Josh Linkner on “Leadership Lessons from the Honey Badger”

Here is a recent post by Josh Linkner at his website. To check out the wealth of free resources that he provides, please click here.

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Don’t let the sugary name fool you. Recognized as the most fearless animal by the Guinness Book of World Records, the Honey Badger is a strange yet powerful creature. This determined animal may not be a household name, but even the King Cobra fears and respects this beast.

Please click here to watch an hilarious and informational brief video of a Honey Badger in action, a film about this crazy animal that has been seen over 52 million times.Besides the sidesplitting narration, there are actually some poignant leadership lessons from the Honey Badger we can all learn thanks to this eccentric creature. The Honey Badger is:

• Willing to do whatever it takes. No matter how dirty it gets, how much pain it must endure, how challenging the circumstances may be, Honey Badger will stop at nothing to reach it’s goal.

• Singularly focused. Distractions are a joke for this creepy mammal. Honey Badger remains laser-focused on the prize and can be lured away by neither threat nor temptation.

• Unstoppable. It doesn’t allow setbacks, external circumstances, competitors, extreme conditions, fatigue, or laziness to get in its way. Honey Badger forges ahead with the requisite confidence to ensure nothing can interfere with accomplishment.

• Fearless. In the wild, there are countless mortal threats. The Honey Badger can only survive by forging ahead despite these risk and refuses to let fear consume even a millimeter of its zeal. Certainly it recognizes potential hazards, but Honey Badger sprints ahead nonetheless.

• Gives back. Maybe not intentionally, but this animal’s ferocity enables others’ (crows, jackals, etc.) survival. Honey Badger’s raw force is so powerful that it contributes back to the common good.

Life often throws us curveballs, and it is all too easy to cave under the pressure. A timid approach can end up becoming your undoing. A faint-hearted Honey Badger would meet extinction, just like the bashful business leaders who fail to seize their full potential.

You’ve been told to connect with your inner-child. Instead, I suggest brining out your inner-Honey Badger if you want to win in our highly competitive world. White doves are nice to look at, but I’ll be bringing a Honey Badger to my next fight.

Isn’t it time you did the same?

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Josh is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin (“Magic”) Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, please click here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!

The Myth of a “Balanced” Life

Here’s an excerpt from a recent post by Josh Linkner at his website. To check out the wealth of resources that he provides, please click here.

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In addition to reaching the top of our game in our careers, we feel crushing pressure to excel at nearly every other area of life.  The list of “shoulds” puts us in a pressure cooker that could turn coal into diamonds.  We should be have a sculpted body, be a perfect parent, be well-read and well-travelled, be a giving friend, have dozens of enriching hobbies, be involved at the church (or temple or mosque), be a loving spouse/partner, have a clean car and mowed lawn, play an instrument, master yoga, and volunteer in the community.  Oh… and don’t forget plenty of “me” time for reflection.

And we wonder why we are filled with anxiety about life balance.  But what’s the real cost to pursue it?

Sprinting toward unattainable desires is a major contributor to anxiety and depression.  The irony is that maniacally chasing life balance may drive you to feeling more off-balance than ever.

While unpopular to say, the facts are the facts.  The most successful people generally have horrible life balance.   Business leaders such as Jobs and Carnegie had a notoriously unbalanced life.  Edison slept four hours a day – in his lab.  It’s the rare exception to find a movie star or idolized musician with an intact family, let alone attending the neighborhood barbecue.

Reminds me of one of my favorite Chinese proverbs, “Chase two rabbits and both will escape.”
In addition to reaching the top of our game in our careers, we feel crushing pressure to excel at nearly every other area of life.  The list of “shoulds” puts us in a pressure cooker that could turn coal into diamonds.  We should be have a sculpted body, be a perfect parent, be well-read and well-travelled, be a giving friend, have dozens of enriching hobbies, be involved at the church (or temple or mosque), be a loving spouse/partner, have a clean car and mowed lawn, play an instrument, master yoga, and volunteer in the community.  Oh… and don’t forget plenty of “me” time for reflection.

And we wonder why we are filled with anxiety about life balance.  But what’s the real cost to pursue it?

Sprinting toward unattainable desires is a major contributor to anxiety and depression.  The irony is that maniacally chasing life balance may drive you to feeling more off-balance than ever.

