No matter our job, we have opportunities every day to do awesome things in business. One of the most powerful opportunities we have for awesome happens when we make mistakes. Being awesome isn’t about being perfect. I want us to see our trip-ups as windows of awesome opportunity. When it hits the fan in business, [...]
The Power of Authenticity
When you’re authentic, you’re true to yourself. When your brand is authentic, it is true to its mission and purpose. The power in authenticity, whether in your brand or person, is that it leaves no questions unanswered. People know where you stand, what you’re made of and what is important to you. Authenticity helps you [...]
The Power of Influence
Last year, a young lady named Molly Katchpole graduated from college and, like so many young Americans, could not find a job. Desperate to make her student loan payments, she took a job as a part-time nanny. While struggling to make ends meet, she received a letter from Bank of America stating that if she [...]
The Power of Mobile
With the Internet in your pocket, at almost anytime in darn near any location (subways, wine caves and most airplanes be damned) you can summon information to settle a debate or sports bar argument in a moment’s notice. In those same moments, you can chase down friends’ whereabouts and monitor your finances during an office [...]
The Power of Data
As our use of social media increases, so does the amount of information we share about our activities, our relationships and ourselves. Just ten years ago, marketers had to bribe customers to share a fraction of the rich data we have access to today. But data sitting in silos doesn’t help anyone. least of all [...]
The Power of Content Strategy
“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” – Uncle Ben to Peter Parker (Spiderman) As marketers, we now have the power to create content of all types and deliver them directly to our customers and prospects. It was not too long ago that this wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. [...]
The Power of a Question
When I was 30, I lived in a largely rent-controlled building in New York City with my (then) girlfriend, who was also my age. There were nine other residents on our floor: a young couple in their 20’s, and seven single elderly widows/widowers in their 70’s and 80’s. The average age of our floor was [...]
The Power of Culture
Culture is the bedrock of an organization.
Make it strong, and it will become the backbone of your business. Culture is reflected in the words and actions of everyone in your company. Official spokesperson or not, each of them is a living, breathing ambassador for what you value.
It’s no accident that the companies excelling on the social web have strong, positive cultures. They believe in hiring for mindset, attitude, and values and training for requisite skills. They preserve and nurture their culture above all, because it’s the foundation for smart decisions, good judgment, and an environment of learning and collaboration.
The Power of Listening
He’d kill us if he had the chance.
This ominous phrase lies at the center of the plot in Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant 1974 thriller “The Conversation”.
The film tells a story about listening. Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul – a surveillance expert with a unique ability to record private conversations. He’s a clever investigator and he’s skilled at manipulating (the hilariously analog) 70s-era surveillance technology.
After bugging a particularly important conversation, Hackman’s character spends hours and hours listening to the tape in search of answers.
But he doesn’t really listen. And people die as a result.
The Power of Information
They say we’re in the Information Age, and from the looks of it, they’re right. We live in a time of immediate answers. If you have a question, you get it, right then and there. And if you don’t get it, you keep looking, because that’s what you (and the rest of us) have now [...]
