Great Throughts Treasury

"Build in virality."

"Bullhorns are overrated: having ten times as many Twitter followers generates approximately zero times as much value."

"Business people add value when they make things happen, not when they seek to hire cheap."

"Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy."

"Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn't mean mattered."

"Busy-ness might feel good (like checking your email on Christmas weekend) but business means producing things of actual value. Often, the two are completely unrelated. What if you spent a day totally unbusy, and instead confronted the fear-filled tasks you've been putting off that will actually produce value once shipped?"

"But this is a remarkable egg, an egg worth talking about, an egg worth crossing the street for, an egg worth writing about."

"Calming your boss? anxiety is the first step in getting the organization to embrace the change you will be making."

"Certain sorts of art make us cry without embarrassment."

"Canoeing was hard and scary, and the wind could blow you across the lake if you did it wrong. After a year of not doing it right, I could talk to people and get them to sit up straight, take different kinds of chances, to breathe differently, to engage in the moment in the boat. And I changed them, and I changed me in the process."

"Change almost never fails because it?s too early. It almost always fails because it?s too late."

"By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we?re doing when we do our best work."

"Change is not a threat, it?s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is."

"Change is powerful, but change always comes with the possibility of failure as its partner. This might not work isn?t merely something to be tolerated; it?s something you must seek out."

"Choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You?re not born this way, you get this way."

"Change isn?t made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later."

"Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others."

"Competence is the enemy of change!"

"Choose your customers, choose your future. Customers are a business? lifeline. Traditional direct marketers understand this and assess the value of their business based on the size and quality of their prospect, customer and past purchaser house file. Therefore, know your customers defined in terms of demographics, psychographics and past behaviors."

"Cogs see a job, see a platform. Every interaction, every assignment is a chance to make a change, a chance to delight or surprise or to touch someone."

"Conformity no longer leads to comfort. But the good news is that creativity is scarce, and more valuable than ever. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: make art. Being an artist isn?t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. It?s an attitude we can all adopt. It?s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things you?re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card."

"Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity."

"Competition validates you. It creates a category. It permits the sale to be this or that, not yes or no."

"Consider what would happen if you managed to get through the Dip."

"Consumers are not loyal to cheap commodities. They crave the unique, the remarkable, and the human."

"Connect, create meaning, make a difference, matter, be missed."

"Connection happens when humanity asserts itself."

"Conventional wisdom is that you should find a job that matches your passion. I think this is backwards."

"Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations."

"Coordinating and amplifying with evangelists of your idea is a big part of the secret of marketing with impact"

"Consumers say that all they want are cheap commodities. Given the choice, though, most of us, most of the time, seek out art."

"Corporations have no right to our attention."

"Correct is fine but it is better to be interesting."

"Courage is the willingness to speak the truth about what you see and to own what you say."

"Courage doesn?t always involve physical heroism in the face of death. It doesn?t always require giant leaps worthy of celebration. Sometimes, courage is the willingness to speak the truth about what you see and to own what you say."

"Crash diets don't work."

"Create scarcity but act with abundance."

"Create something that is offensive. That is only going to appeal to the weird."

"Creating art is a habit, one that we practice daily or hourly until we get good at it ? Art isn?t about the rush of victory that comes from being picked. Nor does it involve compliance. Art in the post-industrial age is a lifelong habit, a stepwise process that incrementally allows us to create more art."

"Deciding to lead, not manage, is the critical choice."

"Creating ideas that spread and connecting the disconnected are the two pillars of our new society, and both of them require the posture of the artist."

"Developing expertise or assets that are not easily copied is essential; otherwise you?re just a middleman."

"Difference between TV and the internet was how far you sat from the screen. TV was an 8 foot activity, and you were a consumer. The internet was a 16 inch activity, and you participated. I think the sitting down thing is similar. You're not going to buy an armoir while standing on the subway."

"Cultural shifts create long terms evolutionary changes."

"Differentiate to succeed."

"Do extremely difficult work. That seems obvious, right? If you do something that's valued but scarce because it's difficult, you're more likely to be in demand and to be compensated fairly for what you do. The implication is stunning, though: When designing a project or developing a skill, seek out the most difficult parts to master and contribute. If it's easy, it's not for you."

"Dignity is more important than wealth."

"Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you?re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they?re hiding out in the comfortable zone. When your uncomfortable actions lead to success, the organization rewards you and brings you back for more."

"Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy."

"Do you know what people want more than anything? They want to be missed. They want to be missed the day they don't show up. They want to be missed when they're gone."