Scott Monty

Your Path to Success Requires This Characteristic

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPj5Tj3iEfI/XjiNPrw3CWI/AAAAAAABLbQ/7ZUZyUD5Z5wME9v0KEcQXeGdTUnb1OoBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/William%2BHogarth%2B-%2BScene%2Bfrom%2BShakespeare%2527s%2BThe%2BTempest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1106" height="520" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPj5Tj3iEfI/XjiNPrw3CWI/AAAAAAABLbQ/7ZUZyUD5Z5wME9v0KEcQXeGdTUnb1OoBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/William%2BHogarth%2B-%2BScene%2Bfrom%2BShakespeare%2527s%2BThe%2BTempest.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><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)</span></i></td></tr>
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<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
When he was able to go to the movies, he enjoyed the dashing and heroic Errol Flynn.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Stan believed that making them more empathetic would bring readers closer to them. Stan Lee himself was closer to them than you might know.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
By the time he reached his early 90s, Stan suffered from macular degeneration. He was legally blind.<br />
<br />
But he kept taking interviews, going to screenings, and speaking at Comic Cons.<br />
<br />
Excelsior, indeed.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"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."</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">– Seneca </span>[<a href="https://ctt.ac/me9wY" target="_blank">tweet this</a>]</div>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
How many of us would survive, let alone thrive under such circumstances?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem "Excelsior," he noted that it was inspired by the Latin phrase <i>Scopus meus excelsior est</i> ("my goal is higher").<br />
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<h2>
<b>Excelsior</b></h2>
The shades of night were falling fast,<br />
As through an Alpine village passed<br />
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,<br />
A banner with the strange device,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,<br />
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,<br />
And like a silver clarion rung<br />
The accents of that unknown tongue,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
In happy homes he saw the light<br />
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;<br />
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,<br />
And from his lips escaped a groan,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;<br />
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,<br />
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"<br />
And loud that clarion voice replied,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest<br />
Thy weary head upon this breast! "<br />
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,<br />
But still he answered, with a sigh,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!<br />
Beware the awful avalanche!"<br />
This was the peasant's last Good-night,<br />
A voice replied, far up the height,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
At break of day, as heavenward<br />
The pious monks of Saint Bernard<br />
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,<br />
A voice cried through the startled air,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
A traveller, by the faithful hound,<br />
Half-buried in the snow was found,<br />
Still grasping in his hand of ice<br />
That banner with the strange device,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
There in the twilight cold and gray,<br />
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,<br />
And from the sky, serene and far,<br />
A voice fell like a falling star,<br />
      Excelsior!<br />
<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Going it alone — well, you may end up like Longfellow's fateful traveler.<br />
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<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><br />
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Your Path to Success Requires This Characteristic

Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest by William Hogarth, 1735 (Wikipedia - public domain) His father was a dress cutter who di...

How to Boost Your Self-Confidence Every Day

How to Boost Your Self-Confidence Every Day

Henry Ford with Model T, Hotel Iroquois, Buffalo, NY 1921 , Wikimedia Commons (public domain) We all get into ruts from time to time. ...

The Power of Gratitude

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><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)</span></i></td></tr>
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<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>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
She continued to hold him until he picked up her purse and then she said, “Now ain’t<br />
you ashamed of yourself?”<br />
<br />
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes’m.”<br />
<br />
  “If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.<br />
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  “Yes’m,” said the boy.<br />
<br />
  “Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.<br />
<br />
  “I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.<br />
<br />
  “Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got<br />
nobody home to tell you to wash your face?”<br />
<br />
   “No’m,” said the boy.<br />
<br />
  “Then it will get washed this evening. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.”<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
   “Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates<br />
Washington Jones. “You could've asked me.”<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. "<br />
<br />
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Good-night! Behave yourself, boy!”<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
And he never saw her again.<br />
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<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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
"Can I have a glass of water?" you might ask. And the reply would inevitably be: "What's the magic word?"<br />
<br />
In recent years, when someone says "thank you," I regularly hear other people respond with:<br />
  "Sure."<br />
  "You bet."<br />
  "No problem."<br />
<br />
Or when the host of an audio program thanks a guest for being on, they say "Thank you for having me."<br />
<br />
Whatever happened to "you're welcome"?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
To strengthen relationships, we should make those principles clear in every interaction.<br />
<br />
Yes, even to Alexa.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others."</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">– Cicero</span></div>
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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.<br />
<br />
Thank you for your thoughtful and patient attention, this week and always. I'm grateful that you're here.<br />
<br />
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The Power of Gratitude

