If this is your first time visiting The Freak Factor blog, you can find a helpful introduction by reading this welcome post or clicking on the about page.
You can also download a free preview of the upcoming book.
If you like what you find here, you might also be interested the blog for my first book, The Four Factors of Effective Leadership.
Do you shop too much? Are you a shop-a-holic?
Maybe you don't shop enough. Maybe you should find a way to shop more.
Maybe you should become a personal shopper.
Instead of spending your money, you could make money, while spending someone else's money.
Are you too grumpy?
Maybe you aren't grumpy enough.
Maybe you should get grumpier.
It's been working for Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes for the last few decades.
Maybe it could work for you too.
McG is the director of Terminator Salvation, Charlie's Angels and a variety of television and internet hits. In a recent Fast Company article he admitted to being a control freak. I love the interviewer's response to McG's confession.
"As afflictions go, it would be hard to find one better suited for a media mogul - or any mogul for that matter - than a seemingly endless capacity for control. To call McG a control freak might be uncharitable. Let's just say he's extremely attentive to detail."
He goes on to describe the frenzy of activity and decision overload that characterize a movie set. This situation might overwhelm other people but, since McG is a control freak, this world is his "paradise."
In other words, McG is a phenomenally successful and wealthy media mogul because of his weakness, not in spite of it. And he has done this by finding the perfect fit for his particular problem, a situation in which his apparent weakness is a powerful strength.
What's McG's next move? He's trying to find a way to gain even more control over the movie-making process by eliminating the studios from the process. He's flaunting his weakness by becoming even more of a control freak.
Are you a control freak? Learn from McG's lesson and find ways to take even more control. Don't fix it, flaunt it.
I saw this sign while doing some shopping in Boston last year.
I think it is true. People only seem normal because we don't know them. We assume that other people are normal but they're not. They're freaks. We all are.
Time to get used to it. Time to embrace it.
American Idol finalist, Adam Lambert, had a great Freak Factor interview tonight.
His parents explained that he was always screaming as a child. "Apparently, I was a real pain in the butt in restaurants. They couldn't take me anywhere. I was super super noisy. . . I was very talkative, very hyperactive. I was bouncing off the walls all the time. Not much different than I am now really."
You have found your freak factor when people begin to praise you for the same qualities that others criticized you for. That is exactly what is happening, on a very large scale, for Adam Lambert right now.
He is still screaming and noisy, but now he has a full band and sound system to accompany him and amplify his voice.
I'm sure his parents used to tell him to be quiet. I bet they're happy that he didn't listen.
I was spending some quality time with my DVR tonight and found an episode of The Unusuals. It seemed like it had some freak factor potential and I was not disappointed.
Walsh: "You're a good cop."
Alvarez: "For a freak."
Walsh: "Hey, we're all freaks aren't we? That's a good thing. To stand out, to be different. It makes us good at what we do."
I agree.
We are all a little freaky. We don't always want to admit it, but it is true.
Visa wants to help you embrace your inner freak and become a superfreak.
Just saw a Best Buy commercial. The employee explains that he is a phone geek and he wants to help you understand what new communications technology can do for you.
Here's a question. Who do you want helping you with your new phone; a geek that is obsessed with phones and technology and spends an inordinate amount of time learning about it, or someone who is just casually interested and has a variety of other pursuits?
My guess is that you want the geek, the phone freak.
The problem is that most of us are afraid to be freaks. We want to be well-rounded and balanced individuals.
So, you have a choice, get obsessed or be well-rounded. I know what I'd do. Time to freak out.
Do you eat too much? Maybe you don't eat enough.
Do you eat too fast? Maybe you don't eat fast enough.
Takeru Kobayashi has made a living out of speed-eating. He has set records for eating . . .
Kobayashi has turned gluttony into a career. Could you do the same with one of your weaknesses?
Maybe, instead of fixing your weaknesses, you need to start flaunting them. It's time to go pro.
The Freak Factor is all about exaggerating your apparent weaknesses. It's time for a few specific examples of how this has worked for others.
Are you too cynical?
Maybe you are not cynical enough.
The people at Despair.com have turned cynicism into a business.
I personally like this de-motivational poster because it also supports the thesis of the freak factor. There is a place for everyone.
Which one of your weaknesses could you turn into a business (or a position on a professional sports team)?
* My apologies to soccer fans. I'm just bitter because I was too tall and uncoordinated to succeed in soccer.
Just got this great deep thought from Kirk.
"If you think a weakness can be turned into a strength,
I hate to tell you this,
but that's another weakness."
"You have to be conceited to be a star." - Simon Cowell, American Idol
The other day I got a comment on my blog from Miss Destructo. As a self-described mutant, she has been flaunting her weaknesses and encouraging others to do the same. Just read her bio (below) to see what it looks like when someone truly embraces their apparently negative qualities.
