So...What's Next?!?

Everything's Going To Be OK (at least for most of us)

For a long time (since early childhood actually) I have been arguing that the world is getting better not worse. The back-story of that is when I was 10 my mom started studying with Jehovah's Witnesses and would take me to the meetings. The main premise of that group is the world is getting worse and will end soon. I never bought that - not even at the age of 10.

I guess because I have always been fascinated by history I have known enough history to know that the world is getting better. Even today as we turn on the news and hear reports of more families being homeless, more people losing their jobs and more terrorist killing dozens of people in the middle of a street, I still know enough history to know - that as horrible as these events are, it is still better than it used to be. The world is improving.

You hear people say that the media has desensitized us to the horrible events and in some ways I agree. We would go crazy if we allowed ourselves to feel the intense emotions that come when we hear of a child being abused or killed or a mother, father, brother losing his life because he was simply at the wrong street corner at the wrong time or people who are tortured for their spiritual beliefs. But we are not being desensitized we are becoming more and more aware. Wars are fought differently today, people help strangers in far away lands more and we simply do not accept unfounded prejudicial views as easily as generations that still live today once did.

Since the beginning of this recession/depression I have been saying this one "feels" different than the last couple of recessions I have experienced. I recall the recession of the late 80's early 90's which was when I started working for the first time. I still feel the pain of the recession of 2001-2002.  But this time it is different. I have been telling people this is not a cyclical recession, this is chaos. This is caused because of how rapidly things are changing and we are in a state of chaos as some people run so far ahead of their time while others are left so far behind.

Les and Glenn, the founders of Fuzebox have been discussing a book that they highly recommend called Revolutionary Wealth. This weekend I started reading it. I am only on page 22 and already I see that it is confirming all of my thoughts about this state of chaos. I found it interesting how they even talk about how the "Wealth Waves" impact family structures (page 22). It reminded me of a paper I wrote in college where again I argued that we were not seeing a decline in the family but that we were in a state of chaos as we experienced a change in family structure.

This book does a wonderful job specifically outlining the factors that are causing the acceleration in change. But considering we humans are creatures of habits it will be a struggle over the next several years. But when you read about the evolution of mankind and how each Wave brought more wealth to more people, more opportunities to raise to new intellectual and spiritual heights, you realize these are exciting  albeit turbulent times.

Everything's going to be OK - if you are willing to adjust, adapt, and grow/evolve. If you are determined to go down and believe this is the end of the world, well history shows you will simply be creating your own self-fulfilling prophecy.

The future is in our hands and we have more opportunity than ever.

Book Review - Secrets of Social Media Marketing

I saw some sort of ad awhile ago, Paul Gillin was giving away his book - Secrets of Social Media Marketing. Why would I ever turn away from such an offer?

In return, Paul requested that we blog about the book. I have spent this past week reviewing it and taking some notes for my training classes. Here are some of my thoughts or my "review" of the book.

It is one of the first books that I have read that goes into the nuts and bolts of social media. There are still many areas where he has to go high-level because to get in too deep would require volumes of books, but he at least guides the reader into the trenches of social media.

I do not agree with many of the opinions and assumptions that are sprinkled throughout the book mostly because I  do not feel they are helpful to the reader. Right from the start Paul write his disclaimer that this book could be outdated before it is even printed because of how fast things move, and yet many of his assumptions actually pigeon hole his advice. For example he stresses over and over again that MySpace is mostly for teenagers, and the reality is even the teenagers are moving away from MySpace. What I am seeing is MySpace is keeping it's stronghold on an industry, the Entertainment Industry to be exact, and not so much a demographic.

I am loving the case studies in the book. What I think would be more thought-provoking is presenting a case study and not just showing what worked, but also exploring what opportunities were missed. Every social media campaign that has been launched has broken new ground in some form or fashion, which means that missed something along the way. Yes let's celebrate the success, but let's play a little Monday morning quarterback with the case studies also.

