Osama wanted new name for al-Qaida to repair image

As a marketing manager, all my challenges pale by comparison…

And you think you’ve got branding challenges!

As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al-Qaida was suffering from a marketing problem. His group was killing too many Muslims and that was bad for business. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead and he barely knew their replacements.
Faced with these challenges, bin Laden, who hated the United States and decried capitalism, considered a most American of business strategies. Like Blackwater, ValuJet and Philip Morris, perhaps what al-Qaida really needed was a fresh start under a new name.
The problem with the name al-Qaida, bin Laden wrote in a letter recovered from his compound in Pakistan, was that it lacked a religious element, something to convince Muslims worldwide that they are in a holy war with America.
via fox11online.com

Wow!

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December 9, 2014 0

Al Green’s still got game

via Al Green Blows Letterman’s Mind With ‘Late Show’ Performance | Rolling Stone.

December 9, 2014 0

The Healing Room

December 9, 2014 0

A better business presentation is…

Nicholas Bate shares 7 thoughts on better business presos. They…

Are shorter rather than longer.
Have slides as support rather than lead.
Talk about the audience and their challenges rather than the presenter and his/her magnificence.
Start and finish on time rather than assume nobody has any other place to be.
Meet the objective rather than fills the time.
Remember it is intended to achieve change rather than simply educate so insists on actions.
Better than the previous time it was given.

via A Better Business Presentation Is 7 – Nicholas Bate. Get his book Love Presenting Hate (Badly Used) Powerpoint here.

December 9, 2014 1

Hangouts Now Works Without Google+ Account, Becomes Part Of Google Apps For Business And Gets SLA

Good news for Google Hangouts fans…

December 9, 2014 1

How Being in the Moment Makes You Happy

via How Being in the Moment Makes You Happy [INFOGRAPHIC] – Goodnet.

December 9, 2014 0

Have you optimized your LinkedIn profile for ‘social selling’?

One of the best guides I’ve seen…

via How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Social Selling [Infographic].

December 9, 2014 0

@LollyDaskal on true leadership

I follow Lolly Daskal’s blog. She recently did a nice post on leadership in which she says:

The best leaders are those who lead people to believe in themselves.

People believe in themselves when they have a reason to commit to something significant and meaningful.

Get the rest of the article here: Lead People to Believe in Themselves – Lolly Daskal | Leadership and Personal Development | Lolly Daskal.

I agree with Lolly — gone are the days of the corporate slave driver demanding loyalty — the best leaders build loyalty by helping people unpack their potential…

December 9, 2014 0

Are Google Hangouts On Air HIPAA compliant?

No, but apparently they can still be used for some aspects of healthcare marketing. I cite this example from The Huffington Post about a Google Hangout on Air hosted by a physician from the world renowned Mayo Clinic:

Let My Doctor Sleep
Hosted by Alicia Menendez

A new study shows that doctor fatigue raises the risk of car accidents after long shifts. How does fatigue impair medical care?

Circulation: The Huffington Post attracts over 28 million monthly unique viewers.

Context: This study appeared in the Dec. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Colin West., M.D., Ph.D., the lead author, is a General Internal Medicine physician at Mayo Clinic. His research focuses primarily on physician well-being, evidence-based medicine and biostatistics, and medical education. Dr. West participated in this Google Hangout with eight other people. This function within Google Plus allows users to have live, face-to-face, multi-person video chats with chosen participants. Google Hangouts On Air are Hangouts in which the video stream displays publicly on the Google Plus profile page of the user who launched the chat. They can also be displayed on the user’s YouTube channel or website.

Get more at the source: Google Hangouts On Air | Mayo Clinic In The News

If the Mayo Clinic is using Google Hangouts on Air, perhaps it’s a good indication that they are safe for other medical institutions to use for marketing when done correctly.

December 8, 2014 0

On the road to find out

Someone stop me!

December 7, 2014 0

If I laugh

December 7, 2014 0

Tasty bits

I think Spotify is the best music service. It’s full of tasty bits like these…

and

December 7, 2014 0

Feast your ears

If you live long enough, all your fav albums are digitally remastered…

December 7, 2014 0

Shake it off, baby

December 7, 2014 0

Perspective, according to the philosopher Orianthi

December 7, 2014 0

Sunrise calendar app

If you like my CloudMagic recommendation, I suspect you’ll like this one as well…

December 7, 2014 0

CloudMagic email app

Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal wrote:

“I’ve replaced my iPhone and Android apps with CloudMagic. It’s the best overall option with its reminders, improved search, cross-app cooperation and support for many email providers” via Speak low, if you speak love.

Here’s brief overview of this great, free app…

December 7, 2014 1

Dr. Seuss wrote…

December 7, 2014 0

Emotional health is the new sexy

Interesting post from the Elephant Journal on the emerging topic of emotional health.

There is nothing more attractive than a person prepared to own his or her shit. We are all messed up in some way or another; it’s just a matter of how, and to what degree. To accept that fact is to be a real adult in this world—to take responsibility for our own happiness and to stop blaming others when life is hard, or when they don’t meet our expectations.

If a man is willing to face his issues, my god is he a man in my eyes. If he is able to work on himself with the intention of becoming the best version of himself that he can be, for himself, and subsequently for his relationships, that is a serious turn-on. I know that he is going to show up for me, for his family, and he is going to address the issues that he doesn’t want to pass onto his kids

Get the rest of the article here: Emotional Health is the new Sexy. | elephant journal..

December 7, 2014 0

On Learning to Let Go of Controlling Everything

The Purpose Fairy has a lovely post this weekend:

More than 2500 years ago, this wise Chinese man called Lao Tzu was trying to teach us a very powerful and valuable lesson: “By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.”

Even though so many people feel the constant need to control everything and everyone. And even though they desperately try to adjust life according to their views and expectations instead of allowing life to unfold naturally, the truth of the matter is that life is a lot wiser than we think. Life knows a lot more than we do…

Believe it or not, there is a natural flow that life has to follow, and by learning to let go of controlling everything and everyone, you give ourselves permission to go with the flow, no longer against it. Allowing life to nurture you, to lead you, to guide you, and to always make sure that you are walking on your right life path. And in this short yet very profound and inspiring video, Alan Watts talks about this so beautifully. Explaining to us that it is in letting go of control that we actually get back in control. Back to living the life we are meant to live and back to being in alignment with who we truly are.

Get more at the source: On Learning to Let Go of Controlling Everything – Purpose Fairy