Your Sunday Brunch Silicon Valley Catchphrase of the Week: “It’s like Uber for …
Thank YOU for Social Media Community Members who have generously financially supported Johnny’s Kickstarter Campaign. Here are this week’s Sunday Brunch Reads for your enjoyment:
Your Sunday Brunch Silicon Valley Catchphrase of the Week: “How Wash U Is Changing The World.” Publishing this finding embarrasses me. My alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, is using this catchphrase in their LinkedIn Advertising campaign to Washington University Alumni.
I hope your Memorial Day Weekend was filled with the company of family and friends around the barbecue grill. Well, that’s how we roll here in the Kansas City area.
It does ring true. I think the show’s most successful in highlighting the deluded self-perception of so many in the industry.“To make the world a better place,” is a running joke and one that struck me as the funniest. When I was a kid, everyone wanted to be in a band—that was the path to girls, adulation, money. By the time I’d reached college, everyone wanted to be a doctor or lawyer, for similar motivations. Now it’s dot-coms—start-up founders are the new rock stars; and the self-importance on display is obnoxious, especially when masked by fake altruism.
Your Sunday Brunch Silicon Valley Catchphrase of the Week: To Make The World a Better Place.
Thanks and enjoy these links as part of your Sunday Brunch: (more…)
Hi, Social Media ReInvention Community! Here are your share-worthy links for your enjoyment and discussion. Thanks again for your continued support and taking time to read my work. I hope you’ll enjoy these links during your Sunday Brunch!
Quick Heads Up: I moved from Social Media ReInvention from TypePad to WordPress. It’s work-in-progress so please be patient as I continue improving this site.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I've applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.
Are You Too Old to Professionally Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?
No! You still have time. The real question you should is: How Much Are You Going to Focus, Your Unique Assets, Time, and Energy into Your Post-50 Career Reinvention?
If these thoughts run through your mind or resemble one (or more) of the following, I encourage you to keep reading:
"I just got layed off and am looking for a job (or I'm worried about getting layed off) …" or
"I love to learn, try new things, and build different skills …" or
"What do you mean by unique assets? What the hell are you talkin' about? I don't think I have any …"
Because YOU CAN Successfully Reinvent Yourself After Age 50
In this post (and the other five), I talk about linkages I see from Michael Ovitz's career reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark'sReinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.
The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:
Dorie Clark emphasizes the importance of "having other people talk us up." Here are key quotes from Reinventing You's Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself — Develop Validators:
Another important way we can convey our new identities is through external validators, that is, other people talking us up. As a powerhouse group of researchers led by both Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Cialdini discovered, the secret is to have someone else bragging for you. (Jeffrey Pfeffer) "People don't like people who self-promote. But ironically, even if you self-promote through the mouths of other people, somehow that stigma doesn't get associated with you. It's much better to have someone else toot your horn."
Who Are Your Defenders?
Powerful and Influential Third-Party Validators Address Key Objectives for Michael Ovitz: (1) Promoting Him as a Trusted Silicon Valley Advisor and (2) Defending Him Against Critics. Since 1999, Mr. Ovitz developed and nurtured business relationships with Sillcon Valley's movers and shakers. These people provide and support him with significant third-party validation:
These direct quotes from the aforementioned October 2013 Kaplan-Fortune article highlight how Mr. Ovitz's third-party validators defend and talk him up:
There are similar tales of Ovitzian assistance around the Valley as he rises again, this time far removed from the lights of show business. At Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm, Ovitz is an in-house mentoron how to build a full-service operation in the mold of Creative Artists Agency, the Hollywood talent monolith he built and ran from 1975 to 1995. "Michael is the classic kind of entrepreneur that we like up here — he's highly aggressive, he's highly disruptive," says Marc Andreessen, with whom Ovitz has cultivated a relationship since 1999."Michael's a very close friend of the firm. He's a great friend to have."He's also an investor in the firm, though AH won't say for how much.
