Maurilio Amorim

Author: Maurilio Amorim

  • Renewing Creativity

    Regardless what we do for a living, creativity is part of our lives on a daily basis. From problem solving, to bringing a vision to reality, to navigating through a busy street, we use creativity to make our existence  fresh everyday.

    Last night I watched the Addams Family musical on Broadway. It was a fun and extremely well produced show, but beyond the entertainment value, these types of events renew my creative reservoir. They allow me to see something beautiful that lived in the minds of people before it became something I was able to experience.

    I’m thankful to be able to able to visit museums, shows and experience art in order to keep my creative juices flowing.

    How do you refill your creative reservoir?

  • I Knew a Lot More About Life When I Graduated From College Than I Do Today

    I’m sure I was smarter back at my college graduation days. Certainty was not a problem and I was prepared to take on the world. So I thought. But time has a way of teaching you lessons no one else can. So I’m a bit older and perhaps somewhat wiser, I hope. Here’s some of my certainties at age 22:

    Life is black or white. You’re either on the side of truth or not.  At 22 I saw a world with very few shades of gray. It was either right or wrong and ambiguity was the playground of the weak.

    God was precise and predicable. Somehow the God of my early twenties was more like a German engineer than an artist. He was like a machine with a defined pathway to action and subsequent reactions rather than a mysterious and yet gracious being who eludes being imprisoned by human intellect.

    By the time I graduated from college I had succeeded despite my parents’ attempts to ruin my life.

    I couldn’t wait to meet the lucky girl who would get me for a husband. A blessing like me doesn’t come along very often.

    I knew more about running a church than my boss who had been in ministry for more than 30 years.

    Americans would never pay more than $2 for a cup of coffee.

    I was holding on to my Members Only jacket because it would never go out of style. (Well, they’re back!)

    It’s your turn. What did you know for certain at 22 that life has since shown you differently?

  • The Pastor Said What? Pulpit Blunders

    Public speaking is a difficult skill. You have to engage an audience that’s easily bored. Pastors have some of the most difficult jobs for any communicators out there. They have to produce fresh and relevant content every week, sometimes two or three times a week and present to critics, uh, members who expect their pastor to be on par with world-class communicators. While most every week my pastor friends do an amazing job, they’re also human. Here’s a list of things I wish I had never heard a Pastor say. No names here, you know who you are:

    Let’s bring the whole tithe in the whorehouse of the Lord, uh, storehouse that is.

    Lot pinched his tits. No, he pitched his tent. Did I just say that?

    I’ve upped my pledge to the building campaign, now up yours.

    I get paid to be good. You’re good for nothing.

    Let everything that has breasts, praise ye the Lord. (Ok, confession: I said that in my first church while reading Psalm 150)

    How many deacons does it take to change a light bulb? I don’t know because the deacons in this church don’t do jack.

    Often small group study is the equivalent of a spiritual quickie.

    What have you heard a preacher say, or even said it yourself, in a church service that you know the speaker wished he or she could have taken it back?

  • What Not to Wear at the Gym

    For the Fashion Friday edition of my blog, I’m hitting the gym hard. Whether you work out at a private club, the Y, or a community center, your gym is a place where health, fitness and personal well being should rule the day. But it also can be a scary place where the lack of a published dress code can blur the line between appropriate sport’s attire and inappropriate and often objectionable wear.  Since we communicate a lot non-verbally with our appearance, I’m compelled to help a growing number of people who need a gym fashion intervention. The rules are always changing along with the times, but today, here’s my list of what not to wear at the gym:

    bad fashion gym Maurilio Amorim blog

    • No shades in the gym. Even if you had eye surgery, stay home until you can walk around without looking like a goober.
    • Wear white shorts only if—nah, just don’t do it. No white shorts. Period. It’s safer that way.
    • If it is wider than it is tall, don’t wear it (think about it for a minute. You’ll figure it out).
    • No flip flops. No one wants to see your big toe getting smashed by a dropped dumb bell.
    • No work boots with shorts, no Uggs with Daisy Duke cutoffs or any combination thereof.
    • Wear underwear at all times. Just say no to crack.
    • No large radio headsets that resemble Princess Leah’s big hair curls. It makes you look like you’re a recently released convict who’s been in prison since 1985.
    • No wigs. Women or men.
    • No skull caps unless you’re covered in tattoos wearing leather chaps. And if you are, no one will bother you, including me.
    • No exposed nipple ring. If you’re a guy.
    • No blue-tooth headset. As a matter of fact, it applies for out of the gym as well.
    • No jammers without shorts over them unless you’re Brazilian wearing Speedo jammers in Brazil.
    • No power lifting gloves unless you’re a power lifter.
    • Always remember: Spandex is a privilege not a right

    It’s your turn. What’s your on your list?

  • You’re Stuck. Now What?

