It was scary. Nashville was mobbed by educators from across the country. As presenter at their conference I was amazed by the slate of Social Networking sessions. There are thousands of experts who travel the country espousing the correct method to Twitter, Facebook and a host of other sites. Each tells of how these tools will bring world peace or cure the common cold. Problems tend to turn to technology for a fix. If the horse isn’t fast enough then build the car. If the saw blade gets dull invent the laser to cut. The latest invention in the world
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Archives for Kordell Norton
The World’s Worst Motivational Speaker is Malarkey
George Campbell is good at being bad. A professional standup comedian, he found his clean humor appealed to the corporate meeting crowd. One day he was thinking about how much easier it is to speak to a conference than it is to entertain a crowd in a Comedy Club. In his conversation with a friend he said, thinking out loud, “I ought to put together stage personality and act as the ‘world’s worst motivational speaker’.” It took him two years before he was ready to introduce Joe Malarkey, this over the top, cheesy, motivation speaker. For example he parodies the
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When a Bad Sandwich Gets It Good and A Good Cola Gets a Bad Rap
Who thinks this stuff up? Pittsburgh with a friend and he, the native, explains that you don’t go to Steel Town without having a sandwich at Primanti Brothers. It seems that years ago the drivers from the produce businesses that line the river would race over to Primanti to get a sandwich. One rather hurried and harried driver was asked if he would wait for his grilled potatoes while they got a container to put them in. Behind schedule our intrepid truck driver instructed the restaurant to “just put them on top” of his meat and put the bun on
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A Small Town Pays Attention to the Small Stuff and Get BIG Results
< !--[if gte mso 10]> You gotta love someone who does their job with simple elegance and ease of execution. Many moons ago I was putting on a morning workshop for three smaller Chambers of Commerce in a small remote Ohio hamlet. I know I need to get over myself, but I have to tell you; this was pretty good stuff. Great information on how to grow your business, ways to communicate your value . . . all of that doctrine. So afterward Craig Brown, who works for the Small Business Development Center in that area says, “This is something
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Shrimp, Blenders and Southwest Airlines – When smaller is better.
He was my mentor and teacher in developing the artistry of “the boil”. I blame Jim Dixon. He taught me. I had a day job of marketing $200 million dollars of personal computers a year. But at night I would dawn a white apron and become. . . .Wait for it. . . . Shrimp Boil Chef You take a pot the size of a large microwave; add olive oil, salt, garlic, cayenne pepper, whole lemons, whole onions and lots of Cajon spices. Bring that all to a boil and add red potatoes, corn on the cob and finally
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Insider Trading with Warren Buffett: The embarrassing truth from a non-believer
Who the heck is Jim Kilts? My oldest brother is friends with Jim Kilts. Mr. Kilts was the Chairman of the Board of Gillette before it got sold to Procter and Gamble. It was at Gillette that Kilts developed a relationship with Warren Buffett and where they came to know each other’s strengths. When Buffett resigned from the board of Coca Cola he recommended Kilts to take his place because “he is one of the great businessmen in America.” Turn the clock ahead and Gillette gets sold to P&G and Kilts is “in between jobs.” It was during this time
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Lessons at the door of a hotel: The Do’s and Don’ts of Marketing Your Business
It was 3:00 in the morning at a Marriott hotel in north Dallas. You know how you awake to that feeling that something is just not quite right. I heard a loud argument through the wall to the next room, looked at the fire red clock display and thought, “Are you kidding me, who has the energy to be awake and arguing at this hour?” There came the slamming door in the hallway. A few minutes of quiet where interrupted by banging on MY door with the accompanied female yells of “LET ME IN!” I hurried to the door and
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What does YOUR name stand for? >=
I was giving a workshop and someone raised their hand and asked, “Kordell, where do we buy a copy of that material?” I responded with a little too much flippancy, “just call 1-800-Kordell and I will get it for you.” After the session one of the workshop participants approached me and asked the question, “So Kordell, what are the numbers in your 800 number?” “Oh no, no. I don’t have that number. What I was trying to say is that you can just call me and I will get you the material.” I thought, boy you better be careful, you
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Four out of Three People Have Problems with Fractions – How to Really Grow Your Business
Since 37.843% of all statistics are made up, how do you know what you should be measuring? (grin) This is a rant on numbers. Not just any number but one particular item and how it impacts your world. These are the days of eliminating the number of commas in your world. What? Commas. You know those nifty little period symbols with a tail. They, the coma, will allow you, and anyone else, to write sentences, and those, with independent clauses (OK . . . so I only got 6 commas in this sentence.) I have a problem with commas when
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Hugging a Wind Gust – How Smart Business People Do IT.
Like any hang glider knows, it is hard to control the wind. What about Reed Hastings and Netflix? A decade ago he was embarrassed to tell his wife about late fees on a video rental he forgot to return. A trip to the gym had him thinking, “why can’t I make renting a DVD video like my membership at the gym? You pay a flat rate per month and use it all you want.” Does Blockbuster wish they could turn back the clock and not charge this one guy a late fee? Here comes a wind gust. Now Mister Hastings
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