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CHRISTMAS COMMANDOS MAKE YOUR YEAR-END EVENT A “TOTAL VICTORY”
CHRISTMAS COMMANDOS MAKE YOUR YEAR-END EVENT A “TOTAL VICTORY” If you thought all of America’s best commandos were clearing the caves of Afghanistan think again. We discovered two real-life commandos that are busy clearing boredom from corporate...
How Do You Get Them to Buy-in To Your Idea?
“How can I get them to buy-in to this idea?” Anna, a bank manager, asked me. She had an idea for restructuring the department. She knew it would work, but only if everyone would agree to it. She talked about different department members: Bob, who...
How to Choose Fine Pearls
Pearls are very alluring and hold a quality that both defines elegance and natural beauty. There are more varieties and availability of pearls today than ever before. The “cultured pearl” now rivals with fine diamonds, sapphires, emeralds,...
How to write more powerful business letters
Many people in business heaved a sigh of relief when email began to take over most of their day-to-day correspondence. Processing business letters – even today – is fiddly and fussy, compared with the blissful simplicity of email. However as you...
Organizational Culture And Creative Blocks – The Similarities
Few Decision makers see the link between creativity and innovation management, as performed by MBA’s in firms, and creative endeavours such as screenwriting. In fact, there are very strong linkages. The problems that prevent individuals coming up...
Stuffed Toys that are Suitable and Safe.
Adorable stuffed dogs are a favorite gift for dog lovers. Learn what to look for and what to Avoid. Although it's hard to say when the first stuffed dogs appeared, I would guess that it was soon after dogs were domesticated. We do know that...
The Employee Publication: The Great Communicator
THE EMPLOYEE PUBLICATION: THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR Five Tips for Creating a Successful Newsletter From the Experts at Drizen-Dohs Corporate Communications Communication is more essential than ever in today’s culture. From the global village to the...
The First Pagoda
The First Pagoda By Dr. Maxine Thompson http://www.maxineshow.com http://www.maxinethompson.com (Dedicated to the Memory of My Father, Mervin Vann) "Impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or which we do not wish to...
The Four Cultures of Employee Retention
Despite fluctuating economic times and increased globalization of American jobs, most employers are finding it hard to keep good workers. The reality of today's job market is that workers are expecting more from their employers and are not afraid to...
The Seven Secrets to New Age Leadership
Did you ever notice that In our American culture, we have the tendency to look outside of ourselves for leadership? That’s a trap. Isn’t it time we looked inside ourselves to see how we can be the leader we want and need to be in the 21st century?...
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Integrity is the Best Tool to Get What You Want
As a child, you probably heard, "to thine own self be true." But what does that really mean? When the newspapers are full of cheating and lying business owners, politicians, and academics, does it really make sense to maintain your integrity?
To me, the answer is a clear, unwaffling YES! Without your integrity, you really don't have a business or a career—just a waiting game until you world comes crashing down around you.
But fear of being caught isn't the reason to live your life with integrity. The real reasons are that it helps you get to where you really want to be, and lets you feel really good about yourself.
Sometimes, integrity involves taking risks. Here's an example from my own career:
A graphic artist and I were at a pitch meeting to produce some materials for our local Board of Realtors. The organization had registered a very obscure domain name that only had meaning for them.
The "safe" thing to do would have been to nod our heads and continue the conversation. But when we heard the domain name, the graphic artist and I exchanged looks, and we started telling the organization why the domain they’d picked would be a marketing disaster. I told the executive director to imagine giving out that name on the radio, and to look at a name that would reinforce the group’s identity and message.
We went out on a limb; this was a free consultation during a meeting to pitch for business, and if someone was really attached to the name, we might never have gotten the job. But we all brainstormed a bunch of better domain names—and then a few months later I got a call from the president of the largest real estate firm in the service area. He had been impressed at that meeting and
came to me to rewrite the firm’s entire collection of a dozen or so brochures—a very juicy assignment. By advising the client that its course was strewn with obstacles, I had put myself in the position to receive a much, much larger assignment, one for which I was not competing against any other copywriters.
Over and over again in my life, I've achieved or drawn closer to my goals by turning down work I didn't feel good about, refusing to compromise with my core principles, treating others with respect, and expecting high standards of others. I've even had to educate a few clients about plagiarism as I refused their assignments.
Arthur Andersen, the founder of the accounting firm that was driven out of business by integrity failure, lost a major account after refusing the company’s request to engage in exactly the sort of unethical accounting that later brought down his company—early in his career, when he wasn’t sure he could meet his next payroll. He told the client that there was “not enough money in the city of Chicago” to change his mind. Too bad his successors didn't understand this!
Copywriter and consultant Shel Horowitz has started an international campaign to change the business world--to create a culture of ethics and cooperation: http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html. His most recent books are Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (both award-winners). For more on ethical, cooperative business practices, please visit http://www.principledprofits.com To discuss your next marketing project with Shel, write to mailto:shel@principledprofits.com, call 800-683-WORD, or visit http://www.frugalmarketing.com
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