Leveraging a "Short Memory"...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I just finished reading a blog post by Wendy Nolan entitled "What's your Finish Strategy?"; I found it thought provoking and after a little while, also found it took me down memory lane... always a grand place to go.

I once knew a senior leader whose fundamental philosophy was that people, particularly in the corporate world, have short memories. I suppose it was because people are so busy juggling many things, don't really care that much, or were always in transition; whatever the reason, she seemed more or less correct.

In this philosophy she had an interesting modus operandi, which as I observed it, was never really to finish anything. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of meeting and discussions, as well as activity, but as traction started to take hold it was the signal to move on and begin something new. A constant stream of ideas and activities with nothing ever finished because something more important would always come along... it was a true art to move from the urgent issue of last month to the new urgent issue of this month.

And for those who had short memories, she was a leader full of great ideas who worked hard to make a difference, as it seemed no one ever kept track of all those urgent activities that never really got finished. Getting back to that question posed in that blog post, I would wager to say that her finishing strategy was "not to finish"... and why not, it worked for her. God bless, she was making quite a career for herself.

Is this anything more than a quick trip down memory lane... not really. 

Having said that though, it may be worth your while to self reflect on how your memory has been lately, and read Wendy's blog.

iamgpe

It is interesting how people define business on LinkedIn...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

"It's only Tuesday and I am having such a great work week. Enjoy everyone!"

"Sorry, but I am having difficulty understanding the context of this message as it applies to LinkedIn. Is it not better suited to Facebook and your friends who might care?"

"Thank you for your comment <name removed>. The context of my post is everyone can identify with how their work week is going and this is part of my social media strategy, as this is a social media platform. I'm a visual merchandiser so hence the engaging visual and hey, it's summer"

"LinkedIn is a business networking site. This is not an outlet for 'how peoples <sic> work week is going'. It is about education and insight NOT Fluff."

I will say with full disclosure that this post and exchange is real, and the person who made the initial post is my daughter; as you may appreciate I am working really hard to be constructive with what I'm about to say. (Add "winky face" emoji... unless you are reading this on LinkedIn, then please disregard as I understand it's for business only.)

I initially found out about this when my daughter sent me a text explaining she was a little upset. I will admit it took me a moment to suppress my fatherly instinct to PROTECT and DEFEND but quickly settled into a more "constructive mindset". My daughter is a very capable and industrious young lady so after a quick discussion I left her to her own devices. I then did what any good father would do; I stalked the person on LinkedIn.

He is an executive sales professional with extensive experience, solid picture and a face that commanded authority... all very credible.

Just then I happened to see one of his posts in my stream (as it was shared by a mutual connection); I just rolled my eyes and smirked as I realized what it was. This "genius" <insert sarcasm>, who called out my daughter for working her social media strategy and not understanding the LinkedIn channel, had just posted one of his company's product banner ads (without even bothering to add any personal content). Any credibility regarding this person's insight into "how to and how not to" use LinkedIn (and social media in general), evaporated.

A Question...

"How is my daughter's post on "How her work week is going" any different than this "genius's" banner ad post for office furniture?"

It isn't any different... other than my daughter's content was more socially engaging and arguably more aligned to the channel. What I find fascinating is how people take on the role of content police based on their interpretation of what business is (which I might add seems to be aligned with their domain expertise)... "Based on what I know about business and what I think LinkedIn is all about, I deem this inappropriate content and should be stopped!"

For the sake of argument and moving this along, let's say business is defined as the "building of relationships that directly or indirectly lead to revenue generation"... deliberately broad, but no less accurate I will wager. If your content is engaging, connects with people and supports the building of relationships with an end game to generate revenue (same as income) then it's business appropriate.

But is it appropriate for LinkedIn?

I guess it depends on what your social media strategy is (as part of your broader business strategy).

