Take Me To Your Leader… Tribes by Seth Godin

Seth Godin has done it again - written an amazing, fresh, relevant, and useful book I love.  This time it is Tribes - a book about the importance of leadership.  The book is probably the least “marketing” oriented book Seth has written, focusing instead on addressing the much broader topic of leading other human beings.

The book talks a great deal about the importance of overcoming fear in the pursuit of innovation.  In today’s world, I am fully convinced that the old ways of “go along and get along” can only lead to a slow death - whether that applies to education, business, marketing, non-profits, or any other facet of life.  Today, the rewards go to the risk takers, the creators, and the innovators who are willing to step up with a vision and lead others toward realizing it.

Here is an excerpt from one of the passages on The Elements of Leadership:

• Leaders challenge the status quo.
• Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others.
• Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiousity about the world they are trying to change.
• Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate followers.
• Leaders communicate their vision of the future.
• Leaders commit to a vision of the future and make decisions based on that commitment.
• Leaders connect their followers to one another.

The book also discusses numerous ways that individuals can levarage the web, blogs, and tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Squidoo, and others to build a tribe of followers.  Seth outlines numerous examples of others who have successfully built a tribe, and highlights simple strategies for following in their footsteps and leading with yours.

Not only is it a great book, but I even got a free copy of it.  I had pre-ordered the book on Amazon a few months ago.  Two weeks ago, a surprise advance copy showed up on my doorstep.  Seth sent them out to people who ordered early so that we could have a sneak peak at the book.  Talk about engaging the Tirbe.  The one I paid for showed up last Tuesday, and I quickly gave it to a friend to read… and the Tribe grows.

Thank you to Seth for continuing to be an inspiration to me, for providing me with countless great ideas, and for motivating me with your words and actions to be a leader with mine.

Amazon.com: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us: Seth Godin: Books

Can You Learn to Be Creative?

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of viewing a speech given to the Columbus Metropolitan Club by Artie Isaac - who among many other things, teaches Creativity to MBA students at The Ohio State University.  I was not present for the event, but rather caught it being run on ThinkTV in Dayton as I was ironing my clothes for work.

His speech was great.

First, Mr. Isaac did an excellent job of using PowerPoint to enhance his speech by incorporating images and creative visuals to add his words as opposed to just reading off bullet points one after another.  Better yet, what he had to say was absolutely brilliant.  He spoke from the heart, and with real passion and human emotion.  He used a great mix of facts, figures, humor, and personal narratives to leave a lasting impression through his message.

He spoke of the need for all of us to make time to be more creative, and the importance of creativity in the modern era.  He provided suggestions as to how to revive your inner creativity, and to steal wasted time back into your life.    He also stressed the importance of setting priorities and goals, and of learning to find more flow in daily life.  The best part was that everything he recommended was simple.  The hard part is in the doing it.   Ask him if people can learn to be creative, and he would reply with a resounding yes.  After hearing him present, I would have to agree.

At the end of the hour long presentation, I found myself thinking more about ways that I could bring more creativity into my own life.  I also was thankful that I happened to randomly stumble across his presentation at a time when my television is normally not even turned on.  Chalk that one up for good luck.

Anyway, you should definitely take the time to watch his presentation, and if you enjoy it, visit his web site - Net Cotton Content.  On his site, Artie lists numerous books about creativity, thinking, life, mindfulness, marketing, and business as well as a copy of the syllabus for the class he teaches.  I downloaded a copy, and I am actually going to do some of the assignments myself so as to feed my “creative pet.”

Thanks Artie, for offering me inspiration and making at least one day of ironing 100 % Cotton pants enjoyable.

Net Cotton Content / On Life and Marketing, Creativity and Ethics

Guiding Growth

For my money, the best regularly scheduled networking event in Dayton is the Dayton Chamber Breakfast Briefing.  Month after month, the series delivers top notch speakers, attracts a great cross section of community leaders, and offers a chance to break bread and sip coffee while enjoying the picturesque view from the top of the Kettering Tower.  Admittedly I am biased, as I am on the committee for this event.  Still, the reason I wanted to be on the committee was precisely because the event is so great. This past Friday, my feelings about the event were confirmed yet again, as Joni Fedders, President of Aileron, spoke to the crowd about the Fundamentals of Business.

