The document summarizes a digital marketing conference that took place on April 29th, 2015 in Indianapolis. It provides summaries of presentations from several speakers at the conference, including Kyle Lacy who discussed emerging technology trends disrupting consumer behavior, such as mobility, collaborative consumption, and the "audience effect". It also summarizes a panel discussion on growing Indianapolis' digital marketing industry and managing clients through change. Finally, it discusses a presentation by Jeff Carl on using multivariate testing to more efficiently test multiple variables in digital marketing campaigns.

1. 1
Digital Marketing Conference
Wednesday, April 29th
2015
Indianapolis Museum of Art
#LOVEINDY

2. 2
YOUR CONFERENCE REVIEW
Table of Contents
SPEAKERS
Kyle Lacy 3
Panel Discussion 5
Jeff Carl 7
Shane Snow 9
Matt Rogers 11
Josh Miles 13
Nikki Lewallen 15
Benjamin Cox 17
Halie Vining 19
Stedman Graham 21
Are you a master of digital marketing?
Since 2007, MBO has given Indy business
leaders access to learn from the best and
brightest marketing technology minds
in the world. On April 29th, hundreds of
people gathered for its 8th program, the
MBO15 Digital Marketing Conference, to
get together and get inspired.
The MBO15 Conference saw some of the nation’s best and
brightest marketing minds coming together to talk about
everything from strategy to execution. In this guide, you’ll
find industry-leading knowledge on:
• Content marketing strategy
• Email marketing strategy, execution, and
multi-variate testing
• Emerging technology and future disruptive tech
• And much more!
If you were in attendance, we hope you enjoyed the
conference and if not, we hope to see you next year! Enjoy the
notes and let us know what you learned!

3. 3
Technology Trends Disrupting
Consumer Behavior
Kyle Lacy, Head of Consumer Behavior, OpenView
Venture Partners
“The customer’s
experience is the
only thing that
makes you relevant.”

4. 4
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
DISRUPTING CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
Kyle Lacy, Head of Consumer Behavior, Openview
Venture Partners
What’s next? What’s the difference
between trends and reality?
As the head of consumer behavior at OpenView Ventures,
Kyle Lacy attempts to answer that question every day. In his
morning keynote, Kyle wanted to highlight the tech trends -
and the trends influenced by tech - that will change the way
consumers interact with your brand, website, and product.
“I think what’s next is changing much faster than we’ve ever
experienced,” Kyle said.
The key to preparing for the future isn’t being a visionary, but
rather being a good listener. Your strategy should be focused
on what people are actually doing, not what you think they
might do.
Moments Matter
Kyle opened his keynote by discussing moments. Becoming a
great brand in the Internet age is about looking at every single
consumer touch point and making it mean something. Take
advantage of a moment of time–sometimes a very ordinary
moment of time–and make it matter to your customers. These
same principles apply to the conventional buyer’s life cycle.
We as marketers and technologists have to build systems that
allow people to interact with us in the moment, in the way
they want to interact with us.
Mobility
Mobile is king, right? Not quite. Customer mobility reaches
far beyond having a mobile-responsive site. Lacy pointed out
some striking statistics, including the following:
• 1 in 5 searches on Google are related to location.
• 97% of websites fail at user experiences.
• 83% of US consumers research products while in-store on
their phone.
The bottom line is that today, mobile is the smallest it will ever
be. As cell phones get cheaper, more people will buy them
and more people will be connected to the web.
The Audience Effect
“Whoever owns the audience owns the experience.”
Companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple have the
audience, and therefore the cash flow, to enter any market
they want. We’ve seen this come to fruition in every B2C
marketplace, especially retail. In 2013, one third of all
Christmas gifts in the US were shipped for free. In 2014, that
number had doubled.
What you’re witnessing there is Amazon defining demand.
Not only is Amazon capturing more of the retail market, but
they’re forcing retailers to play by their rules.
“Most people think [Google]’s main competitors are Yahoo!
and Bing, but it’s actually Amazon.”
Collaborative Consumption
Our entire economy is being rebuilt around the idea of
sharing, and the most notable example of this, Uber, has
positioned itself to thrive in competition with companies like
Amazon.
In their last round, Uber raised $2.5 BILLION, meaning they
have enough money to enter any market they want. Currently,
their biggest investor is Google. Investors have valued Uber
as if it’s larger than the entire taxi industry, but they don’t
want to limit themselves to the taxi industry. They’re currently
testing retail and food applications that could rival Amazon on
price and deliver in mere hours.
For more takeaways from Kyle’s keynote, download his slide
deck here: http://openview.vs/MBO15Trends
TAKEAWAYS
• Americans spend 151 minutes/day on smart
phones - More than TV or laptops.
• 30% of the total mobile market is smart
phone, meaning there’s a 70% growth
potential.

