Photo Credit: Arianna Kilmer, QuadShox LLC
The young man in this photo has a smile that could power New York City’s Times Square. He carries a heart bigger than North America. He Is America’s Gutsiest CEO.
He’s quadriplegic. He’s also my beloved nephew, John Morris, CEO of QuadshoX LLC. (more…)
Photo Credit: Rob Boudon
LinkedIn Pulse selected my latest blog post, "Tim Cook’s Killer Innovation Hack: Diversity in Thought in Apple’s Ecosystem (with a Capital D)," for publication in its "Big Ideas and Innovation Category!” 8,780,062 LinkedIn members follower this category in their LinkedIn News Feed (as of December 3rd).
Wow!
Here’s the link to the Tim Cook post on LinkedIn Pulse. As of writing this blog post, the Tim Cook / Apple Ecosystem article earned:
BuzzSumo analysis showed these social shares late last night:
Fingers Crossed, It Won’t Be the Last. Social Media ReInvention Community Members know of my excitement when LinkedIn Pulse published two other blog posts in the LinkedIn Pulse Social Media Category:
Thank You for Your Continuing Support! I published my first Social Media ReInvention blog post more than five (5) years ago. Time flew by.
Thank you for granting me permission to share with you my love of technology, digital marketing, social media strategy, personal reinvention, and writing.
Here’s a screen shot one of my closest friends sent me from his iPhone. Thank you for taking time to read and support my art:
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+.
Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear When You …
1. Can't Wait to Wake Up at 5 AM to Write. It's your moment of zen. It's your time to express what you love, hate, makes you laugh, admire, respect, wish you could be, and continue striving to become. It's SACRED TIME.
2. Know You're Steering the Ship. Sitting behind a keyboard means complete control. The published words on your personal blog are yours (not somebody else's spin). No watered-down mess requiring corporate approval or a committee's sign-off.
3. Pick Yourself. You didn't seek the approval of Random House or another member of the New York City publishing dynasty. You write. You publish. You promote. The daily, weekly, and monthly results are there to measure and interpret. And, the immediate audience feedback (or lack thereof) is a constant lesson in humility.
4. Press "Publish" Even When You Fear Your Content Sucks. Blogging teaches you how to address and deal with personal fear. Notice, I didn't say overcome it. The "F" in Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear stands for "Fear."
Rejection looms close by when you're a blogger. But, so does opportunity.
You learn over time that subscribers and readers who believe in your art stick with you. These audience members who vote with their precious time know you won't hit a home run with every-at-bat.
But, they expect you to consistently publish. Your subscribers expect you to show up. That's part of the deal. That's part of the mutual bond.
It's why I can't wait to repeat Reason #1 for as long as I humanly can.
5. Want To Hug Your Blog Subscribers (But, Not Necessarily in My Underwear, Or Theirs). The Social Media ReInvention Blog Community and subscriber base continues growing. I want to hug you and thank you for teaching and reinforcing how trust is earned one-person-at-a-time.
You've sent me emails with praise (especially at times when I really needed it), tweeted my posts on Twitter, "liked" them on Facebook, shared them on LinkedIn, and linked my posts to your respective blogs. It means so much to me — Thank You From the Bottom of My Heart!
6. Can Continuously Iterate and Experiment. 21st century self-publishing means everything is "a working draft." You can keep shaping, condensing, adding, or deleting. It's taken me three years to realize perfection is not the goal.
It's about continuously building, measuring, and learning with a minimal viable product (MVP). It's about permanent beta. Even though you don't live in Silicon Valley, you can practice the principles of the Reid Hoffman's, the Ben Casnocha's, the Mark Zuckerberg's, the Amazon's, and the Google's. It's not life or death (although it feels like it at times — see Reason #4).
That's an invaluable life lesson.
7. Trust Yourself to Write With Your Heart (Versus Type With Your Brain). Writing doesn't come naturally to me. I work at it every day (which I was I love it). I'm still learning when/how to write and structure my position in traditional, MBA-analysis mode (and when to just let'er rip and flow).
This is what the blogging community refers to as "finding your voice." I'm still searching. And, this self-discovery journey is empowering.
8. Realize There Are No Rules — There Are Only Guidelines. Great blog posts can be less than 140 characters or as long as 4,000+ words. You can use text, audio, video, and images (or a combination of all four). What makes a blog post great is in the eye of the beholder. It's art. Coloring outside-the-lines is encouraged.
9. Love Something So Much You Do It for Free (Sort of). I receive zero financial compensation for blogging. But, I consider blogging a valuable and significant time investment
It's not about getting paid. It's the joy and challenge of telling a story. It's about sharing. It's about saying thank you. It's about reminding yourself why you love it so much even on the days when you're struggling personally and/or professionally. It's about Reasons #1 through Reasons #10.
10. See and Embrace The Like-Minded. Google the phrase "blogging is dead" (without the quotation marks). You'll receive close to 57 million search results.
When I see that number and the different search headlines, here's what I see:
* I see opportunity.
* I see people who give didn't give up on their blogging / writing in the first six or seven months of launch.
* I see people who voraciously read books, periodicals, blog posts, newsletters, and all content in-between to learn ideas and insights they can deliver to and share with their subscribers.
* I see people who acknowledge this is a difficult and long-term endeavor.
* I see people proudly displaying, reading, and investing in this book:
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+.
No. He Writes For Himself.
Interviews with Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) and Dan and Chip Heath (authors of Made to Stick) revealed common themes:
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":
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:
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+.
Note: This is the second post in a series reviewing The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha
I'm a HUGE FAN of the career management concepts shared in this book. Its teachings and lessons will influence and impact my professional and career management choices forever.
I read / studied The Start-Up of You from cover-to-cover. If I could do it again, I would prioritize reading these five (5) chapters and their related concepts first (in the following suggested order):
* Chapter 6: Take Intelligent Risks — The Volatility Paradox: Small Fires Prevent the Big Burn
* Chapter 7: Who You Know is What You Know — Synthesize Information Into Actionable Intelligence
* Chapter 1: All Humans Are Entrepreneurs — The Start-Up of You Mindset: Permanent Beta
* Chapter 5: Pursue Breakout Opportunities — Court Serendipity and Good Randomness
* Chapter 3: Plan To Adapt — Maintain an Identity Separate from Specific Employers
Reid and Ben provide great insights throughout the book. Here's a beautiful visual from Ogilvy Notes of all of the valuable lessons from The Start-Up of You:
You Might Want To Grab Some Coffee. The following chapters and their verbatim quotes are the concepts I found most inspiring. Sometimes, I provide only the quotes because the words alone inspired me. In other sections, I include my point-of-view.
Buy and Read This Book. Most of all, I hope sharing these five (5) game changer concepts from the book will motivate you to buy and read it.
If you're still here, I suggest grabbing that cup of coffee (or maybe two).
1. Chapter 6: Take Intelligent Risks
Read This Chapter First. Beginning with Chapter 6 is the only thing I would have done differently. I suggest starting with the section of the book titled, The Volatility Paradox: Small Fires Prevent the Big Burn.
These passages represent my "eureka moment."
"Without frequent, contained risk taking, you are setting yourself up for a major dislocation at some point in the future. Inoculating yourself to big risks is like inoculating yourself to big risks is like inoculating yourself against the flu virus. By injecting a small bit of flu into your body in the form of a vaccination, you make a big flu outbreak survivable. By introducing regular volatility into your career, you make surprise survivable. You gain the ability to absorb shocks gracefully."
"Opportunity and risk are two sides of the same coin, after all: join and create groups, be in motion, take on side projects, hustle. In a phrase, say 'yes' more."
"Pretending you can avoid risk causes you to miss opportunities that can change your life. It also lulls you into a dangerously fragile life pattern, leaving you exposed to a huge blow-up in the future."
"When you're resilient, you can play for big opportunities with less worry about the possible consequences of unanticipated hiccups. For the start-up of you, the only long-term answer to risk is resilience."
"Remember: If you don't find risk, risk will find you."
Companies and Individuals Who Don't Take Intelligent Risks Marginalize Themselves Over Time. Here's a video of Reid discussing the importance of intelligent risk taking:
Previously, I Said "No" More. I said no to additional career-related opportunities because of the additional time commitments. I'm not talking about the "traditional" internal company, career-related opportunities (i.e., accepting high profile internal projects to increase exposure to senior management, etc.).
I'm referring to externally focused opportunities beyond the significant time already devoted to this personal blog. These opportunities will consume additional time next to an already consuming and stressful full-time job and family duties.
Focus On The Upside. But, Chapter 6 convinced me to start focusing on the upside. These are investments in my "soft assets" (i.e., cultivating new contacts, learning new skills, expanding the reach of my network intelligence, acquiring actionable knowledge). Dwelling on the potential downside is counter-productive (e.g., the time demands).
A Counter-Intuitive Approach. For someone in their mid-forties balancing demands of a young family and a full-time job involving travel, "taking on more" seems counter-intuitive. But, The Start-Up of You makes the case for constant investment in activities building our "soft assets."
Investing in yourself requires significant time and commitment. Plus, it's especially important to make those investments while gainfully employed.
Safe is Risky. Seth Godin says it best and simply from his classic book, Purple Cow:
(page 30) "My goal in Purple Cow is to make it clear that it's safer to be risky–to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things."
(page 64) "Safe is risky."
2. Chapter 7: Who You Know Is What You Know
Synthesize Information Into Actionable Intelligence. It's not enough to have great connections with a diverse set of skills, industries, and professions. Your network must inform your decision making with excellent data. But, "what do I do next with that data" is a determining factor in driving your success:
Here are my favorite book passages describing the importance of synthesizing information or "connecting the dots:"
"So far we've talked about the first step — pulling information from multiple people from multiple people in your network. Once you have gathered information, the next step is to analze the validity, helpfulness, and relevance of what each person has said. Remember, that everyone has biases — even your parents or best friend. It's not that they are trying to manipulate you. It's just the nature of being a human with personal experiences and self-interests. Bias can be obvious or nonobvious."
"As you pull information and advice from various sources, think about how the person's personal goals, ambitions, and experience might have colored their position. Bias is not reason to dismiss information or advice altogether; just account for it in your analysis."
"Synthesis is the important final step. If you don't step back and take in the big picture of all you've learned, it will feel like you're worming your way through a cocktail party hearing bits and pieces of several different conversations but not able to make out anything of substance."
"Synthesizing what you learn involves reconciling contradictory advice and information (which is inevitable if you're pulling multiple streams from diverse people), ignoring information you believe is completely off base, and weighing each person's information differently. This is a complex cognitive process."
"For now, we'll just say that when it comes to intelligence, good synthesis is what makes the whole worth more than the sum of the parts."
"Network intelligence is the advanced game: if you do it well, it'll give you a competitive edge."
"IWe means your network can help you decide on a direction and then help you move quickly, but only YOU can drive the process forward."
Connect the Dots, Commit to a Personal Strategy, and Have the Courage to Ship: Connect. Commit. Ship. Any action answers "what do I do next." That's why I altered the final quote to emphasize YOU.
As Seth Godin would say, Poke the Box:
3. Chapter 1: All Humans Are Entrepreneurs
The Start-Up of You Mind-set: Permanent Beta. Permanent beta is a lifelong commitment to continuous personal growth. This concept is analogous to how technology companies keep iterating and testing software after the official launch so the software can be continuously improved.
Our careers are much the same way:
"For entrepreneurs, finished is an F-word. They know that great companies are always evolving."
"Finished ought to be an F-word for all of us. We are all works in progress. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, be more, grow more in our lives and careers.
"Keeping your career in permanent beta forces you to acknowledge that you have bugs, that there's new development to do on yourself, that you will need to adapt and evolve."
"But, it's still a mind-set brimming with optimism because it celebrates the fact that you have the power to improve yourself and, as important, improve the world around you."
Reid Describes Permanent Beta and Learning To Improve Every Month. In the first video, he explains the concept of permanent beta. In the second video, he talks about when he interviews people. During those interviews, he wants to understand how people grow their capabilities on a monthly basis.
4. Chapter 5: Pursue Breakout Opportunities
Court Serendipity and Good Randomness. What I enjoy most about this concept is "proactively making our own luck." And, the best way to achieve serendipity (e.g., accidental good fortune) is to be doing something. You have to be in motion.
"Serendipity involves being alert to potential opportunity and acting on it."
"You won't encounter accidental good fortune–you won't stumble upon opportunities that rocket career forward–if you're lying in bed. When you do something, you stir the pot and introduce the possibility that random ideas, people, and places will collide and form new combinations and opportunities."
"By being in motion, you are spinning a web as wide and tall as possible in order to catch any interesting opportunities that come your way."
"As entrepreneur Bo Peabody says, "The best way to ensure that lucky things happen is to make sure a lot of things happen." Make things happen, and in the long run, you'll design your own serendipity, and make your own opportunities."
You Have to Be Playing in the Game. You can't make your own luck or court serendipity and good randomness while sitting on the couch watching tv. Here's a short video with Reid talking about how sitting on the sidelines means missing out on breakout opportunities:
5. Chapter 3: Plan to Adapt
Maintain an Identity Separate from Specific Employers. This book section focuses on personal branding. Here are some important direct quotes:
"Establish an identity independent of your employer, city, and industry. For example, make the headline of your LinkedIn profile not a specific job title (e.g., "VP of Marketing at Company X") but personal-brand or asset-focused (e.g., "Entrepreneur. Product Strategist. Investor.")"
"Start a personal blog and begin developing a public reputation and public portfolio of work that's not tied to your employer. This way you'll have a professional identity that you can carry with you as you shift jobs."
"You own yourself. It's the start-up of you."
Your Personal Blog = Your Personal Competitive Advantage. A personal blog and other self-published content give you a differentiating competitive advantage by:
1. Showing how you think
2. Demonstrating your individual creativity
3. Making it easy for a potential employer / great connection to find you (e.g., SEO benefits)
4. Giving you practice in an important and portable business skill set — writing
5. Proving you're technology and Internet savvy
6. Informing people first-hand how you're driven to learn new skills
Seth Godin and Tom Peters Says A Personal Blog Matters. In this video, they both discuss how a personal blog is the best personal marketing tool.
And, Remember The Brand of You is Just One Part of the Start-Up of You. Here's Reid Hoffman's take on personal branding. Pay close attention to his point that a brand must be backed by substance if you want it to be relevant.
Closing Thoughts
What Were Your Favorite Concepts From The Start-Up of You? Have you read this important book? Take time to invest in yourself by reading it.
Reading The Start-Up of You will make a significant difference in your life. It's already changed mine.
And, it will have a lasting personal impact and influence for many future years.
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+.
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!
Ideas that spread win. You can unsubscribe any time you like.
Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
I finished reading The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha last weekend.
It's a special book that will have a lasting influence on how I manage and approach my professional career AND personal choices FOREVER.
You Were Born an Entrepreneur. This is the book's stated mantra and working hypothesis. But, the book seeks to fulfill a higher mission (more on that later).
I think I've been relatively savvy in managing my professional career. But, the book identified multple gaps in my approach I must address NOW.
The book does reinforce and validates the activities driving my personal reinvention process (which started around three years ago):
1. Immersing myself in all things relevant to digital and social media
2. Participating actively and building relationships via digital and social technologies
3. Starting, writing, and sticking with this personal blog
4. Re-discovering a love for reading and building knowledge
5. Remembering how "giving is better than receiving"
And, the book points out the importance of constantly iterating and improving ourselves by being in "permanent beta" (e.g., adopting a continuous innovation attitude to adapt to a dynamicly changing workplace).
An Inspiring Message of Opportunity in Today's Ambiguous and Uncertain Economy
Invest In Yourself, Invest in Your Network, and Invest in Society. There are many important Start-Up of You concepts which I'll share in this post. In my next post, I will explore in greater detail specific ideas from the book.
This book is special because it delivers more than pragmatic career management advice.
"What that something special is" can be found in these inspiring direct quotes from the book's Conclusion:
"For Ben and me, this book is one our gifts back to society. We think the tools in this book can improve both your life and society. Sometimes giving back can be simply spreading ideas that matter."
"Invest in yourself, invest in your network, and invest in society. When you invest in all three, you have the best shot at reaching your highest professional potential. As important, you also have the best shot at changing the world."
Critics Say Those Statements are Presumptuous, Arrogant, and Idealistic
A Quick Note To Critics of The Start-Up of You. The book's critics believe that. In addition, they dismiss this book as nothing more than "mass-targeted content supplying fluff we've all heard before." Or, "it's nothing more than a 250+ page LinkedIn advertisement."
Those critics are flat-out wrong.
The book's mission, principles, and message to "invest in all three" are timely and important.
Timing Is Everything. Or paraphrasing Reid and Ben: "there's a way to court serendipity and good randomness." When I read the following articles from reputable and credible sources, it strengthens my resolve that The Start-Up of You's principles and values matter:
A Four-Post Blog Series on The Start-Up of You Book and The LinkedIn Start-Up of You Community
This book's mission, pragmatic career management content, and thriving LinkedIn community are why I've decided to publish this review as a multiple-post series. This book and its growing movement are that important.
Here are the working themes:
Want To Start Learning About The Book's Principles and Begin Participating in The Community NOW?
The Book's Executive Summary. This link allows you to download a free Executive Summary PDF of The Start-Up of You. If you have difficulty receiving it, please notify me in the comments. I'll email you the PDF.
Also, here are some cool visual book notes by Sacha Chua:
The LinkedIn Start-Up of You LinkedIn Community. This is a SPECIAL LinkedIn Group. What differentiates it?
* People Genuinely Do and Want to Help Each Other. This group epitomizes how "giving is better than receiving."
* No Blog Pimping. This unwritten code is enforced by the group and its managers. How? Those who've tried posting links to their posts without giving something to the group INSTANTLY LOSE CREDIBLITY. Their submitted discussion posts are ignored and buried in the stream.
Start-Up of You Community Members are smart and discerning. They know and identify self-serving BS quickly.
* The Group Practices the IWe (I to the We) Principle (direct quotes):
"The nuanced version of the story of success is that both the individual and team matter. "I" vs. "We" is a false choice. It's both. Your career success depends on both your individual capabilities and your network's ability to magnify them."
"Think of it as IWe. An individual's power is raised exponentially with the help of a team (a network). But just as zero to the one hundredth power is still zero, there's no team without the individual."
"This book is titled The Start-Up of You. Really, the "you" is at once singular and plural."
Closing Thoughts
Thank you for reading this far! I hope you'll stick with me for a little longer …
Have You Read The Start-Up of You? What did you think of it? How will this book influence your career management approach? Please let me know with your comments.
I'd love to hear from you.
Tony Faustino writes about how the Internet is reinventing marketing strategy for companies and individuals. He tweets at @tonyfaustino.
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!
Ideas that spread win. You can unsubscribe any time you like.
Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
The Wall Street Journal Careers Section published the following articles on January 24th describing the challenges and sense of futility job candidates encounter when applying to a prospective employer:
Both articles highlight relevant trends in personal brand differentiation and demonstrating digital strategy / digital marketing expertise.
Bottom Line. Becoming an expert is one thing. Demonstrating that expertise online to a potential client or employer is another. Because, it doesn't matter if you're trying to earn a digital marketing or social media marketing position or another position in an unrelated industry.
Either way, your online presence must be FINDABLE and HUGE.
Clients or Employers Conduct Online Due Diligence
Is Your Online Presence Visible or Invisible? Clients and employers use online search and social networks in hiring evaluations. Key themes emphasized in both Wall Street Journal articles included:
Your Online Activity Represents How You Think. Your resume does not. The opening paragraphs of the No More Resumes, Say Some Firms article reinforce this growing notion especially among employers:
"Union Square Ventures recently posted an opening for an investment analyst. Instead of asking for résumés, the New York venture-capital firm—which has invested in Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga and other technology companies—asked applicants to send links representing their "Web presence," such as a Twitter account or Tumblr blog. Applicants also had to submit short videos demonstrating their interest in the position."
"Union Square says its process nets better-quality candidates —especially for a venture-capital operation that invests heavily in the Internet and social-media—and the firm plans to use it going forward to fill analyst positions and other jobs."
"Companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles and online quizzes to gauge candidates' suitability for a job. While most still request a résumé as part of the application package, some are bypassing the staid requirement altogether."
"A résumé doesn't provide much depth about a candidate, says Christina Cacioppo, an associate at Union Square Ventures who blogs about the hiring process on the company's website and was herself hired after she compiled a profile comprising her personal blog, Twitter feed, LinkedIn profile, and links to social-media sites Delicious and Dopplr, which showed places where she had traveled."
"We are most interested in what people are like, what they are like to work with, how they think," she says."
Rage Against the Machine
A Two-Front War: Other Candidates and the Company's Online Applicant Tracking System. The accompanying WSJ video shares why optimizing a resume for keywords is vital. Your resume can be unfairly weeded out by a machine's keyword algorithm (even with internal referrals).
Show Clients and Employers Differentiating Content
Show Me, Don't Tell Me. This excerpt from Adam Singer's September 2011 blog post, How to Start a Career in Social Media, bears repeating. The excerpt validates the WSJ article Union Square Ventures example (direct quote from Adam's blog):
"A friend of mine Eric Friedman tells the tale of his job interview with renowned VC firm Union Square Ventures in New York. During a pivotal second round interview Eric sat down with one of the partners, Brad Burnham and presented his resume. Brad told Eric to hang on to it as he just wanted to chat. When Eric pressed him as to why, Brad responded with something remarkable which went like this: “You can work really hard on crafting a well written, organized, resume with bullet points of accomplishments – but you can’t fake 500 blog posts.” On the web, it’s “show me, don’t tell me.”
Courage, Creativity, and Dedication Produce Differentiating Content. David Meerman Scott wrote this great blog post titled, Courage. He states the hardest part is starting:
"The tough part is the courage both to begin and to sustain the content creation effort.'
Do The Work. Publishing great content lurks inside all of us. Here are some examples David suggests pursuing:
Conclusion
Start It and Ship It. In 2012, I'm focusing on additional writing not only via this blog but also through creating and publishing a promotional eBook.
It's time to start. I've mapped out enough ideas.
And, I have to have the courage to see what happens.
Additional 2012 calls-to-action for execution and experimentation:
Becoming a Thought Leader Requires Courage. You can't hope someone picks you. You have to pick yourself. But, self-proclamations aren't enough. You have to do the work to back up that claim.
Therefore, achieving this goal requires more effort. And, I'm reminding myself to focus on one thing at time.
Because, starting is everything.
Your Turn. How are you going to show your expertise / your art to a potential employer or client? How are you going to differentiate yourself among the masses?
Please share your thoughts in the comments. And, I hope you'll return next week for Part 3.
Thank You.
Sony will release the DVD for Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, on January 10, 2012. The 2011 film recounts how Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager in 2002, employed sabermetrics statistical analysis and research in his player evaluation and acquisition strategy.
Moneyball's Unsung Hero: Bill James. Mr. James is the creator of sabermetrics who now works as a Senior Adviser of Baseball Operations with the Boston Red Sox. His self-published Baseball Abstracts from 1977 to 1988 influenced Billy Beane's decision to operate on a different competitive dimension: identifying undervalued and overlooked talent from non-traditional baseball metrics (i.e., on-base percentage) and data analysis versus traditionally accepted baseball scouting methods and metrics (i.e., batting average).
However, the 2011 film makes only passing references to Mr. James. Fortunately, Michael Lewis's book on which the film is based provides a chapter titled "Field of Ignorance" sharing:
Inspiring Lessons in Leading, Self-Publishing, and Questioning Conventional Wisdom. James inspires me as an aspiring blogger because of how he started and cultivated the influential and powerful sabermetrics tribe before the benefits of the modern-day Internet. And, he continues leading via his work at Bill James Online and several published books.
His determination, passion, and resourcefulness resembles how today's bloggers, entrepreneurs, consumer advocates, or leaders of a cause now cultivate influential online tribes by:
1. Write About What You Love
You Can't Fake Passion. The Bill James Baseball Abstracts are famous for their quality and quantity of statistical analysis and data. But, more importantly, James made this new form of baseball knowledge interesting and accessible to all passionate, hardcore baseball fans.
And, his love of writing and baseball is why he explains both the science and art of sabermetrics better than anyone. That's why Bill James is the sabermetrics authority. Here are direct quotes from Moneyball (the book) describing his passion for both writing and baseball:
"I think about baseball virtually every hour of my life.""I'd probably be a writer if there was no such thing as baseball, but because there is such a thing as baseball I can't imagine writing about anything else."
"I learned to write because I am one of those people who somehow cannot manage the common communications of smiles and gestures, but must use words to get across things that other people would never need to say."
Emotion Drives Content Development. If you love writing about your subject, readers know it. Readers sense it. In my 2011 recap post, I shared how I struggled regaining my blogging and writing rhythm after my daughter's birth in August 2011.
Adam Singer defines it best in Lesson #18 from his post: 50 Blogging Lessons To Know If You’re Starting Today:
"If it doesn’t move you emotionally, don’t write it (realize emotion is relative – it doesn’t have to move every member of your audience, but if it moves you then you’ve done it right: it’s going to impact someone else that way too)."
2. Write Because You Love It (Not to Get Paid for It)
For Bill James, It Was Never About Getting Paid. Daniel Okrent interviewed Bill James for this May 1981 Sports Illustrated article: He Does It By The Numbers. Here's a direct quote from the article explaining how money was NOT THE motivating factor to self-publish:
"The first Abstract, in 1977, sold 75 copies, at $4 a copy. In 1978 sales edged up to all of 325 copies. Undaunted, James slogged ahead, checking the boilers, working on his numbers and producing editions of the Abstract. Sales passed 600 copies in 1979 and 750 last year, but the readership, while small, is enthusiastic, and James has become something of a cult figure. Esquire magazine assigned him to do season previews, and he even received an order of for the Abstract from Norman Mailer, which left James, a literary hero-worshipper, feeling both honored and abashed. He sent Mailer a copy but returned the writer's check. Mailer sent it right back with a note saying, 'If ever an author earned his five dollars, you have.' The price has climbed since then (to $13 for the 1981 edition), but James has yet to break the $10,000 barrier. 'It's been discouraging." he says, 'but not as discouraging as having to get out of bed in the morning and go off to work.'"
How Are You Going to Monetize Your Blog? One of my closest and most trusted friends posed this question when I started blogging two years ago. My response: "I don't know, yet."
