Posted on April 18, 2007
In the game of life, you have to smile your way to the goal line. Last night, on American Idol, smiling was the key to vote getting. In my book, The Likeability Factor, I argue that friendliness is the key to being likeable. A big part of that is decoded by others based on the …
Posted on April 17, 2007
OK, usually I don’t comment on these things, but I can’t help here. Cho Seung-Hui’s face doesn’t deserve to be on the home page of Yahoo, the New York Times or next week’s Time magazine. To put his picture there guarantees the creation of new school shooters. When you can get this famous by killing …
Posted on April 16, 2007
About 10 years ago I stumbled upon a great Monday morning exercise in gratitude. Every Friday, I would write down the names of three people that made a diffference to me that week (in my business life, for example). I might think of one of my coordinators, a supply partner or even an agent. Over …
Posted on April 13, 2007
It’s Friday the 13th, the power is out in the Hollywood Hills and Kurt Vonnegut is dead. Kurt has enriched my life with his books, his point of view and his influence. Over the years, I’ve grown cynical yet hopeful through his musings. 20 years ago Slaughterhouse Five ripped the top of my head off. …
Posted on April 11, 2007
Mark Cuban was right (again). GooTube is headed for some big trouble. When Google initially purchased YouTube, Mark said that they were crazy to buy that many lawsuits (I Still Think Google Is Crazy). Google shrugged, the market cheered and that was the end of it. Almost a month ago, Mark wrote a post on …
Posted on April 10, 2007
Today’s USA Today Life section carried a positive review of Send: The Essential Guide To Email For Office & Home by David Shipley (New York Times editor) and Will Schwalbe (Hyperion’s Editor in Chief). This book covers one of my fave topics, email etiquette as well as practical ways to think about the medium/tool. The …
Posted on April 9, 2007
As a speaker I am aware, more than ever, of time. All of my talks are given in the context of a conference or convention. If I talk too long, somebody else’s speech, lunch or breakout session gets crimped. That is not good for public relations. So I bring a travel alarm clock (easy to …
Posted on April 5, 2007
How many times are we told everday that something cannot or should not be done? When we ask if one of our products has a certain feature we accept “no” as an answer. When we bring up an idea, we are told that “it will not work”. Tomorrow at work, when you are told NO, …
Posted on April 4, 2007
This week’s video post is a clip from my 2006 Likeability Factor Seminar produced at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis. In this video, I share the genesis of my thinking on emotional talent/intelligence/value. Enjoy The Mr Marcus Story: Email subscribers/feed readers, go here or cut and copy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8L72M1L7KM Have you brushed up on …
Posted on April 3, 2007
Here’s another installation in my rules of email etiquette: Don’t reply to say “thanks”. One of my basic rules of email is to let the thread (the back and forths) stop. Don’t get in the last word, even if it is “thanks”. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR? You are working on a spreadsheet (and consulting paper) …