Overall - yes it is a book I would recommend to anyone, my clients and even social media consultants - it has helped me fill in a few gaps in my lessons and presentations.

Thanks for the book Paul!

Keys to Creativity

Growing up I always thought a talented person or creative person was someone who was good at art or music or sports. What I have come to realize is that creative people express their creativity in almost everything they do in life. They agree to see things differently, to ask more questions, and to continuously explore options.

I am re-reading a book called The Universal Traveler - a Soft-System Guide to Creativity, Problem-Solving, and the Process of Reaching Goals.

There was a line in there that I read last night that I think speaks to so many people who get stuck (including myself).

The habit of believing you know something so well that it preempts discovery always works against you in terms of behaving creatively.

This is exactly the attitude I struggle against when I am introducing new and/or foreign ideas to people. They know their world so well they can not see how something new and foreign could fit it.

I do believe it is in the acceptance that we do not know that we find the answers to questions we did not know we should ask.

How does that work? What does that do? Where will that go? and simply - I do not not know, but I can't wait to find out are normal thoughts in my everyday life. This is why I get that funny look on my face when people introduce me as an "expert." All I have been doing is exploring. It is like calling a kid a sand box expert.

A couple of days ago I read, yet another post, by yet another person, who wants to be positioned as an expert and to do so she positioned herself as the almighty naysayer - above the "hype." This particular person was saying virtual worlds were not the future of business - her reasoning...virtual worlds are "creepy.'

It seems this person knows her world so well, is such an expert, that she has no time for discovery and creativity. Meanwhile the innovations that are happening all around will simply pass her by.

So, although I appreciate the sentiment when others call me an expert, I do get scared of that idea, not because of lack of belief in what it is I do know, but because I want to make sure that I am always of the mindset that I need to know more.

How much should one share about themself?

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a book by Deepak Chopra. I am reading it for the second time and I really like many of the concepts.

Currently I am reading through the 5th Law, the Law of Intention. There are 5 steps to the law of intention, which I will share in a moment. Each one makes sense to me, except where he expands on the 3rd step. He suggests to keep your desires to yourself; do not share them with anyone else unless they share the exact same desires that you have and are closely bonded with you.

That reminds me of when my kids learned to not talk to strangers and they asked how were they supposed to make new friends. How do we know what we share with others unless we share who we are and what our desires are.

I think a better way to have put that would have been to not impose your desires onto others who do not share your desires. Yeah - that can be a huge disaster.

Here are the 5 steps;

1. Slip into the gap. This means to center yourself in that silent space between thoughts, to go into the silence - that level of Being which is your essential state.
2. Established in that state of Being, release your intentions and desires. When you are actually in the gap, there's no thought, there's no intention, but as you come out of the gap - at that junction between the gap and a thought - you introduce intention. If you have a series of goals, you can write them down, and have your intention focused on them before you go into the gap. If you want a successful career, for example, you go into the gap with that intention, and the intention will already be there as a faint flicker in your awareness. Releasing your intentions and desires in the gap means planting them in fertile ground of pure potentiality, and expecting them to bloom when the season is right. You do not want to dig up the seeds of your desires to see if they are growing, or get rigidly attached to the way in which they will unfold. You simply want to release them.
3. Remain in the state of self-referral. This means remain established in the awareness of your true Self - your spirit, your connection to the field of pure potentiality. It also means not to look at yourself through the eyes of the world, or allow yourself to be influenced by the opinions and criticisms of others. A helpful way to maintain that state of self-referral is to keep your desires to yourself; do not share them with anyone else unless they share the exact same desires that you have and are closely bonded with you.
4. Relinquish your attachment to the outcome. This means giving up your rigid attachment to a specific result and living in the wisdom of uncertainty. It means enjoying every moment in the journey of your life, even if you don't know the outcome.
5. Let the universe handle the details. Your intentions and desires, when released in the gap, have infinite organizing power of intention to orchestrate all the details for you.

What are your thoughts on this 5 steps?

