Being grateful is not optional.

Most people behave differently though – because they are taking things for granted.

Here is a thought experiment:

Can you list all the things that you are grateful for in the next minute?

How many items did you get on that list?

What if you expanded the available time. Would it make a difference? How big of a difference would it make on the list?

If the list of things (and people, of course) is not very large, there are many things that may be happening:

-  You are arrogant (yes, it might sound harsh but

- You don’t give enough credit where it is deserve

- You take more things for granted

- You are too busy to even think about this

- <Insert your own reason here>

In your heart, you know that you need to be grateful, not just because it is the right thing to do but it also has implicit benefits for YOU. Think about how you feel when you are contemplating about things and people to be grateful for. For starters, it will simply lift your spirits to a whole new level.

Being grateful and expressing it is a win-win proposition. You make someone’s day right away and in the process you lift your spirits up. What could be more better?

If you agree, here is something for you:

Announcing LoveThiz | Instant Smile Service for Twitter

I wanted to make it dead simple for people to share their love, gratitude and appreciation to anyone on Twitter. It’s called LoveThiz and it takes less than ten seconds to share something good about a person or a brand on Twitter.

Please give this a try and make someone’s day right away.

Photo Courtesy: StarTwin06 on Flickr

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It’s hard to “box” an entrepreneur as there are so many different kinds of them. However, there are several characteristics that will make it easy to spot one. I have picked 11 really interesting quotes about an entrepreneur.

Here they are (in no particular order)

#1 Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach

“An entrepreneur is someone who does not expect compensation until he has created value for someone else.”

#2 Jean-Baptist Say, French Economist

“Entrepreneur is someone who takes resources from a lower level of productivity and raise them to a higher level.”

#3 Peter Drucker, Renowned Management Guru

“An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service.”

#4 Ray Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries

“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.”

#5 Michael Gerber, Author and Entrepreneur

“The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us. We’re born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience. It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies.”

#6 Tom Peters, Management Thinker Extraordinaire

“An entrepreneur is occasionally exhilarating, and almost always exhausting. Only unbridled passion for the concept is likely to see you through the 17-hour days (month after month) and the painful mistakes that are part and parcel of the start-up process.

#7 Victor Kiam, Former owner of New England Patriots

“Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise. They willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”

#8 Joseph Schumeter, Austrian Scientist

“An entrepreneur is the ultimate innovator and earns his profits, however temporary, from successful innovations.”

#9 Robert Callington

“An entrepreneur is someone, who practices business judgment in the face of uncertainty of the future.”

#10 Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter

“The key is to just get on the bike… and the key to getting on the bike… is to stop thinking about ‘there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off’ and just hop on and peddle the damned thing. You can pick up a map, a tire pump, and better footwear along the way.”

#11 Nolan Bushnell, founder of Chuck-E-Cheese and Atari

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer.. not a dreamer.”

Your turn: What definitions of entrepreneur have you come across that you find worth sharing. Please add them in the comments section.

Photo courtesy: dl_the_huntress on Flickr

The Relentless Manifesto is an invitation to get something done this year. Here is the manifesto for your consideration:

The Relentless Manifesto

1. Pick themes that you will be passionate about even after ten years

If your themes belong to the “fashion-de-jour” category, there is a good possibility that you may not be able to sustain your interest when the marketplace perceptions for those themes change in the short-term. Pick an example – blogging. Are you sure that you will retain the same level of enthusiasm even after you write 1,000+ blog posts? If not, re-think and see where else you can sustain such a passion.

2. Pick an enriching journey

Once you pick the theme, there are a myriad of options to pick the journey including the geography. Building a startup in Silicon Valley is way different than building a startup outside of Silicon Valley. I am positively biased about Silicon Valley but not suggesting that it’s the only place to build  a startup. Being here, I know it will be an enriching journey to build a startup in the Valley. Irrespective of the outcome, what is guaranteed is that the journey will be enriching – just the people that you will meet along the way will make it all worth it.

I don’t know what your themes are and where you think the journey for those themes will be enriching. But, you know the answers to that question (in the bottom of your heart) and that’s where you should be.

