Tag Archives: reinvention

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The Start-Up of You, Part 1: Invest in Yourself, Invest in Your Network, AND Invest in Society

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The Start-up of You Book CoverI 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: 

  1. Part 1, Invest in Yourself, Invest in Your Network, AND Invest in Society
  2. Part 2, Five Game Changers in Career Competitive Advantage
  3. Part 3, Theme: The Start-Up of You LinkedIn Community (The People and Ideas They Share)
  4. Part 4, My Response to Critics of The Start-Up of You

 

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:

Start-Up of You Visual Book Notes
 
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. 

 

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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5 Takeaways from Valeria Maltoni: Rethinking Business in the Age of the Social Consumer

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Number 5

Ben Smith, the leader of Social IRL, is one of the most valuable and generous members of the Kansas City Social Media Community.  His hard work and dedication delivers outstanding and valuable educational content via hosting social media conferences in our region.

Ben attracts and brings globally-recognized social media thought leaders to Kansas City (that's no understatement).  On February 9th, Social IRL hosted Valeria Maltoni, a foremost digital media authority and author of Conversation Agent (one of the the most consistently ranked top 30 global marketing blogs on the Ad Age Power 150).

Important Note: You can access my unformatted Google Docs notes from the February 9th Social IRL conference by clicking this weblink.   Please inform me in the comments or tweet me if you have access problems.

Here are my five (5) takeaways from Valeria's outstanding and thought-provoking presentation.

1. Understand and Determine the Organizational Focus 

Start With Your Organizational Focus.  You have to pick the organizational capability or competence that will drive and differentiate your company's brand and business outcomes:

  • Apple: Innovation
  • Virgin: People
  • Procter & Gamble: Research and Development 
  • Coca Cola: Distribution

Valeria demonstrated how organizational focus impacted each company's share price.  And, the data showed how executing that focus is linked to long-term financial performance.

2. Focus on Your Brand Promise

Valeria defines a brand as:


"The sum of promises, promises kept, and the unbounded expectations market."

Delivering and Executing the Brand Promise are Crucial.  Why?  The stock price represents public trust / confidence in your brand.  And, that public trust / public confidence determines the discount or premium to "trade" with individual consumers.  Higher consumer trust / confidence means a higher premium for your company's goods and services.

Or, it can reflect a lack of trust / confidence.  See the stock price performance of Yahoo, Microsoft, or Eastman Kodak.

3. Prioritize and Focus on the Differentiating Brand Asset(s) Driving Your Consumer Trades

Brand Assets are Your Unique Consumer Trade Currency. The digital age redefines the brand assets most valuable to individual consumers before, during, and after the point-of-sale.  The Internet's real-time speed coupled with one or more of following brand assets is a killer combination:

  • Reputation
  • Knowledge / Information / Data
  • Relationships
  • Influence

Ticketmaster Prioritized Knowledge / Information / Data.   Therefore, organizations need to pick the brand asset they will focus on for their unique trades with individual consumers.  For example, Ticketmaster focused on knowledge / information / data to better inform consumer decisions (i.e., local-centric information, fan reviews, personal buying history suggestions, etc.) by making that brand asset easy to share (i.e., Fan Reviews are easily shared with a single-click via Twitter or Facebook).

Financial Outcome:  Each "share of information" results in a $5 increase in incremental revenue.


4. The Unmet Social Media Opportunity: Empowering Individual Consumer Filters and Feedback Loops 

Consumer Filters, Feedback and Intent.  Valeria defines consumer intent as:

  1. Providing the right information at the right time when someone is making a decision (and that decision may or may not be a "buying decision")
  2. The consumer's perception of value inherent with the brand promise
  3. How the consumer defines the "wisdom of the trade" (i.e., was the time spent gathering information / data a worthwhile investment)

Therefore, influencing how the consumer defines the "wisdom of the trade" is vitally important.  This is why brands need to focus on consumer "filters" and "feedback loops":

Consumer Filters:

  • Culture
  • Language
  • Values
  • Beliefs
  • Attitudes
  • Expectations
  • Intentions

Consumer Feedback Loops:

  • Evidence
  • Relevance
  • Consequence
  • Action


5. Ford Motor Company Case Study in Leveraging Brand Assets, Filters and Feedback Loops 

The Ford Case Study.  Valeria believes brands need to do more in making individual consumers more influential.  We still don't do enough here.  

