Love is the killer app
When I rebranded by blog many months ago, I did not realize that I was infact trending towards Tim Sander’s POV. The New Global We I now believe, is an expression of what connects us, all the way from India, China, to Uruguay, France and the United States.
I believed for so long that only the cut-throat survive, and that not being one of them blows. What compounded that thought was the fact that I am not one of them and never will be. Hailing from a country like India where brawn still many-a-times overrules the brain, I figured that my game was over.
Then I read Love is the killer app. Ah, the power of books, and especially the ones recommended by people you admire and love. The concept is not new, but the description is refreshing. You always knew the subject, but you did not know how to implement it and Tim tells you what to do.
There are days where I absolutely *hate* someone, and there are the months where I carry over such hatred. While it is certainly satisfying, to be seething under the surface about this-or-that wrong, it is pointless. If this was 1000 A.D, it would be worthwhile because I’d walk over and mete out justice the old fashioned way. Obviously that is not going to turn out well for me. I’m not a powerful overlord that can kill a cut-throat’s career with one bad recommendation (really, who can do that these days?) or voodoo their good luck away.
What I can do, is love them. The New Global We is as much collective love as collective consciousness. It is also pointless if we’re connected through global networks with people, if we don’t like or love them. What collective love can do for misfits like me, is carve a path through the world of business and life. The worst that can happen to me is you rejecting my love and friendship, which is OK by me.
In business, the word love is cliched and “inappropriate”. You’re not supposed to love your colleagues, vendors, clients or boss(es)! This myth is spread by the cut-throats that are threatened by a loving person’s meteoric rise in stature and importance. Cut-throats also know they can’t influence bizlovers through their usual strategies. They believe lovers are weak and they are probably right under certain circumstances. Lovers also tend to give others more chances, more opportunities to try again. Lovers will listen to your sob stories for much longer, even if it includes some grapevine material inserted on purpose. At that very point in time, the cut-throats will be laughing their way to the bank when the lover is listening to you and not making money for himself/herself.
Love as a killer app works for me because cut-throats and lovers are all terminal and cannot take anything with them when checking out. Being terminal is the Great Leveler of humanity. When you think like that, the hate you feel after every argument or against someone that has wronged you, just evaporates. Really, what else can you do? I choose to be a lover and I am glad I am not a cut-throat. The only response I have to cut-throats these days in any case, is love.
Hate doesn’t give you solutions. There is one simple take away from Tim’s book. If you forgot everything else you read in it, then this is it – replace the word “hate” with “love”. For example: “I hate it when my computer slows down” or “I hate it when clients ask for one thing and then change their mind”. Rephrase it like so: “I’d love it if my computer worked faster” or “I’d love it if they figured out what they want and then asked for it”.
The word “hate” ends conversation and “love” (re)starts it.
My Favorite Email from a Novice Marketer
Obviously an ironic title to this post. Enjoy!
I really don’t want to annoy you by barraging you with requests to speak with me if you are not ready to make a buying decision yet. However, I know that 80% of leads don’t close immediately; but with careful nurturing it is possible to convert about a quarter of those leads.The fact is that you are one of my sales leads. Our software makes it very easy for me to nurture you as a prospect; so I’ll be straight with you:
- I want to stay on your radar.
- I want to be the salesperson you call when you realize that you do need the best lead management software out there.
- I want to make sure that now that you are one of my sales leads I don’t waste you.
- If there’s a chance that you will chose XXXXX over one of our competitors simply because I am more thorough in my follow-up than they are, then I want to take advantage of that.
I therefore intend to send you regular emails with information that I think may be useful for you and that may trigger a buying impulse.
If you tell me to stop emailing you, I will. Otherwise, I hope to keep a dialogue going for the next few months or until you are ready to make a buying decision. I anticipate that the emails I send you will provide interesting facts and useful resources that will also make it easier for you to evaluate whether you need our software or not.
Hopefully, if you think about it, you’ll realize that you want a software system for your sales team that allows them to follow-up with their leads as tenaciously as I intend to follow up with you.
My favorite part from this email is:
I therefore intend to send you regular emails with information that I think may be useful for you and that may trigger a buying impulse.
Scientists Find No Connection Between Religious Opinion and Healthcare
Just a tongue-in-cheek title to get your attention. By the way, Christopher Hitchens is going to have a seizure.
I quote from a letter sent to the Members of Congress by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.:
We sincerely hope that the legislation will not fall short of our criteria.
Thank God (ironically) that we do not have to live our lives dictated by the morality standards of these religious leaders. This is the Social Media Age, not 2009 BC. We abort if needed. If these leaders overall earn the right to pontificate through their sacrifices and efforts, then women overall earn the right to abort through their sacrifices and efforts of pregnancy. The issue is not about a particular woman aborting, but of women aborting.
The Church with its pedophilia and “Father Oprah” is a drowned voice in the applause of reason. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Have they not heard about “Practice what you preach”? How can you absolve pedophiles through financial settlements yet continue to uphold the rest of us on to unreal moral standards?
One word to sum that terrible quote: Arrogance.
The Flu
It is usually the not-so-glamorous-news that is the real deal.
36,000 Americans die every year from the flu. Regular flu. Can we stop panicking about H1N1 alone? Where are the PR gurus when you need them to do any kind of good for the public other than helping to push more products down our gullets?
It’s a Brand New Day
Reporting live from sub-tropical southern India.
The energy is palatable, the people are energetic and organized chaos reigns supreme. Is this the face of the new world?
Asking Someone to do the “Impossible”
Ever heard the statement “I would never ask you to do something I cannot do myself.” Maybe you’ve said it yourself, as I have.
I now disagree with it.
There is no shame in admitting that you can’t do something and need someone else to do it for you. That is why you hire or get hired in the first place. If I am able to do your work, then you are redundant.
People think that statement makes it fair to you. Wrong. Instead, they should say “I am asking you because I cannot do it” so that you know that a lot is riding on you getting it right.
Next time someone says that to you, tell them “That is okay. I want to do something you cannot.”
THE NEW GLOBAL WE. 
1 comment