Archive - November, 2010

Strange behaviors of crowds: a cautionary tale

November 30, 2010 in General, Rants, Social Networking, Tools, Twitter with 1 Comment

We have all seen it. A mediocre action or statement that someone of influence makes and the crowd repeats it. The current nature of the web and mobile technology has made this an amplified occurrence. The last one I saw was just a week ago. It was so bad that I also saw many people call it out for what it was. The statement was neither unique or helpful.

I started evaluating my own actions like this at a conference last year. I was getting caught up in a speakers delivery. Yes he was funny and some of his material was unique. But as I typed a post of one of his quotes I looked over at my friend who was next to me. He was looking at the crowd of people around us. I took a glance at what he was watching. People were doing the same thing I was. They too were posting on their Blackberries, Droids and iPhones.

I am not saying we should stop this practice. I think it is great that people can take part in some of the best content of a talk or event that is taking place half way around the world. This is my challenge though, and I need to take heed as well. Let us be mindful of what we post. Is it really something useful? What is the motive. This is a real balance between personal filtering and transparency. I wrote a post a while back about building my filter. Do you see yourself doing the same thing?

I want to thank Kelly Craft for inspiring me to revisit this as a post. On November 18th she wrote how an absolute nobody hit a 71% klout score.  In the section of that post called Mentions & Manners…  she advises us to avoid “gratuitous mentions or RT’s (retweets) of someone high-profile or influential for the sake of looking like one of the ‘cool kids’ ….”

Excellent advice Kelly!

New productivity features in iPad iOS 4.2

November 27, 2010 in Connecting, General, Tools with 10 Comments

When the iPad first came out earlier this year I wrote up a favorable review highlighting how it is a great tool for the connector. I agree with many that the iPad right at the outset felt like a second generation product. You can tell Apple spent time working through the details way before April 3rd 2010. That said, there were some productivity functions that needed improvement. Last week Apple released the iOS 4.2 update for the iPad. Apple includes a good online manual*.  Even with a manual, I have found that even power users are missing out on some of the best feature updates. Here is a video walk-through of some of the major changes. I don’t cover all the changes here but I think I cover some of the best productivity updates made. Please ask questions or add your own tips and tricks as a comment.
*Thanks Jonathan L (@JJLu) for directing me to the online manual.

Tool Wednesday: Rapportive walkthrough from Andy Traub

November 24, 2010 in Connecting, General, Raves, Social Networking, Tools, Video with 2 Comments

My friend and one of my personal tech guides Andy Traub gives us a walk through video of Rapportive and “raplets”, an add-on to manage social media connections and  contacts simultaneously.  Managing your contacts is probably one of the most important things a good connector can do.  I will have more on that in the coming weeks.  For now learn from one expert I enjoy learning from.  Please leave a comment if you have a question for Andy or a tip of your own. Also if you need help you can contact Rapportive via Twitter here as well as the CEO Rahul Vohra.

How to use Rapportive from Andy Traub on Vimeo.

Be a Del Griffith: Engaging in conversation while traveling

November 23, 2010 in Connecting, General, Social Networking with 7 Comments

Every Thanksgiving my wife and I watch the John Hughes film Planes, Trains and Automobiles with the late John Candy and Steve Martin. Besides being hilarious it is a heart warming story of two strangers finding their way home for the holiday. Steve Martin plays Neal Page, a successful ad exec. annoyed by the good-natured travel mate he is unwillingly thrown together with on cancelled flights, buses, trains, and cars.

Many scenes play on the common situation we have all found ourselves in. You are weary. You want to be home. The homeward bound flight is filled with little children and tired parents.  The flight attendants are near militant and you are just not wanting to engage with anyone but your iPod.

Engaging though is what I have found most rewarding in these situations. While being respectful of my seat-mates (no one can stand a Chatty Cathy, see the second clip below), I gently test the waters of conversation. You can tell a lot about a person from their clothes, reading material and such. I pick something obvious and make a try at conversation. I have probably a ninety percent success rate with only a few people who just don’t want to talk.  If you are on Southwest or get to move around, find someone who others are avoiding, a mother with an infant.

