In the 13 years I’ve been working in the marketing, advertising, and interactive I’ve had 16 direct managers.  By name they were Chris, Laura, Jonathan, Paul, Chris, Doug, Tom, Jeff, Willie, Michael, Jonathan, Kevin, Patty, David, Christine, and Michele.  Some were good.  Some were horrible.  All of them taught me something.  Over the years, I’ve kept a running list of the most valuable words of wisdom.  They’ve guided me on some level to become the person I am today.  Here’s the best of the best:

• We’re selling hope here, not details.
• Be mindful of what you have.
• The last thing on my list is paying the bills.
• The line at the door for my business is long.
• Manage effectively and add value.
• Please and thank you go a long way.
• Manage the time you get with your boss aggressively; make it your time.
• Never talk in hypotheticals.
• Make legal and IT your friends.
• Legal doesn’t make decisions; they provide counsel.
• There is no substitute for face time.
• Always have an agenda for your meeting. If you don’t, don’t schedule it.
• Say it, sell it, and pray it can happen.
• Your credit card is not a substitute for a real relationship with your client.
• Never work on a brand that you can’t support and won’t buy.
• Always fly in the day before a presentation.
• Don’t present it as an option if you can’t live with it, if it were picked.
• Knowledge doesn’t come from books, it comes from experience.
• Take ownership of your career, don’t expect someone else to do it for you.
• Hire slowly, fire quickly.
• Put people in a position to succeed, but playing to their strengths.
• Never let the job description define you.
• Understand the situation, before you accept it.
• Never use light gray font on a white background in PowerPoint.
• If you want to be a leader…LEAD.
• Take calculated chances.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share 3 of my own:

1. Never be afraid to test and try.
2. Admit when you’re wrong and learn from your mistake
3. Never send an email out of frustration.  You can write it, just don’t send it.

I hope that you’ve gotten something out of this post.  I’d love for you to share any wisdom and advice you’ve received.

I like competition. I believe that competition keeps companies and people hungry. For too long Google has had very little competition in search. Frankly, I think that lack of competition has lead to a product that really hasn’t changed very much since its initial launch. When you consider how much the interactive landscape has evolved in the last 10 years, that’s a really scary thought.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like there weren’t several attempts made to compete with Google. AskJeeves, Microsoft Live, and Cuil are just a few. However, none of them were serious competitors to Google. That’s why I’m so excited about the recent influx of serious competitors in the search game. Yahoo! Glue, Wolfram Alpha, and now Bing represent serious competitors.

The naughty truth is we need them to do well. We need them to succeed. We need them to pose a threat to Google. Why? Because, a serious competitor or set of competitors would force Google to evolve, innovate, and learn a little bit of humility.

Have you ever sat through a presentation by Google? They’re amazing. Basically, the presentation focused on how infallible Google is and if you aren’t using their tools you’re clearly not very bright. Seriously. I’ve sat through more than my fair share. Google doesn’t “sell” because they EXPECT you to “buy.” Healthy competition would change that attitude.

Google needs a foil. Should Bing, Wolfram Alpha, Yahoo! Glue, or another option become a legitimate foil we ALL win. At the end of the day don’t we all want a better search engine? Sure, there are still 18 people using Excite and 25 people holding on to AltaVista, but the majority of us want a better search engine…even if we don’t know it.

Ohhhhh, competition is a beautiful thing. Let’s hope we see a real competitor emerge from the shadows. Google needs one. We need one.