JAMES RANDI ~ PROPHECY GUIDELINES ~ THE MASK OF NOSTRADAMUS ~ 1990

~ MLOP-AHTSCT-ITD-PTTWP-ITO ~ Make Lots Of Predictions – And Hope That Some Come True – If They Do – Point To Them With Pride – Ignore The Others

~ BVVAA-DSCBWB-‘P’-I-CABR ~ Be Very Vague And Ambiguous – Definite Statements Can Be Wrong But – “Possible” – Items – Can Always Be Reinterpreted

~ UALOS-B-M-UIO-A-N-I-TCBFTMSBTB ~ Use A Lot Of Symbols – Be – Metaphorical – Using Images Of – Animals – Names – Initials – They Can Be Fitted To Many Situations By The Believers

~ CTSBWASTWAT-‘R’-IOYS ~ Cover The Situation Both Ways And Select The Winner As The – “Real” – Intent Of Your Statement

~ CGWYS-ABYFAII ~ Credit God With Your Success – And Blame Yourself For Any Incorrect Interpretations

~ NMHOYW-PA-TBWNYMAWCTFYEW ~ No Matter How Often You’re Wrong – Plow Ahead – The Believers Won’t Notice Your Mistakes And Will Continue To Follow Your Every Word

~ PC-TMERAMPBF ~ Predict Catastrophes – They’re More Easily Remembered And More Popular By Far

~ WPATF-BRTTPPTE-BWAFT-JETAUATED-TGAPIS ~ When Predicting After The Fact – But Representing That The Prophecy Preceded The Event – Be Wrong A Few Times – Just Enough To Appear Uncertain About The Exact Details – Too Good A Prophecy Is Suspect

GEOFF COLVIN ~ KNOW MORE – PERCEIVE MORE – REMEMBER MORE ~ TALENT IS OVERRATED

~ TPPM-TDWLWTS-IWWTP-TUTSOITAPDEN-MOTIASBT-OTNIAWGS ~ Top Performers Perceive More – The Difference Wasn’t Literally What They Saw – It Was What They Perceived – They Understand The Significance Of Indicators That Average Performers Don’t Even Notice – More Often These Indicators Are Small But Telling – Often These Nonobvious Indicators Are Well-Guarded Secrets

~ TLFA-KWLAFT-TPFIATPB-UPPTDIOAGBAI ~ They Look Further Ahead – Knowing What Lies Ahead For Them – They Prepare For It And Thus Perform Better – Using Practice Principles To Do It Often And Get Better At It

~ TKMFSL-MSDFAALCIACAE-DFWSIIOAA ~ They Know More From Seeing Less – Making Sound Decisions Fast And At Low Cost Is A Competitive Advantage Everywhere – Deciding Fast With Sparse Information Is Often An Advantage

~ TMFDTAP-DSSOB-ATCAACROTAP ~ They Make Finer Discriminations Than Average Performers – Distinguish Several Different Shades Of Black – All These Crucial Abilities Are Clearly Results Of Training And Practice

~ TKM-DK-‘DDE’ ~ They Know More – Deep Knowledge – “Deep Domain Expertise”

~ RM-EPIMFESMOIITF-TPUTFAAHLTAPD-ATHASSFRIAI ~ Remembering More – Excellent Performers In Most Fields Exhibit Superior Memory Of Information In Their Fields – Top Performers Understand Their Field At A Higher Level Than Average Performers Do – And Thus Have A Superior Structure For Remembering Information About It

GEOFF COLVIN ~ CREATING SOMETHING NEW ~ TALENT IS OVERRATED

~ IAWOFTPTTCOE-CSNADITOWTS ~ In A World Of Forces That Push Toward The Commoditization Of Everything – Creating Something New And Different Is The Only Way To Survive

~ KM-IM ~ Know More – Innovate More

~ TGIIAWROFAHALOCIC-TSMYIIPBMAKOCB ~ The Greatest Innovators In A Wide Range Of Fields All Have At Least One Characteristic In Common – They Spent Many Years In Intensive Preparation Before Making Any Kind Of Creative Breakthrough

~ GIARTBALACC-TAODKTTPDDP ~ Great Innovations Are Roses That Bloom After Long And Careful Cultivation – The Acquisition Of Domain Knowledge That Takes Place During Deliberate Practice

~ TTMKOTDORWIPMBAHICA-NF-ITR-I-AESTPITOD ~ That Too Much Knowledge Of The Domain Or Familiarity With Its Problems Might Be A Hindrance In Creative Achievement – Not Found – In The Research – Instead – All Evidence Seems To Point In The Opposite Direction

~ IDRTP-OTC-IRHOTPACMRTTWMTDAIE ~ Innovation Doesn’t Reject The Past – On The Contrary – It Relies Heavily On The Past And Comes Most Readily To Those Who’ve Mastered The Domain As It Exists