The process for making consumers more influential can be systematically achieved (e.g., there is a process):

* First, prioritize, and focus on the business problems most vital to your organization.  Example: When Scott Monty became head of social media for Ford Motor Company, he focused on corporate reputation.  This brand asset choice was particularly important when the entire auto industry came under fire for receiving government bail-outs.  

Ford leveraged social media to permeate the strategic position that it was the only domestic automaker who chose not to receive receive government financing.  

See this example of how Alan Mulally, CEO, positions Ford as different from other US automakers because Ford is "requesting access to bridge financing just in case something bad happens" versus "receiving direct government assistance."  (see 2:26 to the end of this video).



 

 

* Second, after addressing #1, pivot your social media marketing strategy to focus on consumer filters and feedback loops that can grow a product / service:

Increase the Influence and Reputation of Your Influencers (see 1:39 to 2:52 of this video describing Ford's succsssful Ford Fiesta Social Media Campaign):



 

* Third, continue actively demonstrating "we're listening, we're listening, we're listening."  Watch how Scott Monty and Alan Mulally work together in answering and responding to consumer tweets.  It's a brilliant public relations play:



 

 

Conclusion

Hear from Valeria Herself.  A HUGE shout-out to Eric Mellin and Robert Madison of Spiral16 for publishing and sharing this great interview with Valeria on the Spiral16 Blog.




 

 

Other great Social IRL presentation content included:

Ashley Mahoney's SocialIRL Recap.  Check out Ashley Mahoney's blog post, Social: IRL Conference in a Nutshell.  She does a great job summarizing key points from other presentations I didn't address in this post.

Important Note #2: My lack of notes during specific presentations wasn't due to a lack of interest (far from it).  During the conference, I received an important client email requiring immediate action (so I missed some of the presentations).

That meant piecemeal, back-of-the-room listening (i.e., Kevin Magee, Director of Sales at Expion, shared some great insights on the current / future implications of localizing and managing social media marketing efforts but I was unable to take detailed notes).

 

Link to Photo Credit by Paul Downey via flickr

 

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Social Media Expertise, Part 2: Self-Publishing Content Versus Submitting a Resume

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Stack of Paper

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:

  • How The Internet Reinforces a "Show-Me-What-You-Got" Mindset
  • Why Clients and Employers Want to Understand How You Think
  • Too Many Job Candidates / Self-Proclaimed Experts, So Little Time
  • How Employers / Clients are Using the Internet Evaluate Talents and Skills

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:

  1. Writing (i.e., a blog, eBooks)
  2. Doing Videos (i.e., how-two, reviews)
  3. Shooting Photos
  4. Creating Infographics (i.e., visualizing data)
  5. Speaking


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:

  • Publishing mindmaps about how I approach a problem / story
  • Shooting and publishing videos (as part of my book reviews in this blog and in my Amazon book reviews)
  • Networking with social media thought leaders by meeting them face-to-face

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.

 

Link to Photo Credit by striatic Via flickr

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Social Media Expertise, Part 1: It’s Earned, Not Self-Proclaimed

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Ninja

"There's a distinct difference between perceived expertise and acquired expertise."   — Tom Jenkins, Social Media Club Kansas City

I remember Tom's insight 2+years ago during a small breakfast meeting at La Peeps Restaurant in Overland Park, KS.  Our discussion centered around the burgeoning cottage industry of books and seminars touted by self-proclaimed social media experts, gurus, ninjas, and evangelists.  

More importantly, his statement summarized both the opportunity and barrier to entry for people pursuing social media as a profession or as a credible vehicle for personal reinventions beyond a current job description.

I remember asking if he copyrighted this wisdom.  He said no.  But, he smiled and said if I ever use his quote,  I should assign him credit and attribution (which I hope I did here).  

