Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Be The Best YOU You Can Be

I was having a conversation today with good friend, Alan and we discussed the books we were reading. As I recently introduced to him the writings by Seth Godin, and Alan is a businessperson, I mentioned 'Purple Cows'. Purple Cows was a term coined by marketing-guru, Godin and he referred to uniqueness and outliers in business and industry. 

In other words, how do you stand out in your business or profession?

One national-leader once spoke of this approach: 'We must continue to reinvent ourselves in order to stay relevant.' I took these words seriously and have applied it to my vocation, advocation and recreation. Traditional thinking promotes traditional businesses. Contemporary thinking promotes current and future businesses. How do you run your business differently? How are you managing your career differently?

Pop-icon Madonna had a future-orientated mindset when she kept her brand simple, with her first (singular) name, plus an avalanche of revamps of her vampish looks. She adopted diverse roles including (the profitable) songwriter, choreographer (step up from a dancer), singer (a major shift), actress (a natural however challenging career shift), fashionista (read: fashionable, fashion-expert, fashion-authority), videographer, and much more. Lots of study, thinking, creative thinking, and reinvention took place. Thus, her wealth and fame still trails her trailblazer career even in her fourth decade of entertainment career.  

Purple cows are blended solutions. Purple is born of the colours blue and red. Which blends are you? How versatile are you? What else can you do? How do you stand out from the maddening crowd? Being different means having choices. Move from a follower to a leader. Break the rules. Make the rules. Define yourself. Refine yourself. Avoid grazing too long at a spot, for the grass must re-grow as the soil must regenerate. Have you explored 'the grass is greener on the other side'?

Leadership Lessons: How do you establish your own 'purple cow'? What are you doing to reinvent yourself? How do you stay relevant? How are you progressing from good to great? Deep questions with deeper answers. May you discover your 'uncommon sense'. 

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