Abe Lincoln really knew “The secret formula for success”. Easy to understand, a bit harder to implement. Are you being the best you can be?

Image: Mr Cool & SnugMug courtesy of scobleizer

* This research finding was quoted from Inventium’s newsletter # 44 (click here to subscribe)

by Amantha Imber, Thought leader on Innovation

Image: construction sign courtesy of underbiteman

Two weeks ago I typed crazycolombian.com in my web browser, and ended up in a web site selling US mortgages. How could that be? After some investigation, I realised that a hacker had used a WordPress security gap to gain access to my web site and  install code that redirected any visitors to a different place. Having figured it out, I then spent then next few days researching how to get rid of the hacker and cut his access to my web site so he could not do it again. By the end of it, my blog was back to normal.

Or so I thought.

At 9 AM yesterday I received an email from my webhost provider. They were informing me that, due  to a breach of their Terms of Service, my hosting had been suspended. At first I freaked out. I had just paid for 2 years of renewal with them! Could they really do this? How would I reinstall by site somewhere else? This isn’t fair! Before I approached them to ask – no, demand! – that they restore my site and fix the problem, I decided I needed to calm down. And a few hours later, I realised that it is not their responsibility to ensure my web site is secure and has all the relevant upgrades to the software I use to run this blog. So I decided instead to approach them, ask for their help, and see what they said. An hour later I got an answer; and It wasn’t particularly helpful. This is what they said:

To have the account re-activated you will need to remove all malicious scripts and you will need to update and secure your own files, one you are certain that the files that are on your account are both clean and secure you will need to let us know what you have done to secure your files, once we can validate the security steps that you have taken and can no longer see a issue we will be able to re-activate the account/websites.

On the one hand, I was disappointed. Although the hosting plan I have is relatively cheap, I was expecting them to take some ownership for the problem. After all, they are recommended by WordPress (the company that makes the software for running this blog) as the best commercial host for their software. I was outraged that Bluehost was washing their hands of and putting the ball entirely in my court. I was particularly peeved because the hacker got it because of a hole in WordPress; and it was that same company who recommended Bluehost as a reliable provider! Anyhow, I rolled my sleeves, asked them to allow me access to my files, and went to work.

The good news is that I my blog is (almost) back to normal. I still have to repeat the same  work for my other web sites (Pass It Forward; the english and spanish version of “Zen and the Art of Photographic Story-telling”, and the english and spanish versions of “The other plan colombia”); but at least now I know how to fix all of them!

Besides a few late nights of work to fix it, this experience has left me with something else: four valuable lessons. Let me share you the pain of learning them the hard way, and share them with you right here, right now.

1. Do not ignore security and backups. Proper back ups of your site are a pain to administer, but a blessing when disaster strikes. If I had been more disciplined about them, the amount of work I had to do to restore my web sites would have been cut in more than half.
2. Carefully design your backup solution. There’s backups, and then there’s backups. Some will copy everything, and make it very easy to do a full restore. Unfortunately, a full restore will also restore the malware and backdoors that made you want to start again in the first place. On the other hand, partial backups (of your databases and image files, for example) are cleaner to restore and won’t bring malware or backdoors with them, but they will be very time consuming, as you will need to repeat any manual customisation you have made over time. Think carefully about the different scenarios that may lead you to want to do a full or partial restore, and design a backup solution that accounts for all those scenarios, with the least amount of effort.
3. Remember that you get what you pay for. By choosing a low-price hosting plan, I elected not to pay for additional services in managing my web site, so I should not have been upset with Bluehost’s initial response. When choosing a hosting plan, think about what you need, carefully choose the one that gives you most value, and then be ready to live with your decision.
4. Treat ohers the way you want to be treated. No, I am not going all religious on you here. I am simply flagging that when I approached Bluehost in a corteous manner after having been angry with their first response, they then treated me with the same respect. Next time you pick up the phone (or open your email client) to make a complaint, take a few deep breaths, calm down, and talk to them as you would like them to respond to you. Ask for help rather than demand explanations, and I can almost guarantee you will have a better outcome from the interaction.

On the bright side, this incident gave me an opportunity to write a new post. I am still going to hybernate for a bit longer, but have decided that until I start publishing again, I will post some new entries with recommendations from our archives.

One last thing: If you have received any old articles in your RSS feeder or your email inbox, they are probably previous articles that were mistakenly sent again by the service I use to manage subscriptions. Please accept my apologies for this inconvenience, and I hope you enjoyed today’s article anyway.