2. Peter Thiel on the C-Level, cross-industry breadth and depth of Mr. Ovitz's business connections:
"Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.," Thiel says. "The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places." Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to 'learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world." Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have 'retrenched,' de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions. Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls 'second to none,' has been a way to overcome that inclination.
3. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Peter Szulczewski, Joe Lonsdale, and Boris Sofman discuss Mr. Ovitz's critics and detractors:
Says Thiel (Peter): "I've learned to discount bad things said about people by rivals, and I'm not aware of a single bad thing about Ovitz that wasn't said by a rival." Although Andreessen and others in Ovitz's new circle acknowledge the skepticism, they have different takes on it. Andreessen is the most dismissive of Ovitz doubters and ascribes Ovitz's repute more to the peculiarities of Hollywood than to any of his own faults. "We're used to guys like that here — I mean, Steve Jobs, for God's sake! Or my career, right?" Andreessen says. "That's the cultural difference between Silicon Valley and L.A." Had Intel's Andy Grove or Netscape's Jim Clark made his mark in Hollywood, according to Andreessen, he'd have the same kind of bad-boy name as Ovitz. Peter Szulczewski of Wish says, "I haven't seen the type of things that people warned me about." Formation 8's Joe Lonsdale agrees. "People are naturally more cautious because of his history," he says. "But he's (Ovitz) demonstrated awesome value in so many tangible ways to different people that they overlook it. And it's hard to map out what's true and what isn't." Ovitz is a limited partner in Formation 8, with a "small" investment of "under $5 million," as the firm describes it. "There's a disconnect between a lot of the things written about him and kind of the person we've gotten to know,"says Boris Sofman, the CEO and co-founder of Anki, who talks almost daily with Ovitz. Sofman says Ovitz has alluded to his own past by counseling Sofman on what happens when you're successful. "When you lead in your industry," Ovitz told him, "it's easy to start getting vilified, and the tide can turn on you quickly and unexpectedly." Sofman says Ovitz has no stake in Anki, not even advisory fees. That may merely mean Ovitz hasn't asked yet. Or, as Sofman suggests, it could be that Ovitz really is in it for more than the money. "One of the things he shared with me is he truly loves working with young people," says Sofman, who just turned 30.
Closing Thoughts
Your Turn. Okay, you may still be thinking:
"I don't have high-profile, high-powered connections like Michael Ovitz …"
"Even if I did, how could or why would any of my connections 'talk me up' …"
"If I were to ask, wouldn't my connections be offended. It's sleazy to ask for third-party validations …"
Your Third Party Validators Are In The Palm of Your Hand
YOU HOLD Multiple Assets and Connections In The Palm of Your Hand. They're in your laptop hard drive. They're accessible via the keyboards on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
YOU CAN mobilize these connections on your behalf with a few keystrokes or finger swipes.
YOU HAVE Michael Ovitz-Like Third-Party Validators. It's all relative. You already know and are connected to influential third-party validators through these online assets and communities:
Your Personal Blog
Blog Comments on Other Blogs
LinkedIn
Twitter
Klout
Build Your Relationships with Your Validators by Blogging, Commenting, Connecting, Tweeting, and +K'ing. I connect with my third party validators on a weekly basis via these online assets and communities. Several of these kind and generous people are highly influential and powerful in their respective professions. These wonderful people generously support me as career mentors and allies in my personal branding and online reputation work.
Focusing on building these types of assets and participating in these communities enables you to do two important things:
1. Connect with like-minded people who share your values
2. Build what Dorie Clark refers to as an intellectual property (IP) portfolio
Let me be candid:
I'm not a rocket scientist (just ask my wife and my 9-year old daughter).
I'm not a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Amazon.com best-selling book author.
If I Can Do It, You Can Too. I'll describe my own experiences on developing and cultivating relationships with my third-party validators in the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50.
Lesson 3B: Developing Validators with Your Personal Branding Online Assets is scheduled fora February 2, 2014 publication.
If you enjoyed this post, here are links to the series' first two posts:
IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. I want to make it clear that neither Dorie Clark nor Michael Ovitz were consulted or personally endorsed this case study and how I’ve applied the analysis to the valuable teachings in Reinventing You.