Hailing from the swamps of Florida,
currently starting a blue-haired revolution
in the mountains of Greenville, South Carolina.
I am a ultra tall, sarcastically crass, swank,
classy dame of the creative persuasion.
My twenty plus odd years has formed me to be
a world traveler, college graduate,
award-winning writer, photographer,
radio DJ and artist/event promoter.
Also highly uncoordinated, somewhat of an insomniac
with a slight addiction to caffeine and music videos.
Six feet tall...blue hair...can type with my toes.
my skin replicates faster than a normal person.
Fully able to bend my thumbs and legs sideways
and I have an rare bone in my sinus cavity.
I am officially a mutant.
When I was three I swore I had a computer in my head…
I believed this till I saw an x-ray of my brain.
That was only a few years ago.
I have been kidnapped by Russians…
well, sort of. They were Red and Elvises
Then forced me to sell their merchandise.
Almost have died at least twice….
Once in a car accident, once by drowning.
I don't drive and still hate the taste of saltwater.
I have met most of my idols…..
everyone except for David Bowie.
I just want to prank call him mostly….
"Hey David, is your refrigerator running?"
I can wake up without an alarm clock
at an exact time…
Most bathroom lighting hurts my eyes....
I took chorus for most of my childhood.
Piano for three and I own a dulcimer.
Out of all of this I can produce
one hell of a rendition of
Mary Had A Little Lamb.
I believe in fate and the beauty that is life….
Whether they believe in me is highly disputed.
Her recent post, Embrace the Pale, is a good reminder to "love that part of you that is unique no matter how strange it is." You should check it out.
Alanis Morissette has some great Freak Factor lyrics in her song, Everything.
"You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can't relate
And you're still here
What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go"
Just got a great Freak Factor story from a great friend and wonderful consultant, Don Wells.
"When I was head of the middle school at the Friends School, there was a 14 year old, Tommy, who was severely dyslexic. I ran a six week course about perception with about 15 students in it. One day I said that we were going for a stroll about the school grounds and when we returned I would ask them 20 questions about things that we would see on our walk. For example, were there any red cars in the parking lot? They could take any notes that they wanted to, and the things that I would ask would not be trick questions.
So, we walked and everyone took notes and looked earnestly, except Tommy. He just kinda strolled along and kinda observed. That was it. So, we got back to the classroom and I gave everyone a piece of paper with 20 questions on it. There were some very smart kids in the classroom, and it was well known that Tommy struggled in almost every class.
Kids finished and exchanged papers and then we went down the answers. The highest score out of 20 seemed to be 14, by perhaps the smartest kid in the class. However, Tommy got 18 out of 20! The class, and I, were stunned. They asked "how do you do it?" Tommy, a bit embarrassed, simply said "I just looked."
Students were not convinced, so they persuaded me, and Tommy, to do it again in the next class. So we did and got the same results as he blew everyone else away, even though kids were watching him for any clues.
His Mom and Tommy struggled greatly about the stigma of his performance in school. But from that day on Tommy was never dismissed as dumb. He simply viewed things with a different eye than others and it worked. His Mom, a few days afterward, came into my office and hugged me while sobbing saying that Tommy's life changed that day. What a gift!
Tommy went on to graduate from NC State in Design and has a successful business near Memphis."
Talents are often disguised as weaknesses but the right situations reveal them for what they really are.
Just got another great Freak Factor quote from Tom Morris. It matches perfectly with my advice in the recent post on exaggeration.
"Whatever the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you."
- Jean Cocteau, quoted in How to Live, by Henry Alford, page 160
For those of you that haven't been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you may not know that I got hit by a truck while running on Thursday, January 22nd. A portion of my left elbow was sheered off and my triceps muscle was partially severed. I underwent surgery, which included two screws and fifteen staples.
That was three weeks ago. The staples are out and the doctor told me to start moving the arm slightly. I still can't bend it or extend it very far. However, the doctor gave me permission to run my fifth consecutive Myrtle Beach Marathon, which doesn't require me to bend or extend the arm.
I finished the race this morning and wanted to follow-up on my recent post (sometimes the music taunts you) about the songs I listen to while running.
I use an iPod Shuffle, so I don't program the order of the music. However, sometimes the songs are perfect and other times they are painful.
The last six miles of the marathon were directly into the wind and a cold driving rain. As I began this final section, The Foo Fighters mocked me with Long Road to Ruin. "Dear God, I've sealed my fate, running through hell, heaven can wait, long road to ruin . . . under the cold streetlights, no tomorrow, no dead end in sight." Not very uplifting.
This song was followed shortly by Jon McLaughlin's Beautiful Disaster. I think that is the perfect description of any marathon. Finishing a marathon is beautiful. Running a marathon is a disaster.