Because I knew I'd reference his statement in a blog post someday.  That day arrived. 

The Inspiration for This Post

On January 20th, I read this Forbes.com article, Want to Become Known as an Industry Expert?  3 Tips to Get You Started.   Here's screen shot of one part of the article:

Forbes Call Yourself an Expert

First, This IS NOT a Bash-the-Author Piece.  It's quite the opposite.  Please read the entire Forbes article because Cari Sommer (the author) offers valid advice on building one's online credibility, reputation, and visibility the right way.

Second, This Post Describes Why Cari Sommer Is a Great Example of Personal and Professional Reinvention.  Cari Sommer transformed her professional career and trajectory by reinventing herself into a bona fide communications expert and entrepreneur.  A major portion of this post explains why I believe she's a credible and successful expert in her field. 

Third, It's About My Cynicism Towards The Great Pretenders and Their Self-Proclaimed Expertise.  I respectfully take issue with the literal interpretation of "calling yourself an expert."  Why?  There are hundreds of thousands to millions of self-proclaimed experts with no content or experience to substantiate their claims.   

Check out these Google results on these infamous keyword phrases:

  • "Social Media Guru" = 2,160,000 results
  • "Social Media Evangelist" = 1,090,000 results
  • "Social Media Expert" = 1,060,000  results
  • "Social Media Ninja" = 281,000 results

Based on this quick analysis, I wonder if:

  • There really are that many people who can credibly make those self-proclamations?
  • "Ninjas" have a better long-tail chance of being found via search than "Gurus"?  
  • "Evangelists" and "Experts" are interchangeable titles (give or take wading through 30,000 results)?

Expertise Is Earned, Not Self-Proclaimed

Ms. Sommer's Provides and Shares Credible, First-Hand Expertise Earned From Her Personal Experiences.  I buy-in to Ms. Sommer's generously shared advice on building a solid online reputation and positioning oneself as a social media expert (or an industry expert).  It's credible and emphasizes a learn-by-doing attitude:

  • Self-publishing content on social media channels (i.e., a blog, LinkedIn industry groups, etc.)
  • Attending and speaking at industry conferences
  • Identifying and building relationships with industry bloggers and journalists
  • Pitching one's expertise to the industry influencers

But, The 3.5 Million Self-Proclaimers Haven't Practiced or Applied Any of Ms. Sommer's Advice   The sad fact is so few have consistently performed (or even attempted) any of her recommendations over the long haul.  Why?  Because, the advice she imparts requires major time investments in:

  • Focus
  • Practice
  • Patience
  • Experimentation
  • Creativity
  • Hustle
  • Hard Work (aka Malcom Gladwell's Rule of 10,000 Hours)
  • Commitment

Want to Be Really Good at Something?  Invest 10,000 Hours.

Malcolm Gladwell on 10,000 Hours.  Here's Malcolm Gladwell in a CNN interview describing the significance of the 10,000 Hours Rule (timestamp 2:30 to 4:00):



  

Ms. Sommer Earned Her Expertise — She Didn't Just Proclaim It.  An influential, global media organization like Forbes didn't just hand her an outstanding personal branding opportunity because she proclaimed her industry expertise.  

Unlike the aforementioned millions of great pretenders, she:

  • Earned this gig by executing her own advice
  • Earned her position as a communications expert through professional experience 
  • Earned her expertise by being relentless (e.g., she wasn't afraid to fail)

And, if she hasn't already invested 10,000 hours to achieve her current success, I bet she's committed thousands of hours just to reach this point in her career.  Why? Because at some point in her 10,000 hours, she confronted and fought through The Dip. 

See these excerpts from her Forbes Contributor bio and her communications consultancy homepage.  She made it happen.  She didn't just proclaim expertise.

Cari Sommers Forbes Bio

Cari Sommer Consulting home page


A Case Study in Personal and Professional Reinvention

Ms. Sommer Reinvented and Transformed Herself Into a Communications and Public Relations Expert.  Look further down her Forbes Contributor biography.  She professionally reinvented herself from being a former litigator at an international law firm to becoming an entrepreneur and CEO of her own communications consultancy:

LinkedIn Answers Cari Sommers Forbes Bio

Where's The Cari Sommer's Substance?  You can study it first-hand in this CBS News.com video.


