My friend Therese Kienast from Radical Leadership shared with us some points on leadership and how we tend to self-sabotage ourselves. It is very interesting and true.
To listen to the audio click here: Radical Leadership.

I like Jones Soda. I’ve had a couple flavors and don’t even drink it that often, but I know they’ve never done anything by the book, and that is why I like them!

If you’ve been in a conversation with Shahar I’m sure you’ve heard her spiel about Pepsi competing with Coke and spending a bunch of money but even then never becoming the number one in the cola department, but that smart companies create their own niche and become the un-cola and so forth… well, Peter van Stolk did just that!

He basically built a cult and he did it well, in part by positioning Jones as the anti-Coke. Its offerings have included flavors such as Jelly Donut, Egg Nog, and Bug Juice, sold in bottles labeled with customer-submitted photos. The company does no traditional advertising. Instead, its two RVs ramble from town to town nationwide, stocked with sodas that are distributed free to teens in malls and schoolyards.

I must say that their strategies have changed since the start of the company, obviously (what successful company stuck to their original plan until the end?!) Granted they’ve had a few misses, but they have such an engaging approach that it’s worth pointing out…

1. anti-Coke.
2. Super weird, but original flavors.
3. Customer-submitted photos (phenomenal strategy!)
4. No advertising.

Care to read an interesting article about them? Go here.

For some odd reason I’m fascinated by the way people are. How they do things, why they do what they do, how they react, how they behave and so on. What also intrigues me are the many different ways people find to do the same things, through out the different generations.

That sounds a little confusing but essentially what I’m trying to get to is this: I read an article on ars technica about a study between Gen X moms and Gen Y moms. They were studying how both types of moms used the Internet and found out that while they both go online to accomplish tasks related to parenting, the way they interact with others differs depending on when they first logged on to the Internet. Put simply, Gen Y moms tend to be more “Web 2.0″ than their Gen X counterparts.

They’re both using the Internet as a tool, and they’re both looking to be better parents, but they do it so differently from one another.

Bonnier’s Parenting Group surveyed 847 mothers who visited Parenting.com to collect data. The company found that Gen X-ers, those who were born in the late 60s and during the 70s, tend to use the Internet to accomplish certain tasks rather than interact with others. This includes looking at photos, reading product ratings, and buying products online. On the flip side, Gen Y-ers, those who were (generally) born in the 80s and 90s, tend to be more social online. They are more likely to interact with other people through the use of blogs, social networks, and video-/photo-sharing sites.

See the importance of understanding who you’re really targeting? Your message needs to hit them at the core, and not having your audience well defined, not knowing what they do and how they do it, might just be the difference between your success and your failure.

I’m a movie fan, and I especially get a kick out of animations. You also know that I like to study Disney, therefore anything that Pixar releases I’m all over it! Disney and Pixar have found a way to make it work, so yes, I study them intensely!

Bill Taylor wrote a very interesting article about Pixar’s Blockbuster Secrets, here’s a snippet:

Pixar doesn’t just make films that perform better than standard fare. It also makes its films differently — and, in the process, defies many familiar, and dysfunctional, industry conventions. Pixar has become the envy of Hollywood because it never went Hollywood.

More than a few business pundits have drawn parallels between the flat, decentralized “corporation of the future” and the ad-hoc collection of actors, producers and technicians that come together around a film and disband once it is finished. In the Hollywood model, highly talented people agree to terms, do their jobs, and move on to the next project. The model allows for maximum flexibility, to be sure, but it inspires minimum loyalty and endless jockeying for advantage.

Turn that model on its head and you get the Pixar version: a tightknit company of long-term collaborators who stick together, learn from one another, and strive to improve with every production. Andrew Stanton, who directed Wall-E, was a key figure behind Finding Nemo, which won two Oscars, generated worldwide box-office of $840 million, and became the best-selling DVD of all time. But Stanton didn’t follow the success of Nemo by offering himself to the highest bidder or demanding perks and special treatment. He went back to his job as an employee of the studio, to pitch in on other films and eventually begin work on his next major project.

And Stanton is merely one of many superbly talented writers and directors who have staked their reputations on their work at Pixar. Again, in contrast to convention, these professionals have traded one-time contracts for long-term affiliation and contribute across the studio, rather than to just their pet projects.

Like Bill Taylor asked, how are you changing the game in your field? What is your distinctive take on how your industry operates? Do you work as distinctively as you compete?