However, the best song of the day came at the 26-mile marker, when I had two-tenths of a mile to go and was entering the stadium. That is when I heard Stronger by Kanye West. "Now that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger, I need you to hurry up now, cause I can't wait much longer."
Kanye was right. The marathon didn't kill me but finishing it made me stronger. I needed to hurry up because I couldn't wait much longer to finish.
Good songs. Bad songs. Good race. Bad race. A beautiful disaster.
Tom Morris just pointed me to this great Forbes article about famous people who've been fired.
One of them was Sue Grafton, author of the very successful alphabet series of mystery novels (i.e., "A is for Alibi"). After being fired, she "discovered 'two things about myself: One, I'm not a good team player. And two, I'm not a good sport.' So, she chose the solitary occupation of novelist and thrived at it."
She didn't fix her weaknesses. She flaunted them and it helped her succeed.
But it gets better. She has been married three times. During an especially ugly divorce and custody battle, she "would make herself feel better by imagining ways to kill or maim her ex-husband. Her fantasies were so vivid that she decided to write them down."
Her writing career is based on her own violent fantasies. I guarantee that, if she had shared those fantasies with a medical professional, they would have given her medication. Instead, she turned her savage visions into the foundation of a book series. Talk about flaunting your weaknesses!
I first met Joseph Sherman at a small seminar on building a career as a speaker. Since then he has come to a few more of my seminars, including one on the freak factor. He is a regular commenter on the blog and he sends me great articles in the mail as well. His stories are so insightful that I decided they need to be actual posts. Here is Joseph's follow-up to my post about Coldplay's Chris Martin being "openly, gloriously neurotic."
In an August 2005 interview with Rolling Stone, Martin explained "When you're born into a middle-class white family in the county of Devon [UK], there are things that you feel like you're not allowed to do," he says. "Like be a pop star or grow your hair long." Perhaps if Martin conformed to the surrounding expectations he would have forced himself into being an accountant like his father or a teacher like his mother.
My flatmate in college began his studies with a major in electrical engineering. While playing on a university piano for fun, a professor recognized his genius and encouraged him to pursue his natural ability because he has the potential to be among the best in the world.
If great artists conformed to narrow minded expectations, the world may have a few more accountants and engineers, but then what would be worth counting and tweaking if we did not have a song to sing?
Great stuff! Thanks, Joseph.
I was just watching an interview with Chris Martin of Coldplay. The interviewer described Martin's penchant for making rules and writing notes and lists on everything, including his body and furniture. He concluded his discussion this way . . .
"Like many artists he is openly, gloriously neurotic."
Some may say Chris and his band are successful despite his neuroticism. I'd say he is successful because he embraces and flaunts his neurotic impulses.
Update: Coldplay just won a Grammy for song of the year. Maybe it's time to develop a neurosis.
Update 2: They just won another Grammy for Rock Album of the Year. Definitely need at least a couple neuroses.
Want to hear more about The Freak Factor?
I'll be doing an interview with Zane Safrit on Tuesday, February 10 at 10:30am EST
If you want to participate, you can join us live by calling (646) 915-9212
You can also tune-in on Zane's BlogTalkRadio site
Zane's a fellow marathoner and Mount Olive, NC native. He's got a bunch of great interviews coming up after mine, so bookmark his site for future reference.
Lately I've been trying to pinpoint the core idea of the freak factor, the one primary idea that I want people to remember and apply. I want to eliminate everything that has already been said by other authors and focus on one distinctive message. Here it is. . .
Instead of fixing your weaknesses, flaunt them. In other words, exaggerate the characteristics that others tell you to repair.
If people tell you that you do too much of anything, search for ways to do even more. Look for a career that requires an overabundance of what you have.
If people tell you that you don't do enough of something, search for ways to do even less. Look for a career that doesn't require what you are missing.
This is The Freak Factor message in its purest form.
I've been running a lot lately in preparation for a marathon. As a motivational tool and to make the miles go faster, I listen to music while I run.
Sometimes the music inspires me. Run by Gnarls Barkley and Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen are obvious companions.
One of my current favorites is Follow Through by Gavin Degraw. It is a great mantra for any workout.
However, sometimes the music taunts me. Toward the end of very long runs, I start limping like an old man with a walker. The pain in my legs is often excruciating. All I want to do is stop and lay down. Then this song comes on . . .
I Dare You To Move by Switchfoot. The chorus is "I dare you to move" and is repeated more than a dozen times throughout the song. I just want to scream back, "Stop yelling at me. I am moving! I am running. Can't you see? Why are you so mean?"
While struggling through my second marathon, I was rocking out to some classic Black Crowes. Most of the album was great until the song Twice as Hard began. The lyrics "Twice as hard as it was the first time, twice as hard as it was the first time, twice as hard as it was the first time" were not helping me to complete a marathon that seemed twice as hard as it was the first time. Just to make their point, the entire chorus is repeated five times at the end of the song.
