Tall Americano: Recent Episodes
Rob Clark
Listen along to my thoughts of what I have learned so far in life, just like we would be sharing thoughts while sitting at Starbucks drinking coffee. Tall americano is my drink of choice, but I am also an American that is taller than average, six foot six. Most of my thoughts come from a mix of the business, marketing, and theology books I have read and how those ideas play out in my life.
The best story wins sometimes, but often it is the story we hear the most that wins. Even more so when we are the ones telling the story to ourselves.
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Do systems exist to serve us or do we exist to serve the system?
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How does a company who invents the first digital camera in 1975 fail to thrive in the age of digital cameras, Instagram, and documenting everyday moments?
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Maybe one of the most fascinating stories in the past several months is how one piece of content from a middle aged man on a skateboard singing Fleetwood Mac and sipping Ocean Spray went viral. Nathan went from living in an RV with no running water to a new vehicle, thousands of dollars in donations from fans, and a merch page for his new found success.
One piece of content is all it takes to change everything!
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What do most healthy cultures have in common?
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The Emperor's New Clothes is a short fairy tale over 200 years old, but gives us some solid wisdom that still applies today.
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Thinking about a phrase that I keep hearing that drives me crazy and how am I doing the same thing in my own life.
thisisrobclark@gmail.com
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When was the last time you did something for the first time? We need to take the advice we often give kids so we don't lose our creativity and impact.
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We don't like to admit mistakes or weaknesses, but it seems it is the only way we learn and grow.
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Fear is a bad motivator in making decisions. Recently, the fear of missing out cost me $100,000.
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In the early 2000s, Overture and Google competed for the same marketshare, but Overture eventually was acquired by Yahoo and Google became one of the few companies ever worth over one trillion dollars. How did Google win and what lessons can we learn from that story?
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Hard to imagine a group of kindergarten kids beating CEOs, lawyers, and business students in a challenge, but it happened. We have a lot to learn from 6 year olds.
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We don't make our best decisions when based on fear. We need to be smart, but realize that we can't truly live if we are opposed to risk.
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How did Phil Knight react when he lost distribution rights to the Onitsuka Tiger which was selling across the USA? His plan B became a global brand worth billions of dollars. Would we know about Nike if he never lost his good business with the Japanese shoe manufacturer? Can we see the great in front of us?
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We know that feeling of having front row tickets to a concert or maybe imagine what sitting court side might feel like. But how can we create that same all access feeling for people within our networks or friend groups, especially online?
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We aren't surprised that often by technology any longer, but people will always will. When is the last time you surprise someone? Including yourself.
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How much time, research, and money was put into the names and logos of the world's biggest companies like Nike, Amazon, and Apple? We likely spend more time thinking about tonight's supper.
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Although I rarely order new dishes at my favorite restaurants, it is a good idea to try different things, in different places often. Especially in uncertain times.
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Facebook memories tell me that 9 years ago today I asked the question, is K-Swiss in style again. 11 years later, the answer is convincingly yes. But what does that mean for you and me?
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Once heard a quote that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. How can we take a lesson from history in order to take advantage of the time we are living in right now.
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We don't know what the economy is going to look like when we come out of quarantine. Some industries are being hit harder than others and many will be looking for new lines of work. Your job title and previous training isn't the only thing you are qualified to do.
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Phil Knight failed at selling encyclopedias but turned Nike into a billion dollar company selling shoes. What made him really good at selling shoes when he couldn't sell books? And just because you are good at something, doesn't mean that is what you should be doing.
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Collaborations are as popular today as ever before and as we come out of a global crisis, they might be more important than anytime before. But don't simply think about the easy and predictable partnerships, look for ones that might make you nervous.
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What if Kobe stopped shooting, JK stopped writing, Ed stopped singing, and Elon stopped launching. People don't remember the misses, so keep shooting.
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Here I discuss three things I have learned from downloading, consuming, and creating on the social media platform TikTok.
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In this episode, I share three observations I made about the lessons learned from buying and selling basketball cards.
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We are often told to think outside the box, but sometimes the box is exactly what we need.
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Story of the time I made a life defining decision by flipping a coin.
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People don't remember when you do what is expected of you, but they will remember when you do the unexpected.
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Giving away your best work for free might seem like a bad idea, but there is plenty of examples how that is exactly the best way to reach more people.
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Some thoughts and take-aways from watching part 1 of the Netflix documentary on Bill Gates.
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Yes, you need to stop the other team from scoring, but you only win by putting points on the board.
Now apply that to all other areas of life.
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Brand awareness is more important now than ever before. This means that being well known, being famous,
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Influencers have always been around, we just didn't call them that. Even Babe Ruth was paid to chew a certain brand of tobacco. More and more young people want to be social media influencers when they grow up. So what do we do with this? Good thing? Bad thing?
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Desperation can lead to innovation, but also can lead to doubling down on the status quo. What are you going to choose.
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How did one man unite nomadic tribes in north east Asia and take over the world. More importantly, what can we learn and implement from history?
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When it comes down to the best movies, the best burger, the best insurance broker..who gets to decide?
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We often think we make decisions based on logic and mistakenly think others do as well. Instead, we need to realize our decisions are based on emotion more than the facts.
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Why would you try to sell something you don't believe in? Belief leads to sales. Belief leads to new ideas being accepted.
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Going the one extra step, maybe as little as 5% more effort, can make all the difference.
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Although still true of most social media, there is a huge advantage of being social on TikTok right now. To spread an idea, product, or brand awareness, the power at our fingertips is more powerful now than ever before.