3. Pick one or more relentless tribes to be part of

This is probably the most important piece and it is not as simple as you imagine. If you are one of those people sitting on the sidelines and NOT of the “relentless” type, your membership in a relentless tribe is not guaranteed. At best, you will be at the periphery of the tribe where you are invited to participate but rarely you can join the inner circle. So, if you have to be demonstrate that you are relentless before you get into the inner circle and continue to be that way to maintain the membership. In return, you will got loads of inspiration and insights from others who are relentless.

The dilemma is about the entry into the tribe. The goal should not be to barge into the inner circle (you can’t) but simply to be an opportunity to a few members in the inner circle and soon you will “earn” a place in the inner circle.

4. When things go wrong, learn and launch again

Unless you are an ultra-genius, your road to a worthy cause is fraught with pot holes – big and small. You will encounter them frequently and setbacks are common and to be expected. The real difference between those who finally do something and those who give up is the amount of time spent “not doing anything” when they encounter a setback. Honestly, you get a license for inaction when something goes wrong. People around you will understand if you are in a funk because of a failure. However, it is YOU who is getting hurt more by choosing to “not act” after a set back. For the rest of your life, factor in a series of setbacks every year. So when you encounter one, you just have to treat it as part of statistics and quickly buckle up and get ready for the next ride.

5. Watch what you consume

You and I are programmed to respond. It’s important to take care of what you eat (consume), it’s important to watch what you consume (read and hear). Being in the right tribes will take care of a part of it as the conversations will be energizing. It is the media and the social media that you should be careful about. There are a million places where you can read and listen everyday – on the web and off the web. Not everything that others make it as important are important for YOU at least NOW. If you don’t take care, the consumption of media itself takes so much of your time that you won’t have much time left to create. We are not even talking about time lost in thinking and analyzing about everything that you consumed and the productivity loss because of that.

6. Get going in the “significant help” economy

There is one economy that is related to money. There is another more powerful economy that is created by exchanging significant help. You become good at exchanging and facilitating significant help, money will come – not directly but as a side benefit. Think about it – anyone who is on a path to something significant is looking for significant help along their journey. If you can provide it, you will be valuable to them. In one way or the other you will be compensated and ultimately that compensation will get converted to money. Now, it may not happen tomorrow and there is no guarantee that it will happen every time but the more significant help you provide, the chances of you getting back things in multiple are more.

The other way is true too. If you are on a path to achieve something significant, you need significant help too. Whether you believe it or not, you are already getting significant help from multiple quarters. The magic is in quickly recognizing that significant help and ensuring that you are reciprocating back. If you take significant help for granted, it will vanish sooner than later.

The point is that if you want to be relentless, you need to have access to significant help throughout your journey. This means you should have offered (and continue to offer) significant help to as many people as possible.

7. Stop working!

No, not in a literal sense. When what you are working on becomes art, you stop working.

I doubt that Thomas Alva Edison considering inventing as work, Picasso considered painting as work or Stephen King considers writing as work. If you what you are doing is “work” then obviously you will place limits on when to work, how much to work and when to take a break to “recharge.” If what you are doing is not work, there is really no need to recharge as you will never lose your charge in the first place.

Update: My friend Ambal Balakrishnan of ClickDocuments created a Pllop for this blog post. You can see it here:

The Relentless Manifesto Pllop

Photo Courtesy: alexindigo on Flickr

Here is an example. Take a look at this static image. Does not look static, does it?

How about this one?

And, what about this one?

My analysis of the last image is that it was deliberately created to mislead you. How? By simply making the guy sitting on the couch to wear a girl’s pants.

Now, let me get to the point. We can convert this disadvantage into an advantage

The limits that you think you have are generally illusions. They are that way because you just see and acknowledge them. What if you stop seeing those limits? What would life look like?

Rather than answering this question, I present to you a super inspiring TED talk by Caroline Casey

Here it is:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have a great day!