5. 5
Growing Indianapolis’ Digital
Marketing Revolution Beyond Indiana
Panel Discussion
“It’s a true community
of people who want
to start their own
business.”

6. 6
GROWING INDIANAPOLIS’
DIGITAL MARKETING
REVOLUTION BEYOND
INDIANA
Panel Discussion
Looking at the marketing technology
landscape, we’ve become a boom town for
the niche.
With that boom, however, it’s important that we learn from
those who have built successful companies already. This
panel, filled with some of Indianapolis’ best and brightest
technical marketers and executives provided insights on how
the next great marketing tech leaders can build their business
more effectively.
Perfecting Your Management Style
How do you manage creative technical nerds in order to build
a great company? Our executive marketing panel shared their
thoughts on effective leadership and management for your
staff.
On one hand, you have collaboration. The mantra for Kevin
Bailey is “Get together, get inspired, empower your staff.” He
likes to focus on empowering his team to do their job right,
without his guidance. He also prides himself on a questioning
style of leadership. Every time he works on a project, he wants
to ask why and push his team to innovate.
On the other hand, there’s transparency. The best lessons
learned can come from “getting naked.” Shawn Schwegman
talked about “Naked Lunches,” where his team would get
together and talk candidly about what problems they were
having, no holds barred.
Every company wants to disrupt and redefine their category,
but most companies are afraid to take the necessary risks
because of fear of losing customers. If you want to live in that
space, you have to understand that it’s okay to be hated. Don’t
delay. Fail fast and embrace change.
Helping Clients Embrace Change
When doing client work, you’re working within such a huge
complex environment. It’s not uncommon for clients to say
they want to make big changes, but they’re often unable to
embrace the risk associated with those moves. How to you
help your clients embrace the change they need to make?
Always start with areas of strength when looking to make
changes. If people say no, “our business is different,” start
with areas of strength and internal teams that are willing to
make change and evolve from there.
If you’re looking for a change agent within the C-Suite, CMOs
have the shortest lifespan in any company. A great way to
motivate CMOs to take action is through a “war” approach.
Their life is on the line, give them the tools to protect
themselves.
Growing Your Business In Indiana
At the end of the day, all five of these leaders chose to grow
their business in Indiana, and they would all do it again. They
all spoke about the amazing support network and mentorship
opportunities in the state. Organizations like Verge do a great
job of nurturing this community and allowing support to flow
from mentors to mentees.
While Indiana is a conservative state and that can lead to
branding challenges for several Indy-based corporations,
overcoming that obstacle is not insurmountable:
“Build a culture that feels like the world and no one cares
where you’re from.”
TAKEAWAYS
• Managing marketers is more about
empowering than micro-managing. Focus
on how you can give your team the reins.
• If your client wants to innovate, you
have to push them to embrace the risks
necessary to accomplish true disruption.
•Don’t get distracted. Focus on the things
that work, don’t waste money on things
your customers don’t care about.