    There’s nothing worst than being stuck. That’s a place where you’ve tried everything you know, every trick in the book and nothing has worked. And now you find yourself not able to move forward, upward, sideways or even backwards. The odds are you’re stuck right now trying to figure out what to do next. Some part, or facet of your life is paralyzed, literally stuck. You can’t make a move because, from where you are, there are no moves to make. And now what?

    stuck now what Maurilio Amorim Blog

    Maybe it’s your career. After all the years of school, work or both, you should be further ahead, but you’re not. You’re stuck.

    Maybe you’re caught in a relational nightmare. You’re tried everything you know to move out of this bad place but nothing has worked. What once promised so much happiness is now a source of pain and regret. You’re stuck.

    Finances are always getting people in trouble, but you never thought it would be a problem for you because you have always managed to make it work. That is until now.  You’re stuck.

    Spiritually you want to live out the epic story you believe God has for you, but your heart is dry, your faith is low and God no more speaks to you than does the man in the moon. You’ve even stopped wondering through the wilderness. You’re just stuck.

    Today I was reminded of the Old Testament story of Joseph. Remember him? He was sold in slavery by his jealous brothers, was falsely accused of attempted rape by his boss’s lusty wife, then sent to prison and left there for years stuck in one bad situation after another. And yet, later in life, Joseph was the one who devised and implemented a plan that saved an entire nation, including his own clan. At the end of Genesis, he delivers the most poignant line of his story: “What people meant for evil, God used it for good.”

    There’s so much we can learn from Joseph. However,  even before he knew God was going to use his circumstances for the good of nations, even while he was stuck in bad situation after bad situation he couldn’t predict or control, Joseph always remained faithful. He did the right things and kept doing them until his destiny was fulfilled.

    I’m stuck right now. There are important relationships is my life I don’t know what else to do to restore them. I’ve exhausted all my resources, and quite frankly, all my patience as well. The last thing I want to do is to be faithful and continue to pursue them. After all, I feel I’ve done more than my fair share.  But I know that if I quit, I will be stuck here forever. If I chose not to be faithful in pursuing them, there will be no redemption, no restitution and God’s best for me will go unrealized. So, I’ll keep being faithful, sometimes unwillingly, but always hopeful.

    Where are you stuck right now?  Where do you need to continue to be faithful?

  • Stupid Stuff I Can’t Believe I Said

    Words are a powerful and interesting things. With words we build people up or tear down friendships. They are used to bless as well as to curse. I’m a communication professional. I’m deeply flawed and to make matters more complicated,  I’m also Brazilian. Brazilians are often fun, but we’re also blunt in ways that make southerners blush. Over the years I have tried not only to adapt to my new adopted country, but also temper my not-so-subtle foreign ways.  I have not always succeeded.

    stupid stuff I can't believe I said Maurilio

    Here’s some memorable exchanges I wish I could have taken back:

    “I have the best hair money can buy” jokingly to a gentleman at a church I was interning as he commented on how much he liked my hair. I didn’t realize he was wearing a toupee. (it was a good one, after all)

    “When are you due?” To my non-pregnant waitress at Cancun restaurant. Twice.

    “I meant to tell you before, but you’re actually an adopted monkey we got from the zoo” to my 5-year-old son Marcus as he ran screaming, “MOM is it true?”

    “Your grandfather is a hoot” to my college roommate only to find out it was his grandmother I had just met.

    “I’m not sure what kind of mirror you have, but I’m sure you didn’t see in it what I’m seeing.” to a friend who had a fashion meltdown.

    “Come with me little girl! You can sit on my lap” to a 28-year old midget woman sitting in a church service as I invited her to join me at the children’s story time.

    “Haven’t they suffered enough?” to a friend after she told me she was signing up to take food for the Nashville flood victims.

    “Sorry,but  it looked better on the hanger than it does on you.” To my young wife after bringing home a dress I bought her as a gift.  Twenty years later and I’m still paying for it.

    I’m glad for forgiveness, second chances and life lessons. But the truth is I can’t ever take those words back. Today I self edit a lot more than ever before, but to people who know me well, it’s not quite enough. My hope is that the majority of comes out of my mouth will be used for building up, instead of tearing down.

    Now it’s your turn. What have you said that you wish you could take back?

  • Narcissism, Social Media, Christianity and Me

    I knew I was in trouble even before I began reading a very thought-provoking post on social media by Mitch Joel, Confessions of a Narcissist brought to my attention by Mike Hyatt.  The title alone was convicting. In his post, Joel unplugs from the Matrix long enough to see what we have often feared would happen: a feeding frenzy of the cult of ME. Social media has empowered narcissism to a new level and given it legs to run amuck. He poignantly writes:

    The true destination for most of our online endeavors really are the new media equivalent of the biblical statues that were presented as deities. These digital shrines that we create to ourselves.

    narcissism, social media, christianity Maurilio Amorim

    The post hit  a nerve with me. Intellectually I know that social or any type of media is inherently neutral. Unlike some who believe Facebook, and Twitter and whatever new social network a 19 year-old starts tomorrow are the new paths to destruction, I realize they are just tools. They serve us; however, we feed them.

