Here is a great list of 16 rules from Bob Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy and other companies.

The original can be found here on his blog:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.

I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think. There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this:”The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.” 

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.” 

6. Take things a day at a time.No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” 

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there. 

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place. 

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare). 

14. Solve your own problems. You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There’s always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!”

Copyright © 2005-2007 Bob Parsons. All rights reserved.

The post sharing this information originates from sheehe.com. The original content originates from Bob Parsons Blog

Attention spans are getting shorter, people are able to watch what they want when they want, and the average consumer is inundated with marketing messages from everywhere nowadays. If our content does not lead the industry, it gets lost in the growing amount of clutter out there. If we don’t follow or emulate the people that are successfully attracting viewers to their entertainment product, again, our content gets lost in the clutter. And, of course, if we aren’t leading or following, then, we should truly get out of the way or be move out of the way by by someone else.

I read somewhere recently(sorry I don’t remember the source) that Apple, Inc. creates an atmosphere where ideas and leadership are challenged constantly. If a manager is not successfully doing their job, the team is encouraged to voice their concerns. If the manager continues to falter, then someone will quickly replace them. If this is true, I would contend that that is one of the reasons why Apple has consistently reinvented itself for the past few years and become one of the most respected businesses in the United States.

Far too often companies and people become complacent with where they are, it’s very easy to succumb to that. Many don’t like change and if something is working, why try to improve upon it? I would contend that as leaders in the media industry we must always challenge ourselves and our teams to go beyond status quo. Average work should never be considered an option in our industry.

Competition in this industry is fierce and there are always people right behind you ready to take the reigns, everyone is replaceable. No matter how high on the ladder you are, there will always be someone with new ideas and just as competent ready to lead. Eisner was replaceable and Jobs will be replaceable someday too, no matter how much people want to try and embellish the story otherwise. Will these new leaders be just as good? That is obviously impossible tell, but, if they keep up with innovation and challenging their business, I believe they will find success.

I don’t want it to sound like i’m saying our desire to innovate should be driven by the fear of those looking to replace us, rather, it should be driven by our desire to lead the industry, captivate audiences, challenge ourselves and challenge our teams. How boring would any form of mass media be today if there weren’t those people before us that pushed themselves and their teams to deliver something different and extraordinary.

Reflect upon what your team is doing, come up with a road map where you want to go, and execute on it. Challenge members of your team to deliver above and beyond, have them work with each other to create something the team has never seen before from them. Inspire and create an environment where over-delivering is encouraged and rewarded. Share with your team the results of their work, the successes and the failures. Examine why something failed and tweak a similar project the next time out.

If we cant lead or follow, then we should get out of the way. No one is safe in the ever changing landscape of this industry.

Even Disney and Apple at one point were both on the verge of breakups, buyouts and takeovers, it doesn’t matter how big they were, their relevance had diminished greatly due to lack of innovation and the ability to capture audiences. We always have to keep that in mind.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way!

MTV is the perfect example of this. Before the networks launch, jump cuts in editing were frowned upon and look at as unprofessional. Today, they’re a common occurrence in promotion, commercials, an even films. They’re common place now because the pioneers at MTV took a risk and broke the rules of the day.

For a little while now there has been a trend to dial back the slickness of spots and give them a “home-brew” feel, thanks in part to the proliferation of YouTube and other user created video sites. However, this is a practice that would have been laughed at only a few years ago in the late nineties.

So, I say, don’t be afraid to break the rules if the chance arises. Sometimes it won’t turn out well or be received by the public as intended, but, you tried. Eventually it will pay off.

Breaking the rules doesn’t have to mean, breaking the rules for an entire spot it could just mean for a certain element in a spot. Let’s say, an animation path where the curves are all out of whack creating a disconcerting feel, that will work for some concepts and help sell certain programs much better. Although, it’s against the norm of having the animation ease-in and eas-out in the way it “should.”

My concept of breaking the rules also transcends making something “ugly” or “wrong” when you break the rules, it could also be using technologies in ways they aren’t even intended for. Full length animated films may have never came about if it wasn’t for Walt Disney breaking the rules of his day.

So, where can we brake the rules? What technologies are ripe to be exploited to help us get our message out? I ask myself these questions many times when I’m presented with  new technologies, concepts, or just trying to cut through the clutter of today’s sponsored  surroundings.

*****NOTE: MOST EVERY IMAGE I POST ON THIS SITE IS FROM WORK THAT I’VE DONE. HOWEVER, THIS LOGO IS NOT SOMETHING I WORKED ON. I’M JUST USING IT TO ILLUSTRATE THE EXAMPLE IN THE POST.*****

There is a fundamental difference between being a manager and being a leader. Although both concepts go hand in hand and may sound the same, we’ve all seen people that are managers, but, not great leaders.

