Inspire – Page 2

What’s Wrong With Being an Intrapreneur?

August 11, 2019 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

I have started one business in my career. It was a writing, editing, and translation services company I started with my wife. So it wasn’t a tech product or anything fancy. We both did this while working full time. And I did enjoy it: trying to get new business, looking after customers, creating a business plan, drafting a sales plan, dealing with invoices and making sure we got paid – I learned a lot. It lasted about 4 years. I preface that because I am going to write about intrapreneurship.

But first let me say something. There is a certain sexiness about entrepreneurship, and it’s been happening for the last 30 years or so. And I get it: developing a product, working for yourself, driving change, working at one pace – fast. And everyone seems to want to be one today. And that’s fine. But I want to defend “the traditional” enterprise, the everyday company.

I am an intrapreneur. And I’m proud of it!

Definitions of Being an Intrapreneur

There are various definitions of what being an intrapreneur means. Any search for it brings up a number of variations, including:

A manager within a company who promotes innovative product development and marketing. (Note: I don’t believe you have to be a Manager, but you get the point.)
Intrapreneurship is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within an organization or company.
Intrapreneurship is known as the practice of a corporate management style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the reward and motivational techniques, that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship.

The main difference between entrepreneur and intrapreneur is that an Intrapreneur is an employee, and an entrepreneur is free and the leader of the operation. That’s a loose definition, but you get my point.

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A Solution for Getting Your Audience to be Less Distracted: Hide Their Mobile Phones!

June 13, 2019 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

I recently attended the Global Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. It was my first time attending a licensing show. It brings together major movie studios like Disney and Universal, toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel, and gaming companies like Nintendo and Sega. They show off what’s new, upcoming, and sure to be the next trend, and they bring together licensors and licensees, who work together to get a boatload of consumer products to market.

Like I said, it was my first time attending, and the first day is reserved for exclusive sneak peeks at what new movies are coming out, or which properties to look out for. It’s invite-only, and I was lucky enough to attend. So when I saw all these envelopes being handed out with the direction to “put your cell phone in it and seal it,” I was caught off guard. ‘What do you mean?’ I thought, ‘I won’t be able to post any of this on Instagram, or capture any cool pics of upcoming movies?’ Precisely. When each major studio presented, no one was allowed using any mobile phones or cameras.

At first, I kept wondering what time it was. Then I wondered how many emails I needed to respond to. And then, I focussed. I 100% focussed on the presentation, the content, the people speaking about their plans for the next 1-2 years. It was actually quite liberating.

I Have Seldom Seen an Entire Audience Not Distracted

I then perused the rest of the Mandalay Bay conference room, and watched as 1,000+ attendees were not distracted, were extremely engaged, and paid attention to every second of the presentation without any distraction.

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Saying Good Morning: Small Effort, Huge Impact

April 10, 2019 by Johnny Russo 1 Comment

I am fascinated by people. More than that, especially since I started my career, I like to watch body language, how people carry themselves, how people dress, posture, how people communicate when things go well, how they communicate in tougher times, and so on.

There is one habit I dislike, a lot. A simple good morning or hello can make someone’s day, can make a team less defensive on a Monday morning, can send a jolt of serotonin into the blood stream, and yet, so many leaders, managers, and employees don’t say hello or good morning. I have an issue with that.

Now, I know that not everyone’s a morning person, and it’s hard to be happy every day of the week. And I’m not saying to strike up a full conversation before you’ve had your double mochaccino. But saying hello is not only common courtesy, it’s respectful and makes the other person feel good.

Is Saying Good Morning Really That Hard?

And I’m not even advocating to go out of your way to say good morning to every co-worker, every day. What I’m advocating for is to say good morning to your team, your boss, those near your office or desk, the receptionist, or those you run into on your office coffee run.

Still on the fence?

