The global youth employment crisis has implications for social stability and equality that exceed anything we have experienced in our history.1.3 billion youth are about to attempt to enter the workforce. As more entry-level jobs are automated, businesses and policymakers need to work together to ensure young people have the skills they need.

The global youth employment crisis

<ul><li>36% of CEOs said they were focused on improving productivity through technology and automation.</li><li>Nearly one-quarter of youth ages 18 to 24 stopped working during the pandemic, and many others had their hours and income slashed, likely because they were working in highly affected sectors.</li><li>Four high-impact actions governments and businesses can take to reverse the trend.</li></ul>

Jobs historically held by the young are at risk of being automated

<ul><li>Build a pipeline of workers suitably trained for the future labor market that requires both digital and relational skills.</li><li>National skills maps should include standardized definitions and methods that measure whether or not a skill has been learned.</li><li>Leverage corporate training outside of corporations.</li><li>By pairing elements from best-of-class corporate programs with a government-led national policy framework, stakeholders can jointly help establish a high-quality national skills development program that is germane to national and local populations and efficiently achieves scale.</li></ul>

Understand what skills your organization or country needs

Creating a global or national verification system enables employers to identify the most useful skills for their current employees and set up new hires for success by indicating what additional training they should consider.A national system built on a technology platform such as a distributed ledger or Blockchain will help employees track and store their skill base and provide employers with a trusted and easily verifiable assessment method.

Build a national digital skills verification trust

Insight, access, and trustThese are informational problems that can be addressed by concerted, large-scale investments in skill mapping, measurement, verification, prediction, and development enginesThe means for building out these platforms are all at hand, and much promising work has already started

Philanthropic investments and layouts help, but do not address the core problem

As more entry-level jobs are automated, businesses and policymakers need to work together to ensure young people have the skills they need.

career

Career

education

Learning & Education

business

Business

4 Ways to Bridge the Global Skills Gap

With help from Google's charitable arm, Google.org, a new carbon calculator was just rolled out by the Stockholm, Sweden-based Normative for small businesses to use. Normative provides carbon accounting software.The calculator is available at no cost thanks to the SME Climate Hub, which is a joint nonprofit initiative that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach their climate goals. Small businesses can identify and keep track of emissions with the calculator, a tool that will guide them in how they can take action that can reduce energy waste, increase efficiency and lower cost.

Free Carbon Calculators

Against such a monumental problem there doesn't seem much that small businesses can do, but solutions are going to have to come from everywhere. Small businesses are a large part of the economy and can play a big role in helping to achieve this goal and in the process help us shift to a prosperous low-carbon future. We've seen a wave of net-zero commitments from companies large and small, but we really need companies to translate these commitments and pledges into action

Climate Risk and Small Businesses

Slashing emissions rates will help Mother Earth, but businesses might also stumble upon some appealing incentives as they go green.


scienceandnature

Science & Nature

There's Value in Calculating Your Carbon Footprint

The best leaders all had something more than skills. They had an X-factor that set them apart from everyone else: you can spot such people at any level. This is the mindset difference. It is invisible key to success: once you have it, you have an advantage that lasts a lifetime and works for you time and again.

The Mindset Of Success

Mindset is not about changing who you are. It is about becoming the best of who you are. The right mindset lets you focus on your natural strengths. It is not a simply new set of skills. It is a new way of thinking.

The Mindset Revolution

Focus on one or two must-win battles where you will secure your legacy and create a better future for yourself.

High Aspirations 

Be brave enough to trust your team to deliver. Learn to step back and stop interfering; this is remarkably hard to do for leaders who spent their entire careers believing that success comes from delivery. At this level, success comes from getting others to deliver.

Courage

You need to be persistent and focused, but you are past the need for deep resilience. Complaining about your intense travel schedule does not count if you travel first class around the world: you are showing off.

Resilience

You are now a role model, and you are under constant observation. Act the way you would want to be remembered, because people will remember you more for how you are and less for what you achieve.

Positive

Define your role, knowing that less is more. What is it that you, and only you, can do? Everything else has to be delegated. As with courage, learn to let go.

Accountable 

Very experienced leaders now report to you. They will resent being micro-managed. Instead, you have to forge a relationship which is about partnership, coaching and consulting.

Collaborative

Your role has changed again, but there is no one to tell you what your role is or how to perform it. The rules of survival and success have not changed, because there are no rules, you have to make the rules yourself. Your challange is to make the right rules.

Growth

Stay focused on your goal and do what it takes to get there. In practice, leaders below you will have to do most of the dirty work.

Ruthless

Short notes from the summary of the book that reflect the content of the subject well and explains what Jo Owen believes the mindset of success is. 

Will help you unlock your true potential and accelerate your career by acquiring the seven key mindsets that lead to leadership success.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

This book is not about changing who you are, but becoming the best version of yourself. The Mindset of Success provides a clearly structured set of tools to change the way you think, act and perform, pushing you beyond good management to great leadership. After 14 years of researching leaders around the world, Jo Owen has found that the best and most successful leaders have something more powerful than just skill. They act differently because they think differently. This book will help you unlock your true potential, showing you how to acquire the seven key mindsets that lead to success, whilst making the most of your existing talent and focusing on your natural strengths. This is the second edition of the bestselling The Mindset of Success and it has been updated with new cutting-edge research, targeted business advice and guidance on how your mindset must change as you move through your career. From spies to sports, education to entrepreneurship, business to beyond, Jo Owen's original research and interviews will show you how outstanding leaders think and behave differently from the merely good. This is the mindset difference and, once you have it, you have an advantage which lasts for a lifetime and will work for you time and time again. Using this unique book to develop your right mindset will enable you to open up new career possibilities and achieve far more than you could have imagined.

Jo Owen

The Mindset of Success

In the early days of modern content marketing (2008/2009), the content approach to marketing found fertile soil. The old content marketing was found in loyalty magazines, employee engagement magazines, and content on how to use innovative products, such as Jell-O's recipe book. In the early 2000s, content marketing became a continued strategic business function. The trigger was the expansion of Web 1.0 technology - web search.

Content marketing history

Early concepts of the metaverse date back to the early 2000s. The marketing hype around virtual currencies goes back to 1999 with Beenz and Flooz. <ul><li>Beenz positioned itself as "the web's currency". The site paid people in Beenz for viewing ads or signing up for a service.</li><li>Flooz, a virtual currency startup, used its internet currency as a loyalty program to internet merchants.</li></ul> Web 3.0 concepts in the early 2020s are like content marketing concepts in the early 2000s. These concepts aren't new, but they may transform into solid business strategies.

Web 3.0 isn’t new - it's just time

Web 3.0 technologies will impact the way consumers experience, consume, transact, and behave. But it is very early days. Web 3.0's first iterations are about how people gain and share content, join virtual communities and create customer experiences. In marketing, we may see the introduction of immersive participation and intelligent peer-to-peer transactions with a shift in allowing consumers to control their personal data. This means content-driven marketing experiences might evolve to where consumers control the connection. Retaining the relationship would require delivering great value.

Web 3.0 opportunities for content marketers

Blockchain technology enables these new decentralized capabilities for new customer experiences and supports direct peer-to-peer transactions without a centralized service provider. Decentralized content, marketing, and advertising will change the digital relationship between customers and businesses. This is called tokenized customer experience or tokenized CX.

How blockchain fits into content marketing

Marketers may soon be able to issue "tokens" (or smart contracts) powered by blockchain technology to enable more automated, secure, and trusted customer experiences. These tokens can enable any transaction involving digital artefacts (including ads, downloadable assets, subscriptions, or access to communities) and empower consumers to help shape their experience. They also enable marketers to develop more creative content and marketing experiences, meaning the scope is largely a content marketing approach.

Tokenized CX is just content marketing evolved

The early days of Web 1.0 were all about FINDING pages, blog posts, and downloads of documents, meaning marketers needed to focus on publishing content.  Web 2.0 pushed marketers to create responsive (and contextual) approaches so that customers could EXPERIENCE something better. But along the way, the focus shifted from creating findable content to finding intent signals that marketers used. As data becomes more precious, things will change again. If it continues to develop as expected, the promise of marketing in Web3.0 is to help customers CREATE something better.

Tomorrow’s content marketing and Web 3.0

Web3 and content marketing as a business strategy.

What you need to know about the impact of Web 3.0 concepts like NFTs, blockchain, and metaverse on the future of content marketing – Content Marketing Institute

crypto

Cryptocurrency

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

How Content Marketing Fits Into Web 3.0 (You Might Be Surprised)

<ul><li>Horizontal or extensive progress means copying things that work— going from 1 to n.</li><li>Vertical or intensive progress means doing new things— going from 0 to 1.</li></ul>Vertical progress is more challenging. You have to imagine something that doesn’t exist yet, but it has greater potential rewards. Peter believes that only those who can think outside the box established conventions can understand and change the future.

Horizontal Vs Vertical Progress

“Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”

<ul><li>Being the architect of your own future involves attempting to create the best future for you.</li><li>Peter describes future success as being a product of focus, dedication, and determination. You have to forget about the ideas of fate and luck. Those who are consistently successful create their luck through their actions.</li></ul>

How You Can Be The Architect of Your Own Future

Making small changes to things that already exist might lead you to a local maximum, but it won’t help you find the global maximum. <ul><li>It is better to risk boldness than triviality</li><li>An imperfect plan is better than no plan</li><li>Competitive markets destroy profits</li><li>Sales matter just as much as products</li></ul>

On “Lean Startup” Dogmas

The importance of moving away from the idea of healthy competition is that competition means there will be no capital left for you. The rest of the capital ‘pie’ will be eaten by your competitors. Therefore, Peter emphasizes the importance of building a monopoly.

Competition Is For Losers

<ul><li>Proprietary technology (10 times better than any existing solution),</li><li>Network effect (start with a hyper-niche market. If you think its too big it is),</li><li>The economy of scale (SaaS vs employee labor-intensive), </li><li>Excellent Branding (Apple Branding to stay continual trend).</li></ul>

What Defines A Monopoly?

<ul><li>We overrated the power of chance and underrated the importance of planning.</li><li>If you want an effective board, keep it small.</li><li>Eliminating competition makes it easier for everyone to build the kinds of long-term relationships that transcend mere professionalism.</li><li>The equation for the value of a business today is the value of earnings in the future.</li></ul>

Importance Of Planning

Rule 1 : Only invest in companies that have the potential to return the value of the entire fund.Rule 2 : Because rule one is so restrictive, there can’t be any other rules.

Follow The Money

<ul><li>Imagery: Using branded clothing and other items/events help show others in your company that you belong in the same tribe and shows commitment.</li><li>Slogans: Slogans, catch-phrases, and idioms are great tools to build strong relations among members of the team.</li><li>Advocacy: This is essentially advocating and broadcasting the main problem you aim to focus on tackling (usually mission), in addition to philanthropic-like activities.</li><li>Obsession: Find like-minded people — simple. Use active employees to recruit other like-minded people who are equally obsessed with solving the same problem as you.</li></ul>

To Construct An Effective Company Culture

1. The Engineering Question: Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvements?2. The Timing Question: Is now the right time to start your particular business?3. The Monopoly Question: Are you starting with a big share of a small market?4. The People Question: Do you have the right team?5. The Distribution Question: Do you have a way to not just create but deliver your product?6. The Durability Question: Will your market position be defensible 10 and 20 years into the future?7. The Secret Question: Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?

7 Questions That Every Business Must Answer

”All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition.”

“Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.”— Peter Thiel

"EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS HAPPENS ONLY ONCE. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won't make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won't create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren't learning from them. It's easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But every time we create something new, we go from 0 to 1. The act of creation is singular, as is the moment of creation, and the result is something fresh and strange. Zero to One is about how to build companies that create new things. It draws on everything I've learned directly as a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and then an investor in hundreds of startups, including Facebook and SpaceX. The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places, and they do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas. Ask not, what would Mark do? Ask: WHAT VALUABLE COMPANY IS NOBODY BUILDING? "--

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

startup

Startups

WHAT VALUABLE COMPANY IS NOBODY BUILDING? The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them. It’s easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. Every new creation goes from 0 to 1. This book is about how to get there. ‘Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.’ ELON MUSK, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla ‘This book delivers completely new and refreshing ideas on how to create value in the world.’ MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO of Facebook ‘When a risk taker writes a book, read it. In the case of Peter Thiel, read it twice. Or, to be safe, three times. This is a classic.’ NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB, author of The Black Swan

Peter Thiel is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Peter Thiel has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Peter Thiel's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Peter Thiel

Blake Masters is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Blake Masters has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Blake Masters's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Blake Masters

Zero to One

Zero to One: How to Build the Future

For a long time, the global business world was only vested in economic success while having little regard for how it may affect the environment or the health and well-being of the community. However, there has been a shift in recent years where customers and citizens are no longer willing to accept the status quo. This is what makes social entrepreneurs so important. They recognise and pursue innovative opportunities that create social value. They consider the nonprofit and business sectors to maximise their impact.

Social entrepreneurship

<ul><li>Choose what change you want to make in the world. Find one relevant to your customers and connect your products and services to your brand's history.</li><li>Tell the world what you want to accomplish. Make a public statement of your social purpose that is easy to understand. This will help you stay true to your vision.</li><li>Show the world how you're doing it. Design action plans with specific steps on how you are going to achieve the goals.</li><li>Use your goals to build the brand message the world will see. Connect your initiatives and activism into the brand story you've created to demonstrate your efforts.</li></ul>

Create social purpose for your brand

There are four key steps to using social entrepreneurship in your business effectively.

problemsolving

Problem Solving

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

How Social Entrepreneurship Can Level Up Your Success

"Everyone should have a side hustle. Even if you love your job., having more than one source of income will give you more freedom and more options."

<ul><li>Is it feasible? Can you execute it in an hour or less a day and expect to see results within a week? Or are you trying to climb Mt Everest on your first attempt?</li><li>Will it be profitable? How much can you expect to make from one sale? What expenses do you have to cover? What’s the optimistic and pessimistic version of this?</li><li>Is your idea persuasive? Can you explain what you’re selling to your grandma in two sentences? What’s your “wow factor?” What’s your unique advantage?</li></ul>If an idea fails to pass the scrutiny of these questions, don’t bother with it.

Generating Ideas For Your Side Hustle: The Validation Framework

The first week of side hustle month is about your ideas. The second week of the program encourages you to get clear about your ideal or target customer. Think of them as ‘your people'. Find out more about “your people”:<ul><li>If you know one of them, have a coffee. </li><li>But If you don’t: have an imaginary coffee with them’, or write a letter to them. </li></ul>

Finding "Your People"

Go from idea to offer with price, pitch, and promise.<ul><li>Your promise should be a bold, provocative statement that highlights the persuasive aspect of your idea. When people hear it, they should see how they can immediately benefit from your idea. </li><li>Your pitch tells people how you deliver on that promise in as few words as possible. </li><li>Your price lets people know how much they have to pay and comes with a clear call to action. </li></ul>

Price, Pitch, and Promise

"Like a comic book superhero, your side hustle needs a history [or herstory]. Don’t just give ‘em the facts; tell them a story."

Look for your own origin story – what is your superpower in relation to “your people” and importantly, what is the drama, or the ‘turning point’ that gave youour superpower.

Create Your Origin Story

"The best hack of all is to do something that makes a difference in [your] people’s lives."

This includes learning to:<ul><li>Clearly explain what your product or service is, why “your people” will benefit and how it works. </li><li>Deliver what you promise, so start simple with your promise, but go above and beyond whenever possible.</li><li> Uncover and respond to unspoken needs. </li><li>Find a way to report back to “your people” in some way. People often forget how bad the problem was, once it is solved. </li><li>Make it fun, interesting, or a source of status to write or record a testimonial for you</li></ul>

How You Can Change Your Customer’s Life

<ul><li>A website. Today, if you’re not online, you don’t exist. All you need is a domain and hosting. </li><li>A social media profile. Pick a platform that you like, where you’ll enjoy creating content and that suits your audience and focus on that.</li><li>A scheduling tool. Eliminates all the back and forth.</li><li>A payment system, to let people purchase right on your simple site</li></ul>If you end up with an idea for a side hustle that requires you to take out a $10,000 loan, you’ve done it wrong. It shouldn’t be expensive.

The Quintessential Side Hustle Shopping List

To sell a product or service, you must emphasize its merits. Focus on its benefits. The key is to connect with people emotionally.You should seek out four types of people who can help you along the way once you’ve identified the benefits of your side hustle. <ol><li>Find supporters first. Families and friends are most likely to be involved – they can lend a hand in a variety of ways and support your effort. </li><li>Find a mentor, someone who offers guidance and advice. </li><li>Identify influencers. Trendsetters are those who spread the word about your product. </li><li>Finding ideal customers is the fourth step. </li></ol>

Understand Your Side Hustle’s Benefits And Involve The Right People

A guide to launching a profitable entrepreneural venture in less than a month shares practical exercises and inspiring stores about how to plan, launch, and refine a side business with minimal revenue and without having to quit a full-time job.

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

The author of the New York Times Bestseller THE $100 STARTUP shows how to launch a profitable side hustle in just 27 days. For some people, the thought of quitting their day job to pursue the entrepreneurial life is exhilarating.  For many others, it’s terrifying. After all, a stable job that delivers a regular paycheck is a blessing. And not everyone has the means or the desire to take on the risks and responsibilities of working for themselves. But what if we could quickly and easily create an additional stream of income without giving up the security of a full-time job? Enter the side hustle. Chris Gullibeau is no stranger to this world, having launched more than a dozen side hustles over his career. Here, he offers a step-by-step guide that takes you from idea to income in just 27 days. Designed for the busy and impatient, this detailed roadmap will show you how to select, launch, refine, and make money from your side hustle in under a month. You’ll learn how to: •  Brainstorm, borrow, and steal to build an arsenal of great side hustle ideas (day 3) •  Apply “Tinder for Side Hustle” logic to pick the best idea at any time (day 6) •  Learn, gather, or create everything you need to launch; then set up a real life way to get paid (days 13-14) •  Start raking in the money by channeling your inner Girl Scout (day 18) •  Master the art of deals, discounts, and special offers (day 21) •  Raise your game: improve, expand, or make more money off your hustle (days 24-26) A side hustle is more than just another stream of income, it’s also the new job security. When you receive paychecks from different sources, it allows you to take more chances in your “regular” career. More income means more options. More options equals freedom. You don’t need entrepreneurial experience to launch a profitable side hustle. You don’t have to have an MBA, or know how to code, or be an expert marketer. You don’t need employees or investors. With Chris as a guide, anyone can make more money, pursue a passion, and enjoy greater security – without quitting their day job.

Chris Guillebeau is the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup and other books. During a lifetime of self-employment, he visited every country in the world (193 in total) before his 35th birthday. Every summer in Portland, Oregon he hosts the World Domination Summit, a gathering of creative, remarkable people. Chris also hosts Side Hustle School, a popular podcast that is downloaded more than 2 million times a month.

Chris Guillebeau

Side Hustle

Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days

Story comes first. Great graphics will keep us entertained for a couple of minutes, it is story that holds us in our seats.

It is easy to lose ourselves in corporate imperatives, to feel we are beholden to forces that might not be aligned with our personal aspirations and priorities, or with how we wish to give expression to our lives.

The Middle Way is about finding harmony between the structure that helps us function and the fluidity that opens us up to experience more ease, richness, and connection in our lives.

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Lawrence Levy received a call from Steve Jobs to become Pixar’s CFO and to lead it towards an IPO. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Jobs initially bought Pixar to make it a hardware company, but realized that that’s not what it was — it was an animation movie/entertainment company.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Lawrence struggles to understand the business and industry, as the entertainment industry is fully controlled by Hollywood. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Pixar and Disney have a deal: Disney pays for production, marketing, and distribution costs for the first 3 movies, but also receives 90% of its revenues.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Lawrence and Steve come up with a 4 step plan to make the company a succ<warningtag>ess.</warningtag></li></ul>

Lawrence Levy Joins Pixar

As developed by Lawrence Levy and Steve Jobs<ul><li>Increase Pixar’s share of film profits to at least 50%. (4 times increase of the current deal with Disney at that time)</li><li>Raise money to finance their own films. At least 75 million dollars to pay for production costs. (Pixar would have to pay all, or a large part, of production costs of its own films. This is a key requirement of negotiating for an increased share of profits)</li><li>Expand the studio to increase the rate of producing films. (One film every 18 months instead of every four years)</li><li>Build Pixar into a worldwide brand.</li></ul>

Four Pillars of the Pixar Business Plan

Factors that determine one’s capacity to affect change:<ul><li>Leverage (bargaining power or strength)</li><li>Negotiation</li></ul>Tactics you employ to extract the best terms you can, given your leverage:<ul><li>How you put the leverage to work for you.</li><li>Courage, fear, tenacity, trustworthiness, creativity, calm, the willingness to walk away, to behave irrationally.</li></ul>

The Capacity To Affect Change

<ul><li>Steve Jobs first became a billionaire from the Pixar IPO. </li><li>When going public for their IPO, investment bankers examined every aspect of the company, its history, assets, debts, products, profits, markets, distribution channels, management team, competition, and anything else relevant to its success.</li><li>IPO preparations didn't go smoothly — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley don’t want to do it, so Lawrence finds other 3 smaller investment banks. As part of the process, Steve also finds a couple of Directors for the Board.</li><li>The IPO is a massive success, with Steve owning all of the shares (apart from<warningtag> a small employee share pool).</warningtag></li></ul>

Pixar's IPO

Toy Story comes out after 5+ years in production — it’s super hard to make animations back then as you need to think of every single detail and animate it and then put it back on film for the cinemas. It is a massive hit and becomes the 3rd top grossing animation of all time.

Successful Launch Of The First Movie — Toy Story

<ul><li>Melding business realities with creative priorities was always integral to Pixar’s collaboration and business model.</li><li>Pixar’s successful process relied much on the relentless critique of each other’s work, and the willingness to put aside ego enough to hear that critique.</li><li>Pixar ceded creative control and decision-making to the creative team. This was contrary to the popular Hollywood model of executives making creative decisions.</li></ul>

Pixar's Business Model

The problem with success, even a little success, is that it changes you. You are no longer walking along the same precipice that drove you to do great work in the first place. Now you have something to defend: a reputation, money in the bank, a brand, real customer expectations. Success can take the edge away.

entertainment

Entertainment

A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year 2017 One day in November 1994, Lawrence Levy received a phone call out of the blue from Steve Jobs, whom he'd never met, offering him a job running Pixar, a little-known company that had already lost Jobs $50 million. With Pixar's prospects looking bleak, it was with some trepidation that Levy accepted the position. After a few weeks he discovered that the situation was even worse than he'd imagined. Pixar's advertising division just about broke even, its graphics software had few customers, its short films didn't make any money and, on top of all that, Jobs was pushing to take the company public. Everything was riding on the studio's first feature film, codenamed Toy Story, and even then it would have to be one of the most successful animated features of all time... Full of wisdom on bringing business and creativity together, and recounting the touching story of Levy's enduring friendship with Jobs, To Pixar and Beyond is a fascinating insider's account of one of Hollywood's greatest success stories.

Lawrence Levy

To Pixar and Beyond

In today’s information-saturated age, people are often too preoccupied to notice what you’re offering unless it’s packaged and presented appealingly enough to break through all the noise.<ul><li>When people ask, “What do you do?” or “Why should I buy this?” it’s your job to make a long story short.</li><li>If someone can’t repeat your message back to you after you’ve told it, they didn’t “get it.” </li><li>If someone can’t remember your message, you wouldn’t get their business.</li></ul>

POP!: The Premise

You need to answer the “9 Ws” for your message/product/service:<ul><li>What am I offering?</li><li>What problem does my idea or offering solve?</li><li>Why is it worth trying and buying?</li><li>Who is my target audience?</li><li>Who am I and what are my credentials?</li><li>Who are my competitors and how am I different from them?</li><li>What resistance or objections will people have to this?</li><li>What is the purpose of my pitch?</li><li>When, where, and how do I want people to take action?</li></ul>

The Nine Ws You Need To Ask Yourself

<ul><li>The first requirement of a POP pitch is to be purposeful. People need to be absolutely sure of what you do/offer from your image/introduction/slogans alone. Examples of memorable slogans are given.</li><li>A pitch also needs to be original or one of a kind. Things that are original are appealing or, at the least, novel enough to try.</li><li>Pithy means concise and precise. The top slogans of the 20th century, as selected by Advertising Age magazine, are all less than seven words.</li></ul>

Your Pitch: The Three Requirements

The “alphabetizing technique” is where you take some of the “core words” relating to your product/service/message and make them more original by going through the alphabet and changing the sound of the first syllable.A bar used the alphabetizing technique with their “happy hour” to produce “yappy hour”, a special hour for dog owners.The “spell chuck” technique is switching out words or parts of words with homophones, such as “Curl up and Dye” for a hairdresser, “VoluntEARS” for a Disney customer service program.