While unpopular to say, the facts are the facts.  The most successful people generally have horrible life balance.   Business leaders such as Jobs and Carnegie had a notoriously unbalanced life.  Edison slept four hours a day – in his lab.  It’s the rare exception to find a movie star or idolized musician with an intact family, let alone attending the neighborhood barbecue.

Reminds me of one of my favorite Chinese proverbs, “Chase two rabbits and both will escape.”

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin (“Magic”) Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”Earvin (“Magic”) Johnson

Josh Linkner on “Swiss Army Knife Innovation”

Here’s a recent post by Josh Linkner at his website. To check out the wealth of resources that he provides, please click here.

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That ubiquitous red contraption contains just about every feature you can imagine.  A nail clipper, ice pick, and Philips screwdriver.  None of the individual tools are especially remarkable – you could buy a corkscrew that is higher quality and more beautifully designed – but all of these mediocre features are crammed into one product. Is that what your company does? Spending nearly every waking moment with entrepreneurs, a common mistake is to try to drive progress by adding product features.  Website isn’t attracting enough users?  Throw in an extra function to the site.  Mobile app missing revenue targets?  Must need some new bell or whistle.

I call this the Swiss Army Knife trap.  It’s the erroneous conclusion that adding more will create more, while the truth is that the best companies focus their energy on simplicity.

Apple is legendary for removing buttons and features to offer customers beautiful, simple, clean design.  A key reason Facebook crushed MySpace was their ability to offer an elegant, uncluttered user experience.  The best companies focus on having fewer product features, but having the ones that remain deliver something truly special.

Instead of adding yet another function or service to your mix, try the opposite approach.  Great sculptors throughout history believe that their work of art already exists within that giant block of granite. Their job is to remove the unnecessary rock to reveal their masterpiece.  Think about your own product or service.  What can you remove, streamline, or simplify to reveal an uncluttered work of beauty?  Create an offering that’s easy to understand and solves real customer problems in a remarkable way.
You’re far better off doing one thing really, really well than trying to toss in every feature imaginable.  Direct your creative energy toward being the best at something and making it so compelling that it can’t be ignored.  Too many ingredients in the soup makes it taste horrible… the same applies to your business.

It’s time to resist the diabolical temptation to add a toothpick, leather punch, or tweezers.  Stop worrying about adding new menu items and make sure you are delivering incredible value with your core offering. Your customers, investors, team members, and accountant will all thank you.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin “Magic” Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”

Josh Linkner on “Child’s Play”

Josh

As a parent of four and a grandparent of ten, I count among my most precious blessings each and every opportunity I have to play games with them. Golf with the three sons, board games with the daughter and teenage grandchildren (usually chess) and whatever board and electronic games the younger grandchildren wish to play. Cheating is a given if the game is Candyland or Chutes & Ladders.

Here’s a recent post by Josh Linkner at his website. To check out the wealth of resources that he provides, please click here.

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I recently spent some time laughing hysterically while playing board games with my kids.  There’s nothing better than watching a kid unleash an enormous laugh, is there?  It got me thinking about the many things we can learn from child’s play that apply directly to our lives today as hard-driving, world-conquering, eat-nails-for-breakfast adults:

1. You Need a Challenge.  With nearly every game ending in a tie, the primitive and simple game of tic-tac-toe gets old in about three minutes.  That’s because human growth and fulfillment come in the midst of challenge.   “A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner”, the English proverb states.  We are meant to take on complex challenges, gaining confidence through achievement.  If you are feeling stretched, this is a good sign and indicates you are becoming stronger and more powerful.  Conversely, if you find yourself punching the clock and mastering your surroundings, it’s time to push yourself to a more challenging game.

2. Listen to Your Instincts.  Remember the game “You’re Getting Warmer” where one kid is blindfolded and has to find another.  With each step, the other kids chant “you’re getting warmer” or “you’re getting colder.”  Try playing this game by yourself.  It turns out we have an incredible ability to tap into our own intuition if we simply listen.  When you make various choices in life, your instincts tell you if you’re getting warmer or colder.  Deep inside, you know if your moves are driving you closer to your life’s vision or if your choices are destructive and luring you away from reaching your potential.  Kids listen to their intuition, but we adults often fail to hear.

3. Playing the Game is the Fun Part.  Imagine you’re “it” in a game of hide-and-seek, but when you open your eyes everyone is in plain sight.  Sure, you “won” the game but it certainly wasn’t enjoyable.  As adults, we are often so focused on future outcomes that we fail savor the moment.  In the midst of the game with the rush of uncertainty, we find joy and delight.  When the game is over, kids insightfully say, “let’s play again!”  It’s time to start enjoying the journey instead of postponing our happiness.

