Box Scores: July 20-26 – Ninjutsu, conundrums and creativity…
It’s Monday morning and you know what that means – Box Scores are in and they are ready to rock your face off. And while faces are typically useful on a Monday morning, we’re betting you’ll be happy that Box Scores were good enough to rock your face off after you give these great posts from last week a read-through. So read up and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below once you’re done. We’ll be kicking off this week with some sweet ninjutsu insight from Christopher S. Penn…
The sage wisdom within this post comes from Christopher S. Penn as he discusses how catching someone (or something) off guard can be exactly what it takes to turn their world upside and take advantage of the chaos. Relating it to the martial art of ninjutsu, Christopher explains it this way: “When something interrupts that deeply ingrained habit, the body has almost no idea what to do, and it’s in that moment of confusion through what should have been an orderly, predictable transition, that the ninja technique displays its power.” Does your work display that kind of power when it reaches your target audience? If not, you might want to start paying closer attention to footfalls.
It’s rare for Seth Godin to miss a week with a Box Scores appearance, and he’s keeping that tradition alive with this post about your opportunities to improve as a person or business. Describing how it’s the uphill battle that gives you a chance to get better, Seth words things this way: “The best time to do great customer service is when a customer is upset. The moment you earn your keep as a public speaker is when the room isn’t just right or the plane is late or the projector doesn’t work or the audience is tired or distracted.” So…do you complain about the misery of an uphill battle or do you embrace it and use it to get better?
-“Do You Have These 11 Traits of Highly Creative People”
The thing that’s great about this Dean Rieck post from the Copyblogger blog is that he not only points out some traits of highly creative people, but he also encourages readers who may not consider themselves as “creative” people to “[t]hink of creativity as a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. To increase your creativity, you simply need to “act” like a creative person.” The traits, he explains, are universal. So if you think you’re not “that creative,” give this post a read. You may realize you’re more creative than you thought you were.
Although it’s my job to summarize these posts so you know their value before clicking the link, there’s not much I can do to set this one up beyond saying, “Hey…click this link. It’s worth it.” May sound spammy, but any further explanation will spoil the post. Let’s just say it deals with social media and the strategy behind it. Now read and feel free to pass it along to those stubborn clients who don’t understand why their Facebook fan pages or Twitter accounts don’t have 20,000 fans.
-“New Study Finds Correlation Between Social Media and Financial Success”
This post from Read. Write. Web. is pretty much summed up in its title, but it’s definitely worth the read for those interested in statistics that support the logic of utilizing social media within your organization (you know…for those stubborn bosses who “don’t quite get the whole Facepage thing.”). By tracking some of the biggest brands “using” social media, the study from Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group has some great insight as to how a social media presence can pay off for more than simply connecting and building relationships.
And that, friends, is this week’s edition of Deep Bench Box Scores. Back on time to help you kick off your Monday morning with some thought-provoking insight. Be sure to let us know if you agree or disagree (or if we missed any great posts that should’ve been included in this week’s line-up). You can fill us in by leaving us a comment below, dropping us a line on Twitter, or posting a link on our Facebook fan page.
Photo by RodrigoFavera.