7. 7
Multivariate Testing: How to
Streamline Variable Testing for
Digital Marketing Channels
Jeff Carl, Email Marketing Manager, Angie’s List
“Multivariate testing
allows you to take
months worth
of A/B testing
and get results
instantaneously.”

8. 8
Most marketers are using some form of
testing to determine which is the best
message to send to their customer, but do
they go far enough?
Marketing professionals understand the importance of
effective A/B testing, but few people actually care enough to
use multivariate testing to perfect their message. It’s used
in several more scientific industries, but it’s rarely used in
marketing, which is where it could have the largest effect.
What’s most remarkable is that effective multivariate testing
takes about the same amount of time as effective A/B testing,
but the effects could be astronomical.
For those of you who may doubt the method, multivariate
testing cured scurvy, won a Nobel prize, and helped Angie’s
List sell more stuff… It will probably work for you as well.
How to Run a Great Multivariate Test
A/B testing is tried and true, and it makes things better, but
every incremental gain takes longer and longer to arrive at the
best solution. With multivariate testing, you can find the best
results instantaneously instead of after months of A/B testing.
So how do you do this?
1. Isolate specific elements you want to get results on.
This can be imagery, copy, design, etc. Find what you want
to get results on and use multiple variations of each item.
2. Measure results through permutations.
Create ads, emails, or landing pages with every permutation
of these elements. This allows you to effectively A/B test
every single variable on the page and see what works and
what doesn’t.
3. Generate weighted results to find optimization.
You can leverage weighted results - including things like
open rate, CTR, and conversion rate, in order to find an
optimal solution, which may be something you didn’t even
test.
4. Test optimal solutions and iterate.
Once you’ve found an optimal solution, test it and continue
to iterate.
MULTIVARIATE TESTING: HOW
TO STREAMLINE VARIABLE
TESTING FOR DIGITAL
MARKETING CHANNELS
Jeff Carl, Email Marketing Manager, Angie’s List
TAKEAWAYS
• While A/B testing is effective, it’s not ideal
when you have many variables you want to
test for an optimal solution.
• You can run multivariate tests in the same
amount of time that you can A/B test by
leveraging built-in software capabilities.
•Multivariate testing can generate optimal
results that you didn’t even test.

9. 9
The Evolution of Media: How
Technology Content Can Impact
a Brand the Bottom Line
Shane Snow, Chief Creative Officer, Contently
“Those who tell the
stories rule the world.”

10. 10
THE EVOLUTION OF MEDIA:
HOW TECHNOLOGY
CONTENT CAN IMPACT A
BRAND THE BOTTOM LINE
Shane Snow, Chief Creative Officer, Contently
Why do stories matter? As a bestselling
author and the Chief Creative Officer at
Contently, Shane Snow has some ideas,
and stories, on just that question.
A Native American proverb reads, “Those who tell the stories
rule the world.”
Why? Why do those who tell the stories rule the world? Why
not those who make the food or those who write the laws?
Furthermore, why would we trust storytellers more than
people who have been trained to lead?
Because we, as humans, are uniquely programmed to
understand and remember great stories. Great stories make
us care and help build relationships between us and the world
around us.
Academic research from the University of Wisconsin illustrates
that stories has an impact on people’s personal relationships,
including sympathy, empathy, and compassion. This is the
same reason that people are willing to fight and die for their
country, because of the stories they’ve been told that foster
patriotism and connection to their fellow countryman.
We’re programmed for stories because oral tradition helped
us survive as a species (as seen in The Storytelling Mammal).
In the old days, publishers needed a lot of capital. You
needed talent, a printing press, and trucks. Today, however,
you just need the Internet and a story to tell. This has led to
companies adopting content marketing en masse, but what
makes it work is effective storytelling. Technology is no longer
the barrier. Today, the barrier is telling a great story that
resonates with your audience.
So how can your business tell great stories that build
relationships with people?
• Tell stories about shared interests and values
These should be directed to people who don’t know you at
all. These “top funnel” individuals should get to know your
character, not your product or services.
• Tell stories about your company and your customers
These should be directed to people who know who you
are, but not necessarily what you do. These “middle funnel”
individuals should get to know what kinds of results you get
people and how you do it.
• Tell stories about your products and services
Finally, these people get to know about your products
and services. They should be in the market and interested
in what you’re doing today. This is the bottom of your
conversion funnel, and these stories should convert
into sales.
• Make content that is timely, seasonal, and evergreen
Timely stories are about what’s new right now, seasonal is
predictable and usually annual, evergreen content is
always relevant.
While all of this is relevant, not any story will do. Just as we’re
built to understand stories, we’re built to sniff out deception.
Follow ethical principles when telling your brand’s story and
make it as authentic as possible.
TAKEAWAYS
• Storytelling is our most powerful tool to
communicate in a lasting, meaningful way.
•70% of consumers prefer to get to know
a company through articles and stories
than advertisements.
• Content marketing is three times
more likely to generate leads than
traditional marketing.

