They don’t want to admit it, but a lot of working dads don’t want to be around their kids…

That sounds so horrible. And, in fact, it’s incredibly sad. Because, for many, the solution is a lot closer than believed, once you step back and take the time to see what’s really going down.

I’m not a psychologist, I’m just a guy who tends to spend a whole lot of time examining the modern human condition. And, because I’m a dad who’s chosen what most would consider an unorthodox path, I tend to focus a lot of my attention on the dynamics of being a dad. And, one of the questions I ask a lot is…

What does it really mean to provide for your family?

It’s not easy to answer for most dads, nor for moms. But, for me, being a dad IS a magical experience. Last night my daughter said to me, Daddy, you work from home so you can be with me and mommy more, right? Yes, I replied, But even if I worked at an office, I’d still do everything possible to spend as much time with you as I could. With that, she smiled, gave me a hug and a kiss and danced off to play with her friend.

So, I am fascinated (and saddened) by the widespread dad-kid dynamic I’ve seen unfold every day that pushes dads and kids apart.

I’m sure there’s some fancy psychological word for it, but I call it the Estrangement cycle. It’s easier explained as a short parable, the story of Peter.

Peter is a married father of two kids, a 4 year old girl named Janie and a 7 year old boy named Timmy. They’ve got a 4 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood with a pretty hefty mortgage and the thought of paying their living costs, along with starting to save enough to send two kids to college is freaking Peter out a bit. He wants the best for his kids, so he puts in long hours at work, so he can advance up the ladder and earn enough to send his kids to a better school, buy a bigger house and afford nicer things for the family.

At the same time, though, the job Peter is working at, along with the hours he’s putting in, are beginning to empty him out. He dreads Monday’s and gets home most nights long after the kids are asleep. Every day is filled not only with the stress of getting his work done, but the increasingly soul-sucking realization that what he’s doing has little intrinsic interest beyond a paycheck. And, on the rare occasion when he gets home in time to see his kids, whom he genuinely loves, he’s so burnt, all he can think about is hiding away from the family so he can “wind down.”

Problem is, Peter doesn’t realize his kids see what’s happening differently…

Peter’s home so infrequently his kids barely know him and he barely knows them. Which makes Janie and Timmy not only desperate for random glimmers of attention from their dad, but also angry and frustrated at the fact that their daddy is never home.

And, here’s where all this pent up anger and desire starts to spin into something tragic…

Every time Peter is home early enough for dinner, his kids run and jump all over him. Why, because they know it’s likely a short window and they want as much of daddy as possible. If Peter loved what he did, he’d be more likely to come home in a far more energized, fulfilled state and have more to give. But, he doesn’t, so his need to wind down and recharge his battery conflicts almost violently with his kids need to have more time with the dad they love and miss terribly.

So, as the kids clamor for Peter’s attention, he begins to withdraw more.

They’re all over him and he can’t take it. So, he tries to push them off, to create a little space to breath. Janie and Timmy respond by getting even more aggressive with their need for attention, because now daddy’s home, but he doesn’t want to be with them. So, they start to act up in a big way. Not out of genuine aggression, but out of frustration. Daddy’s home, but he doesn’t want to play. Peter misreads what’s really happening and, already agitated from long hours and a draining job, gets pissed off, wondering why his kids are so wild “all the time.”

And, that leads him to withdraw further because it’s uncomfortable spending time with them. Janie and Timmy sense the withdrawal and fight even harder against it, making time together downright painful. As the cycle ramps up over months, then years, Peter chooses to work more so he’s home less and doesn’t have to “deal” with his increasingly alienated kids. Which, over the years, turns his kids’ desperate desire to be with him more into frustration, anger and alienation and eventually hatred.

What started as Peter’s genuine desire to provide the best possible future for his kids turns into a family that may benefit from wealth, toys, prestige and power, but those things become poor proxies for what the kids have really wanted from day one…a dad who’s there, truly present to love them, to play with them, to listen to and share thoughts, ideas and dreams.

Because what Peter never realized is that providing isn’t about presents, it’s about presence.

And, this doesn’t even touch on the dynamic between Peter and his spouse.

The question becomes, what do you do to stop the cycle?

As I mentioned before, I am not a psychologist, so all I can offer is thoughts and observations. But two things come immediately to mind.

