Passion Junkies

If you need excitement and drama in your life, then maybe you stir things up and blow things out of proportion. A lot people do that. They cause a little trouble and create nothing particularly good.

But if you you are restless in your pursuit of great ideas, or breakthroughs, or maybe you are looking for magic and won't stop until you get it, then you're a passion junkie.

Some great companies were created and run by passion junkies who drove people nuts but also changed the world for the better.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
Fort Wayne, IN
http://www.labov.com/

Passion runs both ways

If you represent or manufacture a passion product, congratulations! Nothing is more exciting or fulfilling to see a customer thrilled with your product, enjoying it, coveting it, etc.

But passion runs both ways. No customer will be more disappointed, betrayed or insulted by a poor experience or poorly made product than that very same customer, which is why the more your product inspires passion, the more critical the need to ensure the quality of your product. And the experience of purchasing and owning it must fit the expectations of that passion purchaser.

The fall from the peak of passion is a treacherous one.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications and Training
www.labov.com
www.barrylabov.com

Look for the Passion

Talent and smarts are great. Good looks help, too. But passion trumps them all.

If you're fired up about what you're doing and you love it, love it , love it and want to be the best (at least your best, maybe even the best in the world), then wow, you're amazing.

And then if you happen to also be talented, smart and your looks won't scare the bark off a tree, you're a superstar.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Follow the Passion, Follow the Money

There's a difference between passion and excitement. I've known plenty of energetic people who make a lot of noise, who laugh a lot, and who run around at a frenetic pace. Those people are energetic, excitable and quite often, fun to be around.

A person with passion may not be as loud, may not laugh a lot and may not run around the office like a whirling dervish. But they do doggedly focus on their customers and their business and they truly inspire others to do the same. They are fun to be around because they make good things happen, they take ownership, they elevate everything and everyone around them.

An excitable person is entertaining. A person with passion inspires.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

PB&J

We all need a little PB&J, passion, bravery and joy, in our business lives.

Our company, LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications and Training, utilizes PB&J as our mantra. It's not like we have the PB&J market cornered, it's just we've come to realize that on our best day, we exude passion in our thinking and ideas. On our best day, we have the courage (bravery) to go against the status quo and ask the tough questions or stand up for what we believe in to help the client. When all that happens, we feel the exhilaration, the joy, of making a difference for the client.

PB&J is a goal, an aspiration, and a direction, but it's not a position or destination. It's also a challenge, because it's simply not easy to be "up" every moment and achieve it.

PB&J is also a litmus test. You can judge the value of an idea, the level of your commitment to the client and the energy within your company by asking: "Are we showing passion in what we do? Are we overcoming fears and challenging the conventional thinking and status quo? Does our organization have the energy, the excitement or joy that a PB&J company should?" If you answer yes to all those questions, you're having a "best day." Enjoy it, celebrate it.

If you are not achieving PB&J, it's time to analyze where you're missing the mark and pick up the intensity. Imagine if we each had 365 "best days" of PB&J every year...

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Award versus assign

How can some seemingly limited companies do so well in serving their clients while other huge, resource-rich companies fall flat?

It's because the client ultimately doesn't value the vast resources a company can bring them unless there is a person or a team that actually is excited, passionate and engaged in serving them. So, a small company with an "obsessed" team will be more fun and more valuable to that client. If they don't have resources in-house, they can always go outside to get them, especially with the technology we have today.

Maybe it all has to do in how we start off a relationship with a client. If we assign a responsibility to someone ("You're now on the such-and-such account"), we may have a competent person, but do they really care that much? It's a crap shoot - maybe yes, maybe no.

If we start by first learning who has passion for that client or their industry, and we award the individual that is qualified and filled with passion with serving that client, we have a far better chance of doing great things for the client.

I'd rather have a less experienced team than a more experienced team if the former had passion and enthusiasm for the client and their industry. And I think the client would agree.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications
www.labov.com

Passion, Bravery and Joy--PB&J

Not so long ago, a bunch of us at here at LaBov & Beyond were sitting around in a creative session. All of a sudden, the energy level rose - one of us talked about some gutsy thing a client did. A few minutes later, the energy rose again when one of us was talking about a cool idea from another client that she was passionate about. We got lost in the moment - it was great.

It quickly dawned on us that what inspires us is people or organizations that show passion and bravery in business. On our best day at LaBov and Beyond, we have passion, and we're courageous in our beliefs. On our not-so-great days, we're competent, if not a little fearful - probably not a whole lot of fun to be around. Which is why our goal now is to have every day be a "best day."

To inspire us toward that important goal - and to maybe help you do the same - we've created a monthly communication called pb+j - Passion, Bravery and Joy. Click here to read about some pretty impressive ideas and people who have, in our opinion, PB&J. Hope it inspires you as much as it does us.



Barry LaBov
CEO, LaBov and Beyond Marketing Communications
www.labov.com

The Unusual Choice

So often it gets frustrating dealing with people issues. There seems to be a gap between what you may think of a person's performance and what they think of it.

I just dealt with that. I had to choose who would take charge of an important project. For some reason, I kept gravitating toward an unusual choice, a person who had not led a project before. My safest option was a veteran who always gets assignments like this one. As I analyzed my dilemma, it became clear to me.

The veteran was a safe choice and a good performer. But he hadn't grown in years, his passion and ideas were somewhat stale. The other person, was also a good performer, but he had grown, he was better than he was a year ago, better today than a month ago. And his ideas and passion reflected it.

I went with the unusual choice instead of the veteran. The veteran didn't really understand why, because after all, he was good and he knew it. But he didn't care enough to do anything about it.

The other bonus for going with the unusual choice? It's so much more fun and uplifting working with someone that is passionate and growing.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

A brave new world

Programming update: We're partnering with the TQM Network to host a CEO roundtable discussion from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. this Friday morning, February 20. Join us for refreshments and an enlightening discussion about bravery and passion can help your organization thrive and grow in this down economy. More details on the event can be found here, or by clicking on the title of this post. We hope to see you there.