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Tony Faustino

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3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter’s Investor Relations Team

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Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Twitter Investor Relations Logo (TWTR)

Earlier this week, Twitter released its 2014 Q2 Earnings Report. Here are highlights as reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Yoree Koh:

  • A second straight quarter of increased user growth: 16 million new users
  • Revenue doubled to $312 million (driven by mobile use and mobile ad consumption)
  • Mobile advertising accounts for 81% of total ad revenues
  • The stock price spiked 29% in after hours trading
  • 271 million monthly active users

How Twitter’s Investor Relations Team (@TwitterIR) framed these positive results is worth studying. Their critical and judgmental audience includes (but is not limited to):

  • Wall Street Analysts
  • Technology Journalists / Bloggers
  • Mutual Funds Managers
  • Silicon Valley Competitors
  • Individual Investors

Writing and storytelling skills are important in the financial and investment community. Investor Relations Teams are tasked with building credibility, trust, and transparency. The ability to convey confidence with a compelling and memorable story (particularly when financial performance suffers) makes or breaks organizations.

Real-time, Internet speed and scope, play a crucial role in addressing public scrutiny. Here are three (3) writing and storytelling tips I learned from the Twitter Investor Relations Team.

Tip 1. Play to Your Strengths

Twitter recognized before any social media network the competitive advantages and implications of real-time communications. It knew consumers were moving towards a mobile, one-screen world.

And, it maximized this competitive advantage during the July 29th earnings call. Topsy analysis shows @TwitterIR‘s (Twitter’s Investor Relations Team) published 23 real-time tweets supporting the earnings presentation.

 

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR for July 29 Tweets

Topsy Query for @TwitterIR July 29 Tweets

Tip 2. Be Simple and Concise

Communicating financial analyses (or other complex information) into simple, bite-size messages isn’t easy. Twitter’s Investor Relations Team addresses this challenge head-on knowing they have to frame a memorable, compelling story in “pulses” of 140 characters or less. I’m sure their rehearsals resulted in multiple iterations of tweets to constantly refine and simplify the gameday message.

According to Topsy, here’s the top tweet during the July 29th call …

Topsy Twitter IR Screen Shot - Top Tweet

Topsy Twitter IR Top Tweet

 

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

Topsy Top Twitter IR Tweet

 

… and it clocks in at 136 characters (with spaces).

 

Tip 3. Draw Pictures for Key Messages

 

Twitter Quarterly Revenue Chart

Twitter’s Steady, Consistent Positive Revenue Growth. Note: I drew the red arrow.

As an individual Twitter investor, I appreciate and respect the Investor Relations Team sharing key metrics like quarterly revenue, EBITDA, and net income. But, the tweet has too much math for my simple brain.

The hyperlink and chart are vital. They impart two (2) positive impressions:

  1. “We know you want more details. Here’s where you can find/analyze the details.”
  2. “Remember This: Twitter’s quarterly revenue growth remains positive.”

The high “retweets” and “favorites” by the conference call attendees indicates this important information was share-worthy and memorable:

 

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

62 Retweets and 47 Favorites Shows the Audience Likes This

Closing Thoughts

Leverage your strengths. Be brief. Draw pictures. Define your story’s outcome from the beginning. Structure the argument.

That’s hard. But, your audience will love you for it.

 

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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 ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s 5 Point Plan for Facebook’s Future Growth and Mobile Domination

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Facebook mobile app iPhone

Facebook Mobile App iPhone

Facebook released its 2014 Q2 earnings report on July 23rd. Here are some mind-boggling financial performance factoids from Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article:

  • $2.91 billion in revenue (a 61% increase); $791 million in net income
  • $2.68 billion in revenue from advertising (a 67% increase)
  • Mobile advertising accounts for 62% of advertising revenue (up from 59% in 2014 Q1 and 41% in 2013 Q2)

Remember concerns about Facebook arriving late to the mobile advertising party two years ago? How quickly sentiments can change. Here's Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) video review of Facebook's Q2 2014 financial performance: 

 

I've reviewed numerous articles explaining how and why Facebook continues transforming and reinventing itself under Mark Zuckerberg's visionary leadership (including but not limited to):

Noticeable patterns / themes in these articles give clues to Facebook's and Zuckerberg's long term corporate strategy.

