Monday, July 5, 2010 at 1:49PM Kevin Doohan Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 11:00AM Kevin Doohan I love this excerpt from a letter written by John P. Kotter to Harvard Business Review in response to Powerpoint is Evil, Redux. I love his perspective. I love the idea of a bias toward action and away from enormous Powerpoints. I love that I came across Kotter's letter on Independence Day, when we celebrate the founding fathers of the United States of America taking action. Enjoy....
...When we rely too much on these tools (long Powerpoint presentations), we become complacent. We expend valuable resources - time, dollars, energy - but don't achieve anything other than a stack of papers no one wants to read. At companies, I've seen Powerpoint presentations serve as placeholders for change, creating a flurry of activity but no real action....
We need to trade in Powerpoint bullets for real action. People change because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings, not because they were given endless amounts of logical data. Leaders who transform organizations do so by tapping into people's minds and hearts. They powerfully communicate their vision but know that what they do has a more lasting impact than what they say...
-John P. Kotter (in Harvard Business Review July-August 2010)
Creativity, passion, and action must rule the day for marketers. This is especially important for digital marketers as every action we take throws off some kind of data that can be gathered and analyzed. Analysis helps, but with digital, I think action is always most valuable. I cannot count the number of brilliant powerpoint decks I've reviewed over the course of my career that ended up worthless because they didn't become anything beyond recycled paper.
I've never seen someone fail in a healthy organization because he/she got too much done. Think about it... Happy 4th of July everyone. Be awesome for the second half of 2010!
Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 10:13AM Kevin Doohan Check out these custom facebook profile pictures from thisblogrules.com. They're so fun and they're sure to make your friends do a double-take when they land on your profile. Choices include: Spock, Batman, Jesus, James Bond, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Priest, Sherlock Holmes, Terminator, Bob Dylan, Darth Vader, Simpsons, Chicken, and Jason (from Friday the 13th) are all options. LINK to all pictures.
Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 1:50PM Kevin Doohan What a great video from Red Bull Racing. The Red Bull F1 team has been dominating lately. This weekend is his third consecutive start in pole position. Go Red Bull Racing!
F1, mark webber, red bull, red bull racing, redbull in F1, Motorsports Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 11:07AM Kevin Doohan Best. Quote. Ever. This clip from Dustin Pedroia (found via (@barstool_sports) is absolutely priceless. NESN is asking Pedroia about Big Papi's (@davidortiz) challenges with the bat. Pedroia:.."He's had 60 at bats. A couple years ago I had 60 at bats and I was hitting .170 and everyone was ready to kill me too. What happened?.. LASER SHOW. So RELAX.". Check out the attitude Pedey shows in this clip, the look on his face, and how the press cracks up. I just love it. I could watch it 100 times and never tire of it.
Great game last night from Dice-K. As Extra Bases says, Dice-K hasn't had problems putting up zeros this season except for a couple HORRIFIC single innings. So he's actually looking pretty good... I'm watching/listening today's against the Phillies right now on the MLB iPad app which is *awesome*. GO RED SOX!