Conversations like this make the miserable traveling tolerable. It goes by faster as you relate and learn about another human being. Plus you never know where it may lead. I have met new business contacts, been able to connect business friends and made some great acquaintances while enduring screaming children and stuffy airplane air together.

So while you travel this season take a risk and strike up a conversations. While you may meet a Neal Page, you might quickly soften them into a friend.  Just be kind and no matter how much your dogs are barking, keep those socks on while in flight.

A successful event exposed: Ask, Thrash, Execute

November 19, 2010 in Company Culture, Connecting, General, Marketing, Raves with 0 Comments

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of seeing a really great team’s hard work of pay off.  I have been planning a public launch party for Data Basin for the last six months with a team that made it seem easy even though there was plenty of hard ground work behind the scenes.  Back in May I had asked Keen Footwear if they would be interested in hosting the event.  Data Basin’s scope and mission was a natural fit for Keen’s HybridLife and Hybrid.Care programs.

After securing Keen as a partner in the launch, we had several months of thrashing.  Like any successful project, thrashing is essential to come up with a good program as well as successful outcomes.  Often it is seen as a time waste or wheel spinning.  Multiple revisions and sidesteps are needed to arrive at the best decisions.

When the week of the event arrived, with a solid event schedule, great guest list and logistics all arranged, we found ourselves surprised how little was left to do.  We were left with the task of executing the event.

As I reflect on the buildup, from the time I asked Keen to partner with us, thrashing through the program development, and the execution, I have concluded that it’s success was due to a well-developed and suited team.  Each person was working in their area of greatest strength.  My job was to connect and engage, to be the glue.  I would have messed things up if I had stepped too much into the category of content or logistics.  Yes, I had plenty to offer in those areas, but I also made sure that I did not get in the way.  Partly what I am learning is that a team needs to allow members to run with a task and release control.  If they are competent and reliable then the outcome will be good.

One thing I am sure of.  I am looking forward to doing the next event with the same team.   We are already planning it!

Which is Better: Technical or People Skills?

November 17, 2010 in Company Culture, Connecting, General, Raves, Tools, Twitter with 16 Comments

Megan Burns (@MeganEBurns) posted this tweet a few days back that caught my attention: There are two sets of skills: technical and people. If you don’t have the 2nd, the 1st won’t save you.

It seemed like a great blog post subject.  The following is a guest post by Megan.

As I work with different clients, I’m noticing that the emphasis on a person’s technical skills and abilities is not as important as it once was. Now, organizations are becoming more concerned about a person’s people skills. If you think back, we can all bring to mind the one person we worked with that could not interact with anyone, but the company kept the person around because they knew so much. Anymore, your technical skills are not going to save you if you don’t have the people skills.

The reason for this is because there is such a wealth of information available to us now. If I wanted to, I could Google a given topic, spend a few hours researching it, and know pretty much everything I need to know on a subject. (Ok, so this might not work for, say cold fusion or nanotechnology, but you get my point.) For influencers and business people, it’s about the application of your technical knowledge into the workplace. You need to be able to take your technical expertise and package it in such a way people can understand and digest it.

One way quick way to do this is to gain a high-level understanding of the DiSC personality assessment. (Google it and you’ll come up with more than 3.4 million results.) Then start paying attention to how people act and speak to learn if they care about the bottom-line, the people, the process, or the details. Now, you can package your technical know-how in a way that is relevant to them. Because, in business, it’s not always about you.

You can read more from Megan on her site Operations Strategy Consulting or on twitter at @MeganEBurns

The role of your tribe

November 16, 2010 in Company Culture, Connecting, Customer Service, General, Marketing, Publishing, Reads, Social Networking with 0 Comments

We all lead a tribe. We have communities who look to us to guide them, such as: your family, small church group, employees, co-workers, customers, bridge club, and neighborhood watch.  The list goes on and on. Some are small and some big.  What we don’t often talk about is the role they play.

You have decided what nascent group to lead, gathered them together, and created something for them to go crazy about. Now the work really begins. Give them ways to share, connect, engage, hang out, play, take part in and create even more. Once you do that the rest will be pretty easy.  They will share more than you ever could have asked, connected even more people and created tribes of their own.

Then when you’ve that  you can move on to the next thing and do it all over again. Now isn’t this fun?

Learn more about tribes from Seth Godin by reading…you guessed it, Tribes.

Is your service valuable?

November 11, 2010 in Connecting, Customer Service, General, Marketing with 1 Comment

Connecting with people is rewarding in many different ways, but it is also profitable.  Good connections can become business transactions.  Sometimes good connectors may feel awkward writing business proposals for someone they have built a friendship with.  However, an open and honest business offer is not only pragmatic, it protects friendships.  An exchange of services must be spelled out explicitly to avoid presumption.  When people are in need of a particular service, they don’t mind paying for it.  People who avoid discussing money openly may harm relationships in the long run.

This is important especially when you are beginning your business.  Being candid in business is always better than being vague.  Honesty is synonymous with integrity in many instances.  So when you have a service that is worth paying for, set a price and spell it out clearly.  Mutual respect will be the result.

(My wife wrote this post since it took me four failed drafts.  She did let me add the last sentence though)

Schedulicity- eliminating no-shows and phone-tag

November 10, 2010 in Connecting, Customer Service, General, Tools with 0 Comments

This new section on tools for the connector and influencer will have many guests post.  Here is the first by Sabrina Walters who is a licensed marriage and family therapist.  Sabrina also is  a certified instructor for the Core Values Index (CVI) assessment tool.

Time and time again, just when I’ve settled down for a movie or dinner out with the family I would get a call from a client. Since I am a therapist, I always try to answer my calls since you never know when you are facing a crisis. However more than half the time it ends up being someone who just wants to make or change an appointment. In most cases I didn’t have my date book handy, so a long game of “phone-tag” ensues.  No one really enjoys this game, not to mention the precious time taken away from family and friends.

The other aggravating problem is the “no-show” This most often occurs when a client can’t remember when their appointment is scheduled. Now, I am just as unorganized as some of my forgetful clients, so I can totally understand this. With Schedulicity, I have resolved 99% percent these problems. Most of my clients prefer to book online at their convenience. They love receiving the texts and emails confirming and reminding them of their appointments and I love them showing up for their appointments. On top of these conveniences, the reports provided by Schedulicity give me accurate information for billing purposes as well. I couldn’t be happier with Schedulicity, their responsiveness to my questions and the services I have received from them. It has paid for itself several times over through decreased “no-shows”.

Tightening your tribe

November 9, 2010 in Connecting, General, Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter with 8 Comments

Today we have the greatest impact when we first tighten our tribe and then give them something to do. First of all people who really care about what you are doing will share it. Second, the old methods of interruption and shouting just don’t work as well anymore. But much has already been said about that topic and there are some great resources available. My favorite is Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin.

What I want to focus on here is the tightening of your tribe. When getting your message out, you will come to a time when you gain followers, people drawn to what you are doing and sharing.  You want to focus on the ones that love what you are doing, and I would add,  regardless of their current influence (I will come back to that near the end).  They are the ones that you want to include in your inner circle.  Going one step further, out of that list are the ones that have influence.  Treat them really well.

That inner circle is your connection to the world.  What we often overlook is that each of them have their own network, and they want to open it to you.

So are you in my inner circle?  Really if you are you already know the answer.  You are the one who re-posts my blogs, joins in on discussions I start, and responds to my calls for action.

A trap we can fall into is not including within our inner circle, those that might not have the greatest influence.  What I am learning is that everyone counts.  It may seem like common sense to include the biggest celebrity online.  The truth is we really don’t know how someone belonging to your tribe will pay off down the road.  The person just starting out might be your greatest contact in the next decade.  Treat anyone who wants to engage with respect and kindness.

On thursday I will dive into how we mobilize our tribe by giving them something to do.

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