Quought for the Day #49 – Sterling Lanier

By Rajesh Setty on Tue 13 Feb 2007, 11:10 AM - Leave Comment

I am fortunate to have Sterling as one of my mentors since 2003. I met him at a time when I needed him most but did not know that I needed him. It has been a special relationship and I cherish that.

Sterling Lanier is a Group Chair for Vistage, the pre-eminent organization for the personal and professional development of business owners, company presidents and CEOs.

Sterling Lanier has more than thirty years of CEO leadership and management accomplishments in specialty retailing, manufacturing, software, and financial services. His functional experience includes finance, marketing, strategic planning, management development, crisis management, start-ups, and turnarounds.  For several years Sterling was a CEO member of a Bay Area Vistage group.  His personal leadership experiences and diverse business background give him the wisdom and insights to help his Vistage members excel in their business and outperform their expectations.

(click on the button to read the background for this series)

Sterling’s Quought for the Day is:

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page, Quought for the Day.

Quought for the Day #48 – Dr. Kirsten Harrell

By Rajesh Setty on Mon 12 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - Leave Comment

Dr. Kirsten Harrell is a psychologist who is passionate about helping people connect with their essential spirit and use the power of positive thinking to transform their lives and create health, happiness, and success.  She has combined her expertise in positive psychology, stress management, mind-body therapies, and spirituality to provide cutting edge services to individuals and businesses for over 15 years. Dr. Harrell is the President and co-founder of Popular Inspirations, Ltd. (www.ipopin.com) and co-creator of ipop-ins (the one minute affirmations). In addition, she writes for Positive Thinking Magazine online.

Kirsten’s Quought for the Day:

If happiness comes from giving, not getting… are you giving enough?

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page, Quought for the Day.

Quought for the Day #47 – Delaney Kirk

By Rajesh Setty on Sun 11 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - 1 Comment

Delaney J. Kirk, Ph.D., SPHR, is a Professor of Management at Drake University with 25 years of teaching experience. She has conducted teaching workshops at numerous academic conferences and schools including Columbia University, Duke University, University of Washington, University of Arkansas-Ft Smith, Graceland University, and Metropolitan Community College. She was the featured expert for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s online chat on classroom management on September 15, 2004, and has earned the prestigious Drake University Board of Governor’s “Excellence in Teaching” Award. Her book, Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on Becoming a More Effective Teacher, was released by Tiberius Publications in October 2005.

Delaney’s Quought for the Day

“I get to choose my attitude each day.  Am I choosing friends and colleagues who are as positive and supportive as I want to be?”

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page, Quought for the Day.

Quought for the Day #46 – Paul Graham

By Rajesh Setty on Sat 10 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - Leave Comment

Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and programming language designer. In 1995 he developed with Robert Morris the first web-based application, Viaweb, which was acquired by Yahoo in 1998. In 2002 he described a simple Bayesian spam filter that inspired most current filters. He’s currently working on a new programming language called Arc, a new book on startups, and is one of the partners in Y Combinator.

Paul is the author of On Lisp (Prentice Hall, 1993), ANSI Common Lisp (Prentice Hall, 1995), and Hackers & Painters (O’Reilly, 2004). He has an AB from Cornell and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, and studied painting at RISD and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.

Paulgraham.com got 9.7 million page views in 2006.

Paul’s Quought for the Day:

“What are the best questions I’m not even considering?”

Related Links:
1. Website – PaulGraham.com (links to every other project that he has)
2. Latest venture – YCombinator
3. Latest book – Hackers and Painters

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page, Quought for the Day.

Point to ponder: Your last few phone calls

By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 3:41 PM - 2 Comments

Yesterday when you called one of your friends, did you want something from them or did you have something for them?

What about last week?

What about last month?

What about last year?

If you analyze your phone calls (that you initiated) in the last six months, what percentage of them were requests for something and what percentage were those that created new opportunities or possibilities for the other person?