 

 

Conclusion

I wish more people like Cari Sommers had the substance and experience to back up the "I'm An Expert" claim.  Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be so cynical.  

I look forward to her future contributor articles in Forbes and other media sites.  Until then, I've started following her on Twitter because I want to continue learning from a bona fide expert.


Cari Sommer Twitter

 

Photo Credit by John Hritz via Flickr

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Google’s Marketing Reinvention: Tell Stories that Make Us Cry

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Coffee Heart

I loved reading the January 1, 2012 New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller: Google Bases a Campaign on Emotions, Not Terms.  Her article explains Google's distinctive philosophical change towards marketing and advertising.  For Google to acknowledge investing more time and resources to actively promote its products and services stands in stark contrast to the image of "cold engineers" hating anything related to marketing, advertising, or public relations as described in Ken Auletta's great book, Googled.

Why Google Reinvented Its Marketing 

"A Remarkable Transformation."  What's driving this "remarkable transformation for Google" as noted in the article by Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix, a firm that evaluates TV and video ads?

Ms. Cain Miller's article cites two business drivers:

Finding New Revnue Sources Beyond Search Ads.  Google needs new businesses like the Chrome browser and the Google Plus social network to succeed.

Focusing, Paring Down, and Integrating Google's Offerings.  This is part of Larry Page's mission as CEO to pare down Google's product offering and make these products more attractive, intuitive, and integrated with one another.

Does This Sound Like The Voice of a Cold Engineer?

Marketing Emotion.  Even more revealing is that Google acknowledges both a change in marketing strategy and increased advertising investment.  Here are two direct article quotes from Lorraine Twohill, Google's vice president for global marketing:


"As we got bigger, we had more competition, more products, more messages to consumers, so we needed to do a bit more to communicate what thse products are and how you can use them."

"If we don't make you cry, we fail.  It's about emotion, which is bizarre for a tech company."

Sounds Like Marketing From the Heart.  But, make no mistake Google still bases its decisions on rigorous, fact-based data analysis. And, the article further describes the significant data analyses and testing that went into planning its first Super Bowl commercial (e.g., dozens of tests) and a 140-tab spreadsheet used in location planning for Google Zeitgeist (the company's annual conference for it's biggest advertisers).

Don't Pitch. Tell a Story.

The Google Video Advertisements Cited in the New York Times Article.  The article mentions the following successful advertising videos because Google uses storytelling versus product pitching.  I've pulled them all together in this post.

It's Not About Features and Benefits.  Notice how we can all relate to each of these stories.  In particular, the two (2) Google Chrome videos mention nothing about Chrome as the world's fastest web browser.

These stories are moving, emotional, and entertaining.  What's their emotional impact on you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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+.  

Photo Credit via Flickr by thepinkpeppercorn

Related articles
Part Two: 4 More Gurus and Their Books Helping Marketing and Communications Graduates Land that First Job
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling Mastered by American Authors and Georgia English Bulldog Rescue
Google 'Reunion' Video
Google moves beyond functionality with a wave of emotional Advertising
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to be more like Google
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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 3: YOUR Lifelong Reinvention Matters

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Fortune Magazine Reinvent Your Career

Fortune Magazine published, Reinvent Your Career, in its July 4, 2011 issue. 

The article shares real-life stories of five (5) professionals who confronted and overcame personal and professional setbacks.  

And, these compelling examples prove successful reinvention happens at any age despite your previous job description.

The following video profiles one of these true-life reinventions (note: the beginning contains a short commercial):

 

 

Lifelong Reinvention Is A Professional Requirement

U.S. Labor Statistics Paint a Sobering Picture. These statistics are from the Fortune Magazine article.  We’re living in an era of:

* Job Destruction.  12.6% of the workforce lost their jobs in the past recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Displaced Worker Survey (the highest rate since at least 1981).

