Old Monopoly thinking

That's right I said it you may be thinking like a monopolist!

Ok I did not say it I wrote it but I DID want to say it to someone earlier:-)

The old ways of selling and distributing are not working! We have to realize it is a new world and it is a little scary for those of us who have been doing this for a while but guess what..... the alternative is even more scary!

I say this with the utmost respect and admiration......GET A CLUE!

Here is some insight from Seth Godin:

THE MONOPOLIES ARE DYING...AND THEY'RE GETTING DEADER (is that a word?)

The past, the glorious, profit-making, fun past of the media business was based on:
• scarce creators, under long term contracts
• scarce retail outlets, able to be controlled with marketing muscle
• scarce spectrum (few radio stations, few TV stations)
• copyright laws (and a lack of technology) that limited theft of services
• limited power of the creators to compete without a large media company as partner

Wake up it doesn't work that way anymore.

Don't bring the old monopoly-driven mindsets to the non-monopoly marketplaces! Just because you can in your current job doesn't mean that the mindset is going to fly in a world where the rules are different. If you understand that the game is radically and permanently being changed, you can go out today and start building mutually beneficial relationships with your listeners/readers/watchers. You can offer these folks something of value in exchange for their attention. The new monopoly of the future is permission. Permission to talk to your customers directly about new stuff.

Permission to teach,
permission to ask,
permission to learn.

How to leave an indelible mark!

I love this Apple ad. Simple and to the point.....leave your mark!

By the way, we all will leave a mark on this world.

The question is what will it be?
Will it be ordinary or extraordinary?

In The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John Maxwell states, "If you look at the lives of effective leaders, you will find that they often don't fit the stereotypical mold. For example, more than 50% of all CEOs of Fortune 500 companies had a "C" or "C-" average in college. Nearly 75% of all U.S. presidents were at the bottom half of their school classes.

What makes it possible for people who might seem ordinary to achieve the extraordinary?

The answer is passion.

Passion is derived from the Latin word passio and the Greek pathos, which denotes deep emotion. Very broadly, passion is defined as "a strong or intense feeling or emotion." Passion creates powerful energy.

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (The Message)

YOU WILL LEAVE AN INDELIBLE MARK ON THIS WORLD!

USE YOUR GOD GIVEN PASSION TO FUEL IT!

DREAM BIG, CULTIVATE CHANGE, INSPIRE HOPE!

ZOOMii ZOOM ZOOM!!

That's right not Zooming but Zoomii.com!

My friend Mike told me about this site today and you have to check it out!

It is like walking through a bookstore on steroids!!

Zoomii is like a real bookstore as seen through Google Maps. All the books are on shelves and BIG books are BIG & small books are small. Like the real world. When you enter Zoomii, you’re at the Bestseller bookshelf and you use you mouse to drag and zoom in to other sections and bookshelves. Truly remarkable innovation! Zoomii.com

SWAG AWAY!

Have you ever come home from a convention with a bag full of promotional items, affectionately called swag (stuff we all get) and wondered if there was a better use for it?

I recently attended the ICRS (International Christian Retailing Show) in Orlando. It is a great place to see all the new products releasing from book publishers, music and film companies, and gift distributors. You can get books signed by the authors, you get promotional items, mugs, t-shirts, key chains, etc....promoting the different companies products. But you also come home with a bag of stuff...what do you do with it all?

Emerging media consultant Michael Liskin was wondering the same thing when he came up with the idea for the Schwaggin' Wagon Liskin thought, “What if we could collect all the leftover swag from a convention and give it to charity.” This past April, without any formal plan, Liskin and a few friends rented a van, taped a Schwaggin’ Wagon sign to the side, and drove up to the Web. 2.0 expo in San Francisco to collect schwag. From that first outing, the response has been overwhelming. They have been working with a charity called Operation Gratitude which makes care packages for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and they use the schwag in the baskets to give to children in those countries. What a great way to make friends!

A remarkable idea and for me a much better use for that Veggie Tales mug I got at ICRS:-)

TO SEND OR NOT TO SEND.....

