INTRODUCTION

It’s your way, or the HI way.

I have been a brand solutions adviser for the last thirty-five years. Many of my associates and clients refer to me as an expert[1].

I’m outspoken. I know what I’m doing. I’m convincing and convicted about the kind of solutions it takes to move you and your organization towards a position to succeed.

The #1 piece of advice I can offer you from everything I have experienced and learned from all my mistakes and successes in over three decades, is this: Get out of your own way. That’s the purpose for my writing this book.

If you are ready to admit that your old, tired and ineffective methods aren’t getting the results you once enjoyed, this book is for you. If you and your team do not remember why you got into “this” business, or that moment when the “story” found you, this book is for you. If you have the guts to engage in proven practices that can reshape the mind, heart and body of your business, this book is for you.

More than a book, this is a manuscript; a draft scripted for acting out your story in a more intentional manner. It’s a way to look at business and life that will reveal a rewarding new path accessed through Awakening, Acknowledging, Choosing, Practicing, and Moving.

And, like a hit Broadway show, this higher way requires the right Vision, Talent, Planning and Rehearsal.

How to get the most out of the time you spend reading and practicing the HIway:

1. TAKE THE TIME, IT WON’T BE GIVEN TO YOU: Carve out a minimum of forty-nine minutes each time you sit down to read. Yes, forty-nine minutes is an odd number, and you will be one of the “odd ones” who take the time and benefit most from the doing business and life the HI Way.

2. Practice makes THE imperfect better: Complete the Reflections when they appear throughout the writing. You’ll gain more from trying the practices I suggest than assuming that you “got it” from the reading alone. Reflecting and applying the takeaways to your situation makes all the difference in how you act and how the results play out.

3. this is not a one-MAN OR ONE-WOMAN SHOW: No one of us is or can be better, smarter, brighter or more successful than all of us together. Experience this process with your team or colleagues; after all, collaborating with a troupe brings more rewards than trying to perform it alone.

4. YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE: There’s a reason why they’re referred to as the practice of medicine, the practice of law and best practice in education. The work is never totally complete or figured out. By the time you figure out the solution to the current dilemma, the next ones surface. Business and life are no different. Enjoy the colorful messiness of finger-painting through trials and successes along the way.

So, join me. Turn the page. It’s HI time we started moving towards your High Impact Solutions.

For emphasis.

(b)

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[1] I have advised companies of all sizes and from most industries; worked with start-ups as well as Fortune 500 companies; advised leaders in real estate, product development, retail, banking, professional service, higher learning, entertainment, faith and non-profits; mentored and coached over fifty corporate executives and leaders; facilitated more than one hundred strategic vision-casting retreats and countless planning sessions; modeled and implemented custom processes for internal corporate marketing teams; directed major renaming and re-branding initiatives for national and international organizations; worked with some of the world’s premier designers and artists in the production of effective brand materials…so much so, that forests tremble at the mention of my name; orchestrated the design and brand systems for the world’s largest chain of independent sock stores; directed the re-branding and brand communications protocols for a fourteen-hundred-church Christian movement and its International Mission, and for more than a decade have been a key brand process adviser to the world’s largest Christian entertainment company…did I mention that I was raised as a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn?