something humourous! – giving up wine…

not sure where this came from, but I do like it! enjoy

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, ‘If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?’

‘No, I had to stop drinking years ago’, the homeless woman told me.

‘Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?’ I asked.

‘No, I don’t waste time shopping,’ the homeless woman said. ‘I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.’

‘Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?’ I asked.

‘Are you NUTS!’ replied the homeless woman. I haven’t had my hair done in 20 years!’

‘Well, I said, ‘I’m not going to give you the money. Instead, I’m going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.’

The homeless woman was shocked. ‘Won’t your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I’m dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.’

I said, ‘That’s okay.. It’s important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.’

Generation G – trendwatching.com

Another priceless offering from trendwatching.com, especially given the highly publicised times ahead, coupled with what you actually want to be doing… plenty of food for thought…

Has there ever been more urgency for corporations to ditch the greed and embrace generosity? It’s something that countless individuals have already started doing, of course: giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving. And yes, we do realize that this month’s Trend Briefing is massive, but in this business climate, can you really afford not to spend some time figuring out how to get a little closer to your customers?

GENERATION G | “Captures the growing importance of ‘generosity’ as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.

In fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced ‘taking’ as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much of it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”

If the recession is hitting you where it hurts, and your budgets are tight, GENERATION G may feel like too costly a trend to capitalize on. We beg to differ:

Not all GENERATION G projects and initiatives are costly. Often, it’s a case of mindset, of attitude, of being creative, of finding the right partners, without spending millions. In fact, many of the services and projects highlighted in this briefing didn’t cost the world.

Those projects that do involve serious money should be paid for by shifting funding from any kind of bland, non-relevant, non-interactive, and above all, non-generous ad campaign you’re planning to run this year. Hey, if others—in all the examples above—can do it, so can you.

Not infusing your company’s or brand’s mindset with a heavy dose of generosity will eventually cost you much more. Like, seeing your brand go bust. Which makes any kind of expenditure on generosity a bargain.

Joining GENERATION G as a company or a brand is not really optional, it’s a fundamental requirement if you want to stay relevant in societies that value generosity, sharing and collaboration. Joining obviously entails more than adding a social responsibility or sustainability department; it means adopting a generous mindset that permeates every interaction with your community, with your employees, with your customers, with, wait for it, your ‘stakeholders’. Nothing more or less than a holistic approach* to generosity and business.

The benefits?

It doesn’t hurt that in turbulent times like now, generosity will find an extra-appreciative audience, and certainly won’t be forgotten.

Not only will your customers be more appreciative, they’ll also return your favors by being more willing to spread the word about you. And being more willing to collaborate with you, co-creating or co-inventing or co-improving. Which would get us to CUSTOMER-MADE. See, we told you this would be an umbrella trend.

And last but not least, to manage a company with a caring, generous mindset can actually be good for your soul, too 😉

indeed! read on

Google’s view on the future of business

One of the top interview of 2008 for The McKinsey Quarterly is the following one with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. I thought it timely to revisit this… enjoy

Few would dispute that Google sits at the center of the Internet. As the leader in search, Google is now the Internet’s premier brand and the planet’s most potent free service. Managing that commanding position falls largely to seasoned technology executive Eric Schmidt, who in 2001 was tapped for the CEO post by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

In his years at the company, Schmidt has delivered steady growth while expanding Google’s reach. By anticipating the ways in which people would expand their use of Internet applications, Schmidt has introduced new products from the popular Web-based e-mail service Gmail (Google Mail in Germany and the UK) to the recently unveiled G1 mobile phone. And as Google’s audience and influence have increased, so too has its appeal among advertisers worldwide… read on

What Are You Tolerating?

Donna Karlin has written articles about being scheduled to death,
and living in meeting hell but another question that
comes to mind and often, is, “What are you tolerating… and why?”

If you look at your day and see all the tolerations you put up with, no wonder you leave stressed, feeling overloaded with work and out of control. And if you no longer tolerate this one behavior, what is the ripple effect? Just think of what would happen if you stopped tolerating some other basic inappropriate ways of being. Boggles the mind don’t you think?

What are you currently tolerating?
what is it doing to your life?
what would your life look like if you stopped tolerating it?

Worthy questions aren’t they…

Six Degrees of Separation…or Is It Two Or Three?

Donna Karlin asks… Who do you know who knows…? Years ago one of the first shampoo commercials said it perfectly. Tell two friends, who tell two friends and so on and so on. It’s quite something how an idea or concept can be shared worldwide within a few degrees of separation.

It’s about connections. Who do I know who I could connect with someone else I know in order for them to succeed in their realms?

Pin It on Pinterest