Brands Motivational Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Brands Motivational. Here they are! All 100 of them:

Whenever I am in a difficult situation where there seems to be no way out, I think about all the times I have been in such situations and say to myself, "I did it before, so I can do it again.
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work – the most you will make is 5 dollars.
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on. I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise. I have full confidence in myself and my abilities. I can do all things that I commit myself to. No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me. I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily. I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past. I am moving forward daily. Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
Your comfort zone is a place where you keep yourself in a self-illusion and nothing can grow there but your potentiality can grow only when you can think and grow out of that zone.
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong.
Germany Kent
Advice to my younger self: 1 Start where you are with what you have 2 Try not to hurt other people 3 Take more chances 4 If you fail, keep trying
Germany Kent
No one else knows exactly what the future holds for you, no one else knows what obstacles you've overcome to be where you are, so don't expect others to feel as passionate about your dreams as you do.
Germany Kent
Just because you feel lost doesn't mean that you are. Sometimes you just have to relax, breathe deep, and trust the path you're on.
Lalah Delia
There is too much negativity in the world. Do your best to make sure you aren't contributing to it.
Germany Kent
Loyalty development is tied to motivation, if you know what motivates an employee, you will be able to turn that into loyalty development.
Pooja Agnihotri (17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure)
Your employees shouldn’t be scared of being let go but you should be scared of them leaving you.
Pooja Agnihotri (17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure)
5 Ways To Build Your Brand on Social Media: 1 Post content that add value 2 Spread positivity 3 Create steady stream of info 4 Make an impact 5 Be yourself
Germany Kent
Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.
Germany Kent (You Are What You Tweet: Harness the Power of Twitter to Create a Happier, Healthier Life)
Freedom of Speech doesn't justify online bullying. Words have power, be careful how you use them.
Germany Kent
In addition to building a strong team, you also have to motivate that team when their spirits are down, show your pride in them when they perform well, and be there when they make mistakes. You have to invest in their training and start treating them as partners in your business’ success.
Pooja Agnihotri (17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure)
Your VISION and your self-willingness is the MOST powerful elements to conquer your goal
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Whoever said you have to be an A$$ to be a boss, should never get to be a boss. Especially in a democratic society. Being an A$$ boss in a democratic society only causes resentment and disloyalty. Motivate your employees by instilling pride in them for themselves and for their work brand. - Strong by Kailin Gow on how to build a Strong Company
Kailin Gow
The key is to monetize your appearances so you don’t fall into the trap of having thousands of followers but no revenue. It’s easy to be famous but broke.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Why waste a brand new day with your thoughts of yesterday
Steven P. Aitchison
Don't promote negativity online and expect people to treat you with positivity in person.
Germany Kent
Though no one can backtrack and create a brand new start, Everyone is capable of taking their life in a brand new direction.
Germany Kent
If you are in a position where you can reach people, then use your platform to stand up for a cause. HINT: social media is a platform.
Germany Kent
Divorce is the start point for a brand new life. Don't lose the chance to redesign it upon your dreams!
Rossana Condoleo
Being a rainmaker will have a direct impact on your bottom line and give you a lot more leverage to help the people you care about most.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Influencers are seen as thought leaders in their niche. They have privileged access to something everyone else wants: peoples attention.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Locking in your brand and pairing it with a coherent story is the first step to being a rainmaker.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Your image is your brand and you have only one opportunity to make that first impression. Choose to make a positive first impression.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
When it comes to rain making that all followers are equally valuable. Some people have a lot more influence than others.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Without a clear recognition of your brand and a focus plan you can miss your mark in the middle of great success.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
The key is to use all the assets you have in establishing your brand: credentials experience and accomplishments.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
When you present your brand consistently people come to know what to expect from you and ultimately look to you for insights and leadership in your niche.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Professional development is important, but let's not forget about the most important kind of development - personal brand development. Because in the modern workplace, it's not what you know, it's who knows you.
Shubham Shukla (Career's Quest: Proven Strategies for Mastering Success in Your Profession: Networking and Building Professional Relationships)
If we all work together there is no telling how we can change the world through the impact of promoting positivity online.
