This is NOT an automated response!
Every week when I send out this email newsletter, I get a ton of automated “out of office” responses. With the exception of a few details – name, date of return, person to contact in your absence – they are all exactly the same. And I mean exactly the same.
Compare this to an auto responder that I created a couple of summers ago.
If you are receiving this message, it is because I am being held hostage by 2 children under the age of 6. They have locked me out of my office, hidden my cell phone and my Blackberry and are monitoring my brainwaves to ensure that I do not even think about work. I can see the message light flashing on my phone and I can only imagine the number of emails invading my inbox but I am helpless and unable to respond.
Do not be alarmed. My captors are treating me well and have advised me that if I provide them with my undivided attention for the next two weeks I will be allowed to return to my office on August 4th. If you have not heard from me by then, please advise the local authorities.
Although I used this message almost 2 years ago now, it has taken on a life of its own. It has been included in other people’s newsletters, copied (with my willing permission) and countless people still remember it and comment on it.
How many people do you think see your “out of office” email while you are away? Let’s say 50 – to be very conservative. That is 50 people – 50 messages – 50 missed opportunities to differentiate yourself – 50 missed opportunities to set yourself and your message apart from the crowd.
Innovation Insight #40
Become an opportunity expert
Each and every day we are surrounded by opportunities to differentiate ourselves. Opportunities to get our message Heard, Understood, Retained and Acted Upon in the manner in which we intended simply by taking a few minutes to think about how to communicate that message in a way that is Surprising, Strategic, Seductive and Sustainable.
Opportunity experts are constantly on the look out for the opportunities that no one else sees. And they don’t worry when others start to copy them because by then, they’ve moved on to something else.
This week, take the time to look around your business or organization and to seek out the missed opportunities.
This week, dare to do things the way that they have never been done.
This week, become an opportunity expert. Your Innovation Advantage™ depends on it.
This is NOT an automated response.
Imagine the Possibilities!
-Toni Newman
Quote of the Week
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas Edison
US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Inspiration of the Week
See-saw electricity
In line with the Play Pumps from a couple of newsletters ago, check out the Power of Play at work once again. Thanks to Laurent Duperval for bringing See-saw electricity to my attention.
Turning Ideas into Results!
Please feel free to contact me at toni@toninewman.com
with any stories about how Innovation Insights has helped you to turn ideas into results.