Are there lyrics that inspire or taunt you during workouts? If so, I'd love to hear about them.
* If you are wondering how this relates to the freak factor, it doesn't. Part of my freak factor is that I have a wide variety of interests and have a hard time focusing. From this point on, I'll be including posts about leadership, parenting and running in addition to the freak factor.
How does Jim Cramer, the manic host of Mad Money, explain his success?
Here is his quote from a recent Esquire interview.
"I'm a freak of nature. I'm just a freak. I'm just a freak."
He's not lying and he's not exaggerating. If you read the interview, you'll see that he is definitely not normal.
Cramer's success and his freakiness prove that it is indeed good to be a freak.
When I sent out the Freak Factor book proposal last year, one editor responded with concerns about the title. He said that no one wants to be a freak. He felt that being a freak was not something anyone would aspire to. I disagree. If Cramer is a freak, you can sign me up for freakhood.
How about you? Are you ready to embrace your inner freak?
* Thanks to Tom Morris for sending the Cramer quote
My new friend, Zane Safrit, just told me about The Hero Workshop where Matt Langdon is teaching kids that they can be heroes every day.
I was checking out Matt's blog and found a great connection between heroes and freaks. One of the primary lessons of the Freak Factor is that your weaknesses make you different and it is good to be different. It is good to be a freak.
Matt's post about the Tales of Despereaux reinforces this lesson and argues that it is good to be strange. I've included a great excerpt below.
“Reader, you must know that an interesting fate awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.”
When you act heroically, you’re going to stand out. Despereaux’s ears were not the only thing that made people notice him. His courage, thoughts of a better world, and kindness made him stand out. They also made him the object of disdain and mockery. Heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things, so there will always be a majority to think the hero’s behaviour is wrong, dangerous, or weird. Heroes don’t cower and they don’t subscribe to the ideas of the masses just because those ideas are popular.
P.S. Reading this reminds me of my post about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
I don't usually take the advice of insane fictional comic book characters, but this is good stuff.
"If you're really good at something, don't do it for free." - The Joker in The Dark Knight
One of the best ways to discover your strengths is to take a look at your hobbies. What do you enjoy doing, even though you don't get paid for it? What do you do voluntarily? How do you spend your weekends? How do you want to spend your retirement?
I'm not that good at delayed gratification. I don't want to wait until after work to do what I love. I want to enjoy what I do every day. I want to do what I do best every day and get paid for it.
If you are waiting for the end of the day, or the weekend, or retirement, to do what you do best, take The Joker's advice. When you're really good at something, don't do it for free.
In 2009, I encourage you to look for opportunities to get paid for what you are really good at, even if it is just for an hour, or a day, or on the weekends or during your vacation days.
Start somewhere, start small, but start.
I'm looking for some feedback from those of you that have been following the Freak Factor. I'm considering changing the subtitle from "Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness" to "Getting Better by Getting Worse."
My goal is to focus more on the primary argument of the book, that you will have greater success when you do more of what everyone tells you to do less of. Or do less of what everyone tells you to do more of.
Too organized? Get more organized. Not very nice? Get meaner.
So, what do you think? Getting Better by Getting Worse. Would you buy a book with that on the cover?
I just got back from the 800-CEO-Read Author Pow Wow in Chicago.
While I was there, I met a lot of interesting people. One of them was Sally Hogshead. That's right, Hogshead. Here is how she explains her name on her business cards and website . . .
"A hogshead is a barrel that holds 62 gallons. So what's your last name, smartass?"
Sally's book is Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career and Your Life. Here are a few of my favorite radical careering lessons.
Radical Truth #19: Being in a crap job isn't your fault. Staying in a crap job is. No matter how bad things seem, you're never without options.
If your current job doesn't fit, remember that you have a choice. You can find something better. On that note . . .
Radical Truth #85: Jump, and a net will appear. It's impossible to be successful when you cling to obsolete situations out of fear. Only when you put yourself out there wholeheartedly can the best opportunities present themselves.
And finally . . .
Radical Truth #99: Expressing your truest self is the ultimate competitive advantage. Traditional corporate culture requires fitting in. But fitting in is standard, and boring. Who you are is the most powerful differentiator you could ever possible hope for.
Don't fit in, freak out.
Sally's newest project is about Fascination. I'll let you know when I find out more.
It took me a while to understand Twitter and it took me a little longer to figure out why I should use it and how to use it productively.
I read a lot of books, mostly by listening to the audio version while driving and running. I also love to listen to an eclectic mix of music.
If you want to keep up with what I'm reading or listening to, you can now follow me on Twitter.
If you are on Twitter, let me know and I'll become one of your followers as well.
I recently offered a free copy of Seth Godin's new book, Tribes, and got a great response.
Today I've got more free stuff and one very inexpensive item.