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We are led to believe that we only have a certain amount of time or a certain number of moves before we have to lock down into one path. The data shows that is just not true.
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How do have a breakthrough with my work? It has a lot to do with the volume of the work you are producing.
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There is a long list of businesses and people that have reinvented themselves. It isn't too late for you. Never too late for any of us.
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We don't like to admit where we are weak, but being self aware of what we suck at really leads to strength
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Still wondering why politicians send out junk mail flyers when they have the such a powerful tool at their finger tips.
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This is a theme that I am seeing a lot lately in blog post, podcasts, and videos. Don't wait around to be invited. Start your own party. This works well for business, networking, education, etc.
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How important is brand awareness? Is brand only for business?
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As a Christian that also thinks, reads, and talks a lot about marketing, brand awareness, marketplace effectiveness, etc., I often consider how much should the church (Christians) should think about marketing. It's not a business, but the Christian faith is built on sharing and spreading the message.
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I love shows like The Biggest Loser and America's Got Talent because for the moment where we recognize people's hard work and talent. How can we leverage that in everyday life though?
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Maybe word of mouth is the best form of advertising, but it can only take you so far if you don't have the trust of people.
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Now more than ever, we have something called decision fatigue. We have too many decisions to make and for some, it become paralyzing. How can we do something about it?
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Not many expected that the country of Canada that is known for hockey, would all of sudden, be crazy about basketball. How did the culture change so fast and so wide reaching?
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We all are really in the same business, people. No matter what we do with our time, how we see and treat people makes all the difference.
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I discovered this week how much I value consistency. Why it matters and how I need to be consistent in what I do.
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When it comes to whatever we do, we are either like the red carpet on Hollywood Blvd. or the overweight, dirty spiderman trying to beg for a buck.
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We know the sayings "don't fly too close to the sun" and "better safe than sorry", but do those warning apply to us any longer?
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If you judge a fish on how well he climbs a tree, he will spend his life thinking he is dumb. This quote and more on how we need to understand what game we are made to play.
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What would be the one thing that you get most excited for? What is stopping you from doing more of that?
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In a world of busyness, hustle, and never sleep mentality, how do we develop a disciplined pursuit of less? Is less really more?
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A brief description and reflection on Chris Anderson's theory of the Long Tail.
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Are you a person that eats the marshmallow right away or wait to get more?
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There is a story about how you can keep an elephant captive with just a string because he has been conditioned to be stuck. Might be true about us as well, but more importantly, where do we want to even go.
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We have a hard time leaving behind anything that we have invested in, even if it needs to be left behind. Why is that?
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What would you pursue if you had margin in your life? That is the question that I found interesting bouncing around on twitter this past week. But, is margin our hurdle?
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Most bands have a few songs that everyone loves, most authors have that one book, and most restaurants have a dish or two that made them famous. Does that have anything to do with our lives?
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We have all heard that phrase "timing is everything", but is that true? If so, what can we do about it?
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Some thoughts from a question I once heard, when was the last time that you did something for the first time.
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We have heard the phrase that time is money, which it can be at times. But time is more than money. We can always make more money, but never get back time we have spent. How we value other people's time says a lot about how we feel about them.
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If there are different economies, we are likely in (or have always been in) the network economy. Who knows us is just as important as what we know. How we build and maintain our network is more important than ever.
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It is said that we are the average of the 5 people that we spend the most of our time around. If that is true, do you know who you are becoming? This episode dives into how we are influenced and how we can control that.
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Not everyone can be the superstar. We also know the best teams aren't made up of all superstars, so if you aren't the superstar, how can you make sure you are on winning player on a winning team.
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We live in a time and place where change happens, often quickly. Sometimes the change doesn't matter to us while other times it impacts us greatly. There is one thing we can not do with change though, ignore it.
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If you are Canadian, there is 100% chance that you have ordered a double-double, but have you ever thought about who is it actually for? Why does Tim Hortons exists and why does it matter to you.
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How many of us work a job just to pay the bills so that we can retire and do what we really want 40 years from now? We might want to ask why we are doing that.
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We all have the ability to be great at something, but very few of us can be great at everything. There is a practical path forward in becoming great at something.
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We might believe that being original or being unique might only be a one-in-a-million opportunity, but making a lasting impact isn't that complicated.
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When a business was recommended to send out direct mail to advertise the launch of their new business, I questioned if we continue to do things just because they have always been done that way. Maybe there is a better way, we just need to ask.
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We live in a creative age where it has been easier than ever before to put our work out into the world. Yet, many of us are afraid that we have nothing to say. We all have the ability to add value in this world. The hard work is having the courage to put out there for the world to see.
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Derek Sivers wrote a book about his experience of starting a business and then ultimately selling the business when it was no longer fun for him. What he learned was that you can have anything you want, you just can't have everything.
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Seth Godin is known as one of the greatest marketers of all time, in fact, was recently inducted into the marketing hall of fame. One of his best known books is Purple Cow. If we want our message to spread, we need to understand this concept of being a purple cow.
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Consuming content through reading books, listening to podcasts, watching TED talks is great, but do you stop there? Reaching out to the creator of the content might have a bigger impact than you know.
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Even though I have read hundreds of books over the past 18 years, I barely read anything while in University. It all changed when a friend convinced me to read a book by Tim Sanders called Love is the Killer App. In a way, that book led to this podcast.
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In this very first episode, I discuss why I would start a podcast talking about my ordinary life. I have a theory on the future of podcasts.
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