11. 11
Big Data Beyond: How to Engineer
State-of-the-Art Interactive
Marketing Solutions
Matt Rogers, President, RocketBuild
“Manual data processing
is like manual clothes
washing… We have a
machine for this, people!”

12. 12
How important is “big data?” Well, it
depends on who you ask. As an engineer
first and a marketer second, Matt Rogers
places more value in the right data.
This isn’t news to anyone, but “Big Data” is an overused
buzz-word. Unless you’re working at IBM, it pretty much
means nothing. Data as a whole, on the other hand, means
opportunity. More specifically, the right data means the right
opportunity.
So how do you get at the right data? The typical conversation
comes from giant data crunchers who try to take a lot of
data and make it meaningful. That’s hard, expensive, and
implausible. It’s more important to get the right data than to
get a lot of data.
So what’s the key to capturing the power of data, even if
you’re not IBM? Know what you want to know.
As marketers, we talk a lot about design, copy, etc, but not
enough about what it is we’re trying to learn from marketing
activities. Engineers and scientists like to learn from
everything they do, and we can learn a lot about our craft
from their process.
For example, Netflix is capturing tons of data on everything
you do (and what you don’t do). Before they launched
the product, they knew they needed to know all possible
information, including when you rewind and fast forward,
where you pause, and what you search for but don’t watch.
This is how they create their original content, by analyzing
all of these data points, but how can your business replicate
this approach?
Currently, marketers aren’t relying on data enough. Today,
marketers depend on data for just 11% of all of their
customer-related decisions. They’re collecting tons of data
from a lot of data sources, but they’re really not doing much
with it. Data tends to be disconnected in silos that cannot
communicate with one another.
What’s most important for marketers to realize is this: Every
customer interaction is an excuse to collect data about them.
That means it’s our job to engineer our data systems smarter
and cleaner from the get-go. This is where marketers and
engineers would get along, and where there are incredible
opportunities to build better experiences through clean,
viable data.
Bottom line: By building a well-planned, comprehensive
system and experience, you can collect clean, unified data
that can help you make meaningful decisions for your future
marketing campaigns.
BIG DATA BEYOND:
HOW TO ENGINEER STATE-
OF-THE-ART INTERACTIVE
MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Matt Rogers, President, RocketBuild
TAKEAWAYS
• While data is important, “Big Data” has
become an enigma to many marketers.
Don’t worry about leveraging “Big Data,”
worry about leveraging the right data.
• The best companies in the world (like
Netflix) are making most of their content
creation decisions based on information
they know about their users. For some, this
is truly big data, while for others it’s simply
collecting the right data.
• Marketers aren’t using data enough. On
average, marketers depend on data for just
11% of all customer-related decisions.

13. 13
Culture Shift: Fostering a Culture of
Subject Matter Experts
Josh Miles, Founder/Principal, Miles Design
“What if, as marketers,
you could convince
subject matter experts
to work with you to
create content?”