~ AWATLOGCPASAFFBTC?-TAIS-TAT ~ And What About Those Legends Of Great Creative Products Appearing Suddenly And Fully Formed Before Their Creators? – The Answer Is Simple – They Aren’t True

~ SNISTSMNI-NGACOI ~ Since New Ideas Seem To Spur More New Ideas – Networks Generate A Cycle Of Innovation

~ OTWMIWBFTEWKOIWBMV ~ Organizations That Want More Innovation Would Benefit From Telling Everyone What Kind Of Innovation Would Be Most Valuable

~ CIMMATUTWTTT-TMSC-AWAKOEP-IMLTBOWTDTDWR ~ Creativity Is Much More Available To Us Than We Tend To Think – The Most Significant Constraint – As With All Kinds Of Exceptional Performance – Is Mostly Likely To Be Our Willingness To Do The Difficult Work Required

~ NOBEOHOHO ~ No One Becomes Extraordinary On His Or Her Own

~ ASFITLOGPITVSTRACTITD-CSHHTFPAD-BTNTSALOS-TSEIC ~ A Striking Feature In The Lives Of Great Performers Is The Valuable Support They Received At Critical Times In Their Development – Certainly Some Have Had To Fight Poverty And Discouragement – But That’s Not The Same As Lack Of Support – The Supporting Environment Is Critical

~ CDPETPTMSTWODWA-ATDOSASTCFDTCNLBA-TACWFALT ~ Continued Deliberate Practice Enables Top Performers To Maintain Skills That Would Otherwise Decline With Age – And To Develop Other Skills And Strategies To Compensate For Declines That Can No Longer Be Avoided – That Approach Can Work For A Long Time

~ OBAPATANNWIOA-BPDSWA ~ Our Brains Are Perfectly Able To Add New Neurons Well Into Old Age – Brain Plasticity Doesn’t Stop With Age

~ TCFRBMR4EMDITHCAAIMGT ~ The Consistent Finding Reported By Many Researchers Examining Many Domains Is That High Creative Achievement And Intrinsic Motivation Go Together

~ CPAFOTT(STP)-ANOT(WWSTPDFM?) ~ Creative People Are Focused On The Task (Solve This Problem) – And Not On Themselves (What Will Solving This Problem Do For Me?)

GEOFF COLVIN ~ A WINNING TEAM ~ TALENT IS OVERRATED

~ OAFTTAOBABRFDPAEGTTMHT-‘AFPA’ ~ Organizations Are Finding That The Advantages Of Building A Big Reputation For Developing People Are Even Greater Than They May Have Thought – “A First Pick Advantage”

~ TSBETWFI-WDPACRFSRBKAMM-AWFTAW ~ The Same Basic Elements That Work For Individuals – Well-Designed Practice Activities, Coaching, Repetition, Feedback, Self-Regulation, Building Knowledge, And Mental Models – All Work For Teams As Well

~ ETWGIP-BCTIASAIO ~ Every Team Wants Great Individual Performers – But Combining Them Is A Skill All Its Own

~ ‘GUPWADTMTTW-AOTABOTPWBE-AWWET’ ~ “Give Us People Who Are Dedicated To Making The Team Work – As Opposed To A Bunch Of Talented People With Big Egos – And We’ll Win Every Time”

~ TITMFEOAWT ~ Trust Is The Most Fundamental Element Of A Winning Team

~ TBINIBS ~ Trust By Its Nature Is Built Slowly

G. RICHARD SHELL + MARIO MOUSSA ~ CURES FOR BELIEF BIAS ~ THE ART OF WOO

~ BP-IYHTTAASEOYI-YCSKAIUYBTWPO ~ Be Persistent – If You Have The Time And Are Sure Enough Of Your Idea – You Can Simply Keep At It Until You Begin To Win People Over

~ SA-SHATPWRYIASANA ~ Shift Audiences – Stop Hammering At The People Who Reject Your Idea And Seek A New Audience

~ FUTRS-PYIASSSAUTIPNSCTTABS ~ Fly Under The Radar Screen – Position Your Idea As Something So Small And Unimportant That It Poses No Serious Challenge To The Accepted Belief System

~ ATTTJOSS-BOIISBTDLCFYA ~ Ask Them To Take Just One Small Step – Break Our Idea Into Small Bites That Demand Less Commitment From Your Audience

~ PYIAADCV-RYISPSIACWAUVTRDTTBYHCW ~ Position Your Idea Around A Deeper Core Value – Reposition Your Idea So People See It As Consistent With An Underlying Value That Runs Deeper Than The Belief You Have Collided With

G. RICHARD SHELL + MARIO MOUSSA ~ THE PCAN MODEL ~ THE ART OF WOO ~ 2008

~ P-A-S-C-S-T-DTPYIS(OTNIA) ~ Problem – A – Short – Concise – Statement – That – Defines The Problem Your Idea Solves (Or The Need It Addresses)

