Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: 05/31/15 to 06/04/15

Sunday Brunch Newspaper

Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

Can you believe it? American Pharaoh won American horse racing’s elusive Triple Crown. Affirmed last accomplished this feat 37 years ago. Wow.

Exciting stuff and I hope you enjoy these additional selected articles for your Sunday Brunch Reads (along with Your Sunday Brunch Silicon Valley Catchphrase of the Week) . Eat well and have a great Sunday.

Your Sunday Brunch Silicon Valley Catchphrase of the Week: Solutions That Scale / We’re All About Scalable Solutions.

1. LinkedIn Pulse: 7 Best Ways to Customize A “Connection Request. J.T. O’Donnell, CEO of CareerHMO and CAREEREALISM Media is a LinkedIn Influencer for a reason: She writes and shares brilliant and valuable articles like this one. Her article teaches us how to differentiate and customize our LinkedIn Invitation when we’ve never met someone in-person (IRL).  (more…)

Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: 05/17/15 to 05/23/15

Sunday Brunch Newspaper Large

Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

Hi Social Media ReInvention Community! Today’s share-worthy links are packed with David Letterman content. May 20, 2015 marked the King of Late Night’s final show. Mr. Letterman is one of my heroes (shared in my public fan letter to him). Many moons ago, Mr. Letterman inspired me to brave the St. Louis standup comedy open mic night circuit when I was in college. I will miss him.  (more…)

When I Was 22, David Letterman Reigned Supreme Over Late Night Television

A Public Fan Letter to My Generation's King of Comedy

David Letterman Autographed Photo

Photo Credit: Alan Light

Dear Mr. Letterman,

I and Millions of American Viewers Will Miss You. I grew up in a small, Indiana town not far from your hometown of Indianapolis, IN. When I entered college in 1984, I began following your brilliant television career every night at 11:35 AM Central Time. You made me laugh with millions of other students in American college campuses. You reminded me five nights a week why I shouldn’t always take life, myself, or the status quo too seriously. I needed your funny, unique, and irreverent perspective during a difficult time in my life.  (more…)

Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Week of 04/27/15 to 05/02/15

Sunday Brunch Menu LARGE

Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

Hi Social Media ReInvention Community! Here are your share-worthy links for your enjoyment and discussion. Thanks again for your ongoing support of my work. Enjoy these links and your Sunday Brunch!

 

1. eMarketer: Marketers Struggle to Map Multichannel Customers’ Journeys. This article proves why Facebook Atlas is primed to become the advertising platform of choice. Few marketers and brands understand how consumers conduct their pre-sale research, convert to qualified leads, purchase goods and services, and become repeat customers (i.e., post-sale / loyalty behavior). Winning brands of the future will: (more…)

Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: 04/19/15 to 04/25/15

Sunday Brunch Newspaper

Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

Hi Social Media ReInvention Community. Sorry for not publishing and keeping in touch over the last few months. Some personal hiccups derailed and distracted me. Writing about these share-worthy links and sharing my take on why you’ll find them valuable is part of the process to get myself on track.  (more…)

Are Our Professional Identities Too Dependent on Social Networks?

Yep

Photo Credit: Cubosh

 

These posts in the blogosphere and LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform showcase employment trends describing why a personal blog or website is a vital 2015 professional development goal:

I’d like to add an important and overlooked reason for investing in our own online real estate: Being Blind-Sided by an Online Platform’s Policy Changes.

(more…)

Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Week of 10/05/14 to 10/12/14

Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:

1) eMarketer: Second Screening During TV Time—It's Not What You Think. The television industry (and myself) thought associating Twitter #hashags with its programming increased higher audience engagement and participation. Wrong.

Check out this Facebook post detailing the Millward Brown Digital Study, From One Screen to Five: The New Way We Watch TV. Facebook collaborated with Millward Brown on the study.

This stat caught me by surprise (maybe it shouldn't). The number one ranked "second screen" competing for our time and attention isn't Facebook, Twitter, another social network, etc.

It's email. 

eMarketer is publishing a detailed report on our television and social media viewing habits called, “Simultaneous Media Use: Screen Fragmentation Complements Traditional Channels.” Here's a direct quote from the eMarketer article:

The takeaway is that a major portion of digital activity during TV shows has nothing to do with the show or the commercials. People simply drift away from the program and do other activities on their devices. This represents a transformation in the role of television from being a focal point to being just one of many screens competing for attention.

We're an iTV and Roku family (dumped cable months ago). Maybe, that's why I don't tweet, like, or post while watching tv. I'm focusing on the show (a rare treat).

