Driving Points Home ...

When I teach or make presentations, I find that if I do the conventional thing and make a rational speech with rational points, what's often heard is "blah, blah, blah."  What seems to stick with the audience are axioms or sayings - liberally borrowed from others - that make the point in a much more clever (and memorable) way.  Here are some of the "sayings" that I sprinkle through my presentations.  Feel free to "borrow" them for yourself.

• Nobody wants a quarter inch drill bit.  What they want is a quarter inch hole. The lesson here is that marketing is all about benefits ... not features.
• Learn to fail fast. You need to take risks to create products and services that are unique.  Calculated risks.  Of course, if you take risks, you often fail - so learn to fail fast so you're not throwing money into a black hole.
• Never let a good crisis go to waste.  A crisis is a huge opportunity because conditions are changing and change opens doors.  Sometimes the best time to make change is in a time of crisis.  When times are good, you get fat, dumb, and happy.
• You can’t win at chess if you’re playing checkers.  Strategy, strategy, strategy.  Think long term.
• We have met the enemy and he is us. We're often our own worst enemy ... engaging in group think and ignoring the world around us.  
• I’d rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.  How often do we get caught up in reams of data and lose sight of the big picture.
• What got you here won’t get you there.  What made you successful won't necessarily help you in a changing environment.
• Your past success is your worst enemy.  Your confidence in business is based on your past success.  That is a false sense of confidence. 
• If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.  You have to be moving forward, or else you'll be standing still or falling behind.  Similarly:  There are three kinds of companies:  Those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that wonder what happened.
• Sacred cows make the best burgers.  Find your "sacred cows" and ask if they're producing milk.  Otherwise ... it's time for burgers. 
• Search all your parks in all your cities – you’ll find no statues to committees.  Committees often lead to "group think" and paralysis.  I was on a panel once with Jerry (from Ben and Jerry's ice cream, famous for its open corporate culture).  He said:  "We're participatory but not a democracy."  Well put.
• Avoid the curse of knowledge.  How often are we so knowledgeable about our product that we speak in language alien to the customer?
• In the factory I make cosmetics … in the store, I sell hope.  Charles Revson.  This famous quote once again makes the point that we sell benefits not features.   
• Some is not a number; soon is not a time; hope is not a strategy.  Look at your plans and programs.  Do they contain flabby generalities?  If so, get out a sharp pencil and make yourself accountable for specific results!

S