* Multiple Professional Identities.  The youngest baby boomers (those born from 1957 to 1964) held an average of 11 jobs from ages 18 to 44, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The Denali Group, a procurement-services company, predicts Generation Y will have 15 to 25 jobs in their lifetime.

* A Project-Based Economy.  By the end of 2010, the number of people working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work had nearly quadrupled since the 1950s to 2.38 million people.

Tom Peters Described Our Project-Based Economy In 1997

Read The Fast Company Article, The Brand Called You.  These Tom Peters quotes underscore the personal branding opportunities in a project-based economy:

One key to growing your power is to recognize the simple fact that we now live in a project world.  Almost all work today is organized into bite-sized packets called projects.  

A project-based world is ideal for growing your brand: projects exist around deliverables, they create measurables, and they leave you with braggables.  If you’re not spending at least 70% of your time working on projects, creating projects, or organizing your (apparently mundane) tasks into projects, you are sadly living in the past.

Today, you have to think, breathe act, and work in projects.

Project World makes it easier for you to assess — and advertise — the strength of Brand You.

Project World Dictates Lifelong Learning and Reinvention

Brand You Requires Regular Reinvention.  Tom Peters emphasizes this conclusion in The Brand Called You:

A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.  

Instead of making yourself a slave to the concept of a career ladder, reinvent yourself on a semi-regular basis.

Common Traits of Successful Reinventors.  In the Fortune Magazine article, Pulling Off The Ultimate Career Makeover, successful reinventors share a common attitude:

  • They love learning by doing  
  • They embrace the future (especially new technologies like social media)
  • They take calculated risks (e.g., they are willing to fail)

Read, Read, Read!  Tom Peters shares important advice on keeping your analytical skills and creativity fresh (e.g., new skills and knowledge powering reinvention): Out-Read The Other Guy.


  

Reinvent Yourself By Doing Work That Matters

Seth Godin’s Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself.  “Doing work that matters” may require a personal transformation.  Here are Godin’s seven (7) ways to do it:

1. Connect.  Social media and a laptop allow us to make direct connections on a global scale.  Connect and learn new insights from other people.  Better yet, create something that impacts their lives.  In return, you’ll build reputation, influence, and power.

2. Be Generous.  By creating something that benefit others and by not expecting anything back, you’ll cultivate community (aka a tribe).  And, communities spread ideas.  Your personal brand could be one of those ideas.

3. Make Art.  All of us are capable of creating art.  With today’s technology, it could be an informative website, a great blog post, or a thought-provoking eBook.  Your art can move and influence others.

4. Acknowledge the Lizard.  That voice inside our heads that prevents us from creating art — that’s the lizard brain.  The lizard brain reminds us how we fear being laughed at or looking foolish.  Acknowledge it.  Now, ignore it.  And, create the art that’s inside you.  

5. Ship.  Godin says: “The key to reinvention of who you are, then, is to become someone who ships (aka The Linchpin).”  The Linchpin is the person who accepts accountability, has the skills for getting things done, and creates outcomes.  To create outcomes, you have to ship (i.e., hit enter to send that email, press publish to post that blog article, or make the hard decision).

6. Fail.  Reinvention requires failing often and failing small.  You have to be willing to fail.  Watch this Tech Crunch TV interview with Godin on The Value of Failing Small (especially time stamp 1:59 to 3:26).


    

 

7. Learn.  Another direct quote from Seth Godin: “The path to reinvention, though, is just that — a path.  The opportunity of our time is to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to learn.  Every single day.


Read Godin’s eBook: Brainwashed — Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself.  Here it is from Slideshare:  

 

Seth Godin – Reinvent Yourself

View more presentations from LeeFuller

Conclusion

Leverage Technology To Your Advantage.  The Internet levels the playing field.  In the following video, Godin makes a strong case how technology powers your reinvention:

* Your Laptop Is The 21st Century Factory (0:38 – 1:54).  Now, you own the means of production.  What are you going to do with your laptop to make something that changes the world?

