Maurilio Amorim

Author: Maurilio Amorim

  • Have You Settled for Good When You Can Achieve Greatness?

    I don’t know what it is about the human spirit that often finds itself restless with the status quo. I’m not talking about ingratitude, that elusive never-pleasing, never-ending quest for affirmation, money, power, control or prestige. That, I’m certain, is a condition of the human heart searching for fulfillment outside the Creator. I’m talking about reaching a point in your career, business or even in your relationship with your family that by most standards would be considered successful; however, deep inside you know you could do better. You’ve settled for good when you know you could be great.

    I’ve been through this cycle so many times in my professional life: I reach a new comfortable plateau and decide that there’s nothing wrong with setting up residence there. After all, my reasoning goes, this is a much better plateau than the one before and some would love to have it. But in the process of establishing permanent residency “it” happens. The nagging feeling of restlessness grows to the point I know I can no longer stay. I must move on.

    For me, the process has more to do with the potential than with expectations. After all, I have gone beyond my parents’ expectations, I have a very supporting, low maintenance wife, and a fairly comfortable life. But deep down, I know I’m not finished. I know there’s more that I can accomplish, there are dreams that I need to bring into reality and new lands to conquer.

    Good is the enemy of great. You and I shouldn’t be happy with only good, if we know we can reach greatness.

    I have been living on a plateau lately. But as I write this post, I know I have to move forward. It’s not good enough to look back and enjoy what has been done. I must seek what’s ahead and climb to the next level.

    What motivates you to move on? How do you do it?

  • Running at the Pace of Life

    I just finished my long run, usually 10-12 miles, on a beautiful cool Fall morning in Nashville. And as I finished feeling great I said, “I’m a much better runner during my Fall runs because of the miserable sticky summer runs.” But as I considered the implications, I realized that’s not only applicable to my run, but also to the rest of my life.

    I can move faster in my business,  and in my relationships because of enduring and getting past troublesome spots, much like an endless run on a hot and humid southern morning. I can enjoy seasons of growth and harvest because of the lessons conditioning I learned through the rough days of just “plowing through” in life.

    In your business or personal life, what season are you in? How are you dealing with it?

  • Fashion Friday Dilemma: Pleats or No Pleats?

    Fashion Friday tackles one of man’s most troublesome fashion issues: pants. Nothing will make you look bad faster than ill-fitting, unfashionable pants. This dilemma is unique only to the American male (the rest of the world has moved on about 10 years ago.) Pleats or no Pleats, that’s the question.

    That’s an easy one for me: No pleats.

    First of all, the US is the only country left where yo can find pleated pants for sale outside the Goodwill stores. But let’s put that tidbit aside since, we Americans value our uniqueness and strong individuality. Blah, blah, blah. If we disregard fashion trends and focus on what looks best on a man, the flat-front trousers would win most every time.  Here’s the problem with pleats:

    1. BBS. Big Bottom Syndrome. Pleats put extra material around your waist thus creating a larger-than-real-life look. Trust me, but most of us don’t need to look any bigger around our rears.

    pants, well fitted

    2. DBS. Diaper Bottom Syndrome. Often pleated trousers will have deep pockets requiring extra material. This extra fabric tend to create the diaper effect, making you look like, well, you’re carrying a diaper. It’s called “the seat” and droopy seats are difficult to fix.  Unless you’re younger than 18 months or  81 years and older, you shouldn’t go around carrying more junk in your trunk than necessary.

    3. SLS. Short Leg Syndrome. Flat fronts help pants look streamlined, therefore longer. Pleats work just the opposite. Unless you have extremely long legs and a tiny torso, then you should stick with flat front trousers. If you have short legs, than the flat-front pants are your best friends.

    Bonus tip: No cuffs. Not even in suits.

    So where do you stand? Pleats or no pleats?

  • How to Live a Better Story

    Yesterday I spent the morning interviewing college kids for a video project my company is working on in partnership with Living a Better Story Foundation, Belmont University and Donald Miller, the author. It was a culmination of a 21-day program where Belmont’s Sophomore class attended Don’s lecture a few weeks back. At the end of the lecture, students received an envelope with either 5, 10 or 20 dollars. They were asked not to spend the money on themselves but to pray first and then seek to help someone else with the money by the end of 21 days. I honestly didn’t know what we were going to hear, but I certainly didn’t expect what I got.

