"...out-learning the competition"
HEADLINES:
Escaping the Competitive Herd -- this is the subtitle of Harvard Professor Youngme Moon's breakthrough strategy book entitled Different. She's the opening keynote for our upcoming 2011 Fortune Growth Summit October 25 - 26, Phoenix, AZ. Most companies talk about being different, but very few achieve meaningful difference. Instead, through product and service augmentations, any idea of difference is quickly erased.
Three Brand Strategies -- Professor Moon outlines three particular brand strategies: the "reverse-positioned brand"; the breakaway brand; and the hostile brand - some fresh new language and approaches to anything I've seen before. To save time, skip right to Part 2 and read the opening story - you'll be hooked. NOTE for book club members - we're sending you the book today.
Raising Children to be Entrepreneurs -- this was the title of Cameron Herold's talk at TEDx and it was so well received that it was featured on the main TED.com site. An entrepreneur since childhood, Cameron Herold wants parents and teachers to recognize - and foster - entrepreneurial talent in kids. He was COO of 1-800-Got Junk for nearly seven years growing the company from $2M to $105M with no debt or outside investors. He's been added as a resource to the Maverick 4th July Family Event July 1 - 5, Park City, UT. And the hosts have reduced the price significantly by taking out the "all-inclusive" aspect. The other main resource is my favorite family guru, Richard Eyre - his ideas have helped my wife and me significantly with raising our children.
Harvard Law School's Chief Admissions Officer Uses Who -- notes Josh Rubenstein in an email to Geoff Smart, author of the #1 employee selection book Who: the A Method for Hiring, "I've found the book incredibly helpful both in refining our internal hiring methods and in stimulating ideas for improving our admissions process. In fact, our most successful recruiting innovation from this year - sending copies of recent faculty books, signed with personalized notes, to each admitted student - was inspired in part by your 'Sell' chapter." Just a friendly reminder if you're back in the recruiting and hiring mode to review Geoff's book.
Ghost Writer Available -- BTW, one of my favorite ghost writers for CEOs (yes, I still believe a book is the best marketing and recruiting tool you can create) is finished with his latest gig and is available - email him at [email protected]. And we now have someone on the Gazelles' team, Missy Giltner, who can help you self - publish for a nominal fee. She can connect you to the printers, cover designers, and book distributors you need to keep control of the process . NOTE: Publishers won't lift a finger to sell a single copy for you - but they'll own your work and make you pay a bunch of money for your own book.
Last Rockefeller Habits Workshop -- hosted June 23, Seattle. We'll publish our fall schedule in a few weeks.
One-Page Strategic Plan Affidavit Update -- please keep those affidavit's coming! Your response has been so greatly appreciated. And we can use them from people all over the world, not just the U.S. As for a deadline, we would like to get them in by June 30. For those in Australia, you can send them to: The Growth Faculty, PO Box 1424, Manly, NSW 1655.