The Possibilities of Mass Collaboration

I attended the Georgia Technology Summit today. So far I found a few blogs, some tweets, and Amani Channels video from the session. I am sure there are more to come. I will be saving the reactions here.

The keynote Speaker was Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics - the 2007 management book of the year.

I was very excited that this group would be introduced to his message, but I am a little concerned that it did not resonate with many.

Just follow some of the tweets;

StephenFleming:                

#gts2008 Seeing a lot of eyes glazed over here. I hope it's soaking in to some people.                  

jhaynie:                

#gts2008 -  *more people need* to read wikinomics in this room                

I actually saw someone dozing off!

Tapscott started with the 2007 Time Magazine person of the year as being “You.”

He discussed the growth of Facebook and MySpace that is happening all over the world and that there is a new blog created every second of everyday…

And then he dropped the "All this news is so 2006."

Today it is about a new way of productions. How we create goods and services and how companies communicate all over the world.

What was so timely about this message was the post on BusinessWeek

Social Media Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later

I would like to repeat...I saw people falling asleep this morning!!!

Tapscott also discussed how the new web is accessed throughout various “things” from chips in the door key for his hotel to smart houses.

He talked about how the physical world is becoming smart and interconnected bringing up;

Broadband Mobility

Geo-Spatiality (GPS Tour Guide)  and IntelliOne

He also discussed the idea of True Multimedia – You get to have a movie and be in the movie as well. Think of the next generation of game play with cinema.

I would say it is practically here with machinima.

Tapscott discussed the rise of web services and how the new web is based on XML – computation…..where every time you interact with the computer you are programming the global platform and the need to integrate internal systems to the global platform (AJAX)

He announced that people who keep thinking about the Internet as it used to be are making a big mistake.

Our kids, the ones coming into the workforce, known as the net generation, have no “fear” of technology because it is like air to them.

I hated computers in the 10th grade. Todays 10th graders do not know a world without computers.

How much of an accelerated change is this?...Tapscott showed the growth trend of this generation in regards to the population growth

Generations – Boom, Bust (Gen X) and then the  Echo (net gen) which is louder than the original boom.

For this generation time online is taking away from television. These kids watch less TV and they are multi-taking while interacting with all their digital devices.

62% of the time heavy Internet users bleep out TV ads. That means when they are watching television, they are watching it on their own terms.

Tapscott noted that this is the first time in history when children are the authority on something really important.

Tapscott highlighted the attitudes of the net gen based on  a panel with some kids awhile back.

"Why would I read a newspaper no links and only comes out once a day…"

"News is called an RSS feed and I can start my own newspaper."

"The Daily Show is not funny unless you know the news."

Kids expect to be engaged. As Tapscott pointed out;

Self organization has been around for the ages. Language is a function of self organization. But what used to take place over a millennia or centuries now can happen in a week or even a single day.

Tapscott noted that the average age of people who watch the nightly news is 62!

He also made a good case that the Internet is a platform for collaborations and that companies should not have websites anymore, they should be building communities.

Best question of the day...If you have employees wasting time on social networks…..is that a technology problem?

Sharing is Capitalism at it’s best because it is collaboration for innovation.

My Question – First I noted that there is a generation gap - from my spot in the room I thought I was the only one with a laptop trying to live blog (the wireless was not accessible) as opposed to all the bloggers we have at the SoCon events. But as you see a few others blogged the event -some of the "usual suspects" :)

Then I asked how the participants  of today's summit can find the balance of responding and managing these shifts as well as strategies to embrace and take advantage of these trends. Tapscott nailed the answer - just start contributing.

Overall it was a great event and I got to see a lot of people I know and meet a few new people.

Tonights closing quote;

We could go over the cliff. You would hope not. You would hope that people see what needs to be done. It's not rocket science. It's not difficult. It's not even all that costly. It's actually about the way you think about the world.

Tim Flannery

The Price of Intangibles

What am I worth? What are you worth? What is the value of everything I have learned throughout my life? What value do I bring to a company?