4. It’s Best When It’s Your Turn.  Every kid wants to go first because they get to be the active driver of their experience.  Knowing this, why do so many of us relinquish our power and allow life to happen “to” us?  Studies show that happiness at work is often linked to jobs where individuals have more autonomy.  Of course, this same principle goes far beyond our careers.  We’re wired to be the architects of our own existence, not the subjects of others.  In an era with nearly limitless possibility, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be calling your own shots.

In today’s turbulent times, many of us are in a state of imbalance, stress, or even panic.  Yet sometimes the most potent insights are right in front of us. As my 14-year-old son likes to tell me, “get your head in the game, Dad.”

Go ahead.  It’s your turn to spin the wheel.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin “Magic” Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

Let the countdown begin.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”

Four Very Important Questions to Ask

Josh Linkner

Here’s a recent post by Josh Linkner. His life continues to be an inspiring fulfillment of the values he affirms. I urge you to read his book, Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, and to visit his website by clicking here.

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It’s often said that the most successful people focus more on the questions they ask than the statements they make. 

Asking the right questions can unlock volumes of knowledge, wisdom, and insight.  Yet we’re often so busy telling, that we miss out on the power of asking.  While this applies to communication with other people, I’m talking about the internal conversation we have with ourselves.

So often, that internal dialog is sabotaging.  If you speak to friends the same way you speak to yourself, you’d quickly end up with a long list of enemies.   “I’m not smart enough”, “I can’t do it”, “That was a stupid thing I just said”, “I’m a phony”, “I’ll probably get fired”, “He/she is going to dump me.”

Your inner pit bull ends up wreaking havoc and holding you back from reaching your true potential.  It’s a terrible injustice when you spend your reflective moments filled with fear and doubt.  Instead of a loving coach to ourselves, we often end up being an angry, mud-slinging jerk.  A warden who ensures we stay imprisoned – demanding mediocrity.  We become our own biggest detractors.

Rather than a bunch of new age, self-help babble, try asking yourself these four powerful questions to liberate your soul and set your ideal course.

1. If there were zero chance of failure, what would you do?
2. What are the three habits you need to change to take your game to the next level?
3. Who are the people in your life you need to spend more time with?  Less time?
4. Is the game plan you are currently running the most direct path to your destiny?

Telling yourself empty compliments lacks authenticity and impact and has the same effect of someone complimenting you on your outfit that you know is a fashion disaster.  Real confidence and empowerment comes from knowing you are on the right path, and having the discipline to stay focused even when it isn’t convenient.

By asking yourself these questions in an honest, introspective manner, the game plan you need to pursue will become as clear as the latest 3D, HD, LED, 1080p TV.  Then it becomes a choice: To follow your life’s work or to cave to your detractors.  And I’m talking about both external naysayers and the likely biggest critic in your life – you.

When you’re on the right path, the negative self-talk evaporates and gives way to confidence and power.

You don’t need a shrink, life-coach, boss, talk show host, politician, parent, or infomercial spokesperson to tell you how to live your life.  When you go deep on these questions, you’ll find the answers you need to put a plan in motion and seize your purpose.

Send the critic out for a long walk, ask the right questions, and get busy with manifesting your true potential.

Everyone else’s is already taken.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin “Magic” Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”

Josh Linkner on Planting Seeds…Lots of Seeds

Josh Linkner

Here’s a recent post by Josh Linkner. His life continues to be an inspiring fulfillment of the values he affirms. I urge you to read his book, Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, and to visit his website by clicking here.

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How do you know if you’ve accomplished something today?  What should you measure if you didn’t deliver something measurable?  In an era of dashboards, metrics, and key performance indicators, should every ounce of your energy be directed at hitting near term deliverables?

In studying the behavior of the most successful people, I’ve noticed that they spend a good deal of time planting seeds.  Sure, they deliver short-range tangible results, but they also constantly invest in the future.

When you take the time to help someone out with no immediate payback in sight, you are planting a seed.  When you write an article, blog, or whitepaper – simply to share insight with others – you are planting seeds.  When you volunteer at a local hospital, give back to the community, or pick up that piece of trash that everyone else sees yet ignores, you are planting seeds.