* You Can Globally and Directly Connect (2:17 – 3:54).  Plus, the Internet enables your global connections to promote your work and do business (and vice versa).  

* You Can Spread Ideas Via Social Media Connections (3:55 – 4:58).  Developing these connections (or knowing people who have them) is vital.  Why?  Social media influences: 

  1. The ideas that get a head start
  2. The ideas that spread 

 


 

Don’t Make My Mistake.  I started my blog and personal reinvention process in July 2009.    

 My ONE Regret — Not starting sooner.  


And, it isn’t just because of the resulting opportunities.  Reinvention Is Fun.  


Go. Connect.  Be generous.  Make art.  Acknowledge the lizard.  Ship.  Fail.  Learn.

And, please let me know how it goes. 

 

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 Mike D Merrill   

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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?

 

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 by Fort Rucker via Flickr

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MySpace’s Reinvention Strategy: Focus On Its Core Buyer Persona

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In Social Media ReInvention Blog, I try to describe how individuals, companies, or entire industries can use social media and/or inbound marketing strategy to reinvent themselves.  This post has a slight twist because it talks about a current social media company reinventing itself — MySpace.  

Remember MySpace?  It wasn't long ago that it was battling for social media supremacy with Facebook.  In the past few years, MySpace has encountered different challenges.  It's new co-Presidents, Jason Hischborn and Mike Jones, have recently described their plans to change the company's direction and focus.  

In this post, I've cited and summarized different sources explaining MySpace's reinvention plans.  The firm's approach looks like it centers on:

* A renewed understanding of its core buyer persona
* Focusing on, winning back, and growing this buyer persona
* Objectives and metrics the company plans to use in measuring its progress

MySpace's Buyer Persona: Under-35-Year-Old Music and Game Lovers
David Meerman Scott defines the buyer persona as "a distinct group of potential customers, an archetypal person whom you want your marketing to reach."  MySpace's core buyer persona can be described as:1

* Self-expressive and creative under-35-year-olds
* Individuals who love music, games, and movies
* 50%+ of its 100 million estimated users are 25 and younger (according to ComScore)
* Deeply engaged users: 13-to-34 year olds who spend 84% of their user time on the site

Giving The Buyer Persona What It Wants.  MySpace's current and future business strategy is to secure exclusive entertainment content.  For example, MySpace users focus their interests in video games (28%) and celebrity and entertainment content (23%).2  High profile celebrity pages will now include updates so the pages have more information and are easier for users to navigate.3  Co-President Jason Hirschorn describes the site as pop culture centric: "You could share your thoughts about the elections in Iraq but it might not be the place that you do that — but you'll certainly talk about what went on in The Hurt Locker and what dress Sandra Bullock wore during the Academy Awards."4

Removing What The Buyer Persona Doesn't Want.  In 2005, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. acquired MySpace for $580 million.  This event also marked the decision by co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson to position MySpace as a large social portal to make itself more attractive to online advertisers.5  Why? According to DeWolfe in the August 2008 Fast Company article, "some 90% of online-advertising spending goes to big portals."  

New co-Presidents Mike Jones and Mike Hirschborn acknowledge that adding portal-like features features having nothing to do with entertainment was a mistake.  In the last nine months, they've removed sections devoted to weather reports, horoscopes, job boards, and classified advertising.6

Identifying and Attracting Influential Music Fans: Artist Dashboard
The music community (e.g., bands and fans) drove the original growth of MySpace.  13 million+ bands, from Pearl Jam to garage bands use MySpace to promote themselves.  The site is especially important for new bands distributing their own music without a major record label's support.  Paraphrasing Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, "When it comes to music, MySpace has a monster audience."1

The Artist Dashboard.  I find this new feature interesting and similar to the objective of LinkedIn Answers – identifying and recognizing experts.  The Artist Dashboard is designed to target music afficianados (and attract new ones).  It's a variation of the visual dshboard found in the MySpace Music hub and will become available to all MySpace users.  The dashboard will show a user's activity:4

* Who is reacting to what the user publishes (and where they are)
* A series of achievements and badges describing the user's network influence (i.e., most shared playlists or an early trend spotter)