Germany Kent
The More connections you make, the more engagement you elicit, the more value you bring. the more likely it is that your brand will be rewarded.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Autumn is a momentum of the natures golden beauty…, so the same it’s time to find your momentum of life
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
A great attitude toward your approach to an interview—demonstrated by your good posture—is everything.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
Think big. That’s what making rain is all about.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
How you think and create your inner world that you gonna become in your outer world. Your inner believe manifest you in the outside
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Your traditional EDUCATION is not going to CHANGE your life but the life you are experiencing that can change you. Choose a POSITIVE life STYLE with positive ATTITUDE which could bring you a life with HAPPINESS and WISDOM
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Project a confident image through good body posture.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
It does not take the striking pose of a high-fashion model or the strict stance of someone in uniform to earn respect and admiration.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
Stand tall and be proud. Realize confidence is charismatic and something that is something money can't buy, it radiates from within you.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
Confident Assured Posture: Foundation of Powerful Style
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
The desire for excellence becomes a reality when an individual sets a standard, reach it and surpass it consistently.
Israelmore Ayivor (Become a Better You)
Choosing a narrow brand message gets you in the door.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Never before have you had the chance to build a personal brain like you can today.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
Crafting a brain requires reflection strategic thinking and self-awareness.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
In todays 24/7 media cycles rainmakers are experts were not only visible in the media but who also leverage that media to build revenue, followers and influence
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
I was always taught them when you’re lucky enough to learn something or have some advantage you should share it.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
If you never try, you'll never know. You are what you manifest.
Germany Kent
Your every positive action in your life will increase your self-esteem and this self-esteem will boost you for more positive action to take you on success
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
If you are not EXCITED enough at your present life its mean your future is not EXITING. Excitement will give you ENTHUSIASM and enthusiasm will give you a positive energetic LIFE STYLE which could give you a successful exiting life…
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Happiness is our one ultimate end. Boil it right the way down, reduce all those motivational drivers, and sitting right there at the centre of our very human hearts, is our yearning to be happy.
Simon Pont (The Better Mousetrap: Brand Invention in a Media Democracy)
Start today creating a vision for yourself, your life, and your career. Bounce back from adversity and create what you want, rebuild and rebrand. Tell yourself it's possible along the way, have patience, and maintain peace with yourself during the process.
Germany Kent
Everyone from firefighters to sushi chefs who are experts in their fields can enter the mainstream conversation taking place on myriad media channels to voice their opinion’s and talk about their expertise.
Areva Martin (Make It Rain!: How to Use the Media to Revolutionize Your Business & Brand)
I’ve asked myself that a thousand times over and I’m no closer to an answer now than I was when it began. I think that’s why I always loved movies so much. In a movie, everything has to make sense. The characters always have to have motivation. Good, solid motivation for everything they do. They can’t be a dickhead without reason. If someone turns on a character, they have to have a hardcore, believable reason for it. Unfortunately, in real life you don’t. People turn on each other for anything from catching a constipated look on your face when you had gas and thinking it was directed at them, to not liking the brand of shoes you’re wearing. People are sick. (Aiden)
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Upon the Midnight Clear (Dark-Hunter, #12; Dream-Hunter, #2))
You only ever have three things: 1) your self, wellbeing and mindset 2) Your life network, resources and resourcefulness 3) Your reputation and goodwill. Treasure and tend the first. Value, support and build the second. And mindfully, wisely ensure that the third (your life current and savings account) is always in credit.
Rasheed Ogunlaru
Understand your purpose and the belief-energy. Belief energy is the core of leadership and success. Design your belief energy for higher purpose and values. Belief energy can inspire and motivate you and others. Articulate, communicate and radiate your positive belief energy.
Amit Ray (Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management)
It wasn't courage that motivated this casual, impersonal manner of treating so much pain; it was a special brand of cowardice, a destructive defense mechanism, forcing others to listen to the most horrendous experiences and yet denying them the moment of empathy: don't feel sorry for me; nothing is too big for me to handle. This is nothing, nothing really.
Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books)
There is only one you on the globe today. You have been built to inspire and designed to dazzle. Live your uniqueness!
Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
Negotiation is permissible for mediocrity not for excellence.
Amit Kalantri
Hug your customers but also offer handshake to your competitors.
Amit Kalantri
Companies' motives to make profit means they neglect inherent social or moral values.
Russell Brand
Shiloh showed him what he could ask of his men, and indeed what he MUST ask of them.
H.W. Brands (The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace)
Do you have a personal mantra? Mine comes from a childhood song. "Wherever I go the grass grows greener.
Richie Norton
The true ENTREPRENEUR is a risk taker, not an excuse maker.
VDEXTERS
The more you engage and connect, the more engagements and connections you will have.
Loren Weisman
CONFIDENCE is not showing off your VANITY, it’s about to be HUMBLED and KIND to others what are you truly SKILLED and PROFESSIONAL about…
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Give yourself a great self-respect to know who you are then your confidence will shine on you
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
The first thing others see is YOU—not your resume, background, or credentials. A picture is truly worth a thousand words and how you dress is the “picture” you provide for all the world to see.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
It’s about our burning desire to create something from nothing. It’s about defining success for ourselves, and our motivation to find success by doing things our way. And it’s about the freedom to create and execute our ideas, and then share those ideas with the world. It’s about the thing I believe most entrepreneurs today are looking for.
Pia Silva (Badass Your Brand: The Impatient Entrepreneur's Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit)
Think before you click. If people do not know you personally and if they cannot see you as you type, what you post online can be taken out of context if you are not careful in the way your message is delivered.
Germany Kent
It wasn't courage that motivated this casual, impersonal manner of treating so much pain; it was a special brand of cowardice...forcing others to listen to the most horrendous experiences and yet denying them the moment of empathy: don't feel sorry for me....This is nothing, nothing really.
Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books)
People spread gossips, calumny, and false accusations to destroy their subject victim's integrity. Question the motive of people who erroneously, offensively, defensively, intrusively, abusively and intentionally brand you as a threat, a risk or a danger to life or security. ~ Angelica Hopes, K.H. Trilogy
Angelica Hopes
Share your ideas with people of like-mind and get motivated by their encouragements and experiences.
Israelmore Ayivor (Shaping the dream)
You've already got everything you need to succeed right in-front of your tits
Runa Magnus
What should a brand leader advertise? Brand leadership, of course. Leadership is the single most important motivating factor in consumer behavior.
Al Ries (The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding: How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand)
At the end of the day, we all live in this world together and to practice bringing peace onto Twitter is a huge step into bringing peace into our world.
Germany Kent
Do your clothes make you feel happy, beautiful, comfortable in your skin, handsome, confident, or powerful?
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
Few places are more important for dressing appropriately than the workplace, where a professional appearance is crucial.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
The truth no matter how hard it is to bear, must be accepted and confronted head on because it is real. Businesses and people who accept truth soar.
Germany Kent
Mother was wrong. I'm not meant to just live. I'm meant to follow my passions, with God at the front.
Nadine Brandes (A Time to Speak (Out of Time, #2))
when you become addict in to MATERIAL things in life then the TRUE natural life start to run away from you, YES! it's can give you certain pleasure in the society but in the same time it will sabotage your true HAPPINESS of life which we could have simply with GRATITUDE and FORGIVENESS
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
Being on that stage was the headiest intoxicant I’d yet sampled. I loved it so much that from that moment on I thought, “I’m doing this now, I’ll do whatever it takes.” I’d had my head filled with my dad’s motivation tapes: “You can do whatever you want. Focus on what your goal is, refuse to fail.” I
Russell Brand (My Booky Wook)
The worst thing that can happen to you as a young person, is to refuse to grow up. You refuse to grow up when you believe that someone else must take responsibility for your life and life circumstances.
Saidi Mdala (Know What Matters)
Mistakes and miscalculations are human and normal, and viewed in the long run they have not damaged the company. I do not mind taking responsibilty for every managerial decision I have made. But if a person who makes a mistake is branded and kicked off the seniority promotion escalator, he could lose his motivation for the rest of his business life and depreive the company of whaever good things he may have to offer later. If the casues of the mistake are clarified and made public, the person who made the mistake will not forget it and others will not make the same mistake. I tell our people “Go ahead and do what you think is right. If you make a mistake, you will learn form it. Just don't make the same mistake twice.
Akio Morita (Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony)
How you accessorize your wardrobe can transform the plainest outfit into a dazzling, unforgettable impression. It can be the mark of your own unique style, an extra splash of fashion, or an expression of your mood.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
My life may be a little bit of a disaster. I may not make the best decisions sometimes. But I am not going to lie here and stare at the ceiling, worrying the night away. Instead, I go to sleep soundly, believing I will do better tomorrow. Things will be better tomorrow. I’ll figure this all out tomorrow. Tomorrow is, for me, a brand-new day.
Taylor Jenkins Reid (Maybe in Another Life)
But if lifestyle ads work by the third-person effect, then there will be some products for which it makes good business sense to target a wider audience, one that includes both buyers and non-buyers.32 One reason to target non-buyers is to create envy. As Miller argues, this is the case for many luxury products. “Most BMW ads,” he says, “are not really aimed so much at potential BMW buyers as they are at potential BMW coveters.”33 When BMW advertises during popular TV shows or in mass-circulation magazines, only a small fraction of the audience can actually afford a BMW. But the goal is to reinforce for non-buyers the idea that BMW is a luxury brand.