Email communication is unforgiving. After you have typed it and you click send.....it is gone! Then, as you know, it can be printed, forwarded, and posted on the web. Most of the time there is no way to detect, inflections, sarcasm, or tone.

When you were small, you probably had someone tell you like I did "count to 10 before you respond". Why did they say that? They knew that answering before thinking can lead to problems.

Make sure you really mean to say what you’ve written. People can interpret your words differently from what you meant. A statement made in jest to someone via e-mail may have a greater chance of being misinterpreted than one made in person.

Also, be careful about reacting and replying too quickly to an e-mail that upsets you. Maybe the rule for email should be, count to 100.

As Proverbs 12:16 says, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”

I am sure the email I received yesterday was not meant to incite an uprising in my office but it did!

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9........

Thinking up a storm!

Ideas......some get bigger.....some get smaller!

Do you have a process Chris? I am glad you asked.......below is a starter idea chart for you to take an idea, project, business, etc and expand.

Take some time...have fun....and don't forget the snacks:-)

When to QUIT!

I was having a conversation with someone yesterday who was telling me about his business/career over the last 5 years and he said this about mid way through his story, "that is when I should have quit".

That is a hard thing for most of us to say. We are conditioned in our culture to win, to succeed, to live a life of victory and to have it all!

So, how do we deal with failure and when do we fail? I don't have all the answers and now my new found friend is digging his way out of a hole and I am not sure I offered a lot of comfort.

There are no easy answers but there are lots of questions. Should you follow your dreams? I believe absolutely! But I also think you should evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and have a plan before you venture out into the great unknown. That doesn't sound very exciting, glamorous, or romantic I know. But as the old adage says:

fail to plan then plan to fail

Seven Reasons You Might Fail

• You run out of time (and quit).
• You run out of money (and quit).
• You get scared (and quit).
• You’re not serious about it (and quit).
• You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
• You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
• You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

By “you,” I mean your team, your company, or just plain you, the jobseeker, employee, or entrepreneur. The important thing to remember about these seven things is that you can plan for them. You can know before you start whether or not you have the resources and the will to get to the end. Most of the time, if you fail, it’s either because you planned wrong or because you gave up before you reached your goal. (there is no crime in admitting this by the way but it may bruise your ego)

Even worse than quitting in the first six cases: is not quitting.

Settling. Sticking with it but not succeeding.

Is it possible that you’re just not good enough? That you (or your team) just don’t have enough talent to be the best in the world? Sure, it’s possible. In fact, if your chosen area is the cello, or speed skating, then I might even say it’s probable. (thanks to Seth Godin for input....check out his book The Dip on this subject)

I wish I had a miracle cure for this dilemma but here are some practical things that always work; pray and ask God to help you, seek wisdom from others, plan, research others who have succeeded in what you are pursuing, give your best, and also realize that success may not look exactly what you thought it would look like.......it might even be better!

Proverbs 2:6-8 God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. He's a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere. He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
(The Message)

one Minneapolis Moment

(L) Jimmy (C) me (R) Erwin

I got the honor to be on the set of a new film that my friend Erwin McManus is producing and my friend Jimmy Duke is directing today in Minneapolis. It is an interesting and powerful story but today was more fun for me to see my friends operating and exercising their gifts and challenging and inspiring others to perform at their highest level of creativity. As founder of Awaken, Erwin collaborates with a team of dreamers and innovators who specialize in the field of developing and unleashing personal and organizational creativity. Awaken is committed to creating environments that expand imagination and unleash creativity. Convinced that the world is changed by dreamers and visionaries, Awaken serves humanity through its commitment to maximize the creative potential in every individual and organization. Awaken emerges out of the unique ministry of Mosaic and reflects Erwin's commitment to creativity, uniqueness, innovation and diversity.

What helps you expand your imagination and unleash your creativity?

Are you GAME?