Here's a picture of the dashboard from the Mashable article by Barb Dybwad:

MySpace Artist Dashboard

 

Driving New Growth With Games: Consumers and Developers
At the March 2010 Game Developers Conference, co-President Mike Jones launched a new MySpace Games strategy to showcase online games on the site and attract more developers.  Jones said during the conference: "Just as MySpace made a real commitment to music, to have the best content, we're now making the same type of commitment with games."7

Consumers. Helping users easily discover and share games virally is a key strategy.  Game activity will be shared via users' notifications and streams.  Personalized game recommendations, popular game charts, and the ability to rate games will all be key features.7

Developers. New features and improvements to attract game developers include:7

* Better application engagement and analytics tools to better understand player demographics, how games are discovered, and how they're shared
* App-specific analytics
* Ability to build 3D games
* A new iPhone app, called MySpace Neon, to provide mobile game playing via the iPhone

Tracking and Measuring Progress: Depends on Whether You're an Analyst or a MySpace Executive
Based on my review of the different news sources, the publicized metrics to track MySpace's reinvention progress varies between internet strategy analysts and MySpace's co-presidents:

Internet Strategy Analysts' Metrics.  The internet strategy analysts discussed tracking metrics centering around revenue, numbers of members, numbers of visitors, and time on site.  In each case, the analysts used Facebook as a comparator.

* Revenues.  For 2010, eMarketer estimates $605 million in revenues for Facebook versus $385 million for MySpace (21% decrease).1

* Number of Members.  Facebook has 400 million members versus MySpace with 100 million members.1

* Number of Monthly Visitors.  Facebook had 111.8 million US visitors (95% increase); MySpace had 66.7 million visitors (5% decrease).6 

* Time On Site.  Facebook averaged 267 minutes per month; MySpace averaged 130 minutes per month.6 

MySpace's Metrics.  Jason Hirschborn and Mike Jones have publicly stated the following objectives they will be tracking:

* Revenues. Jones is quoted in the USA Today interview that "MySpace has been good at monetization, others notice that."  He did not disclose revenue targets during the interview.1

* Growth in Numbers of Users: Hirschborn wants numbers of users to grow to 200 million or 300 million (from the current 100 million).  He declined to provide a timeframe for achieving this objective.3

* Percentage of MySpace Members Playing Games. Jones says approximately one-third of MySpace members play games.  Both he and Hirschborn have targeted 50% participation (perhaps as early as the end of this year).3,4

* Number of Monthly Minutes Spent Playing Games.  MySpace members spend 1 billion minutes per month.  The company wants to increase this monthly usage to 2 billion minutes.7 

 

Photo Credit: From Flickr by jim6800

Sources
1 Once-fading MySpace focuses on youthful reincarnation by Jon Swartz.  USA Today, March 10, 2010.
2 What social media users want [STATS] by Jennifer Van Grove.  Mashable, March 18, 2010.
3 MySpace revamps for revival by Sarah Jacobsson.  PCWorld, March 10, 2010.
4 MySpace co-presidents reveal company's plan for the future [INTERVIEW] by Barb Dybwad.  Mashable, March 9, 2010.
5 MySpace, the sequel by Ellen McGirt.  FastCompany.com, August 7, 2008.
6 MySpace looks to the past for its future by Dawn C. Chmielewski. Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2010.
7 MySpace turns to games to regain prominence by Benny Evangelista.  SFGate.com, March 11, 2010.

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Facebook and Google: Similarities in Reinvention and Innovation Mindsets

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Fast Company recently published its March 2010 cover story: The World's Most Innovative Companies.  In this issue, Ellen McGirt wrote a great profile about Facebook.  While reading the article, I was struck by the strong similarities between Facebook and Google regarding reinvention and innovation.

