159: Play Bigger and Live a Legendary Life with Christopher Lochhead

On this episode of the Achieve Your Goals podcast, Christopher Lochhead is here teach you what it means to play bigger and live a legendary life!

Christopher is the co-author of Harper Collins’ “instant classic” Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets and co-host of the Legends and Losers podcast.

Christopher is a retired three-time, Silicon Valley, public company CMO, category designer and entrepreneur. Fast Company Magazine calls him a “Human Exclamation Point”, The Marketing Journal says he is one of “The Best Minds In Marketing” and The Economist calls him “off-putting to some”.  

At 18 he got thrown out of school and with no other options he started a company. After 30 years in business he’s mostly retired. From time to time he coaches a courageous CEO and exec team in category design and marketing. He’s also a proud advisor to nonprofit 1 Life Fully Lived, an ass-kicking speaker, surf and ski bum, and is living happily ever after with a wonderful tribe and 7 hens in Santa Cruz California.

In today’s inspiring conversation, you’ll learn why having the best product or service is not enough if you want to dominate your market. You have to think differently about your business, solve problems that your customers don’t know they have, and create demand where it didn’t exist before. During today’s conversation, Christopher dives deep into the topic of category design and how you can apply it to create a legendary company.     

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • [01:45] Chris explains what makes Hal Elrod a legendary Category Designer!
  • [05:22] What exactly is Category Design?
  • [06:51] Discover the 3 keys to carving out a unique niche and differentiating yourself in the marketplace.
  • [09:52] Why making your product or service better isn’t enough if you want to become the best.
  • [12:14] How Pablo Picasso taught the world to think differently about art.
  • [15:44] Chris shares a simple yet powerful premise that every entrepreneur needs to realize… Position yourself or be positioned!
  • [19:06] Why the category makes the brand.
  • [21:49] How he became a successful entrepreneur and pursued a life of happiness despite being kicked out of school at age 18.
  • [26:36] Chris shares a fun story that demonstrates how to play bigger than you are.
  • [31:14] Why there is no greater achievement in life than living simple.

AYG TWEETABLE

”Category design is about teaching the market to come to you.” -Christopher Lochhead

EPISODE RESOURCES

CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER LOCHHEAD

CONNECT WITH HAL 

RATE & REVIEW THE PODCAST

Reviews for the podcast on iTunes are greatly appreciated and will allow us to get the word out about the show and grow as a community. We read every single review and believe each one goes a long way in helping us make the show even better! If you received value from this episode, please take a moment and rate and review the podcast by clicking here.