Josh Linkner's Blog, page 24
November 9, 2014
A Most Delicious Victory
Customers lined up, waiting around the block for what you’re selling.This is the dream of all business leaders, especially when those customers come back every single day for more.We all want an infinite stream of buyers, willing to fork over whatever we feel like charging, so we can enjoy the spoils of success.
This may sound like a fairytale, but this enviable state is anything but make-believe for Chef Dominique Ansel in New York City.Customers, in fact, wait in long lines daily for the mae...
November 2, 2014
You Are What You Believe
As we were about to take the stage together last week, Geoff Clapp, a New Orleans jazz drummer, said something especially powerful to me.
While giving talks on innovation, I often hire local musicians and incorporate live jazz as a metaphor for business creativity (I’ve been playing jazz guitar for more than 30 years). We were about to perform to a crowd of business executives from around the world, demonstrating how musical improvisation could serve as a framework for their own challenges, an...
October 26, 2014
Play Through Problems To Drive Better Outcomes
As kids, we go out to play. Later in life, we play sports or play music. But then, in sharp contrast, we leave our homes each day and go to work.
The term implies uninspired, often boring and generally yucky things. Parallels of going to the dentist, waiting in line at the DMV or filling out endless forms come to mind. Trading your soul for money is not the ideal way to spend your career.
What if we flipped the terminology, and started calling work something else … “play.” Instead of a workforc...
October 19, 2014
The Difference Between a Job and a Calling
Michigan public safety officer Ben Hall’s job is to serve on the force in Emmett Township. Like many jobs, his includes a clear set of rules, procedures and regulations. But those rigid policies didn’t define Officer Hall in the way they define so many others.
During a routine traffic stop last week, he noticed something wrong when he pulled over a young woman for a moving violation.
The woman’s young daughter was buckled in the back seat but without a car seat. Now, according to the Michigan V...
October 12, 2014
What A Difference A Day Makes
For more than 200 episodes since 2001, special agent Jack Bauer captivated the world as the series “24″ unfolded in “real-time.”
Each 24-episode season covered only a single day of Bauer (actor Kiefer Sutherland) daring greatly to save the world. While these mythical days were unrealistic, they drew us in as we contemplated the impact that could be achieved in just 24 hours.
The 24-hour day is the great equalizer. Gandhi, Jobs and Mozart all had the identical 24 hours to work with. Big-shot, fa...
October 5, 2014
The Triumph of Cosby’s Consistency
On a flight this past week to San Antonio, I had a special surprise: Bill Cosby was sitting in my same row, two seats down. Yes,thatBill Cosby. The brilliant and accomplished actor, comedian, writer, humanitarian, and musician. The one who has used creativity instead of vulgarity to entertain the world for the last 50 years. The one who stands up for racial equality, education, human rights, and supports the arts.
Being such a mega-star, you’d imagine he’d be accompanied by an entourage. You w...
September 28, 2014
Use Your Creativity To Fight Back
Watching the news or reading the paper, it takes only a few minutes to identify major problems in our world.
From the abhorrent behavior of certain NFL players to new terrorist threats in the Middle East, we are surrounded by challenges in every direction. While most of us empathize with these issues, few leap into action.
Three impressive individuals who rose to the challenge aren’t politicians, social activists, or business leaders … they’re college students. From the Materials Science & Engi...
September 21, 2014
Diners, Drive-ins, and Dedication
Millions of Americans regularly binge-watch the Food Network’s hit TV show, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.” Hosted by celebrity chef Guy Fieri, the show has a cult-like following and is spectacularly popular. Fieri profiles restaurants that have incredible food in a non-glamorous setting.
The grounded, down-to-earth, focus-on-what-matters restaurants featured on the show generally have two things in common: First, they have passionate chefs who truly want to delight their customers. These lead...
September 14, 2014
Your Next Transformative Step
We all learned by second grade that caterpillars naturally progress to a more advanced condition. You can think of this as the ultimate personal reinvention and a good approach as you work to take your career to the next level.
Charles Best, a history teacher at a Bronx high school, evolved into his own style of butterfly. After shelling out his own money to offer projects for his students, he realized that underfunded teacher projects were a universal problem. Best had the idea to launch a we...
September 7, 2014
Video Killed The Radio Star
When MTV launched back in 1981, the first music video aired was aptly named “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. The song, and the concept, made history as a new format of musical entertainment that rose to prominence.
The underlying message is one of transformation. Technology advances, global market expansion, ubiquitous access to information and geopolitical trends have shaken up nearly every industry. If you haven’t yet experienced this in your own trade, disruption is probably lu...