First, a simple awareness of what’s really happening can go a long way toward identifying patterns and cycles. That awareness creates opportunities to deliberately break those patterns and cycles by changing your behavior. By committing to becoming more present, more engaged and involved. And, yes, that may well mean, difficult conversations, hard work and a healthy dose of apologies. It may also mean leaving money on the table.

But, I’d rather pay the price in loss of “stuff” than loss of the extraordinary connection I have with my daughter anyday.

Two, you may want to look seriously at the impact your career choices have had and continue to have on your relationship with your kids (and your spouse, lover or partner).

Is your job, regardless of what it allows your family to “have,” leaving you so depleted, stressed, angry and exhausted that they no longer get to “experience” what it’s like to have an engaged, loving, energized, present dad and husband?

And, are you left so burnt and estranged that you’re now largely incapable of drinking in the love, the conversations, the endless moments and opportunities that make being a dad magical?

Simple truth that us men have trouble wrapping our heads around…

Being a “provider” isn’t all about money, it’s also about “providing” love, attention, support, inspiration, compassion and guidance.

It’s about being there to snuggle and hug, to listen and play, to encourage dreams, and to foster within our kids an understanding, through our actions, that these are the things being a parent is all about. And, that, despite the fact that we need to work, we love, more than anything else, to be with them. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re never there or worse, when you’ve become so alienated from your kids, you’d all “prefer” to be apart.

Maybe if you’ve found yourself in Peter’s shoes, it’s time to call that family meeting, and some substantial evolution may need to unfold over time. And, it might not be a bad idea to bring someone a bit more qualified to guide your journey forward.

So, that’s what I’m thinking about on a sunny Wednesday as I write from my couch…waiting to pick up my daughter from school.

As always, you guys are way smarter than me…

What do you think? Have you experienced this cycle?

Have you been Peter? Are you Peter…right now?

Have you been Peter’s kid, wife, partner or friend?

Share your thoughts below…

A few months back, I posted about my experience at the World Business Forum in NYC. That event, two days of world-class leaders speaking to 5,000 people at Radio City, lit a bit of a fire for me to finally act on something I’ve wanted to do for a long time…start a new interview series featuring long, in-depth, candid conversations with some of the world’s most extraordinary business and thought leaders.

So, today, I am thrilled to announce the first interview in my new Behind The Leader series—Bill George.

Bill is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic. Under his leadership, Medtronic’s market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35% per year. He is currently a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and the author of four best-selling books 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, True North, Finding Your True North, and Authentic Leadership. And, Bill blogs on business and leadership and is active on twitter as well.

In this candid interview, Bill and I cover everything from leading in a time of crisis to the true meaning of success on a personal level. He reveals not only his thoughts on business, but on family, life, passion and people. And, you’ll never believe what he’s been doing twice a day since the 70s; it’s something he says has been instrumental in his success.

You can listen to the interview or download it below. Or, for those who prefer iTunes, I’ve actually just rebranded and relaunched my Renegade Profile series as the new Behind The Leader series and it’s available on iTunes now.

Enjoy!

Download MP3

Long sales copy is the #1 cause of death in the U.S…

Or, so a vocal few would have you believe. Attributed often as the vile creation of online scamsters, long format sales copy has been simultaneously reviled and exalted. Yet, still, it endures. So, let’s clear a few things up.

First, it’s not the invention of internet marketers…

It may have been co-opted and pushed to the level of backlit garishness by many, but it’s been the centerpiece of direct-response marketing for the better part of a century and sold billions of dollars of everything from Blue Blocker sunglasses to the Wall Street Journal. It’s even been used to raise hundreds of millions for a wide variety of charitable causes. And, certain mega direct response guys have taken it to an insane level by creating what they call magalogs, those 40-60 page often health or investment related pseudo catalogs that inform and sell at the same time. Rodale has used it, the Wall Street Journal, Agora, Boardroom, Wiley and tons of others still use it.

But, why? Why is long format still around?

Surely, with our ADD lifestyles, nobody reads it anymore, right?

Wrong. It’s still here because a big enough chunk of the RIGHT people still not only read it, but act on it. Direct response marketers, both on and offline, are fanatical testers. They split test and even mulitvariate test every option. And, time after time, even today in the online world, these marketers continue to use long format for one and only one reason…

It outsells everything else.

They don’t really care about how many people rage against the format, they do really care about the bottom line. And, until other formats start consistently outselling long format they’ll keep using it. Interesting enough, video and video mixed with copy are now starting to mount a serious challenge, but they’re still not working consistently well enough to dump the long format (or, at least very few people are doing video well enough yet to make the jump).

