Tag Archives: Chip Heath

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3 More Lessons In Writing and Blogging From Fast Company’s Leadership Hall of Fame

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Eraser and Pencil

When Hugh Macleod launched his latest book: Freedom is Blogging in Your Underwear, I counted the days till Amazon delivered it.  Hugh's love letter to blogging describes:

Similar to how "writing for yourself" addresesses blogging self-sabotage, experimentation, the writing process, and writing's iterative nature are also important.

1. Experimentation Drives Improvements In Writing

A personal blog is an adult's sandbox for experimentation, learning, and sharing. William C. Taylor, author of Practically Radical and co-founder of Fast Company magazine shared these thoughts about writing:

"The third thing I did differently with this book, which I guess is not so different anymore, is that I used blogging and other social media to experiment with my ideas before I commited them to a book."

"For a writer, what's great about the Web is that it allows you to experiment with language, to tell stories, to tease out lessons, and to see quickly what material strikes a chord with readers, what really engages them."

Listen and Learn.  If the audience doesn't respond, you received a gift.  The readers taught you something valuable (just keep looking).  If they responded with criticism, open your mind and listen. 

Record the learnings in your idea notebook (so you can these lessons in your next blog post).  It's all part of your "permanent beta" to continue learning, iterating, and improving.

2. Writing Is About Action

Marshall Goldsmith (author of What Got You Here, Won't Get You There) describes an effective writing process as three key actions:

  • Focus
  • Simplify
  • Repeat

Showing up and doing the work is everything.  It's not glamorous.  It's about repetition and discipline.

3. Iterative Design RULES (Especially in Digital Media)

Dan and Chip Heath took a design approach to writing latest book, Switch:

"We were much more iterative in writing Switch–we went through many drafts and many cycles of feedback. Chip and I have both been inspired by the "design thinking" that's taught at Stanford's D-School and elsewhere, and the more iterative writing approach was our way of moving in that direction."

Ship Your Work — That's What Counts.  There's nothing wrong with tweaking and modifying after pressing "Publish." Take advantage of digital publishing's "permanent draft mode."

Get your work out there.  Get your art out the door.  Publish it.  And, don't look back …

 


 

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+.   

 

Link to Photo Credit by Shawn Campbell via flickr

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Does Malcolm Gladwell, Author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, Use Marketing Research?

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Old Typewriter Keys

No.  He Writes For Himself.

Fast Company uncovered important insights about writing habits in its Leadership Hall of Fame article on most influential business books and authors. 

Interviews with Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) and Dan and Chip Heath (authors of Made to Stick) revealed common themes:

  • They wrote about subjects they found interesting
  • They have no idea why their books and concepts became popular
  • They wrote about topics and shared work they wanted to better understand

Malcolm Gladwell Writes About What Makes Him Happy

Gladwell offered these thoughts when asked why he thought audiences made The Tipping Poing a best seller and influential work:

"I've considered all my books to be very private, idiosyncratic projects designed to make me happy.  And, I'm forever surprised when they make other people happy."

Dan and Chip Heath Write About Things That Puzzle Them

The Heath Brothers wrote Made to Stick because they wanted to better understand communication phenomenon that didn't make sense.  Here's what Dan Heath shared in the Fast Company interview:

"We were puzzled and somewhat disturbed by the fact that lots of shady ideas–like urban legends, conspiracy theories, and rumors–have no trouble succeeding in the marketplace of ideas. Meanwhile, many important ideas fail to stick (e.g., public health messages and the correct nationality of our president). We wanted to reverse-engineer the "naturally sticky" ideas and figure out what made them so effective. In the book, we tried to demonstrate that there are patterns that explain their success, and these patterns can be used by people who have credible, important ideas to share–teachers, non-profit leaders, entrepreneurs, etc."

Here's Dan Heath's reply on why he thought Made to Stick succeeded:

"I'd love to tell you that it all unfolded according to our master plan of stickiness, but the honest answer is that I have no clue. Chip and I worked hard on Made to Stick, and we're proud of it, but I'm not naïve enough to think that our hard work explains anything. There are lots of great books that don't get much attention. I think the book's success was 90% luck and 10% putting duct tape on the cover."

Concluding Thoughts

Why Obsess or Worry About What Might Be Popular?  It's safe to say no one really knows what will resonate with readers.  No one knows what pre-determines something going viral.  The process is about building, measuring, and learning (a key concept I'm reading about in The Lean Startup by Eric Ries).

Don't Be Your Own Worst Enemy.  My latest blog post series reviewing the book The Start-Up of You was a labor of love.  But, it was the most agonizing and difficult writing experience in my three (3) years of blogging.

During the entire process I constantly worried about "what if no one likes this?"