  • Facebook's (and others') future global growth requires investment in global wireless infrastructure
  • Mobile applications will continue driving Facebook's capabilities
  • Strategic acquisitions are for building future (even moonshot) competitive advantages
  • When you're big, innovation doesn't come as easily as before (even for Facebook)
  • Proving digital marketing delivers positive ROI is a key strategy driver 

Here's my take on the Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook 5-Point Plan for Future Growth and Mobile Dominance:

1. Bring Internet Access to the Other Two-Thirds of the World

Zuckerberg described in his July 2014 WSJ article how roughly 2.7 billion people currently have Internet access. That sounds like a lot, but the majority of the world lacks connectivity. He knows Facebook's future growth is tied to increasing and sustainable investment in wireless infrastructure. The phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats" takes on significant implications not only for Facebook but also for its competitors.

Here are some key quotes from his article: 

"Bringing the other two-thirds of the world online will enable them to invent and create new things that benefit us, too."

"Not only do the vast majority of people have no access to the Internet, but even more surprisingly, Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. That's very slow considering how early we are in its development and that rate is only slowing further."

"The challenge for our industry will be to develop models for Internet access that make data more affordable while enabling mobile operators to continue growing and investing in a sustainable way. Efforts like Internet.org — a global partnership founded by Facebook and other technology leaders –are already under way to solve this by working with operators to provide free basic Internet services to people."

Here's a great 2013 CNN interview with Zuckerberg describing Internet.org (my apologies for any commercials preceding the interview):

  

2. Make Facebook THE Killer Mobile App

Flurry (the mobile ad and analytics firm Yahoo recently acquired for $200 – $300 million) says mobile users spend 17% of their time on their phones in Facebook's app. This metric shows Facebook's mobile app is the most popular app on iOS and Android devices. Facebook's Q2 2014 Quarterly Financial Reporting slides show a consistent, steady climb in daily and monthly mobile users:

 

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Daily Users

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Daily Users
 
Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Monthly Users

Q2 2014 Facebook Mobile Monthly Users

Zuckerberg knows consumers live in a mobile, one-screen world. The only screen users care about is the one in front of them. That's why Facebook's mobile apps have to deliver simple, fast, and seamless user experiences. 

Based on these mobile user numbers and the percentage of Q2 2014 revenues generated from mobile advertising, Zuckerberg and Facebook nailed it. And, speaking of killer, seamless, mobile apps …

3. Acquire Mobile Platforms (and Emerging Ones) that Increase Short Term / Long Term Competitive Advantages

In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. They recently acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014.  March 2014 marked the acquisition of Oculus VR (a virtual reality headset company) for $2 billion. 

Zuckerberg views virtual reality as the next communication platform. It will be fun to track how Facebook leverages Oculus' technologies beyond gaming. Until then, here's a graphic from Austin Carr's Fast Company article showing the 700 million Instagram and WhatsApp users resulting from these acquisitions:

Facebook's Portfolio of Brands and Monthly Users

Facebook Brand Portfolio Illustrations:Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger by Marco Goran Romano

4. Give New Innovations Time to Develop (even if patience contradicts The Hacker Way)

Zuckerberg's brainchild employees 7,000 people. Even at Facebook, creativity and innovation slowed under increasing bureaucracy and jockeying for resources (in both talent and money). Stringent metrics and timelines meant new products had little time to improve post-launch.  

That's why Creative Labs is vital to Facebook's future innovations (and talent retention). Zuckerberg created it as a separate division in February 2014. It operates outside of Facebook's traditional product management processes with looser time constraints. That level of freedom and "small-team feeling" produced Paper, the mobile app for reading an responding to the News Feed.

Even Facebook "likes" innovations from skunkworks — cool twist or reinvention of The Hacker Way.

 

Facebook Creative Labs Image

Facebook Creative Labs

5. Prove Digital Marketing Results in Positive ROI

Facebook's successful foray into Mobile App Install Ads, and the experiments it's running with the Facebook Buy Button show how simplifying the consumer buying process results in higher conversion (and that elusive digital marketing ROI).

