Não abuse do tempo dos outros

Simplicidade

 

 

Pego num texto pequeníssimo de Seth Godin, “BE SHORTER" (que reproduzo no final). Pego também numa quote de Leonardo da Vinci que coloco na foto acima. Entre os dois autores distam 500 anos.

O texto de Seth  faz a apologia do Less, do pouco. Eu, abusadamente, vou escrever mais a explicar a ideia, com a qual concordo,  do que ele escreveu a expô-la. Ele que me perdoe e os leitores também.

Hoje em dia não é estranho encontrar Clientes que podem saber tanto ou mais do que nós sobre os assuntos em que devíamos ser experts.

A Internet e os infinitos cursos de formação que existem por lá  e o off line permitem que o saber seja democratizado. Quem não ouviu já falar e se aconselhou (ou aconselhou) com o Dr Google.

Os antigos vendedores, classe maldita, que eram conhecidos e reconhecidos de fazerem de um assunto vazio um quase Nobel da ficção, já não são apreciados (alguns deles ainda não se aperceberam desta realidade).

Na óptica do consultor / vendedor, fale o necessário e escute o máximo do outro. Deixe que fale; deixe o seu interlocutor brilhar, expor-se… e saque toda a informação profissional e pessoal que conseguir.

Algumas pistas para identificar os mal preparados:

- muitas vezes, para disfarçar a falta de competência técnica,  usam-se, mal,  discursos longos e cheios de jargões técnicos ;

- várias vezes a impreparação ou falta de confiança de quem expõe é confirmada com o clássico “quese dizer”…e repetem o mesmo com outras palavras (ou quase outras palavras).

Por fim, quase como uma saída filosófica, infelizmente ou não, as actuais 24 horas não são, nem de longe, nem de perto, iguais às 24horas do início deste século. Não desaproveite o tempo dos outros.

Uma última nota que são duas:

-  A pessoa mais barulhenta numa reunião não deve ser a mais velha ou necessariamente a mais brilhante. 

- O que arruína os negócios são as pessoas que não ouvem. Eles acham que conhecem e dominam o negócio e o mercado mas, na verdade, não sabem nada.  

Be Shorter

 

 

 

Saying NO / Dizer NÃO - by Seth Godin

On saying "no"

1.       If you're not proud of it, don't serve it.

2.       If you can't do a good job, don't take it on.

3.       If it's going to distract you from the work that truly matters, pass.

4.       If you don't know why they want you to do this, ask.

5.       If you need to hide it from your mom, reconsider.

6.       If it benefits you but not the people you care about, decline.

7.       If you're going along with the crowd, that's not enough.

8.       If it creates a habit that costs you in the long run, don't start.

9.       If it doesn't move you forward, hesitate then walk away.

The short run always seems urgent, and a moment where compromise feels appropriate. But in the long run, it's the good 'no's that we remember.

On the other hand, there's an imperative to say "yes." Say yes and build something that matters.

Há povos que por razões culturais não dizem NÂO. Os portugueses têm alguma dificuldade. Como têm os brasileiros e, pela boca do embaixador mexicano em Portugal, os mexicanos também apresentam esta dificuldade.

Por sua vez também há quem diga SIM. Mas o que quer mesmo é que o seu interlocutor não lhe tome mais tempo. Isto é: é um SIM que na realidade é um NÃO 

Audience participation by Setg Godin

Audience participation

 

 

 

The way we engage with the humans who make stuff directly influences what we receive.

Arms folded with a scowl on our face and skepticism on our minds… we get what we deserve.

It’s up to us. Just about everything is ultimately a singalong.

 

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Todos podemos ser mais ou menos cuidadosos, muito ou pouco receosos, desconfiados quanto baste....mas ficar sempre à defesa, de sorriso fechado, incomunicáveis.....faz, de nós, umas Carrancas Sociais.

 

 

 

Retirado da wikipedia

 

Carrancas: Carranca é uma escultura com forma humana ou animal, produzida em madeira e utilizada a princípio na proa das embarcações que navegam pelo rio São Francisco. Espalhou-se no Brasil como uma forma de arte popular, sendo vendida em feiras e lojas de produtos artesanais. Não se sabe ao certo se sua origem é negra ou ameríndia, ou se seriam amuletos ou simplesmente ornamentos. Os artesãos que produzem carrancas são chamados de carranqueiros

 

As carrancas eram construídas a princípio com um objetivo comercial, pois a população ribeirinha dependia do transporte de mercadorias pelo rio, e os barqueiros utilizavam as carrancas para chamar a atenção para sua embarcação. Em certo momento, a população ribeirinha passou a atribuir características místicas de afugentar maus espíritos às carrancas. Esta atribuição colocava em segundo plano o aspecto artístico da produção das carrancas, ou seja, como forma de manifestação cultural popular de uma região brasileira. Elas tinham um significado importante para as embarcações: Elas espantavam maus espíritos, ajudavam para que a embarcação não afundasse, livravam das tempestades e atraiam muitos peixes.^[

 

It's all a mistake (by Seth Godin)

It's all a mistake

...until it works.

