To Be a Brilliant Leader, Mindset Is Everything (Infographic)

When it comes to brilliant leadership, there's no cookie-cutter mold for success. Vastly divergent styles can work equally well, which explains why many of our most respected leaders in business and tech often fall on opposite sides of a large number of spectrums. (Some are introverts, some are extroverts, some inspire through warm encouragement, while others do so through the strict enforcement of exacting standards, etc.) 

But while their styles may vary, successful leaders share very similar mindsets.

That's the takeaway from Gap International, a global business consulting firm that conducted in-depth interviews with more than 500 global executives over the past two-years to get a sense of a leader's mindset at the time he or she recalls doing excellent, productive work.

These interviews revealed that, overwhelmingly, leaders accomplished great things when they focused on how their own contributions connected to a larger sense of purpose. Such big picture thinking elevated leaders' energy levels and served as a motivator to keep pushing for better results.

Exceptional outcomes were also achieved when leaders actively focused on their team members. Successful executives knew that to achieve greatness, they needed to ensure that those working below them were also highly motivated.

In other words, in their moments of highest accomplishment, leaders focused on the impact their actions had on the world and people around them.

Check out the infographic below for more information on a leader's mindset when he or she is operating "in the zone."

More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238858

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10 Mindsets That Will Radically Improve Your Business

Success is something all career-driven individuals desire yet it eludes many people -- at least at the levels desired. Why are some businesspeople successful and others not?

It has everything to do with habits, beliefs, passion, flexibility and attitude.

Often there's nothing really different between one entrepreneur and another in terms of ability, as each person can do whatever he or she wants. What it all comes down to is having the frame of mind to set practical habits and keep a balance between attachment and commitment and letting things happen. 

Here are 10 mindsets for success:

1. Choose courage over fear.

To be successful, you have to have courage. And to become courageous, do courageous things. Much of being successful is about going beyond what you think you're capable of -- venturing into the unknown. Whether you fail or succeed, you will learn and grow. 

Growth, in and of itself, means attaining a level of success whether it came from success or failure.

2. Believe in yourself.

Attitude is everything. A negative attitude decreases success and a positive attitude creates success. Without that belief in yourself, you'll lack a path to success. 

Success is something that's created. It's not something that merely "happens.”

When you firmly believe in yourself, you can achieve virtually anything: It's within this belief that you'll find the power to create the resilience and fortitude needed to keep going when things get tough.

3. Choose good company.

Whom you surround yourself with is among the most important choices you'll make as you climb up the business ladder. Negativity is contagious and if work groups, especially bosses, are negative, there will be a ceiling to your success.

To reach the goals you desire, be willing to change bosses if necessary. Or if you're the boss, rid your team of toxic people immediately.

It only takes one toxic person to destroy the morale of an entire campaign. Further, when you surround yourself with other successful, goal-oriented individuals, you can learn from them and take on some of their habits to add to your own as you proceed along your road to success.

4. Adopt self-chosen goals.

Knowing and being clear about where you're headed in business is something that must come from within. When your goals selected by you, you're more motivated to achieve them.

That's because by achieving these goals, you attain a new desired piece of yourself. When your goals arise from your instigation, they carry a deeper meaning and confer a greater impact on your identity.

Each self-selected goal realized adds a depth and an internal expansion to you as a person. Personal expansion is just one of the great gifts to come from succeeding in your business goals.

5. Have a purpose and a vision.

Visualization is powerful because actions follow thoughts. A great technique for nurturing your vision and purpose is to make your goals visual. Some people use vision boards; others opt for treasure maps. And still others set goals identifying specific dates for their achievement.

Whatever works best is a matter for the individual to figure out.

I believe that anything that's written down is more likely to be achieved than visions kept only in the head. When you make your purpose visual, you make it real. When you keep them in your mind, they remain wishes.

6. Accept the challenge.

There are few easy paths up a mountain and often they're hard to find. Challenge will be an essential piece in any type of success in business.

And challenge is what creates your growth along the journey. Each challenge obstructing your path provides you with the chance to create a more defined direction toward attaining your dream vendors, customers, managers, employees -- and numbers. For this reason, bless each challenge. Each one is a compass directing you toward new business leads, circumstances and opportunities.

7. Be discerning.

Selectivity creates success. You must think deeply and intelligently about the bigger picture and what it is you need for each step along the way to continue articulating and executing your business goals.

Mindfulness means being aware of all angles and staying sharply in touch with the present so that you do not have to clean up mistakes in the future.

Be discerning of group dynamics: which person is the best at what job, which customers or deals will take you the furthest and what it is that each moment is calling on you to do or change to be the most efficient.