Seth just released a free e-book with examples of Tribes from all over the world including:
surfers
Prius owners
Yellow Tail wine drinkers
expectant mothers
The book is a compilation of articles from hundreds of people in Seth's tribe and one of the essays, Packing Them In, about the Green Bay Packers, is mine. You can find it on pages 156-7.
Here are three of the lessons we can learn from the Packers tribe.
As a consolation prize, if you don't win, you can download the Tribes audiobook from ITunes for just $.99
Don't miss out on free stuff in the future, get new Freak Factor posts sent directly to you via email by subscribing here. It is also free and only takes three seconds.
* Please include your mailing address in the email
In this blog I talk a lot about how successful people ruthlessly eliminate tasks that don't fit with their strengths. In my strategy classes I talk a lot about the importance of alignment between a company's vision, values and actions. I argue that what we choose to do is just as important as what we choose not to do. I tell everyone that sometimes, in trying to please one individual or group, we'll end up offending another individual or group.
I stand by those statements. However, I recognize that sometimes this is easier said than done.
I've been doing speaking and training for almost ten years. In that time, I've never encountered a situation where I felt uncomfortable with an organization's mission. I've never had to say no. I've never felt the need to.
That changed today. We were to the scheduling phase when I decided to review the company's website. I didn't like what I found. I don't support what they do. In fact, I'm opposed to it. Their values clash with my values.
The easy choice would be to do the talk, collect the fee and rationalize that I'm just doing a presentation, that I'm not necessarily supporting their mission.
The difficult choice would be to say no, to acknowledge that this presentation is not in alignment with my mission and values, that this isn't for me.
It wasn't easy to say no and it wasn't comfortable. I still have a bad feeling in my stomach. But I think this was the right choice. I chose to do what I thought was right. In doing so, I also chose to make some people unhappy.
Saying yes to anything means saying no to something else. What will you say no to? Who will you say no to?
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I'm listening to Your Child's Strengths by Jenifer Fox. There's a lot of great stuff in the book and I'll be writing more in future posts but I had to share this quote right away.
One of the three main points of the Freak Factor is that it is good to be different. This may seem obvious but it goes against much of what we are taught in our families, schools and workplaces.
I get a lot of feedback at my seminars from parents whose children are different. They want to discover their children's strengths but everyone else is telling them that their child has problems.
Jenifer's goal in writing this book is to help parents, teachers and administrators to see that different is not the same as disabled or bad or wrong or unsuccessful. In fact, it could be good to be different.
In discussing learning disabilities, Fox writes, "perhaps there is not something wrong with people who process differently. Maybe it is not a weakness at all. Maybe it is a clue to what might be fertile ground for the sprouting of a great strength." She goes on to support her argument by explaining that many children with learning disabilities are also labeled as "gifted and talented."
This is good stuff. If you are looking for ways to discover and develop your child's strengths, I hope you'll read Jenifer's book.
If reading an entire book is not one of your strengths, you can also visit Jenifer's blog, which is devoted to The Strengths Movement in Schools.
I think that one way to be successful is to do the opposite of what most people do.
If you don't believe me, just ask Warren Buffet. He is one of the wealthiest people in the world and maybe the wisest business person in the US. Here is how he said it in a recent New York Times article.
"Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."
What are some ways that you could start doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing?
You can read the rest of Buffet's comments here.
Thanks to Dan Pink for sharing this quote on his blog.
I just wrote an article for Andrew Galasetti over at Lyved.com
Andrew has a great story. He started Lyved at age 19. He also has some excellent goals. We could all learn a lot about effective goal setting from his example.
Freaking Out: 5 Career Success Myths is currently featured on the Lyved home page. Here is an excerpt.
When I ask my students to list their weaknesses, the most popular is procrastination. In fact, in most classes, every student admits to having a problem in this area. Books, articles, seminars and blog posts on overcoming procrastination are universally popular. Unfortunately, they don’t work. People keep procrastinating. They can’t help it. Why is it such a problem? I don’t think it is. “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow and end up just as well.” - Mark Twain What do you procrastinate? If you are like most people, and I’m not recommending that (see #2), then you procrastinate activities that you don’t enjoy and that you don’t do well. You wait to do them until it is absolutely necessary because you’d rather be doing something else. You’d rather be doing something that you do enjoy and that you are good at. Procrastination is good. It is a sign that we have wandered away from our strengths, that we have strayed from those activities where we can have tremendous success. Instead of procrastinating less, we should actually procrastinate more. We should simply stop doing the activities that we usually procrastinate. If this sounds unreasonable, read Jim Collins’ bestselling book, Good to Great. He explains that successful people and great organizations have a “stop-doing” list. They deliberately eliminate activities that they don’t do well or that don’t fit with their mission. Management guru, Peter Drucker, referred to this as “organized abandonment.” Additionally, Marcus Buckingham argues that the most important thing to know about personal success is, “if you don’t like it, stop doing it.”
