Leadership Mojo

The Blog Ghost Shakes Hands

Okay, I admit it. I don't always "get" it when it comes to technology. Here's what I'd like to know: How is it that after months and months of writing this blog, all of a sudden, my monthly newsletter, all about handshakes this month, and which is completely independent of this blog and uses a completely different platform..... how is it that my entire newsletter appeared in my blog?.... How the hell did that happen?

It's ok, I guess. It just that my LodeStar Universal newsletter included a bunch of disclaimer junk and code junk that doesn't fit in blogs. And well, it was just spooky as all get out.

Was it the Blog Ghost reaching out to shake my hand?

Everybody knows my mom died a few months ago. Mother, was that you?

Wow.

Sex Isn't Selling? Martin Lindstrom's Buyology

        In spite of conventional wisdom, the research reveals other factors are far more important if you're spending millions of dollars to push product. That's what best seller Martin Lindstrom tells us in his new book Buyology. It's called neuromarketing and it's hot. Martin has been studying the neurology and neuroimaging of thousands of people in one of the biggest studies ever conceived to pinpoint exactly where what really goes on in your head when you are out shopping, and frankly, making any decision. His cool website is filled with insights and creativity.
         Check it out.
        And while you are checking it out, keep in mind what we at LodeStar Universal constantly remind our clients is what Martin says the research bears out: How well your story is crafted increases the true value of your brand. And it doesn't matter if your brand is $60 a bottle water or your personal brand as an executive who is either valued or discounted in the marketplace. We all have a brand, whether or not we acknowledge it consciously or not. The question we all face is how can we do a more effective job with branding. After all, it's really just another form of communication. The people and products who do the better jobs of communicating tend to be the ones who come out on top no matter what or where they are.

Gigapan.org

 Gigapan.org is worth a few minutes of your time. Especially for the purposes of this column, being a reflection on leadership, it inspires the imagination.

When you open it, you will see an enormous long-shot panorama of the inauguration. Impressive, but it is when you zoom in, with exceptional clarity, to any detail, that you feel as though you are stepping into history.  

You see Aretha Franklin's hat, Mrs. Bush's lap blanket, President Clinton's intense gaze, President Bush No. 1's fur hat, and President Carter shivering among thousands of other details. Besides the coldness-and I'm not referring to the frosty look on Mrs. Cheney's face, studying this group of former presidents and leaders of our country as they watch a new president take office is an extraordinary snapshot into history. Can you begin to imagine what the different players are thinking during this historic 2009 inauguration? You genuinely feel as though you are there. Unlike most edited photos that we see in the news, this one gives an entirely different perspective. Go look. It is worth it.