    Interview after interview I heard stories of how prayer led to the realization that this “given” money was God’s. “But so is everything else I have,” said these students, “including what I thought was my money.” Those who “got it” were transformed. They multiplied their money, some hundreds, a few even thousands of dollars. Some bought goats, chickens, ducks, fishes, and seeds through the Samaritan’s Purse catalog that will help create sustainable lifestyle for families in developing countries, others created care packages for unwed mothers, some made and sold bracelets, cup cakes, and all sorts of goods, one kid even stocked piled Second Food Harvest with tons of canned goods. You can read some of their stories here. But their greatest lesson was learning to trust God with everything, including the little money they thought they had and in the process started living a better story. One that focused outwardly, maybe for the first time ever.

    As I interviewed Dr. Bob Fisher, Belmont’s President, I asked him about the impetus of doing this program on campus. “It started with a question from one of our Trustees,” he said. “What are we doing to teach college kids to give, not only of their time, but also of their money?” Dr. Fisher didn’t have a good answer a year ago. He does today.

    As parents, leaders, entrepreneurs and role models what should we be doing to impact a generation that has been described as over-indulgent? How can we help our children, students and employees to live a better story?

  • Confessions of a Lousy Father

    I got a called from Gwen this afternoon. We had our first teenage car accident. Our 15-year-old son had just backed up his mom’s Infinity SUV into a neighbor’s mailbox crushing the truck’s bumper and destroying the mailbox on his first attempt at driving after getting his permit on Friday. “We just spent two thousand dollars on body work this summer! How are we going to make him pay for the damages? ” were the first words out of my mouth. I was furious and my main concern was with the cost of fixing the car and the mailbox. It wasn’t until later, much later, that I thought about my son, his feelings and the trauma he might be facing. Now as I reflect on today’s event, I so wish I had reacted differently.

    Even after all the years of reading the Bible, listening to numerous messages, reflecting, praying and “growing” as a person, I still find myself reacting in ways that I hoped I would not. Today is an example of the less-than-altruistic person who shows up from time to time in my life. I know him well. He’s selfish, judgmental, and unforgiving; the antitheses of the Jesus whom I’ve pledge to emulate. As I drove home tonight, I kept thinking about my upcoming conversation with Marcus. What can I teach him? How can this be a teachable moment for him?

    But I realized that I needed this teachable moment more than he did. It will be a while before the boy’s nerves will allow him to  drive again, and he’s upset enough to the point he doesn’t need a lecture on his driving skills. I, however, had to face my own inner demons and come to grips with the fact when I had a chance to be the person I wish I were, I failed. Instead of being a gracious and loving dad, I reacted like a lousy and selfish father.

    Why share this weakness publicly on my blog? I’m not sure I should, but if by exposing the side of me I’m not proud of, will hold me accountable to change it, than maybe it’s worth the embarrassment. For me it’s more important to be authentic than to create an image of authenticity.

    Thank you for letting me indulge in this post.

    Those of you who are parents, have you ever feel like a parenting failure? If so, where have you found help?

  • Can The Local Church Help Save Christian Publishing?

    Traditional publishing is not what it used to be.  The digital revolution has now reached book publishers and for the first time ever, electronic titles outpaced hardcovers on Amazon.com. Publishers everywhere are downsizing, and even long-time NYC headquarters are being moved away from the city to cheaper rent  in nearby Connecticut.  Christian publishers are not exempt from this industry-wide shake up. I’ve sat through many meetings, taught seminars and have consulted with several different Christian publishing houses. I believe the Church is going to play a key role, if the role, in keeping publishers afloat.  However, publishers better deploy the right strategy or they won’t prevail.

    Christian publishing church strategy

    Over 56 million people attend a Christian church  (excluding Catholics) every week in America. That’s a lot of resources needed for preachers, teachers and small group leaders,  and a lot of money for publishers and content providers. With the digital revolution flattening the distance between authors and end-users, the church is literally a gold mine of opportunity for publishers. Every week, Christian content consumers look at their churches for guide in their search for resources.

    In this month’s edition of FastCompany Tony Hawk talks about his successful ride not as a sport’s figure or cultural icon, but as an entrepreneur who controls a very lucrative brand. Speaking about one of his greatest challenges in working with corporate types, Hawk says:

    “The real problem is that some people put in charge of product development and marketing aren’t beholden to their products–it’s just their job. But passion really shines through.”

    Tony’s assertion resonates with my experience in marketing to and for churches. It always amazes me that people who have never worked on a church staff, some of whom don’t even attend church regularly are in charge of product development or marketing efforts of church-related resources. There are serious differences between a small church and a mega-church dynamics when it comes to product development and sales strategy. Like any other sector, if you are not actively engaged, or as Tony said it, “beholden” than you’re not likely to be successful.

    If you came to me and asked me to market you widget that helps ordinary violins sound like a Stradivarius, my first question would be: where can I find the most violin players? It’s a simple and obvious question. You know where this is going.

    But even if Christian publishers understand the need to reach out to churches, they will not break into that market by deploying the same tactics they do for their trade products. They will not likely succeed if they put their church strategy on the hands of people who often don’t attend church, much less understand mega-church dynamics. If Christian publishers are going to be around in the near future, they’ll have to successfully address the church market opportunity. And they won’t make it happen by buying a full-page ad in Publishers’ Weekly.

    Have you ever had someone try to sell you something they obviously knew nothing about? How did that make you feel?

  • When Did I Get Old? Undeniable Signs of My Aging

    There are some rights of passage in life I look  forward more than others. During my run this morning, I noticed that I might have been going through yet another stage. I’ve heard we become more “eccentric” as we age. I’m not wealthy enough to garner the title of “eccentric.” I’m just getting old and peculiar. Here’s a few signs that point to my aging status:

    • I can’t run, workout or pretty much leave the house without at least 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, metabolic and thermogenic enhancers and a couple of pills I’m not even sure what they do but I’m afraid to stop taking them.
    • I must check the weather as soon as  I wake up. First I was just interested in the local weather, but it has now expanded to cities all over the globe including entire regions in the Pacific rim and western Europe.
    • My growing fascination with my lawn is now to the point of creating my own blend of grass: tall fescue, Kentucky blue, and rye. This morning I almost knock on someone’s door at 6 am to find out what grass blend they used. I curse Bermuda grass at least once a day.
    • I’m convinced that adult wet wipes is the best invention of the 20th century. Don’t judge me until you’ve tried it.
    • I get up at 4:30 am
    • I go to bed at 9:30 pm.

    What about you? What are the signs that you’re becoming increasingly old?

  • Is IT Killing Your Organization?

    There I sat hearing the same lame excuses I’ve heard for the past 12 months from the staff of a very large not for profit: “we can’t do it because IT told us it would take 5 years before we can have online registration and payments.”  Are you kidding me!? It’s been over 8 hours since our meeting and I’m still outraged at the ridiculous notion that a multi-million dollar organization cannot, let me rephrase, will not figure out how to make something as common as an online sign up forms work system wide. Sadly, in this case,  IT is killing the organization.

    IT is killing your business

    I sound like a broken record on this issue, but marketing should drive your web strategy and not IT. Really.  Your online presence lives or dies on the end-user experience. If people can find what they’re looking for, if they can intuitive navigate the site and complete their transaction quickly, then everyone wins. If they don’t, then you lose. Users don’t care if you’re on a Linux, .NET, or whatever platform much less about what you’re redundant backup systems are. They want their experience to be intuitive, well designed and fast. If you website doesn’t deliver on these expectations than you lose. Yes, you need security, redundancy and a stable platform, but unless you have the front end right, nothing else matters.

    When I run into such situations usually there’s an individual, a CIO, head of IT or even a Webmaster who’s responsible for such online debacle. Organizations get on such predicament because of:

    1. Laziness. I’m not willing to learn new things and “start over” with a new development language, program or operating system. Let’s just maintain the status quo.