But, what about us folk in social media who actually care about our personal brands and community bonds?

The challenge comes when certain people (like me) infiltrate social media, which has long been a culture driven by the “sanctity” of conversation. What happens when someone who’s a wacky hybrid of (1) social community leader with distinct brand and (2) marketer, tries to earn a living by maximizing revenue while maintaining personal integrity and honoring the community (something that’s not a huge driver for many other direct-response and internet marketers).

That’s one hell of a tap dance.

So, what people like Chris Guillebeau, Naomi Dunford, Brian Clark, Pam Slim, Sonia Simone and I do when we roll out info-products, membership sites or events is try our best to bridge the gap. To integrate the copy format we know sells better than anything else, while simultaneously working to prove our integrity by toning some of the more aggressive techniques and design elements down a bit and couching the sales content within the greater consistently authentic, value-driven content of our brands.

No doubt, some people, including some of our readers may not like that. But, most who’ve been with us long enough will also forgive our desire to earn the best living possible while giving a tremendous amount of value over time. Especially if we structure the long format so that it’s highly informative, engaging and even entertaining.

Interesting example – back when I owned my yoga center in NYC, as I learned to write copy, I rewrote our teacher training page as a long format sales page. It was massive, but it was also selling a $2,500 service, sight unseen. Within weeks, the response rate shot up nearly 200% and that one page now generates a substantial 6-figure revenue.

You’d figure the touchy-feely, energy-sensitive, non-commercial yoga community that I know and love would’ve been the first ones to be repelled by a long format sales page. But, in fact, it was just the opposite. Many people loved the page.

Because it was done in a way that delivered so much information and answered so many questions and objections, we were consistently told it was like we were “reading the reader’s mind and answering everything they needed to know to make a decision” as they read. And, because of that, people plunked down thousands of dollars and got on planes from all over the world based almost entirely on what was on the page (and the brand we’d created to back it up).

And, that, done well, is what long format copy is all about. Mimic the live sales process and answer every conceivable objection, while informing and entertaining and leading to action. If you’re selling a $1-$5 product, long format is total overkill. For a $19 ebook, that shouldn’t take too long and the copy can be relatively short. But, the more expensive the product, the more work your copy needs to do, the more objections you need to overcome and desires you need to connect with.

So, if you feel the need to rage whenever you bump up against a long format sales page, you’ve got to wonder…

Is it the format that’s pissing you off, or the fact that the copy/design, long as it is, just plain sucks?

In almost every occasion, it’s the quality of the copy or the overuse of certain design “mechanisms” that play the role of agitator. When that happens, go ahead…feel free to shoot the messenger along with the message.

That said, as a copywriter, if there’s a way to shorten up my copy and convert better, I’m all for it. I’ll be experimenting a lot with this and video over the next year.

Curious what you think…

Dunno why. Maybe it’s that I was raised in a household with a hippy, potter (not pothead) mom and a mad professor dad. Either way, I never quite learned the standard party openers, you know, first 10 questions to ask or ways to be instantly known as the life of the party.

And, I have to admit, I kind of resented this lack of proper social grooming for a lot of years.

Because everyone I knew seemed to have a much easier time than me. But, with age, comes wisdom (also known as eccentricity), and I eventually realized my parents’ socialization skills were actually pretty killer. They were just finely tuned to the very narrow craft-world and academic communities in which they operated. Hell, my dad could throw down with the best cognitive scientists out there and my mom could talk gas-fired celadon circles around your average potter.

Problem is, outside those counterculture cliques, mainstream America operates differently.

And, while they were comfortably ensconced in their worlds, I was growing up in the bigger soup of mainstream suburban U.S.A. So, I learned how to fit into their worlds…but not mine.

And, after years of not really getting it, I started looking for the secret. I was fascinated to hear, many times and from many people, that the REAL secret is…

If you want to be interesting…be interested.

It sounded so easy. Just learn the standard openers, the 10 new-person questions, then listen to the answers and keep asking questions that demonstrate that you’ve listened and want to know more. I tried it. It took a bit of practice. But, it worked. If you pretend to be interested by mimicking the behavior of a genuinely interested person, people love you. I figured this would be a great skill set to have when looking to build clients or get a job.

Only one problem…a solid 80% of the time, I didn’t WANT to know more.

In fact, it was all I could do to keep my inner geek/hermit from raising it’s head three words into a conversation and screaming, “NEXT!”

