"The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening." - Anonymous
That message was hanging by a thread from my teacup a few days ago. And I've taken it to heart with an impromptu Internet fast this week.
I recently read BuzzMarketing by Mark Hughes. And re-read What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith. In the last month or so I've also read Autobiography of a Yogi (original 1946 edition) by Paramhansa Yogananda, The Atman Project by Ken Wilber, The Tibetan Book of the Dead by W.Y. Evans-Wentz and Luminous Mind by Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche. Plus huge swatches of biographies of St. Francis of Assisi (by St. Bonaventure) and St. Therese of Lisieux while sitting in a bookstore.
Now that's a pretty odd mix of books, you might think. (And I read the September issue of Harvard Business Review yesterday.) But actually they have more in common then you might think. When reading the business books and mags, I'm stricken with the degree which unfiltered observation skills and honed intuition plays in good business decisions, especially as regards to marketing and strategy.
For instance, BuzzMarketing is chock-full of tales of daring and risk and marketing prowess. Power Bar's first marketing exec couldn't quantify to the board exactly why their marketing worked, but he knew if his friends and neighbors were talking about PowerBar at the barbeque party it was working and if there was no talk, it was time for different tactic. And did you know that Apple's 1984 Super Bowl ad aired because a marketer defied a board decision to sell every last second of their Super Bowl airtime? And Britney Spears career launch was purposefully held off for several years because the market "timing wasn't right."
Any of those decisions could very easily have gone the other way. The way of the do-do bird. The way of nightmares.
But they didn't.
I'm thinking that I'd like write more about honing our intuition and developing observation and listening skills - skills that can then be applied to your own specific contexts, industries, campaigns, endeavors (heck, and your whole life). They're all so different - and there is no magic cookie-cutter formula. Another thought I had is hosting podcasts where I ask business folks for their tips on how they developed their intuition and get the backstory to how they made great decisions.
It starts with trusting that you have the answers. And then finding daily time for silence. Rather than add to your busy schedule, perhaps you can start with taking the time in your daily commute in silence. No reading or writing (if you take subway), no radio, no podcasts, no composing blog posts in your head, no rehearsing your first sales call. Simply observe. Simply breathe. Simply be aware.
A rabbi was always teaching his followers to seek the answers in themselves. But the followers always came back expecting more answers from him.
Finally he set up a booth with a sign: "Any Two Questions Answered for $100."
After some deliberation, one of his richest followers decided to ask and brought two important questions. He paid the money and said as he did, "Isn't $100 rather costly for just two questions?" "Yes," replied the rabbi, "and what is your second question?" - from the Chassid tradition in a wonderful anthology of global stories, Soul Food: Stories to Nourish the Spirt and Heart, edited by Jack Kornfield
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