That's what innovation is. Mistakes, experiments, mis-steps.

Until it works.

The process isn't to avoid the things that don't work. Because that means avoiding the things that might not work...

Instead, our job is to eagerly embrace the mistakes on the road to the impact that we seek.

By me

Ninguém acerta à primeira. Raras são as vezes que acertamos à primeira, para ser mais correcto.

Mas, como sabemos, os processos, quer de inovação pura, quer os mais simples, de meros acertos, são feitos, muitas vezes,  por tentativa, recorrendo à nossa intuição, a conselhos de mentores ou profissionais nos quais reconhecemos competências …ou mera tentativa, a ver se dá.

O importante mesmo é: se é mesmo erro, engano, como sairmos dele….prosseguindo o nosso caminho

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (and they go)

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (and they go)

A protocol for moving forward:

0. Double check the work to make sure that there are no other problems within it.

1. Alert the relevant parties.

2. Take responsibility for what went wrong. This doesn’t mean that you intentionally did it wrong, or that doing it right was part of your job description. It means that you know something went wrong, you’re unhappy about it, and you accept responsibility for letting it get by you and you accept responsibility for making sure it won’t happen again.

 3. Apologize. Not because it’s your fault, but because the incident cost other people time or money or upset them, and you’re sorry that they have to deal with that.

4. Come up with a plan to ameliorate the impact of the problem. If you can’t come up with a plan, say so and ask for suggestions.

5. Come up with a plan to avoid the problem in the future.

6. Gather feedback.

7. Thank everyone for their patience and goodwill.

Either that, or you could hide, dissemble, blame, shuffle along, scowl, depersonalize and then move on.

By me

Move on is undoubtedly one of the steps. Holding on to projects or ideas that do not progress is a waste of time ... and time is what we lack in

 Move on but this is not necessarily a final and definitive abandonment of projects ... Some projects can be taken up.

They can be picked up with another team, at another point in time, with a (new) partnership or technology ....

Making a new decision (by Seth Godin)

Making a new decision (by Seth Godin)

It's almost impossible to persuade someone that he's wrong. Almost impossible to make your argument louder and sharper and have the other person say, "I was wrong and I will change my mind."

Far more effective: Help someone make a new decision, based on new alternatives and a new story.

Arnold got it right in this passionate invitation to (re) think about our future.

By me

Two different readings, but very current.

I do not believe that the two parties that support the PS government, PCP e BE, be able to take new and different decisions, decisions that have continuity over time.

Who is satisfied eating always the same ketchup, will always stay with the same taste in his mouth.

.

Just passing through (by Seth Godin)

Just passing through

Older guy walks into the service area on the parkway and asks one of the staff, "do you have a pay phone? My car broke down and I need to call my daughter."

The staff person, killing time by checking his cell phone, is confused. He's not sure what a pay phone is, then he figures it out, and says, "no," before going back to his phone.
It never occurs to him to hand the phone to the man so he can make a call.
Part of it is the boss's fault. He's not paying much attention to hiring or training or incentives. He's paying as little as he can, and turnover is high. After all, every one of his customers is just passing through, no need to care.

And that message comes through to the staff, loud and clear.

Of course, at one level, all of us are just passing through.

From a more practical, business level, the ease of digital connection means that it's more and more
unlikely that you can be uncaring or mistreat people and not be noticed.

But most of all, life is better when we act like we might see someone again soon, isn't it?

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Recentemente encontro-me à espera de um amigo que foi pagar uns cafés e ele diz-me: a moças que iam à na fila, quando pagaram, viram um anúncio da época "há bolo rei". Como a pastelaria tem bons bolos, perguntaram ao caixa...tem bolo rei? resposta rápida e seca...isso é lá com o balcão...eles é que sabem... as moças saíram disparadas do café...talvez fossem comprar amêndoas da páscoa ...
Basicamente o que se retira é que uma resposta desajustada, pouco preparada, pode estragar ou estraga o trabalho de toda a cadeia que está atrás.