14. 14
CULTURE SHIFT: FOSTERING
A CULTURE OF SUBJECT
MATTER EXPERTS
Josh Miles, Founder/Principal, Miles Design
You probably have a lot of subject-matter
experts at your company, but they’re not
on your marketing team. So how can you
get your marketing team to work with your
experts effectively?
When you have highly-talented subject matter experts in your
organization, it can be extremely difficult to market them.
Whys that? Well, there are several reasons…
• They’ve probably never done it before
• Marketing is not billable, and
• They’re busy… Really busy.
While it’s difficult, it’s also extremely important. Having great
subject matter experts on your team buys you a “halo effect,”
driving business not because people like your brand, but
because they like the brilliant people you’ve hired. At the
end of the day, your subject matter experts are downright
necessary in 2015, because of the rapid growth of technology.
When all of your prospects’ questions are Google-able, you
have to move upstream to deliver value. This means that, like
it or not, you need to be marketing your best employees and
helping them build their personal brands if you want to grow.
If you do this well, you can create “Combustible content.”
What does that mean? Combustible content isn’t exploding
today, but has the potential to blow up in the future. It may be
something your experts have been creating all along. Whether
it’s a conversation, a personal tweet, or an email, your experts
have probably been creating great content for YEARS! If you
can’t find great content, check your sales staff’s sent email.
You can help them do this by:
•Walking them through the content marketing process,
helping them understand what combustible content is and
why it matters.
•Helping them promote their personal brand and showing
them what’s in it for them.
• Finding things that they’ve already done that can serve as
great content moving forward. Is there anything else that
comes to mind that you can create alongside your experts?
Remember, this will be a process. You have to sell this to your
busy, important subject matter experts. They have to buy in
to the idea. They’ll have questions and concerns, but once you
start, you’re more likely to succeed. As Seth Godin says, “The
enemy of creativity is fear, but the enemy of fear is creativity.”
Ways You Can Capture Expertise From Your Team
• Have them write.
• Interview them.
• Ghost write for them.
• Capture images or video.
Teach your company how to help by teaching your company
what constitutes great content.
Create a system for sharing with marketing and teach your
SME’s to be ambassadors for marketing.
If none of this is resonating with you, that’s okay. If sharing
expertise isn’t part of your culture, maybe expertise isn’t part
of your brand. There’s no need to force thought leadership
if it doesn’t fit with your brand and how you want to share
your story.
TAKEAWAYS
• Creating great, combustible content goes
much further than blogging. You need to
create a culture of subject matter experts
who have great ideas that they want to
share.
• Content marketing is tough… 54% of
marketers say they can’t figure out how to
make enough quality content, 50% can’t
produce it consistently, and 49% can’t
figure out how to measure it effectively.

15. 15
LinkedIn: Work It!
Nikki Lewallen, Executive Director, Rainmakers
“If we all learn to
leverage LinkedIn
to become better
networkers, we
can be 1 degree
of separation
from anyone in
Indianapolis”