2007 was a banner year for video gaming, and the industry has the figures to prove it. The Entertainment Software Association announced today that total sales for 2007 were $18.85 billion, with $9.5 billion of that spent on games (both PC and console) and $9.35 billion on consoles (xBox 360, Playstation, and Wii).

The video game sector will remain one of the above-average growth segments of the U.S. and global entertainment industries through 2011, with global games spending set to exceed music spending, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Key growth engines will include online and wireless games, new-generation consoles, as well as the burgeoning in-game advertising business according to Wired Magazine.

What does this mean to us? Great question......I think it means if we are going to impact culture we are going to have to consider how we are a part of it...what do you think?

There is another great article on this at Wired if you are interested.

Would love to hear comments and thoughts on this.

The other right answer

I had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Todd Chobotar Director of Publishing at Florida Hospital in Orlando. Todd is very creative and is a great writer in his own right. Florida Hospital is one of the largest healthcare organizations in North America and is very innovative in its approach to health care. Check out their Creation Health site as well.

Todd is a great friend and he and I can always talk for hours about ideas and creativity. This morning he told me about this quote from Steve Jobs (we are both Apple fans):

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have.

- Steve Jobs

I do find this to be my experience also.....if you take a couple of ideas and connect them, it will usually give you a completely new idea. If it doesn't the process will probably lead you to other thoughts that will connect to a new idea.

Several years ago I read a book by Roger von Oech author of the book "A Whack On The Side of The Head". The book is great for helping cultivate creative thinking and has a section about "the other right answer". His point is, that in western culture we are taught the correct answers (ie: 2+2=4) but most creative answers come out of connecting the dots and coming up with another answer by combining ideas and that there may be more than one "right" answer or solution.

Go ahead, try it.....I will wait:-) ok maybe I won't wait, but take your time this week and give it a try. Combine some ideas that on the surface may not look like they go together and see if you come up with completely new ideas and concepts.

And don't forget to connect to the ultimate creative thinker....the Creator of all:

We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.

-Colossians 1:15 (The Message)

NOW THAT IS THE EXTREME CREATIVITY!

Happy connecting, combining, and creating!

I think we have a unity problem!

I had an interesting encounter with diversity and unity tonight.

I attended an event at the House of Blues in Orlando. A really great venue and a really fun event around some films being released from Fox Faith.

While we were there I looked up at the top of the stage and on the wall above the stage was this phrase; "Unity in Diversity". I stopped and thought about that.....humans are very diverse we have different abilities, personalities, looks, and talents. true. Unity? I am all for it....seems like a good sentiment.

To the left of the phrase "Unity in Diversity" was this, the Star of David, to the left of that was the muslim religious symbol, to the left of that was a virgin Mary, and to the right of the phrase was Buddhist religious symbol. Ok, observation; the virgin Mary is not the symbol of Christianity and there was not a cross to be found.

hmmmmm....I think there is a symbol problem but there is definitely an issue with this concept of unity.

Here is what the Bible says about unity: Ephesians 4:13 "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

So.... there is no unity except in the knowledge of the Son of God.....Jesus. How do we get that knowledge?

Here is what my friend Max Lucado says in his book 3:16 The Numbers of Hope:

Behold, the Hope diamond of the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six-word parade of hope:

beginning with God,
ending with life, and
urging us to do the same.

Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions.

If you know nothing of the Bible, start here.
If you know everything in the Bible, return here.

We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God’s treatment is prescribed in John 3:16.

He loves.
He gave.
We believe.
We live.

The verse is an alphabet of grace, a table of contents to the Christian hope, each word a safe-deposit box of jewels. Read it again, slowly and aloud, and note the word that snatches your attention. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “God so loved the world . . . ” We’d expect an anger-fueled God. One who punishes the world, recycles the world, forsakes the world . . . but loves the world? The world? This world? Heartbreakers, hope-snatchers, and dream-dousers prowl this orb. Dictators rage. Abusers inflict. Reverends think they deserve the title. But God loves. And he loves the world so much he gave his:

Declarations?
Rules?
Dicta?
Edicts?