For those who are not familiar with Aileron, it is the brain child of Clay Mathile - the entrepreneur who built the Iams Brand and later sold it to P&G.  He formed Aileron as a way to “help fuel private business and free enterprise, providing business owners with the tools and support they need to mature and succeed.” The company works with business owners to help them “lead and manage their companies, driving growth, innovation and jobs.” The company recently opened a new campus north of Dayton, where they conduct seminars and offer business leaders a quiet place to think, plan, and create.

So, getting back to the Breakfast Briefing, Fedders speech was very concise, yet was full of valuable information.  She walked through the elements of the basic model that Aileron uses to assess the health of a business.  I did my best to feverishly scratch out notes to capture her thoughts.   Here are some key take-aways from her presentation:

Professional Management - Aileron uses a term called “poof management” to describe the natural progression that often takes place as extremely talented technical performers suddenly find themselves in managerial roles.  Often that shift from doing to managing can be difficult, and it is important to realize that great performers on one level are not always natural managers.

Business Life Cycle - According to Fedders, most businesses fail because of poor management.  She stressed the importance of properly aligning the business with where it is in its life cycle.  Early on, businesses tend to be more entrepreneurial - bouncing from opportunity to opportunity to pay the bills.  As time passes, management should begin to focus on areas of expertise.  She emphasized the importance of establishing a board of advisers from outside of the firm to assist in this planning on a quarterly basis.  She suggested that these meetings should be at least 75% forward focused - with discussion around working on the business and not in the business.

Leadership - Joni discussed the idea that a key function of leadership should be to set the vision and then create an environment to move the business in that direction.  She also stressed the importance of leading by example.  “If the leaders are late and sloppy, how do you think the employees will behave?”  She went on to discuss the idea that leaders should engage in continuous learning, should be pivotal in determining strategy, and should ultimately serve as “Keeper of the Culture.”

Strategy - Fedders spoke about the importance of utilizing a decision making process that looked at the following: 1.) Reality - what are they paying us for today  / tomorrow,  2.) Focus - Where is the market headed,  3.) Competency - can we do it?     These elements come together to build a framework for producing a successful strategy.

Mission - She moved quickly through this point, but basically it revolves around “what are you trying to accomplish.”  It is important to create and internalize a formal mission so that everyone is clear as to what the ultimate goal should be.

People Development - This goes much deeper than training.  Fedders stated that this is really about engaging people, and empowering them to become better.  She asserted that this is key in creating long term growth.

Culture - “The way we do things around here.”  The idea of culture is so important.  Joni spoke about both the stated culture of policies and procedures as well as the actual culture of norms and customs.  Culture should be a visible trait, and can be a powerful way to differentiate a company from its competition.

Structure - When speaking about this, Fedders suggested that structure should very closely follow strategy.  It is the idea of creating an org chart to match where the company is planning to go.  Then finding the right people to fill the boxes on the chart.

Control - Lastly, Joni addressed the importance of control or measurement.  She stressed the need to examine the concepts of “are we doing waht we planned” and “is the market doing what we expected.”  Finally are the results in line with what we anticipated.

Joni then spent 20 minutes answering questions from the crowd.  Her responses were both candid and insightful.  This was one of the best Breakfast Briefings that I have been to, and I think that they are all excellent.  Joni Fedders did a great job of sharing information about her business and providing information to help those who came improve their own businesses.

The next Breakfast Briefing is on September 12th at the Kettering Tower in Downtown Dayton.  I hope to see you there.

Were you at the breakfast briefing?  What did you think?

Aileron – Meeting the life-long educational and developmental needs of entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives.

Voices Episode 6 - Jason Hillard

How far would you go to help a friend?  Would you be willing to have one of your organs removed to save them?  No, this is not an intro to a party game about difficult questions, this is a real question - one that was posed to Daytonian Jason Hillard.  Listen as I speak to Jason, who is about to donate one of his kidney’s to a friend in need.

I found out about Jason’s act of incredible kindness a few weeks ago, when he sent me an email to let me know that he would be closing down his office for a few weeks as a result of the surgery.  He then went on to explain why, and provided some prelimiary details about the pending operation.  I was floored that he was going to actually do something so kind, and I asked him if he might like to do a podcast to share his story with the rest of the world.  Thankfully he said yes.

On Friday, July 25th, 2008 - just a few days prior to his surgery, Jason and I sat down at his home in Dayton’s Oregon District for a conversation.  For me, it was so inspiring to sit across from this guy, a guy I know pretty well, and see him calmly describe this amazing act of generosity as if it were just another day.  Literally, he told me that he was more nervous about recording a podcast than about the surgery.  He really is an amazing guy.

I encourage you to listen to this podcast, and share Jason’s inspiring story with others you know.  For anyone who needs to restore their belief in the goodness of mankind, look no further than Jason.  Oh, by the way, when he recovers he and his wife, Ann Charles Watts, who is in charge of Habitat for Humanity in the Region, are hoping to become foster parents.  They serve as an example to us all of how to be Servant Leaders.  I am honored to know them.

If you would like to help Jason and his family or just offer some words of support, contact me and I will forward along his information to you.

The Physics of Marketing - Brownian Motion

In 1827 Robert Brown was trying to observe the fertilization process of flowers under a microscope when he noticed slight movements in the grains of pollen, which were suspended in water.  “Were the particles alive?”  “No, so how did they move?”  The answer is Brownian Motion.  The pollen on the microscope’s slide was suspended in water.  Thus the movement of the pollen was not due to the pollen being alive, but was actually caused by the constant and random movement of the water molecules which were bumping into the pollen.  These collisions created the illusion of the pollen being alive.  In actuality the movement was a by-product of the movement of the water.

This phenomenon can be observed in the way that air pollution spreads, or how dust particles seem to dance about in a sunbeam gleaming through a window.  Brownian motion can be influenced by things like the type and temperature of the particular gas or liquid in which something is suspended.  For example molecules in warm water are more active than in cold water, and thus would result in more movement.

How does the concept of Brownian Motion pertain to marketing?

For me this is very similar to the concept of signal versus noise, discussed by Don Wheeler in his book Understanding Variation.  The central premise is that a data without context is basically meaningless, and that changes in numerical values are not necessarily representative of real change.  Wheeler asserts that “the first mistake in interpreting data is to interpret noise as if it were a signal.”  The second is to “fail to detect a signal when it is present.”

Much like Brown’s initial reaction to the moving pollen, business leaders can mistakenly attach value to motion.  So the 5% increase in sales that made everyone feel so great, could actually be the act of random motion.  The increase in the response rate on that piece of direct mail - might just be noise.  Conversely, the decrease in hits to your web site might just be the result of random movement.  There is a certain amount of variation inherent to everything.  Thus, making the numbers or beating the numbers can be misleading.

Just as happens in suspensions, every environment is different.  And just as temperature and chemical composition influence the amount of variation, so do things like competition, market saturation, market awareness, and other factors.  Some industries may have little fluction, some may have substantial changes.  As Wheeler states, The Voice of the Customer decides what you want from the system, the Voice of the Process decides what you will get.  “It’s Management’s job to bring the voice of the process into alignment with the voice of the customer.”  That is how real motion, not random motion, takes place.

As a marketer it is important not to attach too much importance to individual data points, (the numbers are up today, the numbers are down today) but rather to view the data as a whole.   Variation, or random movement, is inherent to nature.  One must take the time to separate the signals from the noise, and then to act accordingly.

How would you apply Brownian Motion to Marketing or Business?  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

If I Was In Charge of Verizon…

If I was in charge of Verizon, the first thing I would do would be to take the large group of people, known collectively on TV as “the network,” - seen following around the “can you hear me now?” guy in the commercials - and reassign them to work in Customer Service.  In fact I would make the core focus of the company customer service. I would make going to the Verizon Store something you love to do - not loathe to do.

Note to Verizon.  I can hear you.  Great job on the network thing.  Now that we have established that fact, let me hear you be nice, thoughtful, and helpful.  Make me feel like bypassing the iPhone and AT&T (who could also benefit from this) or Sprint, or whomever, was the right choice because you actually care about your customers.

From the billing process, to telephone help desk, to the in store service and sales experience, there is huge opportunity for you to improve what you do, while setting a new industry standard for excellence.  Be the first to own this space and make service the cornerstone for your future growth.  Can you hear me now?

What would you do first if you were in charge of Verizon?

David E. Bowman - Squidoo Lens Returns

I gave a speech earlier this week to the Dayton LinkedIn Group.  In the speech, I spoke about some easy ways that individuals can use the web to build their personal brand.  One tool I referenced was Squidoo - one of the most useful sites (or grouping of sites) on the web.

Squidoo is a powerful tool for sharing ideas, finding information, and building your personal brand. It is the brainchild of Seth Godin, one of the foremost thinkers in the areas of technology, business, and marketing.  The idea is that everyone is an expert at something, and thus should be able to use the web to help others by sharing that expertise.  Squidoo enables users to easily create a one page web site, called a lens, full of rich content, links, video, notes, polls, rss feeds, and other interesting items.  The beauty of Squidoo is that you don’t have to know anything about writing code to use it, and Google loves it.  It is easy to use, and provides in-depth information on hundreds of thousands of topics, and continues to evolve into a powerful research tool.

Well, many moons ago I built a Squidoo lens about me.  After all, I fugured that if everyone is supposed to be an expert at something, I should be the foremost expert on the subject of me.  It was up on the web for a while, but then I became dissatisfied with it.  As a result I took the site down for a makeover. Then, as happens, I got side tracked with other things, and the lens sat dormant.

Well, after giving my speech, there was a huge interest amongst those who attended in Squidoo.  Most had never heard of it, and many curious people have since emailed me for more information.  All of this reminded me that I still need to bring back the lens about me - and so I did.   View it here or by visiting http://www.squidoo.com/davidebowman.  The lens was very easy to put together, and offers the world a different look at me and some of my work.

They recently rebranded the “people” section of Squidoo - giving it the clever moniker of SquidWho.  Check it out, and let me know what you think.  Then, start building your own lenses.  Share your expertise with the world.

Some other lenses I have built include:

Dayton Marketing Community

Dayton Weblogs - which I need to update

The Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio - a work in progress

David E. Bowman

Linking Up with LinkedIn Dayton

Today I was given the distinct honor of addressing the LinkedIn Dayton networking group at Champps in Centerville, Ohio on the topic of leveraging web based tools to build your personal brand.  I want to thank everyone who attended the event.  I hope you found it to be fun and informative. I know that I had a blast and made a number of professional connections in the process.

I was given this opportunity by responding to a call for speakers put out by Joe Durbin and Michael Morley, who organize much of the LinkedIn Dayton group’s actual face to face meetings.  This was the first breakfast meeting, and they sent out an email request for speakers, which I responded to immediately.  I thank them for allowing me to be the first, and hopefully not the last, speaker.

As for the content of the presentation, I offered my 2 cents on how to leverage the emerging web to build your brand and further your career.  I talked about my recent job changes, and the valuable lessons I learned about the importance of both knowing people, and more importantly, being known.  I have given similar presentations before, but have never related the personal history of how I even got into blogging and social networking relative to the crazy events of my life.

My message in a nutshell was this.  We live in a new age.  40 Years of “doing good work and getting a gold watch at the end” are done.  You have to take ownership of your life and your career.  Building a network plays a huge role in determining your ability to control your future.  This applies to all areas of life, not just finance.  The web makes it easier and more affordable to build your brand, and to leverage your strengths to create your future career.

I spoke about how individuals can leverage everything from Microblogs like Twitter and Plurk, to Blogs using Wordpress, Podcasts, Squidoo, Social Networks, and other free and easy tools to join the conversation and establish an area of expertise.  I tried to deliver enough explantion of these tools to make them understandable, without being too technical in how they work.  We discussed numerous ways to utilize LinkedIn, beyond just an online repository for contact information.  (Research Database, Employment Tool, Sales Information, Communication Vehicle, Information Source) In summary, it was a high level overview of a broad swath of web 2.0 tools that can benefit those who seek to leverage the web as a personal branding tool.

Blogging and social media have changed my life in so many ways.  They led me to my current job at LUCRUM - where we use blogs, social networks, wikis, and podcasts to build the company both internally and externally.  They have generated countless connections with other people around the globe, and put me in touch with some of the most brilliant minds on the planet.  I love what I do, and I am delighted that I not only get to do it, but that people are interested in hearing me talk about it too.

Thanks again to all who came to the event today.  If you have questions about anything I covered, or did not cover, in my presentation.  Please drop me a note.  I am happy to help in any way that I can.  I look forward to the next LinkedIn Breakfast, where I will get to eat, socialize, and enjoy watching the speaker.

David E. Bowman - LinkedIn

If I Was In Charge of Microsoft, the First Thing I Would Do…

Before we talk Microsoft, let me talk about the premise here.  How many times to you hear yourself or someone else make the following statement,  ”If I was in charge of that company the first thing I would do would be…”  I hear it every day, and probably utter the phrase myself every other day.

Sometimes we say this about our own company.  Sometimes about a rival.  Sometimes it is the result of a bad experience with a company you love, or a pleasantly surprising experience at a business you never knew existed.

I find it fascinating to hear what people think should be done.  I have a hunch, people in corporate marketing departments might be interested too.  Thus, I introduce the following series of posts.  If I was in Charge…

Now, as a consumer, my belief is that through choosing where to spend your money, you are indirectly in charge, but this is different.  I am saying if you had absolute power to make one change in a company, right now, what would you do?

I like to use Rod Sommer’s matrix of considering ease of implementation relative to size of impact.  So based on this model, the best things to do are those that are easy to get done, and result in huge results.  You may subscribe to a different decision making model.  That is where the fun is.  Your thoughts.

So I hope you will share with the world by commenting.  No idea is too small, or big, and everyone is welcome to play along.

So back to the post.  The first company in this series is one that everyone knows, and many love to hate - Microsoft.  Never in history has a company whose products so many people use so frequently been so hated.  This company literally changed the world with DOS, Windows, Office, and other tools.  However, the firm’ history is full of aggressive business practices that have led many to label it as the devil.

Microsoft has been in the news a lot lately.  From the shortcomings of Windows Vista, to the failed acquisition of Yahoo, to Steve Ballmer getting eggs thrown at him during a speech, Bill Gates’ retirement, and the introduction of their new touch screen technology called Multi-Touch, there are ample headlines about this Redmond, Washington based Goliath.  With all the turmoil facing Microsoft, I think it might be fun to ask “If I were in charge of Microsoft, the first thing I would do would be…”

For me, it would be creating a new version of the Windows operating system that was smaller, faster, and did much less.  The opposite of Vista.  I would want it to be able to perform basic functions, have little vulnerability to computer viruses, and be extremely stable.  No bells.  No whistles.  It would just work.  It should run on any computer built in the last decade, and reflect simplicity and intelligence.  It would never crash, and it would be very responsive to the user.

I would market it to retiring baby boomers, who spend a lot of time exchanging email, looking at pictures, and looking up and storing basic information.  I would then create a stripped down suite of applications to run on the plaform - Office Light.  Using the 80 / 20 rule, this would only offer the most used, and most useful features.  It would be easy to learn, and again it would just “work.”  This would also be ideal for young children, seeking to learn how to use a computer - that would be a second target market.  This could yield a new crop of low end, value priced computers, built to provide basic services and reliable performance, and a whole new market could be created for products.

If I were in charge of Microsoft, that is the first thing I would do.   What about you?  What is the first thing you would do if you were in charge of Microsoft.  Would you try to buy Apple?  37Signals? Would you make a play for Ask.com?  Yahoo again?  Facebook?  LinkedIn?  Would you get out of the software business or focus solely on enterprise applications?  Would you fire Steve Ballmer?  What is the first thing you would do?  Please chime in and share by leaving a comment, and look for more posts like this to follow.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121193874854224859.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Get Yourself Connected…

Thanks to Michelle Kaye at Battelle and Battelle, who brought me in today to speak about networking, social media, blogs, networking, and the emerging web to a number of her fellow employees as well as some of the employees of McGohan Brabender.  Originally the event was going to be held at Battelle and Battelle, but because of the large number of people who signed up, it was moved down the street to McGohan Brabender.   I was thrilled that so many would show up to hear me speak.

My presentation revolved around the concept of using the web to connect with others and to create and develop, as Tom Peters would call it, Brand You.  In addition to discussing some general concepts, I spoke specifically about tools like Twitter, Squidoo, WordPress, and LinkedIn - discussing how these tools could be used in conjunction with traditional items like hand written thank you notes and face to face meetings to connect with the world.   We live in a truly amazing time.  Never before have individuals been so empowered to learn, share, and grow both personally and professionally.  I appreciate being given the opportunity to share the little that I know with others.  It was my pleasure, and I hope that those who took the time to listen to me enjoyed my presentation.   Thanks for your hospitality.

McGohan Brabender - Welcome To McGohan Brabender

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