Truth About Leadership

truth
The

About Leadership

Why Being Deﬁant, Unreasonable, and Resilient is Essential

y, Inc.
By Tiffany L. Britt, MBA Chief Marketing Scientist @ Edit-Abilit

www.edit-ability.com

Are you constantly
Are you an Do you dream setting high
entrepreneurial bigger than expectations for
spirit? most people? yourself?

No Yes

In this free e-book, we will discuss three
If you don’t aspire to be greater than you
specific qualities you’ll need on your
already are and achieve more than you
journey towards greatness. Keep
currently have, then this book is not for
reading!
you. Don’t waste your time.
Could someone else use this ebook?
2 Click below to share the love!
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About Tiffany L. Britt, MBA

When it comes to marketing your small business online,
Tiffany L. Britt, MBA is a great person to know!

With more than 10 years of experience as a management
consultant, business analyst, and college professor, you’ll
likely find her online trying to wrap her head around the
challenges that small businesses face in today’s
Text
marketing landscape.

She eagerly shares her knowledge & insights through
one-on-one consulting, but also enjoys blogging and
delivering hands-on workshops.



About Edit-Ability, Inc.

Edit-Ability, Inc. is a central Illinois based web design
company that uses Wordpress to deliver all-in-one
websites, blogs, and portfolios that are fully equipped
with search engine optimization and social media tools.

In a sea of design companies, Edit-Ability, Inc. is the only
Text
one that combines a unique blend of design, business,
and marketing knowledge for a price that any small
business can afford.


What’s Inside?

Have you ever wavered or doubted yourself while trying to achieve something great?

Whether you are just thinking about starting your company, in the early stages of start-up, or are
already a seasoned leader, you know that in order to get from Point A to Point Z, you have to
fervently go after your goals, enthusiastically knock down walls, and passionately crash through
glass ceilings every...single...day.

If you want to be successful and take your goals all the way to the finish line, it takes more than a
half-hearted effort to get you there. In this ebook, we are doing to discuss why you must “go hard, or
go home” and have fanatical commitment like crazy Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane.

Text
Section 1: Who Exactly Is Dr. Kane?
Section 2: Shake That Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Section 3: Die Hard, Fanatical Commitment From The Soul
Section 4: Blatantly Defy the Status Quo
Section 5: What Are You Waiting On?


Section 1

Who Exactly Is

Dr. Kane?

We Have Come A Long Way

Medicine has come a long way over the past century. Neurosurgeons can perform miraculous
operations on our brain and almost every major organ can be transplanted. Our children regularly
get vaccinations for once fatal diseases that keep them healthy and extend their life expectancy.
Plastic surgeons can completely transform our physical appearance.

If we rewind back to before 1921, however, the medical world and surgery was very different. Even if
you just needed to have minor surgery, during that time period, going completely under was the
ONLY option. Then, Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane from Pittsburg introduced a radical new idea.

Dr. Kane thought, “If I only need to operate on one section of my patient’s body, why must they be
completely unconscious?” He figured out a way to provide only local anesthesia during surgery and
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went off to find volunteers to test his theory.


You Want To Do WHAT While I am
Aw ake?

For some strange reason, the search for volunteers wasn’t as successful as Dr. Kane had hoped.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t let Dr. Kane get near me with a butter knife, let alone a
surgical instrument!

Not one person that he attempted to recruit was even remotely interested in allowing Dr. Kane to
cut on their bodies while they were fully awake.

Finally, after searching relentlessly, one brave, courageous volunteer stepped forward. Dr. Kane
successfully performed an appendectomy while the patient was conscious, proving that local
anesthesia was not only a viable option, but that it was actually the preferred option for surgery.
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What’s the Big Deal?

The remarkable part of this story is not the medical advance that resulted, but rather, WHO the first
brave, courageous patient was. Based on the riskiness, one would think that the first patient was
possibly someone that Dr. Kane paid. Perhaps it wasn’t even a person- maybe it was a dog or
monkey or animal of some kind. None of these were the case.

The person that Dr. Kane performed surgery on was none other than Dr. Kane himself.

He believed so passionately and fervently in his hypothesis that he put himself on the operating
table and removed his own appendix.

Text


How Passionate Are You?

Anyone that would put themselves on a gurney and cut their body open is certainly a little crazy.
Dr. Kane is no exception.

