Nuggets from Phil Cave

-- "Management" is getting ordinary results from ordinary people. "Leadership" is getting extraordinary results from ordinary people.

-- Listen first. The answers to your problems are most likely already in the company. Learn to shut up and listen to employees and you'll be amazed at what you'll discover.

-- When Phil evaluates a company for a turnaround, no matter what the problems with the organization, he looks for an established pathway to the customer. The single hardest and most expensive thing to create is the pathway to the customer. And it's the thing companies should spend the most time developing.

-- Spend more time working on the business and less time working in the business. Learn to step outside the business and look at it from the big picture.

-- Give your team the authority to make mistakes. The balance of giving them that ability, without them crashing the company on the rocks is the secret of great leadership.

-- CASH IS KING. Phil owns multiple businesses throughout Australia and Asia, but every day he receives financial reports on how much cash is on hand, balance sheets, deposits, and credit status for each company. Within 24 hours, he can have detailed spreadsheets that deal with every aspect of the financial health of each business. You can't run a business successfully without that timely, immediate, and accurate information.

-- When you cut costs, don't cut an artery. Sometimes, saving money is the worst thing you can do.

-- Success is not hit and miss. It's a culture and habit at great organizations.


Finally, here are some principles Phil Cave suggests all leaders should follow:

1) Listen to your customers. It's not about you - it's about your customers and their experiences.

2) Liberate your people. Let them run with the ball and accomplish great things. Stop holding them back.

3) The leader should set the strategic direction for the company. And then, make sure every single employee understands it.

4) Learn from the best. Study great companies and learn what they do right. If you don't take the time to study other great companies and leaders, you're working in a vacuum.

5) Reinvest in the company. Pour your energy, money, time, and talent back into the company to take it to the next level.

Ten Commandments for Business Success

I came across these from Phil Cooke's website. Great advice!

1) Return every call and e-mail quickly. Show up on time, even if you're the only one there. Dress like you deserve your salary. Believe me, that will put you ahead of a surprising number of people.

2) Write thank-you notes. Remember birthdays. Remember the assistants, and the secretaries, the coordinators, and the mailroom folks. This is a people business. And people never forget how they are treated.

3) Every day, you are placing a brick in the tower of your reputation. Remember, everything you do, big and small, either adds or subtracts from your reputation.

4) Watch what you say in elevators, in restrooms, on airplanes and in casual conversation. She could be the client's wife. He could be the boss's brother. She could be your competitor's accountant.

5) Don't care who solves it. Just get it solved.

6) Learn how to tell a story: Every client presentation, every report, every commercial--it's all about stories. Stories are how human beings make sense of the world. If you want to succeed in this business, be able to tell stories in ways that capture your audience's attention.

7) When emotions are running high, make sure yours are running low. Life is unfair, so learn to lose with dignity. And, learn to win with dignity. That means no excuses. No crybabies. No bragging. No trashing. Learn how to move on.

8) Proofread. Spell-check.

9) Good enough, isn't. There is going to be someone out there who will sleep less and work harder, will give up their weekend, and give it one more shot. That is the person that I bet on to win.

10) Think different. Be brave. The world is full of people with conventional ideas who go along with the crowd. It's the mavericks and the dreamers who move things forward. When you hear an idea that makes you nervous, makes you sweat, occasionally gather your courage, take a stand, take a risk, suck it up and go out on a limb. Hey, you might even be right.

The Movie Season Starts

For almost a decade now, I've been working in media. Most of my projects have been corporate related projects--tradeshow videos, product videos, sales training videos, promotional spots, streaming video, PowerPoint presentations and interactive, multimedia applications.

Almost four years ago, I started doing narrative stories--short films. Over the last three years, I've done 5 short films. My last one, Growing Up, won Audience Choice Award on its film festival debut. It was also recently selected to play in a national film festival starting June, as well as on television later this year.

All very exciting, and most of all, fun. There is something in the power of story. Stories have been shared over the years. Leaders have told stories. Jesus told stories. Everyone tells stories. Children love stories. Adults love movies. People are drawn into a good story.