What do you procrastinate?
What don’t you do well?
What don’t you like to do?
How can you begin eliminating these activities from your life and work?
Myth #3: I need to stop procrastinating
Fact #3: I need to start procrastinating more
You've got to go read this post on work/life balance from Craig the Careerguyd. I'm not going to give you too much here. You need to see the whole thing but here are a few morsels.
"Career consists of all of the facets of one’s life and is not limited to paid occupations."
"Whenever my life becomes more of what I feel I have to do and less of what I want to do, I try to reassess what I am doing and regain the balance that I have somehow relinquished."
"Are you doing what you want to do with your life? If not, are you taking risks and making sacrifices that will help you grow and develop in a way that will ultimately get you there? If your life is anything otherwise, it is time for you to challenge yourself. Take a risk. Be courageous. Persevere through adversity. Dream and take charge."
There's other good stuff in between. Visit Craig's blog and connect the dots.
"I see my disability as an ability." - Tatanya McFadden, US Paralympian
I found this quote on a McDonalds' cup a few months ago. Great stuff.
Matt Jones over at the think story experience blog has some excellent quotes on how to be freak.
"The problem with making sensible decisions is that so is everyone else."
"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."
- Paul Arden, author of It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be
I also like the title of Arden's other book, Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George realizes that his life isn't working and decides to do the opposite of what he's always done.
I saw Seth Godin give a great presentation today on his new book, Tribes. He is definitely a freak, showing off his mismatched socks and sporting lime-green Buddy Holly glasses. If you didn't know him and you saw him on the street, you might laugh and dismiss him as a dork. But that would be a mistake.
He is one of the best speakers that I've seen. In particular, his slides were unique, funny, emotional and imaginative. He also offered some tremendous advice for aspiring freaks.
"Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements. The marketplace now rewards (and embraces) the heretics. It's clearly more fun to create the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it's also profitable, powerful and productive to do just that. . . Suddenly, heretics, troublemakers, and change agents aren't merely thorns in our side - they are they keys to our success."
OK. So, what about the free book?
As I explained in a recent post, Seth sent me a free copy of Tribes and asked me to give the one that I'd purchased to someone else. Today, he also gave a free copy of his book to everyone at the conference and I want to share one with you, to thank you for reading my blog.
So, the first person to send an email (with their mailing address) to dave@drendall.com will receive a free copy of Tribes.
Update: Congratulations to Jennifer. She's the winner of the Tribes book. Thank you to everyone who sent messages. Keep checking for other offers in the future.
I was fortunate to see live presentations by Seth Godin and Jim Collins at the Catalyst Conference today.
Collins provided an inspiring overview of his classic book, Good to Great. One of his primary points of emphasis was to create a stop-doing list. Good people and good companies have to-do lists, but the best also have lists of what they will stop-doing. Good activities distract us from what is best. We need to systematically eliminate these things from our lives.
He made the very important point that the time we have is finite but the number of choices we have is infinite. Therefore, it is vital to choose precisely how to make the most of the limited time that we have.
You can listen to a short audio clip of implementation ideas on his website (it is the first option under the latest clips). Here is a summary:
1. Identify your priorities. What are you passionate about? What are you the best at? Where can you make a distinctive contribution?
2. Start an actual, physical list of things to stop doing.
3. Every time you add a new activity to your to-do list, select an activity to stop doing.
4. Rank each of your activities from most important to least important. Drop the bottom 20%.
5. Blank page test: If this wasn't already on your list, would you add it now? If not, drop it.
6. Don't devote financial, psychological or emotional resources to activities that don't pass the preceding tests.
In a recent post, Seth Godin made a very similar point. He offered some very specific suggestions for what you should stop doing and what you should do with the time instead. Here is an excerpt:
1. Delete 120 minutes a day of 'spare time' from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:
3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.
4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.
"If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don't, you'd have a wider network and you'd be more focused."
Two very successful and influential people. Two very similar messages. One very simple suggestion.
Do more by doing less. Do more important stuff by eliminating less important stuff. Make tough decisions. What we don't do is just as important as what we do.
I've tried this before and it works. Here are some things on my stop-doing list.
1. Stop watching TV.
2. Stop accepting fantasy football and NCAA tournament bracket invitations.
3. Stop checking my Amazon.com sales rankings so often. It's an addiction.
4. Stop serving on boards that I'm not passionate about.
5. Stop socializing with negative people who constantly complain.
What should be on your list? Will you start one? If you do, post a comment with excerpts from your list.
One last dilemma from Collins, should you add "create a stop-doing list" to your to-do list?
People think I'm disciplined. It's not discipline, it is devotion. There is a great difference. - Pavarotti
Devotion is a great substitute for discipline.