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914 (Wikipedia, public domain) "Waste no more time in arg...

The Creative Class and Servant Leadership

The Creative Class and Servant Leadership

The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David, 1787 (Wikipedia, public domain) Those of us who create with words, sounds and images as ...

How to Be More Charming

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U_dNcI4X0UA/XjiULu7PKmI/AAAAAAABLbo/kx8r3jzjs38ZtbKuwZyMr5qKb6Pd3he-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Jacques-Louis_David%2B-%2BMars%2BBeing%2BDisarmed%2Bby%2BVenus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="862" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U_dNcI4X0UA/XjiULu7PKmI/AAAAAAABLbo/kx8r3jzjs38ZtbKuwZyMr5qKb6Pd3he-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Jacques-Louis_David%2B-%2BMars%2BBeing%2BDisarmed%2Bby%2BVenus.JPG" width="538" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><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)</span></i></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow/episode-55-how-do-you-define" target="_blank">Listen to this article</a></span></i></div>
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What is charm? <br />
<br />
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 <i>Manners</i>, wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"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."</blockquote>
<br />
If you asked young Archie that question—What is charm?—he would have had a hard time answering. <br />
<br />
You see, 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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
<i>That</i> 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>. <br />
<br />
And it's certainly a way to define Archie Leach, otherwise known as Cary Grant. <br />
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<h2>
<b>Charm: A Powerful Skill for the Emotionally Intelligent Leader</b></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?" <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question."</i></b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">— Albert Camus</span></div>
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<br />
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." <br />
<br />
That's quite a talent. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
After all, Cary Grant himself said, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even <i><b>I</b></i> want to be Cary Grant." <br />
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How to Be More Charming

Mars Disarmed by Venus by Jacques-Louis David, 1824 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain) Listen to this article What is cha...

Human Emotions Win Every Time

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<br />
The world could do with a little less technology.<br />
<br />
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 <i>now</i> than then), it's helpful to put down the device and talk to a real human being.<br />
<br />
And yes, I recognize the irony of me saying this to you over the Internet.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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:<div><br /></div><div><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Okay. It’s official. I am a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100105122326/http://twitter.com/scottmonty" style="color: #eb7e1f; line-height: 22px; text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Monty</a> groupie. Have been from our very first conversation. Yeah. Yeah. It was twitter talk.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Now stop. Before you roll your eyes again, this is a really good story.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Back in August, I had the chance to meet Scott in person. There he was in his white bucks with a blue Ford logo neatly pinned to his lapel and well, I said what any good groupie would say:</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 22px;">” I want a Ford pin.”</strong></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">He asked for my card, slipped it into his pocket and we talked briefly.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Scott asked me what I drove. I told him (not a Ford). There was laughter. (I am a frustrated wanna be race car driver.) Then he asked the big question, “Would you ever consider buying a Ford?”</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">And you know what – here’s is the truth. I would.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Something about “knowing” someone at Ford has made me a sincere fan. I’ve even found myself defending them on occasion, in one on one conversations and even to large groups. I have just grown – well — <em style="color: #666666; line-height: 22px;">fond</em> of them.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">And I can’t for the life of me figure out what changed other than the fact that there is this very real, very approachable “social butterfly” type of guy named Scott in the mix. Would my feelings for Ford change if he went away?</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Dangerously, the answer might be yes.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">I applaud Ford for putting a person front and center. So many brands are just jumping on the social media bandwagon without a strategy. But Ford has one and in my humble opinion they are being pretty true to it: Ford simply wants to “humanize the brand”. Second time I have repeated that here because, I love the simplicity of that. And because I know this; people trust people. People who make and keep promises.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">So a pin (and a sweet story) today, a car tomorrow?<br style="line-height: 22px;" /><em style="color: #666666; line-height: 22px;"><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;" />Who knows?</em></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">In the meantime, I will wear my pin proudly and create a little Ford “visual buzz” along the way…</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">Thanks. Scott. Oh. And you too, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100105122326/http://www.ford.com/" style="color: #eb7e1f; line-height: 22px; text-decoration-line: none;">Ford</a>.</p></blockquote><p style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"></p></div><div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Love is not to be purchased, and affection has no price." </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">— St. Jerome </span>(<a href="https://ctt.ac/Fa4xg" target="_blank">click to tweet</a>)</div>
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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.<br />
<br />
But what is affection?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives."</i></b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">— C.S. Lewis, </span><i><span style="font-size: large;">The Four Loves</span></i><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;"> </span>(<a href="https://ctt.ac/3dPYO" target="_blank">click to tweet</a>)</div>
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<br />
When customers, employees, friends and colleagues <i>don't</i> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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That's entirely on <b><u>you</u></b>.<br />
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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