Hat Tip: Karthik Sundaram for sharing the last photo

So, here we go:

Rajesh Setty: I understand that you are a member of Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel. How did this come to be?

Dave Gardner: This is a very interesting story, Rajesh. I have been a Dell customer since 2004. Back in 2009 and 2010, I experienced a few Dell business execution issues. I heard another story or 2 and decided to write about it on my Fast Company Expert Blog. I wrote the article on a Friday afternoon and pushed the article to Fast Company that evening to be published the following week. I chose a provocative title: “Dell used to be a fast company,” probably not the title that Dell would wish for in Fast Company! The article wasn’t mean-spirited or ranting—it simply pointed out areas where Dell had stumbled and could improve.

Rajesh Setty: I imagine in this day and age that Dell noticed this article.

Dave Gardner: They sure did. Dell uses Radian6 which is now owned by Salesforce.com to monitor what’s being said about them in the social media space. A Dell social media person contacted me via email about 90 minutes later on a Friday evening—before the article had even been officially published by Fast Company—and asked if we could talk the following week. I said, “Sure.” Soon, I was invited to be a member of Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel (DellCAP). Dell felt I had insights that would valuable as they sought outside perspectives to improve their business by learning what real customers are experiencing.

Rajesh Setty: That’s amazing, Dave. Was this what you believed would happen when you wrote the Fast Company posting.

Dave Gardner: Actually no—I had not anticipated that this would happen. I am constantly on the look out for stories to write about for my Fast Company blog. One area I write about is business execution. The blog post about Dell was just to point out some business execution areas where I thought they could improve. I never expected Dell to reach out to me.

Rajesh Setty: So what has this experience taught you?

Dave Gardner: Most people seem to think that social media is about attracting followers, “friending” people, liking this, that or the other, or spending hours trolling Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. It doesn’t have to be that way. So, I learned—quite by accident—that you can attract big companies to you by using social media.

Rajesh Setty: Quite a nice accident, Dave.

Dave Gardner: Thanks, Rajesh. My understanding comes not as a result of a carefully crafted social media strategy but as a result sitting back and simply watching what has happened. I learned there are 2 potential avenues to be aware of when leveraging social media:
The big company you are targeting is most likely monitoring social media
The public relations (PR) firm used by the big company you want to connect with is also likely monitoring social media

Rajesh Setty: That’s very interesting, Dave. How have you been able to leverage this understanding?

Dave Gardner: Was it important that the article was in Fast Company? Not at all. None of the other 29 social media folks invited to participate in DellCAP blogged for a prominent media outlet like Fast Company. Dell, like many big companies today, trolls the Internet to find out what’s being said about them so they can reach out and help as well as implement corrective action.

PR firms are also on the lookout for their clients and troll the Internet. A few weeks later, Dell’s PR firm contacted me about meeting them in their San Francisco office. Knowing that I blog for Fast Company, they offered to make introductions to senior executives who come into town for pieces that I might want to write, they see that I’m invited to media events, and they said they would look for opportunities within Dell to make introductions. All of these things happen with regularity. I enjoy a wonderful relationship with Dell’s PR firm.

Rajesh Setty: So, in essence, you are simply leveraging what Dell and their PR firm are already doing to enhance your relationship. Do you think this is an aberration?

Dave Gardner: Great question, Rajesh. In a Fast Company blog post called, “What Dell is doing to create customers for life,” I challenged a PC World survey that was unfairly critical of Dell and HP. HP’s PR firm contacted me the same day the post was published to thank me for defending HP and offered to make introductions to anyone I wanted to meet. This is when I reached the conclusion that social media monitoring is not an accident—the big companies do this with great discipline and follow-up as appropriate.

Rajesh Setty: Are there any other examples where you’ve been able to leverage your social media strategy with Dell?

Dave Gardner: I wanted to meet some of the executives from Dell’s recently acquired business units. I strategized writing a blog post with Dell’s Consumer, Small and Medium Business internal PR team before attending a major media event that enabled me to meet and interview the heads of four recently acquired business units plus the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy. I wanted to learn about the “secret sauce” of Dell’s merger and acquisition process which seemed to be superior based on what I had observed from my limited vantage point. The article research opened the doors for me. I doubt I’d be able to pick up the phone and get these people to speak to me out of the blue. This piece forged relationships in a fun and exciting way. The Fast Company blog post “If I sell you my company, will you respect me in the morning?” was published in December.