I have two questions for you:

How passionate are you about
your ideas, goals, and dreams?

Text
Would you be willing to put
yourself on the gurney for them?

This is Dr. Kane The average person does not have what it takes to put themselves on the operating table. But if
performing a hernia you are reading this, you’re not average and probably a bit crazy, too!
operation on
himself. Practice Despite his craziness, there are three qualities that Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane had that you should have
makes perfect! as well...


Three Qualities

Quality #1: Dr. Kane knew how to shake the dirt off of his shoulder.
He didn’t care about the naysayers- he ignored them. So should you. Success attracts criticizers and
naysayers. As someone that is going to be successful in everything that you do, you have to know
how to handle them. You have to learn how to take your criticizers, put their voices on mute, and
keep it moving.

Quality #2: Dr. Kane displayed die hard, fanatical commitment that came from his soul.
He went all the way! He didn’t get on that operating table, cut himself halfway open, and then
decide that it maybe wasn’t such a great idea after all. Many of us half commit to our goals and
abandon them when times get rough. If your goal is worth attaining, though, you simply cannot do
this! You’ve got to go all-in- make no excuses- and do whatever it takes to achieve it!
Text
Quality #3:Dr. Kane blatantly defied the status quo.
He chewed up the status quo and spit it out. Doing things the way that they are always done just
because, “We’ve always done them this way”, is a formula for being average. It’s no way to break
through. It’s no way to innovate. When you are in this state of mind, you can never get anymore
than you have already got. Dr. Kane’s example teaches us to question and blatantly defy the status
quo.


Section 2

Shake That Dirt Off Your

Shoulder

Tommy, the Mule, and His Dad

11 year old Tommy stormed in from school one day with his head down and feet dragging.

“What’s wrong?” his father asked.

“The kids at school keep calling me fat!” Tommy cried.

With a chuckle, his father replied, “You’re not fat Tommy, but even if you were skinny, those kids
would tease you for being skinny. They will always find something to poke at. I’ll prove it to you.”

And with one swift movement, Tommy’s dad grabbed Tommy and their mule and took them on a
walk through town.
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As they begin their stroll, Tommy, his dad, and the mule walked side-by-side. You could hear
townspeople saying quite loudly, “Look at those two – they’ve got a perfectly good mule and there
not even using it. How wasteful is that?”

Now, after making sure his son heard the comments, Tommy’s dad picked him up and placed him on
the mule, and continued their walk. This time, people said, “Look at that lazy kid. He’s riding on that
mule and making his poor, old dad walk. How inconsiderate is that?”

Next, Tommy’s dad switched places with him. Of course, the townspeople had something negative
to say. “Why is that old guy on the mule while his poor kid has to walk? How insensitive is that?”

Text
Finally, they both got on the mule. The townspeople, of course, criticized saying: “Poor mule – it has
to carry around those two able bodied people. How cruel is that?”

Whether they walked side-by-side, one on the mule, or both riding, there was always someone to
criticize their actions. Life is no different. No matter what you do, there will always be someone that
will criticize you. Pay no mind to these people. Listen to your heart. And do what you believe in – no
matter what.


Behind Every Successful Person

Here is an image that I’m sure you can relate to. I’ve covered a section with a dot for obvious reasons,
but the point is clear: “Behind every successful person lies a pack of haters.” If you are doing
something worthwhile, then you will attract the criticism (sometimes disguised as helpfulness) of
others.

I am positive that Dr. Kane ran into a few haters when he shared his idea. Surely, you have them in
your life. I call them dream killers or dream stealers.

You have a great idea, you want to share it with the world and they come up with a million and one
reasons why you should not move forward with your wonderful idea. They tell you that you are out
of your mind and always find something about your idea to poke at or rip to shreds.
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As it relates to your dreams and the dream stealers in your life,
there are four things that you must remember...

www.CrunkQuotes.com


1
Those who matter don’t mind,
Those who mind, don’t matter.

Cars, Airplanes, Computers, Cell Ph
ones, Driverless Cars

Just like the boy in the story, what you think and feel in your gut far supersedes the opinions of
others. When an idea is new or unheard of it’s always labeled as radical, wild, and unlikely to
succeed.