In other words, generally do you want to GET something from someone or do you want to GIVE something to them?

What changes would you make in the next six months in this area to open new possibilities for people around you?

Something to think about.

Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.

Brandon at BizBookTalk giving away 5 copies of “Beyond Code”

By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 8:58 AM - Leave Comment

Brandon at BizBookTalk gives away business books on Fridays. This Friday, he is giving away five(5) copies of “Beyond Code”

To enter, you have to answer the following question (from his blog post)

What are important qualities/traits an individual should encompass in order to distinguish themselves?

(Answers like hard worker, honest, passionate, ect. don’t fit the bill for this one. I’m looking more above and beyond. Remember, we are talking about standing out from the pack!)

Here is the link:
BizBookTalk: Friday’s Book Giveaway: Beyond Code by Rajesh Setty

Posted under Announcement, Main Page.

Quought for the day #45 – Jodee Bock

By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - Leave Comment

Jodee is a certified Life Purpose and Career Coach who supports individuals and teams in succeeding in whatever they are committed to accomplishing. She has spent more than 15 years in many facets of Corporate America, including newspaper editor, sports information director, corporate communicator, PR manager, corporate trainer, and management consultant.

Jodee is one of the charter members and current chair of the Women’s Business Exchange, a Fargo-based not-for-profit organization that connects women who want to take their businesses or careers to the next level of success through networking, conversation and mentorship.

Jodee’s Quought for the Day

Where in your life might the fear of criticism be greater than your desire for success (however you would define that)?
 
Jodee’s note accompanying the Quought:
As I’ve been contemplating this question for myself and asking it of some close friends and associates, I’ve learned that everyone’s definition of success is slightly different – and even that can alter the answer. If success means achieving a goal or hitting a quota, that may cause fear because it raises the bar for the next cycle and the possibility of “failure” looms. But if success means being happy and content, the fear is no longer present. In fact, the fear that may arise in both cases is of something that isn’t even happening – it’s merely a possibility, it’s in the future. If we’re in fear mode, and conditioned to see everything we do as fear-producing, we won’t be able to think our way out of the situation until we get out of the place we were when we created it.

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page.

Quought for the day #44 – Drew McLellan

By Rajesh Setty on Thu 08 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - 2 Comments

Drew McLellan has not only survived 20 years in the advertising and marketing arena, he’s thrived in it.  After working for several other agencies, including Young and Rubicam’s CMF&Z, Drew created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. At MMG, strategy and passion collide as they bring their unique style and practical smarts to life for their clients small and large.  Drew and his talented band of co-workers have developed a proprietary branding process that has helped propel their clients to the top of their game.

Considered a national expert in branding for both for profit companies and the non-profit world, Drew is highly sought after speaker and has given about a zillion presentations at national conferences, key note addresses, training for his peers in the profession, college students and even his daughter’s eighth grade class.

Drew’s Quought for the day:

If, on the day of your funeral someone were to walk up to the podium and speak a single word or phrase that captured the essence of your life — what would you want that word or phrase to be and what are you doing today and every day to earn it?

Drew’s note accompanying the Quought:
We all get so caught up in being busy and doing things that just aren’t going to matter.  And we spend far too little time actively creating our legacy.  A legacy is not built on a single act or a day’s heroics.  It is built (or not) out of our daily choices, actions and words.  Which of course…leads to my question.

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page.

Quought for the day #43 – Mike Wagner

By Rajesh Setty on Wed 07 Feb 2007, 5:00 AM - 1 Comment

As founder and president of White Rabbit Group, Mike has focused his energies on creating a model of branding every business leader can grasp and apply to their organization: Brand Ownership.

Mike’s understanding of creative and competitive business cultures was formed at Franklin Covey and Saturn where he witnessed how brand critical standards resulted in exceptionally successful marketing and sales processes.