Discipline is scarce. Devotion is abundant.
Discipline is painful. Devotion is enjoyable.
Both act as fuel for our activities.
We can choose which one we will use.
It takes tremendous discipline to fix our weaknesses but devotion provides the energy for building on our strengths.
As the entire world begins to search for alternative fuels to power our vehicles, maybe it is time to consider an alternative fuel for powering our lives.
Robert Merrill over at Be Useful just posted some great stuff. He took me up on my challenge to define who he isn't and what he doesn't stand for.
He's got some great stuff and you should check it out. Here are some samples.
"If you can't fix it, feature it." - Gerald Weinberg, Secrets of Consulting
Robert isn't competitive or assertive. He doesn't like telling people what to do, he doesn't make a great first impression and he doesn't handle stress well.
But, like any good freak, his weaknesses are clues to his strengths. For example, because he doesn't make a good first impression, he is "persistent in relationships and doesn't jump to conclusions." Those sounds like strong qualities.
His post closes with these lines, addressed to potential consulting clients.
"If you invite me into the executive circle of your software-intensive business, you will probably find that I am different from most of you. That’s precisely why I will be useful."
I admire Robert for having the awareness to identify who he isn't and what he doesn't stand for. I admire him even more for the courage it took to share his apparent flaws with everyone, including potential customers.
He is different and that is precisely why he will be useful. Your differences are also what make you useful. If you can't fix it, feature it.
I use an illustration about airplane oxygen masks in my leadership book. Recently, Ella James heard me share the illustration and then presented it to a ladies group. After the talk, a participant informed her that it wasn't my idea. A similar analogy appeared on Oprah eight years ago.
This was not surprising. Marcus Buckingham and Randy Pausch have used the same idea since my book was published. I guess great minds think alike.
However, it is bittersweet to discover that an idea is not completely original, even if you didn't get it from anyone.
I just finished reading Seth Godin's new book, Tribes*. A lot of his ideas about leadership are similar to mine. He also talks a lot about leaders being different. He calls them heretics. I call them freaks.
He also has a section on why you don't want to be like "most people." I've been working on a similar section for my book. Kind of cool. Kind of disappointing.
And then I checked Seth's blog. Today he has a riff that plays with old saying, "to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." As usual, he turns this conventional wisdom on its head. Here's a sample.
But what if you've decided that in fact, a hammer is exactly the tool that will solve your problem? My advice: hire a guy who only uses a hammer. Odds are, he's pretty good at it.
Finally, proof that someone's getting useful ideas from my blog. OK, probably not. But I do have proof that I posted a message with a similar theme, Get Hammered, back in May.
As Seth explains in his new book, great leaders don't care who gets the credit, as long as the idea spreads and the movement expands. That is a tough lesson to accept when you are trying to build a business, but I think he's right.
Share good ideas. Give them away. Don't hog the credit. Give it away.
Oprah, Marcus and Seth are all doing much better at spreading their ideas. . . for now. But maybe I'm on the right track. That's the way that I'm going to think about it.
* By the way, after ordering Tribes from Amazon.com, I was surprised to get a free pre-release copy from Seth. He wants me to give the other one away. He wants me to share his ideas. He's practicing what he preaches.
Sharing ideas. Creating a movement. Letting profits take care of themselves.
At a time when so many leaders and celebrities are demonstrating such an extreme lack of integrity, I can't help but be impressed.
As a professor, I teach strategy to college and graduate students. One thing that I notice about a lot of company strategies is that they are generic, bland, ambiguous, vague, uninteresting, undifferentiated and monotonous.
The biggest mistake seems to be that they don't want to offend anyone. They don't want to exclude any potential customers. They don't want to miss out on a sale. So, they try to become the ultimate company where everyone shops for everything all the time. This never works. Even the biggest (Walmart, Starbucks, McDonald's) don't appeal to everyone. In fact, many people actually hate these companies.
Seth Godin has a great post about this on his blog today and I've included an excerpt below.
It's frustrating to watch marketers, politicians and individuals fall into the obvious trap of trying to stand for something at the same time they try to please everyone or do everything.
You can't be the low-price, high-value, wide-selection, convenient, green, all-in-one corner market. Sorry.
You also can't be the high-ethics CEO who just this one time lets an accounting fraud slide. "Because it's urgent."
You can't be the big-government-fighting, low-taxes-for-everyone, high-services-for-everyone, safety-net, pro-science, faith-based, anti-deficit candidate either.
You can't be the work-smart, life-in-balance, available-at-all-hours, high-output, do-what-you're-told employee.
To really stand for something, you must make difficult decisions, mostly about what you don't do. We don't ship products like that, we don't stand for employees like that ("you're fired"), we don't fix problems like that.
It's so hard to stand up, to not compromise, to give up an account or lose a vote or not tell a journalist what they want to hear.