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Moxky6UN1fI/XjiVBoT74-I/AAAAAAABLbw/9ilblgsvkzQeCgJdjldPiW51BDfRcgORQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Juan%2BAntonio%2BRibera%2B-%2BCincinnatus%2BLeaves%2Bthe%2BPlough%2Bto%2BDictate%2BLaws%2Bto%2BRome%2B1806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1200" height="474" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Moxky6UN1fI/XjiVBoT74-I/AAAAAAABLbw/9ilblgsvkzQeCgJdjldPiW51BDfRcgORQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Juan%2BAntonio%2BRibera%2B-%2BCincinnatus%2BLeaves%2Bthe%2BPlough%2Bto%2BDictate%2BLaws%2Bto%2BRome%2B1806.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><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" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank"><i>Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome</i></a><span style="text-align: start;"> by Juan Antonio Ribera, 1806</span></span></td></tr>
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<i>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</i>. </blockquote>
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You of course recognize that as the first sentence in the Declaration of Independence, one of the founding documents of the United States. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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But you'd be wrong. <br />
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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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Neither of them wanted the job. <br />
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<br />
<h2>
<b>Washington's Flaw</b></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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
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He was afraid to be judged. <br />
<br />
In his <i><b><a href="https://amzn.to/2uK2FaG">Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior</a></b></i>, Washington suggested that those who try but fail should not be judged: <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"When a man does all he can though it succeeds not well blame not him that did it." </i></span></b></div>
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
In his book <i><a href="http://jayacunzo.com/book" target="_blank">Break the Wheel</a></i>, 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. <br />
<br />
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: <br />
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<br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion." </i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">— Ralph Waldo Emerson </span></div>
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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.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself."</i></b></span> </div>
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Other people's judgments don't affect your abilities. </div>
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The Reluctant Leader in All of Us

Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome by Juan Antonio Ribera, 1806 When in the Course of human events it becomes ...