Kevin Simler (The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life)
Whether it is in the way you walk, talk, dress, or behave, your personal brand impacts how people react and respond to you. It is the essence of what makes you likable, knowable, and trustworthy. And it is what can make you memorable and sought after in the marketplace.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
Does your appearance accurately convey the message of who you are that you are trying to get across? When trying to make an excellent first impression in business but in doubt of what to wear, dress one level up from what is expected—if it's casual, dress in business casual, etc.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
Security means the state of being free from danger or threat. Danger means the possibility of suffering harm or injury. The possibility of something unwelcome or unpleasant happening. There are times I have to stress as I express the correct, precise, real and honest definitions; so that the deceptive, politically motivated folks who destructively branded me as “threat to danger” would realise their double denial duplicity, dishonesty and hypocrisy. Have you at least questioned the personal motives and faulty malicious and intentional misjudgment or at least be honestly curious to discern the motive of a cunning person who warns you against another as a danger, a threat or a risk to life or security? Did the political harridan mean political threat to her political coalition or a danger to reveal the harridan's creative deception matched with her political ambitious power links? ~ Angelica Hopes, K.H. Trilogy
Angelica Hopes
WHAT IS TRUTH? Truth is not a thing Or a concept. It is as multidimensional In its meaning As it is in its reflection. It is both invisible And visible. It carries tons of weight, But can be carried. It is understood first through the spirit Before science, And felt in the heart, Before the mind. Truth is not always heard by reason, Because reason sometimes Ignores Truth. Always listen to your conscience. Your conscience is your heart And reason is your mind. Your mind is simply there to reason With your heart. But remember, Truth is in your heart, And only through your heart Can you connect to the light of God. He who is not motivated by his heart Will not see Truth, And he who thinks only with his mind Will be blind to Truth. He who does not think With his conscience, Does not stand by God, For the language of light Can only be decoded by the heart. He who reads and recites words of God Also does not stand by God – If he merely understands Words with his mind But not his heart. Truth is black and white, And the entire spectrum Of colors in-between. It can have many parts, But has a solid foundation. Truth lacks perfection, For it is the reflection of all, Yet its reflection as a whole, Is more beautiful Than the accumulated flaws Of the small. Truth is the only brand Worth breathing And believing. So stand for truth In everything you do, And only then Does your life have Meaning. Poetry by Suzy Kassem
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
This is bizarre,” Dan said. “I find it really strange—the way you’re approaching this. You must be one of the very few people who have chosen to come on Twitter and use their own name as their Twitter name. Who does that? And that’s why I’m a little suspicious of your motives, Jon. That’s why I say I think you’re using it as brand management.
Jon Ronson (So You've Been Publicly Shamed)
You can be dressed to the nines and have it all going on, but if you don’t have shoes to support your look, they can be your undoing. Your shoes should be appropriate, clean, polished, and maintained if you want to make a great impression and fortify your credibility. If your shoes are scuffed, dirty, or worn, clients may wonder what other details you’ve neglected to attend to.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Preparation: 8 Ways to Plan with Purpose & Intention for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #2))
Claiming to be a victim gives people perverse authority. Subjective experience becomes key: 'I am a sexual abuse victim. I am allowed to speak on this. You are not because you have never experienced what it is like to be...'. Victim status can buy special privileges and gives the green light to brand opposing views or even mild criticisms as tantamount to hate speech. So councils, who have become chief cheerleaders for policing subjective complaints, define hate speech as including 'any behavior, verbal abuse or insults, offensive leaflets, posters, gestures as perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by hostility, prejudice or hatred'. This effectively incites 'victims' to shout offense and expect a clamp-down. Equally chilling, if a victim aggressively accuses you of offense, it is dangerous to argue back, or even to request that they should stop being so hostile, should you be accused of 'tone policing', a new rule that dictates: '[Y]ou can never question the efficacy of anger ... when voiced by a person from a marginalized background'. No wonder people are queueing up to self-identify into any number of victim camps: you can get your voice heard loudly, close down debate and threaten critics.
Claire Fox (‘I Find That Offensive!’)
The apps start out with seemingly simple motivations, as entertainment that could lead to a business: Facebook is for connecting with friends and family, YouTube is for watching videos, Twitter is for sharing what’s happening now, and Instagram is for sharing visual moments. And then, as they enmesh themselves in everyday life, the rewards systems of their products, fueled by the companies’ own attempts to measure their success, have a deeper impact on how people behave than any branding or marketing could ever achieve.
Sarah Frier (No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram)
There is no greater suffering than constantly measuring yourself and coming up short, except perhaps the realization that your suffering is hurting others. But where do we learn these things? Because, really, they are learned. We don't come crying out of the womb because of our birth weight or because we have no money in this brand new world. We learn to measure and we learn to attach our self-worth to those measurements. These patterns we're stuck in aren't just painful for us, they're also distracting us. Every day, the gap between rich and poor grows while the people of developed societies do nothing, because we are too busy worrying about looking good. We're distracted, but not because we've chosen to be. Being distracted by our illusory inadequacy keeps us from changing the world. And believe me, we all have the power to change the world. If we only make the time. If we only free some head space. If you can't learn to love yourself for yourself (and how could you with such a paradoxical motivation?)... then do it for us. Do it for the world. We need you. We need your mind. We need your attention. We need your thoughts. Change your focus, and you will (not can, but will) change the world. You already matter. You just have to realize it for yourself.
Vironika Tugaleva
Donald Trump consciously stokes racist sentiment, and has given a rocket boost to the ‘alt-right’ fringe of neo-Nazis and white nationalists. But to write off all those who voted for him as bigoted will only make his job easier. It is also inaccurate. Millions who backed Trump in 2016 had voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Did they suddenly become deplorable? A better explanation is that many kinds of Americans have long felt alienated from an establishment that has routinely sidelined their economic complaints. In 2008 America went for the outsider, an African-American with barely any experience in federal politics. Obama offered hope. In 2016 it went for another outsider with no background in any kind of politics. Trump channelled rage. To be clear: Trump poses a mortal threat to all America’s most precious qualities. But by giving a higher priority to the politics of ethnic identity than people’s common interests, the American left helped to create what it feared. The clash of economic interests is about relative trade-offs. Ethnic politics is a game of absolutes. In 1992, Bill Clinton won the overwhelming majority of non-college whites. By 2016, most of them had defected. Having branded their defection as racially motivated, liberals are signalling that they do not want them back.
Edward Luce (The Retreat of Western Liberalism)
Sheepwalking I define “sheepwalking” as the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a brain-dead job and enough fear to keep them in line. You’ve probably encountered someone who is sheepwalking. The TSA “screener” who forces a mom to drink from a bottle of breast milk because any other action is not in the manual. A “customer service” rep who will happily reread a company policy six or seven times but never stop to actually consider what the policy means. A marketing executive who buys millions of dollars’ worth of TV time even though she knows it’s not working—she does it because her boss told her to. It’s ironic but not surprising that in our age of increased reliance on new ideas, rapid change, and innovation, sheepwalking is actually on the rise. That’s because we can no longer rely on machines to do the brain-dead stuff. We’ve mechanized what we could mechanize. What’s left is to cost-reduce the manual labor that must be done by a human. So we write manuals and race to the bottom in our search for the cheapest possible labor. And it’s not surprising that when we go to hire that labor, we search for people who have already been trained to be sheepish. Training a student to be sheepish is a lot easier than the alternative. Teaching to the test, ensuring compliant behavior, and using fear as a motivator are the easiest and fastest ways to get a kid through school. So why does it surprise us that we graduate so many sheep? And graduate school? Since the stakes are higher (opportunity cost, tuition, and the job market), students fall back on what they’ve been taught. To be sheep. Well-educated, of course, but compliant nonetheless. And many organizations go out of their way to hire people that color inside the lines, that demonstrate consistency and compliance. And then they give these people jobs where they are managed via fear. Which leads to sheepwalking. (“I might get fired!”) The fault doesn’t lie with the employee, at least not at first. And of course, the pain is often shouldered by both the employee and the customer. Is it less efficient to pursue the alternative? What happens when you build an organization like W. L. Gore and Associates (makers of Gore-Tex) or the Acumen Fund? At first, it seems crazy. There’s too much overhead, there are too many cats to herd, there is too little predictability, and there is way too much noise. Then, over and over, we see something happen. When you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff. And the sheepwalkers and their bosses just watch and shake their heads, certain that this is just an exception, and that it is way too risky for their industry or their customer base. I was at a Google conference last month, and I spent some time in a room filled with (pretty newly minted) Google sales reps. I talked to a few of them for a while about the state of the industry. And it broke my heart to discover that they were sheepwalking. Just like the receptionist at a company I visited a week later. She acknowledged that the front office is very slow, and that she just sits there, reading romance novels and waiting. And she’s been doing it for two years. Just like the MBA student I met yesterday who is taking a job at a major packaged-goods company…because they offered her a great salary and promised her a well-known brand. She’s going to stay “for just ten years, then have a baby and leave and start my own gig.…” She’ll get really good at running coupons in the Sunday paper, but not particularly good at solving new problems. What a waste. Step one is to give the problem a name. Done. Step two is for anyone who sees themselves in this mirror to realize that you can always stop. You can always claim the career you deserve merely by refusing to walk down the same path as everyone else just because everyone else is already doing it.
Seth Godin (Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?: And Other Provocations, 2006-2012)