Breakthrough Results are often like overnight sensations.

We all know or heard of people who have come “out of nowhere” and were the next big thing.

In figure skating, things aren't always as they appear

Stop there—Not true.

It’s like figure skating; we don’t see the spills and bruises, just the end result of the training and preparation. Truth is, they’ve been at whatever talent they possess or developing a product over time that bursts onto the stage or into a market.

Think when Steve Jobs was on hiatus (fired from Apple)—John Sculley headed Apple at the time. In particular, for you “youngin’s” out there, he introduced the Newton PDA. Huh? Yes, the term Personal Digital Assistant was coined by Sculley.

(Apple image)

Newton was a window on the future although a dismal failure at the time of release in 1993.—It was the precursor to the smartphone. Conditions contributing to the failure: The market didn’t rely on computers then, like today, so it was not ready to receive Newton. There wasn’t enough installed computer base for the everyday user to create a tipping point.

So, breakthroughs depend on timing. My experience teaches me that Preparation + Openness + Willingness to learn and adapt = Opportunities; which give you the power (POWA) to achieve your goals. We must be prepared to meet our greatness™. Yet, there must be capacity and openness to receive what may fly in that isn’t planned—serendipity some call it. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was such a breakthrough after years of chasing a cure.

Passionate people drive innovation; innovation creates breakthroughs. These types of people ignore time, food, hygiene sometimes, to stay in flow, what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi documented with athletes and his study of happiness. Csíkszentmihályi described flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.” The reference is from Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi).

More recently, Csíkszentmihályi’s work centers on motivation and the success factors contributing to challenging experiences. In fact, he created a new personality “construct” called work orientation, characterized by “achievement, endurance, cognitive structure, order, play, and low impulsivity.” —All these factors contribute to breakthrough results.

What is important to note is the role preparation plays in a breakthrough. Finding all the ways that don’t work are the blueprint building blocks to get to what will. It’s the “keeping at it” that leads to the breakthrough. We can take a lesson from stalwart entrepreneurs who have a vision and won’t stop until it manifests.

Performance matters, but it is the lead up TO the performance that determines the breakthrough outcome. MC

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by Coachcubas

business coaching, consumers, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Marketing, Strategic Plan

We’ve Sold the Soul of Marketing

September 10, 2008

In Response to: Cory Treffiletti What Does The Future Look Like? Or, What I Read On My Summer Vacation

Hi, Cory,

Timely posting during the political campaigns. I’d like to add a third slant to your either/or. As a marketer I’m aware of the sectors, objectives and the “speak” that swirls around my profession. Here’s my rudimentary slant: Remove GREED from the picture. How novel is that!

What that does is remove the barriers and second guessing of getting into people’s heads and actually provides a pure channel to serve the consumers rather than outsmart them. Greed makes the actions self-perpetuating. Look at the spin-off business from this approach. It keeps expanding exponentially like social media. What’s the reality of managing all these elements?

I see current marketing practices as oversell and numbing, an avalanche of information and intrusive to boot. Currently, our biology hasn’t caught up with our technology™ so we’re overwhelmed and don’t know what to look at first. How do you break through that?

The marketing I use is to find out what people need from me (my homework), deliver the message (variety of methods) of how they will benefit working with www.positivepotentials.com, and “show up” for them, not me. As simplistic as it sounds, this approach eliminates the competing “noise” because people are delighted that someone wants to serve them rather than take their money.

My approach is to slow down, take note and deliver. It works well for me, and I’ve been in business since 1982. I use this approach to build my coaching practice because of the multitude of coaches around. I guess marketers have to justify their own existence when only driven by revenues rather than value. I say to that, try running a business without marketing; no justification needed.

One last thought, imagine if the candidates adhered to such a simpler approach, not only would we know more about them, because they would discuss the opportunity of what they bring to the scene, they wouldn’t have to denigrate the opponent. If one is spending millions of dollars, why not promote your own view? I never quite understood why they miss the chance to promote their own ideas.

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by Coachcubas

Breakthrough Results are like overnight sensations

We’ve Sold the Soul of Marketing

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