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Light your hair on fire!

February 28, 2013

By Bob Johnson, NAID CEO

As the NAID 2013 Annual Conference nears, I find myself reflecting on last year’s event. More specifically, I was thinking about two points made by our keynote speakers last year.

Tom Adams, who has spoken at many NAID events, spoke on day two of last year’s event. One of the reasons Tom is asked back so often is that just about every sentence he utters contains profound and useful observations. And, it certainly doesn’t hurt that he delivers those gems so eloquently.

The particular gem that came to mind this morning was Tom’s observation that there is no excuse for you to not run an amazing company. That’s not verbatim so my apologies to Tom if I misrepresented it. The point is if a company is boring, lackluster, mediocre, or stogy, it is not because of the type of business, lack of money, or anything else other than the mentality, vitality, and perspective of the people in charge.

Along the same lines, Jeffrey Gitomer reminded us of the importance of being interesting, both as individuals and as companies. At the conference last year, you could actually see people thinking about his questions “Are you interesting?” and “Is your company interesting?” Nobody wants to talk to or do business with someone who is boring.

I already know most industry professionals are extremely interesting people. Anyone who strikes out on their own to start a business and lives to tell about it has got to be interesting.

The photo in this blog is similar to one that Tom uses in his presentations. Who doesn’t get a smile on their face the first time they see this photo? Before even talking to this guy you know he has a good sense of humor and is probably not boring.

No, you don’t have to light your hair on fire (in which case I’d be screwed) and you don’t have to pose for a photo of you sitting on toilet. But, I bet you can come up with a dozen appropriate, affordable, sensible and fun (or even serious) ways to communicate how interesting you and your company are.

Who knows, in addition to your bottom line improving, you just might have a little fun too.