It's mobile phone, 1-Click Shopping:

 

Facebok Mobile App Install Ads

Facebok Mobile App Install Ads

In Austin Carr's Fast Company article describing the resounding success of Facebook's mobile app install ads, developers love this advertising medium because:

  • Promoted apps are no longer dependent on App Store "Top 10 popularity contents"
  • These targeted newsfeed advertisements are based on a Facebook's user's history
  • 1-Click shopping simplifies buying for Facebook users
  • 1-Click shopping simplifies customer conversion for the advertiser

This advertising medium has resulted in 350 million app installations (Carr estimates this equates to almost $1 billion in revenue). He cites one mobile gaming CEO who invests 75% of his marketing budget in Facebook mobile install app ads because they drive $70,000 in revenues per day.

 

Facebook Tests Buy Button

Facebook Tests Buy Button

If the experiments with the Buy Button prove fruitful, Facebook can validate the ROI value of digital marketing in not only building awareness, but also in converting eCommerce sales. Here are direct quotes from the experts:

Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer: 

"With this step, Facebook is becoming even more firmly established as a major player in direct response advertising, and though this test is still only a test, it's a definite sign that Facebook wants to restart its efforts to become an e-commerce company as well."

Josh Constine of TechCrunch:

"If the test is successful and rolls out, Facebook could eventually earn money on the feature by charging a fee or revenue share in exchange for processing payment and improving conversion rates. It could also use the purchases to prove return on investment to advertisers, encouraging them to buy bigger campaigns."

Closing Thoughts

Mark Zuckerberg is the next Steve Jobs (along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page). I was publicly criticized for making that statement more than three years ago. He is a visionary leader. Remember how Facebook originally started out as a desktop application? That's what makes its reinvention as an industry leader and emerging pioneer in the mobile space so impressive.

And, it only took two (2) years! I can't wait to see what's next as Zuck & Company keep moving fast and breaking things.

 

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

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 ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+. 

 

Photo Credit via flickr

Photo Credit via TechCrunch

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Being Interesting. That’s Bad for Twitter? #Not.

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I Use Twitter Wrong T-shirt


"The mandate is different on Twitter; —you have to be interesting. You need to develop a voice, which is something Facebook doesn't ask of you." – Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor

That direct quote from Yoree Koh's informative Wall Street Journal article: Twitter's Big Battle Is Indifference – Social Network Leaves Many Individual Users Cold, summarizes a 1st-time Twitter user's two-part learning curve:

  • Being interesting 
  • Earning followers

Twitter's learning curve is one of many reasons why technology journalists and investment analysts lambasted its  2013 Q4 financials and future growth prospects.

Earning Attention. Wasn't that the Point?

Learning How to Be Different on Twitter is Now a Liability. Hard to believe what made Twitter cool is now considered a curse. Taking time to find valuable content, sharing it with people who specifically choose us, and challenging ourselves to continue growing and retaining that audience's earned attention — that's now bad?

That's no longer called opportunity?

Are We Really That Lazy? Defaulting to the path of least intellectual resistance — that's now the key to sustainable, long term growth?   

Creating Content that Earns Attention. Learning to create and package interesting content takes time, practice, and effort (especially in 140 characters or less). After 3,100+ tweets, I'm still learning. 

What Happened to the Joy and Challenge in Learning? The joy and challenge in learning  to communicate on Twitter comes from other people choosing to follow your tweets. It comes from other people sharing your content with their followers (when they have hundreds of millions of other options).  It's seeing how you can build direct relationships with people in another part of the world. It's the thrill in earning someone's attention and permission (versus interrupting it).


Making Twitter "Mainstream" isn't The Prescription


The Investment Analysts' View: Make Twitter a Mainstream Product. Why? So brands can cram the channel with as much advertising as possible. Investment analysts believe Twitter's sole key to long term growth is a traditional advertising model.

So interrupting users with unwanted, crappy ads (and pissing us off in the process) that's a terrific strategy?

#Not.

Improving a First Time User's Twitter Experience — That's the Right Direction. After registering with the service in 2009, I remember feeling overwhelmed and bewildered. I was clueless on what to tweet. That's why it's refreshing to read Twitter is running experiments to improve the user experience without changing the core platform.  