That's how selectivity offers you the pursuit of success.

8. Be willing to take risks.

There are no guarantees on any path to success in life or business. The unknown is always looming. Therefore, risk and education are often the mechanisms necessary for knowing more clearly if you're on the right path.

If you're afraid to risk, you will put limits on your success and stay where you're comfortable. You cannot get what you want if you don't risk rejection and go for what you desire.

9. Do what you love.

You're more likely to succeed in business when you're invested in your passion and making your career fit your personality. There is a way to find passion about anything and everything you do in life.

You may not love every part of your job but tolerating discomforts by looking at the bigger picture makes your investment of time and energy worthwhile.

Be willing to love and find purpose in all aspects of what your business requires, commit to it and see what you're doing as being a benefit to others. When you love the business you're in, there is nothing that can keep you from wanting to work at it, nurture it and make it grow.

10. Gratitude.

When you see life and career in terms of the lack in what you have achieved, you cannot drive your business up the ladder of success. Then negativity is impeding your progress.

You must look at all you have and realize how great what you have is as compared to the situation of many others.

When you have this attitude, you stop suffering and complaining about the small stuff. On each receipt you pay out, write thank you. That's not only to thank the person, event, vendor or customer for what's provided you but also to give a private thanks acknowledging that you have the abundance necessary to pay for the service, product or event.

Habits coupled with flexibility provide you with a path to success. Success is fluid and so rigidity will stand in its way.

Developing these mindsets give you a compass to navigate the ever-changing tides on the way to business and financial goals. These mindsets allow openness and flexibility while also providing you precise direction.

More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242261

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Katy Perry Strikes Mobile Game Deal With Maker of Kim Kardashian's App

Riding high off the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show, pop superstar Katy Perry is set to tackle a new field: Mobile gaming.

Perry will partner with Glu Mobile on a forthcoming game that features her voice, likeness and personality, the company announced. It will launch in the fourth quarter on Android and iOS. While Glu said the game will “introduce players to a digital playground of global success and talent,” no additional details about its premise were revealed.

Glu Mobile is perhaps best known for “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” a mobile game in which players create cartoon avatars and climb the fame ladder under Kardashian’s guidance. While the app is free, players purchase add-ons like energy, clothes and hairstyles. Launched last June, analysts say the game is on track to make more than $200 million annually.

"Katy is arguably the most recognized musician in America following her Super Bowl XLIX Halftime performance this past Sunday,” Glu’s CEO, Niccolo de Masi, said. "We anticipate that Katy's significant global audience, including more than 170 million fans on social media, will make her a strong gaming partner."

After trumpeting the partnership yesterday and reporting a 78 percent increase in revenues of $76 million in its fourth quarter, Glu shares were up 21 percent to $4.66 this afternoon.

More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242619

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5 Ways Mobile Web Games Can Amp Up Your Marketing

The largest addressable market in the history of media is forming as you read this, and it can be found in the pockets of billions of people around the globe.

According to a recent Millard Brown study, 47 percent of consumer media screen time is now spent on mobile devices. Audience media consumption patterns are rapidly shifting, yet mobile marketing approaches have not evolved to embrace the new paradigm: banner ads are ineffective, interstitials are interruptive, and video ads feel intrusive.

One emerging form of mobile marketing, however, has been found to successfully engage users like no other: branded mobile web games.

When you stop to think about it, it makes sense. To engage users, simply provide them with the content type they covet. Games are the dominant media on smart devices, accounting for 32 percent of time spent overall and 76 percent of time spent on tablets alone, according to the research firm Digi-Capital. But how can a brand best leverage games as a means to market its products and services?

The solution for brands lies in mobile web games built on HTML5. How are these games different from native apps? A mobile web game is a game that plays directly out of the mobile browser -- just tap-and-play directly from a mobile web site, a link within a Tweet, a chat or post or even from within a native app. Here are links to recent mobile web games from HBO, Warner Bros./WWE and McDonald’s.

Unlike native games, there is no requirement to go to an app store to download the game. That friction is removed. The games themselves are ultra-portable and can be supported on all smartphones and tablets.

Here are five reasons why a mobile web game can help your brand blow away its marketing goals:

1. Off-the-charts engagement

Typical engagement times for branded mobile web games range from three to 10 minutes. That's pretty amazing when you consider engagement for a typical mobile video ad is capped at 15 seconds.

2. The gratitude effect

Instead of interrupting users while they are enjoying content on their mobile devices, be the supplier of the content itself, and do so in a way that removes unwelcome gameplay deterrents and distractions, such as in-game banner advertising and constant prompts to upgrade or make purchases. Providing users with the best elements of the content they love most on mobile results in a sense of affinity towards the brand that can enhance all of your brand’s marketing efforts.