The results often come back to you in non-linear ways, but the return on your investment will absolutely be noteworthy.  The college student you help, simply because it is the right thing to do, ends up referring his boss to you years later who, in turn, becomes your largest client.  The speech you gave at a community event touches the mayor, who becomes an ally to you as you seek permit approval several months later.

The funny thing about generosity is that it actually ends up driving better results than the selfish person craves.  If you go out into the world and greedily chase cash, you’ll seldom find it.  But if you genuinely seek to make a difference, you’ll end up with an even greater bounty.

You can plant seeds by building new relationships.  Helping a colleague.  Extending support to others without issuing them an invoice in return.  Sharing your knowledge.  Supporting a friend during difficult times.  Doing a favor.  Pitching in without being asked.

The seeds you plant may not provide a boost to this month’s income statement, but there’s simply no question they will propel your future.  It’s one of those things that grumpy, penny-pinching CFOs will advise against; which is all the more reason to keep on planting.

Sure, it’s a good day when you land a client, close a deal, or improve performance by 3.68%.  But it’s a great day when you’ve planted fresh seeds.  While it can’t be measured this month, you will savor the wonder and magic when those seeds bear beautiful fruit.

Plant away.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times Bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top 10 business books of 2011. Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin “Magic” Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan.For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”

Lessons to be learned from Steve Jobs

Josh Linkner

Everyone seems to have lots of opinions about Steve Jobs. I never met him or worked for him. I’ve seen videos of him, notably his commencement address at Stanford. Also,  I know people who knew him and worked for him. Among my friends are those who have written books and articles about him. It would be presumptuous of me, however, to suggest what lessons can be learned from him. There are others who are well-qualified to do so. Josh Linkner is a case in point. The author of Disciplined Dreaming, he is also the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners and the Founder, Chairman and former CEO of ePrize.

Here’s what Josh thinks about his friend, Steve Jobs:

He’s been called the modern day Thomas Edison, the Beethoven of business, and the most prolific visionary since Henry Ford.  Yet as Steve Jobs steps down from the helm of Apple, he has left us with so much more than incredible technology.

Jobs completely transformed the industries of personal computing, digital animation (Pixar), music, mobile phones, and now tablets.  He created the most valuable company in the world and impacted the way billions of people live their daily lives.  But beyond his accomplishments, he’s taught us lessons in leadership and life.  The characteristics he embodied can serve as a roadmap for us all to become better in business, community, family, and personal achievement.

For all us kids from 1 to 92, Steve’s guiding principles can help us live our best life and make the biggest difference:

1) Put Passion First – He followed his heart and let the operational details fall into place.  He refused to put a governor on his burning desire to reach new heights.

2) Never Limit Your Imagination – He always imagined the ideal solution or product and never cut corners or watered down his most potent ideas due to setbacks or fear.

3) Pursue Greatness over Money – Steve didn’t chase the mighty dollar.  Rather, he focused on making the biggest possible impact and the money followed.

4) Demand Excellence – Critics complain of his exacting style and “unrealistic” demands.  There’s a natural gravitational force of mediocrity, and sometimes it takes an aggressive stance to rise above the sea of sameness.

5) Put Yourself Out of Business – Steve was never satisfied, and constantly strove to be the force of disruptive change that would make the Steve of six months ago irrelevant.  Never clinging to past successes, he maintained intense urgency around continuous reinvention.

6) Challenge Conventional Wisdom – When there were norms, he lived to shatter them.  Nearly every step of his success can be traced to inspired thinking that stuck his finger in the eye of the complacent incumbents.

7) Simplify – ‘Nuff said.

8) Ignore the Naysayers – If he listened to the “sound advice” of others, we’d never even know his name.  He never let the fear of others interfere with his own trajectory.

9) Persist – While today he sits victorious, there were many times he nearly lost it all.  There were dark days at Apple, Pixar, and even in his personal life.  Where others throw in the towel, Steve stared into the abyss and never accepted defeat.

10) Never Pigeonhole – Steve wasn’t a “computer executive.”  He was a visionary change agent and could not be constrained. He realized his calling was far beyond any categorical label.

11) Push Beyond What You Think is Possible – When Steve heard “that can’t be done”, it only emboldened his resolve.  He constantly drove himself and others to reach new heights.

Whether you’re building a tech startup, raising three kids or running a soup kitchen, these indelible philosophies serve as a roadmap to success.  While you may organize your thoughts on your MacBook, communicate with your team on your iPhone, and later jam some tunes on your iPod, the impact of Steve Jobs is far greater than the devices he’s provided.  Rather, he’s given us a model to reach our full potential.