2) McKinsey Quarterly: Tom Peters on Leading The 21st Century Organization. I'm a huge Tom Peters fan. At 71, he's still a rebel with a cause. I love and respect his candid and forthright views about developing and understanding an awareness of power, influence, and politics in organizations.

That's how change takes place in The Fortune 500. Change takes place by influencing and developing political allies (one person at a time).

Here are direct quotes from the article:

Change is about recruiting allies and working each other up to have the nerve to try the next experiment. You find allies. You encircle the buggers.

You don’t bring about change in real big meetings or virtual meetings. You bring it about one person at a time, face to face—when we discover we have some common interests and we’re both pissed off, say, at too many CEOs who talk about charts and boxes. And so we create a conspiracy.


Bonus 1:
Mitch Joel's recent podcast with Tom Peters.

Bonus 2: My post, Tom Peters Personal Branding Lessons, Part 1: Why YOUR Blog Matters. Mr. Peters linked to this post and cites it on his Media Sightings Page.

3) Brynne Tillman and The LinkedIn Challenge #thelinkedinchallenge. Brynne's LinkedIn Posts on Social Selling and maximizing LinkedIn's utility and power in our professional lives never cease to amaze me. She's a bona fide subject matter expert in her field.

Her creativity to create and initiate #thelinkedinchallenge is genius. It's a clever take on the #ALSChallenge. The purpose: connect and introduce two (2) Linked connections who can benefit from each other.

I participated right off the bat. Here's my Twitter conversation with Brynne:

 

4) John Mack and The Pharma Marketing Blog: #mHealtMobile Chat Takeaway: Pharma Must Involve Patients Early on When Developing Mobile Health Apps. Last week, I participated in the #mHealthPharma Tweetchat. John lead and moderated 45 global participants!

And, he performed brilliantly.

I first discovered the initial discussion thread in this LinkedIn Group: Mobile Health Global.  The topic centered on this question: "What stands in the way of pharma developing high quality mobile health apps?" This is the headline of our first debate.Participate in it here since the 25th of September. John Mack will moderate it!

I love discovering LinkedIn Discussion Groups like this one! I virtually met and conversed with smart, passionate, and thought-provoking people in the LinkedIn Group and the #mHealthPharma Tweetchat.

Here are links to their Twitter Profiles:

Check out Teresa Bau's Storify presentation. I have to learn how to do this because it's pretty cool:

 

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If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInventionFollow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

Book Review: The New Rules of Sales and Service by David Meerman Scott

New Rules of Sales & Service Book Cover

The New Rules of Sales & Service by David Meerman Scott

"Sooner or later the world will be interested in your area of expertise."  David Meerman Scott from The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.

But, will YOU (companies or individuals) be able to deliver YOUR expertise at PRECISELY the RIGHT time when the customer needs it?

That's just one of several game-changing concepts David Meerman Scott describes in hs latest book.

BOTTOM LINE: Buy and study it. The New Rules of Sales and Service (NRSS) ROCKS!! It's destined to become another Meerman Scott classic.

Social Media ReInvention Community Members know I'm a huge fan and student of David's teachings.

I own and constantly refer to these classic books: 

  • The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
  • Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History

As soon as I learned about this book, I pre-ordered the NRSS hardcover and Kindle versions.  My review is based on an advance, draft copy of The New Rules of Sales and Service on which I'm basing this review.


A Rebel with a Cause

The New Rules of Sales and Service is written in David's trademark style: challenging marketing strategy's status quo (with a rebel's heart). His thoughtful, entertaining, and case study-rich content applies to Fortune 100, small businesses, and individuals who genuinely desire to competitively differentiate themselves.  

David Meerman Scott – Real-Time Sales and Marketing Speaker from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.



Game Changing Rules in Selling and Customer Service

Among the game changing arguments David makes in numerous case studies (~10 per chapter) is how marketing, sales, and service can no longer exist in functional silos. Every employee is (and should be) accountable for marketing, selling, and servicing new and existing customers because the social tools are available online to everyone.

The New Rules of Sales and Service extend beyond it's a "cross-functional" thing. It's now an "all-hands-on-deck" thing.  

Executing and sustaining an NRSS-driven culture requires top-down, CEO-driven leadership. Successful New Rules of Sales and Service practitioners instill a participative and trusting company culture. These leaders enable all employees to capitalize in social, one-to-one, real-time, customer communications throughout the entire buying process. David interviewed company leaders who trust and expect their team members (regardless of departmental function) to:  

1. Acquire NEW customers and MAINTAIN existing customer relationships using social tools in real-time interactions (e.g., concepts of AGILE selling and real-time speed & engagement; Case Study: Avaya)

2. Contribute and share valuable content to educate and inform customers in the pre- and post-sale process AT THE PRECISE TIME THE CUSTOMER NEEDS IT (e.g., CONTEXTUAL & consultative selling vs. hard-selling tactics; Case Study: Kendall PRess)

3. Collect and analyze real-time customer data to support real-time content delivery, service actions, and sales interactions (e.g., salesperson comes in later in buying process OR no salesperson; Case Study:GadCAD)

4. Convey stories about the company's products / services aligning with the customer's view of themselves (e.g., buyer persona research, newsjacking; Case Study: MultiCare Health Systems)  

That opportunistic mindset drives competitive differentiation at both a tactical and strategic level.  

By the way, David's research confirms blogging is far from dead. Long form content may be the best social tool in authentically demonstrating one company's "truth" to a competitor's public relations "spin."  


Closing Thoughts

Will more and future leaders trust their teams and David's rich teachings in NRSS? Time will tell. But, why wait? Gain the upper hand by buying and studying David's work. The hardcover book officially ships today, September 2nd. 

Bonus #1: David published this free eBook on SlideShare, The New Rules of Selling: How Agile and Real-Time Sales Grow Your Business Now. It's 158 pages of New Rules Classic Goodness!

 

Bonus #2: David's Agile Marketing Presentation At the MCT 14th Marketing Summit in Istanbul, Turkey

Agile Marketing by David Meerman Scott from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.

  

Bonus #3: (STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS) Mind Maps of Chapters 1-7. The goal is to have the remaining Chapters 8-10 completed by the end of next weekend. I'm still experimenting w/ the XMind Mind Mapping Software to make the maps easier to read in slide show mode.

Please be patient, and I'll update this post as quickly as I can. Here's what they look like so far (I know I can't read'em either):

 

 

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If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInventionFollow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

Lesson 3A of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Developing Validators

Mother of Reinvention

Career Reinvention After 50 Is Possible

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I've applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.

 

Are You Too Old to Professionally Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?  

No!  You still have time.  The real question you should is: How Much Are You Going to Focus, Your Unique Assets, Time, and Energy into Your Post-50 Career Reinvention?  

If these thoughts run through your mind or resemble one (or more) of the following, I encourage you to keep reading:

  • "I just got layed off and am looking for a job (or I'm worried about getting layed off) …" or
  • "I love to learn, try new things, and build different skills …" or
  • "What do you mean by unique assets?  What the hell are you talkin' about?  I don't think I have any …"  

Because YOU CAN Successfully Reinvent Yourself After Age 50

 

Reinventing You Book Image

Reinventing You by Dorie Clark

This post is third in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50

In this post (and the other five), I talk about linkages I see from Michael Ovitz's career reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark's Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.

The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:

  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

Note: The following analysis references examples from the October 2013 Fortune Magazine article: Ovitz Does Silicon Valley by David A. Kaplan to describe Michael Ovitz's latest career reinvention in the context of Reinventing You's valuable teachings.

Lesson 3A: Develop Validators

 

Validators

Who Are Your Validators?

Dorie Clark emphasizes the importance of "having other people talk us up."  Here are key quotes from Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself — Develop Validators:


Another important way we can convey our new identities is through external validators, that is, other people talking us up. As a powerhouse group of researchers led by both Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Cialdini discovered, the secret is to have someone else bragging for you.
(Jeffrey Pfeffer) "People don't like people who self-promote. But ironically, even if you self-promote through the mouths of other people, somehow that stigma doesn't get associated with you.  It's much better to have someone else toot your horn." 
 

 

Defenders

Who Are Your Defenders?

 

Powerful and Influential Third-Party Validators Address Key Objectives for Michael Ovitz: (1) Promoting Him as a Trusted Silicon Valley Advisor and (2) Defending Him Against Critics.  Since 1999, Mr. Ovitz developed and nurtured business relationships with Sillcon Valley's movers and shakers.  These people provide and support him with significant third-party validation:

These direct quotes from the aforementioned October 2013 Kaplan-Fortune article highlight how Mr. Ovitz's third-party validators defend and talk him up:


1. Marc Andreesen on Mr. Ovitz role as a trusted advisor to Andreesen Horowitz (Andreesen's venture capital firm):


There are similar tales of Ovitzian assistance around the Valley as he rises again, this time far removed from the lights of show business. At Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm, Ovitz is an in-house mentor on how to build a full-service operation in the mold of Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood talent monolith he built and ran from 1975 to 1995.

"Michael is the classic kind of entrepreneur that we like up here — he's highly aggressive, he's highly disruptive," says Marc Andreessen, with whom Ovitz has cultivated a relationship since 1999. "Michael's a very close friend of the firm. He's a great friend to have." He's also an investor in the firm, though AH won't say for how much. 

2. Peter Thiel on the C-Level, cross-industry breadth and depth of Mr. Ovitz's business connections:


"Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.," Thiel says.
 "The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places."  Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to 'learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world."

Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have 'retrenched,' de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions.  Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls 'second to none,' has been a way to overcome that inclination.

3. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Peter Szulczewski, Joe Lonsdale, and Boris Sofman discuss Mr. Ovitz's critics and detractors:


Says Thiel (Peter): "I've learned to discount bad things said about people by rivals, and I'm not aware of a single bad thing about Ovitz that wasn't said by a rival."

Although Andreessen and others in Ovitz's new circle acknowledge the skepticism, they have different takes on it. Andreessen is the most dismissive of Ovitz doubters and ascribes Ovitz's repute more to the peculiarities of Hollywood than to any of his own faults. "We're used to guys like that here — I mean, Steve Jobs, for God's sake! Or my career, right?" Andreessen says. "That's the cultural difference between Silicon Valley and L.A." Had Intel's Andy Grove or Netscape's Jim Clark made his mark in Hollywood, according to Andreessen, he'd have the same kind of bad-boy name as Ovitz.
Peter Szulczewski of Wish says, "I haven't seen the type of things that people warned me about."
Formation 8's Joe Lonsdale agrees. "People are naturally more cautious because of his history," he says. "But he's (Ovitz) demonstrated awesome value in so many tangible ways to different people that they overlook it. And it's hard to map out what's true and what isn't." Ovitz is a limited partner in Formation 8, with a "small" investment of "under $5 million," as the firm describes it.
"There's a disconnect between a lot of the things written about him and kind of the person we've gotten to know," says Boris Sofman, the CEO and co-founder of Anki, who talks almost daily with Ovitz. Sofman says Ovitz has alluded to his own past by counseling Sofman on what happens when you're successful. "When you lead in your industry," Ovitz told him, "it's easy to start getting vilified, and the tide can turn on you quickly and unexpectedly."
Sofman says Ovitz has no stake in Anki, not even advisory fees. That may merely mean Ovitz hasn't asked yet. Or, as Sofman suggests, it could be that Ovitz really is in it for more than the money. "One of the things he shared with me is he truly loves working with young people," says Sofman, who just turned 30.

 

Closing Thoughts

Your Turn. Okay, you may still be thinking:

  • "I don't have high-profile, high-powered connections like Michael Ovitz …"
  • "Even if I did, how could or why would any of my connections 'talk me up' …"
  • "If I were to ask, wouldn't my connections be offended. It's sleazy to ask for third-party validations  …"

 

Ipad and iphone

Your Third Party Validators Are In The Palm of Your Hand

 

YOU HOLD Multiple Assets and Connections In The Palm of Your Hand.  They're in your laptop hard drive. They're accessible via the keyboards on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet.   

YOU CAN mobilize these connections on your behalf with a few keystrokes or finger swipes. 

YOU HAVE Michael Ovitz-Like Third-Party Validators.  It's all relative. You already know and are connected to influential third-party validators through these online assets and communities:

  • Your Personal Blog
  • Blog Comments on Other Blogs
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter 
  • Klout

Build Your Relationships with Your Validators by Blogging, Commenting, Connecting, Tweeting, and +K'ing.  I connect with my third party validators on a weekly basis via these online assets and communities.  Several of these kind and generous people are highly influential and powerful in their respective professions.  These wonderful people generously support me as career mentors and allies in my personal branding and online reputation work.

Focusing on building these types of assets and participating in these communities enables you to do two important things:

1. Connect with like-minded people who share your values

2. Build what Dorie Clark refers to as an intellectual property (IP) portfolio 

Let me be candid: 

  • I'm not a rocket scientist (just ask my wife and my 9-year old daughter).
  • I'm not a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Amazon.com best-selling book author.

I'm just a regular dude who enjoys:

If I Can Do It, You Can Too.  I'll describe my own experiences on developing and cultivating relationships with my third-party validators in the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50.

Lesson 3B: Developing Validators with Your Personal Branding Online Assets is scheduled for a February 2, 2014 publication.  

If you enjoyed this post, here are links to the series' first two posts:

 

 

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