3. Driving home marketing messages

A good mobile web game can seamlessly weave in brand messaging directly within gameplay. Remember, people learn by doing. This Rocketcat Game is a great example of how Progressive Insurance used a mobile web game to educate users on the value of bundling home and car insurance.

4. Cost-effective distribution

Mobile web games can be distributed to millions within the brand’s target demographics through emerging mobile-web-game distribution channels, including popular mobile media sites, portals, messaging apps and carrier and mobile browser storefronts at a fraction of what it costs to drive installs in the app stores. A single HTML5 code base means lots of efficiency and simplicity for your brand, as the game will work on all the major mobile and desktop devices and operating systems.

5. Social amplification

People like to share game experiences. If you keep it fun, simple and remove all friction, users will share. With no download requirement and the fact that mobile web games can work directly within the existing mobile social channels such as Twitter and Facebook and emerging ones such as Kik, a branded mobile web game has the real possibility of going viral should it resonate with the audience.

In many ways mobile web games are the ultimate mobile engagement ad unit: they allow a brand to engage its target audience at scale through the preferred activity on mobile, and to do so in a cost effective manner in a way that fosters social and viral growth. With mobile gaming now representing such a substantial percentage of people’s daily media engagement, brands simply cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. Are you ready to get into the game?

More at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242970

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7 Musts to Maximize Your Company's Mobile Strategy

For the first time, mobile devices outnumber people. This milestone underscores one crucial fact for entrepreneurs: as the number of mobile devices rises, so do their importance.

Eighty-five percent of consumers believe their mobile devices are essential to daily life. Clearly, the mobile interface is crucial for consumers, and the savvy businesses that hope to connect with them increasingly choose to do so via smartphones and tablets. A mobile strategy can help companies of all sizes reach more customers and help maintain a strong industry advantage.

But creating a mobile strategy involves more than building an app. A great strategy ensures that your in-person, mobile and traditional online experiences communicate a cohesive message that motivates customers to interact with your business. Here are seven ways to maximize your mobile efforts:

1. Align your strategies.

You might be tempted to jump on this month’s trend, but if that fad doesn’t align with your growth strategy, it’s worthless. My company, for instance, has developed a mobile strategy to meet our goal to better connect with customers.

Also keep in mind that the average paid app only brings in $500 a month in revenue to a developer. That amount is a waste of time for most businesses, so ensure your app is anything but average to make your mobile strategy worthwhile.

2. Design great experiences.

Focus on delivering a customer experience that enables users to interact with your brand in new and exciting ways. The majority of users expect their apps to load within two seconds, and 85 percent of users prefer an app to a mobile website. You’ve probably experienced the frustrations of viewing a mobile website with a distorted layout and difficult navigation. So develop your app with the goal of alleviating these frustrations.

3. Use application programming interfaces.

APIs allow two systems to communicate with each other, which helps you avoid building features from scratch. Up to 75 percent of Twitter’s traffic is a result of its API, meaning much of its user growth stems from third-party apps. Think about how you can leverage the existing user network of other apps to grow your user base.

4. Make your strategy scalable.

The smartphone market is forecasted to grow by more than 10 percent every year for the next four or five years, and the number of mobile app downloads is projected to double in the next three years. Given these rates, your mobile strategy must be flexible, so allow and plan for rapid growth.

5. Foster a streamlined experience.

Align your mobile experience with your webpage experience so users can switch between devices. Only 16 percent of users will try a buggy app more than twice, so the transition should be smooth. Spotify, for example, has a seamless mobile and desktop component. If users are listening to a song during their commute, they can pick up where they left off when they sit down at their desktop.

6. Build a strong team.

A bare-bones app can cost $10,000 to develop, and developing a graphics-intensive app can cost millions. Having a solid team of developers is critical to building successful apps. An in-house development team is a start. It’ll give you the technical chops to execute your plan, and you won’t have to go back and forth with an outside contractor to get a feature implemented.

7. Secure your customers’ data.

If you handle client data, information security is crucial. Implement data encryption, and address customer privacy when you consult with cloud vendors. With an increase in bring-your-own-device practices, the array of devices and platforms makes you vulnerable, so do everything you can to secure confidential data and give your customers the peace of mind they deserve.

Flipboard is an example of a brand that’s effectively implemented a mobile strategy. The digital magazine is completely mobile. In many ways, it transformed magazine reading into an enjoyable experience for smartphone and tablet users. Its features even allow users to create their own magazines, enabling individuals with similar interests to unite.