Focusing On What's Important. A better user experience means rookie and veteran tweeters can focus on creating and sharing helpful, and valuable content. The challenge in a one-screen, digital-first world is don't suck.

Because if our tweets increase in educational, entertaining, or news-breaking value, they will earn our attention. Twitter's user growth will return.

Everyone wins. 

Note: I invest in Twitter (and also tweet). The impact of my investment actions and holdings in this company (and others) are equivalent to a dog shaking off its fleas — inconsequential.

 

Photo Credit by topgold via flickr

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!


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4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention

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Gold Gift Box

Gold Gift Box

  

Reinventing You Book ImageNote: This post continues thoughts from 4 Gifts to Give Others to Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention. It's fifth in a series of seven (7) describing successful career reinvention after age 50 by applying principles from Dorie Clark's amazing book, Reinventing You.

Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself: "Develop Validators" is the focus of this post.

 

4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention

1. Write a LinkedIn Recommendation for Someone You Care About

  
Recruiters Love LinkedIn. LinkedIn may not be as sexy as Facebook or Snapchat but 259+ million members can't be wrong. Recruiters and employers constantly search LinkedIn for passive job seekers (defined as someone who currently has a job but would be open to taking a better one). This phenomenon drove $224.7 million in 2013 Q3 revenue for LinkedIn Talent Solutions.

Praise Others so They Know They're Good at What They Do. LinkedIn Recommendations help your colleagues and friends promote their personal brands. They're also an important gesture to support people who may have lost their jobs due to company reorganizations.

Writing an unprompted or unsolicited recommendation without expecting anything in return makes a LinkedIn Recommendation a powerful gift because:

  • You can vouch for another person's expertise and skills (similar to a LinkedIn Endorsement) 
  • Your friend / colleague may feel awkward requesting a recommendation
  • Your recommendation can enhance another person's LinkedIn Profile

Who Can You Support with a LinkedIn Recommendation? Show you're not "just looking out for number 1." It's a great way to thank and acknowledge others who've been integral to your individual success.

 

LinkedIn Recommendations

Recommendations You Give Show Up on Your LinkedIn Profile

2. Encourage Others in LinkedIn Discussions 

Social Media ReInvention Community Members know how much I enjoy The Start-Up of YOU LinkedIn Discussion Group. Participating in LinkedIn Discussions (or initiating discussion topics) is a great way to:

  • Demonstrate your expertise in a specific field or industry
  • Develop credibility and a thought leader reputation
  • Learn from and make new connections with like-minded people 

Show Your Acknowledgement and Appreciation. When you initiate discussion topics, it's great when other members submit comments and opinions. Thank them with an encouraging tone for "putting themselves out there." Acknowledge them and express your appreciation for their input (especially if their thoughts counter yours).

Submitting Comments and Participating in Discussion Forums Requires Personal Risk. That's why people may hesitate submitting a comment for fear of criticism from either you or other members. If you're the discussion moderator, establish a positive tone. Provide encouragement early and consistently.

Encouraging and validating others in your LinkedIn Discussion shows respect, flexibility, and openness: 

 

LinkedIn Discussion Encouragement

Encouragement Fosters LinkedIn Group Participation

3. Say Thank You on Twitter #FF (Follow Fridays)

An Underrated Validator. I love #FF or Twitter Follow Fridays. Recognizing the contributions of smart and interesting members is fundamental to the Twitter Commuity.

State Why Someone Deserves the #FF Mention. Differentiate the individual (and yourself) by describing why another person is worth following. The most common mistake in Follow Fridays is the common "mass communication" #FF "Insert As Many Twitter Handles as I Can in 140 Characters or Less Without Saying Why:"

 

Bad #FollowFriday Example

The Mass Communication #FF #Follow Friday Mistake

Be Different. Put thought and creativity in your #FF tweet. Make your #FF tweets more memorable and separate them from the mass communication pack:

Favorited #FF Tweet 1

Example #1: Describe Why You #FF'd Someone

 

Favorited #FF Tweet 2

Example 2: Describe Why You #FF'd Someone

4. Share Klout +K's With Your Online Friends and Fans

How Influential Are You in the Social Media Universe? Since 2008, Klout.com has attempted to answer this question. The premise behind Klout is that our collective social media participation and influence can be captured, measured, and scored. 