Word-y Techniques

Try to “capture conversational catchphrases.” Pick up on unique phrases used in your industry or in relation to your message/product. Build a Rewarding Career, Job Search Techniques sounds dull but  I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This sounds catchy and conversation oriented.Come up with catchphrases that are linked to what the customer/reader wants to hear in relation to the product. For example, for a toothpaste company making a child’s toothpaste: Look, Ma. No cavities!

Catching The Conversation

Anytime we elicit a laugh, people are more likely to like us and whatever it is we’re offering.Use all sorts of humour (except adult, rude, offensive) in your message and pitches. Trashy newspaper headlines, etc.Rearrange clichés to end up with fresh sounding phrases. For example, “I rub people the right way.”To Michael Jordan, it was said “Remember, Michael, there’s no I in team.” Jordan replied, “Yeah, but there is in win.”

Using Humor

The “Half-and-Half Technique” is when you make columns of related words that are based on your message and then try combinations of them. This is a common technique for coming up with domain names.Blend two words into one, like giraffiti, staremaster, Internut etc.

Two To Tango

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth

The “contraband” technique is when you take a contrary position in a message, such as a “TV is good for your kids” or an upside-down Christmas tree (“leaves more room on the floor for gifts!”) .Difference stands out.Think “how can I introduce something that causes people to rethink their assumptions and question their current beliefs?”

Saying The Unexpected

<ul><li>Alliteration is given as a technique to make powerful titles. Examples: Weight Watchers, King Kong, Boombox, Dirt Devil. </li><li>Do remember to never sacrifice clear for clever.</li><li>Change a message to fit a beat or natural-sounding flow if one presents itself (e.g. rhymes). </li><li>Is your slogan in a beat that’s easy to repeat?</li></ul>

Sounds Good To The Ears!

<ul><li>Make your content come alive with first-person stories.</li><li>Examples are better than explanations.</li><li>Re-enact stories rather than “telling” them. Be visceral and active in your storytelling.</li><li>People remember stories, even if they don't remember anything else.</li></ul>

Keeping The Interest: Storify

<ul><li>Comb newspapers for current quotes.</li><li>Quote yourself, if you wish.</li><li>Quotations are a quick way to establish precedence. (And to validate ideas.)</li><li>Open eyes, ears, hearts, and minds with Aha! quotes.</li><li>Craft a memorable money phase. “Show me the money” from Jerry Maguire is given as an example. Money phrases drive word-of-mouth marketing.</li><li>You can “rip off” quotes by changing them to include your message in a funny way. For example, “I think, therefore iPod.”</li></ul>

The Power Of Quotes

Pop! is a lively, fun, and inspiring guide to getting heard, getting remembered, and getting results.

An inspirational handbook introduces the POP! process--to make messages Purposeful, Original, and Pithy--in order to promote one's ideas successfully, discussing such concepts as Muse It or Lose It, the Eureka Moment, the Jerry Maguire Rule, Contra-Brand, and Idea Chemistry.

While being memorable is important in one's personal life, it takes on an added urgency when trying to sell yourself, your business, or your product. In such a saturated market, with consumers being constantly bombarded with advertising messages and marketing images, how can you make sure to POP! out of the crowd? In her new book, Sam Horn reveals ways to ensure that you, your business and your product never blend into the background again. 'POP!' (or Purposeful, Original, and Pithy) has the power to propel even lifetime wallflowers into dynamic self-promoters.

Sam Horn

Pop!

Pop!: Stand Out in Any Crowd

Growth loopsEngagementRetentionDefensibility

The benefits of Social+

<ul><li>Having a social graph that is unique and inseparable from the product.</li><li>Own the community – building a product on top of a pre-existing social graph means the network is owned by someone else.</li><li>The social element needs to be integral to the experience.</li><li>Peer-to-peer social engagement is essential to the product.</li><li>The community should engage with each other rather than being a passive audience.</li></ul>

What makes a company Social+

<ul><li>The social interactions should feel authentic.</li><li>Has an interactive layer, which appeals to the user’s emotional and cognitive side, and a transactional layer which appeals to the rational and functional side.</li><li>These layers should be mutually reinforcing.</li></ul>

Challenges to building a Social+ company

Companies like TikTok and Fortnite have built an integrated social experience around music and gaming. They are Social+ companies.

No category is really won until the social product is built. These are challenges and the open opportunities in building "social+" companies.

Community Takes All: The Power of Social+

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