A mobile strategy that’s tailored to your startup’s goals and connected to your customers’ needs can help you connect with your target audience on a deeper level. A strong mobile strategy can also accelerate your company’s growth on a promising trajectory. 

More at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242667

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April 21 Is Your Last Chance for Mobile Optimization Before 'Mobilegeddon'

For years now, mobile usability has been a factor in Google’s search algorithm. Sites that are optimized suitably for use on mobile devices rank higher than their non-optimized counterparts, even on desktop devices. But until now, that ranking factor has been both limited and ambiguous. 

Aside from a “mobile-friendly” tag associated with various sites in mobile search results, it hasn’t been entirely clear which factors Google considers when calculating mobile rankings or how many sites (or which ones) are currently affected. Because of this, many business owners have postponed or avoided optimizing their sites for mobile devices, and have survived to tell about it.

Starting April 21, that’s all going to change.

According to a recent Google blog post, the search giant is currently working on a major algorithm change that will revolutionize the way mobile friendliness is determined. Starting on April 21, this new algorithm will be gradually rolled out worldwide, affecting mobile searches in all languages in all corners of the globe.

Scope of the update

If you’re aware that Google already considers mobile usability as part of its ranking calculations, you might wonder why this April 21 deadline, dubbed “mobilegeddon,” is important.

It’s true that many of Google’s “updates” are actually just data refreshes and tweaks that hold little bearing on existing search rankings. However, Zineb Ait Bahajji, a member of Google’s Webmaster Trends team, was quoted at SMX Munich as saying that the new mobile-friendly algorithm change will have more of an impact on search rankings than either Panda or Penguin, two of the largest and most impactful search algorithm updates Google has ever launched.

For now, we don’t know much about the update itself, so it’s not entirely clear what that impact will be. We do know that it will change the way Google evaluates the mobile-friendliness of websites, but we don’t know what new factors will be added or how dramatically these factors will be able to change a website’s search visibility. Given Bahajji’s comments, it’s reasonable to guess that the majority of non-optimized sites on the web could see significant decreases in search visibility.

The trend toward mobile search

By some estimates, more than 60 percent of all Google searches are now performed on mobile devices, so it makes sense that Google wants to capitalize on this traffic and ensure the best possible experience for its users.

In addition to the upcoming algorithm update, Google is already starting to roll out ranking changes based on information from indexed apps of signed-in users. This may have a major impact on how search results are displayed as well as what type of results are displayed. While traditional search results exclusively display websites, future search results could focus on apps and other mobile tools.

However search results progress, it’s clear that the companies who cater to mobile users best will earn the most visibility from Google.

How to prepare

If your site is already mobile-friendly, you won’t have much to worry about. However, if you’ve not yet implemented a mobile strategy for your online presence, now is the critical time to get it done. Follow the steps:

• Ensure the mobile version of your site is active and functional. Responsive designs are the most popular, but you can also have a separate hosted mobile version of your site. Google doesn’t have a preference, as long as mobile users’ experience isn’t interrupted.
• Ensure Google’s mobile bots can crawl your site. If Google can’t see it, it may as well not even be there.
• Check each individual page of your site on a mobile device to ensure navigability. Just because your home page is mobile friendly doesn’t mean the rest of your site is.

 

Google additionally offers two tools you can use to check whether your site is mobile-friendly. First, you can use the appropriately named Mobile-Friendly Test to see whether your site meets initial qualifications. It’s not entirely clear whether this checklist will cover all the factors the April 21 update will introduce, but since it’s coming straight from Google, it’s safe to assume it’s fairly reliable. Google Webmaster Tools also contains a convenient Mobile Usability Report you can run to examine your website as Google sees it. If you find any errors or discrepancies, you have roughly one month to get them all fixed.

This April 21 Google update looks to be the biggest mobile-related algorithm change we’ve ever seen, but I’d bet money that it isn’t the last. If you don’t have a mobile version of your site in place by April 21, your search visibility could be seriously hindered.

At this point, you may not need a dedicated app or all the bells and whistles of a dynamic mobile user experience, but beware: Google wants its mobile users to be happy. It’s on you to get the job done.

More at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244175

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Increase Your Visual Content Engagement in 5 Steps (Infographic)

Visual content is very powerful -- yet many business owners create content and it doesn’t perform as expected. You can’t publish visual content and expect instant website traffic and social shares to just happen. An effective piece of visual content tells your story and really pulls the reader in. So, what exactly is an effective piece of visual content?

In an effort to explain what steps are required to publish a piece of visual content that engages your target market, my company teamed up with HubSpot to create this infographic.

Here are the five steps to creating effective visual content:

More at:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244443

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