I’m not antisocial by any definition. But, I am selectively-social.

And, here’s what I discovered. I don’t want to be considered interesting to everyone in the room, everyone at the conference or everyone at the bar. Because it takes a boatload of energy to feign interest in the name of being found interesting by people who, when it comes down to it, you don’t want to share your damn cookies with anyway. It empties you out in the name of being liked by people who, even if you’re successful in your quest to be found interesting, will have fallen not for you, but for who you’ve conned them into thinking you are.

Ya know what? Maybe, just maybe it’s time to (wo)man up and learn that it’s okay for only 5% of the people to find you interesting. Because life’s not about mass adoration, it’s about individual connection and we all have a relatively limited capacity for that.

I DO want to be considered interesting to that small subculture of people who are so genuinely likeminded and/or engaging that I authentically DO care about what they are saying. I DO want to be respected and loved and be known as a vital part of a select community, not because I asked the right questions to create just enough feigned interest to pass social muster, but because they’re them and I’m me…and that’s enough.

In the end, it’s not about how many hands I shake or the percentage of people in a room who find me interesting. It’s about the 5 people with whom there’s the chance for a genuine connection.

So, here’s a new rule about how to be the most interesting person in a room…

DON’T!

Be authentic, filters down. Have something to say, fueled by passion, to a small subset of the room who care and who you genuinely want to listen to.

Because the moment you have to feign interest, you’ve already lost the interesting game.

As always, just thinking out loud.

What do YOU think?

• One is about your legacy, the other is about what’s in front of you.
• One is about the impact trail you deliberately blaze and leave behind, the other about the income trail you haphazardly piece together.
• One is about progressive, conscious building within a well defined area of interest, the other is about bouncing to wherever the next perceived opportunity lies without regard to growth and consistency.
• One is about being mindful, present and proactive, the other is about being disconnected, frenetic and reactive.
• One is about peace, power and passion, the other is about searching, yearning and hoping.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer, a painter, a blogger, a lawyer or an executive. We all have within us the opportunity and the ability to create a profound body of work, a legacy.

There is, no doubt, a time for chaos and exploration.

In fact, it nearly always proceeds and informs a period of greater, more focused building. And, it’s not unusual for it to occasionally return as you question your current path. But, understanding and, to the extent possible, directing that chaos toward a resolution is critical, even if it means letting go of paths and options in order to create the space, focus and intention to drive forward with one. Because, with rare exception…

For greatness to emerge, options must narrow…and chaos must die.

Powerful legacies rarely if ever come in the form of scattershot, piecemeal efforts…cornucopias of chaos…no matter how fun, windswept or purposeful they seem when we’re adrift within them.

So, my question is…does this make sense to you?

And, more importantly, are your building or floating and why?

Ever wonder if you could truly come alive while working for someone else?

By the time I finished writing Career Renegade, the book ended up with a decidedly entrepreneurial bent. But, truth is, it didn’t start out that way. In fact, there was an entire section on going renegade under someone else’s roof that ended up on the cutting room floor.

And, more recently, as I’ve been culling and refining my own quest to play a smaller number of bigger games, I’ve been revisiting that very question. No doubt, going renegade most often taken the form of entrepreneurship, but I’m increasingly wondering if it really has to be that way. Because, in the end…

Going renegade is less about running the kingdom and more about delivering yourself into a place where the qualities and quests that allow you to come alive are ever-present.

You can create that scenario through entrepreneurship as I’ve often done, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility of also finding the necessary qualities under someone else’s roof.

For me, the 8 Critical Renegade Qualities include:

• Mission – Is the mission/vision closely aligned with my own personal mission and desire to create a powerful, lasting impact on peoples’ lives
• People – Are the people within an organization “my people?” Are they like-minded, do they buy into a similar vision, lead with respect, transparency, impact and truth over politics and value similar qualities?
• Culture – Is the overall culture, pace, level of formality, layers of oversight, directness of interactivity, lightness/heaviness, sense of joy and mutual respect and emphasis on collaboration and contribution to a collective vision in sync with the type of culture that allows me to thrive. Is it fast-paced and innovative or locked into established systems (that often bear little relevance to the concerns that gave rise to them). Will people understand that my most powerful innovations often come while noodling away on an electric guitar with headphones in the middle of the day?
• Setting – Is the physical setting one that resonates and supports my quest for innovation and impact, from the nature of the office layout to the geographic location?
• Content – Barring a smallish percentage of admin that comes with any position (even entrepreneurship), is the content largely intrinsically rewarding? Would I do it for free simply because I love to do it? Do I wake up thinking about ways to do it more, better, cooler?
• Process - Are the processes and procedures in sync with the the processes and procedures that allow me to do my best work?
• Control & Accountability – Am I given enough control over the means to be able to effectively deliver on the results I would be held accountable for? Hold my feet to the fire, but give me the matches, the wood and, if needed, an axe.
• Energy – Every organization has an energetic subtext, a visceral pulse that inevitably runs from the top down. On an intuitive level, does my heart beat along with that same pulse?

If the answer to these questions is a strong yes, you might want to go for it.

But, there are a few wild cards…

And, lack of ultimate control is one. When you’re not the final word, you never have the same level of control over your own personal journey or the course of the greater entity that you’d have as the head of your own vision. You may play a considerable role, but you don’t get to set the tone for all the qualities listed above. And, that’s something very serious to weigh. All too often, though, peoples’ quest for control isn’t built around the desire to define the above qualities, but rather the mad dash for security.

People equate control with security and, truth be told, they’re not the same.

Control may get you one step closer, but in the end, the closest you can ever come to the near-fiction of security is extraordinary competence. And, that follows you wherever you go, whether you run your own venture or bring it to life in the context of another’s.

Plus, the entrepreneurial route may also compel you to trade off certain extraordinary experiences.

These often include:

• The resources and support of a larger, better funded organization that would allow you to accelerate and magnify the impact you can have on other peoples’ lives. And,
• The opportunity to work with and learn from extraordinary individuals and mentors, on a day-to-day, face-to-face level.

Right now, 80% of all small businesses in the U.S. are 1-person business. And, according to a recent Business Week article, more than 50% of those are home-based, dropping tens of millions of entrepreneurs into a never-ending quest to find a small collective of trusted Rabbis, mentors and compatriots in an effort to continue to learn and grow and have a group of trusted advisers.

Establishing your own renegade think tank can be massively helpful in moving your vision forward. I’ve done this myself and supplemented it by reading voraciously, attending events and leveraging my platform to interview many of the people I seek to learn from. That’s a very different level of experience, interaction, learning and growth, though, than working with genuine thought-leaders and mentors, face-to-face, day-in, day-out over a period of years.

In the end, there’s no one-size-fits-all renegade solution.

And, as much as I believed for a long time that some people are just cut out to be entrepreneurs and others to be employees, I have to confess to seeing a very real muddying of those waters. Because, to me, going renegade or “coming alive” in the way you earn your living is less about choosing between entrepreneurship and employment and more about:

• Revisiting the 8 qualities above,
• Defining who and what makes you come alive under each category, then
• Building or finding the path and income you need to live well in the world, that aligns most closely around those qualities and that allows you to build your living around the greater lifestyle you seek to manifest.

Either way, the beautiful thing is…we have a choice.

Question is…how will you make yours? WILL you make yours?

As always, just thinking out loud.

What do YOU think?

1. On Leadership: Give a damn
2. On Product Development: Solve a huge problem at the point of greatest pain
3. On Customer service: Give a public damn
4. On Employee Management: See rule 1 & be ruthlessly honest
5. On Marketing: See rules 1 & 2, then show, don’t tell
6. On Advertising: The more you need it, the more your product sucks
7. On PR: See rules 1 & 2, then light a match. If a fire doesn’t catch, do rule 2 better
8. On Operations: See rules 1, 2 & 4, then add trust and accountability to a result
9. On Sales: See rule 1, then solve, don’t sell…and only if you can
10. On Success: The only metric that matters in the end is impact
11. On Life: If you’re a macintosh, don’t try to be a gala.

Got more to add?