    I think Mitch Joel is right. We are narcissistic. No, I am narcissistic. Too often my interaction with people is more about me than anyone else.

    But what if those of us who claim to be Christ followers decided to redeem our social media footprint for a cause greater than the pursuit of notoriety?

    That’s the same question we should ask about the pursuit of riches, influence, knowledge or anything else in our lives. I’ve been fortunate to have known people who made millions so they could give away millions, some who are influential so they could speak for those without a voice. But am I pursuing an ever-growing online audience for their sake instead of mine? Are you?

    If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you have read my diatribes on the pitfalls of bad strategy, or the lack thereof, in projects, businesses, and churches. Some of us even have a sophisticated business strategy for our social media presence, but what about a faith one?

    What kind of impact could Christians have if we were more interested in helping a world in pain than in how good we look to our digital friends? That’s the question I’ll be wrestling with for the next few days.

    How can we redeem our online presence without becoming weird, obnoxious or confrontational?

  • Can a Purple Cow Endure?

    “You know we can’t be the Purple Cow forever, ” said the voice on the phone. That was 4 days ago, and I can’t get the conversation out of my mind. In case you haven’t read it, “Purple Cow” is a book by celebrity marketer Seth Godin that says:

    “You’re either a purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible.”

    Purple Cow how do we stay purple? Business leadership Maurilio Amorim

    I like to think of myself as a purple cow. Well, if I don’t pick up my running mileage I’ll be a different kind of cow, but none one us wants to believe that we’re no longer remarkable or that we now work for a boring, invisible or irrelevant organization. Mr. Godin and others have written a lot about becoming a purple cow, but once we get our colorful cow status, how do we stay there?

    Very few have been able to sustain purple cow status for a long time. Apple has done it, and so has Herman Miller, Madona, and Southwest to name a few.

    So once we get our purple stripes what do we do to prevent fading into oblivion? What are you doing to stay purple?

  • How to Give The Perfect TED Talk

    The TED conferences in Long Beach and Palm Springs alto have featured some of the best minds in worlds of design, entertainment and technology. Famous for its 18-minute limit per presentation, TED talks have been streamed online millions of times. Recently, Fast Company published a controversial article titled “Is TED the New Harvards?” proposing that TED will become the Harvard of the future. I’m not sure about that, but one thing is for sure TED talks are a hot commodity. If invited to present, you’ll have less than 18 minutes to wow the audience that pays $6,000 to be there and the subsequent millions who might watch your presentation online. Talk about pressure. But don’t fret There’s help.

    Sebastian Wernicke, an engagement manager at Oliver Wyman and former bioinformatics researcher, did a statistical analysts of all the publicly available TED talks and used it to create tedPAD—a TED talk generator that draws on the common phrases & keywords from popular talks to help you create the perfect TED presentation. Or, alternately, there’s tedPAD Black, which does just the opposite.

    If you’re going to succeed, however don’t ever mention the New York Times. No one who has has ever ranked high.

    What’s the best public speaking advice you’ve ever gotten?

  • 3 Questions You Must Answer Before Launching a Website

    “we have a technology problem,” is what I often hear from a client or potential client, but while that might be true, most of the time it’s not the technology problem that’s causing the issue, but a communication one. My company, The A Group, has a technology division where we have developed a sophisticated platform for media-rich tools as well as a powerful and easy-to-use content management system. While I’m happy to sell our products to anyone who needs faster, easier and overall better technology, I’m always careful to make sure people understand that’s the communication strategy that drives the technology and not the other way around.

    Before you redo your website

    This might sound simplistic to some, but I can tell you from personal experience that many churches, businesses and not-for-profits believe that a shiny new website, a powerful digital media tool, or an iPhone app will cure their communication problems. They won’t.

    What usually happen in the absence of a communication strategy  is that the new technology gets misused, or worst, underused because there’s no plan or a champion who understands how to use it. So before spending money on a new website or technology, here’s 3 questions you should ask:

    What do I want this thing do to? Sell products?  gather leads? create community? share media? You need to have a clear vision for your new website or project. Remember, however, that the more things any one system is designed to do, the more complex and potential less effective it becomes.

    Who in the team will be the champion for this project? I’m not talking about a technical position here. This is not a question about technology, but about strategy. Who understands the DNA of the organization to make sure this initiative will “look, feel and work” like it should. In my experience when IT (information technology) drives the project, development focus on platforms or the latest development technique and not on the end-user and their experience, where it should begin and end.

    What’s our sustainability plan? Once a project goes live, whether it’s a site or an app, it’s only the beginning.  Who are the people responsible for content? What’s the social media elements of the site and who’s going to monitor them? Oftentimes when a client creates a media-rich environment and becomes successful at attracting large  traffic, they have to deal with unplanned bandwidth costs. (Think of bandwidth as virtual pipes in and out of your website. The more users you have the bigger the pipes have to be) If your vision is to give your content for free, that’s great, but you need to figure out a way to pay for it.

    What has been your experience with technology in the workplace? What have you learned?