Steve famously said he wanted to “put a ding in the universe.”  You have done that, my friend, and so much more.  The impact you’ve made is immeasurable, and has inspired a generation to “think different.”  Thank you for taking the path less traveled, for conquering the never-been-done, and for leading with purpose.  Thank you for changing the world.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top ten business books of 2011. He is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm helping to rebuild urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is the Founder, Chairman and former CEO of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world providing digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands. Prior to ePrize, Josh was the founder and CEO of three other successful technology companies.  Josh’s writings are published frequently by Fast Company and Forbes and he’s been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, and on CNBC. Josh is also a professional-level jazz guitarist performing regularly in jazz clubs throughout the United States.

Most importantly, Josh in on a mission to make the world more creative.

For more information on creativity, please visit his website by clicking here. “In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire! “

 

 

All In or Don’t Bother

Josh Linkner

Here is a recent blog post by Josh Linkner, author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity. With all due respect to the value of effort and even best effort, Josh is really talking about a mindset that many affirm but few develop: faith in the power of 100% best effort. “In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire! ” To visit his website, please click here.

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Imagine you have the chance to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the pole vault.  It’s your big moment and you may even break a world record.  With the intense glow of audience scrutiny, this isn’t the time to hedge your bets.  If you try a safer approach or pause to consider all the risks, the game is over.  Instead, your best chance of reaching greatness is to give the task at hand your every ounce of passion, commitment, and energy.

To reach your true potential, you need to be All In.

Opportunity knocks for us all, sometimes more subtly than we’d like.  Frequently that opportunity is shrouded with doubt and uncertainty; often it looks like a setback or even danger.  Most of us ignore these opportunities altogether, or when we seize them we do so with a halfhearted approach.

“I’ll give it a shot”, we might say.  Or, “Let’s see what happens.”  The problem is – all the energy you put into developing Plan B ends up defusing your focus on the real prize.   It turns out that the most successful people devour each opportunity along their journey with carnivorous ferocity.   They give each shot everything they have, knowing full well that some will ring the victory bell while others crash and burn.

Think how silly Lady Gaga would look spending 10 hours a week working on her CPA license in case her music career flopped.  Or what about a Major League Baseball player who never swung for the fences?  Life is short and opportunities are fleeting.   If you hope to achieve your full potential, you must put all your weight behind each punch.  Start playing to win, and stop playing “not to lose.”

Sure, it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and point fingers.  There are scores of people who achieve nothing of their own, but relish in the setbacks of others.  But, at the end of the day, they’ll look back and wish they took a stand of their own.  They’ll wish they were All In.

Theodore Roosevelt said it best, way back in 1910:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

When you are presented with an opportunity, attack it with everything you’ve got.  No more half-and-half.  It’s time to be All In. 

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, named one of the top ten business books of 2011. He is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm helping to rebuild urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is the Founder, Chairman and former CEO of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world providing digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands. Prior to ePrize, Josh was the founder and CEO of three other successful technology companies.  Josh’s writings are published frequently by Fast Company and Forbes and he’s been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, and on CNBC. Josh is also a professional-level jazz guitarist performing regularly in jazz clubs throughout the United States.

Most importantly, Josh in on a mission to make the world more creative.

 

The power of Vu Déjà

Josh Linkner

Here is a recent post by Josh Linkner. For more information on creativity, visit his website by clicking here.

“In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!”

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We’ve all experienced déjà vu, looking at an unfamiliar situation and feeling like we’ve seen it before.  It turns out the most successful and creative people flip this around and consciously practice Vu Déjà – looking at a familiar situation as if you’ve never seen it before.

Our brains are hardwired to play a devious trick.

We are masters at pattern recognition, so our brains quickly scan our memory banks when stimulated and identify how we handled a situation before.  The problem is that our first instinct is to quickly reach a previous conclusion rather than re-examine a situation with a fresh perspective.  This is great for some things (walking, using a fork, language) since we don’t need to re-learn those skills each time they’re needed.  However, this brain trap can be deadly when we fail to advance our thinking.

The way you solved a customer issue or launched a product in the past may have worked great, but the world isn’t standing still.  Quite the opposite – every night when we go to bed and wake up the next day, things have changed.  Those that get stuck in the past and lean on the golden ways of a time gone by are playing Russian roulette with their future.

