I recently read “Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends On It.” by Mitch Joel. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. As always, if you like the quotes, please buy the book here.
“Always remember this: Make it about your customers’ needs. A great utility is something that adds tremendous value to individuals’ lives – and in doing so, makes them more naturally aligned with your brand. It’s not about you… it’s about them.” (40)
“Create it, give it out, and spread it with no expectations.” (41)
“The ultimate questions – as defined by Reichheld – is this: “How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?” (42)
“True utility happens in the moment of need. Not the brand’s moment of need, but the consumer’s moment of need. If you can meet that need when the customer needs it met, you are on to something big.” (42)
“Look at the raw data: Most people are not all that happy. The majority of folks in the Western world work hard all day at a job they don’t love, so when they come home they just want to sit down, relax, sip a beer, and let the television wash over them. They don’t want to think about the day they just had, and they definitely don’t want to think about the day that is coming tomorrow.” (48)
“Media has anesthetized us to reality for decades.” (48)
“Mobile is not a smaller version of a website. You need to think of mobile with a completely different approach.” (104)
“At that moment, I realized that the iPhone was a better companion than a human being.” (114)
“A digital-first posture means that the first place your consumers go when making a business decision is to their computers, smartphones, and/or tablets. This should be your default posture as well.” (124)
“Mark Goodman used to have a sign hanging in his office that read: BE BRILLIANT, BE BRIEF, BE GONE.” (152)
“It’s not going to happen if you wait for the boss to tell you to make it happen.” (159)
“Most entrepreneurs eventually become business owners. They stop worrying about how to create the future and start worrying about how to grow their current revenue baseline – they strategize about how to maintain the status quo.” (162)
“Business owners think a lot less about creating the future because they are much too concerned with both mitigating risk and minimizing mistakes.” (162)
“We would like to think that we can have it all, but it turns out that the real superstars in our world are working themselves to the bone.” (166)
“There is a world of difference between stress that comes from the things you want to do and the stress that comes when you feel like you’re not working on the stuff that matters most to you.” (167)
“The most adaptive path for you to find your success in these times of purgatory will be in your ability to forget about the notion of work/life balance and find the blend in your work, personal, and community life.” (168)
“People who make themselves indispensable are indispensable – whether it’s a time of mass economic health or whether the economy is a mess.” (169)
“You are not the same person when you’re on Facebook as your are when you’re on Google.” (181)
“It’s not that great ideas got killed by clients… it’s that agencies killed their own great ideas by not presenting them well.” (184)
“Life’s a pitch. Deal with it.” (185)
“The problem is that businesses are constantly looking to game the system, to cheat, to take the humanness out of it. Don’t automate your sincerity and your connections.” (186)
“Worry less about how many people you are connected to, and worry a whole lot more about who you are connected to – who they are and what you are doing to value and honor them.” (193)
“Stop thinking about content as the endgame and consider that the true value is the stories you tell.” (195)
“It’s all about great stories. It’s a tall order, but if you’re looking to create a true mark and to get people to remark about everything that you’re doing, you only have one major mission when it comes to marketing yourself and the business that you represent: Go out there and create some great stories.” (196)
“People like sharing things that not only sound cool, but make them look smart.” (226)
“Here’s the truth: You won’t find your voice over time. I don’t believe that writers arrive at this strange destination called “their voice.” I think a strong voice evolves over time. But none of that happens without writing. You’re not writing for writing’s sake. You’re writing to exercise your critical thinking skills. When you do that often enough, great writing will start to flow.” (227)
“Google, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. know that the simpler and faster they make their products, the less likelihood there will be for consumers to go elsewhere.” (247)
“The business world of the future is a place where brands publish less but optimize more for speed and efficiency.” (247)
Liked the quotes? Please buy the book.
