Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Brilliant ideas rarely make it to reality...

If you want growth, you need to find people willing to join you; believe in you and donate to you in the way of offering support. Only those focused on change will stand beside your efforts of something new and extremely positive. Who said that? Seth Godin, author of the highly touted social networking guide for beginner’s book called Tribes We need you to lead us.

How often do you bump into a self proclaimed leader who promises Hollywood lights, camera action and the end result is Butte, Montana at 10pm on a Sunday night? Modern day decision makers are in the way of success completing its journey. The true stars on the playing fields are at the bottom of the ladder, the skeptics who’ve held onto a bright idea for years but constantly hesitate to set it free.

Seth writes, “We hesitate because it feels like something we need to be ordained to do. We believe without an authority we can’t lead…big organizations reserve leadership for CEO’s”

And you see where that’s gotten this country.

I am a tree hugger and grasp the concept of making everything green; from cars to factories from toilets to rain barrels. Anyone associated with the backwoods effort of saving this planet knows from the beginning; to get where we need to go, it’s going to cost a lot of money. Besides, the junk required to go green is ugly and like a diamond, nobody wants to connect their chapters to a brown paper bag.

As an artist, it became my vision to design rain barrels that didn’t look like garbage cans. I met with a brilliant designer from Ohio who carefully landscaped the full process of creating a weather proofed top that collected the water, a giant ceramic belly to hold the tears from passing clouds, a spout to deliver the substance inside to its proper flower bed while still allowing a passerby to say, “Wow! Look at that piece of art in the front yard!”

The prototype was brilliant! It worked exactly the way I dreamed. What I didn’t expect was the company chosen to manufacture the “Green” product would triple their costs knowing such yard art would sell and they wanted a bigger chunk of the cherry pie. That meant I’d be forced to charge too much money for something that should come free with every tax payers house.

I call it the Compact Disc Theory of Pocketbook Terrorism. We were told in the 1980’s that CD would tumble toward an easily digestible price. It’s never happened; look at what’s taking place inside the world of music. While 65% of the world has purchased MP3 players and IPods; consumers still lagging buy two maybe three CD’s a year and it’s usually from the cheapo box at the front of Wal-Mart.

Where’s the leadership in that?

Seth explains, “For there to be followers there must be passion for change.”
For us to spend money and or create enough open space to welcome something new into our unwritten chapters we require inspiration and the feeling of being connected. Gene Simmons of KISS might be the greatest musical marketer of all time but The Grateful Dead understood the art of collecting followers and giving them a required daily balance of what to expect and get it not just today but everyday, even in the years after Gerry Garcia.

Being an author of five books…it’s become my passion to reach out to the Kindle and Nook world and say, “Screw book companies and publishers that charge $15 or more for something no human hand has touched.”

No shelf space is being swallowed up by paperback novels and motivational speeches. No large boxes are created to ship the words locked in hard covers to the consumer. No employee is required to stand on their feet for 8 to 22 hours during the holiday to sell the latest books from blah, and blah and blah, blah, blah. 99.9% of the time I give my books away because I’ve not met the person to stop them from wasting their money at the counter.

Going Kindle or Nook is perfectly green. As an artist the greatest way to support it is to offer what moves through me at an extremely attainable price. And if you quickly rush to Amazon to see what that is…you might as well ask me now why $2.99…cuz if Amazon is making something available to writers and for it to be there everyday...we show our gratitude by giving back to them. Everyone who chooses to release their creations into the presence of a passing breeze may lose the opportunity to grow.

Seth writes: The Market requires change and that requires leadership. With leadership comes the ability to create change because the market demands change."

Corporate American managers manage they refuse to dine in change unless it’s the fourth quarter and someone’s got to go.

If within the secret self you keep don’t care about organizational structure…you are a leader. If you exceed the levels of required passion while holding ideas capable of bulldozing ancient ways of concept and delivery….you are a leader. What keeps you from reaching the full potential of your dreams is a stupid word called awareness. Without awareness there can be no change.

Success doesn’t always start at the top. Business leaders are waiting for you to lead them. Only to hear you say, “Well…um…sure it sounds nice but I don’t have the time.”
Retirement will get here quicker than graduating from high school…decide today what flavor of cat food you expect to stack in the bare shelves Old Mother Hubbard left for you back in the day when Nursery Rhymes came with a deeper purpose.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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