Self-Promotion is a Good Thing

Last week I talked about the inimitable Peter Drucker. I talked about the fact that a business exists to create a customer. We went on to talk about the fact that innovation and marketing are the two key functions of a business. I believe, as I mentioned in the post, that personal development is innovation.

As you know, business is about people. Business deals with, and is conducted by, people. Anyone who has a job is in business, wouldn't you say? As we know, even professional sports, and Hollywood movies, are a business. If it makes money, it's a business, even if what it does is illegal.

What I mean to say is that innovation and marketing are the two vital functions of business. The thing is, I believe you are a business. Tom Peters would call it “The Brand You.” We live in the most mobile society in all of history. Not only do people come and go but so do companies. These days, few people work their entire lives for one company. For these reasons, I believe you need to view yourself as the CEO of your own life. You need to see yourself as a business.

I say, when it comes to your work life, you are a business. And so, it only stands to reason that your two main functions are also innovation and marketing. Last week we talked about the innovation side of things. And, this week, we'll discuss marketing.

There are many ways in which to conceptualize and understand marketing. For now we'll talk about the Four-P's approach. The Four-P's is a traditional way of looking at marketing and the P's stand for: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. You are the Product. And, you increase the value of that product when you work on yourself through personal development. As you can imagine, the Place is the physical geography where you perform your services. Price is what you get paid and it's a function of many things, including supply-and-demand, as well as your ability to negotiate. Simultaneously, your Price and Place are largely dependent on your willingness and ability to Promote.

I used to make a mistake that I know a lot of other people make as well. I used to think that if I simply did great work I would get noticed. I came to find out this is not the case. I came to realize we have to put ourselves out there and we have to let people know that we exist. We have to let people know about all the good work that we do. Basically, we have to, “Toot our own horns,” as they say.

This horn-tooting is the Promotion part of marketing. It's called “self-promotion” and it's vitally important. I used to be a very shy person and yet I would get upset whenever I was overlooked. Pretty dumb, I know. As I have eluded, I thought that if I simply did good work the world would take notice. Turns out, that's not how it works.

I went to a great school and worked extremely hard on the intellectual side of myself. But, what I came to learn was how short I was coming up when it came to the emotional side of life. In a word, I was afraid. I was afraid to stand out. I was afraid to self-promote.

A lot of you reading this are thinking that self-promotion is unseemly or bad. Let me help you out, because you're making a big mistake. If you refuse to self-promote, if you think self-promotion is a lowly and undistinguished behavior, I am willing to bet you're simply scared to do it.

That's the funny thing about our minds. The mind can come up with all sorts of ingenious excuses. Most people who don't self-promote will not accept the fact that they are scared. Instead, they will suggest that self-promoters are unethical or somehow devious creatures. But that's not true. It is completely possible, indeed necessary, to be an ethical self-promoter. In fact, I once read a great book titled Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters. It's a great read. I highly recommend it.

If you're really smart, that is to say, if you have innovated the hell out of yourself, I say good job. But realize, you're only working half of the equation for success and effectiveness. You also need to market yourself. In a word, you need to self-promote. When you begin to self-promote you will really begin to take the lid off and discover your true potential. Oh, by the way, you will also get paid a lot more money.

Personal Development as Innovation

“A business exists for one reason, to create a customer.” Those are the immortal words of Peter Ferdinand Drucker, arguably the greatest business mind to ever live. Drucker's quote may seem obvious to you, but it is something that a lot of people either don't know or forget.

Have you ever heard it said that fundamentals win championships? It's true. And, that's why I like to constantly review the fundamentals. The Drucker quote is obvious, yet it is also profound. In fact, I wrote a blog post solely about the subject (Here it is) If you haven't already, please read that post now.

As I stated in that post, if the objective is to create a customer, the two main functions of a business are innovation and marketing. I think we all have some idea about the nature of marketing. But, a lot of people don't really understand innovation.

Innovation is sexy. It conjures up images of the wild, western frontier. It makes one think of places like the Silicon Valley. Places where the renegades flourish and the old rules no longer apply. Where billionaires can show up to work in hoodies and a pair of jeans. Places where scruffy-faced twenty-somethings, grind it out, around the clock, in a rented garage.

While it is true that a lot of innovation is happening in the Silicon Valley, the reality is, innovation is happening everywhere. Wonderfully innovative things are happening in Cincinnati, where you'll find Procter and Gamble. And, one of the world's most innovative companies is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Twin Cities are home to The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, now know as 3M.

As you can see, innovation is happening in small start-ups and it is happening in companies that are more than 100 years old. In the case of P&G, they've been around for almost 200 years. Everyone can innovate because all innovation really is is the increasing of customer value. Innovation is the act which endows, or increases, the value of a resource. Whatever that resource may be.

This is a really important point. Because, the fact of the matter is, you are a resource. Are you aware of that? I think we all know this. We have all heard of the concept of “Human Capital.” And, today, it's more important that ever.

We live in the age of information. But information is basically useless. Did you know that? Information is simply data, and it has no real value until it is turned into knowledge. And, what turns data into knowledge? Correct! The human brain does.

The truth is, life has always been about information. It's just, today, there's more information flying around than ever before. The “Information Superhighway,” aka the internet, has turned data into a commodity. Data is practically worthless. However, when information is plentiful, knowledge becomes scarce. To put it in nerdy math terms, information and knowledge are inversely proportional. This is what we call, “information overload.”

Knowledge is a function of the human brain. Knowledge turns data into something valuable. Knowledge is innovation. So, whenever you increase your level of knowledge, you have innovated. Makes sense, right? I mean, innovation is about increasing the value of a resource. You are a resource. So, when you develop yourself, congratulations, you are an innovator.