Even when something is still working, it’s time to look at the situation with a clean set of eyes.  When you look at challenges from a fresh perspective, it breaks you out of the rut and allows your creativity to shine.

To get started with Vu Déjà, here are some fun techniques:

• Pretend this is your first day on the job.  What do you notice that your currently breeze by?
• When dealing with an issue, imagine you have a different profession.  If you’re a chemical engineer, ask yourself how an artist may solve your problem.
• If you are a graphic designer, how would an astronaut think about your situation?
• Pretend you are a different person altogether.  Instead of brainstorming as you, try pretending you are Steve Jobs, Rush Limbaugh, or Bono.  Pick your favorite movie star, sports hero, business leader, politician or author and take on their persona.
• Imagine you are a time traveler and look at a challenge from the perspective of 100 years in the future.  Or 200 years in the past.
• Each of these exercises will help you shake things up and get away from existing patterns.  A fresh perspective on team meetings, employee issues, product development, efficiency gains, hiring practices, marketing strategies, or even financial metrics can help you bust through the mud and find new, elegant solutions.

Make the familiar as unfamiliar as possible.  Vu Déjà.

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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity. He is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm helping to rebuild urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is the Founder, Chairman and former CEO of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world providing digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands.

 

The United States of Apple

Josh Linkner

Here is a recent post by Josh Linkner. He makes several excellent points as our nation’s hamster-brain “leaders” in Washington continue to muddle through the toxic swamp of partisanship. Given the nature and extent of current unemployment and under-employment, perhaps Jobs and jobs are becoming synonymous.

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Get this – Apple, Inc. now has more money than the US Government.  According to a report in the Financial Post this week, the U.S. operating balance now stands at roughly $73.8 billion compared to the $75.9 billion of cash that Apple has on hand.  How is it possible that the tech giant has more money that the world’s biggest economic superpower?

We can debate debt ceilings and policy all day long, but something still strikes me here.  A company that started the same year our nation was celebrating her 200th birthday is now in a stronger financial position than its home country.

How is it that a single company can become so successful, and in turn change the lives of millions of people around the world?  How can a company become not just a financial powerhouse, but also an icon of innovation, design, and culture?

Jobs and team have built something much more special than a cash-creation machine.  As Steve likes to say, they have truly put a “ding in the universe.”  Their success isn’t rooted in number crunching, cost cutting, or audit controls.  No trick-the-customer, deal-of-the-day, or Wall Street gaming.  Rather, they’ve built an enduring brand and culture that is now recognized as the most valuable tech company in the world.

Here are five lessons from Apple that we can all embrace to drive success in our companies, careers, and communities:

Shatter Conventional Wisdom. While some ‘fraidy-cat executives cower at thought of straying outside the lines, the folks at Apple live to disrupt.  They don’t waste their valuable brainstorm sessions on driving .21% incremental margin or extracting costs by using cheap materials.  Instead, they direct their energy toward changing the world.

No Limits. In our fear-based society, we often gravitate to all the reasons something can’t be done.  So often, we let imaginary barriers restrict us for reaching our true potential. Not Apple.  They refuse to be derailed and let those seemingly insurmountable challenges drive their cause instead of squash their dreams.

Innovation Wins.  The culture at Apple celebrates the risk takers.  The dreamers.  The creators.  They realize that creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of the organization, and have built a culture and philosophy that rewards it.

Design Matters.  The folks at Apple know that design is as important as function.  Their products are beautiful works of art rather than utilitarian machinery.  They focus not just on what their gear does, but how it makes their customers feel.   All five senses are delighted by design, and customers are willing to pay handsomely as a result.

Passion First.  Apple doesn’t chase money, they pursue purpose.  They build products and services that they love and want to use themselves.  They connect deeply to the impact they will make on customers, and follow their hearts instead of earnings-per-share.  As a result, the money follows.

Big time.

Apple may have more cash than our government right now, but their real value goes much deeper than their balance sheet.  More than their billions, they’ve managed to build a culture of innovation that will continue to drive success and change the world.  Maybe the US Government can learn a thing or two here.  Maybe we all can.

Hey brother Jobs, can you spare a dime?

For more information on creativity, please visit JoshLinkner.com. In addition to my blog, you’ll find free videos, quizzes, articles, eBooks and more to help fuel your creative fire!
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Josh Linkner is the New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity. He is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm helping to rebuild urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is the Founder, Chairman and former CEO of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world providing digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands.