Posts Tagged lessons learned
case study: the @zoowithroy brand
i have really been enamored with a certain blog — pardon me — bolg this summer for many reasons, namely the brand its creator has been able to forge using microsoft paint and 140 characters. it really hit me a few weeks ago when fox saturday baseball did a mid-inning exposé on a shirt that an impetuous phillies fan bought from the zoo with roy online store and mailed to colorado rockies manager jim tracy’s office. this national exposure followed after zwr himself already appeared on espn’s first take. talk about local celebrity; in philadelphia circles, zwr isn’t just a celebrity — he’s a folk hero.
i wanted to do a quick and dirty case study on the “i want to go to the zoo with roy halladay” brand to see if we can figure out how all of this national exposure came to a simple bolg that someone created on blogger.com (it has since been moved to its own domain).
the crystal merchant
image by michael seljos, flickr artist
two years ago when i was laid off, a good friend of mine visited and gave me a book to read. that book was paulo coelho’s the alchemist. it’s a great tale about a shepherd who gives up the life he knows in search of a lost treasure.
at that time in my life, it was a story that i needed to hear. now, two years later, i find myself re-reading it to remember the book’s lessons, and hopefully to learn a few new ones along the way. while it’s easy to be wrapped up in the story of the main character and his journey, the secondary characters hold lessons just as important, like the lessons learned from the crystal merchant.
in the alchemist, santiago takes up a job with a merchant, cleaning the crystal in his shop. with his help, the merchant — who had run his shop in the same exact spot for 30 years — begins to earn more business. it’s when santiago begins to propose some changes to the shop to help increase business even more that we gain a better understanding of the merchant.
knowledge is no substitute for hard work
image by sarahkim, flickr artist
i wrote not too long ago about the keys to an effective presentation. it’s strange how sometimes you don’t listen to your own advice, though, john… seriously.
guilty as charged.
i found myself this week in a situation where i had three briefs to deliver to three different audiences all within the span of a few short hours. it’s hard to ‘get up’ for those kinds of meetings, have a short break in between, and then recapture that tough mental focus again. (oh, and then repeat that once more for the last brief of the day) i was feeling confident, however (i usually do), especially since i was closing it out with the same marketing brief i had given dozens upon dozens of times already. but i should have known better than to take things lightly.
i’m doing good
image from mypartyshirt.com
with some recent events in my life, i’m reminded of the final lesson that mr. feeny taught me growing up. he said,
mr. feeny: “believe in yourselves. dream. try. do good.”
topanga: “don’t you mean ‘do well?’”
mr. feeny: “no, i mean do good.”
life never plays out the way you want it to — but the best that we can do is to do good, no matter what the situation. we might lose our jobs, our loved ones, our marriages, or we might just find ourselves in a town or place we no longer want to be in. despite what ills may befall us, doing the right thing is something that we should always try to do. there really is no excuse for not doing good. there are always ways that we can help people — you just have to believe in yourself, dream, and try.
grandmom clara, grandmom theresa, pop-pop frank, pop-pop anthony .. uncle cholly, aunt rosie, aunt lena, uncle domenic..
i’m trying to live as best as i can. i want, when people see or hear my name — the name you gave me — to say, “you know, that scardino is a good guy.” i certainly hope that i’m making you proud. even though i know you’re looking down on me, i wanted you to know that i’m doing good.
i love and miss you all.
“the common man goes nowhere” — herb brooks
image courtesy of the herb brooks training center
“you can’t be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon.” — legendary hockey coach, herb brooks
of all of herb brooks’ quotes, i love this one the most. i don’t know that it’s something i do intentionally, or if it’s something in my natural programming, but i don’t do common work.
over the last week or so, i’ve heard some pretty high praises from my client. the program manager said of me in a management meeting, “john scardino, that dude is phenomenal.” and just about a week after that comment was made, another member of my client’s organization said, “not to put any pressure on you, but you’re going to save [this project].”
i only know how to do things one way: the best way that i know how to do it. so, to me, i’m not so sure that i’m really doing anything that’s truly special. i see coworkers all the time logging long hours and doing a lot of great things. the stuff my officemate, m. gregory white I, is doing makes me shake my head in astonishment. i say it no matter where i go: there are better people than me. but there’s something that seems to separate me from the rest.
i’m uncommon.
important words if you’re being arrested, or a consultant
“anything you say can and will be held against you…”
those are some important words of warning to heed if you’re being arrested… or a consultant.
as client-facing staff, it’s hard to balance honesty, integrity, and some good old-fashioned self preservation. during the meeting i referenced in my previous post, a senior associate shared with me a lesson that i learned all too well earlier this evening on the day this post was authored: give the least amount of information you can, then move on.
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