I was sitting in the reception area of a new client the other day and I always take the time to look around, as reception areas start to tell you what the organization is like. I noticed on the wall there was a big sign that extolled the vision of the organization. It said; 'We will exceed our Customer expectations at all points of contact'. I knew then that I was in for an interesting debate with this organization. This may sound odd coming from a Customer Experience person but the reality is that it is totally unrealistic to exceed Customers expectations at all moments of contact.

We should all spend a small percentage of our time giving work away -- not just for charities, but for other people too.

I know, I know: Doing non-charity work for nothing goes against every capitalistic grain.

Take a friend of mine.

“I’m against the idea of anyone working for free," he says. "As a more colorful person said, there are two kinds of articles on Huffington Post: Those that shouldn’t be written at all and those that are too good to give away.

"I don’t think anyone should give away their profession.”

By connecting with people who face hurdles similar to yours, you can vastly expand the possibilities for your own future.

Listening

1) "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway

2) "The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them." - Ralph Nichols

Storytelling

3) "Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." -Robert McKee

I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at Communitech’s Technology Leadership Conference this week. The audience was a mix of marketers from smaller and larger companies so I thought it would be good to do a talk on the differences I am seeing between how small, high-growth companies are doing marketing versus their larger peers. I think the really interesting differences are less around WHAT they are doing differently  (i.e. startups are doing more social media and big companies are doing more traditional marketing) and more around HOW they are doing it.

Ask 10 entrepreneurs why startups fail and you'll get 10 different answers. But there's just one simple cause underlying all of them.

The fear of change is the enemy of entrepreneurs, dynamic leaders, and innovative teams. It is the nemesis of every great idea you try to implement.

I'm not simply talking about resistance to change. Every established system resists change, from any large company to the PTA at your kids' school.

I'm talking about fear.

To simplify a bit, fear of change takes two forms: rational or irrational.

From the early days of radio to the coming revolution in space travel, pirates have appeared at key moments in history.

But the common link is that they always arrive when capitalism is experiencing massive change, such as the digital revolution. What's more, pirates are instrumental in shaping the industries of those times by proposing alternative norms.

In most discussions about the business case for sustainability, the emphasis has been on the bottom line. The value of sustainability has been analyzed from every direction—revenues, profits, and share prices—and it is clear that, in some circumstances, sustainability can pay off. However, sustainability is more than just about firm-level benefits. Businesses, business schools, and society recognize that the current course of production and consumption cannot be sustained within our natural resource limits.