No. The heart-stilling, mind-bending, deal-making-or-breaking claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his son . . . his only son. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Hey I am not against the House of Blues but I do think their unity philosophy needs at the minimum tweaking......Conclusion? Jesus is the only unity in diversity.

The Blue ZOO

I am in Orlando this week for the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) and one of my favorite things (besides all things Disney) in Orlando is the opportunity to try some new restaurants.

Tonight was a highlight, I got to take a couple of my friends to one of my favorites, Todd English's blue zoo. Renowned for his unique style and ability to entertain, Todd English combines the freshest seafood with coastal cuisines from around the world in a setting you won't forget.

But more than the food.....which is amazing! The blue zoo combines style, art, and design to give a very unique experience.

Todd English is an amazing chef and maybe even had the initial idea on what "style" of restaurant to create but of course his expertise is not in building or architecture.....it is in creating truly remarkable meals.

The blue zoo is designed by renowned architect, Jeffrey Beers, and is a work of art. Beers has extensive experience and an exceptional reputation in both the architecture and interior design industries. He has a keen interest in the relationship between architecture and light and has studied and practiced the art of glass and glass blowing with renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. Continued collaboration and work with the medium provide Beers an unparalleled expertise in glass - both as material, and light design element - as evidenced in each of his projects to date.

Here is a thought; what would success look like if you concentrated on your strengths and surrounded yourself with experts to compliment the elements where you do not have expertise?

You may not be a chef and want to create a restaurant but whatever your "blue zoo" is I highly suggest that you give team building a try and see what is accomplished!

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Phillipians 4:8 (The Message)

And oh yeah, when your in Orlando......visit this really great restaurant!!!!

Simple yet remarkable calendar!

Want to have a unique calendar and definitely a conversation starter?

Get the Bubble Wrap calendar. A poster sized calendar with a bubble to pop for every day.

I saw this over on Guy Kawasaki's blog and agree it is one clever idea!

I wonder if they could make it where it is customized and played songs on your special days? You send them your birthday and when you pop that day on the bubble wrap it plays Happy Birthday like a Hallmark card? Christmas plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"? April Fools plays the April Fool's Song (yep, there is just about a song for anything).

The only down side is if it fell on the floor and you stepped on it.....you could knock out a whole month in one day!

What would make you stand in line? ALL NIGHT!

Well it is here the day a lot of people have been waiting for.....the 3G iphone!

3G is the network that supposedly makes the iphone 10 times faster in data transfers and accessing the web.

The phone and the software have a bunch of new upgrades and cool features, more memory, a better camera, supposedly better speakers, etc....

But I think the take away for me is this......people are standing (sitting) in line ALL NIGHT LONG! I even heard of people paying high school students to stand in line for them.....ok I confess....I didn't hear about it....I did it. The at&t store did a cool thing they took your name and number and it secured your place in line so it was fine to have a stunt double!

Apple has a knack for this...creating must have products.

So here is the question for the day:

Am I creating anything that people would stand in line for?

If you could be a part of something that created this kind of buzz what would it be! Granted you may not be in an industry that has the coolest new gadgets but I think it is worth a few minutes, hours, days of our time to think through how and what we are offering and how we communicate to those who are looking for our service, product, etc. Also to do all that we can to make it excellent!

Here is what Colossians 3:22 says:

And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God... (The Message)

By the way, I got the white 16GB version........number 5 in line:-)

Want to achieve remarkable results?

Walt Disney's legacy for the future is far greater than the physical assets of the Disney company. It involves a sacred public trust...an intangible that can't be bought at any price.

