Did you know 4.0

The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan

The sound of The Prancing Horse!

If you did not already know...... I am a huge Ferrari fan and the sound in this commercial is pure music to me!

Chris Anderson on FREE: The Future of a Radical Price

Chris Anderson, the Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine talks about the "FREE" at the business conference Disruptive by Design.

1. What do you think?
2. How will this change the way most churches and ministries operate?

Would really like to hear your thoughts!

Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain (Book Review)

Scott McKain's book might be one of the most relevant books that I have read in the last year as far as business books are concerned. The main issue that Scott McKain addresses in the book is weather or not customers can tell the difference between you and your competition. He first addresses how individuals and companies got into the mess in the first place and then spends the rest of the time addressing the different avenues of differentiation. He also addresses the four cornerstones that every individual and company need to pay attention to.

The four cornerstones are :

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus
   

There are many great examples and stories in the book that get the point across. One of my favorite chapters in the book is "The Ebert Effect". The Ebert effect states that when people, from their perspectives, are inundates with indistinguishable choices, they perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior. That point alone is worth the price of the book because it can help an individual and company to make some very important decisions based on that principal!

I also really liked the format of the book. At the end of every chapter is an executive summary and another section with action steps, questions and ideas. Both the sections are very helpful and at the end of each chapter.

The book is also a part of the Nelson Free program. With this program once you buy the book you get to download the audio version as an mp3 and an ebook version for FREE which is great value for your money!

Kill the slogan?!

So after taking a econ final at school today, rushing home and then to airport, the flight to New York is delayed by two and a half hours. At this point I am hoping that I will reach New York in time to catch my flight to Dubai.

So in the mean time I thought I would just write this. I just read an article by Dan & Heath Chip about Killing the slogans dead in FastCompany magazine. Dan & Heath Chip are the authors of the book Made to Stick. 

In the article they ask managers and leaders to fight the urge to think in clever taglines. They talk about how it is important to connect an idea with stories so move people instead of just coming up with a good tagline and expecting the tagline to get the job done. I think this very well applies to preaching, presenting and giving talks. Stories connect with people much more than clever taglines. 

So to add to the 30 second rule, in order to get your point across and move people to action, have a story that they can connect with and remember even after you are done with your talk. 

Starbucks Church!

What do you think?