In fact, there's a shift coming in marketing. We're starting to see the first few baby steps. With the wonderful invention of Tivo, I no longer have to watch commercials. I can just skip right to the show, which left me hanging at the last commercial break. Very cool! But very different for advertisers. How can they reach an ADD, Tivo-equipped, over-caffeinated generation?

Short film marketing. It's really starting to take off. BMW was the pioneer with BMWFilms. Then, other companies started dabbling in this new form of marketing selling things like cell phones, watercrafts, car features, actual cars and soup.

New companies are popping up to support this new trend according to an LA Times Article:

The soon-to-be launched CW network announced Thursday that it was developing a new way to advertise on TV: a hybrid commercial that would use story lines to promote products in three two-minute segments dotted throughout an evening of programming.

It helps to think of a content wrap as a sandwich. The products that advertisers want to sell are the meat. The mini-programming elements wrapped around them are the bread that holds it all together and--in CW executives' dreams, at least--makes consumers want to take a bite and keep on eating.

"It's entertainment," said Dawn Ostroff, entertainment president for the new network, which is a combination of the best programming from the soon to be defunct WB and CBS-owned UPN networks. "This is a way to keep viewers with us throughout the night."

What story do you want to tell?

Permission-based Marketing

The average American is bombarded with 3,000 advertisements a day. A day! How can you reach and market your wares to potential customers? How can you reach them and be 3,001? Can you?

Yes, you can. You do this through permission-based marketing. If you truly have a great product backed by great service, then people will come to you. And, people will give you permission to advertise to them.

Permission-based email marketing is your key. Through your website, you can now start capturing not only names and email addresses, but pertinent demographic information, regional information, and any thing you desire to capture from existing or potential customers. And, even if you don’t have a website, we can still setup email-based marketing for you.

If you're interested in permission-based marketing, contact us today.

Welcome to 2006!

A new year.
Another 365 days have come and gone.
Another tick on age-o-meter.
A few more gray hairs (for some of us).

What do the next 365 days have in store?

I'm excited about what 2006 holds. I came across this quote this morning:

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

Eleanor Roosevelt

I like this. I like it for a number of reasons.

First, it implies risk. If you don't attempt anything that's bigger than you, then you will most likely be content on the simple path of life and provision. But, to dream big, to envision beyond, to see things with the eyes of faith, then you will do great things. It starts with what you believe. If you believe, anything is possible.

Secondly, fear itself will hinder your life if you listen to it. If you obey fear, then it will become your master. "You are a slave to whatever controls you" (an epistle of Peter). If fear says, "Don't do this," and you obey it, then fear is your master. It will control you. It will demand from you things you don't want to do. So the response to this is: do it afraid.

This year, my partner and I are launching a new media and marketing agency, MorrisonPond, Inc. We're not sure what lies ahead, but my partner and I are very excited about the opportunities. Very excited!

Both of us are men of vision. We see beyond ourselves. We help clients see beyond themselves. We help them fulfill dreams, conquer their fears, move to the next level and challenge the status quo.

How can we do all that? Because we are doing it ourselves.

Another day? Another dollar?

I don't think so!

For 16 years, I worked in Corporate America. That was my motto: another day, another dollar. I wasn't living my dreams. I wasn't pursuing my passions. I was making money for someone else. Yes, I provided for my family, and there is great respect in that.

But, I was dying inside.

A seed was planted in me years ago, 10 years ago this October, to be exact. That creative seed was actually there much longer, but something happened ten years ago that got that seed moving, growing, expanding, rooting. Seeds can lie dormant for years. This seed was coming alive.

In October, I stepped away from my cushy, corporate cubicle to pursue this passion that is so on fire in my heart, the passion to creatively communication through media production.

I'm living my dreams. I'm one of few Americans who are truly living out their dreams. To be rich? No. That's not my dream. My dream is to create, communicate, connect, and help others do the same.

Every day is a blessing. Every morning, a joy. Every call, every email, every "chance" encounter--an opportunity to walk in my dreams. No, not walk. Run.

It's wonderful to be free.

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

-- Gil Bailie