As moças devem ter ficado com pouca vontade de voltar..........

Past performance is not indicative of future results

Past performance is not indicative of future results

This is clearly and demonstrably true of mutual funds. It's easy to confirm.

And yet...

We are very uncomfortable with randomness. So the newspaper does a 12 page section of mutual funds, filled with articles and ads and charts, all touting past performance. 

Superstition is what we call the belief in causation due to a mistaken correlation of unrelated data. A broken mirror doesn't actually cause seven years of bad luck, and cheering in a certain way isn't going to help the Yankees, sorry.

Of course, we don't live in a completely random world. The scientific method and statistics make it more likely than ever that you can find trends that actually matter. 

The hard part is accepting that the random things actually are unpredictable, and refusing to spend time or money guessing on what can't be reliably guessed. It frees up a lot of time and resources to focus on the things that are actually worth measuring.

My Comments 

Past results prove only that in principle we know how to do things, perform tasks ... But look at the case of some countries ... they take advantage of the wave of growth ... they do not prepare themselves ... and then, after the boom, they sink

Mentiras (por Seth Godin)

The first lie...

  is that you're going to need far more talent than you were born with.

The second lie is that the people who are leading in the new connection economy got there because they have something you don't.
The third lie is that you have to be chosen.
The fourth lie is that we're not afraid.
We're afraid.
Afraid to lead, to make a ruckus, to convene. Afraid to be vulnerable, to be called out, to be seen as a fraud.
The connection economy isn't based on steel or rails or buildings. It's built on trust and hope and passion.
The future belongs to those that care and those that believe.

Three questions to ask your marketing team (by Seth Godin)

Three questions to ask your marketing team

(or your business development team, your fundraising team or your pr folks)...

Who are you trying to reach?

If you say you are trying to reach everyone, I'll know you're likely to reach no one. How specifically can you identify the psychographics, worldview and needs of the people we seek to change?

Why do they decide to support us?

In order to earn the donation, make the sale, generate the buzz, we need to change people somehow. When we change them, what happens? What story do they tell themselves?

What do you need in order to make this happen more often?

What resources, tools or facts need to be present for this to work for you? What do we have to change about our products, our services or our people? How do you know?

In search of resilience (by Seth Godin)

In search of resilience

Most of the time, we build our jobs and our organizations and our lives around today, assuming that tomorrow will be a lot like now. Resilience, the ability to shift and respond to change, comes way down the list of the things we often consider.
And yet... A crazy world is certain to get crazier. The industrial economy is fading, and steady jobs with it. The financial markets will inevitably get more volatile. The Earth is warming, ever faster, and the rate and commercial impact of natural disasters around the world is on an exponential growth curve.
Hence the need for resilience, for the ability to survive and thrive in the face of change.
A non-resilient hospital in New York City closed for months because the designers failed to design for a flood. A career as a travel agent ends when, fairly suddenly, people don't need travel agents any longer. A retirement is wiped out because the sole asset in the nest egg is no longer worth what it was.
The choice is to build something that's perfect for today, or to build something that lasts. Because perfect for today no longer means perfect forever.
Here are four approaches to resilience, in ascending order, from brave to stupid:

• Don't need it
• Invest in a network
• Create backups
• Build a moat

Don't need it is the shortcut to living in crazy times. If you don't have an office, it won't flood. If you have sixteen clients, losing one won't wipe you out.* If your cost of living is low, it's far less exposed to a loss in income. If there are no stairs in your house, a broken hip doesn't mean you have to move. Intentionally stripping away dependencies on things you can no longer depend on is the single best preparation to change.
Invest in a network. When your neighbor can lend you what you need, it's far easier to survive losing what you've got. Cities and villages and tribes with thriving, interconnected neighborhoods find that the way they mesh resources and people, combined with mutual generosity, makes them more able to withstand unexpected change. And yes, the word is 'invest', because the connection economy thrives on generosity, not need.
Create backups. Not just your data (you do have a copy of your data in two or three places, don't you?) but anything that's essential to your career, your family or your existence. A friend with a nut allergy kept a spare epipen at our house—the cost of a second one was small compared to the cost of being without.
Build a moat is the silly one, the expensive Maginot-line of last resort. Build a moat is the mindset of some preppers, with isolated castles that are stocked to overflowing with enough goods to survive any disaster**. Except, of course, they're not. Because they can't think of everything. No one can.
We're tempted to isolate ourselves from change, by building a conceptual or physical moat around our version of the future. Better, I think, to realize that volatility is the new normal.
Putting all your eggs in one basket and watching the basket really carefully isn't nearly as effective as the other alternatives. Not when the world gets crazy.

