In my book, “Create Distinction,” I write about a phenomenon I called “The Ebert Effect.” It’s based upon a powerful lesson I learned from the famed movie critic, Roger Ebert, who passed away at age 70 after an extraordinarily valiant battle with cancer.
As I relate in the book, Roger asked me how many movies I was viewing in any given week — then, he told me he would watch three to five per DAY. In his wisdom, he commented, “That’s why quirky, offbeat films often receive rave reviews.
When one is overwhelmed with similarity, you begin to perceive that DIFFERENT IS SUPERIOR.
That is the basis of my work on distinction and the customer experience.
We’ve been overwhelmed with similarity, and we — as customers — are bored. We don’t see any meaningful differentiation between competitors in any given marketplace. When something different or even moderately unique comes along, we immediately begin to perceive it as a superior offering because of the effect Roger so eloquently described. It’s “The Ebert Effect.”
When Werner Herzog called me and asked me to play the “bad guy” in his film, “Stroszek,” I was honored beyond description. The only thing that topped that thrill was seeing the extraordinary review my meager attempt at the art form received from Roger Ebert, the reviewer I respected the most.
Then, when he featured the film and my performance in his first book on “Great Films” on his fifty favorite movies of all time, I was astounded… and grateful.
Roger took such delight at being the one who reunited Herzog and me after thirty years at his “Ebertfest” on the campus of the University of Illinois. He couldn’t contain his joy… and was scribbling notes as fast as he could to tell us how much he loved bringing us back together.
“I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.”
As we are almost one week into the New Year, it’s a great
time to take a look at what you can do to make 2020 into your “Year of
Distinction.”
If you haven’t already seen them, you may want to take a
look on social media or YouTube at a video series I’ve done on this topic. Each
video will provide you a few ideas on the specific steps you can take regarding
these ideas.
Here are four steps you can take for the coming year:
ONE — Don’t make New Year’s Resolutions – set goals for achievement
New Year’s resolutions tend to be generic (“lose weight,”
“save money”) and are easily forgotten in the typical crush of life and
business.
Goals, however, are specific, realistic, and written. When
you create a goal, you also delineate the precise steps you need to take to
achieve your objective.
TWO — Get uncomfortable
Growth never happens in your comfort zone. Yet, that’s where
most of us spend most of our time. If you want to grow in 2020, you’ve got to
be willing to be uncomfortable. Start now and plan for where you’re willing to
experience discomfort – because that’s where you’re going to grow.
THREE — Be positive
Let’s face it, we are surrounded by negativity in today’s
social media-driven, interconnected world. Therefore, it’s easy to become just
as sarcastic and unconstructive. For 2020 to become your “Year of Distinction,”
you cannot allow this negativity to unduly influence your actions and
reactions. Positivity is a choice. And, it’s a selection of approach that will
serve you well in the coming year.
FOUR – Continue to learn
We now have more access to extraordinary information and
insight than ever before. You need to become the Dean of your Personal
University. It means your car can become your four-wheel college as you drive
and listen to audio-based learning. You can develop your personal curriculum
for growth and development. Committing to learn is your most valuable step to
going from where you are to where you want to be.
These four ideas are all simple – which means that most
won’t execute these approaches. It’s so easy to keep doing what you’ve always
done, which translates into little to no advancement from your current
situation.
If you want this coming year to be all you desire, start
with these four ideas.
Every week, my posts for you have been about an observation
or an idea. Today – and only this week – I want to share an opportunity
with you.
More than ever, the ability to speak and communicate is a
highly valued skill.
For a few, it could mean achieving a goal to be a
professional speaker.
However, for many more of us, it is about discovering how to
create and deliver more compelling presentations to enable greater success in
everything from sales to a practice in financial services.
For some, it’s about
motivating prospects to become customers…or investors to become clients.
For others, it could
be about inspiring young people to achieve their potential…or gaining
commitment from individuals to volunteer for a worthy cause.
There is no doubt about it: those who can deliver
compelling presentations can make an impact upon their chosen audiences.
For many years, I’ve been asked if I would consider speech
coaching. Usually, my own professional speaking schedule prevented me from
making such a commitment. However, I was able to make a few exceptions.
The real-life Captain Phillips (of Tom Hanks’ movie fame)
has been a speech coaching client of mine. So, too, the author of the
mega-bestselling book, “Freakonomics,” the co-pilot of the “Miracle on the
Hudson,” the former President of the coffee mega-success Keurig, and a just few
more.
Now, I’d like to offer a unique and elite opportunity to
YOU.
Just 10 Speakers is YOUR opportunity to experience
comprehensive coaching and development in creating and delivering the message
that is important to you.
Class size is limited to just ten.
This means you’ll get the personal attention that you need
to grow as a speaker.
The program is a 180-day commitment.
This means it’s more than just a weekend “boot camp”
experience that touches on highlights and ends. Our program is short enough to
be impactful – long enough to truly develop your skill.
You can determine your level of engagement.
This means that you can decide how much personal attention
you receive – from video conferencing to in-person coaching with me.
To learn about our program, visit https://Just10Speakers.com – obviously, this
is a VERY limited and elite offer, so time is of the essence.