Your Klout Score Can Have Important Career Implications. According to Seth Stevenson's Wired.com article, What Your Klout Score Really Means, your score matters (especially if you work in or aspire to work in online media). If you actively participate in social media, be aware of your score. 

Share +K's to Help Others Build Influence. Identify the people who support you and spread your ideas. Acknowledge and thank them. Reward their support with Klout +K's in specific topics like Twitter, Social Media, or Blogging.

Giving your friends and fans +K's signals to others that they share great content. 

Providing +K's in the New Klout Platform. Here are the basic steps:

  1. Find the Klout Profile of the person you'd like to give the +K
  2. Locate the Klout topic you want to select
  3. Hover your cursor over the topic to select it (the topic should become red)
  4. Select that topic and give the +K

 

Imrich Tatiersky Klout +K

Steps 1 and 2 to Give +K's in New Klout Platform

 

Martin Drdak Klout +K

Steps 3 and 4 to Give +K's in New Klout Platform

 

Closing Thoughts

Give and You Will Receive. Be generous to others. Be kind. Support others and third party validation takes care of itself.

What Do You Think? Please let me know in your comments.

If you enjoyed this post, here are the others in the series:

Photo Credit via flickr by sparkleblues

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!

 


If You Enjoyed This Post, Please Share It and Subscribe to My Blog

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

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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:

 

 

If You Enjoyed This Post, Please Share It and Subscribe to My Blog

Subscribe to Social Media ReInvention

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ideas that spread win. You can unsubscribe any time you like.

Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!

 

Photo Credit via flickr by World of Good

Photo Credit via flickr by xfile001

Photo Credit via flickr by Joriel "Joz" Jimenez

Photo Credit via flickr by spieri_sf 

 

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Lesson 2 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Shifting Your Behavior

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Mother of Reinvention

Reinvention After Age 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.

You’re Not Too Old to Reinvent Yourself After Age 50

Reinventing You Book ImageThis post is second 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:

  • Shift Your Behavior
  • 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 career reinvention in the context of Reinventing You’s valuable teachings.

Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior

 

Change or Chance Dice

Change or Chance?

Changing Behaviors Can Augment Our Career Reinvention Process.  For example, some people may mean need to become more proactive in making business connections by reaching out and inviting them to lunch or an early morning cup of coffee.  For others, it may mean putting together a campaign to submit and pitch articles to industry publications so to build a thought leadership reputation in a new industry community.

The behavioral change will be different for everyone, but following through is important. Here’s a direct quote from Reinventing You:

Small tangible signals are only part of the battle, however.  The biggest challenge is changing your behavior to reflect your new goals and reality.

 

Change MuralFrom Hollywood Dealmaker and Power Broker to Trusted Advisor and Business Coach.  Mr. Ovitz now leverages his wealth of Hollywood client advisory experiences to counsel growing Silicon Valley startups and their young executives.  He’s not directly involved in “making the deals” for the entrepreneurs he now advises. But, he coaches, prepares, and reassures these entrepreneurs so they can successfully execute deals, negotiations, or other key (and sometimes unfamiliar) business activities required for company growth.

Here are examples from the Kaplan-Fortune article:

Managing Growth.  At Anki, a consumer-robotics startup, the CEO says Ovitz has advised him during some late nights about ‘psychological transitions’ as his company grows.

Pitching Wall Street.  At Formation 8, a flush new VC fund focused on Asia, Ovitz has explained to the three investment partners how to hone their image and brand for Wall Street types.  “Michael knows that world too,” says Joe Lonsdale, one of the young Formation 8 partners.  “He can show us how to ask them for a favor, but how not to push to hard.”

Telling Your Company’s Unique Story and Providing Reassurance.  Ovitz serves as a guru to other prominent people in the tech world, including Tony Bates, the president of Skype, and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, the home-sharing network.  Ovitz coaches them on culture and storytelling.  He picks them up when they have bouts of doubt.