Rajesh Setty: This is really amazing, Dave. A great story. What would advise my readers to do?

Dave Gardner: Do you ever see areas where a prospective client could improve that you could write about? Of course you have! Social media can be a terrific way to create your superhighway into big companies. You have to use the right bait:

• Talk about what you’ve observed,
• Be provocative, and
• Encourage them to do better.

Then, when you hear from the company or their PR firm, begin to create an enduring relationship. This is a very effective way to create marketing gravity.

Rajesh Setty: Thanks for sharing your insights, Dave.

If you are one of those that can overcome this resistance, not just once, but throughout the lifecycle of the project, you will see the project through completion.

On the other hand, if you are one of those people that can’t seem to overcome the resistance at a particular point in the project lifecycle, you will abandon the project. If you are very smart, you will not only abandon the project, you will also come up with one or more brilliant excuses that will absolve your hand in the abandonment.

Having completed hundreds of projects and probably abandoning equal number of small and big projects over the decades, I have concluded that The 30% Factor plays a major role in whether we abandon projects or take them to completion.

The 30% Factor is the willingness and commitment to pay the price for the crucial 30% of the project. That 30% is split into three key stages of the project where there is the highest amount of resistance.

The three phases are:

1. The Real Start:

The real start of the project is when you put something (other than time) valuable to you on the line. An example everyone understands is “hard earned money.” It is important to know why “investing time” is not considered in this equation because there is no way to prove that time was indeed valuable to you and alternatively you had other (better) options to invest your time at that point in your life.

This is probably the hardest 10% that people have to go through and that’s why most projects take birth and die in the minds of people.

2. The Real Breakdown:

Whether you like it or not, there will be breakdowns more than once in the lifecycle of the project. The real breakdown occurs when you end up at a crossroad – one road moving you forward and the other road pointing to a U-turn. The road moving forward has all sorts of barricades and it seems almost insurmountable. The radio in the car tells you that you should take a detour, now! Plus, people all around you (even your well-wishers) urge you NOT to take that road. This is where you are truly tested and are asked to put more things that are valuable to you on line.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When the going gets really tough, many tough people will find even better excuses to quit.

3. The Real Finish:

If the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% will take another 90% of the time. This is where you get down and dirty into the details of the project. There is no “I’ll take a look at this later” option at this point. Either you do it now or face the consequence of postponing the ship date for the project. This is also when you realize the difference (actually, chasm) between “you are almost done” and “you are done.”  The chasm is way bigger than you think it is.

This is the 10% when the project seem to take way longer than planned and costing way more than budgeted. It is also the period when you start feeling if it was all worth it in the end.

Most people are willing and committed to pay the price for the 70% of the project but very few extend that willingness and commitment to the remaining 30% of the project.

The 30% factor makes all the difference.

This is a dilemma for many professionals and entrepreneurs – a feeling that a bit of higher education may just give them that “edge.”

So, here is the question again – “How much higher education do you need?”

Short answer: Whatever you need to start making a meaningful contribution to the world. Not less. Not more. Just right.

Let us focus on one of the most common higher education options – an MBA.

Over these years, I have met thousands of professionals who dream of getting an MBA sooner than later. Upon talking to them a bit more, I realize that for a large majority of them, the dream does not end there. It includes amazing things starting to happen in their life the moment they add an MBA to their list of qualifications. You may belong to this group or you may know someone who belongs to this group.

I have no problem with your dream but I do have a problem with your waiting. You rarely need higher education like an MBA to start meaningfully contributing to the world.

There is really no need to wait.

Think about it:

• An MBA will ask from you your time, your money, your energy, your time, your mindshare and it will introduce an opportunity cost.
• An MBA typically promises to return better opportunities, wider network, inclusion to the club and a higher self-esteem.