Think about cars, airplanes, computers, and cellphones. At one point in time, the idea of creating
any of them was highly infeasible and people were critical. A few years ago, Google announced that
within the next 10 years, they will be able to use their Google Earth technology to create cars that
don’t need a driver. Everyone, of course, thinks that this idea is nuts, but Google is fearless and
unrelenting about creating new useful technologies. It, of course, helps to be Google, but they don’t
care about the criticism of others. They have already started moving forward with this idea and
proof of concept and have even gained legislative support in 6 states.
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Click the picture
to watch the video
of a blind man
driving to Taco Bell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JP-WTT1y3U

Shake That Dirt off Your Shoulders

The point is here that you simply won’t find success anywhere without criticism. Success and
criticism have this kind of crazy relationship. Anytime you see success, criticism is right there,
attached at the hip!

It takes people who have Kevlar tough skin to not care what anyone else thinks. Take, as an example,
political candidates. They get beat up by criticizers pretty bad. Remember in the 2008 primaries,
when President Obama (then just a democratic nominee) responded to a barrage of negative
comments by physically brushing the imaginary dirt off his shoulders?

Click the picture
to watch as Text
President Obama
shakes the dirt
off of his shoulders!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZJex9Ge2-Q

He had Jay-Z’s song, “Shake That Dirt Off Your Shoulder” to thank for that metaphor, but this is
exactly what you should be doing when it comes to the dirt or mud that people will sling at you. BE
RESILIENT. Like Obama, when you succeed, you prove that there is no better retaliation against
criticism than actually succeeding.

2
Ideas are most delicate
in the beginning.

Ideas Are Like Embryos

You have to protect them and you shouldn’t share them prematurely. You must let them incubate,
grow, and mature before you present them to the world. Dr. Kane didn’t present his idea until he
was ready and he was certain that it would work.

Ideas are like embryos. They are incredibly delicate and when exposed to the wrong elements, they
can die or be damaged.

Like an expectant mother, you may be eager to share your idea with everyone, but I caution you
against this. Don’t share your ideas until you (and your idea) are ready.

How do you know when your idea is ready?
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It has to pass three tests...


Is Your Idea Ready for the World?

Test #1: It has to be substantive enough to weather criticism.
Even just a small dose of negative feedback (or even a perceived lack of positive feedback) can
cause you to second guess yourself. Take your idea and develop it more thoroughly. Fine-tune and
iron out problems as much as you can before you present it.

Test #2: You have to have a clear sense of what you want to accomplish.
When you introduce your idea to others, their suggestions could taint the heart of your idea and
muddle the clarity of your vision.

Test #3: You have to be sure that you are ready to move forward with it.
The moment you talk about an idea publicly, you have set it in stone and will surely be asked about
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it in the future. People, criticizers or not, are going to keep you accountable. When you present and
speak passionately about an idea, but fail to follow through, you run the risk of being labeled as
one of those people who talks about things but never does them.


3
Criticism
precedes
admiration.

You Can’t Trust “Flip Floppers”

The same people that were dream killers early on and initially judged your actions, often turn out to
be your biggest cheerleaders once you have achieved even a little bit of success. They flip flop-
that’s how you know you can’t depend on or put any weight into what they think.

After Dr. Kane proved his theory, as an example, the professional community had to acquiesce and
agree that he knew what he was talking about. Now surgeons today are trained to think local
anesthesia first.

It’s incredibly hard to get people on your team when you are riding a wagon solo, but once that
wagon starts moving and building momentum, suddenly- everyone wants to jump on board and
sing your praises. Criticism precedes admiration. Keep on pouring the success on, keep moving
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forward, and pretty soon the very same people that criticized you will be admiring you for all that
you accomplish.


4
Criticism is a sign of
personal weakness.

SHHH!! A Little Secret About Critic
izers

Here is something that you should know about criticizers that will help you put their comments into
proper perspective:

People who criticize, often do so because they feel
weak, overwhelmed, and powerless themselves.

Think about the people in your life who have unfairly criticized your dreams or goals. When someone
responds to your success or your idea by attacking it, it speaks to something lacking and deficient
within them. They are projecting their own insecurities on you.

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Need evidence? Look no further than the lives of your criticizers....


What Do Their Live’s Look Like?

While this may not be true of all of them, many people who are critical hold themselves and their
own dreams back to some degree.

