Scenario: "Dude, just stick a period at the end. That tells them we will boost their bottom line, period. Yay!" Nice in theory, but probably won't work on most ad copies. Here's a better way: Just make that headline sucker freakin': Rhyme!

Why does rhyming your advertising headline work?

When you rhyme your advertising headline, according to two researchers, you're creating an easier way for your readers to process that information. When people process information easier, they understand the statement clearer -- so they take in more information. When more information flows into their heads, they perceive the rhymed statement to be more accurate than a non-rhymed one. Here's how researchers Matthew McGlone and Jessica Tofighbakhsh tested the effectiveness of a rhymed statement:

They took a number of rhyming sayings previously unknown to their participants and created parallel but non-rhyming versions of them. Their participants read some of these and rated each one for their accuracy. The researchers found that even though all participants strongly held the belief that rhyming is in no way an indicator of accuracy, they nonetheless tended to perceive the rhyming statements as more accurate than those that did not rhyme.

So rhyme everything?

Not quite. Sometimes a more effective advertising headline for you won't use a rhyme. By all means, it's up to you. When it comes down to it however, a great advertising campaign uses different advertising headlines (i.e. A/B testing). If you find a headline more effective without a rhyme, you know what to do. Just know that if you're deciding between these two samples:

  1. Buy a car, so you can go far.
  2. Buy a car, so you can go faraway.

If you test those two using an A/B method, the first one will likely win all the time. The rhymed statement boosts the ad's credibility. Bottom line: If you can rhyme the headline with a slight change to a wording, you're probably better off doing it.

To boost your advertising headline's credibility like a sucka, rhyme like a mutha flukka.

 

Posted on October 28

Scenario: "Dude, I'll remove failure by listening to more motivational songs. Yay!" It probably won't help, but there's a better way: Remove fear of success by visualizing that sweet success.

A Halloween Analogy

We're about four days from Halloween, but of course you're not scurred: You've experienced the sucker before.
  • You've seen scary costumes.
  • You've been to haunted houses.
  • You've knocked on doors.
  • You've asked for candy.
Nothing about Halloween scares your badass. But, do you remember your first Halloween? How freakishly scared were you? Now, be honest. Likely if you're anything like us, Halloween scared you shizless that first time. But the second time? Not so much. The third time? Hardly. What explains that phenomenon?

Humans love familiarity.

For instance:
  • It's a reason why we do: __________, on most weekends.
  • It's a reason why we drink: __________ on most days.
  • It's a reason why we kick it with: __________ when we go out.
And, it's a reason why we go to the same Taco Bell among the several others in our city. It's also a reason why we don't change barbers too often, or get our oil changed at a different place, or use a different route to get from Point A to Point B. Familiarity keeps us safe in our little space from the big freakin' world. So if you've never experienced the success you're seeking, you're probably fearful. (We certainly know we are.) Don't trip. Here's the solution:

Visualize Yourself Kicking Ass

When you visualize yourself achieving a success, your mind starts thinking the event actually happened -- boosting your familiarity with it. In turn, that drives you to achieve that success like it's no thang but a chicken wing on a string. Explains a study of 94 engineering students from University of Washington Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus:
When adults vividly imagine the occurrence of events that took place in their childhood, they become increasingly confident that these incidents actualty happened to them. This phenomenon has been called imagination inflation.

"Okay, I'm visualizing -- but I'm still fearful of success. Ahh!"

You want to write that success sucker down so you can use your five emotions to experience that sucker.
  • Write a screenplay about what your life will be like.
  • Take the Fortune 500 list, scratch out a dying company -- and insert your company in that slot.
  • Act out what you'll be like 30 years from now -- as if you were performing for Steven Spielberg.
  • Or, do whatever else that uses your five senses to fully visualize that success story.
Now the tough visualization part: Vividly connecting your life now to that ultimate success. What steps will you experience to achieve that success? What fears will you overcome? Who will you meet? What resources will you need? That's what we affectionately call: "Visualizing like a badass."

Visualize like a badass.


Posted on October 27

Scenario: "Dude, we gotta write lengthy calculations on the market region, and freakishly analyze each segment. We'll make the greatest decisions in our industry. We'll be kings. Yay!" It's what those self-described-holier-than-thou "business experts" have warped our minds:
  • "Do lengthy research!"
  • "Write detailed marketing plans!"
  • "Understand your target market in extreme detail!"
  • "Do market studies in every freakin' region in the freakin' nation!"
Blah. Sucks. No. Wtheck. People don't make their best decisions through freakishly analyzing something; they get discover them intuitively. We'll explain.

The Nerdiest Analytical SOB = Bad Business People

In business, people ask themselves something similar to the following:
  • "Will my XYZ product sell?"
  • "Should I hire this Applicant Jimmy?"
  • "What products need more of our R&D dollars?"
  • "What regional markets should I attack?"
  • "What partners will help us most in developing service ABC?"
Using the shoddy advice of those "business experts," most people tend to attack similar business questions by going all-logical on its @ss. In earlier posts, we said trying to strategize something never works. You can have do the most expensive market research, plan the most detailed strategy, hire the best strategic consultants, and yet: you still can't predict the future. No study on corporate strategy has ever proved it can do that. Doing it then is a waste of time and resources:

The Vicious Analytical Cycle, and How It Sucks

For instance, Manager Jimmy will:
  1. Analyze the corporate strategy of a particular competitor.
  2. Thinks he's almost done, but not quite.
  3. Analyze the market acceptance of Product B in Region G.
  4. Thinks he's almost done, but not quite.
  5. Analyze the customer acquisition costs of Product B like a crazy mofo.
  6. Thinks he's almost done, but not quite.
  7. (Cycle repeats.)
Stuck in the seemingly never-ending cycle, Manager Jimmy goes through paralysis analysis -- thinking he constantly needs just "this much more" info before he thinks he can make a decision. Result: He experiences "paralysis-analysis" -- then when the whole process emotionally drains him, he concludes the idea sucks without even testing how the real-world responds to it. Kick-ass managers do something radically different -- and pretty freakin' sweet: they rely on their instincts to make lightening-quick decisions. For instance, Kick-ass Manager Sally will:
  1. Do simple research on competitors, marketing approaches, and ease of acquiring customers.
  2. Rely on instincts to make a quick and hearty decision.
You not only make faster decisions when you think instinctively, but you're making smarter ones as well. Here's why.

Why Making Decisions on Instinct Rocks

When you rely on your instincts, you're letting your subconscious side of your brain take control of your decisions. That's where the juicy, sexy stuff lies. The subconscious side of your brain houses your creativity, your passion, your dreams, your big-picture-thinking abilities so needed for quality decisions. Importantly, it holds the "meaty" information that your conscious doesn't yet know. Think of it using our twisted analogy: Your subconscious brain is the kitchen blender; it collects pertinent information you've already learned, and processes it to make a specific delicacy; now it's waiting for your conscious to notice it. When you make decisions intuitively, that's when you tap that delicacy. Harvard Business Review Editor Alden M. Hayashi recounts a leading neuroscientist's study on patients who suffered brain damage to areas that affected their subconscious:
These patients had difficulty making simple, even trivial, decisions.

The Patient Who Couldn't Decide

In his book Descartes' Error, Damasio recounts one particularly bizarre incident in which he asked a patient to choose between two dates for his next appointment. The patient pulled out his engagement book and began going through the myriad reasons for and against each date, taking into consideration his previous commitments, the proximity of them, the possible weather on the two days, and so on.

No Luck

After almost a half hour of listening to this excruciatingly tiresome -- yet perfectly rational and logical -- analysis, Damasio chose a date for the patient.

Why couldn't the patient make a decision?

To explain this phenomenon, Damasio contends that decision making is far from a cold, analytic process. Instead, says Damasio, our emotions and feelings play a crucial role by helping us filter various possibilities quickly, even though our conscious mind might not be aware of the screening. Our intuitive feelings thus guide our decision making to the point at which our conscious mind is able to make good choices.

You Will Fail -- Good!

Don't think your intuitive side will be right every time. You'll be wrong many more times than you'll be right. (At the least however, you'll be right more times than you would with analytical decisions.) The good news: The more failures you have, the meatier, real-world information you'll get to steer you on the right path. Think of each failure as adding more "meat" to your subconscious brain. Each empowers your intuitiveness. A rule of thumb we use at Trizzy: The more decisions you make in a day, the more successes you'll eventually find. So as that rule goes:

Stop analyzing; start deciding instinctively.


Posted on October 26

Scenario: "Dude, I'm going to read the most business books, attend the most seminars, consult with the best mentors, and do all I can this winter -- so I'll become a businessperson that oozes with greatness. I'll make billions. Yay!" Oh-no-he-freakin'-didn't!

How Greatness Doesn't Happen

Greatness takes years of focused practice to become that top millionth at what you do; you can't get that overnight. Instead, the information age has made our minds bent on constantly looking for the next great opportunity. The common mindset among the business world and pop culture: "Give me a couple of months, and I'll become the greatest freakin' badass you'll ever see." For instance, you'll find these common themes:

  • Silicon Valley: founders with 2-month managerial experiences believing they know "intuitively" how to manage an eventual multi-million dollar corporation
  • American Idol: singers with 2-month resumes blasting American Idol judges for not appreciating their "talents"
  • Fashion District: designers with 2-month pedigrees thinking they'll kick the asses of Christian Dior, Betsey Johnson, and Yves Saint-Laurent in about a year
  • Web 2.0: entrepreneurs with 2-month programming expertise declaring they'll learn and write the best application in the world, making billions in no time

One problem with the above: Greatness doesn't take two months, or even a year. It takes years of focused practice to achieve even an ounce of it.

Why Conventional Wisdom about Greatness Sucks

When people hold onto the "I'll-be-the-greatest-badass-overnight" mindset, they trap themselves into a vicious never-ending cycle: constantly jumping from opportunity-to-opportunity trying to impossibly kick ass in something overnight. Think of any person you know trying to "re-invent" themselves. Likely:

  1. It didn't happen.
  2. It took them years to do it.

It's a reason why actors don't immediately become great singers. It's a reason why singers don't become great actors. It's a reason why practically all ridiculously successful entrepreneurs can't build another billion-dollar venture in a different industry. It's also a reason why track stars don't become great football wide receivers: We mean besides, common wisdom says amazingly fast 100-meter sprinters should become great football wide receivers, right? The quicker you beat your defender to a destination, the better you are at exploiting the defender, no? The reason why track stars have sucked as wide receivers in the NFL: They haven't developed the proper fundamentals, the footwork, the football instincts, and the play-making abilities that takes years to master. That concept also explains why soccer stars have failed miserably as field goal kickers in the NFL.

How Greatness Happens

Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Mohandas Gandhi, the Wright Brothers, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Henry Ford, Bruce Lee, Whitney Houston needed more than ten years to develop their talents before the world started noticing. As did Warren Buffett, Nelson Mandela, Katharine Hepburn, Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, Tiger Woods, and Michael Schumacher. As did anybody else who's rocked the mutha flukkin world. According to K. Anders Ericsson, achieving greatness takes years of strenuous and deliberate practice to achieve it. In a 1993 study, he explained what distinguished greatness:

The critical difference between expert musicians differing in the level of attained solo performance concerned the amounts of time they had spent in solitary practice during their music development, which totaled around 10,000 hours by age 20 for the best experts, around 5,000 hours for the least accomplished expert musicians and only 2,000 hours for serious amateur pianists.

Ericsson found the same theme with other musicians, chess players, and athletes (and according to Fortune Mag: surgeons, and salespeople). The point: If you want to majorly kick ass at something, start practicing like a fervent badass, knowing that you'll need years before you even see a hint of greatness.

How Do You Become Great at Kicking Ass?

Greatness comes not from "just practicing," but practicing efficiently. For instance, you could shoot basketballs for ten years -- but you won't become the world's best unless you do what Ericsson calls: "deliberate practice." That means that you use every practice opportunity to deliberately improve what you do. Fortune editor Geoffrey Colvin describes that with a sweet analogy in his latest issue:

"Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better. Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day - that's deliberate practice."

The moral:

Greatness comes from years of kicking-ass in practice.

 

Posted on October 25

Scenario: "Dude, we gotta be freakin' optimistic all-the-freakin'-time. Then we'll build a great business because of our always-positive-magnetic-booyah energy. Porsches, here we come. Yay!" Remember back in the good 'ol days when our teachers would tell us the most optimistic people in life achieve great things. Well, that's partially true.

How Optimism Rocks

Yes, badass business people need to be optimistic about their success. Besides, if you don't believe you'll kick ass for your clients and for the freakin' world, how will they believe you? Further, optimism plays a major role when you've been beaten, shattered, demoralized. Without optimism to pick your butt up from your defeats, you'll be that broken person who quits the zest for the entrepreneurial lifestyle after one defeat. Yes, the successful entrepreneurial journey is filled with a million failures, and only optimism can get you through each struggle every time. But, then again: Can too much optimism suck? Most definitely. Here's why.

How Optimism Sucks

Too much optimism detracts your attention away from understanding the "brutal facts" of your reality. When you're wearing your rose-colored glasses: yes, you're hoping for the best -- but you're not doing anything to get there. The theme goes:
  • "Hey, John's not doing his work correctly. That's okay. I'll tell him I believe that he'll do better, and he will! Yay!"
  • "Tiffany hasn't been selling for the last month. She needs another dose of my cheerleading. Yay!"
  • "Jackie's division is spending lots of money. But hey, there's a good reason for it. She'll kick ass for us. Yay!"
  • "We'll increase revenues by 300% next year. Let's spend ahead of the curve. Porsches. Yay!"
Now if you're the badass manager and you're saying those things, watch out: You're steering your company toward a disastrous downfall.
  • Likely, John's not doing his work correctly because you're not providing sufficient resources for him.
  • Or, Tiffany's not selling well because she needs supporting marketing material to influence her New York clients.
  • Or Jackie's spending money on football tickets for her entire team without any incentive for company performance.
  • Or, some up-and-comer will snatch market share from you, drastically reducing that 300% gain -- and putting you into much debt if you're spending ahead of the curve.
Optimism is good, yes; but the most kick-ass business people balance that optimism with a good dose of "let's-check-ourselves-before-we-wreck-ourselves." Otherwise known as "Being Real." Or, "Being realistic." Or as guru Jim Collins calls it: "confronting the brutal facts of your reality."

Peep this analogy: You + Soccer.

Say someone's named you the coach of a lousy soccer team in the English Premier League. Your team was one spot away last year from being demoted. You have the most talented players in the league, you have the nicest gear, the biggest home-field advantage with your boisterous crowd. Your only problem: practicing on a soggy grass field caused by moisture in the dirt and from the environment. That one problem caused a bunch of injuries last year -- preventing several stars to miss games. Now, you have two options:
  1. Be optimistic that this year will turn out much better. Keep hope alive! Keep doing what the team's been doing.
  2. Be freakin' real like the real G that your badass really is: Hire somebody to replace that grass field with the relatively inexpensive FieldTurf -- an imitation of natural grass that replaces dirt with a mixture of sand and rubber.
"Well, duh!" Yeah, yeah, if you chose the somewhat obvious ^2 as you're answer, you're correct. And a badass. But when most business entrepreneurs are confronted with similar dilemmas about their businesses, they overwhelmingly choose ^1: "Hey, we're just having bad luck. We'll kick ass this year. Keep hope alive, sons-of-b*tches!"

Be optimistic: yes. But more importantly, be the most realist G you can be.

Optimism is good; but being optimistic by first confronting the absolute truth of your current situation is extraordinarily sexy. Here's a continual theme we've noticed in the business world, and you might be familiar with it in your own company. We referring to companies that have employees go through the dreaded cycle:
  1. Employees start out kicking major ass.
  2. Then after ___ years, their "once-fabulous" work starts to freakishly suck.
Now, here's how most companies would respond: "Hey, we have to fire them because they're not as motivated anymore. Let's hire more college graduates. Yay!" The few badass managers would go: "Hey, we need to discover the reason why our work's demotivating them." So they discover the brutal fact that the work's not challenging their veteran workers enough. Those badass managers would then go: "We need to raise the freakin' bar for them to kick way more ass than the ass they're kicking now!"

"Being real" applies to everything.

That includes your marketing approach, your employee morale, your sales presentations, your management techniques, your budgeting, the financial health of your company, or whatever else. Before you make any decision, know the hard facts first to guide that decision. When you're fighting the daily struggles of an entrepreneur, be sure to be optimistic -- but remember:

Balance optimism with a good dose of "Being Real."


Word.
Posted on October 24

Scenario: "Dude, to read stuff well, we'll just concentrate on every freakin' word of a fabulous business book -- then we'll comprehend it like the super freaks that we are. We'll be billionaires. Yay!"

"I'm reading, but I'm not comprehending. Ahh!"

Business books. Business articles. Business journals. Business __________. It seems you've read so much so far in your fabulous life. And since you're reading this article, you're the dude/gal who's looking to learn some more. (And folks, that's the first step to being a kick-ass entrepreneur: Learn relentlessly.) We salute you. Now, if you could only comprehend 10% of what you've been reading your entire life -- you'd be Nobel-bound. So how do you comprehend what you read freakishly well? It took us years to understand why our comprehension sucked, but you'll learn it in about four seconds:

The Biggest Crime Business Reading Buffs Make

This: Reading the words of a sentence (or paragraph, or chapter). Excruciatingly focusing on each and every freakin' word of a business article, business book, or whatever else you're reading, won't get you comprehending the material like the badass you were meant to be. When you read every itty-bitty word silently (or aloud) to yourself, your mind starts focusing on every excruciating-and-unnecessary detail of a sentence -- instead of what's important: the entire context of what you're reading. That is, instead of having your entire brain fully focused on understanding that entire freakin' juicy sentence, your brain fractionalizes its power by analyzing those itty-bitty words. That slows your reading speed, and increases your chances of being distracted -- likely killing any comprehension you may have wanted. So what's the solution?

Scan Those Freakin' Sentences Like You're Looking at Some Smokin' Hot Model

A car model, that is. Here's a marvelous method that's helped us comprehend those complex business journal articles: Scan each sentence like you're looking at a used Pinto from its rear to its fabulous front. That gets you scanning an entire sentence quickly without silently reading the words of that sentence. That gets you comprehending the context of the sentence fully, effectively, and quickly -- and like a mofo.

"But I'm trying, and it's so hard!"

With incessant practice, you'll be a natural. We took the hard way, but there's a much easier way for ya. We read a pretty sweet blurb in Fortune Magazine about comprehending what you read by guru H. Bernard Wechler, who recommends this seriously sweet method when you're reading -- as he explains:

Kill that voice in your head. Silently repeating words slows you down. To break the habit, try quietly humming.

Other tips Wechler fabulously offers -- that we're also trying to adopt ourselves:

Never read without a pen. By moving the tip of a pen beneath a line, your eyes will instinctively follow, speeding you up. On a computer, run the onscreen cursor under the text. Pick up the book. Reading at a 45-degree angle is easier on the eyes than off a flat surface. Relax your eyes. Focus on full lines, not specific words, using peripheral vision. Move your head, and pay attention to the upper half of the letters. Keep on truckin'. Resist the urge to "regress" and reread.

Fabulous tips that we're going to keep in our knowledge vault. Here's a template to get you started:

"I read in 'phrases' to comprehend like the badass that I am."

Posted on October 23

Scenario: "Dude, to save money on doctor visits, we'll bargain the mofo out of our doctor bills. We'll save a bunch! Yay!" Or, you could just do the check-up yourself -- and not spend a dime. (And no, we're not advocating the crazy practice of never going to your doctor. If you can afford it, please go.) If you're a fresh entrepreneur, chances are you don't have a wad of cash to afford a good health plan. So during these rough initial stages, you're "just getting by" until you can afford the sucker. Guess what? You don't have to "just get by." Why?

You're better at diagnosing yourself than any doctor ever can.

It's like running a business: you know everything about it that no outside business consultant will ever know; so, you have a much better intuition to steer your company in the right path. It's the same way with evaluating your health. Says health psychologist Katie Gilbert: "We monitor our ups and downs and symptoms 24/7 -- a perspective no doctor has access to."

"So how do I diagnose myself?"

Just complete this very simple test by circling the best answer: I feel: (a) healthy | (b) unhealthy "What the ^@!$?," your badass is saying. Don't trip; here's why: According to the International Behavioral Medicine:
People who considered themselves healthy: had wider fluctuations in their levels of the stress-fighting hormone cortisol: low levels most of the time, with big spikes during tense situations. People who felt unhealthy: had high levels of cortisol all the time -- a symptom of chronic stress, which is linked to cardiovascular disease, among many other problems. People with good coping skills or strong social support perceived themselves to be in better health -- and they were. Conclusion: The way a person handles life's inevitable strains is a big part of how he judges his well-being.
According to Gilbert: "Decades of studies show that people who say their health is poor are likely to die sooner than those who rate their health excellent, even after controlling for how sick people actually are."

"If I don't have a doctor, and I feel unhealthy: How do I fix that?"

Sure, you could bargain with a doctor. But if cash is unbelievably tight, just do what we always do: WebMd.com. Whether you have insomnia, back problems, headaches, allergies, or a myriad of other problems keeps you unhealthy -- and prevents you from building your kickass business, WebMD's a godsend. Whether you're visiting a doctor, or just getting by without one -- remember to keep this sucka in mind:

"I'm my best doctor."


Posted on October 22

Scenario: "Dude, I can't get out of my bad mood. It's hopeless! Ahh!" You have hope. Since you're a true badass who works day-and-night on your business, you probably do have emotional mood swings. At times, you feel awesome. At other times, you want the world to just be quiet. We hear ya. So, for all of us wanting to break out of our bad moods when that dreadful time comes, just do this:

Do jumping jacks for a 60 seconds.

(Or push-ups. Or jogging. Or, whatever that gets your body moving -- that gets you exercising.) That's it. It's so easy, it's sexy.

Why Exercise Makes You Feel Better

When you're in a bad mood, you typically have super-low energy and you become one intense mofo -- according to CSU Long Beach Researcher Robert Thayer: "People think of self-esteem as a fixed trait, but in fact it varies all the time. When you're feeling energetic, your good feelings about yourself are much stronger." Thayer's study surveyed 300 Southern Californians about how what best got them out of a bad mood. Exercise came in first, followed by music.

"Hey, but if I'm low in energy when I'm tired, how can I exercise?"

Don't trip. It's just a minute. Time yourself. Jump around. Shake your booty a little. Wave like a maniac to that grandmother across the street. Do anything. You can do it. The moral:

To rid a bad mood in 60 seconds, move your body like the sexy b^tch that it is.


Posted on October 21

Scenario: "Dude, to have the most effective meetings: We'll just let everybody talk about what they want to talk about. Then we'll have the most efficient meetings in the universe. Yay!" Blah. Here's really how to run an efficient meeting: Before the meeting starts, ensure everybody fully knows the facts about each topic that your team will discuss.

A Microcosm of Most Business Meetings

It's Friday -- say you have a meeting today for your video-game shop. You're wondering how you can (1) sell more Xboxes and (2) implement Six Sigma into your organization. You go in, and talk to your peeps. What happens?
  1. You: Let's talk about Xboxes!
  2. Andy: Yay! Xbox uses a 233 MHz custom graphics processor, so gamers everywhere will love how smooth it'll be.
  3. Bob: Correct. Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console. Adults will love it.
  4. Cassie: Rock on! With its memory at 64 MB DDR SDRAM clocked at 200 MHz, Xbox will attract them to how fast they can enjoy their games.
  5. You: What about Six Sigma?
  6. Andy: Six Sigma is with that black-belt/green-belt crap, right? Fads!
  7. Bob: Yeah, it sucks. It's just a buzz word. Next!
  8. Cassie: Yeah, it's stupid.

How a Meeting Goes Wrong

You want to be the "good" manager that gets everyone involved. You encourage everyone to speak. But, the meeting really gets its juices from -- you guessed it: Xbox. Then when you try to switch the group conversation to Six Sigma, your team members will either give BS/inaccurate answers based on "what sounds good" -- just so they could look good in front of the group.

How Knowing Nothing Hurts

When a majority of your team members know more about certain thing, they'll subconsciously hijack the meeting to talk extensively about that topic. Then when the meeting conversation turns to topics that are more obscure to the group, they'll give faulty assessments to those topics -- which may be equally or more important to your company. And, if your company acts on the faulty advice/info, guess what: potentially disastrous results for your company.

It's In the Study

In a study conducted by University of Wisconsin's James Larson, small teams of three medical students and interns diagnosed two hypothetical cases:
(1) Knowledge of some symptoms was shared among all team members, while (2) only a few doctors knew other facts. Subjects discussed shared information first and foremost--and the less subjects pooled information, the less accurate their diagnosis.
According to Larson:
After a period of discussion, group members begin to feel they have enough information to make a decision. If that point comes before all the unshared information has been raised, there is a danger they will commit a decision-making error.
So when you're preparing for your meeting today, Monday, or whatever messed-up day you have your meeting:

Before the meeting, ensure each and every freakin' team member knows the brutal freakin' facts about each and every freakin' topic.


Have a great weekend, y'all!
Posted on October 20

Scenario: "Dude, to be rock stars in our discount supermarket industry, we must be the most persistent fighters. Yay!" Close, but not quite. Remember when your teachers told you that the hardest workers will be the most successful? They were wrong:

It's not about working the hardest.

For instance, you could play basketball 15 hours a day, for twenty years, and have the best basketball coaches around you -- but you'd still be nowhere near Michael-Jordan-status. You likely don't have Jordan's God-given talents: size, quickness, arm length, speed, and instincts. That is -- even if you wanted and tried, you'll never be the best basketball player in the world. It's the same way with running a business:

Understand Where You Can't Be The Best

You could try building the most rockin' discount superstore in the world, but you could never beat Wal-mart in prices. Goliath has too many resources, people-power, inventory management controls, and negotiating power than you. If you compete with them on prices, you'll lose. You need to fight a different battle: one where you can win. So how do you become a rock star in your industry? Easy -- and a little obvious to you veteran Trizoko readers:

Employ the Kick-Ass Talents of Your Company

It's not about working hard. It's about discovering where your company can kick the most ass, and then persistently strengthening those all-world talents. Use this sucker: In my industry, my company can kick the most ass doing: _______________________________. For instance, if you're a local discount retailer in San Francisco: You know you can't compete with Wal-mart on prices; but:
  1. You can provide the freakishly best customer service in San Francisco.
  2. Or, you can kick the most ass by providing hard-to-find items in the city.
  3. Or, you can provide the best inventory to local college kids in the city.
  4. The list goes on.

Why Your Company Needs to Be a Rock Star

Rock-star status gives you the confidence to kick ass. Instead of being a small fish in a big pond where you'll die easily, your company becomes the biggest freakin' shark in a kiddie pool. Because nobody else can hold a candle to your all-world talents, that gets your company the confidence to start kicking ass. Scenario: Say you're a trained singer who's deciding between two local musical performances (the fat prize: $1 billion): First scenario: You'll compete with a couple of Grammy-artists:
  1. Mariah Carey
  2. Sarah McLachlan
Second scenario: You'll compete with:
  1. a 102-year old dude
  2. a 3-year old kid
Guess what scenario makes you the freakishly confident shark? It's the same way when steering your company: You can choose to be the smallest pea in your industry and die without anybody caring or noticing; or, you can choose the arena where you'll confidently, and utterly, destroy anybody that even attempts to beat you. According to Economist and New York Times contributor, Robert Frank: "Performance is strongly affected by self-perceptions." All businesses can be rock stars at something. The challenging part then is figuring out what that something is. (At Trizzy, we use a trial-and-error process to understand where we can rock the world. We'll write more about finding your company's all-world talents in a future article.) The template for ya:

My company can freakishly annihilate anybody in our industry when we: _______________________________.


Posted on October 19

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Trizle helps you rock ___ with your business.

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