Learn this

[Tim Wilson]

[Mark Suszko] “In the sequel, the company focus groups and marketers get involved in his update, and add in hundreds more imperatives…”

I forgot about that – hilarious!

It happens that our team goal was to get it down to one sentence, with no more than two commas. We’ll see if I can pull that off on my own.

[Mark Suszko] “Kind of like email sig files: if they are longer than the message they are attached to, you’re doing it wrong.”

Mine is in haiku, so it reads shorter than it looks. 🙂

tw

[Bill Davis]

I had the incredible fortune to land the National Speakers Association as a client early in my career.

I spent countless hours in the back of the room manning a camera for literally hundreds of professional speakers – from motivational to humorous, from nuts and bolts topics like workplace safety to some of the most inspirational speakers you can imagine.

What an education. I ascribe probably 75% of any success I’ve ever had in business to that gig.

Jack Daly is one of the very good ones – I never had the pleasure to see him speak live, but over the years I’ve heard the best of the best and came away from each session inspired as you have.

One of the most interesting lessons of that era for me was after some years of hearing speaker after speaker that chewed up the stage with energy and talent and vocal skills – It was a rumple-suited very old gentleman of the oldest school in the world – the school of hard knocks – that impressed me the most.

Guy named Og Mandino.

He wrote a barely 100+ page book called the Greatest Salesman in the World – and watching him drape himself across a lectern and (hardly moving for nearly an hour) he had every single person in the packed audience hanging on every word he uttered from first to last by the power of the story under the delivery.

That guy was something.

If you ever get a call from an NSA member – that’s the National Speakers Association – and they want you to tape them. Its often worth doing that gig yourself.

My 2 cents anyway.

Oh, and ABSOLUTELY mission statements are hugely valuable business asset for clarifying thinking and keeping a team on the same path. I’d add to that having a 1 minute pitch MEMORIZED whenever someone asks “what do you do” (your elevator pitch) – and TELEPHONE skills for when you’re connected brain to brain with a decision maker.

This is the stuff that they don’t teach you in video school. And that’s a shame.

[Nick Griffin]

[Tim Wilson] “we talk a LOT about how we are NOT in the web business.”

If I may be so bold as to offer an opinion, the COW is NOT in the web business, nor the magazine business, nor the educational DVD business. The COW’s core strength and raison d’etre is that it is in the COMMUNITY business. It uses the aforementioned tools as its means of building and serving that community. And I, for one, am damn grateful that it does.

[Mark Suszko]

Little early to let this topic fade, isn’t it? Or are you guys all just working hard on your versions?

[Terry Mikkelsen]

In case you need some more sparks, here are a select few Fortune 500 companies’ mission statements:

Maxtor
500 McCarthy Blvd. Milpitas, CA 95035

Slogan / Motto
What Drives You

Description
Catering predominantly to the computer industry, Maxtor provides computer parts, components and technologies which include consumer electronic devices like personal computers, and storage products such as enterprise storage, desktop storage, external storage, and network storage. It also offers computer hardware such as servers, hard drives, floppy drives, etc.

Mission Statement
To strengthen and grow our leadership position by providing storage products across a range of market segments, including desktop computers, consumer electronics, midline and nearline storage systems, and high-performance servers.

Microsoft
1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Description
A highly recognized software company, Microsoft provides a range of technology products and services. Its well-known products include the often used Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office.

Mission Statement
At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible

The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521

Description
The Walt Disney Company operates a global entertainment portfolio of Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, and Consumer Products. This wide array reaches out to the world through its television broadcasts, Internet businesses, theme parks, and the many ventures of The Walt Disney Company’s subsidiaries.

Mission Statement
The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

I really like the one from Microsoft. In case you didn’t know that what you were reading was their mission statement, they tell you within the statement that its their mission statement. VERY clear now.

Tech-T Productions
http://www.technical-t.com

[Mark Suszko]

I didn’t much care for any of those three, myself. The Disney one in particular only depressed me.

“The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.”

could be shortened to:

The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

Fixed that for you, Walt.

[Tim Wilson]

[Mark Suszko] “Fixed that for you, Walt.”

Actually, that would be Steve. 🙂

[Mark Suszko]

I meant fixed it in memory of Walt, not the guys in charge now.

[Grinner Hester]

jolly good stuff.
Forgetting to be the best is a common mistake in all business.

[Grinner Hester]

My youngest son is 10. He just started his own business and I sat him down in front this video. We talked about it afterward and lil man soaked in exactly what I was hoping he would. When I asked him the philosophical statement of this clip he quickly responded “be the best and the money will follow.”
atta boy.