But those are the only moments where standing for something actually counts, the only times that people will actually come to believe that you in fact actually stand for something.
As I share the Freak Factor concept with audiences, most people are comfortable with the idea of building on their strengths. But everyone seems to really struggle with accepting their weaknesses, with not being well-rounded, with not being the perfect person, parent or employee. As Seth explains, success is dependent on our ability to make difficult decisions about what we aren't going to do and who we aren't going to be.
What don't you stand for? What don't you care about? What aren't you good at?
Admit it. Accept it. Appreciate it. Flaunt it.
Here's a helpful quote from my friend, Tom Morris.
It seems that the freak factor is an ancient idea.
"Learn what you are an be such."
- Pindar, The Odes (5th Century) translated by Richard Lattimore
Great post about work on Peter Shankman's blog. Here's an excerpt.
"Look, I talk all the time about how I have ADHD, how I use it to my advantage, blah, blah, blah, but let’s seriously consider this for a second: What does that actually mean?
I don’t do well in offices, I don’t do well in a structured environment, I sure as hell don’t do well in a cubicle, and the last time I had a “job” with a “boss,” I quit within three months of starting. I’m very fortunate to have realized it as early as I did, because what it tells me is that I’m simply not designed for working the way you work, but I’ve been smart enough to learn from it, and adapt my lifestyle to not only meet my needs, but exceed them, all while having fun."
Amen! Peter is a freak. He knows what he does well and what he doesn't do well. Most importantly, he knows where he fits and where he doesn't fit. Instead of trying to force himself into situations that don't match his unique style, he has created a distinctive way of working that is suited to him.
He is flaunting his weaknesses and having tremendous success . . . another freak factor role model.
Alex Bogusky and his ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, are the creators of some of the most well-known and successful advertising campaigns of the last few years. His successes include the resurrection of Burger King and the introduction of the Mini to America. Here are some great freak factor quotes from a recent profile in Fast Company.
"His control-freak tendencies are widely known - and desired - by clients." Maybe I should add creative director to the list of jobs for control freaks.
"Instead of hiding qualities that may seem negative - such as Mini's tiny proportions or Burger King's fat content - Crispin exploits them. 'It's part of your job as a marketer to find the truths in a company, and you let them shine through in whatever weird way it might be.' Naturally, that risks pissing someone off."
The freak factor works with both people and organizations. Apparent weaknesses are strengths. This truth applies in a wide variety of setttings. If companies can increase their success by exploiting their weaknesses and letting their weirdness shine through, imagine what would happen if you did the same. It might piss some people off, but it will cause others to love you even more.
One last warning from Bogusky . . . when you start maximizing your freak factor, you're going to run into resistance. He says it this way, "life conspires to beat the rebel out of you."
I agree. Life conspires to beat the freak out of you. Don't sit back and let it happen. Mediocrity is not inevitable. Fight back! Freak out!
I recently explored the tradeoffs between power and freedom. Let's continue that discussion as it relates to time and money. We can either ignore tradeoffs and fail to recognize the consequences or we can recognize them and choose the tradeoffs that we are most comfortable with.
In my DDIY Network post earlier this year, I argued that doing it yourself (plumbing, carpentry, landscaping, repairs, etc.) is often a poor decision. It seems to be cheaper but actually costs far more of a much more valuable resource, your time.
Daniel Hamermesh, at the Freakonomics blog, explores the time vs. money decision as it relates to his laundry. I think you'll enjoy his article titled, "I'm not cheap enough for a six-hour laundry session."
He points out the tendency for us to value our money too highly and fail to place the proper value on our time. I agree. It is a difficult habit to overcome but you'll see new options everywhere once you start looking.
From a freak factor perspective, I'd encourage you to start by outsourcing the tasks that you dislike the most. They probably aren't a good fit for you and they cost you time, energy and stress.
Once you pay to save yourself some time, invest the time in an activity that you are good at and that you enjoy. You'll be rewarded with additional energy, fulfillment and confidence, which will lead to more money in the future, either directly or indirectly.
Jessica Stillman, my new favorite blogger, points us to Bob Sutton's recent post about the tradeoff between power and freedom. Sutton, in turn, is discussing Jeffrey Pfeffer's new book on the subject of managerial power, which has yet to be published. As usual, Stillman pulls out the key quote.
Pfeffer's argument is that "you can have influence or you can have freedom, but you can’t have both."
I think this is true. I choose to work for myself and by myself because I don't enjoy the requirements of organizational power and influence. It isn't a good fit for me because I value my freedom too highly.
As we all learned from watching Spiderman, either the old-school cartoons or the new movies, with great power comes great responsibility. It would follow then that giving up power might also reduce your responsibilities and give you more freedom. I believe that it does.
So, which do you prefer, power or freedom? You can't have both. Which is the right fit for you?