Leading with Enthusiasm not Fear

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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W51U4Aqswfk/W_wk4Dufl8I/AAAAAAABBzE/1sk5hS8SAd43tcWao_BGOIYk6mvYrSVFgCLcBGAs/s1600/Joseph-Marie%2BVien%2B-%2BMarcus%2BAurelius%2BDistributing%2BBread%2Bto%2Bthe%2BPeople%2B1765.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="901" height="374" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W51U4Aqswfk/W_wk4Dufl8I/AAAAAAABBzE/1sk5hS8SAd43tcWao_BGOIYk6mvYrSVFgCLcBGAs/s640/Joseph-Marie%2BVien%2B-%2BMarcus%2BAurelius%2BDistributing%2BBread%2Bto%2Bthe%2BPeople%2B1765.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><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)</span></i></td></tr>
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<br />
Can you remember the managers you worked for who inspired you the most? What stands out about them?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Now what about the other kind of manager—the kind you might not have enjoyed?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The juxtaposition of those two types of managers is the difference between a boss and a leader.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<b>Bossy = Fearful</b></h2>
A boss thinks in terms of "<b>me</b>," while a leader thinks of "<b>we</b>."<br />
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A boss will <b>take credit</b> or blame others, while a leader will <b>give credit</b> and shoulder the blame.<br />
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A boss issues <b>commands</b>, while a leader <b>asks and listens</b>.<br />
<br />
A boss depends on the <b>authority </b>of the job title, while a leader leans on the entire team and builds <b>mutual accountability and trust</b>.<br />
<br />
A boss instills <b>fear </b>while a leader <b>inspires </b>with <b>enthusiasm</b>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The connection between fear and anger is deeply woven into the human psyche. The animalistic "fight-or-flight" response is literally comprised of anger (fight) and fear (flight).<br />
<br />
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: "<i>Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering</i>."<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
In fact, in his essay "<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Ira" target="_blank">On Anger</a></b>," <b>Seneca </b>wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"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."</span></i></b></blockquote>
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<b>Emotional Intelligence = Enthusiasm</b></h2>
By contrast, <b>leaders </b>manage to keep their heads above the din and provide a positive direction. They serve as something of a moral compass and cheerleader.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
And what is leadership but getting along with other people?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
The image above shows the Roman emperor <b>Marcus Aurelius</b> 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Alan lifted people up. He smiled. He asked questions. He made it so you couldn't help but want to get his approval.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
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Make a difference to others. <a href="https://amzn.to/2WuTKGH" target="_blank">Be the sun, not the salt</a>.<br />
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Leading with Enthusiasm not Fear

Marcus Aurelius Distributing Bread to the People by Joseph-Marie Vien, 1785 - Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Can you remember th...

Don't Stop Innovating Because You're Big

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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TML0CxvxybI/W9peFj1msaI/AAAAAAABA6Y/gJBwQiEkYrksXVpSL_izoxigG_AhGKu_QCLcBGAs/s1600/Emerson%2B-%2Ba%2Bgreat%2Bman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="800" height="454" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TML0CxvxybI/W9peFj1msaI/AAAAAAABA6Y/gJBwQiEkYrksXVpSL_izoxigG_AhGKu_QCLcBGAs/s640/Emerson%2B-%2Ba%2Bgreat%2Bman.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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. <br />
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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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
For Samuel Moore — Sam, to his friends — Walton was the founder of Walmart. <br />
<br />
<h2>
<b>Big Is Bad</b></h2>
What do the Roman Empire, GM, and the Titanic have in common? They were all thought to be too big to fail. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
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We've even developed shorthand lingo that automatically lumps companies or industries into the same category: Big. As in <b>Big Oil</b>. <b>Big Pharma</b>. <b>Big Auto</b>. And lately <b>Big Tech</b>. And that "Big" is assigned as a pejorative—an insult—as if they’re evil simply for being so big. <br />
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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. <br />
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We even cheer for them to fail, expressing <i>Schadenfreude</i>, or the experience of pleasure in the pain of others, when they do. <br />
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<b>Rooting for the Underdog</b></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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"A great man is always willing to be little." </span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">– Ralph Waldo Emerson</span> [<a href="https://ctt.ac/aFaJ8" target="_blank">Tweet this quote</a>]</div>
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It's funny, isn't it? <b><i>As companies grow, they often forget the strategies and practices that made them successful and well liked when they were small</i></b>. [<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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/522781314&color=%232a77af&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_-_The_Decline_of_the_Carthaginian_Empire_-_WGA23169.jpg#/media/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_-_The_Decline_of_the_Carthaginian_Empire_-_WGA23169.jpg">The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire</a> by J.M.W. Turner, 1817 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)</i></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...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor