Kevin W. McCarthy

The Very Challenged Mercedes-Benz Ads

What is Mercedes-Benz thinking using lucifer to launch "Something powerful" that we're told is coming February 3? 

I'm watching the AFC playoffs and just halfway through the first period we have three commercials using the Rolling Stones song, Sympathy for the Devil as the sound track to their ads. Who approves ads like this?

I don't get it. MB is a class upscale brand. Linking the brand and the devil is like linking a brand with Nazi Germany ... er, ah, perhaps I've said too much. 

Here's my challenge: MB give me 15% of what you invested to create and launch this campaign and I'll give you a better campaign that aligns with the brand and presents a more positive campaign. 

 

 

Here are the lyrics:

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

What Is the Heart of Selfless Service?

Servant leaders see things differently because their hearts are genuinely in their actions, often despite the personal circumstances and consequences. In short, they've learned how to love their neighbors in a healthy and respectful manner.

One of The On-Purpose Proverbs is "Boldness occurs when passion rises and vanity falls." In 60 seconds, this public service announcement brings this On-Purpose Proverb to life and is sure to bring a tear to your eye.

While this amazing film-making short called "Gesto de Amor" (Gesture of Love) highlights the little girl, the loving act of her brother reveals that he may, in fact, be the inspirational source of servant leadership ... for us all especially in this Christmas season.

Consider showing this video to your team and asking them what they're doing to see things from the perspective of their customers. Nothing is harder which makes it all the more meaningful when we sincerely get it right. You can't have "Customer Confluence" without it.

What did this commercial stir in you?

 

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How Authentic Is Your Personal Brand?

Join William Arruda and me today at Noon Eastern for a conference call on personal branding on the REACH Personal Branding Network. Register in advance to gain access to the phone number and handout.

REGISTER HERE

In light of the interview, I felt it was only appropriate to do a rerun of this December 11, 2009 On-Purpose Business Minute. Enjoy!

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The integration of your personal brand and personal identity will both improve your life and your work life. Learn how to anchor your personal brand in the bedrock of your being.

This video is a contribution I make to a monthly leadership journal called The New Face of Leadership Magazine that is published by my colleague and friend Dr. Stephanie Parson.

Is It Fair To Profit Off Of A Sick Person?

The debates over healthcare rage across the USA, especially in this election year. When the Supreme Court upheld the "Affordable Healthcare Act" aka Obamacare, it struck a legal mark and ignited an ongoing political firestorm.

The On-Purpose Business Minutes aren't political in nature. Rather, I look below the surface at strategic issues that touch our lives and influence our thinking. By design, my goal is often to disturb your thinking in a manner that gets you closer to the root of the matter—to the purpose. Until you know the purpose, you can't align your life to be on-purpose.

My jaw dropped in stunned amazement as I heard Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz make the following statement on the November 22, 2009 ABC News broadcast of This Week With George Stephanopoulos. The following quotation from Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz's comments can be found in context at this link in the show transcript.

"I hope we can all agree that we have to get rid of the profit-driven, insurance company-driven health insurance system that we have, where it's insurance company bureaucrats, Senator Coburn, that are getting in between patients and their doctors.

"To suggest that this (healthcare reform) bill will put government in between patients and their doctors is really disingenuous..."

Nothing has changed since 2009! Her comments are important because they reflect the crux of so much of the debate in the U.S. over healthcare reform, different points of view, and the failure to address core strategies in policy. This is a classic case of arguing sentiment over underlying values and structure. Read between the lines of what she is saying here about free enterprise, economics, and so forth. Ask yourself if this represents healthcare reform or a reflection of an underlying philosophy or ignorance of the free enterprise system that created the amazing medical community in the U.S.  

Here's where I fall out on the matter... Yes, it is not only fair to profit off of a sick person—it is essential to the health of all. 

