jungle jeff

Entrepreneur?

This past Sunday in the comments section, we heard a few perspectives on the value of the MBA – Masters of Business Administration. Personally, MBA degrees are a dime a dozen, and mostly overrated.

Count on your hand five people who have been transformed by their MBA.

Not saying that people don’t benefit from getting their MBA.  There’s no question that the enormous effort and expense changes the MBA graduate.

And perhaps there’s a place, a rite of passage so to speak, to follow an undergraduate degree with a Master’s degree when we are in our early 20’s and at the very front end of our career..

But what I’m saying right here, right now, that in later life, people have to admit a certain truth.

The truth is, you must ask some seriously honest questions:

1. Why is an MBA critical to me now?
2. What’s my payoff, my ROI?
3. Will this catapult my career, and why?
4. Or will it simply pad my resume?
5. Is there a smarter way to increase my rank and salary?

Please don’t misunderstand, everyone knows that an MBA graduate has conquered what few others have. All I’m saying is this, does it catapult you?

And if it doesn’t, then why expend the energy, effort, time, and money?

So, back to where we started, at the end of three years, will you have a profitable business?

Now that seems like a great payoff, a huge ROI – like being shot out of a cannon.  Or am I missing something?

Creative Or Innovative?

What we need is more creativity.  Right?

Rubbish!  Creativity is for amateurs.

We don’t need more creativity, we need more innovation. Creativity is for amateurs.

Innovation is for champions.

Anyone can think of ideas.  But it takes world-class effort to implement a creative idea so that it becomes useful in making things better than before.

Where should you start?  Begin here with Idea Champions, 50 ways to foster a culture of innovation.

PS.  These are simply 50 great ideas, which mean nothing if we can’t execute them.

Fortune Magazine recently ranked the Walt Disney Company number one for quality.

Intel was number two.  UPS number three.  Apple number four.

Big names.  High expectations.  Focused on excellence.  Every single day.

What does that mean to you and me?

This Fortune article places Apple at the top of it’s list for the Most Trusted Company.

There’s a reason people either love Apple or don’t love Apple.

It’s as simple as the difference between night and day.

Apple illuminates the risky, undiscovered breakthroughs.

Microsoft illuminates the slow and steady, status quo.

Just like there are people who use the treadmill and train for the local 5k race.

And just like those that challenge the odds and the obstacles, for their Country’s Olympic Trials.

We need both, but only the risk-takers get their photo on the cereal box.

Pass Or Fail

Today’s Guest Blogger is me, jeff noel, also known as jungle jeff. Ever have so much to say that you don’t know where to start?

Sitting here, fingers on the laptop keyboard, I’m hard pressed to find the right place to begin.

And as someone who has worked professionally for 36 years, been to hell and back (twice), overcome addiction, overcome (an invisible) disability, constantly struggles with health challenges, and generally has the weight of the world on my shoulders, inspiration for today’s post should come easy.

But it’s not.

Maybe Sundays, in the absence of a “real” Guest Blogger, the alternative would be, “jungle jeff rants”.

If that would prove valuable, I’d like rant about MBA degrees. In searching for an MBA program that would suit my ADD, high achieving, aggressively unfancy, professionally antagonistic, uncommonly insightful, intuitive, and overall impatient personality – this may prove helpful in annoying people enough to change.

MBA degrees should be pass or fail, and require a three year commitment.

At the end of your studies, if you do not have a profitable business, you fail.

However, if your tax return, for your entrepreneurial business, has turned a profit, you pass.

And a few moments ago, it seemed as if today’s post wasn’t going to happen.

It’s good  to disagree, and I respect you if you do (and most of you do). It’s also good to measure usefulness. Try taking your MBA degree to the Bank.  See how much they’ll give you for it.

Why?

Why do bars and pubs stop serving customers when they are drunk, but Quick Service Restaurants continue to serve obese people?

Leadership excellence starts with the person dressing you each day.

Why are our Nation’s children obese?

Plain and simple.  Ineffective leadership.

How do we expect kids to be healthy if we aren’t.

The Fight Of Your Life

“Fight the battle not the plan. The plan goes out the window after the first shot….oh and by the way, the enemy (whatever or whomever that may be) has a vote in the outcome of the battle.”   — Skip Gaskill

Whether it’s fighting to regain your health, or regain your market share, you are in for the fight of your life, for the rest of your life.  Good luck.

PS.  A special thank you to Skip Gaskill for his contribution to today’s jungle jeff blog post. Skip simply left a comment a few days ago that was so powerful, it needed to be shared.

PSS. These are unprecedented times.  Traditional thinking and game plans are not feasible. It is not my place to offer advice.  Only to challenge you to discover your own.

May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

Dissatisfaction may be the motivation you need, if you don’t want to end up with a pile of shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Maybe it won’t.

The quote here is from Skip Gaskill, United States Marine, and a college roommate about 100 years ago.  He wrote two comments on yesterday’s jungle jeff blog post.

Skip, your edginess, your dissatisfaction, and everything else you wrote inspired me, and I’m certain it did others as well.  In your honor, as a United States Marine, I’m reposting your quote for everyone’s benefit.

“Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.” — Ronald Reagan, 40th US President

Watch Your Step

And it seems as if people like it when I talk about how much hating bull can be a good thing.

Any idea how hard it is to be on fire, every single day, with a passion for excellence?

On the trip home from Hartford, Connecticut last week, while in the Orlando International Airport Men’s room (which smelled like a pasture), it hit me.

There is no way people can expect themselves or others to be passionate about something they themselves aren’t.

Duh, right.

So if you don’t like what you do, who you do it for, or both, get away from it.  Of course, this is tougher in a down economy.  But a down economy is the best time to prepare for the upswing.

It will come.  And if you are waiting for it, you are already behind. Now is the time to make your move. And even now may be a bit on the late side. But what if you continue to wait?

Sad indeed. No pity from me. You’re a grown up. Figure it out. Read. Study. Observe. Stay up late. Get up early. No one else is going to do this for you.

Stop looking at leadership and the organization as a parent.

I have a great optometrist if anybody needs one.