Out of all the presenters I saw at BMA Engage this year, Jeffrey Hayzlett wins first prize.  Hands down.

Not that it was necessarily a competition, but this guy is uber-sharp and seriously entertaining to watch.  He dominates the stage with a natural presence that is truly larger than life.

Hayzlett is the now former CMO of Eastman Kodak, resigning in good grace after a four-year tenure to launch his new book, The Mirror Test.  If you’re familiar with the CMO game, that length of stay is about twice the national average of big company CMOs.

Want Credentials?

Hayzlett was one of the driving forces behind the strategic rebirth for the Eastman Kodak global brand marketing initiatives.  This corporate giant had built an entire business model on the production and sale of film.  Enter the digital camera and aside from photography enthusiasts, the market for film has all but died.  Imagine how that challenge must have felt.

Hayzlett has been credited with leading Kodak into the development of new and innovative products, and with it, year-over-year record business growth.  He was heavily involved in the product development behind the Kodak Zi8, one of my absolute favorite video products on the market today.

I also think it’s interesting that the Zi8′s key feature – it’s external microphone port – actually came from a suggestion Hayzlett received in a tweet from a consumer.  He acted quickly, turning the idea into a product innovation that has positioned the Zi8 as one of the market leaders in HD pocket video devices (against the once-dominant Flip brand).

(And just for the record, both videos you are about to watch were shot with the Zi8.)

Here’s my interview with Jeff on his new best-selling book, The Mirror Test:

Two of the key points I’ve taken from The Mirror Test, aside from chuckles at Hayzlett’s stories on his own business ventures, are the idea that passion without planning is simply not enough and if your business is not growing, it is dying.  That’s where the idea of the mirror comes in – looking at the realistic reflection you see and not necessarily the distortion you want to see.

To me, The Mirror Test almost stands as the antithesis of Gary Vaynerchuck’s recent book, Crush It. While I totally dig Gary’s work, it seems his key message in Crush It is that passion is everything.  But is passion alone really enough?

Read both books and make your own call on that.  Personally, I would LOVE to see these two charismatic speakers debate their ideas on a stage somewhere.  That would just be interesting to watch and one hell of a good time.

One More Video

I think you need to see Hayzlett on stage to fully get what he talks about in the book and where I was going with the comparison between Gary V. and Hayzlett’s different opinions.  His talk grabbed my full attention because it was spot on and very entertaining. When you think of passion alone versus passion with planning, consider Hayzlett’s pheasants.

What do you think?  Are you reinventing the film business or simply chasing pheasants?

If you’re not reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin, the title of this post (which is actually a quote from the book) probably won’t make a lick of sense to you…yet.

Yesterday, this quote helped me learn something about myself.

“Never let the Lizard send email.”

Pretty abstract, huh.  I’ve learned that the Lizard (my Lizard Brain anyway) is largely driven by a terrible, terrible four letter word.  Fear.

The Lizard Brain, as Seth describes, is literally a portion of our brain that sits near our brain stem and controls fight or flight reactions.  It’s an old and primal part of the brain with enough power to overtake the newer portions of the brain that control creativity, new ideas and all the functions that lead us to passion, self actualization and to doing the work (or art) we enjoy and have the ability to produce.

If you want to learn more about the Lizard Brain and The Resistance, buy the book (non-affiliate link up top, folks).  Seth does a fine job explaining his own concepts, and if you pay attention, they might just change your paradigm.

My Lizard Brain
I remember once being in a debate with a client of mine.  During a conference call, I became afraid of scope creep as the result of a decision the team had to make and some obvious differences in opinion.  There was tension, and before the air was cleared, we had to end the call due to time.

The follow-up email from me should have never been sent.  I was freaking out and, as a result, my normal style of written communication changed.  I wrote as if I was writing a legal document.  I wrote as if I was trying to protect myself from a poor outcome.  It wasn’t nasty, per se, but it was cold, removed and void of any context of the relationship I had spent weeks building with my client contact.  The message was not received (or perceived) well, and the call that followed was not the most comfortable conversation either.

Thanks to Seth, I know now that my email was the result of my Lizard Brain.  I was afraid.  The better, newer, more sophisticated part of my brain was being overrun by a reaction to that fear.  The Lizard, in it’s instinctual effort to protect me from harm actually came close to sabotaging my success.

“Never let the Lizard send email.”

We took a few days off after that incident.  After all normal brain function had returned, we addressed the situation, I apologized, and we moved forward.  Happy ending.

Has this happened to you?  Have you ever let your Lizard Brain take control?

**For bonus points, now that Seth has given it a name and you know it’s there, will you be able to better control your own Lizard in the future?

One of the greatest influences in my career has been Seth Godin.  Between Seth, Chris Brogan, Brian Halligan and many others, one could wonder what the heck they put in the water out in Massachusetts that helps produce some of the greatest business minds of our era.

I don’t normally completely hinge my blog on other people’s content.  That’s cheating.  But for today, I have to cheat because, frankly, there’s not much I feel I could add to this conversation between David Meerman Scott (another MA resident) and Seth.  It’s one of the most provocative and fascinating interviews I’ve seen recently.  I’m excited to read Seth’s new book, Linchpin, and have already ordered my copy.

The interview is about 13 minutes long, so if you’re busy bookmark it and come back later this evening.  It’s probably the best investment of 13 minutes you will have this week.

If you follow TED Talks, Seth’s ideology reminds me of a talk I watched with Sir Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity.  I think both of these guys are spot-on in their epiphanies.  The emergence of the social web, free publishing technology and affordable hardware has completely changed the game.

Think about the Linchpins you know
Three years ago, if someone mentioned the name Chris Brogan, would you have had any idea who he was or why you should even care?  If you’re a wine buff, ask yourself this: three years ago, would the name Gary Vaynerchuck have meant anything?

If it weren’t for this blog, my LinkedIn profile or my daily musings on Twitter, would you even know the name Nate Riggs?  I can tell you for sure that three years ago I had little access, even less leverage and no one who really cared about what I had to say.  So, probably not…

Change Artists
Artist has been a hot word since Brogan and Smith wrote Trust Agents, with an entire chapter dedicated to outlining the qualities and practice of the “Human Artist.”  I can’t help but notice the influence of that book in Seth’s definition of “art” in the video:

“The Act of bringing humanity and connection to change someone else.”

There are some the parallels between what happened during the first Renaissance period and this new Digital Renaissance that we are all trying to figure out.  One of the commonalities was the presence of artists, and how their work (the media) helped to enlighten humanity and produce social and cultural change.  From what I can see, Seth busts this idea wide open in Linchpin – and in my opinion, there’s no one better for the job than him.

So what’s your take?  Have we become brainwashed?  Has the education system killed our creativity?  Have you become part of the third group – the Linchpins – who will break that mold?