    2. Ignorance. Technology moved past me, and I’m stuck doing what I know well which happens to be old, obsolete technology that can’t do what the market demands and the competitors are doing.

    3. Fear. I spent  a ton of money on a system that’s now ineffective and to admit it and make a change now might cost me the job. And besides I’m afraid I might not understand the new technology anyway.

    4. Any combination of the above.

    Unfortunately, these IT professionals work for non-tech savvy COO’s or CEO’s or Executive Directors and all they need to say is “It’s very costly to make a change now, and there are several security issues with this plan. This could be a big liability for us.”  This phrase alone is enough to instill fear and trepidation on any executive. After all, who wants to be responsible for a costly, unsecured liability? So the evil you know is better than the evil you don’t know.

    Meanwhile the organization misses opportunities, sales and credibility with consumers and members.

    In my experience, these  situations point to a leader’s inability to put the organization’s best interest before an employee or team who’s holding everyone hostage with their rhetoric.

    What’s your take? Am I being too harsh?

  • You Will Regret It If You Don’t Engage: A Social Media Foundation

    My friend didn’t know why his social media strategy was not as successful as that of one of his peers who, in his words, “is just killing it!” I didn’t have to think at all to answer that question. The answer was simple and obvious: it’s because he’s engaged and you’re not.

    If you have a public presence online whether you are an author, speaker, actor, politician, reporter, pastor, CEO or housewife, I’m convinced that’s virtually impossible to have an impact-full social media presence if you delegate your message solely to an assistant or to a marketing company.

    In full disclosure, my company, The A Group, often designs, implements and manages social media campaigns, but we’re very careful not to do what only our clients can do: be themselves. And when they abdicate that privilege, results are never what they could be.

    If all your posts are about your product, your book, or your latest gig than you’re missing out on the best part of what social media offers us: to emotionally connect with a large audience by letting them see a glimpse behind the curtains of our professional lives, and to be gracious when people we don’t know extend kindness our way, or expose us to their network thus broadening our reach.

    I’m a firm believer that if people really understood the transformational potential that social media has for their brand, they would stop doing a lot of non-productive busy work and devote part of their schedule towards their online presence.

    How do you manage your online presence?

  • Vanity Sizing and the Need for Truth

    Truth is not always pleasant, fun or convenient, but it’s always necessary in life. Without the truth of a working compass, we would be desperately lost. Without the truth of a mirror, we wouldn’t know we have spinach stuck between our teeth or an embarrassing case of bed hair. And yet, our culture continues to find ways to make us feel better about ourselves even at the cost of the truth.

    Last week I learned about “vanity sizing.” It’s been a known practice in women’s fashion, but it’s now part of men’s as well. In order to make consumers feel better about themselves, and potentially buy more merchandise, designers are selling items that are purposely mislabeled to seem smaller than they actually are. And I’m not just talking about half or a size difference. Old Navy, for example sells pants labeled 36 inch waist that are actually 41 inches.

    Marketers are betting on the goodwill that smaller-than-anticipated sizes will have on consumers, hopefully propelling them to buy more goods: “Hey, I can fit on a size 31 skinny jeans. Oh, I need two pairs.”  But vanity sizing is a lie and those skinny jeans won’t make you look small. As a matter of fact a size 41 skinny jeans on a man will make him look like a denim ice cream cone. Sorry about the visual.

    So marketers are liars. That’s nothing new. But we have been playing vanity games for a long time. We tell our children they’re great singers when they’re tone deaf. We tell people we believe in them, but we secretly we don’t. We give praise in public only to tear it down privately. We hate the Simon Cowells’ of the world, but often they’re the only voices of reason.

    How can we grow if we are not willing to find out the truth, no matter how difficult?

    Honestly, vanity sizing works on me. I just bought 2 pairs of 32 size pants. I wouldn’t have bought any if they were sized 36 or even 34. But I also know that with every picture and every mirror reflection the truth is staring back at me. There are not enough skinny mirrors out there to distort the truth.

    When was the last time you were honest with someone? How did it turn out?