I thought these were action photos of Steve Jobs until the very end when I noticed the ball joints at his wrist. Madam Tussaud meets GI Joe.
The company that planned to release these figures changed it’s mind due, according the the Silicon Valley Mercury News, to pressure from the family & from Apple.
“Though we still believe that we have not overstepped any legal boundaries, we have decided to completely stop the offer, production and sale of the Steve Jobs figurine out of our heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family.”
You know you’ve achieved Icon status when they want to make a doll out of you. I did a search to see if there was a Donald Trump action figure and sure enough, there is, available for a mere $9.99. Am I the only one who finds this a tiny little weeny bit CREEPY?
I was hunting for some retro TV images for a product I’m making and I stumbled on these fabulous vintage style ads for social media stuff, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, You Tube etc. One way to stand out is to mix 2 styles that appear to contradict each other but blend them in a way that looks authentic. Seriously cool…
My kids say I “Cry Book”. That I’m always telling them “You gotta read this book!” And it’s true. Not the cry wolf part. The “you gotta read this book!” part.
I read a lot of amazing books and it’s impossible not to become an evangelist.
But this book, for anyone who has college bound kids, is a must read. Or if you’re university bound yourself, or maybe if you are already in university and feel the bind. If you’re wondering if you’re in the right place. If you started out in Life Sciences and ended up in Latin American studies but really want to be a dancer and are working for a catering company to supplement your other part time work in the library, this book is for you.
Ellsberg, like Robert Kiyosaki before him, questions the relevance of much of what we study in school and in fact the whole higher educational system. I’ve read Kiyosaki’s rants about it and he makes a lot of great points but it was really only when I read Ellsberg’s book that it really sunk in that it’s true. The insistence that we go to university to get a good education to get a good job, is all one big (very successful) marketing job.
I’m indoctrinating my kids the same way. I have 2 university degrees from a very prestigious university. 3 of my kids are at the same institution with the 4th starting to send out applications as well. But will Caribbean studies or 20th century poetry really make any more difference in their lives than Trigonometry did?
The argument goes, university is not a vocational school. It’s a place to expand, to grow, to learn how to think. I know this argument because I spout it out too, regularly. But why, as Ellsberg points out, should our kids get into huge debt to learn that stuff, instead of learning that on their own, on the side, from the library and investing instead in stuff that will make their lives easier and better? Maybe stuff like how to invest, how to create a business, how to market, how to sell, how to speak in public effectively.
This book is full of captivating stories of high school graduates who did just fine, Dan Kennedy, Eben Pagen, Joe Polish, Frank Kern… I’ve met these guys, all hugely articulate, well spoken, well read, multimillioniares and in Kennedy’s case, a prolific author as well. Of course it’s not all about the money. But no one would argue that these master strategists were not educated. Made me think.
Please do not tell my kids about this post. I’m the daughter of a university professor, a Ph.D. in mathematics. I need to re-read the book again before I change the official party line.
It’s funny. I don’t remember the conversation or how it came up but I remember flippantly commenting to someone that criminals make great entrepreneurs. They’re organized, self-starters, motivated, strategic, enterprising.
I guess I’m not the only one who had that thought. Tonight I caught 3/4 of one of the most interesting TV shows I’ve seen recently, kinda Apprentice meets America’s Most Wanted. I’m exaggerating. They’re not vicious criminals but ex-convicts who are being given a second chance in a fascinating new CBC show Redemption, Inc. hosted by billion dollar business mogul, Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank & Dragon’s Den fame.
10 ex-cons compete for a $100,000 prize to start their own business. But the big prize is the mentorship of O’Leary himself. Every week one of them is booted off, but in an interesting twist, they don’t leave empty handed. In fact, they don’t even have to leave at all. They’re given the choice to either take “The Package” (a bundle of stuff they need to get started, like transportation, clothes, entrepreneurship courses at a college) or stick it out another week but risk getting booted off in the future empty handed. The woman who was voted off tonight took the package. It takes a lot of courage to be a contestant on a show like this and tell let the world see what most would want to hide.
In his wonderful book, Invisible, marketing author Harry Beckwith recommended business people “show their warts”. Here’s a guy who did.
According to Canada.com, one of the show’s co-producers, an ex-con himself, one put an Employment Wanted ad one of Canada’s leading newspapers with the headline: “Former Marijuana Smuggler”. He promoted himself referencing the fact that he “participated in the executive level management of 120 people worldwide in a successful pot smuggling venture with revenues in excess of $100 million US annually” and referred to the U.S. District Attorney as one of his references. Like I said, entrepreneurial. Lemons out of lemonade.
In Step Into The Spotlight!, I wrote about the various ways that companies sell different ugly brown liquids. Here’s one more. Not sure how many cans it’ll sell but it does make you think the brand is cool. Thanks to my daughter D for sending it!
It’s not only about being great at what you do. You gotta be positioned properly if you want to step into the spotlight as an expert or guru. Just being “out there” isn’t visibility.
5 years ago world class violinist Joshua Bell played his violin in the Washington, DC subway and was virtually ignored.
Are you playing YOUR violin in the subway? Join us for Spotlight LIVE Online and become the star you were meant to be. Click here now!
I inhale business books, especially anything to do with marketing, influence, persuasion, branding, behavioral economics, advertising, positioning etc.
Just finished The True Believer this morning, not exactly a “business book”, a scary but insightful treatise on the nature of fanaticism and the creation & life cycle of mass movements. [Thanks for the heads up Dan Kennedy.]
As entrepreneurs, authors, experts seeking to step into the spotlight, we have to understand the nature of fans (fanatics), who they are, what motivates them and how to cultivate them and how “His passionate attachment is more vital than the quality of the cause to which he is attached.” [Warning: This skinny little paperback book is not light reading.]
Also listening to Yes by Robert Cialdini and a couple of his colleagues. I read it a while ago but well worth a reminder listen. All about the persuasion techniques that are both available to us and practiced upon us. Well worth understanding.
So, I’m stepping out of the shower this morning and thought (for the thousanth time) that I should document and review the hundreds upon hundreds, perhaps thousands, of business books I read so I can recommend them to you. You’ll find a some reviews here at Step Into The Spotlight!, but of course, who has the time to do an exhaustive summary when I’m busy reading them.
So I’m thinking this when I get an email from a fellow enthusiast, Paul Nazareth, who has taken the time to do this. Check out his Business Book Reader Blog. Tons of great books, commentary and videos there.
