30 Days of Genius- Brian Solis

Brian's words are in bold. My personal comments are in italics. 

• People spend 177 minutes a day on their phone
• Lord help us. I'm not surprised. And there are plenty of days when I might be adding to this number. But in many ways, that makes me said.
• On a more practical sense, imagine the opportunity! If you control part of someone's phone time, that's a valuable and memorable interaction.

• You don’t create experiences by doing what others have done before 
• Referencing the Virgin Airlines Safety Video, Brian makes the point that ingenuity is what drives impressive experiences. Copying past models is a standard. Be the one who breaks the mold. 

• "It’s not good enough to be good enough. It’s not good enough to be the best. You have to now understand the impact you want to have and the role you want to play in someone's life and who that person is and design for all of it." 
• Speaking to a company's tactics, not personal accomplishment, Brian talks about today's society requiring deeper thinking of the companies that feed it instead of just great products. The Triple Bottom Line approach is what guides great creative organizations.

• Starbucks doesn’t look at other, competitive, coffee shops for inspiration. They look at PayPal, Apple, and other great tech companies. 
• Inspiration comes from across industries. All coffee shops are doing similar things. All payments companies are doing similar things. And if they're not, then copying them will only get you to their level, not beyond it. If you want to be great, your organization needs to look at the best of other industries and find ways to apply that to your own. 

• No one achieves greatness without completely exposing themselves
• Vulnerability leads to empowerment. It's like the tale of the athlete with great potential who, always afraid of injury or embarrassment, never quite reached it. Work as hard as you can. Be open and honest. Take risks. Greatness is not guaranteed, but it's definitely more likely. And the ride becomes more of a roller-coaster than a merry-go-round. And c'mon. Who really likes the merry-go-round?