(Click here if you can’t see the video above)

Today’s review is going to be short.The above video was created by a small firm (Grasshoper) to remind everyone that with turbulence comes opportunity; that uncertain times push us to discover new ways of doing things. I found the  messages in this video a wonderful reminder that ideas + action = success. It was a modern reminder of the Law of Action.

I was also drawn to this video because of my fascination with Creative Commons licensing. As you would know, a lot of my work is released under this licensing (see links at the bottom for some examples), so when I read this article about how Ogilvy & Mathers used similar music and message to create an ad for American Express, I had mixed feelings.  On the one hand, the Amex ad was not a direct ripoff from the above video; yet it was clearly inspired by it, and there is enough evidence to demonstrate that the O&M’s creative team heavily borrowedi from this inpirational video. At the end of the day, one has to answer the question of whether grasshoper deserved at least attribution for the idea, and whether there is enough in common in these 2 artistic executions to warrant a notice for copyright violation. What do you think? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Before I go, I would like to highlight some of the messages that resonated most with me from this video:

• As an entrepreneur, risk isn’t the reward; the reward is changing people’s lives, fueling world, and making a better world
• Entrepreneurs are everywhere, and can be anyone… even YOU.
• Remember when you were a kid (when everything was within your reach) and then say to yourself quietly but with determination: IT STILL IS.

If you liked this article, check some of our previous video reviews below:

• January : Benjamin Zander at TED (video) (review)
• February: Story of Stuff (video) (review) (web site)
• March: Feel like the Incredible Hulk with Tim Ferris (video) (review) (web site)
• April: Pike Place Market video about the Fish! Philosophy (video) (review)
• May: Building a great team – a tribute to Herb Brooks (video) (review)
• June: Reflections of a Crazy Colombian Video Blog # 1 – A review of AMPlify 2009 (video) (review)

Links to some of the works by The crazy Colombian released under a Creative Commons license:

• Zen and the art of photographic story-telling (Online) (Print)
• The crazy Colombian’s manifesto (Online) (Print)

Please click here if you can’t see the video.

Today is the first time that we deliver our feature article as an online video. In this 8-minute movie, we will present a summary of 2 workshops I attended recently. For more background information, check the paragraphs below; otherwise, we invite you to enjoy the video and tell us what you think of this new format.

Background to today’s video

Between the 23-26 of June, Annalie Killian coordinated and delivered an absolutely awesome Innovation and Thought Leadership festival in Sydney, and I was one of the lucky few people external to AMP that was allowed to purchase a ticket to this event.

The conference was a resounding success, and was innovative in its own right. Using a combination of international and local thought leaders, the 4 days were spent in discussions about Emergence and COnvergence. The resulting presentations and discussions were shared using online video and twitter updates amongst others; and featured a story-telling competition at a local pub where several researchers and PhD students had to tell us of their research in under two and a half minutes each.

The highlight of the 4-day conference to me where 2 exciting workshops by international luminaries. The first one was delivered by BJ Fogg, a leading researcher at the Persuasive Technology Lab @ Stanford University. In this workshop BJ shared  his main findings in the field of captology, the study of computerised persuasion. From this workshop I walked away with a real understanding of the 3 core elements required for effective persuasion, and an understanding of how to use computrised technology to achieve persuasion in online interactions.

The second workshop was based on story-telling, and was delivered by the other Spike Jones, a Word-of-Mouth marketer that is part of the US-based tribe @ Brains on Fire. In this workshop Spike explained the key ingredients to effective story-telling, and shared the FIRE framework. If you want to find out what FIRE stands for, then you better start watching the video

We hope you enjoy today’s installment of Reflections of a crazy Colombian, and invite you to leave your comments about this new format for our online magazine.

Note: Today’s article come to you courtesy of Robin Sharma, best-selling author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, The Greatness Guide and  The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO: A Remarkable Story About Living Your Heart’s Desires. 

Video: Leading without title, courtesy of Robin Sharma Leadership

Welcome back to Reflections of a crazy Colombian. In today’s article we will share five investment strategies that you must consider in these troubled times. I have mentioned this article comes to you courtesy of best-selling author Robin Sharma. Ok, time to be transparent: Robin did not write this article. However, the article is inspired on the last installment of his regular newsletter Leading without Title, of which I am subscriber. I hope you will enjoy the show.

