"Why do we strive for excellence when mediocrity is required?"

"THERE is little demand in the commercial world for excellence. There is a much, much bigger demand for mediocrity."

"Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great. To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. There's equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked. Most people are looking for a solution, a way to become good. There is no instant solution, the only way to learn is through experience and mistakes."

"You will become whoever you want to be." Paul Arden

Paul Arden has written two books that deserve your attention. The first is his 2003 gem, It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be (Amazon info here). At $7.95 it could be the best book buy of the year. Paul writes...

Don't expect top management to lead the way. They are too busy running the company. Decide you are going to make the company great; at least decide you are going to make a difference.

Arden's second must-read is Whatever You Think eht kniht .etisoppo (Amazon info here)...

What is a good idea? One that happens is. If it doesn't, it isn't.

It is better to live in ignorance than with knowledge. Solving the problem is the exciting part, not knowing the answer. Once a conjuring trick is explained it loses its magic. The excitement of a game of football is in not knowing who is going to be the winner. Some people have success and rest of their laurels. The lucky ones continue to live in ignorance.

Amazon has both books on offer for less than $15.00 plus shipping. Get yours.

Paul B. Brown reviews three books on creativity in the NY Times (The Elusive Goal of Corporate Creativity) and tells us the best of the lot is by Pat Fallon and Fred Senn, Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage (Amazon info here)...

The authors, Pat Fallon and Fred Senn, founding partners of the ad agency Fallon Worldwide, say they believe that creativity can be not just harnessed, but also leveraged. They offer seven steps for doing so:

• Always start from scratch.
• "Demand a ruthlessly simple definition of the business problem."
• Find a "proprietary emotion" you can appeal to. "Marketers who favor reason over emotion," they write, "will find themselves quite literally forgotten."
• Think big. Don't be limited by the budget or the initial challenge.
• Take calculated risks.
• Collaborate with others both inside and outside your company to solve the problem.
• "Listen hard to your customers. (Then listen some more.)"

Bravo Paul - well done.

Dr Jerry Boulding tells it like it is, again and again...

"The policy of restricting our air-personalities (the few true, local ones that are still left) to back sells and liners has led to a less than compelling product overall. We risk continuing to lose our place as a primary medium unless we take the boredom out and replace it with something our listeners really want to hear.

Those urban stations that invest in and cultivate personality and creativity will score in years ahead. They will also be the ones that are then able to attract and keep the most creative personalities in the business. We have to realize that we missed some classes and ask ourselves are we prepared to attend the make-up classes necessary in order to make the grade we want? And for some, there are no make up classes.

Word."

Thank you very much and bravo Dr. B; sometimes the obvious, is indeed, the hardest to see. More of Dr. B's writing at Joel's AllAccess here (free sub req)