A manager is someone that divvies up projects, assigns them, and tracks them on a calendar up until their completion. While this oversight of day to day work is an important aspect of overseeing a creative group, I contend that you must also be a great leader if you want a team that consistently delivers industry leading content.

What is my definition of a leader? A leader is someone that not only assigns projects, but, can also inspire their team to deliver content that their people are passionate about. A leader is someone that empowers his or her people with the knowledge and tools to utilize their artistic abilities. If a manager is not challenging their team, giving their people ownership and ensuring their team is focused on common goals, then, they’re not leading. Even if all projects are coming in on time and at status quo, that’s still not leading in my opinion, it’s being an effective manager, but , not being a strong leader.

In the broadcast industry, it’s imperative that we be both an effective manager and an inspirational leader. With how many hands, minds, and eyes touch each and every project, creative teams need the type of focus a strong leader brings to the table. In my career, the teams that have been challenged by projects and are aware of common goals, perform better and deliver higher caliber spots. While the teams that are segmented, unaware of where the team is headed, and detached from the creative process, become disenchanted, delivering  what is needed, but, hardly ever go beyond that. Although the team makes deadlines,  the quality of their product is only about average. In our profession, we should never be complacent with average work, with all of the competition trying to take away our viewers, our team has to want to surpass anything else out there.

We must keep our people challenged by offering them opportunities to explore and try different things. We have to respect and utilize each team members ideas, suggestions, and concepts. Some of the most innovative ideas can come from the mist unlikely sources, such as an intern, we can never forget that.

It’s our responsibility as creative leaders to create a road map for where our team needs to go, but, allow the entire team to collaborate and decide how we get there. Every project is completed with the blood, sweat and tears of numerous individuals, not just one single person, which I will explore in greater detail in another post.

Managing the day to day planning and execution of projects is an important aspect of any creative director or art director. Managing should never be sacrificed, but, we must also lead by example, inspiration, and collaboration.

However, I’m writing that statement because I’ve heard people mention that, being a critic is their unique ability. Sorry to say, but, in my opinion, it’s not. Any type of media that even the most experienced professional creates will have people that like it and people that don’t. The biggest blockbuster films that make millions worldwide will have groups of people that can find something wrong with it.

How does this relate to our industry? I contend that we must not be critics, it’s so amazingly simple to find something that can be changed in anything that we do. How good or bad our creative is is so subjective, we’ll always be able to find people that like it and people that don’t.

I say we challenge ourselves and our colleagues to not only criticize our teams work, but, offer ways to make it better. This would be, constructive criticism.

I’ve sat in so many meetings and creative briefs where people have pointed out what is wrong with something, but, are unable to offer suggestions on how to make it better. This type of meeting can draw on for quite sometime without any true resolution or goals to really polish up a piece.

The creative sessions that I’ve been involved with that have been most productive, are the ones where everyone involved is focused on making the piece better.

The ideal situation, in my humble opinion, is when egos and pride are checked at the door and a heathy debate arises on how to make a piece better. It’s important for everyone to be flexible with their ideas and imperative to get different perspectives from the entire creative team and our partners. In the end, your teams work will be seen by millions of people and the best way to appeal to the largest amount of people is by integrating different perspectives into a promotion or commercial.

As with everything I write here, I don’t think these concepts will work for every project. Sometimes your team comes up with something so far out of the box that you just have to roll with it. Also, some projects could be impacted in a negative way if there are too many modifications.

As creative leaders we must be able to ascertain which projects will be open to debate and which projects just fly as is. It’s a constant learning experience that we will make great decisions sometimes and sometimes miss the mark completely, but, we should always look at those misfires as a learning experience that will not be repeated.

Building a team that focuses on constructive criticism helps in the ways I’ve already mentioned, but, I also feel it helps build a team of people that are vested in every project that they work on. Their ideas are being considered and implemented because they’re offering suggestion on how to make something better, rather than just pointing out what’s wrong with something.

My observation is that people that have been in this industry for a while typically practice these philosophies, but, interns and those new to this industry don’t. Not because they don’t want to, but, they really don’t know better. Criticism is something that we are inundated with every day. Movie reviews and actors clothing at the oscars are just two examples where we hear that the movie was bad or that dress was ugly, but nothing more beyond that. It’s easy to say someone’s dress is ugly, it’s much more of a challenge to offer ways to make that particular garment work.So, as leaders, we must challenge interns, newcomers and even our veteran staff to step outside the comfort zone of criticizing a project. They must be challenged to think of ways to make the product better, offer up what they dislike about something, but challenge them to follow it up with a way to make it better.

Plain vanilla criticism will always be around us, is just to easy, but, if we constantly strive for industry leading content to be produced, we must empower our team with the wherewithal to go beyond common and really provide outstanding ideas on how to make every project better.