For my daughter who was looking for a job and developing her domain expertise as a visual artist, LinkedIn was just one of many channels that included her website, Instagram and Twitter to bring a holistic message to the market; for the genius who started all of this, I suspect LinkedIn is something he uses between meetings to pass the time.  

LinkedIn, like all social media channels is just a tool to be used as part of a larger strategy; I would like to suggest spending much more time learning how to use social media channels, optimize content you drive through the various channels, ensure it's aligned with your strategy, and stop spending any time questioning the business relevance of other people's posts. 

Look, if you don't like what you see in your stream scrub your connections or block those who just don't align with the content you want to see... if it's really, really bothering you, switch to a more affinity based platform like beBee where you can choose your interests.

Just have a strategy because if you don't, it doesn't really matter how you define business content.

iamgpe

PS: It didn't take my daughter long to get a job, thanks in part to her efforts on LinkedIn.

PPS: Left to her devices my daughter "blocked" the executive because she saw little value in what he was saying. I wonder if he knows?

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I suspect with some certainty any Marketing Manager reading this will not think much of what I am about to say... with great certainty I know their inherent creativity will make for some wonderful refutation*. 

With that said, I was reminded the other day of something I experienced twenty years ago that reinforced the old adage:

"The more things change, the more they stay the same" 

And for that matter, this one as well,

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

And ultimately I was reminded of the diet soda TaB. 

Let me take you back a couple of decades in an attempt to weave this all together:

I found myself at the head office for a series of meetings that must have had something to do with marketing because that is what I was doing at the time. Although I can't tell you anything about those meetings, a meeting I was casually invited to as an after thought, is crystal clear.

I had been invited to a kick-off product development meeting that brought about ten people together (not including "onlookers between meetings") whose mandate was to develop products for a new market segment the company wanted to enter. The team lead had just finished introductions and strategic objectives when someone raised their hand and proposed the team should have a name. 

As if a flashpoint, I watched the room explode into debate, ideas regarding the name, and what the name should represent... most of the debate invoved how the name needed to represent the mandate of the team; the poor team lead struggled to control the room a couple of times as debate and opinion became intense. Forty-five minutes later, with the excuse of my next meeting, I bolted for the door. As the door shut behind me, the discussions raged with no team name in the foreseeable future.

I recall explaining my experience to a colleague and remember saying, "Who cares what the team name is... call it BOB for all it matters; just get on with things!" After that, we went into our own meeting ... I couldn't tell you if it was productive or not.

Fast forward, twenty years... 

I recently found myself talking to someone who was starting a new service company in a niche segment of an established market. The conversation quickly turned to naming the new company and the desire to have the company name "speak to what the company does".  All the obvious names or domain names had been taken, so an odd mashable exercise started to take hold as the "founder" was trying to put words together that were unique and represented what the company does (as well as make it sound viable) - The discussion went on, and on, and on.

                                 "The more things change, the more they stay the same" 

Ultimately I was asked what I thought and this is how I answered... 

• I didn't think it was that important to have a company name that reflected what the company did. It is much more important to have a company name that is easy to say and easy to remember.
• I mentioned not to overthink the name but overthink how you are going to make the name mean something.
• I went on to suggest the work spent on developing the company's unique value proposition and communication to the market was really important... this would give meaning to the company name and what it did. 

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Ultimately I offered up the example of TaB**... probably the most "un-diet soda" name ever. Coca Cola took this simple, easy to say name and developed it to mean a "refreshing diet soda" to such a degree that TaB is still selling 50 years after it was first launched. 

In the end, the founder chose a three-word name for the company, registered it and is happy... not any closer to getting the name to mean anything but happy none the less. I don't even want to get into the discussion we had regarding the logo... let me just say we took the position "to agreed to disagree".

Let the refutations begin.

iamgpe

* Refutation is a new word for me so I just had to use it. It is defined as the action of proving a statement or theory to be wrong or false. 

** TaB's name it turns out was in part developed, by the IBM 1401 computer and  stylized from the "winning" name Taab.