16. 16
LINKEDIN: WORK IT!
Nikki Lewallen, Executive Director, Rainmakers
As someone who has spent a lot of time in
business development, Nikki Lewallen has
become a bona fide LinkedIn expert. How
can you leverage LinkedIn to show up in
more searches and drive more business?
As the largest professional network in the world, LinkedIn
has become a hot button for marketers to try to drum up
business. By focusing on these fundamental aspects of your
LinkedIn experience, however, you significantly increase your
ability to leverage the network.
Professional headline
This is the most valuable real estate on your profile. Most
people just use their current title, but it’s already listed on
your profile. You can leverage this headline in a much more
targeted way to brand yourself as an individual. Who are you,
what do you do, who do you serve? You should answer all
three of these questions in your professional headline.
Google and LinkedIn are good friends. LinkedIn is a very high-
ranking site that typically shows up above your website in
search results. This means even on Google, your professional
description can be your first impression when people are
looking for you.
Skills
The skills section is peculiar for many. Am I adding too many?
Not enough? Why are people endorsing me for things I didn’t
add. If you want to limit what people can add, make sure you
add all 50, otherwise other people can endorse you for things
that they don’t choose. This then becomes the foundation
of your endorsements section, which helps you show up in
searches for various skill sets.
Summary
The summary is about you as an individual. This is where you
can start truly building a relationship with people. You get
20,000 characters to introduce yourself and make a personal
connection with people who are looking for you. Believe it or
not, people do read this! Make it count!
Advanced Search Options
First and foremost, never ever use the conventional search
bar unless you know who you’re looking for. They can be
overwhelmed by the number of people who pop up for a
simple search. Instead, hit “Advanced” to the right and you’ll
see a variety of options pop up. This allows you to narrow
your results by geography, title, industry, etc.
If you take the time to master these basics, you’ll be set for
LinkedIn success!
TAKEAWAYS
• LinkedIn has over 347 million users,
making it the #1 online B2B social media
platform.
• 87% trust LinkedIn as a source of
information affecting decision making.
• Headshots make your profile 11 times
more likely to be viewed and 61% of
active users are C-Level professionals,
business owners, and business
development professionals.

17. 17
Three Fundamentals to Meaningful
Brand Activation
Benjamin Cox, VP Client Services, xiik
“Great ideas have soul,
and when executed
well, move people to
feel and to act.”

18. 18
As a VP of Client Services, Benjamin Cox
is focused on finding meaning in his client
interactions every day. That evokes the
question, what does a meaningful brand
activation look like and how can I recreate
it for my brand?
We fall in love with stories of meaning and truth, so why do
we shy away from them in a business context? Great ideas
create action and change, and that activation brings brands
to life. Organizations with strong brands regularly outperform
the SP. Most people worldwide would care less if 73% of
brands disappeared tomorrow. In today’s world of marketing
and technology, that’s a shocking statistic, but that’s reflective
of a cynicism that doesn’t believe the promises that brands
make.
Advertising and promotions used to be much more
separated, but today brand activation shapes our consumers’
experiences, and over 40% of marketing expenditures are
around brand activation.
• Meaningful ideas start with a great insight
All meaningful ideas are built around empathy and a deep
understanding of those around you. Putting empathy into
action is built around mapping your empathy by taking
reactions from your work into what people say, do, feel and
think about it.
• Meaningful activations create instant value
You’re not just creating with your competitors, you’re
competing with every other marketer. If you’re only focused
on utility and not soul, it’s hard to have a meaningful
activation.
• Meaningful connections happen one at a time
This is a common vice for long-winded copywriters and
lengthy product spec sheets. Keep it simple. Tell one
attribute of your story at a time. What’s most important for
people to know right now?
THREE FUNDAMENTALS
TO MEANINGFUL BRAND
ACTIVATION
Benjamin Cox, VP Client Services, xiik
TAKEAWAYS
• Telling a great story is about a lot more
than great writing. To tell a great story
about your brand, it’s of paramount
importance that you focus on authenticity.
• If you want to create a meaningful brand
activation, you need to provide great,
instant value.
• You can’t blast out meaningful
connections. They happen one at a time
and they’re unique to each individual.

19. 19
Content Strategy: The Research Data
Behind Successful Content Marketing
Halie Vining, Client Success Director, Relevance
“What is the sentiment
around your brand,
good or bad, and how
are you using both?”