Closing Thoughts


Things Can ChangeMore Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles.  His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.  That’s why personal branding or personal reputation management is especially important for 50+ year-old professionals.

Shun The Naysayers and Critics. Mr. Ovitz did. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical.

Professional Reinvention After 50 is More Than Possible.  Michael Ovitz proves it can be done (and he’s approaching 70).  And, Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows you how to do it.


Our Turn: What Behaviors Do We Need to Shift?  Changing and executing these behaviors may make us uncomfortable. These may include trying new things that may not work. But, taking intelligent risks is an important part of career development (and reinvention).

  • Why not, submit some of your best blog posts to certain publications to become a contributing writer / editor?
  • Why not, directly connect on email, Twitter, LinkedIn, (or another social network) to a renowned business author or respected business leader (especially if you can provide her/him something of value)?
  • Why not, make that phone call or send that email to a potential, new business connection inviting them to breakfast, coffee, or lunch?  Maybe, you have something that can help advance that person’s career (i.e., a LinkedIn connection, a blog post supporting that person’s book, thousands of engaged Twitter followers, etc.).

If you proactively built your personal brand or online reputation, you hold differentiating personal assets.  Maximize those “soft assets” and don’t underestimate their power.

If It Makes Us Nervous, We’re on the Right Track.  The worst that can happen is any of the above (or all of the above) say no.  But, all it takes is one “yes” …

… and that “one” may lead to something life-changing and magical.

 

If you enjoyed this post, here’s the link to the first post in the series.  Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50–Lesson 3: Develop Validators is scheduled for a January 24, 2014 publication.  

 

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Lesson 1 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study – Michael Ovitz Proves Status Can Be Taken With You

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Mother of Reinvention

Career Reinvention After Age 50 Is Possible

IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author.  Dorie Clark and Michael Ovitz were neither consulted nor involved in how I developed the following analysis.

 

Reinventing You Book Image

Reinventing You by Dorie Clark

Do YOU Think You’re Too Old To Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?


Author and frequent Harvard Business Review and Forbes contributor, Dorie Clark would say you’re wrong.  And, she’s right on the money.

I agree we’re never too old to continuously shape our professional reputations (and portfolios).

Dorie Clark’s book, Reinventing You is one of my favorite MUST-READ business books of 2013.  Reinventing You is a GREAT investment for your professional career.  Dorie’s book is a personal and professional development GIFT.

Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study: Michael Ovitz

Instead of a traditional book review, I’m applying Dorie’s thoughtful teachings to a successful real-world, high-profile career reinvention after age 50: Michael Ovitz, Owner of Broad Beach Ventures LLC.

Before There was Ari Gold and Klout, There was Michael Ovitz.  Mr. Ovitz personified and defined Hollywood business clout and influence.  For younger Social Media ReInvention Community Members, Michael Ovitz as the co-founder and leader of Creative Arts Agency (CAA) became Hollywood’s most powerful talent agent. Mr. Ovitz was THE Hollywood powerbroker — ask David Letterman.

CAA’s stellar client list and and Ovitz’s unique skills and strategic vision in “packaging” actors, directors, screenwriters, and other CAA talent as “solution offerings” (similar to how management consulting firms position their service capabilities) differentiated CAA and propelled his Hollywood influence.

Today, Mr. Ovitz No Longer Plays Hollywood Power Broker.  From 1995 through 2002, he publicly experienced high-profile, professional setbacks.  To say his detractors and former competitors delighted in these failures is an understatement.

I Admire and Respect Mr. Ovitz’s Resilience in Reinventing Himself.  For the past 11 years, he’s shifted and focused his unique talents, assets, and energy to the technology world. According to David A. Kaplan’s October 2013 Fortune Magazine article, Ovitz Does Silicon Valley, Mr. Ovitz methodically reinvented himself as a top advisor to Silicon Valley technology companies.


Still Think You’re Too Old to Reinvent Yourself After Age 50? 

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

The aforementioned Kaplan-Fortune article provides examples of Michael Ovitz’s latest career.  In this post (and the next five), I will talk about linkages I see from Mr. Ovitz’s 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:

  • Status — You Can Take It With You 
  • Shift Your Behavior
  • Develop Validators
  • Leverage Symbolic Actions
  • Go Where The Action Is
  • Building Your Portfolio

 

Lesson 1: Status — You Can Take It With You

 

Halo Effect

The Halo Effect

Maximize the Halo Effect of Your Unique Competive Advantage. In Reinventing You’s Chapter 9, Reintroduce Yourself, Dorie writes about the “halo effect” (as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Power: Why Some People Have It–And Others Don’t):

“It’s a psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect.” “If I think you’re good in one domain, I think you’re going to be good in other domains, as well. There’s the presumption that talented people have this set of generalized abilities.”

That ‘durability of reputation’–across both time and situations–makes it essential for you to be strategic about how you’re perceived from day one.  “You need to do something to build a very good reputation, a personal brand, and that will help you not only in your current place but in other places, as well.”

The secret, then is to leverage both your past experiences and the confidence that you’ve derived from your accomplishments.  After all, other people take their cues from you, so when you’re introducing your new brand, assume that others will welcome your contribution.

 

Golden Key

Key to the C-Suite

Michael Ovitz’s Unique, “Halo Effect” Competitive Advantage: CEO and Executive Chairman Level Access Across Multiple Industries.  The Kaplan-Fortune Article describes two examples of how Mr. Ovitz leverages his lifelong business connections and maximizes his former Hollywood mogul / dealmaker / powerbroker status to open C-Suite doors previously closed to young, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

 

 

  1. Peter Szulczewski, CEO of Wish.com:  The October 2013 Fortune article describes how Mr. Ovitz assisted Szulczewski when he ran into problems with initially securing the company’s domain name.

The company had an uninspired name, ContextLogic, and its beta website was the forgetable wishwall.me.  Wish.com wasn’t available.

Ovitz saw immediately that the domain name was critical.  “I can help with that!” he (Ovitz) told Szulczewski, and, with his big swinging Rolodex, within weeks tracked down the owner of wish.com.  It was a French subsidiary of Barry Diller’s IAC. Szulczewski handled the actual negotiation — he won’t disclose the price — but Ovitz war-gamed tactics beforehand.

  1. Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and Chairman of Palantir Techologies on the breadth and power of the the Michael Ovitz business network (also from the Kaplan-Fortune article):

“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.

 

Closing Thoughts

More Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles.  His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.

During this reinvention period and today, Mr. Ovitz shuns his critics and naysayers.  Tenacity and mental toughness are critical to a successful career reinvention (at any age).

Professional Reinvention After 50 is ABSOLUTELY Possible.  Michael Ovitz proves it. Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows us how to do it.

Our Turn.  Here’s a link to the landing page for Dorie’s free, Professional Reinvention Self Assessment.  Let’s take inventory of ourselves and ask:

  • What are our unique competitive advantages?
  • What makes us different from others in our current field (and the new domain we want to break into)?
  • How can we help others, what doors can we open, and who are the unique connections in our business networks so we can maximize our individual halo effects?

Those unique competitive advantages can help us “work our magic.”

Just like Michael Ovitz …

Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50. Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior is scheduled for a Friday, January 17, 2014 publication.

 

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3 Career Management Lessons for a Social Media Age I Learned From My Dad

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Happy New Year!

 

 

I made a 2014 resolution to publish an eBook / presentation.

This presentation / eBook describes three (3) career management lessons I've learned from my Dad and applied to my own career:  

1) Learn From the Best  

2) Get Published  

3) Get Back Up — Fast!  

My Dad inspired me to apply each of these lessons in a digital marketing and social media context (e.g., blogging, participating in Twitter, reading books of marketing strategy thought leaders, connecting directly with marketing strategy thought leaders, etc.).  

These lessons describe the opportunity for online self-publishing, personal brand / personal reputation management, and the teachings of different marketing strategy authors.   The marketing strategy authors (and their books and blogs) that have inspired me include Seth Godin, Ann Handley, Mitch Joel, Tom Peters, and David Meerman Scott.  

It's my way of showing my Dad how much I admire and respect his individual achievements (and the obstacles he overcame).  

Thank you and I hope you enjoy and benefit from reading it. If you find the content helpful, please feel free to share this presentation with others. 

Have an Amazing and Blessed 2014!

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

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