Changing Behaviors Can Augment Our Career Reinvention Process. For example, some people may mean need to become more proactive in making business connections by reaching out and inviting them to lunch or an early morning cup of coffee. For others, it may mean putting together a campaign to submit and pitch articles to industry publications so to build a thought leadership reputation in a new industry community.
The behavioral change will be different for everyone, but following through is important. Here’s a direct quote from Reinventing You:
Small tangible signals are only part of the battle, however. The biggest challenge is changing your behavior to reflect your new goals and reality.
From Hollywood Dealmaker and Power Broker to Trusted Advisor and Business Coach. Mr. Ovitz now leverages his wealth of Hollywood client advisory experiences to counsel growing Silicon Valley startups and their young executives. He’s not directly involved in “making the deals” for the entrepreneurs he now advises. But, he coaches, prepares, and reassures these entrepreneurs so they can successfully execute deals, negotiations, or other key (and sometimes unfamiliar) business activities required for company growth.
Here are examples from the Kaplan-Fortune article:
Managing Growth.At Anki, a consumer-robotics startup, the CEO says Ovitz has advised him during some late nights about ‘psychological transitions’ as his company grows.
Pitching Wall Street.At Formation 8, a flush new VC fund focused on Asia, Ovitz has explained to the three investment partners how to hone their image and brand for Wall Street types. “Michael knows that world too,” says Joe Lonsdale, one of the young Formation 8 partners. “He can show us how to ask them for a favor, but how not to push to hard.”
Telling Your Company’s Unique Story and Providing Reassurance.Ovitz serves as a guru to other prominent people in the tech world, including Tony Bates, the president of Skype, and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, the home-sharing network. Ovitz coaches them on culture and storytelling. He picks them up when they have bouts of doubt.
Shun The Naysayers and Critics. Mr. Ovitz did. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical.
Professional Reinvention After 50 is More Than Possible. Michael Ovitz proves it can be done (and he’s approaching 70). And, Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows you how to do it.
Our Turn: What Behaviors Do We Need to Shift? Changing and executing these behaviors may make us uncomfortable. These may include trying new things that may not work. But, taking intelligent risks is an important part of career development (and reinvention).
Why not, submit some of your best blog posts to certain publications to become a contributing writer / editor?
Why not, directly connect on email, Twitter, LinkedIn, (or another social network) to a renowned business author or respected business leader (especially if you can provide her/him something of value)?
Why not, make that phone call or send that email to a potential, new business connection inviting them to breakfast, coffee, or lunch? Maybe, you have something that can help advance that person’s career (i.e., a LinkedIn connection, a blog post supporting that person’s book, thousands of engaged Twitter followers, etc.).
If It Makes Us Nervous, We’re on the Right Track. The worst that can happen is any of the above (or all of the above) say no. But, all it takes is one “yes” …
… and that “one” may lead to something life-changing and magical.
If you enjoyed this post, here’s the link to the first post in the series. Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50–Lesson 3: Develop Validators isscheduled fora January 24, 2014 publication.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This case study series is a self-initiated interpretation and analysis by me, the blog author. Dorie Clark and Michael Ovitz were neither consulted nor involved in how I developed the following analysis.
Reinventing You by Dorie Clark
Do YOU Think You’re Too Old To Reinvent Yourself After Age 50?
Dorie Clark’s book, Reinventing You is one of my favorite MUST-READ business books of 2013. Reinventing You is a GREAT investment for your professional career. Dorie’s book is a personal and professional development GIFT.
Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study: Michael Ovitz
Instead of a traditional book review, I’m applying Dorie’s thoughtful teachings to a successful real-world, high-profile career reinvention after age 50: Michael Ovitz, Owner of Broad Beach Ventures LLC.
This post is first in a series of six (6) about successful career reinvention after age 50.
The aforementioned Kaplan-Fortune article provides examples of Michael Ovitz’s latest career. In this post (and the next five), I will talk about linkages I see from Mr. Ovitz’s reinvention after age 50 to six (6) of Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You principles from Chapter 9: Reintroduce Yourself and Chapter 10: Prove Your Worth.