One reason is because they don’t believe in themselves enough. They avoid venturing out on
their own ideas because if there is a possibility that they may fail, they don’t want to try.

Another reason that they don’t move forward with their dreams is because they don’t want the
added attention. Attention always comes with criticism and even though they can dish it out, they
are extremely sensitive and can’t handle judgement themselves.

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Family & Friends Want You To Be Sa
fe

Because of their own insecurities, criticizers lay low and try to fly under the radar. Ironically, they
want you to do the same thing because it makes you a “safe” person. When you are off dreaming and
doing the seemingly impossible, that makes you unpredictable, risky, and as a result, not very safe
to them.

In Do the Work, Pressfield says:

“The problem with family and friends is that they know us as we are.
They are invested in maintaining us as we are.”

Criticizers often crave comfortability, security, and predictability and you and your big dreams make
Text
them uncomfortable and disrupts their mindset.

Your playing small does not The last thing that you should do is remain as you are, just to make the naysayers comfortable. If
serve the world. There's acting on your ideas means disturbing their safe little world, then that’s their problem, not yours!
nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people This is an excerpt from my favorite quote
won't feel insecure around EVER by Marianne Williamson (also recited by
you. Nelson Mandela). I’ve included the FULL quote
in the bonus section at the end of this ebook.
Enjoy!


Wear Your Target With Pride!

No matter what choices that you make in life, someone is going to criticize you along the way. You
immediately put a gigantic target on your back when you:

Risk more than others think safe.
Care more than others think wise.
Dream more than others think practical.
Expect more than others think possible.
Text
Claude Bissell
I hope that you, like Dr. Kane, learn to believe so passionately in your ideas, goals, and self that you
http://dairycarrie.com/tag/alternative/
can withstand the winds of ostracism and ridicule that will certainly come your way as reach for your
potential.

Don’t let the gigantic target on your back deter you. Wear it with pride!


Section 3

Die Hard, Fanatical
Commitment
From the Soul

Wantrepreneurs

It’s not hard to stay committed to a goal when things are going well. When all the stars align,
budgets are in place, and you are meeting your milestones and deadlines consistently- commitment
comes easy.

But what about when things go completely haywire? What about when you start to run into an
endless patch of potholes and the road gets bumpy? Or, here is something you might be able to
relate to: when the money runs out, the profits are non-existent, the expenses are out of control, and
the customers pretend that they don’t know your name? Do you have what it takes to stay
committed? Not some entrepreneurs and leaders.

Some entrepreneurs are actually “wantrepreneurs”. They want the success that comes from

Text
jumping in the pool head first, but they are afraid of the risk. They dip one toe in the pool at a time.
There is no real commitment because at the first hint of trouble, they run the other way with their
tales wagging between their legs. That’s how you know who has what it takes to succeed and who is
just along for the ride (as long as the trip is convenient and comfortable).

Dr. Kane and his example teaches us that we need to either:

Go all-in or don’t go at all.
Go hard or go home.

You can’t simultaneously do both at the same time!


All Progress Depends on the Unrea
sonable Man

The kind of fanatical, fervent, whole hearted commitment that Dr. Kane had came from deep within
his soul. When you have this kind of the commitment, it is so strong that nothing can shake it. I
would even venture to say that you have to be a bit crazy, obsessed, and unreasonable about
reaching your goal.

There is a quote by George Bernard Shaw, that says:

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable one persists in trying to
Text adapt the world to himself.

Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Most successful people are unreasonable, crazy, and completely obsessed with their idea or dream.
Here are a few examples...


Thomas
Edison
was a real
nut job.

Any smart person who understood
how impossibly arduous were the tasks
they had set themselves would have
pulled the plug before he ever began.

Do The Work,
Steve Pressﬁeld

Thomas Edison is heralded as a genius now, but he had a rocky beginning. First of all, he left school
line
is a thin nd early because teachers told him he wasn't capable of doing the work. Now, it’s one thing for a
There us a
en geni eople
teacher to say that a student is underperforming or not applying themselves adequately, but to say
betwe ost p that child wasn’t “capable” is a pretty strong label!
M d
crazy! ho are labele
w ere
s today w red Later in his life, Edison, as we know, tried and failed more than 10,000 times before he finally
geniuse conside invented the light bulb. Why didn’t he stop trying after the 100th time or the 500th time or the
int
t s ome po e! 999th time? Because he was a madman!
crazy a in their lif
Most of us would have stopped around 20 or 30 unsuccessful attempts, telling ourselves, “Guess it’s
just not meant to be.” But Edison didn’t! He was fanatical, crazy, unreasonable, and irrational when it
came to his invention.

His thought process was also much different than that of most people. He is quoted as saying:

Text “I have NOT failed.
I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.“

That’s a really interesting way of looking at failure!

I think that we all can take notes from Edison here. In the past, how many “ways that don’t work” do
you allow before you pull the plug? There is a such thing as getting off of a dead horse, but have you
ever got off a horse that still had life in it? In my experience, the journey towards reaching a goal
always gets roughest just before you arrive. It’s always darkest before the dawn. If you really believe
in your dream, keep trying until you find a way to make it work.


Colonel
Sanders
was a little
looney too!

Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and
entrepreneur’s indispensable allies.

She must be clueless enough to have no idea how
difﬁcult her enterprise is going to be- and cocky
enough to believe that she can pull it off anyway.

Do The Work,
Steve Pressﬁeld


When he retired and learned that he would only have $105/ month to live on for the rest of his life,
Colonel Sanders said (paraphrasing, of course!):

“No, no, no- I don’t think so”.

I can’t blame him. Even in the 1950s, this was not a lot of money to retire on!

Most people would have taken the $105/month and lived out their golden years by pinching
pennies and struggling to make ends meet. Even though the budget would be tight, that would
have been the “reasonable” thing to do!

But not Colonel Sanders. He took his white hair, white suit, tantalizing chicken recipe, and knocked
on over a 1,000 doors. I imagine that his knuckles were also white after all that knocking!

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Sanders was rejected more than 1,000 times before he finally got 1 person to say, “I believe in you.
Let’s do business”.

Thank goodness that Colonel Sanders was both ignorant and clueless about how difficult things
were going to be. Thank goodness he was also arrogant and cocky about believing that he could
pull it off.. Because of it, there are more than 36,000 KFC’s throughout 109 countries today with
gross sales that top $11B annually. A far cry more than $105/month!


Bill Gates The Beatles Tiger Woods

+ +

Are All Insane!

The 10,000 Hour Rule

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell presents more evidence that reinforces the relationship
w/9855 between success and people that are crazy and unreasonable about reaching their goals.
iew/intervie
.charlie rose.com/v
http://www
He calls it the 10,000 hour rule. Through his studies, Gladwell has found that almost all superstars like
the Beatles, Tiger Woods, and even Bill Gates put in over 10,000 hours of “work” BEFORE reaching
their level of success.

Consider how much 10,000 hours really is. If you dedicated 20 hours a week towards the pursuit of
your goal, it would take 500 weeks or about 10 years to get to the level of mastery of the greats!

Two questions for you:
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What idea have you spent more than 10,000 hours perfecting?
I love listening to What dream have you spent more than 10,000 hours pursuing?
Gladwell talk!
Click the picture above If you are a reasonable man- likely nothing.
to listen to an interview
about Outliers. Around For the reasonable man, investing 10,000 hours in anything is completely out of the question!
4:16, he talks about the
10,000 hour rule.
But you are unreasonable. You started your own company. You made the conscious decision to lead or
manage. That made you a star from day one. 10,000 + hours later, it makes you a raving success.


Two Myths That I Hope Go Out of
Styl e

If you are going to be successful and go all in, you have to shake, get rid of, and eradicate two myths
that society has made into reality:

Myth

1
If I go all in and don’t win,
I’ll loose everything.
Text

Myth

Being crazy, unreasonable,
and obsessed is a bad thing. 2

Myth #1:
If I go all-in and
don’t win, I’ll loose
everything

Truth: It’s Impossible to Loose All Yo
ur Poker Chips

Most people are familiar with “going all-in” as a poker term. A player puts all of his chips at risk and
either he looses everything or he doubles up. When you loose all your chips, you have nothing left
to give. Poker chips are material items. You have a limited quantity of them. Once they are gone,
they’re gone.

Unlike poker, when you go all-in on your dreams and the outcome is not favorable, you don’t loose
the ability to go all-in again. You have an unlimited reserve of creativity, gifts, energy, and efforts.
You never run out of them. Even if you fail, there is no shortage to how many times you can
keep going all in until you finally succeed.

If this myth has creeped into your belief system, I hope that you recognize it and retire it. In life, you
Text
have an endless reservoir of poker chips. There will aways be another game, another day, another
opportunity to go all-in on something that you are passionate about.


Myth #2:
Being crazy,
unreasonable, and
obsessed is a bad
thing.

Truth: Obsession is a GOOD Thin
g

In our society, obsession has an ugly, unfair stigma. There is a negative connotation associated with
the word. If you are obsessed with something, you are categorized as off-balanced, too focused,
and work addicted-- all bad things.

I wish that we could dispel this myth forever! Obsession is not a curse, it is a gift! It is a tremendous
blessing and if you got big goals or an insanely wild vision, it is a requirement to get where you
want to go. I say this for two reasons:

1. If you are not obsessed with something, it is quite easy to give up. When things get a
little rough, you throw in the towel. You’ve got no skin in the game and move on to the next
“obsession”. You’ve probably encountered people like this in your life. I know someone that is
Text
35 years old and flounders from one “career” to the next every few years. Anytime they get
bored (or things get hard) they just move on.

2. When you are obsessed with and idea, dream, or goal, you become equally obsessed
with the idea of making it work. You fixate not only on the big milestones, but also, all of
the little, mundane tasks and actions required to get from Point A to Point Z. Every little
detail is important.

If you have bought into the myth that obsession is somehow bad, please take it and put it where it
belongs: in the trash can.

Childlike fixation and obsession is necessary to achieve
Could someone else use this ebook? greatness.

Be Unreasonable

The point of this section of the ebook is to always remember is that all progress depends on the
unreasonable man. Successful people are successful not because they are more talented than most,
but because they are crazier and more unreasonable than most. Show me a successful person and I
will show a maniac that irrationally failed forward, a lunatic that failed 5 times, but succeeded 6.

Athletes dedicated years to finally achieve a gold medal or win a championship. Scientists sent a man
to the moon and frequently go out of space because someone became unreasonably obsessed with
the idea. From artists to musicians to inventors to business people to society’s change agents, the list
of people who succeeded because they were stubbornly unreasonable is pretty long. I am certain
that you can think of your own personal examples.

Text
Even a fool knows we can't reach the stars,
but that doesn't stop the wise man from trying.

Dr. Kane, in our example, did not approach his goals halfheartedly. He displayed die hard, fanatical
commitment that was completely unreasonable and came from his soul. So did Thomas Jefferson,
Colonel Sanders, and all the others that we mentioned. As an entrepreneur and a leader, you should
be just as unreasonable.


Section 4

Blatantly Defy the
Status Quo

What would our world
look like if more people
started projects,
made a ruckus, and
took more risks?

Seth Godin

Poke the Box

Last year, I read a book by Seth Godin, who is one of the few people that I will call a marketing “guru”.
The name of the book was Poke the Box. The whole point of the book, and the reason why I am
bring it up here, is that Godin writes:

“What would our world look like if more people
started projects, made a ruckus and took more risks?”

I ask that question to you:

What would your world, your business, your life be like if you poked the box
and dared to poke, prod, challenge, and blatantly defy the status quo?
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Dr. Kane poked and look at what happened. He was able to change the way that surgeries would
out
o c razy ab t I forever be done.
I am s e Box tha
h
Poke t a blog article
wrote concept, and
If you are a entrepreneur or leader, my guess is that you already have a little of Dr. Kane’s defiance in

the ree you. If you were a status quo kind of person, you would safely work your 9-5, relish complacency,
about a link to a f ou and grab only for comfortable goals that are well within reach. But, that’s not you, is it?
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Change the Way That You See The W
orld

If you are not a “follow the yellow brick road for the sake of following the yellow brick road” kind of
person, you probably already know the biggest benefit of questioning the status quo every time
you see it:

Questioning changes the way that you view
the world, your life, and your business.
Vision is what you
call it when others
{
You’ll start seeing opportunities, problems, solutions everywhere when you make it a habit to ask

can’t see what you yourself:
see.
Text
Why is this the status quo?