I would love to personally welcome you to our class of Just
10 Speakers!
(Next week, we’ll be back to ideas and observations as
usual!)
Back in the days that I was working a little bit in
television, one staple of every newscast was the day’s stock market report. Each
day, every report would let you know what had just happened on Wall Street.
Yet, while you might be able to decide the stocks or funds
in which you would invest, seldom would you have any control over what those
companies did that would make your money expand or contract.
This past week, I spent time in Atlanta at the “Take the
Stage” event with my friends, Suzanne Evans and Larry Winget.
There, I saw first-hand committed individuals who were making
an investment they could have some control over — for they were underwriting
themselves.
When I was a student at Franklin College in Indiana, I
couldn’t help but notice a quote from Benjamin Franklin that was strategically
positioned on just about everything printed by the school: “An investment in
knowledge always pays the highest dividends.”
Some of the people in the audience where I spoke this week
will obtain significant returns on their investment in knowledge. Others will
not achieve anything.
The primary reason is
because not only do they control their investment — they also control the
actions they will take based on the knowledge they have obtained.
Several writers have observed that there are infinitely more
“wannabe” authors than published ones. It’s not just a function of talent. It’s
because…writers write. The oft-cited line is that the way you become an
author is simply “put the seat of your pants in the seat of your chair.” In
other words — to borrow from Nike — you just do it.
Please don’t misunderstand: you should have a well-balanced
portfolio and diversity in your investments. I’m not suggesting you
should invest in yourself…and nothing else.
Yet, I also do not believe it can be overstated that when you
invest in yourself, the dividends are not merely financial. There are a myriad
of benefits to personal and professional growth.
Scholarship money concept. Hand of male or female putting coins in jar with money stack step growing growth saving money investment
As we enter the final stretch for the year — and the decade — now might be a good time to look at your self-investment.
And, it’s also a great time to examine if you are taking the
action required to make it generate significant returns.
One more thing: it’s been “Ultimate Customer Experience ®
Week” on my podcast, PROJECT DISTINCT! We’ve briefly reviewed the Five Steps to
the Ultimate Customer Experience from my forthcoming book, “The Ultimate
Customer Experience” that has been totally revamped, rewritten, and rebooted. If
you didn’t catch this week’s episodes, please visit: https://ProjectDistinct.com –
In the next few weeks, we will be sharing how YOU can get
your complimentary copy of the book — just for listening to the podcast and
subscribing to my blog. It’s part of how we hope to create a “UCE” for YOU!
Video reminder from Cabo to take care of yourself and take time to recharge for work ahead. It’s required for creativity needed to create distinction for the future!
Don’t be afraid to take a little time to unplug and I’ll see you here next week.
It surprises no one when I tell them that the Eagles are my
all-time favorite band. But, some are surprised when I list a little-known
track from the “One of These Nights” album as one of my favorite songs of
theirs.
“After the Thrill is Gone” sings about a relationship that
has eroded. The haunting lyrics say, in part:
“Same dances in the same old shoes; You get too careful with the steps you choose; You don’t care about winning…but, you don’t want to lose After the Thrill is Gone.”
Don Henley once commented, “As exciting as the whole Eagles
thing was at times, some of the luster was beginning to wear off. We were
combining our personal and professional lives in song.”
Yet, don’t we see the same thing
in our respective businesses, too? Haven’t we encountered employees exhibiting
this outlook? And, tragically, could this be the path we find ourselves on now?
Something works — so, we keep repeating it to the point that
it’s boring, yet we simultaneously become overly cautious because we don’t want
to make a mistake that might shift an advantage to our competition.
The words of Don Henley and Glenn Frey describe for me in
lyrical poetry what Dr. Clayton Christenson was illuminating in “The Innovator’s
Dilemna.” We have something distinctive in our business, career, or life — so,
we milk it to extinction. Sure, we know that we should continue to change,
grow, and innovate — in fact, that’s what made the original success possible.
Yet, we keep dancing the same dance in the same old shoes, carefully choosing
our steps until we stop trying to win…we just seek to avoid defeat.
When I was researching iconic performance for my
latest book, the first factor that became obvious was that “playing offense” is
the initial step for sustained success.
How many times do organizations, departments, and
individuals make their plans based upon what their competition is currently
doing? You know the answer: much too frequently.
As you may know, I have many, many friends in the music industry.
While audiences love when they play their hits, if you’re realistic you can
easily imagine that the members of the Oak Ridge Boys can’t get overwhelmingly
excited about singing “Elvira” one more time. Diamond Rio has performed “Meet
in the Middle” thousands of times — and are probably doing so again somewhere
tonight for an enthusiastic audience.
However, the way the Oaks and Diamond Rio — and YOU — keep
it exciting is to continue to innovate. You’ll hear new material and fresh
takes on older hits when you see them. By keeping themselves engaged and
innovating, they keep the audience involved and interested. They make sure the
thrill doesn’t depart, so they don’t have to be concerned with happens “after
the thrill is gone.”
You and I should take a similar approach…this week!
What fresh take could you
employ on an existing approach — and how can you create something new — to
maintain and enhance your excitement about what you and your organization
delivers for customers?