Disney entertainment speaks an international language that spans oceans, boundaries and cultural barriers. To people of all ages, everywhere around the world, the Disney name immediately communicates 6 things:

1. QUALITY

"When we consider a new project, we really study it - not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into the new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job."
—Walt Disney

2. UNIQUENESS

"You hate to repeat yourself. I don't like to make sequels to my pictures. I like to take a new thing and develop something. There's really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We're always exploring and experimenting."
—Walt Disney

3. VALUE

"We're not out to make a fast dollar with gimmicks. We're interested in doing things that are fun - in bringing pleasure and especially laughter to people...it's proven it's a good business policy. Give the public everything you can give them..."
—Walt Disney

4. UNDERSTANDING THE DISNEY AUDIENCE

"Movie makers are often too introverted about their production. They tend to build up myths about audiences and to prattle glibly about shifting public taste and its unpredictables. In considering one thing: Americans are a sociable folk, we like to enjoy ourselves in crowds, at sports arenas, at picnics, fairs and carnivals, at concerts and at the theater."

"Above all, we like to laugh together - even at our own shortcomings. I don't like to kid myself about the intelligence and taste of audiences. They are made up of my neighbors, people I know and meet every day. Folks I trade with, go to church with, vote with, comp
ete in business with, help build and preserve a nation with." -Walt Disney

6. THE DISNEY DYNAMIC: SYNERGETICS

"My greatest reward is that I've been able to build this wonderful organization."

—Walt Disney

Innovators of Our Time

Smithsonian Magazine has marked their 35th anniversary by revisiting scientists, artists and scholars who've enriched the magazine — and our lives.

One of the remarkable people on this list is Wes Jackson a plant geneticist and former professor. Wes is the founder of The Land Institute a Kansas based nonprofit that's working to transform agriculture by cross breeding traditional, annual food crops like wheat, sunflowers and corn with deep-rooted perennials. Planted in mixtures, they would diminish the need for pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. This will save water, greatly reduce erosion and replenish the soil.

Now, you may not be interested at the moment in plant genetics but what attracted me to Wes was a quote from him.

It was this:

If your life's work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you're not thinking big enough.

So here is the question for us today.....are we thinking big enough? Take some time and think on this today and remember Wes' quote even if your passion in life is not plant genetics!

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18

Christmas in July!

Hey I have a present for you....that's right, Christmas is coming early:-)

Below is a copy of the download card we created for the Beth Moore Deeper Still conference this past weekend for Travis Cottrell's new Christmas project coming out this October.

You can download a free song and even pre-order the CD (which you will really like)


Here it is:

Go to this page and enter this code: 12252008

MERRY CHRISTMAS.....EARLY!!!

A WIDE AWAKE CELEBRATION!

Hey it is a BIG day here at the
Indelible World Headquarters!

Today is the official release of Wide Awake our DVD project with Erwin McManus!

I am celebrating by
1. having an extra triple grande extra hot latte with two splenda and
2. if you leave a comment here on the blog I will enter you to win a Wide Awake DVD and an autographed copy of Erwin's book.

Check out the website at www.wideawakethefilms.com

Here is an excerpt from Erwin's book Wide Awake:

For centuries now, Jesus has been a focus of every kind of research, from theology to history to philosophy. His approach to ethics left an undeniable mark on humanity. What has been significantly underappreciated is how Jesus changed the way his followers actually engaged life. He launched a movement that unleashed previously untapped potential in those who believed in him. He created an environment where his disciples began to believe the impossible and soon found they were turning dreams into reality. His became a movement of dreamers and visionaries. They were called and compelled to dream of a better world. He called them to touch the whole of humanity with his message of life and love. Theirs was a life of faith and a call to accomplish great things by serving humanity. Here, by the way, is one of the dramatic differences between Jesus and Buddha. Buddha once wrote “do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

While I agree we must not dwell in the past, and I wrote an entire book on how to live and seize the power of every moment, I have to say Buddha missed it when it comes to the future – not to mention the power of dreams. Our dreams are where the future is fueled and created. This is one of the things I love about Jesus and the Scriptures – they call us to dream and to dream with our eyes open. To live wide awake you have to begin to dream. You have to dare to dream great dreams and find the courage to live them.”

(This excerpt is taken from the book Wide Awake by Erwin Raphael McManus, soon to be released in July 2008, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

other links: www.erwinmcmanus.com and www.indelibleonline.com