You could take a logical approach and put numbers against all of your investments in pursuit of your MBA and then project returns (also in numbers) and then determine whether it makes sense.

What do you think you will find when you take this logical approach?

No surprise there. You will find everything that will support your decision to get an MBA. First, because there is an industry out there that is thriving on people believing that an MBA will be the crucial X-factor in their life and second, confirmation bias will help you
find exactly what you are looking for.

Just to be clear – I neither have an MBA, nor felt the need to have one. That said, I have nothing against an MBA or any higher education program. Over these years, I have taught several MBA classes. I have also spoken to groups of CEOs and entrepreneurs many of whom had an MBA degree.

I have found that the audience will tune out easily if the speaker doesnʼt add value right then and there irrespective of whether the speaker had an MBA or not. An MBA would probably give a slight edge at the start of the session but nothing beyond that.

Go ahead and try this. Ask someone who has just completed an MBA program about what they think is the return from the program. At best, you will get a mixed response.

A small percentage of those who made the most out of the program will speak positively.

A vast majority of them will have a lukewarm response, with some of them sharing their enthusiasm about getting the keys to their fortune in the near future.

Very few will show regret about their decision. Such display of regret would simply mean that they are admitting to a costly mistake.

Smart people donʼt make such mistakes, do they?

There are many alternate paths to an MBA. Those alternate paths require a ton of selfdiscipline to get returns equivalent to the ones that you are expecting from getting an MBA. They have their own advantages too, the big ones being cost and time savings.

When you canʼt earn an MBA, a Personal MBA (by Josh Kaufman) may be a good option to consider too.

If you choose to pursue an MBA anyway, just remember that you donʼt stand out just by having an MBA. You stand out by showing the world how much more you can contribute by having an MBA.

In that sense, your education does not end with a degree, it begins there!

Over to you.

Photo Courtesy: teesside university on Flickr

What is an effective email?

One that achieves its purpose.

For example, if you wanted the recipient to take some action and after reading that email, the recipient takes that action, then we might classify that email as effective. In the same way, you wanted the recipient to take some action but after reading that email, the recipient DOES NOT take that action, we might classify that email as not-so-effective email.

It may seem like the components of an effective email therefore will be:

• a compelling headline: something that will make the recipient open the email.
• scannable email body: so that the recipient can quickly scan the email in his or her mobile device.
• clear set of expectations: from the recipient
• a clear call to action: so that the recipient knows what is expected
• clear timeline: by when should the task be completed

While the above framework might work great in theory, this is a necessary but not a sufficient condition.

Let us see a few other secrets that will make your emails more effective. I have picked three important ones as starters but the below list is in no way complete.

1. Strong relationships open hearts:

I have done many informal surveys on what makes people open emails. Who you are to them ranks way HIGHER than whatever email headline you will use. Solid relationships with the recipients trump your content marketing smartness because they operate at the heart level. A badly written email from someone very close has higher importance than a very well written email from someone you don’t know.

2. The big picture enhances clarity:

You can ask the recipient to do something without giving details about why you need him or her to do it. OR, you could explain the big picture that will provide the “why” behind the “what” that you are asking the person to do. The latter approach takes more of your time but creates more meaning about the task at hand for the recipient. Higher meaning means more effectiveness, period.

3. Alignment boosts motivation:

If you can genuinely align the task at hand with the recipient’s higher purpose in life, the motivation to act goes up significantly. While knowing the big picture enhances clarity and provides meaning at work, knowing how the task aligns with the recipient’s purpose in life will provide meaning in his or her life. The more meaningful personally, higher the motivation to act.

As you can see, the three items that are highlighted have nothing to do with the art and craft of “writing” the email. They go beyond the email and touch upon your relationship, your genuine caring about his or her concerns and the extra time you took to explain the big picture.

In summary, if you want to increase effectiveness of your emails, take time to build deep relationships with the recipients and genuinely care for their concerns. In other words, whenever possible, try to create new opportunities and possibilities in place of making requests.

Photo courtesy: neilpomerleau on flickr.