Have at it in the comments…

1. Suck up to well-known bloggers with giant followings
2. Guest post on well-known blogs with giant followings (usually done after #1)
3. Link out to well-known bloggers with giant followings a lot
4. Trash well-known bloggers with giant followings (then run for cover)
5. Make out with well-known bloggers with giant following at tweetups & conferences
6. Tweet about how you made out with well known bloggers are tweetups & conferences
7. Post/tweet about breaking news and take a strong contrarian position
8. Lead a post with a stunning/controversial image (stumble-bait)
9. Ask a question that cannot be left lingering in a headline
10. Include strong self-interest in your headline
11. Tell half of a story in the headline
12. Piggyback a giant news story in your headline
13. Call out a celebrity in your headline
14. Call out a social media mogul in your headline
15. Do an experiment that debunks a popular myth
16. Interview well-known bloggers
17. Interview well-known tweeters
18. Interview well-known business people
19. Interview well-known web-celebs
20. Be a complete and utter ass and write about it in detail (not my style, but it works)
21. Be the nicest person alive and write about it
22. Reveal your wildly dysfunctional train wreck of a life to the world
23. Ask a compelling question to 20 top bloggers, then post answers in a roundup
24. Film yourself naked on a unicycle in front of the major landmarks around the world
25. Write a 10,000 word post without punctuation or paragraphs.
26. Run a contest that requires people to evangelize you to enter (spam-alert)
27. Run a contest that requires thoughtful entries in the comments
28. Run a contest that requires people to submit videos entries on YouTube.com
29. Run an Ironman Triathlon and tweet every minute of the entire race.
30. Follow a guy running an Ironman who’s tweeting every minute and tweet about how he’s tweeting every minute.
31. Shave your chest for charity
32. Shave your back for charity
33. Shave your eyebrows for charity
34. Shave your ass for charity, or…
35. Shave someone else’s chest, back, eyebrows or ass for charity (disclaimer – get permission)
36. Start a conversation about a highly controversial topic and link to thought-leaders’ blogs
37. Create a list of the top blogs in your niche, then email everyone to let them know they made the list, wOOt!
38. Create a list of the top twitterers in your niche, then tweet them that they made your list, wOOter!
39. Create a list post about getting traffic without using list posts, then recommend using lists.
40. Provoke a ton of people, then turn off your comments so they have to respond on their blogs, twitter and Facebook
41. Help a ton of people without expectation of anything in return and know it’ll come back to you (my fave)
42. Offer free design advice
43. Offer free copywriting advice
44. Offer free marketing advice
45. Offer free business advice
46. Offer free technical advice
47. Offer free food & bevvies
48. Offer free product development advice
49. Run polls
50. Respond to every comment
51. Find hot stories on Digg and write rebuttal posts
52. Find hot stories on PopUrls.com and write rebuttal posts
53. Find hot stories on Mixx and write rebuttal posts
54. Find hot stories on Reddit and write rebuttal posts
55. Call out a guru
56. Provide insane value on a consistent, enduring basis
57. Answer questions everyone’s afraid to ask in public, but are dying to know the answer to
58. Stand in the Today show crowd with a giant sign linking your blog to Al’s outfit
59. Write a 5,000-10,000 word, insanely high-value series on a hot topic from digg or popurls
60. Make an insanely high value video on a hot topic from digg or popurls and post on every video site
61. Make an insanely funny video on a hot topic from digg or popurls and post on every video site
62. Make an insanely emotional video on a hot topic from digg or popurls and post on every video site
63. Be real…if being real is remotely interesting to anyone else
64. Buy PPC ads
65. Buy blog ads
66. Buy banner ads
67. Buy StumbleAds
68. Buy paid posts at Izea.com
69. Buy solo email blast ads
70. Figure out how to something that changes a lot of people’s lives, then share it
71. Do something that changes one person’s life, then share it
72. Solve a huge problem a ton of people have in a way nobody else has
73. Manifest your dream, then teach people how to do it and change even more peoples lives
74. Edit 20 old posts to add in keyword anchor text that points to a single new keyword-driven post
75. Do an SEO audit on your blog to make sure you’re doing everything possible to increase search traffic from both a content and architecture standpoint
76. Check every pforst four typoes…twice
77. Read the top mags in your niche and write about what they are featuring as hot topics
78. Write giant, evergreen flagship content that people will value forever
79. Write 3-15 itty-bitty posts a day (95 of the top 100 blogs posts multiple times a day)
80. Link out liberally
81. Promote other peoples’ stuff 10 times more than you promote your own
82. Take a damn shower, at some point you’re going to need to get lunch and talk to human beings
83. Post your best stuff earlier in the week
84. Try article marketing to drive keyword-specific traffic and build links
85. Get off your damn computer and talk to real people in real life who really care
86. Find forums in your niche and share killer insights
87. Make it easy to share your content with social media buttons
88. Write a bestselling book and send people to your blog on every other page
89. Become a moviestar, then challenge CNN to a public race for followers
90. Mock a moviestar who challenges major news outlets to win followers
91. Create an anonymous blog using an identity-protected domain to rail against an industry and share insider secrets (job hunting on the side, of course)
92. Hire linkbuilders to seek out huge numbers of links to your blog
93. Syndicate with RSS
94. Incentivize subscribers with “relevant, high-value” monthly giveaways
95. Don’t use a stock blog design template without modding & customizing it to reflect your genuine brand
96. Give waaaaaaay more than you get. Oh, did I repeat that? Damn straight I did, it’s that important
97. Involve your readers by, oh, letting them finish your post in the comments…

Got anything to add?

