Doing the Unexpected: Creativity Lessons from Dr. Seuss

No one said it was going to be easy.  If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, because that’s what’s usually done. The expedient, that is.  Everyone does what’s expected.  Very few go the distance to provide the unexpected, and that’s a shame.

 

Doing the unexpected is what creates value. Makes you mean more to your customers. But then, of course, it’s going to take more time or more money, or maybe just more creativity. And sometimes, creativity is just too hard to muster up at the end of a long day.

 

You don’t breed customer loyalty by doing what’s expected, because, after all, that’s exactly what customers have come to expect.  The expected doesn’t produce the added value you need to become their first choice. Being the quickest or the cheapest or the best doesn’t matter because there will always be someone who will be quicker or cheaper or better than you. But you’re special and you can find a way to create a difference, and by doing so, create value no one can replicate.

 

After all, there’s no one like you.  Shake things up a bit.  Go the extra mile – and, if you have any doubt and need some motivation fire up your positive energy and creativity, just take it from Dr. Seuss.  Believe me.  His words provide powerful inspiration to us grownups too.

 

On Being Uniquely Ourselves:

1. “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”
2. “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
3. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
4. Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.”
5. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

 

On Sparking Creativity:

1. “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”
2. “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”
3. “Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
4.  “You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
5. “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!”
6. “KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!”

 

On Having Courage:

1. “Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!”
2. “If you want to catch beasts you don’t see every day, You have to go places quite out of the way, You have to go places no others can get to. You have to get cold and you have to get wet, too.”
3. “Nothing is going to change, unless someone does something soon.”
4. So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!”

 

On Overcoming Doubt:

1.  “Today I shall behave, as if this is the day I will be remembered.”
2. “Sometimes you will never know the value of something, until it becomes a memory.”
3. “Everything stinks till it’s finished.”
4.  “My trouble was I had a mind but I couldn’t make it up!”
5.  “Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind maker-upper to make up his mind.”

 

On Authentic Leadership:

1.  “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”
2.  “It is better to know how to learn than to know.”
3. “ Be who you are. And say what you feel. Because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
4. “And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed!”
5. “So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life is a great balancing act.”
6. “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” 

 

On Customer Loyalty:

1. “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”
2. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
3. “Children want the same things we want.” To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted.”

 

And, always remember, “Life is better when we smile.”

 

Have a good week!