The profit motive fuels the engine of creativity. Entrepreneurs and business people are like economic ants swarming to find a strategic, market, or price crack to gain access to customers. This seemingly unsavory behavior fuels cost reductions, stimulates product/service enhancements, and drives down costs to the consumer in total.

Profit is a reason the USA has the greatest medical delivery system in the world. Yes, reforms may be needed, but to alter the balance of the economics so radically poses the greatest threat to the health of our citizens, especially the next generations. 

If we really want to improve healthcare and lower insurance costs, here's the McCarthy Solution: 70% of Americans are overweight. Let's encourage every American to take personal responsibility for what they put in their mouth and get to a healthy weight. The so-called crisis will be over. Doctors will be able to practice acute care medicine instead of wasting their time and talent fixing self-inflicted "wounds."

Your comments are appreciated.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

PS: Ready to see the waist go away? See the Health Coach who forwarded this message to you. Need one? My wife, Judith, can help you. Go to www.certifiedhealthadvisor.com and give her a call.

Paper Airplane By Michael McMillan

I'm blessed to have some really cool colleagues and Michael is one of them. This video below speaks for itself so I've given Michael space to be my guest blogger for the On-Purpose Minute.

For a couple of decades I, too, have shared the "Man on the Moon" vision that President Kennedy shared. For On-Purpose fans, I'll add one thing Michael excluded from Kennedy's statement. The President not only said we would put a man on the moon, he also said we would return him safely. The President placed a value on life above technological progress. Life is meaningful.

 

Is An Unhealthy Relationship Killing You?

This On-Purpose Minute is designed to save lives. Perhaps it is you or someone you know who is stuck in a cycle of unhealthy weight loss. 

Why do people stay in unhealthy relationships? I've watched the reality crime shows on TV of domestic abuse and often wondered why. It is easier to see the predicament of others than that of oneself.  

I am recovering from an unhealthy relationship with food. Watch today's On-Purpose® Minute and see if you relate to my issue and what I've done to be healthy.

If a doctor or health coach has forwarded this blog posting to you, then follow up with him or her to help you redefine your unhealthy relationship with food.

If you need an introduction to a health coach like the one who helped me, then contact me and I'll set it up for you. Reach me at: info@on-purpose.com

Obesity in adults is highly preventable. Figuring out how not to eat or the best diet for yourself or what exercise program to start or having gastric bypass surgery are too often avoiding the real issues of weight gain. A revised nutritional lifestyle is the key. Before I had my health coach, you can't imagine how many weight loss mythologies and misunderstandings I had about eating, dieting, and exercise. It is no wonder I was adding 2 to 3 pounds of weight per year and yo-yoing my weight throughout the year.  

Please let us help you get to a healthy weight and learn how to stay there.  

 

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

info@on-purpose.com

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How's Your Self Talk?

 

Have you ever tried to break a habit?  At best, it is an awkward experience because we take ourselves off of "autopilot" and go into a "manual" mode.  Things we didn't think about... now we do.  And when it comes to breaking bad habits, the bad habit can preoccupy our thinking. 

Athletes know that a normal part of breaking a bad habit is a slump in performance.  It is expected.  Perfection is not the standard, but progress.  How to be positive when negative is all about is a matter of choice.  Awareness, developing alternatives, and acting upon your better/best intentions (AAA) is preventive medicine for the sanity of the soul. 

Habits are defined as acquired behaviors.  The implication here is that if we can acquire new habits, then we can also dispose of bad ones.  Now there's hope!

Imagining life with benefits of our new habits is the easy part.  Making it happen—not so easy!  Our underlying premise has to be that we're capable of far more than we understand or will push ourselves. 

I'm a fan of the Discovery Channel series, Surviving the Cut.  While each branch of the U.S. military is training its soldiers for different missions, one consistent theme comes across—these soldiers have very probabilities of facing life and death situations. They need to understand that they are far more capable than they know and understand.

