The Profit Prophet

Over the 100,000 plus years we and our brains have been evolving. During that time, our minds have grown past our primitive lizard brains and as such have brought us intelligence; which in turn has allowed humans to accomplish some fantastic things. Even with all that time and evolution, we and our brains are still guided by these four most important motivators: avoiding threats, minimizing energy, seeking certainty (reducing risk) and obtaining rewards (increasing pleasure). It is easy to see why these four conditions motivate us not to change, because change usually involved reducing certainty while simultaneously increasing risk and expending energy, often without any guarantee of obtaining a reward. Essentially, due to in a large part to our primordial past, when we find ourselves confronted with change, either on a personal level or say at your company, all the fears from our lizard brain are triggered. So, how can we get past those fears and anxieties that our gene...

Often we wonder how countries get into bad financial difficulties, and sometimes we need an allegory to explain it.  Hopefully the one below can explain how some of the European countries have gotten into their financial mess? Helga is the proprietor of a bar.  She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.  To solve this problem she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers' loans). Word gets around about Helga's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town. By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her pr...

All of us want to be happy, but few of us actually feel that way most of the time. Of course, we all experience bouts of happiness, but in general, only about 20% of the people are happy most of the time. So, what keeps us from being happy, or more precisely, but experiencing a continuous state of happiness? There seems to be five mistakes that are common on the road to happiness. Believe it or not, the first one is to try to figure out if we are happy or not! When we try to pursue happiness as a goal, we often want to experience more joy and contentment…than we had before. So, to find out if we are making any progress we start to compare our past state of happiness to our present condition. This creates its own ennui of dissatisfaction. As soon as we start to compare, we move from the experiencing mode into the evaluation mode. To be truly happy (and there are decades of research on this), you have to be totally absorbed in what you are doing. Think of being engrossed in a good...

As Thanksgiving is upon us, I started thinking of all the "stress" and family turmoil this causes. There is a great book that deals with this titled, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts that goes into the many instances that case this dissonance in a family, and how this leads to hurtful acts and grudges. The thing I liked most about the book is that it also gives some ways on how to "get over" these hurts, false believes, and bad feelings and to stop thinking we are so superior.   Of course, part of being thankful is the feeling of gratitude, and part of being grateful is the ability to be an great friend and extending friendship.  The story below tells a poem of friendship and thanksgiving that is as timeless as it is beautiful.  I hope you enjoy it and give thanks always. And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship. And he answered, saying: Your friend is your needs answered. He is your f...

As we move through life on this great big blue marble, we are often reminded of some immutable laws that we see all the time, but never really think about until we are “in it.” While they may not be the 1st or 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics, they seem to have some bearing on how life unfolds.  Hopefully this list will help you realize them when they happen to you. ________________________________________ 1. Law of Mechanical Repair-  After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee. 2. Law of Access Gravity -  Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible place in the universe. 3. Law of Visibility -  The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act. 4. Law of Random Numbers -  If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal or voice mail; someone always answers. 5. Variation Law -  If you change lines (or traffic lanes), t...

Divas act like divas because they have tricked themselves into believing that they are not getting what they are entitled to, and, perversely, that they are not worth what they are getting. Why? When a diva receives something they feel entitled to, something expected, a thing they believe they have earned, it is not worth much (like candy on Halloween). And when they do not receive it, they are furious.  Furious in a way that is both irrational and unfounded. Worthiness, on the other hand, is an essential part of receiving anything. (think of the difference of a participation award versus actually winning something, say the World Series). When you have worked hard to achieve a goal, you know the value of the toil, not so much from the success, but from the many failures that lead to the success. When a diva feels unworthy, or insecure, any kind response, positive feedback or reward feels like a trick, a scam, the luck of the draw. They cannot appreciate a thing as genu...

I read an article some time ago by Seth Godin about Power and Organization . In that blog, Mr. Godin claims that most power occurs because one side is better organized than the other. Labor is usually less well organized than management, criminals are usually less well organized than the police and customers are always less well organized than producers. I have to agree with the assessment, and actually say that in order for any organization or company to be successful, they need to be better organized than their competition. In a real world case, look and the meteoric rise of Barack Obama from State Senator, to U.S. Senator, to President elect. Obama was better organized than Hillary Clinton, and better organized than John McCain. In essence, his "community service" background allow him to tap the Internet, word-of-mouth, multi-level-marketing, and good old fashioned canvassing to develop a grassroots movement that turned into a ground swell and eventually a movement ...