There's so much content on the internet that we can't even begin to consume it all. That's why we started curating some of the best pieces of writing we find each week.
Here are the five articles that piqued our interest:
1. Lessons in Leadership: How George Washington Abandoned His Ambitions and Won Big {Inc.}
What stood out is the challenge for leaders not to just rely on passion and drive because that alone can cause you to miss opportunities or drive you crazy while you blindly pursue a path you have in mind. The encouragement here is to blend that drive and passion with a surrender to what you see going on around you. In other words, keep focused on your end game and vision and don’t easily give up, but watch for clues that tell you you might need to shift course or take a different route to get to your ultimate goal.
2. Cause Marketing Lessons from Mercedes {Karen Post}
This is a great story about how Mercedes made a lasting impression on the author by not only providing a luxury experience in the showroom but by partnering with a nonprofit that employs people on the Autism spectrum.
3. What do Kate Spade and J.R.R. Tolkein Have in Common? {strategy+business}
hey each created their own “enchanted state,” the frame of mind in which we are so in thrall to a story as to have entered a world of the author’s creation.
Immersion is not engagement. Engagement takes place when a story, or a marketing message, provokes some sort of action among the audience—a tweet, a post, a face-to-face conversation over the water cooler. Immersion takes place when the audience forgets that it’s an audience at all. Immersion blurs the lines—between story and marketing, storyteller and audience, illusion and reality. That gives it enormous impact.
4. Healthcare Professionals Focus on Improving Bedside Manner {The Marketing Mind}
Hospitals and doctors' offices are starting to shift focus toward patient care. If you want to work with doctors, ask how you can help with that.
5. How Design (Not Code!) Saved AirBnB {First Round}
It can be so easy to think there's a coding solution for all your needs. But the best software couldn't save AirBnB. It was only by stepping away from the computer screen and finding a solution that wasn't scalable that propelled AirBnB to the company it is today.
This Week on The Center for Sales Strategy's Blog:
Does the Twitter/Google Partnership Bring Back Social Search?
Proof That Old Saw About ‘Failing To Plan’ is Really True
Do You Wash a Rental Car? Thoughts on Ownership in a Sales Department
10 Tips for Getting Past The Gatekeeper