">Top Stories section</a> of yesterday's edition of <a href="https://www.fullmontyshow.com/2018/11/november-5.html#TopStories" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>, I explored fear and anger. The connection between the two is deeply woven into the human psyche. The animalistic "fight-or-flight" response is literally comprised of anger (fight) and fear (flight). 
 
Jedi Master Yoda (hey, if these missives are about timeless wisdom, he was from "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away") cautioned: "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." 
 
And that's the point — your anger at work may eventually wear away, but in its absence you'll find bitterness. The kind of thing that will eat away at you. 
 
In fact, in his essay "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Ira" target="_blank">On Anger</a>," Seneca wrote: 
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"There is no more stupefying thing than anger, nothing more bent on its own strength. If successful, none more arrogant, if foiled, none more insane—since it's not driven back by weariness even in defeat, when fortune removes its adversary it turns its teeth on itself."</blockquote>
 
And what have been been driven by over the last few years online, but fear and anger? It's the basis of much of what we're seeing in the news today. 
 
<h2>
Emotional Intelligence = Enthusiasm</h2>
By contrast, leaders manage to keep their heads above the din and provide a positive direction. They serve as something of a moral compass and cheerleader. 
 
Most leaders that you admire are emotionally intelligent. That is, they are able to recognize their own feelings and other people's emotions, and to use that emotional information to guide thinking and behavior. 
 
And what is leadership but getting along with other people? 
 
The business world functions because people — colleagues, employees, customers, suppliers — work together. Negotiation, haggling, sales, setting vision, strategy and goals, and other key business functions require us to collaborate and interact with others in a constructive way. 
 
 
The image above shows the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius distributing bread to citizens. He was widely respected as a philosopher (a thinker!) and a philanthropist, as opposed to the very typical tyrannical emperors of the era. 
 
He took joy in his life, because he took the time to reflect on his thoughts and deeds every day, documenting it along the way. He was very much an emotionally intelligent leader. 
 
For my own part, I had the great fortune of working with Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company from 2006-2014 (I was there from 2008-2014). Alan was perpetually enthusiastic—about the company, about meeting people, about life—and it was infectious. 
 
Alan lifted people up. He smiled. He asked questions. He made it so you couldn't help but want to get his approval. 
 
Every day, every minute, he demonstrated <a href="https://www.bethesunnotthesalt.com/heliotropic-effect/" target="_blank">the Heliotropic Effect</a>. That is, he was light rather than darkness, and most living things seek out the light. We thrive on the positive. 
 
Like Marcus Aurelius, Alan Mulally, and the leaders you no doubt have admired, <a href="https://medium.com/@dunn/leading-from-joy-vs-leading-from-fear-e29a4247acc4?__s=vnsn5pxy6duqudx9k7tb" target="_blank">inspiring people comes from joy and enthusiasm</a>, not through fear and intimidation. 
 
Make a difference to others. <a href="https://www.bethesunnotthesalt.com/" target="_blank">Be the sun, not the salt</a>. 
 
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Image credit: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Marcus_Aurelius_Distributing_Bread_to_the_People_1765_Joseph-Marie_Vien.jpg">Marcus Aurelius Distributing Bread to the People</a> by Joseph-Marie Vien, 1785 - Wikimedia Commons (public domain) 
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Leading with Enthusiasm not Fear

Can you remember the managers you worked for who inspired you the most? What stands out about them? We all seek different things wit...

Don't Stop Innovating Because You're Big

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Samuel Moore was born on a farm in the plains. Throughout his youth, his family moved often, as farming didn't provide enough for them. They picked up and moved from Oklahoma to various towns in Missouri, and as he got older, Samuel eventually got a paper route and event milked the cow to help his family out. 
 
He knew he wanted to go beyond small town farm life, so he enrolled in college and took small jobs to support himself, just scraping by. He even had to wait tables in exchange for his meals. 
 
But eventually, Samuel graduated, moved to Iowa and got a job as a trainee with J.C. Penney. He learned enough that he bought a single store in the Butler Brothers chain. He was a flourishing entrepreneur whose store became so successful that his landlord took notice, refused to renew Samuel's lease, and raised the rent to five percent of sales. 
 
Young Samuel, still in his 20s, learned his lesson: he would never again be at a disadvantage against a larger, more powerful entity. From then on, he knew what he had to do to fight back as a small businessman. He determined that he would own rather than rent property, and that his stores needed to be consistently stocked with a full range of goods. 
 
