CeciliaLu.Net

Recently, I got called out for a wimpy-assed response concerning my company’s typical sales cycle.

I was sitting in the company of fellow sales and marketing managers in my networking group. It hadn’t started off as a good morning – I had been traveling non-stop over the last two weeks to major tradeshows in Anaheim and Seattle. My sleeping, eating, and exercising habits were as scattered as the dirty laundry piling out of my suitcase. A million ideas and followups were floating around in my head, and I hadn’t had the time to organize my thoughts into a comprehensive game plan.

But really, no excuses – I had thoughtlessly spewed out some cop-out response that sounded good but had no real substance, and my peers had thoughtfully called me out on it. Read the rest of this entry »

I hate asshats.

Okay, that’s just too vague of a differentiator, so let me be more specific.

I hate people who talk about themselves until their own self-praise comes fountaining out of both ends.

“But Ninja,” you say, “isn’t it a rule that you have to make yourself look good in order to merit the job in the first place?”

Again, clarification required here: I think there’s a way of showing competence without showing off. It’s along the same train of thought as crafting any effective marketing message or strategy.

Be a stealthy, subtle ninja. Your colleagues don’t need to know the minute details of what you’re working on. Keep them second-guessing what brilliance you’ll be bringing to the table next week.

Sometimes, you say a lot by shutting up.

I hate the crash. I don’t mind the burn.

Last week, I blogged about how we’re all scared into living life as high achievers. Today, I’m breathing through that fear.

You know when the crash is imminent. There are always warning signs when life is about to upchuck on the pavement. True to every horror flick around, the leadup to the crash is always more powerful than the event itself. Unless your movie really sucks.

I think we should all learn how to pause.

and take notice of what happens afterwards.

That moment where shit hits the fan – and life simply goes on.

I lived through the crash. I’m revelling in the burn.

It hasn’t been an unproductive time for the Ninja: the last few months have seen some of the most strenuous challenges of my professional career. Sometimes, life just isn’t exciting enough to blog about. There is no time to glorify the experience and polish it up for content. Instead, it consists of working late nights in a Red Bull-induced haze, popping junk food and not seeing daylight for, well, days.

Sometime before the madness of my Ninja endurance marathon, I seem to recall my good friend Phoenix of ¡PLAM! sharing a podcast on the Hidden Demons of High Achievers. Sounded fitting enough, since I couldn’t at the time see the end to my massive workfest. I put it on as background noise, found myself more and more drawn to this episode of the Harvard Business Review interview.

High Achievers have essentially become an accepted archetype of today’s career-driven boys and girls. There’s a certain smug satisfaction to pulling off that impossible deadline; receiving the recognition and reward of a job well done; operating at a breakneck productivity level and still appearing like you have it all. You’re leaner, meaner, require less down-time, and essentially leave your coworkers shaking their heads, wondering how you do it. Well, here’s how… Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, the answer to the age-old question: “What does marketing actually do?”