Personal motivation—a compelling reason, a why, a purpose—combined with an unwavering willingness to pay the price—passion—defines the outcome.  That said, extraordinary moments of truth emerge in the midst of the ordinary that test our purpose against our progress.  Positive thoughts may get us started but will they sustain us?

Moments of truth are pronounced in our self talk.  I'm not talking affirmations, positive talk, or positive mental attitude here.  Let's get to the guts of the matter, the real inner conversation.  The ones haunted by doubt, fear, anger, discouragement, disappointment, and hopelessness. We need to be equipped which is why I hope the AAA Approach can work for you.

Cover via Amazon

It is like there's a debate team living inside you.  Who will win?  How's your self talk coming along?  Use the AAA Approach to intervene on behalf of your new, better habit.  You'll be on-purpose!

Recommended Reading:  Read Pat Pearson's book STOP Self Sabotage.  I like the way this lady thinks.  She brings great depth to the topic. She's a casual business acquaintance so I can personally say that I have respect for her work.

 

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What Is The State of Your America Dream?

As President Obama prepares to address the nation tonight, let me ask you one simple question, "What is the state of your American Dream?"  Use your webcam to post your response to YouTube or Facebook and then add your link below so others can see what you have to say. 

The only rules:

1. Keep it non-political.  Hey, let's hear your story.

2. Be civil.

3. At the start of the video, please give your name and location.

   

Here's my webcam video.

Do You Have A Mentor?

Click here to watch the 60 minute replay of The On-Purpose Leader Experience: Session 1 from September 12.

A couple of decades ago a friend of mine attempted to organize a mentor program for those of us in our thirties.  He reached out to select men in their 50s and 60s to recruit them as mentors.  To his surprise, all of the men he approached felt inadequate to the task of being a mentor.  You see, they had never really been mentored so they perceived themselves as not being up to the task and responsibility.  Sadly, the program never got off the ground as a result.

Chances are that you, too, don't have a mentor.  But do you wish you did?

A mentor is a person with an impersonal interest in your personal leadership development and personal growth.  You may be thinking, "'an impersonal interest?' I would think it would be a very personal interest." 

Actually, those of us who mentor need to maintain a healthy distance from our proteges lest we run the risk of being too close to the person.  We risk becoming their fan, instead of their mentor.  The effect of too much closeness colors our perceptions and shades our reflective feedback.

As a mentor, I must place my commitment to the mentor-protege roles and process above the personal relationship.  Similarly, a defense lawyer must place the system of law above the client to ensure justice is served.

To have a "yes man" as a mentor is to have no mentor at all.  Mentors must be able to speak truth in love and be willing to suffer the consequence of offending.  Truth is the stock and trade of a mentor. 

Mentors aren't dictators; we refine and develop a person's inherent leadership and innate intelligence and capacity for good.  Allowing proteges to experience the consequences of their decisions comes with the title of mentor.  We need to speak our piece and learn to shut up.  Our ultimate interest must be independent, not co-dependent proteges.  Any mentor who is doing otherwise, it simply on an ego trip.

Yoda from Star Wars may be the most famous of all fictional mentors as the unlikely leader of the Jedi Knights.  Wouldn't we all like to have a mentor teach us to use "The Force" so we can perform like a Jedi?  Recall, however, how many times old Yoda seems to scrunch his face in dismay as Anakin or Luke Skywalker gets ready to do some impulsive (stupid) move that will turn the Force into a Farce.  

Who in your life is or was a mentor for you?  What is it about your mentor relationship that makes it special?  What does your mentor provide you?

Is Money Mastering Your Life?

Cover of Material Girl

The chorus in Madonna's 1985 hit single Material Girl is:

Living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl 

If your worldview is that of a material world, then money is what makes the world go around.  But does money define purpose? 

How would you live your life differently if you had unimagined wealth?  In this On-Purpose Minute, let's explore the role money plays in mastering your life.

To subscribe to the On-Purpose Minutes, Click Here.

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