Josh Linkner's Blog, page 13

The 5×5 Decision Model

You’ve got a tough decision to make, yet conflicting interests and perspectives can render you frozen from taking decisive action. We’ve all been there.

Having observed how the most successful people evaluate their options and then make a thoughtful decision, here’s a framework that may be helpful when you’re trying to make a choice in the face of ambiguity. Essentially, you ask five questions around the impact of your decision, in five different time horizons. I call it The 5×5 Model:

5 minu...

Five Big Questions to Gain Clarity, Sharpen Focus, and Drive Results

In our increasingly busy and scattered lives, getting clear and focused can feel like an insurmountable task. We live in an era of distractions vying for our attention the way high-strung paparazzi try to capture that perfect celebrity photo.

Knowing that most of us can’t take a three-month sabbatical to hang with monks in mountainous isolation, how can we cultivate focus and purpose? It turns out, there is a lot of magic in the number five. Here are five clarifying questions to help you lock...

The Unique Problem-Solving Approach of History Makers

For decades, transportation experts and city planners who studied traffic congestion in major cities came to the conclusion that not much could be done to improve gridlock. Based on available street widths, speed limits, and other constraints, they were correct.

But Elon Musk approached the problem in a completely different manner. Instead of reaching a dead end through traditional thinking, he asked a different question: What would need to happen to solve urban traffic? Rather than looking...

The Can’t-Not

The promo for tonight’s local news runs across your screen: “Two of the items in your pantry right now could kill you. Tune in at 11:00 to find out which ones.”

After hearing this announcement, you can’t not tune in.

When you learn about a hot tech company that offers unlimited days off, tuition reimbursement, cool offices, and a change-the-world mission, you can’t not apply for the job.

The new all-natural, great tasting, calorie-free, reasonably priced, time-saving meal kit is exactly what...

How Tiny Innovations Can Yield Gigantic Results

Gaining competitive advantage, better serving customers, and standing out from the pack can feel just about as challenging as running a double marathon…barefoot. The difficulties are exacerbated if we find ourselves in mature industries with deeply entrenched market leaders possessing the resources of a small country. How can we compete and win when facing such formidable opponents?

Take the shoe industry, for example. Going up against Goliaths like Nike, Adidas, and Reebok could seem like a...

How Swapping Two Words Can Transform Your Success and Happiness

As the competitive nature of our world continues to increase, success can feel elusive. Whether your sights are set on landing a promotion, raising capital, wining that new account, or inventing a game-changing product, you’ll need to break free from traditional thinking in order to seize success.

The ones who score the brass ring are not necessarily smarter or better connected. The common elements of those that seize extraordinary results have little to do with the brand name of their school...

Playing Guitar With Three Missing Strings

Studying jazz guitar in college, I had a professor that would force me to remove strings from the instrument. One, two, sometimes three strings had to be removed before I attempted a performance. You might guess that gutting half of my available resources would crush my ability to play, let alone be creative.

Yet a surprising and counterintuitive thing happened. When those strings were off, I could no longer rely on the patterns I knew. I was forced to solve musical problems in totally differ...

How The Most Successful Leaders Respond

We all get provoked. An angry associate; a cranky customer; a snarling spouse. In these cases, the primitive part of our brain designed to protect us in the wild kicks in and our autonomic response is to recklessly fire back. We lash out, hit below the belt, and respond with uncontrollable emotion.

That’s where the problems begin. We end up saying things we regret and damaging relationships. The impulsive reaction generally creates far more damage than good and can lead to the undoing of comp...

A Powerful Two-Step Approach to Drive Results

When we look to initiate change or growth, some sort of behavior shift is generally required. Want to sell more products? Probably involves making more cold calls, training more sales people, or improving marketing efforts. Looking to remain relevant in the workforce? This objective will likely require more learning, reading, or skill development.

Whether our objectives are business or personal, the odds of achieving success dramatically increase when we embrace two important steps in tandem:...

What a French Creole Cooking Term Can Teach Us About Customer Loyalty

After finishing an incredible meal in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the best part of the experience may very well be the lagniappe (pronounced LAN-yap). While it sounds like a fancy seafood dish, a lagniappe is actually an unexpected gift.

That special dessert, complements of the chef. The small box of chocolates for you to take home. The ice-cold sorbet to cleanse your palate between courses. The fact that it comes as a complementary surprise makes it all the more special.

In my own bu...