Google's Mindset
I've written in a previous blog post what I've learned about how Google approaches innovation / reinvention.  Google's attitude is to:

* Question everything
* Ask "why does this have to be the way it is?"
* Encourage engineers to push the envelope, to assume that their mission is to disrupt traditional ways of doing things

Facebook's Mindset
According to the Fast Company piece, "hacking" plays a key role in Facebook's corporate culture.  Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO) explains this process as:

* Being unafraid to break things in order to make them better
* The root of the hacker mindset is "there's a better way"
* Just because people have been doing it the same way since the beginning of time, I'm going to make it better

Here's a Facebook blog post written by Andrew Bosworth (a top Facebook engineer) called Working With Zuck.  Bosworth describes four (4) characteristics about working with the famous twenty-something CEO:

* Zuck Expects Debate
* Zuck Isn't Sentimental
* Zuck Experiences Things Contextually
* Zuck Pushes People 

This shows how great minds think alike, and it's no surprise that Facebook and Google ranked as #1 and #2 respectively in Fast Company's list of most innovative companies.

I know there's a lot currently being written about future businesses that Facebook and Google may compete in (i.e., vertical search), but I think the fiercest area of competition will be in the war for talent.  Check out this recruiting video Fast Company posted as part of the article.  There's no question both firms are targeting many of the same talented engineers:

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Part 1: Success in Online Publishing and Social Media Requires Reinvention (Even for a Tina Brown)

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Tina Brown candidly described her first two months in online publishing as bewildering and challenging.  She learned the new vocabulary and terminology of social media "on-the-fly."  To her credit, she invested the time and commitment to "figure it out.".  In addition, she continues learning about social media from her talented employees (particularly the twenty-something employees).

If someone with Tina Brown's experience, savvy, and past achievements is willing to reinvent her thinking to successfully compete online, shouldn't we embrace that solution-oriented attitude also …

In the Online World, We Are All in the Business of Sharing

J0439493[1] The New Media model of freely sharing content took Brown a relatively long time to understand.  According to her, "it took her awhile to get it."  Keep in mind, her previous frame of reference originates from the Old Media print world of dog-eat-dog competition.  The rules of engagement required you to "scoop your competition" and ensure that no one got a piece of your story.

Contrast that attitude with the social media principles of "being in the business of sharing." Brown finds this concept of freely sharing content as "fascinating science," and it's this trait of online publishing that she finds enormously interesting.

Social Media is How You Invite the Audience to Join the Conversation

J0386497[1]Old Media strategy relies on a "push model" or as Brown refers to it "the old binary way of traditional media."  In this model, the news agency writes the story and announces it to complete the communication transaction.  Today, publishers and their organizations must engage with their audience in conversation about topics in news and culture.

Executing inbound marketing and social media is how The Daily Beast invites its audience to interact (e.g., a pull model).  When Brown and the team acquire a story, they immediately decide how to socially market it.  These marketing tactics include:

* Identifying and contacting the Top 25 websites obsessed with the news story
* Tweeting the story on Twitter
* Commenting on influential blogs that are also covering the same story
* Encouraging Facebook Fans of The Daily Beast to post the article on The Daily Beast Fan Page.
* Feeding the Beast: This tactic represents a smart way of inviting audience participation

Participation is the Currency of an Audience-Driven Marketing World

As mentioned earlier, the social media world is about sharing content.  According to Brown, you need to:

* Identify "where your audience lives"
* Pitch them "where they care" and
* Pitch them what interests them

J0442513[1] Engaged audiences actively participate in the conversation and publish her/his won content. Brown emphasized how you have to be inventive, enterprising, and open to the people and places you market to because "the old ways just don't work anymore."  She summarized this observation by saying: "People don't want to participate in passive marketing."

Brown is absolutely correct.  I'm a good example of her insight regarding active versus passive marketing because I:

* Wrote this blog post series about what I learned from Tina Brown and The Daily Beast
* Chose to follow the Daily Beast on Twitter (@thedailybeast)
* Posted a story on The Daily Beast's Facebook Fan Page (the article describing how Paul Shaffer got his job with David Letterman)
* Bookmarked the mobile URL for The Daily Cheat Sheet on my iPhone
* Embedded The Daily Beast Widget in my iGoogle Homepage
* Subscribed to The Daily Beast Email Newsletter