I intentionally made this blog post a little bit esoteric. A discussion about data, information, and knowledge is kind of weird. But, I think that's exactly why it's important. You're meant to think about what I'm saying. Grapple with it. Try to understand the truth about information and how, in modern times, it's your mind that is most important.

Drucker had long wondered why people were always listed, on a company's balance sheet, under “Liabilities.” Of course, the company has to pay people their salaries. So, we can see how companies could come to such a conclusion. The problem is that we all know what to do with liabilities, we cut them or reduce them. This is the wrong mindset.

If you understand the true nature of our knowledge society, you will see that people are assets, not liabilities. And, what are we supposed to do with assets? Correct again, we want to make them grow. Regardless, of whether or not you work for a big company, you should be focusing on growing your number one asset. That asset is you.

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having said something to the effect of, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best dividend.” Old Ben was a smart dude. We should take his advice. And remember, by investing in yourself, you are an innovator. Because personal development is innovation.

The Essence of the Mind

Life is all about perspective, wouldn't you say? I think it was Epictetus who said, “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.” This has everything to do with what Jack Parr once said, “My life has been one long obstacle course with me as the chief obstacle.”

We all have heard so much about the importance of filtered, or bottled, water that we have come to take it as scripture. I'm not so sure. I'm a capitalist, through-and-through, but I'm rather certain it's business that has us all paranoid about the water we drink. Whenever I need to get some perspective on the importance of perfectly distilled water, I take a look at this photo:

Life really is all about perspective. And I think businesses need to stop spending so much 

time, and money, trying to make us all paranoid. It's such a cheap shot. When a company cannot go out, and create real innovation, they often resort to manipulating our fears. It's B.S. I say listen to the great poet, Flavor Flav, who once said, “Don't believe the hype.”

More Discomfort

Last week I wrote about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. And, I believe, the concept applies to many areas of our lives. In the previous post, I talked about discomfort as it applies to hunger and gaining weight (Here it is) And, this week, I would like to come at it from a different angle.

Another way we need to get comfortable being uncomfortable has to do with the emotion of fear. Fear is a pervasive emotion. All of us experience fear because, as legendary psychologist Aaron Beck said, “Evolution favors anxious genes.”

I am certainly not saying anything revolutionary when I say that anxiety is uncomfortable. But, what's very interesting, is the fact that many times people aren't even aware they are anxious. Sometimes we just feel uncomfortable. 

We live in a age of comfort. Comfortable shoes, comfort food, comfort bed, and a comfortable recliner. Being comfortable is very easy to do. All we have to do is grab a piece of pie, hop onto the sofa and watch television. Why be uncomfortable when we don't have to? It's a fair question, and I think it needs an answer.

As I have mentioned, fear is often experienced as discomfort. Often times we may not be consciously aware that we are feeling nervous. We simply feel uncomfortable. Understandably, most people try to avoid the feeling of discomfort. Thus, most people avoid their fears. Avoid being the key word. Pick up just about any textbook on psychology and it will say something to the effect of, “Avoidance is the hallmark of anxiety.”

The logic is perfect. Feeling fear is uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is undesirable. Thus, people avoiding feeling fear. Totally reasonable and completely understandable. But, this tendency to avoid can also be very destructive.

It is a very natural human tendency to fear the unknown. Whenever we encounter a novel situation, our brains have been wired to be cautious. As I have stated, “Evolution favors anxious genes.” If it turns out the new situation is harmless, it's no big deal that we were scared, because at least we're safe. Conversely, if the new situation is dangerous, and we weren't on guard, we could be harmed, perhaps even killed.

This is something we know as the “false positive.” Better to be alert when no danger exists, then to be calm when trouble is near. And, when I say “better,” I mean it in a survival sense. For most of human existence, survival was our main concerns. But times have changed.

Nowadays, if you live in a developed country, survival is pretty much a given. Listen, I realize tragic diseases do exist. I even wrote about Ebola a couple weeks ago (Here it is) But, these diseases are quite rare. When you add on the fact that we have deadbolts on our doors, ambulances at the ready, and emergency rooms with experts, most people will go decades without a serious risk to their lives.

The problem is, no one told our brains. Our brains are still wired to be fearful. And, this holds a lot of us back. As I've mentioned, we experience fear as discomfort. A lot of people don't even recognize the discomfort as fear, especially men. We simply avoid the thing that is making us uncomfortable. This is a big mistake.

I believe we need to become masters of our fears. We need to learn to feel the fear and still get done what needs to be done. In our work lives the destruction of fear is obvious. Maybe you're a salesperson and you're afraid to make prospecting calls. Or perhaps you're an accountant and fearful of asking for a raise. But, of course, the problem of fear doesn't only apply to work. You could be a parent and in need of addressing a problem that has come up with another child. Or you could be a child and you need to suggest that maybe your dad is drinking too much.

To go back to ebola for just a second. Quarantine is an avoidance behavior. That girl, Kaci Hickox might be a little brash, but she certainly isn't infectious. What's more, both Nina Pham and Amber Vinson are fully recovered. And, Craig Spencer appears to be in the clear as well. Even people who definitely have the disease are not dying. Maybe ebola is not as scary as the media wants you to think. What I'm saying is, if you advocate for quarantine, that's fine. Just be aware that you are playing out the evolutionary instructions, which state we should live by the false positive.

All in all, what I'm saying is that we need to be honest with ourselves. When we're avoiding problems, we need to admit that we scared. It's also probably a good idea to forgive yourself for being afraid. Blame on it your genes. But, don't let it defeat you. In this modern age, avoidance simply doesn't work. We're all too connected. Instead, we need to get comfortable being uncomfortable.