But, after publishing 100+ posts, I know now. I Plan Making Zero Money (Ever)
Do It For Love. If you love it, you'd do it for free any way. Blogging benefits my mind the way exercise benefits my body (and between you and me, I need to increase the latter especially after the holidays).
Ask these questions about whether or not you really love blogging or writing:
* Are you willing to invest the significant time required to research and write individual posts either before or after putting in a full-day's work at your "real-world" job (and usually at a time when the rest of your family is asleep)?
* How much do you enjoy commenting on other blogs to build relationships and add to the conversation?
* Are willing to confront and push through The Dip after the initial excitement of starting your blog ends (i.e., around the first six (6) months?
* Is getting paid how you'll ultimately measure or determine whether or not you're a successful writer or blogger?
Discipline, Conviction, Belief, and Courage. If you answered "No," "I don't or not a lot," "I'm not," and "Yes" to any of the aforementioned questions, invest your scarce, valuable, free time in something else. Why? Because, blogging or writing is a long haul endeavor. Individual discipline, conviction, belief, and the courage "to consistently put yourself out there" drive the long-term outcome.
3. Lead a Tribe by Expressing YOUR Point-of-View
Because That's The Unmet Opportunity. James's research and scientific sabermetrics analysis challenged major league baseball's conventional wisdom in player and talent evaluation. But, it's his writing and unique point-of-view (e.g., his art) that distinguishes him as THE trusted sabermetrics authority (aka The Sabermetrics Tribal Leader).
Here's a direct quote from Moneyball (the book):
"But once again, the details of James's equation didn't matter all that much. He was creating opportunities for scientists as much as doing science himself. Other, more technically adroit people would soon generate closer approximations of reality. What mattered was (a) it was a rational, testable hypothesis; and (b) James made it so clear and interesting that it provoked a lot of intelligent people to join the conversation."
A Tribal Leader Lurks Inside Us All. Study this Ted Talks Video from Seth Godin. In February 2009, Godin introduced his ideas on Tribes. His points describe how James built and led his tribe. And, how the same leadership opportunity is available to all of us:
4. Define Yourself Through Your Art (Not Your Full-Time Job)
A Former Night-Watchman Became Major League Baseball's Foremost Authority in Scientific Sabermetrics Analysis and a Senior Adviser of Baseball Operations With the Boston Red Sox. When Bill James started self-publishing the Baseball Abstracts, he worked full-time as a night-watchman in a Stokely Van Kamp pork and beans factory in Lawrence, Kansas:
(From Moneyball (the book) "It was while guarding Stokely Van Kamp's pork and beans that James stumbled seriously into putting his thoughts down on paper, in response to having things he absolutely needed to say that he was unable to convey any other way."
(From Daniel Okrent's Sports Illustrated article) "Later, he worked for a time as a boiler attendant–a watchman of sorts–in a food-packing plant in Lawrence, which turned out to be an ideal job for James. 'I'd spend five minutes an hour making sure the furnaces didn't blow up,' he says, 'and 55 working on my numbers.'"
An Entire Industry Catches Up 25 Years Later. In this now-famous interview segment from 60 Minutes, Mr. James commented about how major league baseball executives didn't take him and sabermetrics seriously because he was a night-watchman. But, 25 years after publishing his first Baseball Abstract, The Boston Red Sox hired James as Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations in 2002.
And, The Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year championship drought by capturing World Series Championships in 2004 and 2007.
Technology and The Internet Don't Care About Your Current Job Title. Anyone reading this blog post has the same opportunity to lead, influence, and access a global audience. In the following interview, Seth Godin states the case for why technology levels the playing field:
* Your Laptop Is The 21st Century Factory (0:40 – 1:56). Now, you own the means of production. But, the driving question is what are you going to do with your laptop to make something that changes the world? That "something" could be:
* You Can Globally and Directly Connect (2:17 – 3:54). The Internet enables your global connections to promote your work and do business (and vice versa). Marketing is no longer a game of who shouts loudest. It's a game of competing for and earning "the whisper-time" of your target audience in their social networks.
* You Can Spread Ideas Via Social Media Connections (3:55 – 4:58). Developing these connections (or knowing people who have them) is vital. Why? Because, social media influencers determine:
It's Our Turn To Lead. We’ve all got something inspiring inside of us. Share it in your blog, your column, a self-published eBook, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Google+.
Start blogging. Start writing. Start creating. Start self-publishing.
Start Questioning Conventional Wisdom.
Start Leading.
And, don’t look back.
2011 was an important year for this blog. A few months ago, I published my 100th post. And, each post represents an opportunity to learn, improve, and experiment.
