I really enjoyed my guest appearance on the Young and Profiting podcast show. Its host, Hala Taha - the CEO of YAP Media – is a highly gifted conversationalist with a disarming passion for sharing knowledge.

I invite you to listen in on our high-paced repartee here, in which we discuss key elements of Slingshot, ranging from reconnecting with our inner child to mastering Infatuation Intervals:

https://www.youngandprofiting.com/169-slingshot-your-way-to-market-domination-with-gabor-george-burt/

#YAPMedia #podcast #creativity #selfimprovement #leadership

I am currently in Montreal, having led a session at the Women Presidents Organization annual conference. My visit happened to coincide with the national funeral for hockey icon Guy Lafleur.  

The ceremony is taking place at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in downtown Montreal, right next to my hotel.  This pic is from my hotel room at the moment Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived.

Lafleur, called ‘the blond demon’ was described as a "Jackson Pollock painting on ice, a frenetic innovator who pushed the boundaries of his art beyond what had ever been conceived, a singularly dynamic force that turned an everyday sight as simple as a man on skates with a puck on his stick into a masterpiece — something you had seen before, perhaps, but never quite like that".

#hockey #lafleur #innovation #leadership

I was pleased to be one of the very first guests of the Action This podcast series, hosted by Zack Hamilton,  Chief Experience and Strategy Officer at Stingray. 

Join our spirited conversation revealing the key drivers of creative transformation mastery:

https://www.chatterresearch.com/s1e3-creative-thinking-conquers-all/

I loved this story in the NYT about the seemingly absurd, counterintuitive approach the New York Public Library took to recovering long overdue books. Starting in October of last year, the library eliminated late fees. The result has been a deluge of long lost books pouring back, from as far back as 1965. Moreover, the initiative also caused a 9-15% increase in visitors to libraries across the city. NYPL’s President (and former President of my alma mater Amherst College) Tony Marx observed: "We're not in the fine-collecting business. We’re in the encouraging-to-read-and-learn business."

The library’s initiative is a great illustration of challenging conventional wisdom, as well as the core Slingshot principal of turning customer pain point into point of infatuation. Rather than continuing to increase fines for tardy book returns (traditional pain point), it liberated customers from the burden and stigma, and in the process transformed customer resentment into relief, joy and renewed enthusiasm for reading.

Takeaway question: How can YOU defy conventional wisdom in a way that transforms a pain point into infatuation for your customers?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/nyregion/nyc-library-fines-books-returned.html

#creativity #leadership #unconventionalwisdom #innovation #customerexperience

I was very pleasantly surprised to see so many companies re-engage in expressing their sense of humor this April 1st, after a 2-year pause.  

For your amusement, here are some of the best humorous campaigns that were unveiled:

https://www.cnet.com/culture/internet/april-fools-day-2022-butterfinger-mayo-invisible-earbuds-and-other-jokes/

And here is T-Mobile’s prank, which has consistently been a leading April Fools activists:

https://www.androidpolice.com/t-mobile-april-fools-new-magenta/

Beyond making you smile, such humor has serious, strategic benefits.  Often the seeds of break-through ideas are hidden in humor.  Therefore, as you browse through these examples, ask yourself:  

What 'absurd' ideas do they trigger for expanding your customer’s experience to a whole new level of relevance and enrichment?

#humor #aprilfools #leadership #businesstransformation #creativity