jungle jeff

Cheesy MBA's

If you read this blog’s comments, you’ll know that we have recently come to the finish line with our MBA discussion.

An MBA by itself is worthless.

The effort to successfully receive it, priceless.

But overwhelmingly, it’s the unrealistic expectations people have about what an MBA delivers that are dangerous.

Mike Reardon and Bob Stewart shared another insight in their comments – the degree doesn’t catapult your career, but it does serve as an indicator for a person’s determination and drive.

And there is no denying that an MBA is a life-changing challenge and major accomplishment.

Now, just wanted to go on the record: Blogging is overrated.

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.

We Are Closer Than You Think

“Social media in all forms are becoming the dominant form of interaction on the Net, whether blogging, Twittering, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Six Pixels of Separation clearly describes this new family of media, offering realistic ways to get involved and productive in a hurry.” — Craig Newmark, founder of Craigs List

Is Disney World Our Hometown?

Living in Central Florida, surrounded by Palm Trees and Sunshine is well, glorious. (That’s just wrong to write something like that in the middle of Winter, isn’t it?)

Alright, let’s try this – living next to Walt Disney World, with all it’s Theme parks, luxurious Disney resorts, stunning landscape, friendly Cast Members, spectacular entertainment, and first class dining is well, glorious.  (Okay, strike two, right?)

Well, last night I began planning today’s work.  It started with a vision for what I need to do today and how well it should be done.

Is there ever a day when we can not worry about delivering exceptional customer service, or as Disney labels it, magical Guest experiences?  No seriously, Disney has a standard where 99 out of 100 is failure. There is never a day where mediocrity is acceptable.  NEVER.

One of the secrets of great leaders is to begin the day’s work the night before.

But you already knew that, right?

Heads Or Tails?

Age-old question.

What do you think?  What’s your opinion?

“It depends,” is the first thing that comes to mind.  Mostly the long hours are worth it.  If.

If?

Yes, if.

If it drives your ego, your title, your salary, your corner office, your feeling of self-worth – then no.

If it drives your ability to make a difference: to expand your reach, your relevance, your impact – then yes.

The challenge, when you’re insanely busy, is to not confuse the two.

Any one need a quarter?

Got It?

Leadership thinking 101:

1. Saturate – gather all data
2. Incubate – sit on it
3. Illuminate – BFO

BFO = Blinding Flash of the Obvious.

Then:

• Launch
• Learn
• Revise

Finally:

1. Repeat

Got it?  Good.  Now let’s all go do GREAT work today!  Bring it on!

Where Do You Stand?

Do you feel like quitting, giving up, or at the very least, backing down from reaching high?

Two of our most common feelings are:

1. Dreaming Big Dreams
2. Quitting because of the obstacles

So today’s thought for you to ponder, “What’s your big dream?”

And, “Are you still passionate about it or have you given up?”

Wanna Watch You Tube?

You Tube.  You love to watch it.

You Tube videos are funny, serious, wacky, sexy, vulgar, informative, personal, revealing, captivating.

Google bought You Tube for $1.65 Billion.

This, in less than five years.

Crazy idea, that You Tube thing, all those five years ago.

There will be another crazy thing.  One after the other.  The really crazy thing is that it can now come from anyone, anywhere.

Will your idea be the next viral Internet phenomenon?  Maybe that’s too big.

Will your idea be the next big thing in your department, your division, your organization, your industry?

Wouldn’t challenge you if I didn’t believe I could do it myself.  Seriously.

Lead or follow.  Remember?

It Could Happen

You Never Succeed By Being A Follower.

There are probably exceptions to this rule, but let’s be real.  The exceptions are just that, exceptions.

Please don’t get me wrong, following is good. And safe. And mostly predictable.

And then there are the questions of when, where, what, how and why?

Whatever it is that is important, should be visualized and evaluated.

Then, there is that simple choice:  Follow or lead.

And in my case, this took a lifetime.

Unconditional Love Inspires

“Problems are never solved by the same level of awareness that created them.”   — Albert Einstein

Problems are simply nature’s way of getting our attention. Then it’s up to us to do something.  We almost never do.   – jungle jeff

The world is hurting.  It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it?  Everywhere you look, people are scared.

There has never been a more important time, in recent memory, than now to step up and lead.

The inspired inspire.