Social Media ReInvention Blog's Most Popular 2011 Posts
1. Public Relations Strategy: Integrating Digital and Traditional Patient Advocacy Tactics
2. 5 Competitive Advantages in Studying Real-Time Marketing PR by David Meerman Scott
3. HubSpot 2011 State of Inbound Marketing: Long Live Blogs!
4. The Business Value Behind Social Media: Part 6 – Disaster Recovery & Crisis Communications
5. Tom Peters' Personal Branding Lessons, Part 1: Why YOUR Blog Matters
6. 8 Takeaways from Mashable's Mondern Media Agency INFOGRAPHIC
7. 7 Reasons to Study Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott
8. LinkedIn Today Personalizes News With Your Social Graph
9. The New York Times: Self-Appointed SEO Police?
10a. LinkedIn's Maps: A Cool Way to Visualize & Understand Your Professional Network
10b. Using LinkedIn to Land on Google's Front Page
This Blog Continues Steadily Building Credibility
Inbound Links Citing Social Media ReInvention Blog. Inbound links from high Google authority sites included:
Comments / Citations From Bloggers in the Advertising Age Power 150. These bloggers included:
Here's a screenshot from Valeria's post: You do That, Too and the tweet cited in her post:
A Life Changing Event in August 2012
And, She Weighed in at a Happy and Healthy 6 Pounds, 9 Ounces. From mid-August to early November 2012, I literally dropped out of sight from any new blog posts or social media participation (you may or may not have noticed). The birth of my daughter is the reason why. My wife and I also have another daughter who's seven (7) years old.
Our family grew. And, we are so blessed.
But, Little Blessings Can Be Mentally and Emotionally Consuming. Fatherhood with a newborn is both humbling and rewarding. You learn quickly how sleep deprivation makes it difficult to construct a coherent thought or sentence.
It took four (4) months / early November to start feeling normal, productive, and effective.
The Epiphany: Blogging Really Makes Me Happy
A Newborn Quickly Imposes Prioritization (Whether You Like It or Not). During that four-month time frame, I realized I couldn't maintain my past routines in working on this blog. And, that frustrated me a lot.
I Missed the Process. I felt something missing. And, I had to keep reminding myself this sacrifice and setback is temporary.
I missed everything about the writing and blogging process:
Putting Things in Perspective. Valeria Maltoni shared Stephanie Booth's post on Google+ titled: Measuring a Blog's Success: Visitors and Comments Don't Cut It. After reading this piece, I revaluated why I invest the time and energy into this endeavor:
Yes, It Makes Me Happy. And, I hope the time you spend reading my blog makes you happy (or makes you feel like it's time well-spent). With each new post, I hope you feel the content is improving.
And, I hope you'll continue sharing the content with others. When something I write is shared on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, I'm always surprised (and humbled).
Thank You. Thank you indulging me in sharing a memorable year. Thank you for subscribing to this blog and sharing its content with your social network connections. And, thank you for sticking with me when I temporarily dropped out of sight.
Here's to a safe, healthy, and happy 2012 for all of us.
I have wonderful news to share with the Social Media ReInvention Blog Community.
Tom Peters’ website, www.tompeters.com cited and linked to my post: Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 1: Why YOUR Blog Matters.
The blog post is listed on the Media Sightings Page of the Tom Peters Website (screen shot as of August 4, 2011):
Mr. Peters’ bio states:
Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence – the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged the best business book ever. Keep up with Tom at tompeters.com, ranked #9 among The Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs.
His globally-respected work on business, leadership, and management includes:
Conclusion
Thank You Mr. Peters and Team! I’m honored by the listing on your website. I jumped for joy when I saw my blog post on your Media Sightings page!
Who Says Blogging Is Dead? The people promoting this message are misinformed. Don’t buy into this noise. Read this direct quote from The Brand Called You about earning recognition and building reputation for your personal brand:
“If you’re a better writer than you are a teacher, try contributing a column or an opinion piece to your local newspaper. And, when I say local, I mean local. You don’t have to make the op-ed page of The New York Times to make the grade. Community newspapers, professional newsletters, even inhouse company publications have white spaces they need to fill. Once you get started, you’ve got a track record – and clips that you can use to snatch more chances.”
Blogging Matters More Than Ever. Take note of this advice from Seth Godin and Tom Peters about marketing your personal brand via writing a blog:
Your Turn. You’ve got something inspiring inside you. Share it in your blog, your column, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Google+. I want to read about your victories!
Start blogging. Start writing. Start creating. And, don’t look back.