This is a first for me- I am just going to promote another website. The quotes below are from a manifesto called "The Hughtrain" - a play on the original Cluetrain.
Quote 1: Why did I leave the big world of corporations and Amex cards...
The big city is an anachronism. All those skyscrapers, architecturally impressive as they are, were built to house large, tightly controlled, centralized bureaucracies within a very small area of land, geographically near the other like-minded bureaucracies with whom they did business. You wanted to work for Corporation X? You had to buy a house within commuting distance to Corporation X’s Central HQ. Ninety percent of the people you needed to talk to on a daily basis were within an elevator ride of your desk. Amazing how dated something so recent can seem. Now e-mail and its spawn are the new elevators.
Quote 2: Why did you start a Blog - one of those things that when you are in start-up mode, is important but not urgent.
1. Understand why what you’re offering to do for other people, is interesting, important, meaningful, etc. Then start telling people about it.
Think about this one. Hard. If you don’t know, then how will other people know? Exactly.
They won’t.
2. Live like you know the difference between remarkable and unremarkable, like it matters to you.
The more “remarkable” matters to you, the more likely that it will appear in the product you’re selling. The more likely other people will notice it.
3. Seek out the exceptional minds.
This is my basic mantra. It’s a good one to have. Not everybody gets it. Their loss.
4. Start a blog.
Blogs are funny things. Say something smart and people pay attention. Say something dumb, and you’re ignored. We big media folk just can’t seem to get our heads around that concept, for some reason. Regular blogging can help train you to discern between smart and dumb. It makes it easier to extend this to the rest of one’s business
5. Ruthlessly avoid working for companies that “don’t get it.”
Yeah, you may have to turn down a few gigs, and that can really hurt when the rent is due. Still, anything that’s easy to get isn’t worth having.
6. Ruthlessly avoid working for companies that think they know better than you.
Luckily, if you get the whole “smarter conversations” thing, their “Yes, buts” will just seem rather empty, making them easier to “toss out like old furniture.”
7. Be nice.
Smarter conversations are fueled by goodwill. Lose it and die.
8. Be honest.
Again, smarter conversations are fueled by goodwill, etc.
9. Karma is key.
But you already know that. Or you’re stupid. No middle ground on this one, sorry.
10. Listen.
Tongues are dumber than brains, brains are dumber than ears, etc.
If a CEO can see his company as primarily an idea amplifier, then he can understand his “brand” properly. Vision doesn’t require molecules, it never did. What it requires is something worth believing in.
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