Up To The Minute: The Latest Thought Leadership From Seth Godin, Christy Wright, Gary Vaynerchuk, And More

What Is: Up To The Minute?  

The biggest, most influential business thought leaders are full of exactly that—thoughts. And here at Minutes, we know how tough it is to keep up with Seth Godin’s latest copywriting tips, what Gary Vaynerchuk is currently preaching to millions of aspiring entrepreneurs, and Jay Baer’s hot new take on influencer marketing. That’s why we’ve decided to dig up, collect, and share the best recent thought leadership in one go-to place.

1. Renowned entrepreneur, author, speaker, and internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk: “Too many people are crippled by whether they’re making the right hire, choosing the right job, or picking the right strategy.”

Time is of the essence, and for that reason, Gary Vaynerchuk says you should be making decisions more quickly—and overthinking less. He argues that perfectionists are prone to procrastination, emphasizes the need to always have a “burger,” or main project, and wants you to accept that productive people inevitably make mistakes. He even goes as far as to say the “right” decision is always the fastest decision.

*Very Gary V. voice* Stick to your guns, kid.  

Don’t overthink it—read his blog post: 4 Keys To Make Decisions Faster

2. Marketing expert and author Seth Godin: “‘Buyer beware’ has never been a good way to build attention, trust, or a brand with value.”

Seth Godin says the infinity of the internet has created a problem: with room for everything, and no barriers to entry, quality isn’t necessary. Should Amazon sell even the cheapest junk, or should they establish a product quality requirement? Would it be wise for Facebook to reject questionable advertisers? Perhaps they should, in both cases. After all, the reputations of their empires are at stake. But what if doing so decreases profits? Consumer vulnerability and risk is an implication here, too.

Check out the thoughtful blog post: Managing reputation in the age of infinity.

3. Business coach and author Christy Wright on inbound lead management software: “You’ll be able to help more people, and you’ll create a better experience for your customers and for you.”

With so many powerful lead-generation tools available today, some business owners’ primary problem is shifting from a lack of leads to having more leads and prospects than they can handle.

Christy Wright offers valuable advice on how to efficiently manage high lead volume without a team to handle it in this worthwhile 6-minute video: How Can I Better Manage Leads For My Business?

4. Sales and marketing guru Jay Baer: “If you’re honest with yourself, you would probably admit that you prefer texting to calling or emailing. If that’s the case, why not offer that option to our customers?”

My dentist texted me the other day to remind me of an upcoming appointment. At least, an automated SMS system he uses did. I thought, “This is great. He doesn’t have to waste money sending reminders in the mail. I don’t have to call in to confirm the appointment. Why don’t more businesses use this?”

Jay Baer agrees—and explains how text messaging can be used as both a marketing and communication channel for your business in this recent blog post: 5 Ways To Get More Customers And Improve Customer Experience With SMS.

5. Hootsuite founder and CEO Ryan Holmes: “Using social media as just another ad channel–filled with flashy clickbait and promo codes–feels increasingly out of step with social norms and user preferences.”

So your company has finally managed to implement a genuine, authentic social media marketing strategy. The good news: Authenticity is still the social media marketing “it” factor in 2019. The bad news: Last year’s “authentic” isn’t going to cut it. Social media users have already become wary of influencer marketing campaigns and well-polished multimedia features. So what will pass as truly authentic in 2019?

Ryan Holmes discusses this phenomenon in Fast Company: Social media predictions for 2019: a return to personal authenticity.  

6. Research professor at the University of Houston, author, and emotional leadership expert Brené Brown: “In general, it’s fair to say that we’re all working our stuff out on people all day long. But when you add the leadership power differential, it gets dangerous.”

OK, so this one’s a little heavy—in an emotional sense. The main idea here is that we’re all deeply affected by impactful emotional experiences (duh). But for those in leadership roles, emotional baggage is especially problematic—because many leaders fall into the trap of unjustly using their power as a coping mechanism, whether they realize it or not. Brené Brown explains how leaders can avoid this pitfall in Leading from Hurt Versus Leading from Heart, an adapted excerpt from her New York Times Bestseller, Dare to Lead.