Is there a justifiable reason for it, or are things done this way because
“that’s the way its always been done”?

Does someone or some system profit from keeping things the way they are?


Change the Way That You See The W
orld

Paul Romer, who is an influential economist at Stanford University, defines ideas as:

“the recipes we use to rearrange things
to create more value and wealth.”

By questioning the status quo, a steady stream of new recipes, ideas, dreams will start to evolve. For
Steve Jobs, as an example, the idea of creating a computer was not new. But he “rearranged” the
status quo of what a computer was and created Apple computers, a more simple, streamlined
version of bulkier PCs. Likewise, Dr. Kane did not invent surgery. He just took something that was

Text
already pre-existing and “rearranged” it to create more value!

These ideas (no matter how simple) have the ability to alter the trajectory of your life by causing you
to recreate your reality. They also have the ability to help your business breath new life into stagnant
markets or completely reinvent the dynamics of competition within your industry by creating blue
oceans.


What Are Blue Oceans,You Ask?

To answer this question, it helps if you first understand what red oceans are.

What Are Red Oceans? What Are Blue Oceans?
If you remember from the book Blue Ocean Blue oceans represent uncontested market space. With blue oceans, the
Strategy that was published a few years ago, competition don’t matter because there is none, and you’ve created demand
red oceans represent existing market spaces and initially you are the only one who can fill the demand. By the time others
or the status quo. In red oceans, competition catch up, you will have received a disproportionate benefit for being a first
is fierce and companies spend tons of time, mover, and you are able to undercut their costs because:
effort, and money trying to “one up” each
other with features and prices. 1. They are pouring a ton of money into R & D so that they can catch up with
you. You’ve don’t have to invest as heavily in this area.
Cars, cell phones, and department stores are
great examples of red ocean market spaces. 2. They don’t have a good handle on their costs yet. You’ve had time to
develop relationships with vendors and figure out how to more effectively
manage your costs



Do you bleed red or blue?
Dr. Kane’s colleagues were living in the red ocean of the status quo. They bled red. They were not
even thinking about how to do surgery differently.

Not satisfied with the norm, Dr. Kane was busy trying to figure about how to, as the 1997 Apple
campaign states, “Think different” about surgery. He bled blue. Not accepting the status quo and
“thinking different” are qualities that Dr. Kane and you, as a leader, should have in common.

The Apple “Think Different”
ad campaign was the best ever! Text
Whether you are looking at your personal life, your professional life, or your business, it’s products,
and it’s services, you have to constantly question the system in place. BE DEFIANT. Live in the blue
Each time I look at the ads, ocean and think what no one else is thinking, and do what no one else is doing.
I feel inspired. Click the picture
above to see what I mean!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=cFEarBzelBs&feature=fvwrel


What If NO ONE Challenged The St
atus Quo?

Society teaches us to live comfortably and accept the current state of the world at face value. If
every one followed societies teachings and no one dared to challenge the status quo, however,
where would this world be?

As a child, our parents, our teachers, the world, teach us (sometimes unconsciously- most times
consciously) that being relentlessly obsessed, crazy, and unreasonable is a bad thing. But if every
child blindly followed the rules, what would this world look like?

If NO ONE challenged the status quo,
things would be very different.
Just imagine... Text


We Would Still Be Cavemen (and w
oman)

We would still be hanging out in caves, waving billy clubs, catching fish with spears, and hunting for
our food (or even worse, being hunted).

I don’t know what’s worse, being hunted down and mauled by a lion or being hunted down and
mauled by a lion while wearing a horribly unattractive zebra loin cloth.

No sense of fashion and no sense of protection had to be the caveman’s two greatest downfalls.

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There Would Be No Fire or Air Con
ditioning

Another downfall (at least initially) was the lack of FIRE. Without
someone being bold enough to defy the status quo and create fire,
people in colder climates would be freezing their you know what’s off in
the winter.

In the warmer climates, if no one created AIR CONDITIONING we would

Text
all suffer from heat exhaustion, or even more terrifying- bad hair.

You’d be surprised at what happens when my hair and humidity meet
each other- not a good look! I need my air conditioning!


Transportation Would be Limited to
Your Two Feet

If several smart, forward thinking individuals had not came along and created advances in
transportation, our only method of long distance travel would have been by foot. No boats, no
automobiles, no airplanes. Can you imagine that?