The long run keeps getting shorter (by Seth Godin)

The long run keeps getting shorter (by Seth Godin)

In the long run, we're all dead, sure that's still true.
But the other long run effects--in the long run, you get caught, in the long run, kindness wins out, in the long run, we learn about who you really are--all of those are happening faster than they used to.
The short run has always been short (and it's getting shorter still). The real change, though, is how short the long run is getting.

Interesting? (by Seth Godin)

Interesting?

Is it interesting because it happened...
or because it happened to you?
If George Clooney sits next to you at a restaurant, that's interesting to you, no doubt, but only interesting to your friends because you're so excited. I mean, he had to sit next to someone!
Should we read your press release or come to your gallery opening or take a sales meeting because it's important, or because it's important to you?
Marketing is the art of seeing (and then creating) what might be interesting to more than our friends.
There's a circle of friends in our lives that care a lot about what we care about. The rest of the world? They mostly don't.
[Feel free to insert "important" and "urgent" as well. ]

Two people you might need in your professional life (lessons from Seth Godin)

Two people you might need in your professional life (lessons from Seth Godin)

An agonist. While an antagonist blocks an action, the agonist causes it to happen. Even more than a muse, a professional agonist might be exactly what you need to provoke your best work.

And of course, a procrastinatrix. Someone who's only job is to hold you accountable for getting it done, now, not later.

In a world with fewer bosses than ever, when we are our own boss, these two functions are more important than ever. If you can't find a way to do it for yourself, spend the time and the money to find someone to do it for you. Neither job is particularly difficult to do, but it's hard to do to yourself. Two more job titles for the future...

Four reasons your version of better might not be enough (By Seth Godin)

Four reasons your version of better might not be enough
 

A)
I might not know about your better, because the world is so noisy I can't hear you.
B)
I might not believe it's better, because, hey, people spin and exaggerate and lie. Proof is only useful if it leads to belief.
C)
The perceived cost of switching (fear, hassle, internal selling and coordination, money) is far higher than your better appears to be worth.
D)
Your better might not be my better. In fact, it's almost certainly not.

Two kinds of mistakes (by Seth Godin)

Two kinds of mistakes by Seth Godin

There is the mistake of overdoing the defense of the status quo, the error of investing too much time and energy in keep things as they are.
And then there is the mistake made while inventing the future, the error of small experiments gone bad.
We are almost never hurt by the second kind of mistake and yet we persist in making the first kind, again and again.

What do you make? (by Seth Godin)

What do you make? (by Seth Godin)

Decisions.

You don't run a punch press or haul iron ore. Your job is to make decisions.

The thing is, the farmer who grows corn has no illusions about what his job is. He doesn't avoid planting corn or dissemble or procrastinate about harvesting corn. And he certainly doesn't try to get his neighbor to grow his corn for him.

Make more decisions. That's the only way to get better at it.

Believing what we want to believe (by Seth Godin)

Believing what we want to believe (by Seth Godin)

Human beings, thanks to culture and genetics, are inclined to be pessimistic, fearful, skeptical and believers in conspiracy theories. We also don't like change.

The marketer (products, government, religion, whatever) that decides to trade in any of these glitches has a tremendous advantage. It's far easier to create fear than to soothe it, far easier to argue for a conspiracy than to prove that one doesn't exist.

When we find ourselves rewarding our instincts instead of reality, we often make poor choices. Of course, sometimes there's a good reason to be afraid or to imagine that a secret conspiracy is at work. Not often, though.

When confronted by a mass of facts and nothing but instinct or tribal confirmation on the other side, it might be worth revisiting why we choose to believe what we believe.

What you are waiting for? (by Seth Godin)

What you waiting for?

I'm not asking in the usual hectoring, pushing sense of asking you to hurry up and get started.
I'm genuinely, rhetorically curious. What, exactly, are you insisting will happen before you start shipping your art?
Write it down. Write down what has to happen before you can make and ship your ruckus.
Being clear about what you're waiting for makes it far more likely that your art will happen and far less likely that you're merely stalling

Empathy takes effort (by Seth Godin

Empathy takes effort  

When we extend our heart, our soul and our feelings to another, when we imagine what it must be like to be them, we expose ourselves to risk. The risk of feeling bruised, or of losing our ability to see the world from just one crisp and certain point of view.

It's easier to walk on by, to compartmentalize and to isolate ourselves. Easier, but not worth it.