INVESTING IN THE DOWNTURN

Most people these days are scared. The economy is going down the toilet, the swine flu pandemic is in full swing, and tax return season is around the corner. Whilst I am not sure which of these is more scary, I do know that fear is not the greatest decision-making tool at our disposal. So to help you navigate these troubled times, I am going to share five investment strategies you should seriously consider.

Despite the title of this article, I am not really saying you have to follow these recommendations. As best-selling author Dan Millman says,

“You don’t have to wait to make positive and empowering changes; You don’t have to go to school;You don’t have to go to work; You don’t have to go to war;You don’t have to behave as other people expect or desire you to. You don’t have to do anything. Just recognise that every action or inaction has consequences, and that your willingness to accept these consequences gives you the power and freedom to choose who you are, where you are, and what you will do”.

Whilst it is true that you don’t have to follow these recommendations, I suggest you consider them and make a choice.You might find unimaginable benefits from implementing one of the following five strategies:

1. Invest in your team
2. Invest in your brand
3. Invest in new markets
4. Invest in your values
5. Invest in yourself

Why are these investments good during a recession? Because they either require little money (ie. you can afford it), provide exponential returns over time (ie. will position you to reap the rewards of the next upturn), or both. Let’s explore each of them in detail.

1.  INVEST IN YOUR TEAM

Do you know someone who has recently been downsized? Then you know the current labour market is in pretty bad shape. Yet precisely because of that, it provides an incredible opportunity for companies with good leadership. It has never been so easy to attract, motivate, and retain world-class talent. Many organisations are in such a hurry to cut costs down that they are not thoughtfully looking at people’s talents and potential before they mindlessly start downsizing. You don’t have to make the same mistakes! If you are downsizing, take your time and conduct due diligence to ensure you keep the best people in your team. On the other hand, if you don’t need to downsize, invest in the future by bringing the best people into your team. With the current conditions in the labour market, now is the perfect time to build that team of great spirited people Herb Brooks talks about. If you want to know how to build a great team, check our latest video of the month “Building a great team - a tribute to Herb Brooks“

2. INVEST IN YOUR BRAND

Stand out! This is one of the easiest times to make a good impression without having to go out of your way. Have you noticed that everyone is negative; bad customer service abounds; investment in long-term Innovation is close to non-existent; and cliches such as “people are our greatest asset’ are surprisingly absent? Yes, as uber-marketer and brand expert Seth Godin has so eloquently put it, You Are Boring. To stand out, stay positive and take the path less travelled. Make a good impression. Choose your attitude. Aim for Customer service excellence. Feed your creative self. Implement at least two of these tactics, and great rewards will come to you.

3. INVEST IN NEW MARKETS

When the markets are as hardly hit as they are now, it creates a fantastic opportunity for investment. No, I am not talking about buying the right shares (although buying shares in companies with strong cash flow and disciplined management teams is a great share investment tactic).

What I am talking about is opening new markets. Despite what TV pundits would like us believe, not every sector in the economy is in a recession. If you find an emerging market, this is a great time to build a business there. You might just find that your biggest challenge will be getting the funding for this venture; after all, banks have kind of stopped lending these days. But that’s ok; there are literally millions of people who do not know what to do with their money. Think about it: if you had cash available, what would you do with it? There are almost no investments with a decent rate of return available to retail customers; so build a simple yet solid business case, and go get Other People’s Money. Just make sure you treat it as if it was your own, and you should be able to do pretty well.

4. INVEST IN YOUR VALUES

Times of uncertainty like the current ones beget us to Get back to basics. Under current economic conditions it is perfectly acceptable to follow a strategy of sticking to your knitting. Figure out what you’re good at, who your most valuable customers are, and what are the services and values you stand for; Then spend some time going to those customers, reminde them of what you stand for, and offer your services. By building a business based on integrity, you can create growth, even in the most depressed of markets.

If all else fails, go back to fundamentals: Renew relationships with your loved ones, and savour the simple things in life. They usually are both priceless and free, so no economic downturn will ever take that away from you.

5. INVEST IN YOURSELF

Would you be surprised if I said this is one of the best times to invest in learning new skills? Despite your memories from school, learning can lead to increased levels of passion and engagement; you just need to find out something you WANT to learn (as opposed to something you think you NEED to learn). If you are like most people, you are likely to have been running yourself to the ground like a hopeless workoholic without a 12-step program; After all, short-term profits for either yourself, your company or both often place unsustainable demands on your time, and a growing economy provides ample opportunity for short-term profits. Unfortunately, chances are you invested close to zero in your learning and development as you focused on short-term returns. As Robin Sharma says, “to be a better leader, [ you must] become a bigger person.“. Do yourself a favour and invest some resources (time, money or ideally both!) in yourself. Go learn a new skill on something you enjoy. It will make you a better father, a better mother, a better worker, and ultimately a better human being.

