Our minds crave simplicity.
The doctor says to take a pill. We eagerly agree because it’s simple. Until he tells us that the pill will cause us to lose our hair. Ouch! Now it becomes more complicated and not such a great idea.
Continue reading“People are drawn to black and white opinions because they are simple, not because they are true. Truth demands serious effort and thought.”
Donald Miller
One of the things I’m always getting asked about is phone calls – how to get listeners to call, how to get better calls, and how to build a dependable core of really good callers. Over the years, I’ve coached hundreds of people on this, so if you want the phones to ring, here you go…
Making decisions based strictly on data rarely works out.
Let’s take ratings, as an example. Making programming decisions based solely upon ratings is like driving with a GPS that shows only where you’ve been. It’s like driving your car while looking in the rear view mirror.
(Ratings can’t illuminate the three most important factors to making good programming decisions. See Frost Advisory #664)
Continue readingThis is primarily a team show tip, based on an aircheck a friend sent me of him and his new female partner.
He’s very conversational. She’s LOUD. And this is something I hear a lot. People (regardless of gender) on the radio seem to get LOUD when they’re talking to each other.
I don’t understand that. You’re supposed to be friends. Why are you shouting at each other? And why are both of you shouting at me?
You want to talk loud enough to be heard at the dinner table, not to be heard at the end of the continent.
Titles are funny. For some reason we assume if someone has a title that means that they know how to do the job.
I’ve known organizations that would be transformed if only one simple thing happened – that the one person with a particular expertise was the one person who made the decision in that particular area.
I’ve known far too many programmers that didn’t know how to program, managers that didn’t know how to manage, and engineers that didn’t know how to… whatever it is they do.
Continue readingIn honor of Jimmy Buffett’s passing, I’m using his song “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (sung with Alan Jackson) as the starting point for this tip.
Some questions for you:
When you get off work, is what you want to here “somewhere” radio? You know… generic playlist, generic Content. Or would you rather hear songs that you love, and songs we think you’ll grow to love, and Content that relates to your life, today?
On a great radio station, it’s 5 o’clock HERE. NOW.
God bless you, Jimmy Buffett. And everyone else, wear sunscreen.
Jimmy Buffett wasn’t a one hit wonder, but almost.
Did you know that he never had a #1 hit on Billboard, and had only one song, “Margaritaville,” that even reached the top 10.
And yet the idea of “Margaritaville” inspired restaurants and resorts, a Broadway musical and retirement communities turning Buffett’s alleged desire for the simplicity of island life into a multimillion brand. He’s on the list of Forbes’ America’s Richest Celebrities with a net worth of one billion dollars.
What’s my point?
Continue readingIf you’re not familiar with NFL Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson, watch the pregame and halftime shows on Fox. To be brief, Johnson won a National championship in college, then, in just 5 years from starting 1-15, he won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.
He’s also a powerful motivational speaker, and one thing he told a group of athletes several years ago really struck me: “Fatigue…makes cowards of us all.”
What do you see in this picture, taken half a century ago this month?
Some will just see four guys and a lady standing on the curb. Not a very compelling picture, wouldn’t you say, with most of the faces barely visible.
Others will recognize those four lads as the Beatles, but don’t realize the photo’s significance without context.
A few will see this picture for what it really is – a rare shot of The Beatles taken just moments before the photo that was to become one of the most famous album covers in history – Abbey Road, the last album the Beatles recorded.
Well now, how I am going to turn THIS into a Frost Advisory?
Continue reading“They had to choose between him and I.”
No…just no. It was between him and me. “Between he and I” isn’t right either. “He and I applied for the same job. And it came down to that. They had to choose between him and me.” This is called the object of the preposition.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go,’ and he was like, ‘But you have to.'”
The word “like” flies into every conversation like sand at the beach – useless, but people can’t seem to stop it. Try, “I said, ‘I don’t want to go.’ Then he shouted, ‘But you have to!'”
“So…I went to college on a scholarship.” Continue reading