20. 20
CONTENT STRATEGY:
THE RESEARCH DATA
BEHIND SUCCESSFUL
CONTENT MARKETING
Halie Vining, Client Success Director, Relevance
Are you struggling to make your content
strategy work? Do you have a strategy
at all? As the Client Success Director of
Relevance, Halie Vining wants to make
sure you’re building a strategy and
sticking to it.
Where are content marketers falling short?
62% of B2B marketers said their content marketing was
ineffective. Do people have the resources to create great
content? Do they have the resources to promote and share
great content?
Much of this comes from a lack of content strategy. Only one
third of marketers have a documented content marketing
strategy. How can you take the guess work out of marketing.
How can you make more of your decisions data-driven and
built to help your clients succeed?
Where do we start, what do we do, and what do we find?
Here’s where you can start.
Audience
Looking at who your audience is and how you’re going to
reach them is key for success. Make sure you’re focusing on
things like:
• Brand Immersion
• Keyword Research
• User Generated Content Analysis
• Customer Interviews
• Customer Surveys
• Expert Interviews
• Analytics Assessment
This leads to effective audience segmentation and a greater
understanding of customer pain points.
Competition
What are your competitors doing? Can you compete with
them? How do you know? These are the basic things you
should be doing when assessing your competitors.
• Content Inventory
• Sentiment Analysis
• Keyword Gap Analysis
• Site Architecture and Navigation Audit
• Local SEO Evaluation
This puts you in a position where you can ensure that your
site is up to snuff with the competitors and you’re ranking for
what you should be ranking for.
Media
Backlinks are king, right? So how do you get them? These
analyses are the most effective way to help you build media
relationships.
• Industry Publications Analysis
• Industry Social Influencers Analysis
• Industry Experts Analysis
• Paid Media Analysis
• Social Engagement Analysis
This helps you identify top content and the best possible
opportunities for your content. What topics and formats
should I be creating?
Trends
What’s trending and how can you leverage that? Start by
running the following:
• Sentiment Analysis
• Angle
• Subtopics
• Compelling Questions
• Resources Linked to
• Experts Quoted
This can help you understand, and capitalize on, patterns and
find compelling questions to answer.

21. 21
Identity Leadership
Stedman Graham, Author, Educator, and Entrepreneur
“If you’re doing the
same thing over
and over every day,
you’re doing nothing.”

22. 22
IDENTITY LEADERSHIP
Stedman Graham, Author, Educator, and Entrepreneur
How can your company, your brand, and
your team be a leader in the marketplace?
Stedman Graham is an author, educator,
and entrepreneur who focuses in
transforming followers into leaders
through identity development who focuses
on just that.
To Stedman, leadership is everything. A lack of leadership
leads to bad employees and a loss of control within your
company. If leadership is weak, the employees become weak.
At the end of the day, it’s hard to be a leader when you’re
always working.
If you’re doing the same thing today that you did yesterday,
you’re really doing nothing. You turn off your brain and fail to
shape your own future. When you don’t know who you are,
you don’t know where you’re going and you have to entrust
someone else to tell you who you are.
Stedman grew up in a poor small town yet was able to attend
college on a basketball scholarship. Despite his circumstances,
he not only earned his Bachelor’s Degree, but also his
Master’s, in addition to playing basketball in Europe. He spent
much of his early college career working to spite the authority
figures who doubted him in high school, but eventually
realized that he was better served living for himself and not
living for the labels that others place on him.
So how can you overcome the obstacles and doubters in
your life? Center yourself around the most powerful word in
the English language… Love. Love is undefinable and omni-
changing. It’s something that can overcome any obstacle. This
seems a little abstract, though. How can you “organize” love?
Focus on loving and appreciating as much as you can in the 24
hours you get in a day.
From there, build a plan. If you’re not able to write it down
and share it with others, it’s not real. This allows you to work
hard and generate consistency, helping you develop layers of
your own personal brand.
But how can you overcome the fears that you face every
single day? Every day, you’re faced with the challenge of
negativity or positivity… whether to adapt to change or be
crippled by it. This is dependent, in large part, by your support
structure. “Build your dream team.” Find great mentors (or
rather, let them find you), so you can grow exponentially.
TAKEAWAYS
• Center your life on love.
• The world sees you as you see yourself.
• Become a self-directed, life-long learner.

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