The bullet point highlighted in blue is the Reinventing You principle analyzed in this post:
Status — You Can Take It With You
Shift Your Behavior
Develop Validators
Leverage Symbolic Actions
Go Where The Action Is
Building Your Portfolio
Lesson 1: Status — You Can Take It With You
The Halo Effect
Maximize the Halo Effect of Your Unique Competive Advantage. In Reinventing You’s Chapter 9, Reintroduce Yourself,Dorie writes about the “halo effect” (as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Power: Why Some People Have It–And Others Don’t):
“It’s a psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect.” “If I think you’re good in one domain, I think you’re going to be good in other domains, as well. There’s the presumption that talented people have this set of generalized abilities.”
That ‘durability of reputation’–across both time and situations–makes it essential for you to be strategic about how you’re perceived from day one. “You need to do something to build a very good reputation, a personal brand, and that will help you not only in your current place but in other places, as well.”
The secret, then is to leverage both your past experiences and the confidence that you’ve derived from your accomplishments. After all, other people take their cues from you, so when you’re introducing your new brand, assume that others will welcome your contribution.
Key to the C-Suite
Michael Ovitz’s Unique, “Halo Effect” Competitive Advantage: CEO and Executive Chairman Level Access Across Multiple Industries. The Kaplan-Fortune Article describes two examples of how Mr. Ovitz leverages his lifelong business connections and maximizes his former Hollywood mogul / dealmaker / powerbroker status to open C-Suite doors previously closed to young, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Peter Szulczewski, CEO of Wish.com: The October 2013 Fortune article describes how Mr. Ovitz assisted Szulczewski when he ran into problems with initially securing the company’s domain name.
The company had an uninspired name, ContextLogic, and its beta website was the forgetable wishwall.me. Wish.com wasn’t available.
Ovitz saw immediately that the domain name was critical. “I can help with that!” he (Ovitz) told Szulczewski, and, with his big swinging Rolodex, within weeks tracked down the owner of wish.com. It was a French subsidiary of Barry Diller’s IAC. Szulczewski handled the actual negotiation — he won’t disclose the price — but Ovitz war-gamed tactics beforehand.
Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist, PayPal co-founder, and Chairman of Palantir Techologies on the breadth and power of the the Michael Ovitz business network (also from the Kaplan-Fortune article):
“Michael can get us in to see any CEO in the U.S.,” Thiel says. “The Valley has this excessive insularity. But he has cross-sector relationships in New York, L.A., and other places.” Thiel says Ovitz has a preternatural ability to ‘learn things quickly and then communicate them to the outside world.”
Since the dotcom implosion of the late 1990s, he (Thiel) says, too many new companies in the Valley have ‘retrenched,’ de-emphasizing relationships with other businesses and institutions. Consulting Ovitz, whose network Thiel calls ‘second to none,’ has been a way to overcome that inclination.
Closing Thoughts
More Than a Decade Before Reinventing You’s Publication, Mr. Ovitz Successfully Applied the Book’s Valuable Principles. His focus, street smart savvy, and resilience are why Michael Ovitz successfully continues “working his magic” after age 50.
During this reinvention period and today, Mr. Ovitz shuns his critics and naysayers. Tenacity and mental toughness are critical to a successful career reinvention (at any age).
Professional Reinvention After 50 is ABSOLUTELY Possible. Michael Ovitz proves it. Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You shows us how to do it.
What makes us different from others in our current field (and the new domain we want to break into)?
How can we help others, what doors can we open, and who are the unique connections in our business networks so we can maximize our individual halo effects?
Those unique competitive advantages can help us “work our magic.”
Just like Michael Ovitz …
Please stay tuned for the next post in this series on Reinventing You After Age 50. Lesson 2: Shift Your Behavior is scheduled for a Friday, January 17, 2014 publication.
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President Obama dined this past week with several power players from the technology world. As expected, this private event held at the home of John Doerr, a partner with Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers generated significant public relations buzz for the business leaders in attendance.
