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What's Your Intent?

Guest post by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: We can’t control the news media, the gurus, the drama queens and all the others. We can control our own intent.

What's Your Intent?

I was driving along yesterday when I saw a billboard advertising a local news station. The Billboard featured one large word. Skeptical. Below that word was a phrase that went something like " We don't take anything as truth". Wow. How sad is that? Since when is being skeptical a positive thing to be promoted? I've written before about gurus, drama queens and others who constantly take a skeptical point of view, focusing on digging out whatever negative, contrarian opinion they can find to make themselves look better. You all know how I feel about that particular brand of chest thumping.

I was dumbstruck to see a news organization proudly promoting itself as "skeptical". Remember when news was objective, when we could trust the information we received from our news anchors? Somehow, I don't think Walter Cronkite would appreciate being called skeptical. How far we've come, or fallen.

Today it seems like the news media, along with the gurus, drama queens and others, have taken on the roles of Grand Inquisitor. Their focus is less about reporting the objective truth than it is about digging any dirt they can find to cloud what could be, and often should be, a positive story.

So what does this have to do with business? Everything.

I'm a big proponent of challenging our status quo beliefs and corporate legends. But there's a difference between challenging those beliefs and looking for dirt. A big, yet simple, difference.

It's called intent.

My intention when challenging a status quo belief or approach is to find a better alternative, a way to improve, evolve and grow.

A skeptic's intent when challenging something is to find holes or small errors that can be used ( and often blown out of proportion) to focus their audience on what that particular skeptic found that was wrong. The intent is anything but positive.

When we challenge our status quo beliefs with a positive, growth oriented attitude - we can soar. When we take a skeptical approach to evaluating our business, our markets and our lives - we set ourselves up for a negative result. Because that's precisely what we are seeking.

We can't control the news media, the gurus, the drama queens and all the others. We can control our own intent.

What is your intent today?

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Article Tags: business growth strategy, Defy Gravity, executive leadership



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Re: Hello from a San Diego-based marketer - Welcome Aaron! Whats the next stage for your business? Ben
Re: New, young entrepreneur - Congrats H20ismyLife! Do you have a website so we can see any of your work? Whats the next step for you?
General business value - Typically a general ball park value range can be calculated by figuring 3- 5 times the net earnings. With the 2007 year ending recently, if the top page of the 07 tax return is not available to give you official documentatin of that, you will have to go according to the P & L statements. Just make sure you get something in writing from the seller that states the P & L's will be reflective of the 07 tax returnwhen it is prepared. Either the seller or the buyer can bring a LOI (Letter of Intent) to the table outlining a deposit, refund policy and anything else that will protect them. I suggest having a lawyer draw up a LOI to ensure you are protected fully (as Hap hazzardly put together LOI could cause problems later on).


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