Scale aside…

There is a single quality that is so rare, when you find someone who has it, you’ll do pretty much anything to bring that person on board and keep them happy.

And, the thing is, some people cultivate it naturally. But, others, once they realize it’s power, may be able to build it into who they are and how they operate. So, what do we look for?

What is that single quality that makes someone precious and indispensable?

Beyond intelligence, loyalty, kindness, respect, discipline, pride, passion and compassion, it’s…

…the ability to create.

Sounds so simple. But truth is, the vast majority of people spend their lives learning how to follow then execute other peoples’ game plans. Fitting their skills, abilities and mindsets into the predefined responsibilities and tasks required by a predefined job. And, that’s fine. We need people like that in the world. If that’s you and you work with pride and add value and that makes you happy, rock on.

But, know too that you regardless of how “hard” you work, you will very likely never be toward the top of the “gotta keep ‘em” food chain. Not because you’re bad at what you do, not because you don’t add value. Not because those around you don’t like or even love you. But because there will always be a sea of people lined up to take your job who can do what you do in a similar enough way to make your boss, partner, colleague or collaborator happy.

For every creator, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of operators.

Which is why, when you’re a creator, everything changes. Rather than being the one people ask to carry out a plan, people look to you to create a plan. To solve a problem, to innovate a new idea, product, service or campaign, to see opportunities where everyone else sees barriers, to blaze a new trail rather than follow a well grooved one.

And, the thing is, most often it’s not about radical departures from the norm or Earth-shattering breakthroughs.

What I’m talking about is the ability to create solutions on a daily basis. To understand we’re at point A and we need to get to point B, then tap your creative/problem-solving juices to conjure the best possible way to get there. As someone who’s steering the ship, that ability is immensely more valuable to me than someone who needs to be told every step from A to B (provided I also have skilled Operators in the pipeline). Because it frees up my own creative juices to focus on other projects, while trusting in another’s ability to figure out how to get done what needs to get done.

Truth be told, though, there’s one person who’s even more valuable than the pure creator/problem-solver.

And, that’s the Creator-Operator—the individual who can not only create anew, solve problems and map out innovative pathways, but also possesses the ability to execute, to bring those plans to life. People who can do both are extraordinarily rare finds, because creation and implementation are very different processes and almost always inhabit different brains and bodies, too. Most peoples’ minds just don’t function well on both levels. Which is why those folks tend to rise quickly up the ranks and often become entrepreneurs.

And, that leaves us with two important questions:

• Are you a Creator, a Creator-Operator or an Operator? And…
• If you’re an Operator and you’d like to become more of a Creator, is that “trainable?”

I’ll share some thoughts on both these questions in the comments in a bit.

But, right now, I’m curious…how would YOU answer these questions?

Let’s discuss…

At the same time, I’ve just relaunched TribalAuthor.com as a full-on blog and began contributing a weekly column to the new Huffington Post book section.

Now, as I begin to do some retooling and reigning in (part of my “bigger game” plan), I’ve decided to merge the blog element of CareerRenegade.com into JonathanFields.com (which should make the sizable chunk of you who subscribe to both blogs happy, too).

On Tuesday, October 13th, we’ll be merging the two blogs. CareerRenegade.com “the website” will continue to exist and that site will host book-related things, the Career Renegade podcast and related events. But, when you click on the “blog” button, you’ll be taken over to the newly merged blog at JonathanFields.com. We’ll also be importing all of the posts from CareerRenegade.com’s blog into JonathanFields.com, so you’ll be able to find and search for everythere in one place.

And, for those who subscribe, either by RSS or email, we think we’ll be able to make the switch pretty seemlessly, but if we hit any snags, we’ll let you know and share what to do to continue to receive updates.

Thanks so much to my family at both homes, I look forward to continuing to grow with you in our newly unified blogging homebase at JonathanFields.com.

Kapish?