community dynamic.

For those of you unfamiliar with how illegally downloading things (films, music, television shows, books, and every assorted media you can think of ) has survived for so long, let me give you a brief summary of how something so prevalent and in-your-face can last.
It's a community.
A very strong community.

The moment someone uploads a file that has "trackers" in it, that file is immediately red flagged by as many people as see the first red flag.
The moment someone uploads a file that contains "malware" or a "virus", the same thing happens.
No one downloads a brand-new file that hasn't been reviewed yet by individuals in the community, save for a few intrepid souls.

The same goes for the overwhelming majority of all organized crime. There are a few key individuals that play important roles, but their success and the successes of anyone who will ever benefit from their actions is entirely dependent on the people that surround them.
Community simply brings more eyes, more ears, and more minds together under a common purpose.

Each person in your company, your crew, or your team is a part of the community. They bring a unique set of perspectives and experiences to the table that when tapped, can affect your bottom line. Are you using them?
Have you asked each individual what they think they could do to strengthen your business?

intentionally create real value, don't stop at offering a product or service.

I've been wrong before. Many times in fact. However, I'm going to go out on a limb here, and risk being wrong again. 
I would venture to say 12 Years A Slave will win the Academy award for Best Picture this year, for one simple reason: it told the best story. 
Each year a hobby of mine is to watch  most of the Academy nominated pictures, and this year I enjoyed most of the selections that were listed.  12 Years A Slave is not funny, it is not easy to watch and was just short of agonizing to sit through at parts. In exchange, I highly doubt most viewers will ever forget the experience of how they felt during the movie. The Atlantic seems to think the filmmakers did a great job representing not only the majority of the Autobiography it was based on, but the time in history it portrayed.

Ty Montague writes: "In a world of abundance, what your product does for your customers is important, but not nearly as important as what your product means to them." In this case the product was the film, and the meaning was one man's struggle to survive an often terrifying series of circumstances.

12 Years A Slave is a triumph not merely because of the story that it tells (the filmmakers weren't so shallow as to stop there) but what that story means to the viewer. It communicates not just that slavery was/is wrong, but that each individual has a purpose, intrinsic value, and regardless of their situation every human will battle at one point or another with their own identity. We are in life together, and we must choose who we are each step of the way.
Tell me that isn't award-winning storytelling. 

Again, Ty Montague: "Back in the summer of 2006, New York Times Magazine columnist Rob Walker was mulling the question of what makes one object more valuable than another. What makes one pair of shoes more valuable than another pair if they both deliver on the functional basics of comfort, durability, and protection? Why does one piece of art cost $8,000,000 and another, $100? What makes one toaster worth $20 and another worth nearly $400 if they both make toast? As Walker turned these questions over in his mind he concluded that it is not the objects themselves, but the context, the provenance of the objects, that generates value. In other words, the value isn’t contained in the objects themselves, but in the story or the meaning that the objects represent to the owner.

Walker decided to test this conclusion in a simple and direct way. With the help of a friend, he began buying random, worthless, or low-value objects at tag sales and thrift shops. The cost of the objects ranged from one to four dollars. An old wooden mallet. A lost hotel room key. A plastic banana. These were true castoffs with little or no intrinsic worth.

Next, Walker asked some unknown writers to each write a short story that contained one of the objects. The stories weren’t about the objects, per se; but they helped to place them in a human context, to give them new meaning.

When Walker put the objects, along with their accompanying stories, up for sale on eBay, the results were astonishing. On average, the value of the objects rose 2,700%. That’s not a typo: 2,700%. A miniature jar of mayonnaise he had purchased for less than a dollar sold for $51.00. A cracked ceramic horse head purchased for $1.29 sold for $46.00. The value of these formerly abandoned or forsaken objects suddenly and mysteriously skyrocketed when they were accompanied by a story.

The project was so successful (and so interesting) that they have now repeated it 5 times and put all the results up on the web. It is also a book.

Walker’s experiment reminds us in a clear and extremely tangible way how the concept of value works in the human brain: a can opener is a can opener is a can opener until it is a can opener designed by Michael Graves and a part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. A shoe is a shoe is a shoe until it is a pair of TOMS shoes. For every pair that I buy a child who has never been able to afford shoes gets a free pair as well. Suddenly, these objects are part of an inspiring narrative — one that I can use to reveal something meaningful about myself to others. That’s something I am willing to pay for."

What story are you trying to tell? Do you have the ability to communicate so persuasively that people remember how they feel when you were telling them your story? 

If not, how do you get there?

What are you walking into the room with?

In a study done by two psychologists in November it was hypothesized that "the psychological states individuals bring into newly formed groups can produce meaningful differences in status attainment." The tests conducted studied the effects of triggering three approach-based psychological states: promotion focus (defined as a focus on aspirations and goals), happiness, and a feeling of power.
In other words, what mindset did you walk into the room with?

The side of the brain activated by thinking certain ways resulted in neurological, hormonal, and psychological effects that lead to behavioral changes: "For example, people primed to feel powerful are more likely to take action such as turning off an annoying fan, while those primed to focus on promotion and happiness offer more ideas in brainstorming and guessing tasks. In our studies, we wanted to know whether these mind-sets would make people more proactive—and thus boost their status—in live, face-to-face group interactions."

The effects were clear. People made to feel promotion-focused, powerful, or happy before the group task behaved more proactively and achieved significantly higher status than those in other states. For example, in one experiment, 60% of those primed with an approach orientation were described by at least one teammate as the “leader of the group”—nearly double the rate expected by chance. 

The researchers concluded "it’s pretty easy to push yourself into the kind of proactivity that marks you as a person worthy of respect—someone others want to follow."
Further testing showed "the temporary mind-set that you bring to an initial group meeting can have a lasting impact on your status and influence with your teammates."

But what if you made the decision before you entered the team or group meeting room to be the most servant-like? The most humble? Listen more than anyone else? Be the most encouraging?

Read the full study here.