Here Are Some Reasons You Should Say Hello in the Morning:

Increases positive energy
Can help you make a friend, or at the very least, get to know someone, as it could spark a further conversation
You’ll be perceived as positive, and that is huge
We’re living in an altruistic society (you can challenge me on that, but I’ve never heard so many people talking about purpose and value as today’s generation does), so saying good morning to someone could make their day, and it will likely make them smile and feel welcomed and appreciated
Smiling is contagious – usually when you say hello, you will naturally smile, and they will likely smile right back at you. Try it.
Help them, help you: at one point, that person you’ve been saying hello to for the last 3 months, will help you on a project. And maybe she’ll work a little extra because you’re such a positive and nice person.

Does Your CEO Say Good Morning? When He Does, Does It Make Your Day?

Imagine working in an office and your CEO comes in, and doesn’t say hello to anyone, not even the receptionist? That would surely create a culture of negativity, standoffishness, and potentially selfishness. Now imagine a CEO who comes in, says quick hellos to everyone he runs into, asks someone how their weekend was, and then gets to work. Doesn’t that feel like a more welcoming environment?

We all have bad days. Heck, I know I can have them. And on those days, you just want to keep to yourself. And those may be the days you yourself need a good morning boost, a quick hello from someone else. Keep that in mind, and pay it forward. The effort and investment to say good morning is minimal, but the feelings of warmth, positivity, and comradery can last for hours on end.

So the next time you have the opportunity to make someone’s morning, will you?

The Happiness Advantage: Yours For The Taking

March 31, 2019 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

Just before I went on vacation, I read a book called The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor. I love reading books on leadership and personal development, and I always have a backlog of about 5 books ready to go when I finish the previous one. But The Happiness Advantage was not on my list. My wife actually got it from her boss. Once she finished reading it, I picked it up…and I could not put it down.

The Happiness Advantage centers on The 7 Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work. I really though this was just going to be study after study of random research. But Anchor is a great story teller. He took research, his own life experience, and created a framework for being positive and, maybe just as important, spreading that positivity. I also enjoyed that this was not solely for your personal life, but also your day-to-day work or professional life.

And about halfway through reading the 7 Principles Achor outlines, I knew I wanted to document it and start implementing them. So not only are these principles in my own life purpose playbook, but I wanted to help others by writing this blog post.

Now, a warning. If you plan on reading this book soon, maybe you should read it before reading my blog post, as I don’t want to ruin any surprises.

I’ll outline the 7 Principles from the book, and try to give my own story around them as well.

Principle 1: The Happiness Advantage

The first principle talks about ways we can improve our moods and raise our levels of happiness throughout the day. These are helpful to always keep in mind, as they are proven to raise serotonin levels, known as the happy chemical.

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Gateway to Relaxation: Permission to Disconnect and Recharge

March 23, 2019 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever gone on vacation, and told yourself that you could never disconnect fully from work or life, then maybe this post can be helpful, as I used to be like that.

For context, I work in the Digital Marketing and Ecommerce space in the Retail industry. Always-on type of work – after all we have English and French transactional websites we need to run. It’s very rare for me to completely shut off, be it nights, weekends, or on vacation.

So here’s some potentially helpful advice.

Give Yourself Approval To Disconnect

I went on vacation with family in the middle of March. Usually while I’m on vacation, I’ll check my emails every hour, check Google Analytics regularly to see where sales and traffic are at, and I’ll usually even bring my laptop “just in case.”

Maybe being a Dad changes things, or maybe it’s because little Luca, my 19-month old, is a bundle of energy and is always in play mode, but whatever it was, this vacation felt different. I didn’t bring my laptop. Once I got onto the flight to Mexico for a 7-day sojourn and responded to my last email just before the plane took off, I felt a sense of calm and relaxation, one I wanted to maintain for the next 7 days. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, the people I work with, and the industry I work in. But every now and then, the mind, body, and soul need some rest and calmness, along with a few manly strawberry daiquiris (double vodka of course).

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What’s Wrong With Being an Intrapreneur?

Definitions of Being an Intrapreneur

A Solution for Getting Your Audience to be Less Distracted: Hide Their Mobile Phones!

I Have Seldom Seen an Entire Audience Not Distracted

Saying Good Morning: Small Effort, Huge Impact

The Happiness Advantage: Yours For The Taking

Gateway to Relaxation: Permission to Disconnect and Recharge

Give Yourself Approval To Disconnect

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