Nowis the time to stop reading and start moving. Just pick one of these five investments and take immediate, massive action today. I promise you won’t regret doing so.

Today’s edition of “Reflections of a crazy Colombian” comes to your courtesy of Neil Strauss, best-selling author of The Gameand Emergency

Today I received an email from best-selling author Neil Strauss (I’m on one of his mailing lists), and it reminded me of the Boy’s Scout Motto, Be Prepared. Neil became a famous best-seller author a few years ago when he wrote a fascinating expose of the underground community of Pick Up Artists (PUA) in LA and the internet. Since then, Neil has written a new book in which he shares the myriad of things he decided to learn when he finally understood that we live in an uncertain, dangerous and somewhat unreliable world (and just in case you’re wondering, no, it was not the Global Financial crisis, the swine flu crisis, or the latest California earthquakes that shook him into action)

Back to the email I received; In his newsletter article, Neil complains about the insane shifts in media attitude towards his book after the latest wave of ‘crises’. Since I found his argument rather compelling, I want to share it with you. Rather than try to repeat it in my own words, I am going to be a lazy bum and transcribe his email here.

Before you read Neil’s words, I want to provide one last warning: In his email, Neil generously provided a link to a fantastic PDF resource where he debunks the top 10 myths about the best ways to survive a crisis. To avoid overloading Neil’s web servers with download requests, I have uploaded the PDF file to Google docs, and changed the link that came with the original email to this new one. If you find the PDF useful and want to learn more about Neil’s ventures, visit him at neilstrauss.com

Diego,

I’ve been wanting to write this email “rant” for about a month.
But I keep starting it, then stopping it. It’s hard to get the tone
right without showing too much frustration:

If I thought doing the media circus for The Game was tough,
discussing Emergency has unexpectedly been even more of a challenge.

In about half the radio interviews I’ve done prior to last month,
the host has asked, with some disdain, “Prepare for what? What do
you think’s going to happen?”

And then, suddenly, when the swine flu panic hit, those same
people suddenly started calling and asking if I could do another
interview offering their listeners survival tips.

Same thing happened after the California earthquakes last week.

We live in a world that seems to REACT to emergencies, rather
than PREPARE for them. Leading to a situation in which the panic
can be more dangerous than the disaster itself.

But why not prepare ahead of time?

It doesn’t take that much time or money.

There’s a certain peace of mind that comes from knowing that when
the next inevitable panic seizes hold of people, not only do you
know what to do, but you have the equipment and skills on hand to
take care of yourself and those you love.

That’s one of the reasons why I enjoy this list so much and the emails
I’ve received from you. Many of you who’ve read Emergency have gone
on not just to learn preparedness yourself, but to actually take
CERT training and join volunteer rescue groups to give back to the
community.

And so I thought I would try to give something back with this email,
rather than just vent my frustrations about the hypocrisy of the
media.

So I prepared a list for you of the ten most common myths about
surviving terrorism, fires, earthquakes, um, shark attacks, and
other emergencies both likely and unlikely.

Just like the Game, where I learned that many of the so-called
common-sense things I learned about attraction were wrong, in
Emergency I learned that much of the wisdom I learned growing up
about survival was actually wrong.

And, in the right situation, the wrong survival tip can kill you
(whereas the wrong sarging tip can only humiliate you).

So here is a little PDF of top ten survival myths, followed by the
truth. It is dedicated to the woman I saw in the airport wearing an
N95 mask during the swine flu panic while rubbing her eyes with her
bare hands.

You can find it here:

https://docs.google.com/gb?export=download&id=F.c7afc073-7763-4907-b89f-44698248d124
(right-click to download)

Enjoy, and if you find it useful, pass it on. After all, as you’re
reading this, there may be a shark lurking in the bushes outside,
just waiting to attack. Don’t be caught with your guard down.

On a serious note, if you do have any tips to add to it, email
stslimjim [@T] gmail[D0T] com with the headline LIFESAVER and I’ll add them
to an updated version.

And don’t forget, learning survival isn’t just about not dying,
it’s also a great adventure.

To Life,
Neil

To learn more about Neil Strauss, visit his web site at neilstrauss.com or browse his list of books at Amazon.