On the flip side, what do I cost? Where am I a liability? What actions, emotions, or areas where I lack discipline become a cost line item?

Why am I asking these questions? Two reasons...one I am trying to quantify the offerings of What a Concept! better. Since we do sell research and strategy and not technology it is often a challenge for our clients to understand the value of the final deliverable. Of course I also need to understand the value of the final deliverable to justify why we are even in business.

So I pulled some numbers from a couple of books.

According to Mobilizing Minds, Interaction Costs, which includes searching for information and knowledge, coordinating activities and exchanges, and monitoring and controlling the performance of others account for over half of all labor costs in the US.

Mobilizing Minds is a great book that goes deep into the economics of labor and the need to shift away from the Industrial mindset.

However the book I recently started reading is called Egonomics...turns out I have an Ego, and it may have cost me a bit of money in the past...

Egonomics shows that Ego is not always a bad thing, but when it runs a muck it cost in bad decisions made for the wrongs reasons, negative work environments and high turnover.

So it really comes down to people, which we hear all the time. It is about the people, their talent, skills, and enthusiasm that makes a company go from Good to Great right?

So what are you worth and how much will you cost yourself today?

If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can't buy

It's All About the Plan

I have a new book - it is kind of like The Secret, but a lot more fun. It's called Notes from the Universe and it is kind of like my Magic 8 Ball. I randomly open a page throughout the day and the message is 99% on target for what I am thinking.

In fact, let's open it now and see what it will...say...

"If it's hard, there's something you're missing"

Honestly, I just randomly opened the page, but it opened to something relevant to the title I have already chosen for this post.

What is usually missing is the plan. I can say this from experience. I do not lack dreams and I dare to dream big. I do not lack enthusiasm nor do I lack the means to make things happen. What I usually lack is a plan. Trying to accomplish anything without a plan is very hard.

Alright, just for fun let's open to another random page...

A little birdie just came my way and mentioned a deep, soulful desire of yours.

Heavens no, not that one!

She said that you'd be eternally grateful if,
once and for all, you never, ever had to worry about money again.

Well, I couldn't resist. Wish granted! You never, ever have to worry about money again.

Anything else? Anything at all?

The Universe

You see, I just finished balancing my check books. Something I typically dread. But today before I started I realized all I was doing was looking at my progress report of where I am at with my plan. It is all about the plan. If I have a plan, everything else is just a status report.

I went to the gym today and saw the trainer who gave me my initial plan. I have not been following that plan. I have let myself get distracted. Guess what...my progress report is not so great.

So that was the overall theme of my day, from planning my week of work to balancing my check book to getting back on the treadmill. Set a goal, create a plan, and measure all progress according to the plan. The rest will come easy...

Well I might as well end with one more quote from the book...opening it up to another random page...

What this very moment, you were dreaming? Dreaming you were at home, at work, wherever you now are, and that you were reading this Note. And in that dream you also realized that as real as it all seemed, there was also a greater reality from which you were dreaming and a greater essence that is yourself. That you came from eternity and will return to eternity, and that, in truth, you are a dream weaver.

Then suddenly it dawned on you that you could not awaken from this dream until you first demonstrated this revelation by claiming responsibility for your every manisfestation heretofore and exercising dominion over all things.

Yeeeehaaaaaaaaa!

Appreciation Through Game Play

I finally was able to get past the Metallica song,  Enter Sandman on my medium solo guitar tour of Rock Band.

I am not a fan of Metallica, but I have a new appreciation for their music.

In fact, I am not a fan of many of the songs on Rock Band, meaning they are not songs that I would load on my iPod - but I have learned to appreciate them now that I have been attempting to "play" them.

My brother is visiting me this weekend. His son (my nephew) is 18 years old and has been a "gamer" for as long as I can remember. He also has Rock Band and is highly ranked on the guitar. When I was struggling through Enter Sandman my brother jumped on the phone to see how well my nephew had done on that song.

I found that interesting. The pride in the idea that his son is good at playing a guitar on a game. I personally feel the same pride with both my boys playing drums on Rock Band - yes even my 6 year old is getting through a few songs. At one point I almost felt guilty that I enjoy watching my oldest son play drums on Rock Band more than I enjoyed watching him when he was in band at school.

Last year he decided he did not want to play in the band anymore. He had been in band for three years playing percussions, he took piano for a year, but he was no longer interested in music...until Rock Band.

Personally I have always thought I lacked rhythm and coordination to play an instrument - yet I am moving through Rock Band on  guitar, bass and drums.

Of course I realize this is not the same as learning an instrument. The drums are pretty close to the real thing, but the guitar is not. However it is providing an appreciation and for my youngest son an early introduction to music.

I am a huge believer in music education. Learning rhythms and patterns helps with math aptitude, music allows us to express our human emotions and expressions. Music is very important, however music education in our schools, besides lacking funding, often times does not draw many students in. The reason my son quit band was because he was bored. He is rockin' on Rock Band though...and definitely shows talent.

I started thinking about "what if schools had a Rock Band game in every music class?" This got me to thinking about something that Timothy Moenk has been advocating since I met him, Games and Learning.

According to this website that he shared with me;

Games and play can be effective learning environments, argues Richard Van Eck, not because they are fun but because they are

• immersive;
• require the player to make frequent, important decisions;
• have clear goals;
• adapt to each player individually; and
• involve a social network.⁶

I can see the value through music, but what other games are out there that teach skills, and how can we implement them to enhance our learning. Also with the ability to connect and play with people from all over the world, we can enable our children to learn and interact with various cultures. When they are learning about Asia, they could take some time to play with children in Asia. We have the means, we just need the will to make this world a better place.

Know what's missing from most people's lives? The realization that nothing is missing from their lives.
- Notes from the Universe

Book Notes - The UnWritten Laws of Business

One of my favorite things to do is to roam through Barnes and Noble, pick up interesting books and flip through them taking notes. I do not feel guilty about doing this because when I find a book I like I pay full price at Barnes and Noble as opposed to getting it at a much lower price online.

Today I found a great book to buy as a thank you gift for my executive coach - but full price was quite high

- so I decided that it was the thought that counts.

I have been very fortunate the past few months in that I was able to put a small but highly effective advisory board together and hired a "coach" - These are people who have already had a tremendous impact on helping me to extract my ideas in order to paint my vision so that it can grow.

I also have the opportunity to be a role model to some UGA students. I have had the opportunity to speak there twice and will return for a third time on Tuesday night. From this experience I have been approached by students who are interested in Internships.  I have had to pause and reflect on what I can offer to these young men and women who will be entering the workforce, who are full of creative ideas and enthusiasm. Helping these students to grow into our future leaders means I have to look at what type of leadership I am providing.

One of the books that caught my eye today was called The Unwritten Laws of Business. What I personally found  interesting was that the notes I was taking were the basics to work ethics. Some that I have done my whole life because I was raised with a family that has a very strong work ethic. But at the same time I also recognized where I have let some of my own work ethic slip because I was not "reporting to anyone" or I have become "very busy" and so on.

So what I recognized is that the best way to keep yourself on track is to be aware of what you're teaching to those around you.

Here are some of the basic notes, just in case anyone else needs some reminding;

However menial and trivial your early assignments may appear, give them your best efforts.

Demonstrate the ability to get things done

In carrying out a project, do not wait passively for anyone - suppliers, sales people, colleagues, supervisors - to make good on their delivery promises; go after them and keep relentlessly after them.

Confirm your instructions and the other person's commitments in writing.

When sent out on a business trip of any kind, prepare for it, execute the business to completion, and follow up after you return.

Develop a "Let's go see!" attitude

Avoid the very appearance of vacillating

Don't be timid - speak up - express yourself and promote your ideas

Strive for conciseness and clarity in oral and written reports

Be extremely careful of the accuracy of your statements

Every manager must know what goes in his or her domain

One of the first things you owe your supervisor is to keep him or her informed of all significant developments

This final one I will share with you is one that made me pause. I have always been more independent than perhaps I had a right to be at the workplace, but I was able to get away with it. Several months before my dad died I was fortunate enough to have a "real" phone conversation with him. For years he had been fading and speaking with him on the phone was a real struggle - but for whatever reason he was almost "himself" on this last call and I was able to tell him some of things I was going through. I was explaining my frustrations with working for others and how I now worked for myself. I was being very proud. My dad's advice was that I should remember - right or wrong - your boss is still your boss. Considering I get my rebellious attitude from my dad, I found this shocking.

Tonight when I read the words
Do not overlook the steadfast truth that your direct supervisors is your "boss" I thought of my dad and all the years he had to reflect on his life and past actions and I was humbled by this advice.

I have made the commitment to listen to those who are there to lead. We all need coaches, people with a bit more experience, people who can see past the forest. Not only should we listen to them we should be very thankful that they are part of our lives.

Tonight I leave you with a quote that Tim often tries to share with me;

Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them - William Shakespeare

Atlanta's Landscape is Changing

About a year and a half ago we started putting SoCon07 together and we were hoping we could get 100 people there. Although it was a free event, we knew that not many people were aware of the impact that social media was about to have on...everything.

We did A LOT of promoting; TechLINKS agreed to be our media sponsor, CRMA and Atlanta IT Association promoted it, we had lots of of blogger friends blog about it...but I feel the big win was when Time Magazine announced "You" as Time Magazine's Person of the year. Social Media was finally hitting the mainstream.

We had about 100 people at the dinner and about 250 people at the Saturday event.

This year we have not done nearly as much promotion. I have blogged about it and sent information out to my email list. I know Leonard and Jeff have blogged and others have blogged about it. But we have not pushed it nearly as hard as we did last year. Not only that we are charging this year - we have additional expenses that needed to be covered whereas last year we all handled as much as we could ourselves. Currently we have over 120 people signed up for the dinner and almost 200 signed up for the event. I will be sending another email out tomorrow to let everyone know this is the last week to sign up - we will shut registration down on Friday. On Tuesday we are going to have to raise the price of the Friday night dinner. So - if you have not registered yet - do not delay.

Today Leonard Witt, Barbara Vining, Timothy Moenk and I met to finalize some details such as break out sessions and the menu. We agreed on 11 breakout sessions based on what people requested on the registration form. Most people were still looking for a basic over view, or what I think they are saying is they do not know what they need to know but they need to know something. I am happy to announce we put a schedule together that will address the "newbies" as well as those looking to know "what's next."

The "what's next' session will be covered by Timothy Moenk and will touch upon his current interest which is DataPortability. I will be covering Social Media for B2B and Josh Hallett will cover "Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask."'

Another meeting I had today covered our project scope with the Technology Association of GA. We have been consulting with Tino and his team for a few months and I am very excited with the roll-out plan that Tim has put together. It seems to be a win-win for everyone involved.

As we roll this out to one of the largest associations in GA I can only imagine the ripple affect as more and more organizations realize the potential that can be unleashed when the the tools, technologies and cultural shifts are embraced in favor of collaboration and communication.

Tomorrow's What a Concept! weekly post will be all about the upcoming summit - so I will not repeat that here other than to mention that the keynote is Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, a book I recommended to everyone last year. That should get more and more people thinking about collaboration.

Just the events in the first few months of this year has me looking forward to some of the changes that I have been advocating finally gaining momentum.

There is this rumor going around about a recession. I personally have chosen to ignore such rumors and to even ignore a recession, if one should occur. However if one should occur I suspect it will make more organizations want to cut back, be more efficient and effective and run a more lean and streamlined business. It might be a good time to learn more about this thing called social media that will allow such changes to be implemented.

So...today's quote of the day...

Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
-Henry Ford