What do Ted Turner (CNN), Anita Roddick (The Body Shop), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Armani (Armani Fashions) have in common?
Aside from being CEOs of multi-billion dollar corporations, they all have created such mega-success BECAUSE they are business ... Mavericks ... Revolutionaries ... Rebel Thinkers.
One such rebel thinker, Anita Roddick - CEO, The Body Shop - not only started without money or business know-how. She also defied all the “rules” of an $80 billion dollar industry. While cut-throat cosmetic competitors chased profits through cheating, lies, exploitation and over-priced, chemical-laden products, Anita chose a different path.
Instead, she built her company with an unshakeable commitment to integrity ... natural, health-promoting beauty products ... social and environmental responsibility ... and success that never compromised her soul. So much a rebel thinker that INC. magazine labeled her “the single force that has changed business forever.”
Rebel thinkers - like Anita - are the contrarians and the change agents of the business world. They see what others don’t see. They do what others don’t do. They reinvent while others imitate. They are their own person, building their businesses according to their own principles, values and rules. They know no bounds.
------------------------------------------------------------------1Why Is Rebel-Thinking Critical to Your Future Success?
------------------------------------------------------------------1 Did you know that half the growth in the U.S. economy today comes from companies that did not exist ten years ago? These wealth-creating companies aren’t simply “executing "better.” They’re radically changing the rules of the game.
Whether you’re a small business owner or mega-corporation, today’s highly changing, competitive times *REQUIRE* you to become a “rebel thinker” if you are going to survive and thrive. Why? As a rebel thinker, you will ...
+++ Increase your immunity to external business threats +++ Achieve immediate breakthroughs in your business success +++ Realize your goals with less time, money and energy +++ Innovate 1000’s of lucrative business building options +++ Transform your creative thinking into wealth building opportunities Most importantly, because without it, your business will shrink to an industry “commodity”, an imitator, a marginally performing company vulnerable to extinction.
-------------------------------------------------------------1How can You cultivate this wealth-creating asset?
-------------------------------------------------------------1 Let’s take a look at three empowering strategies to cultivate “rebel-thinking” in your business ... examples of business owners who have created quantum success with these strategies ... and exercises to awaken the innovative “rebel thinker” within you.
STRATEGY #1: Break and Make Your Own Rules ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you don’t ask ‘WHY THIS’ often, somebody will ask “why you.” Tom Hirshfield, Inventor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How often do you ask ... “why this” strategy in my industry? ... “why this” operating procedure in my business? ... “why this” goal or action today?
Armani, #1 fashion designer and “rebel thinker." is a perfect example of a rule breaker and rule maker in his own industry. Unlike his competitors who create new, trendy fashions for fashion sake, Armani creates all his fashions with one purpose --- to make ordinary people more beautiful and at peace with themselves in their bodies.
COACH’S QUESTIONS:
What “rules” in your industry or current business do you need to break? What values, strategies and actions make you a rebel thinker in your industry?
STRATEGY #2: Get Out of Your Industry Box Breakthrough strategies come from cutting across boundaries and looking at unrelated industries, segments or disciplines. Anyone can find fashion ideas in a boutique or software marketing ideas in the computer industry. It is the rebel thinker who finds fashion in an airport and software marketing ideas in a hardware store.
In 1993, Julie Lewis, an environmentalist, started Deja Inc. - an extraordinary, radical thinking company in the footwear industry. Julie Lewis’ sole mission was to help preserve the environment by using “recycled” materials for manufacturing high fashion footwear. By crossing all industry boundaries, within one year, Julie’s highly successful “eco-wear” grossed her a booming multi-million dollar business.
COACH’S QUESTIONS:
What strategies can you borrow or adapt from other industries? From other cultures? What would Bill Gates or Lincoln do, if they were in your shoes?
STRATEGY 3: Reverse Your Viewpoint and Assumptions Rebel thinkers are the contrarians of the business world. They know underlying every problem and goal are assumptions to be challenged and reversed for breakthrough solutions.
Henry Ford - one such rebel - reversed the usual question, “How can we get workers to the material?” to “How can we get the material to the people instead?” With reversing this basic assumption, the assembly line was born.
COACH’S QUESTIONS:
What basic assumptions about your current business can you dislodge and reverse? What new solutions to current challenges can you generate through by reversing your viewpoint?
Bottom line: Your future is not something you predict. Your future is something you create. Your problem is not lack of money or opportunity. Your problem is a lack of imagination. Becoming a “rebel thinker” IS your answer.
Creating Business Wealth: The #1 Trait of Top Achievers - To learn more about this author, visit Denise Corcoran's Website.
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