A 2004 study found that the average American walked between 5,000 and 7,000 steps per day- well
under the necessary 10,000.

Perhaps if none of these transportation devices had been invented, America would be healthier and
less overweight!

But then again, there probably wouldn’t have been an America because...
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America Would Not Exist

If Christopher Columbus was a status-quo-kind-of-guy, he wouldn’t
have dared to sail the oceans wide. When the everyone told him
that the world was flat as a pancake, he would have accepted their
word as the undeniable truth. His journey would have been a
suicide mission rather than an exploratory adventure.

Text There would be no overweight Americans because the country
would never have become an idea, let alone a possibility.

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No Man on the Moon

If no one dared to defy the status quo, there would have never have been a man on the moon or
space exploration. If someone had not looked up at the vast sky and wondered, “How do I get up
there?”, we would know nothing about the magnificent planets and galaxies that surround us.
Nature has a lot to offer us and we really would have lost out on space: one of nature’s greatest gifts.

Text


Women & African Americans Would
be Silenced

If no one dared to defy the status quo- we would have lost out on the contributions of two very
important members of our society: women and African Americans. Without status quo destroyers
like Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Martin Luther King, these two groups would potentially still be
disenfranchised and as King said, “languished in the corners of American society”.

Text


Defying the Status Quo is Necessary
For Growth

I hope you see the trend here. In order to improve, advance, and move forward, someone had to
challenge the status quo. It is necessary for growth.

As you move forward in your life and in your business or organization, please do two things:

1. Stop blindly accepting rules that don’t work for you or your business. Just
because someone says that something is “right”, does not make it so. You have the
power to effect positive change in the world, but only if you see the opportunities
for improvement.
Text
2. When you do find areas where the status quo can be improved, be fearless
about taking action. Don’t wait around for someone else to start poking the box,
making a ruckus, and taking a risk. Be the poker.

Make sure that
the ac
do take actually tions that you
Sometimes we effect chan
the name of po spin our wheelsge!
king in
really accompli the box, but never
s
you poke the b hing anything. When
ox, the b
know that it is ox should
being poked!


Section 5

What Are You
Waiting On?


When it comes to reaching your goals, do you have the same kind of unwavering, fervent,
passionate commitment that Dr. Kane had or do you halfheartedly give up when you hit a rough
patch?

Are you as crazy and unreasonable as Colonel Sanders or Thomas Jefferson, or are you running
home crying to mama when you get rejected repeatedly or someone tells you that they HATE your
idea?

Are you choosing easy goals that are consistent with what everyone else is doing, or are are you a
rebel with a cause who is not afraid to make a ruckus and shake up the status quo?

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As you move forward with your goals, these are the questions that you have to ask. Be brutally
honest with yourself so that you don’t waste your time. If you are not ready to lay it all on the line
and be like Crazy Dr. Kane, perhaps it’s time to trade down your goals, and get some smaller ones.

If, on the other hand, you are committed to going all out, I’d like to hear from you. Shoot me an
email (tiffany@edit-ability.com) and tell me how you reject the status quo, shake off the haters and
the naysayers, and how you deep water dive with full commitment into your goals.

Here is a recap of what we’ve
learned in this ebook...


Shake the Dirt off Your Shoulders

• Behind every successful person lies a pack of haters. You can expect criticism. It is a sure
fire sign that you are moving in the right direction.

• Those who matter won’t mind. Those who mind, don’t matter. Often times the people
who criticize are not the ones that you should be listening to in the first place. Their
opinions don’t really matter and when you hear them, you simply need to shake the dirt
off.

• Ideas are most delicate in the beginning. Do not expose them to the elements
prematurely. Present them when THEY and YOU are ready.

• Text
Criticism precedes admiration. Criticizers are flip-floppers and that’s how you know that
you can’t put any weight on what they say. When you start achieving even just a little bit
of success, they are amazingly converted into cheerleaders and want to jump on the
bandwagon almost immediately.

• Criticism is a sign of personal weakness. When you really understand this, you start to hear
their own limited self-beliefs speaking louder than their criticism. It helps you put their
nasty criticism in the proper perspective.

• Shake the dirt off your shoulders, ignore the naysayers, don’t get discouraged, and keep it
moving.


Truth About Leadership

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