Well, here's what Google's says from the first-page results for the search phrase "start-up of you book review":

 

Google Screenshot Start-Up of You Book Review

No More Self-Sabotage.  Out of 1 billion+ Google search results, these two (2) posts rank #2 and #3 on Google's front page.  Why was I flinching????? 

Just Ship It.  Write it.  Publish it.  Put it out there.  Share it.  Let others Share It, Comment On It, Like It, Tweet It, Plus It, LinkIn-To-It, or Pin It.  And, if your readers don't, lack of applause doesn't make your work or your art less valuable.

Maybe, readers sometimes just want to read. 

Commit To The Process.  That's the the beauty of online publishing (and The Internet).  You can keep experimenting and pivoting to continuously build, measure, and learn because:

  • Your audience will inform you
  • Google will inform you  
  • Your gut will inform you (but don't let it paralyze you)

All of the above will help you improve and move closer with each iteration.  Freedom to experiment is a good thing.  

 

And that's a topic we'll discuss next.  Stay tuned …

 

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+.   

 

Link to Photo Credit by Raul Hernandez Gonzalez

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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 2: YOUR Storytelling Matters

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Storytelling

Why Is Storytelling Important?

It’s A Necessary Business Skill.  Do it well and you’ll surpass your competition.  Tom Peters makes a memorable point about storytelling’s importance especially during senior executive presentations: 

 

MBAs — Become Better Storytellers.  John Byrne published What Business Really Thinks of the MBA in his Poets & Quants Website.  The article summarizes insights from the 2010 book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads.

Analytical Smarts Aren’t Enough.  The authors cite storytelling as a necessary skill today’s MBAs lack.  Several executives (aka newly-minted MBAs’ future employers) in the book say MBA presentation skills are a special weakness:

Students need to master the art of storytelling. They must learn to sell their ideas in a powerful, succinct way.

Students fail to deliver the important message up front. I’m often asked to review their five-minute pitch for a business plan, but after the first minute they still haven’t given me a reason to listen for the next four. I’m looking for clarity with accuracy, precision, and conciseness.

Stories Motivate Us For More


Read Valeria Maltoni, Author of Conversation Agent Blog.  Valeria ALWAYS writes thought-provoking, well-researched, passionate posts.  She tells stories brilliantly.

And, she leaves us wanting more. 

Her recent blog post is no exception.  How Content Rules, reviews the fantastic book, Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman.  Check out this killer opening:

She stood next to the podium and started reading from Gustav and the Goldfish, a book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss in 1950 as part of his long-running series of children stories for redbook. We all sat there in rapt attention — the bigger the fish got, the more we leaned forward in anticipation.

Ann Handley is more than a writer and Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs: She’s a storyteller.

Doesn’t that:

  • Grab your attention from the start
  • Drive you to read more
  • Make the reading experience memorable

Stories Makes Your Message Stick
The SUCCESs Model.  Chip Heath and Dan Heath introduced this framework in their classic book, Made to Stick.  Buy it.  Study it.  Your must-have, business library has a place for it.

Here are their six principles of successful ideas:

S = Simplicity.  Strip an idea down to its core.  Relentlessly prioritize.

U = Unexpectedness.  Be counter-intuitive, use surprise, and generate interest and curiosity.  

C = Concrete.  Paint a mental picture using human actions or sensory information.  

C = Credible.  Cite outside authorities using vivid details (i.e., “Where’s the Beef?”)  

E = Emotional.  Make people feel something.  People care about people, not numbers.   

S = Stories.  Stories drive action through stimulation and inspiration.

Chip Heath explains the principle of simplicity in the following video.  Note: There’s a short advertisement at the start.  

Notice how he uses the SUCCESs principles especially storytelling:  

 

Conclusion

Data, Facts, and Analysis Aren’t Enough.  Peter Guber, former chairman of Sony Pictures and current CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, published a book earlier this year:  Tell to Win — Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Storytelling.  Fast Company interviewed him in this article, Storytelling Your Way to Success.  

Here’s Guber’s view on how storytelling impacted the successes and failures in his life:

I realized that the secret sauce to success is the ability to take facts, bullet points, and data and orchestrate them into an emotional offering so that your audience metabolizes them and then the information becomes resonant, memorable, and actionable.

The Best Story Wins.  That’s timeless Tom Peters’ wisdom.  Telling a simple story when describing a complex solution is challenging.  It’s a highly sought after skill.  

I work in a professional services firm that addresses complicated problems.  And, the solutions are never easy to execute.  Plus, the solutions contain multiple components that can be difficult to explain.

A Differentiating Opportunity.  Untangling the complexity and simplifying the message are the differentiating opportunity.   That’s how storytelling differentiates your organization.  If you’re the storyteller (or the person charged with creating the story), take advantage of the opportunity to differentiate your personal brand. 

 

 

What’s YOUR story?

 

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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 by Fort Rucker via Flickr