Samuel would go on to not only show those powerful franchises and lease-holders that he had the stamina and cleverness to fight them, but to beat them at their own game. He went from a humble and dime store in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas to build the world's largest corporation. 
 
For Samuel Moore — Sam, to his friends — Walton was the founder of Walmart. 
 
<h2>
Big Is Bad</h2>
What do the Roman Empire, GM, and the Titanic have in common? They were all thought to be too big to fail. 
 
Rome of course overcame Carthage, another empire that consisted of Southern Spain and North Africa – the entire west and south areas of the Mediterranean. GM was humbled into bankruptcy in the carpocalypse and financial meltdown of 2009. And though its makers claimed "even God himself could not sink the Titanic," the largest ship ever made at the time, we all know what happened. 
 
We've even developed shorthand lingo that automatically lumps companies or industries into the same category: Big. As in Big Oil. Big Pharma. Big Auto. And lately Big Tech. And that "Big" is assigned as a pejorative—an insult—as if they’re evil simply for being so big. 
 
There's a natural tendency to hold such entities in disdain, as they become more and more successful, perhaps taking advantage of their size and influence to have an unfair advantage. It's human nature to experience envy when someone or something else reaps profound benefits while we remain seemingly rooted in place. 
 
We even cheer for them to fail, expressing Schadenfreude, or the experience of pleasure in the pain of others, when they do. 
 
<h2>
Rooting for the Underdog</h2>
When the little guys come along, we're likely to want to see them succeed because they channel some part of us. They face insurmountable odds, but they have the courage to take on the Goliaths. 
 
Think Dollar Shave Club, who took on Gillette to supply lower-cost razors with a subscription model. They attracted the attention of P&G, parent company of the Gillette brand, who eventually purchased Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. 
 
Similarly, when Keurig announced that its new system would only allow Keurig-approved K-cups — the coffee pods whose price Keurig simultaneously raised — <a href="https://www.rogersfamilyco.com/index.php/revolution-begun-starts-now-fight-keurig/" target="_blank">Rogers Family Company stood up to them</a>. They created what they called a Freedom Clip that covered the K-cup reader in Keurig machines, allowing customers to use whichever coffee pods they wanted. They were deluged with orders for the Freedom Clip. 
 
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"A great man is always willing to be little." </div>
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– Ralph Waldo Emerson [<a href="https://ctt.ac/aFaJ8" target="_blank">Tweet this quote</a>]</div>
 
 
It's funny, isn't it? As companies grow, they often forget the strategies and practices that made them successful and well liked when they were small. [<a href="https://ctt.ac/20E39" target="_blank">Tweet this!</a>] They become complacent. They develop a sense of corporate rigor mortis, stiffening their resolve against change. 
 
But we find ourselves liking big companies that still embody that sense of their roots. Consider Amazon, which has been around for just over 20 years. Its CEO Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in the world, but we still admire Amazon for its agility and willingness to try new things, even as it outstrips entire markets. 
 
There's humanity within every company, large and small. And Big doesn't necessarily mean bad. Set aside the envy-triggered feelings and look for examples of little, wherever they may be. 
 
You might be pleasantly surprised. </div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow/episode-53-too-big-to-fail" target="_blank">Listen to this post</a>:</div>
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Don't Stop Innovating Because You're Big

Samuel Moore was born on a farm in the plains. Throughout his youth, his family moved often, as farming didn't provide enough for the...

Perchance to Dream

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There's something about underdogs, isn't there? We love to root for the little guy when he's up against a big bad enemy. 
 
Why is that? 
 
Well part of the reason is that when a team or entity isn't supposed to succeed, a win seems even more amazing and gratifying. 
 
Another reason is that we want them to win because they're trying harder (or at least seem to be trying harder). 
 
We know what it's like to give something our very best effort, sincerely wanting to pull off a victory. So we project that feeling onto our team, candidate, or hero that is similarly struggling. 
 
It can be tough watching the big guys win constantly: they have more budget, more resources, better talent. 
 
The dreamer in us makes it possible for us to summon the courage and fortitude to tackle an obstacle, regardless of the prospect of failure. 
 
When we know we've worked hard and given it our all, there's no shame in failing. 
 
And that makes victory even sweeter. 
 
 
Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46859437" target="_blank">David und Goliath</a> by Anton Robert Leinweber - Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Perchance to Dream

There's something about underdogs, isn't there? We love to root for the little guy when he's up against a big bad enemy. Wh...

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