Krug: The ultimate, most irrefutable leadership insights of all-time (so far)

In the past few days, I am pretty sure that I have been touched by the business insight angel. Not sure why. Doesn’t really matter. She looks nothing like Roma Downey, in case you were wondering. More like Della Reese, only less pleasant. She’s rather quite insistent and, frankly, won’t leave me alone. It may just be the combination of a bad summer cold, the worthless, generic over-the-counter sinus/allergy/cough meds I have been taking, an overdose of Atkins treat bars and the sudden onset of a pretty serious Starbucks habit. Regardless, an incredible amount of clarity has washed over my soul in the past few weeks and it doesn’t seem to stop. It caused me to awaken from a perfectly terrific slumber in mid-town Manhattan last Thursday night and blurt out the word “SARATOGA” as loudly and clearly as possible for someone that might otherwise have been sleeping soundly mere seconds beforehand. And what does “SARATOGA” mean exactly? That’s not really important right now. But ever since, while I am in a conscious state, every 15 minutes or so, I become overwhelmed by a singular thought so powerful and true that I have to stop whatever it is I am doing and write it down. I feel that I owe it to the business world not to let anything creep on past. Clearly, I have been contacted by businesses’ “other side.” I am not sure, but as long as this hay fever and Venti (that’s Starbucks for large-ish) Blonde Roast (three packets of the yellow sweetener and a full jigger of half-n-half, please) continue in combination, I have a feeling that the thoughts are going to just keep on coming. To offer them all here in a single column would be impossible and unfair, really. There are just too many, and they keep coming at me like laser beams. And I fully intend to capture them for my forthcoming untitled book, which I have – at least at this point – titled “Untitled.” So please allow me simply to share the last few that have knocked my Happy Socks right out of my Cole Haans. Some thoughts are unrefined. Others, less so. Completely ignore the advice of others: If you are wondering if anyone has anything of value to share, rest easy. They don’t. You’re a genius. You’ve got it all figured out. You wouldn’t have arrived at this station in life had you not been blessed with gifts. It’s quite possible that you’ve been touched by “The Man Upstairs.” No, not God, goofball, Mark Cuban. Rest easier knowing that everyone else around you is an idiot: They don’t care as much as you do. They aren’t as smart as you are. They don’t try as hard. They’re not as committed. They can’t compete with you. They can’t clock your hours. Don’t lose any sleep over it. They’re morons. Now let’s get back to business. Show ’em your Rolex: In the event that anyone might dare to refute your point of view, causing you to care enough to smite them in their place, don’t utter a word. Roll up your sleeve and show them that $12,000 chunk of sweep-hand, precision-timed stainless steel on your wrist. Now look at their wrist. Timex, huh? Good luck with that. Simply talk louder: If for any reason anyone in the room begins to say words in combination that line up and begin to make sense, that show early indications of potentially conspiring in their lucidity to render something that you may have said or plan to say less relevant, raise your voice. Drown it out. Move up a few octaves until a crystal glass explodes. Tamp it down. Move along. Bold is the new gold: When developing a bold strategy, layer a bold statement on top of a bold decision on top of a bold move. If that fails – and that’s almost impossible, but if it does – offer a bold thought on the importance of being bold without regard to consequence. That combination in isolation, again, is simply: bold-bold-bold-bold-bold-bold and then bold. When in doubt, don’t doubt: If negative thoughts come to mind and begin to creep into your head, prompting you to believe that what you are about to do is absolutely the wrong thing at the wrong time, change the channel on the TV. There must be a ballgame on there somewhere in the world. Find it, and then bet heavily against the underdog. Critically analyze critical analysis: When presented with a thought that something might not be as it should be, take a moment to isolate the contributing factors. Write them down. Look at them. Judge them for factual accurateness. Determine that factual accurateness never amounted to much. Plow ahead. Commit to never writing down another thing in your life. Swing for the fences: Forget the big ideas. All of your ideas are, in a word that only Donald Trump may use, “uge.” With the money saved from no longer using the letter “h,” literally justify the installation of a batting practice set-up in your office that makes the old carpet putting surface look like something from the set of “Mad Men.” Dial the Iron Mike down on “lob” and hit line drives until your hands become too sore to swing any longer. Record it. Demand that it go viral. Be epic. Invest heavily in glass-repair concepts. Just keep winning.

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 As always, stay classy. Chris Krug is president of the progressive media communications firm No Limit Agency* in Chicago. No Limit is a full-service agency whose practice focuses on strategy, brand management, creative campaigns and delivering unparalleled earned placement in the media. No Limit Agency works with some of the best-known and fastest-growing brands in North America, and that’s not a coincidence. Contact Krug by calling 312-526-3996 or via email at [email protected].