In the early days of Internet marketing, Mike was instrumental in leading a web development company into Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies. Helping clients make sense of e-business when others could not, his insight as a Internet business strategist won over clients that included Wells Fargo, Principal Financial Group, AOL Time Warner and more.

Mike now focuses his attention on fully developing his professional speaking and consulting skills through the White Rabbit Group. His focus is on helping clients build the successful connection between brand development and sales performance.

Mike’s Quought for the Day

“What do you see when you see people?”

Mike’s note accompanying the Quought:
This is an empathy question. I use it to slow my reactions toward others down. It brings self-awareness and informs how I might choose to work and relate to others.

There is a great deal more I might say but perhaps it is best not to say too much, to remain suggestive not exhaustive.

This question began to form in my mind once when I was in a break room and overheard one person tell another, “when I see people I imagine a 50 dollar bill on their forehead.” It sounded like some “sales person” coaching another sales person on how to go for the commission.

We can have an instrumental view of people and see them simply as means to achieving our ends. Or we can see them as humans deserving of our respect, care and attention.

Ancient practices of hospitality grew from choosing to see the “stranger” as a person and not a threat. Civility which is much lacking in our world also comes from a willingness to examine our perspective on others.

Note:
Quought = Question that provokes thought. Questions are important. Thinking is important. Questions that make you think are very important!

PS:
Squidoo Lens: The Power of Questions!

Posted under Main Page, Quought for the Day.

Accepting the data does not mean that you need to accept the claims…

By Rajesh Setty on Tue 06 Feb 2007, 11:36 PM - Leave Comment

Seth points us to the new ranking based on our attention called “Compete Attention 200”

Please read Seth’s post -”Meaningless to two decimal places” before reading this as what Seth says on this kind of ranking is VERY important.

I have another perspective on this data. Let us forget the top 200. Let us just focus on top 10 sites. (Note: The Attention Index is based on the amount of time U.S. internet users spend across the top one million websites.)

This data is telling us something. Let us dissect this a bit more.

1. myspace.com  11.9%
2. yahoo.com         8.5%
3. msn.com             3.7%
4. ebay.com            3.7%
5. google.com         2.1%
6. aol.com               1.7%
7. pogo.com           1.6%
8. facebook.com    0.97%
9. amazon.com      0.67%
10. craigslist.com   0.64%

Total attention percentage: 35.48%

More than one-third of the attention is spent on these 10 websites. Here are my assessments (warning: some assessments may be half-baked so read the last paragraph before you think of anything else)

1. There are four sites out of the top 10 that are search engine focused. Yahoo, MSN, Google and AOL. As they say, people are drowning in information but starving for knowledge. Large majority of people are SEARCHING for something. Either they are not doing anything with the data they found or the data is bad or they just want to search some more

2. With myspace.com, facebook.com and pogo.com are on the top 10, it just means that lot of internet-savvy youngsters are more comfortable to mingle online than to shake hands. That is understandable – you can chat with ten people online at a time, send emails to hundred or more people at a time. But to shake hands, it is a lot of work and the ROI seems to be low for them. However, most people also know that it is hard to replace a handshake with technology gimmicks. But, you know, it is convenient to spend time online

3. eBay is on the top 10 list. This is interesting. eBay for me is a masterstroke by confederation of microbrands. Makes me wonder – is it worth spending money on building a big brand or be a microbrand and win big on eBay

4. And I love the fact that craigslist.com is on the top 10. Just shows that once the utility value is high, coolness factor does not matter. Craigslist does not have a flamboyant personality but makes it very easy for a common man to give and get value

Please note: Before you go and make an analysis of my analysis, the point I want to make is that data is just data. What is more important is to observe the claims that are made based on the data. You can agree or disagree with the folks that this list represents the best of the best on the web.

You can also spend time proving or disproving that claim. Rather than that, why not spend some time on this data and see if this data means anything to your business. In other words, if this is hard data, what can you infer from it that will change the way you view your own business?

Posted under Main Page.