~ C-AEOTCOTPON ~ Cause – An Explanation Of The Cause Of This Problem Or Need

~ A-YS(OA)-FTS ~ Answer – Your Solution (Or Answer) – For The Situation

~ N-B-ASOWYAITBA-AOOC ~ Net – Benefits – A Summary Of Why Your Answer Is The Best Available – All Other Options Considered

G. RICHARD SHELL + MARIO MOUSSA ~ THE ART OF WOO ~ 2008

~ WOO ~ Winning Others Over

~ ALBOESTCACBOTFOSI-RTA-IACAFFTCDI ~ A Large Body Of Evidence Suggests That Creating A Culture Built On The Foundation Of Selling Ideas – Rather Than Authority – Is A Competitive Advantage For Firms That Can Do It

~ SYITP-WTCO-O-I-R ~ Selling Your Ideas To People – Within The Context Of – Ongoing – Important – Relationships

~ TBI-TMGSTSP-WIE-FIY-AT-IYUASATAOW-IO ~ The Best Ideas – Those Most Genuinely Suited To Solving Problems – Will Inspire Enthusiasm – First In You – And Then – If You Are Skilled At The Art Of Woo – In Others

~ DYIIAPC ~ Develop Your Idea Into A Polished Concept

~ AA-HYR ~ Above all – Honor Your Relationships

~ TNORIOOTMRSPNIHS-WTTDTFOPWDTFU ~ The Norm Of Reciprocity Is One Of The Most Robust Social Psychological Norms In Human Society – We Tend To Do Things For Other People Who Do Things For Us

~ PSISATWTTAP ~ People’s Self-Interest Strongly Affects The Way They Think About Proposals

~ ASAAMPWTSTGFAIALPWTSTL ~ Audiences See Arguments As More Persuasive When They Stand To Gain From An Idea And Less Persuasive When They Stand To Lose

~ CRE-SPTTMTSQ ~ Change Requires Effort – So People Tend To Maintain The Status Quo

~ WSCYTTATYIRAP? ~ What Steps Can You Take To Assure That Your Idea Remains A Priority?

~ RSI ~ Reaffirm Shared Interests

~ ROR ~ Rely On Relationships

~ CAIA ~ Create An Important Audience

~ BIA ~ Build In Accountability

JAMES WEBB YOUNG ~ A TECHNIQUE FOR PRODUCING IDEAS ~ 1965

~ DTP-TMAYDTP-TB ~ Define The Problem – The More Accurately You Define The Problem – The Better

~ RR-TMPY-FTQ-A-R-TRM-D-A-O-TB ~ Research Relentlessly – The More Precisely You – Frame The Question – And – Research – The Relevant Models – Data – And – Options – The Better

~ LIC-YMTTUPOYMTDIP-TF-P-C-A-PS-TTP ~ Let It Cook – You Must Trust The Unconscious Part Of Your Mind To Do Its Part – To Find – Patterns – Combinations – And – Possible Solutions – To The Problem

~ CTIAIFB-BTGIWSTCAOM ~ Catch The Idea As It Flies By – Because The Good Ideas Will Start To Come At Odd Moments

~ S&P-TTRM-TIOIYH-AI-SIWO-GF ~ Shape And Polish – Take The Raw Material – Turn It Over In Your Head – Adapt It – Share It With Others – Get Feedback

JAMES SPETH ~ UNPLEASANT KINDS OF GROWTH ~ THE BRIDGE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

~ JG-OEGBDETOFE ~ Jobless Growth – Overall Economy Grows But Doesn’t Expand The Opportunities For Employment

~ RG-TFOEGMBTR ~ Ruthless Growth – The Fruits Of Economic Growth Mostly Benefit The Rich

~ VG-GITEHNBABAEODOE ~ Voiceless Growth – Growth In The Economy Has Not Been Accompanied By An Extension Of Democracy Or Empowerment

~ RG-GCPCITW ~ Rootless Growth – Growth Causes People’s Cultural Identity To Wither

~ FG-TPGSRNBFG ~ Futureless Growth – The Present Generation Squanders Resources Needed By Future Generations

DAN SCHAWBEL ~ HOW TO NETWORK SUCCESSFULLY ~ ME 2.0

~ MASAFFI ~ Make A Strong And Favorable First Impression

~ TTRALTFAEPYM ~ Try To Remember At Least Three Facts About Each Person You Meet

~ BCOPF ~ Be Conscious Of People’s Feelings

~ FCWTGVOPOI-ATWR ~ Find Creative Ways To Give Value Or Promote Other Individuals – And They Will Reciprocate

~ BAALATAGIIWOHTS ~ Be An Active Listener And Take A Genuine Interest In What Others Have To Say