To read more interesting articles by The crazy Colombian, visit our recommended reading page at bestof.crazycolombian.com

Please click here if you can’t see the video above

The crazy Colombian has gone truly crazy! We are supposed to be on a blog about getting the life we want, and he wants to talk about team building?

Yes my dear readers, I want to talk about how to build a great team, and I will use the video above as a starting point. The two key points I want to explore today are

1. Why bother building a great team, and
2. How to go about it

And don’t worry; I am not going to suggest you go on some stupid team-building exercise that uses motivational techniques usually reserved for fit members of the army. Nor will I ask you to partake on goofy exercise that  require you to use ropes, nails, martial arts, paint, hot embers or a goldfish (and if you don’t know what I am talking about, you are obviously one of the few lucky ones who has never been sent on a company day off-site to be the victim of so-called team-building experts (in which case you will probably smile when  you watch with this video in Youtube)

But back to the topic: Why should you care about building a great team? And how do you go about it?

You should build a great team around you because you can’t go through life alone

Let’s first define team. There are 3 reasons why you should have a great team around you

1. Because there aren’t enough hours in the day for you to do everything yourself
2. Nor are there enough hours in your week to do everything you have on your plate right now
3. Bur most importantly because you don’t have enough hours in your life to learn every possible skill you will need to live the The life you were born to live.

But you already knew this, didn’t you? Otherwise, why do you have an accountant, paid cleaners, nannies /daycare, a doctor, or any of the other myriad of professionals you pay hard-earned money to provide services to you?

Most people fail to realise that there are a lot of teams around them. Almost everyone builds teams around them by accident, and fail to realise that it is entirely within their capacity to build, shape, and re-shape those teams. Work colleagues, families, professional organisations, companies we buy from; they are all part of your Life team. So don’t make the mistake everyone makes, and relinquish the power (and responsibility) to carefully construct the best possible team around you. When choosing a new team member (be it a friend, husband, or accountant), be very clear on why you want them to be a part of your team.

Follow this simple piece of advise, and you will be on the way to achieving unimagined levels of efficiency, effectiveness and happiness. And that is the reason why you should care about building a great team.

How to build a great team

There are 3 fundamental steps for building a great team:

1. Have a goal in mind. Stephen Covey has previously said that the first habit of highly effective peopleis to start with the end in mind. So figure out what type of life you want, and turn this desire into a SMART goal.
2. Identify the help you will need. Once you know where you want to go, find out what you can (and should) do by yourself, and what you should (or could) get help from professionals. Be creative in this step, and keep yourself honest; Continuously remind yourself that just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should do it (Don’t believe me? Answer this question: can you drive your car off a cliff? Should you? There you go!)
3. Find the best person to help you. The last step is then to find new team members for each of the things you decided you need to get done, but you can’t (or will not) do yourself. It is critical in this step that you look for the best person for the job, given all of your constraints (time, money, location, etc). Remember that finding the best person for the job is a very different thing than finding  the perfect person for that job (Hint: Sometimes the price of excellence is accepting imperfection)

Parting thoughts on the video of this month

Before I go, I want to share with you a few quotes from the video above. I hope they will make you think:

• On what being part of a great team is all about:

If you want to settle old scores, you’re on the wrong team. We move forward, starting right now. We start becoming a great team, right now! … Skating, Flow, creativity, that’s what this team is all about, not old rivalries

• On perseverance under duress:

What the hell is wrong with you? Put your gear on. I said, put your gear on. ‘But the doctor told me I can’t play‘. Yeah, Yeah, you got a bad bruise. You know what? Put your street clothes on, because I have no time for quitters. ‘Come on Herb, nobody is quitting here‘

• On the importance of hard work (Einstein: Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration):

Do you want to win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don’t have anough talent to win on talent alone. Try again!

• On having the courage to stand out and be uncommon:

Hey, where are you going? Back on the line. This can not be a team of common men, because common men go nowhere. You have to be uncommon.

• On the importance of clearly defining what’s the team you’re playing for:

I play for Massachusets.

Who do you play for?

I play for the United States of America

That’s all gentlemen

For more great videos with amazing commentary visit our Video Archive.

Image: What I did on my first official day of Winter Break courtesy of peyri

Once in a while, something comes down my way which I find insanely useful; today such a thing happened to me.I hope you won’t mind the length of this post, but there’s little else I can add to it. Want to learn to properly fold a shirt in 2 seconds? This video from videojug shows you how:

Fast Folding:How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds