"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
Welcome Back Steve Jobs -- though he's been back on the
job since June, it was great to see him "vertical" in front of an audience and
the global community-at-large yesterday, sharing his continued passion for
creating and making dreams come true.
The Beatles: Rock
Band -- speaking of dreams-come-true, a must-read article this week
concerns the two young founders of Harmonix, Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy.
Creators of the highly popular Guitar Hero, they released a Beatles version
yesterday, after two years of negotiations and development directly with Paul
McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison. This story will re-ignite
your passion for dreams, thinking big, handling defeat, and sticking to your
core purpose. Take five minutes and read this CNN/Money
interview (and then share it with your children!)
"Enable
everyone the experience, the joy, of making music" -- note Alex and
Eran in their interview, "One thing we're proud of -- if you look back to 1995
and read the mission statement of our first business plan, it's exactly the same
as it was today, which is to enable everyone the experience, the joy, of making
music...As an entrepreneur you never want to lose sight of the mountaintop
you're trying to get to, but you have to remain incredibly flexible about the
path that you take to get there, which often needs to change direction.
Fortunately, we didn't have to abandon the mountaintop." This is both a powerful
One-PHRASE Strategy and Core Purpose wrapped into one. Again, take five minutes
and read their interview -- and don't abandon your
mountaintop!
Ticket to the Limit -- someone that has
never abandoned his mountaintop and accomplished yet another personal goal,
writing a book, is Randy Cohen, founder of Ticket City. Known for his "woo-woo"
philosophy of business and life, Cohen just released his new book Ticket to
the Limit: How Passion and Performance Can Transform Your Life and Your Business
into an Amazing Adventure. And it's a good book (unlike many personal story
books)! Besides giving the reader a glimpse into the mega-sports industry, his
story inspires you to build a business that fulfills your life instead of your
life being just about the business. Randy -- superb job!! And all you
entrepreneurs reading this -- order a copy from Amazon right now and show
support for a fellow business owner -- and bring it to the Growth Summit where Randy will be autographing
copies.
Enthuse Your Customers (great idea for your
business)...and in response to my insight last week, Tom Ball, founder
of UK-based Cognac, sent me the following note "We started getting a few
"like minded companies" to throw a party to thank our clients/partners/friends
together... That was four years ago -- last Christmas 12 small companies (many
of them 2-5 people) came together and we had 1200 guests at the London
Hippodrome for a Moulin Rouge party - and
this year looks like it will be even bigger. There has never been a more
important time to show how much you appreciate the people that keep you in
business! Doing it with "like-minded" companies gives everyone more bang for
buck." Tom, brilliant idea!
Bike the Island of Sardinia with My
Family -- and if you want to party with the Harnish clan, we're joining
Gazelles' fan Lauren Hefferon's family and owner of Ciclismo Classico on a
week-long multi-sport adventure of the beautiful island of Sardinia (off the
western coast of Italy) June 20th, 2010. Here's a
link to the itinerary -- and you don't have to have any experience
biking -- fun for the entire family.
FYI -- in a note from Tony Hartl, who recently sold his tanning business and is now travelling the world, which included one of Lauren's bike tours "I had a great time cycling in Piedmont Italy. This was my first time ever, I mean ever clipping into a bike and now I'm hooked. I'm already checking out different road bikes in Dallas. Please let Lauren know that everything was a 10 -- guides, accommodations, routes, and everything in between." And he's set to go on another tour this October. Lauren does have the best family and individual bike tours in the world! You'll see the discipline of the Rockefeller Habits in action (and see her in Dallas at the Growth Summit).