Spirit in the Village

Seth Godin - We are Living in the Industrial Revolution of our Time

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This is Part 2 - See Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity.

Part 2 - Seth Godin - Invisible or Remarkable

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin at the Communitech Leadership Conference in Waterloo Ontario. His presentation called Invisible or Remarkable focused on the changes happening in our world from the way we interact to how we create wealth.

According to Seth we are living through the Industrial Revolution of our Time and this revolution will dwarf the one experienced by our ancestors in the 1700 and 1800's. Technology and new media provide us all with the tools for being part of this revolution and what's exciting is he invites us all to play an active role in what's coming.

The Old Paradigm - Interruption Marketing

He referred to the old paradigm for marketing as Interruption Marketing where companies found innovative ways to interrupt people with commercials, ads and by getting in their face.

Interruption Marketing was successful but at a cost: average products for average people. If you’re going to be successful and interrupt everyone, you better be average.

The formula for success in the old paradigm: buy ads > distract > sell more > make a profit. (And remember: be average)

This formula has fallen apart recently.

He says there is too much clutter in the old paradigm. Products are branded to death, too costly to promote and it’s getting harder for marketers to break the noise and get through to consumers. In the new paradigm customers don’t want our attention. They are not listening since they have been spammed too many times.

The question: How do you take your business above the noise?

(I like this photo)

The New Paradigm - We are in the business of spreading ideas.

The new paradigm is take something that is good enough and change it so everyone is talking about it. He uses the purple cow as an example and says nobody talks about cows, but if you create a purple cow, everybody starts talking and the spam goes away.

His Advice for Companies

You need to totally embrace new media for your business (by committing resources and time) or stay away from it completely.

Your message is too important to be left to the marketing department.

The race is for permission. The race is for tribes.

Permission Marketing

Permission Marketing is where you learn to turn strangers into friends and you earn the right to connect. He says Apple has earned this privilege and other companies are learning to do the same.

The revolution as Seth describes is direct communication with people who make and buy your services.

Tribes

Tribes are everywhere and have been around since the beginning of civilization. They are a natural part of our human desire to connect and can be found within religion, politics, corporations, everywhere... The opportunity is to build and lead tribes. It takes only 10 people to build a tribe and a person can make a great living with a committed tribe of 1000 people.

The Big Shift in Thinking

We are no longer creating Customers for Products but we are now tasked with creating Products for Customers.

Success before Commitment is now Commitment before Success.

The first point says to me that through the structure of technology and new media we now have the ability to hear what our customers want and make products and services specific for them. The second point says we need to take risks, try various approaches and commit until we succeed.

Final Thoughts & Observations

Seth Godin is an excellent presenter who provokes us with images and words to wake up and understand the real story of what’s happening in our world today. His blog is considered the most popular marketing blog in the world and with a little reading you can understand why he has earned that title.

As I personally speak to executives and business owners I am excited by how many are trying to absorb the message of new media and apply the methods to their business. The big questions today: Should I blog? Should I Twitter, use Facebook or YouTube? How do I take my product or service and rise above the noise?

Traditional business structures are changing. Marketing, PR, Sales, Product Development and overall organizational strategy are going through fundamental shifts. The next few years will require a leadership, fresh ideas and the courage to look at business in a new way.

The Industrial Revolution of our time is the Internet, new media and the infrastructure that technology provides. Adapting and thriving in this new paradigm will be our task.

Jeremy Gutsche – Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin and Jeremy Gutsche talk at the Communitech Leadership conference in Waterloo Ontario.

Here are some highlights which I have divided into two parts.

Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Jeremy Gutsche is the CEO and Founder of Trendhunter.com, the world’s largest community for trend spotting, ideas, creativity and innovation. Jeremy started by saying the main challenge for consumers and businesses is how we learn to manage and make sense of all the chatter and noise on the web.

He says inspiration has become distracting and the noise too much.

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

In order to compete effectively companies need to find ways to rise above the noise with innovative messaging, a better understanding the customer and a willingness to take risks. Jeremy touched on what he calls adaptive innovation where he says the Internet and social media have changed the rules for customer engagement. Today creating culture is the best way to attract customers and says when planning your business, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Risk is Good

He encourages companies to let go of rigid controls that hinder innovation and develop more of a gambling philosophy. This worked for the BBC as they struggled for years with rigid controls when they took a risk and produced the hit TV show, the Office.

Jeremy says learning to fail is a good and his motto win like you are used to it and lose like you enjoy it!

Success Leads to Complacency

He used the analogy of Smith Corona who in 1989 sold $500 million in typewriters and by 1995 were bankrupt after being unwilling to adapt to consumer demands and opportunities for new technologies (like computers).

He says, success leads to complacency and encourages companies to talk with customers, listen and be open to the complete possibility of what could be.

Supercharging your Message for Results that Creates Impact

When marketing for the web he says create a message that is simple, direct and supercharged. When Sarah Palin was running for Vice President, one simple change from Female Vice Presidents to Hot Vice Presidents garnered a million more hits to his website. Another was for a hamburger franchise, Fleurburger who took the term the world’s most expensive hamburger and supercharged their message to the $5000 hamburger resulting in increased hits.

Observations

I came away from this presentation with a feeling that every rule I ever learned about business has changed forever. The Internet and New Media are like the Wild West, everybody's carrying a six shooter and who knows going to live, die or take all the gold.

How we attract business will require creativity, innovative thinking and leadership from all levels within an organization. These are exciting times and an opportunity for average people and companies to create incredible wealth and rise way above the noise...

I will leave you with a video from Jeremy’s website.

Next Post: Seth Godin and the 21st Century Industrial Revolution.

Creating Work Life Balance - Part 1 - Global Balance

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

There are a growing number of thinkers, leaders and visionaries who are looking for ways to improve the quality of life for people around the world. As the first in a series of articles on work life balance one might wonder why I put global balance at the beginning. My reason is simple; creating balance at a global level lets us see the bigger picture. If we see the bigger picture then our ability to create balance in other areas becomes easier.

Global Balance looks at issues that affect us on a planetary level from the environment, population growth, prosperity, trade & financial systems, poverty, education, healthcare as well as peace and security.

There are three main factors that make global balance a real possibility in the 21st century:

1. Leadership, Vision and People with a Desire to make a Difference

Without leadership and vision creating global balance is impossible.

Let me give you an example.

America: The Global Leader

American leadership over the last 50+ years has created the foundation for the worlds prosperity through open markets, technology and healthcare innovations, education, global communications as well as democracy and freedom. America’s leaders going as far back as Eisenhower and Roosevelt (Video) have historically held in high regard their responsibility to provide global leadership.

America: The Lost Years 2001-2008

George W. Bush broke that rule because after 9-11 he built an America that closed its doors and turned its back on the rest of world. America began a policy of bluntly putting American interests first and politely (or impolitely) told other nations that global cooperation was not important.

Many Americans soon realized George W. did not have their best interests in mind either and was not a leader (video). He treated wounded soldiers poorly, let social systems suffer, taxed everybody but the rich and deregulated business to a point where the system eventually collapsed. His focus was to improve the lives of the wealthy and use his political and military power to beat the world into submission.

George Bush lost sight of America’s role as a global leader and made America the enemy of progress and change.

George W. Bush: The Catalist of Change

In hindsight George W. Bush was the best thing for the world because other countries had become too negligent and reliant and expected America to do all the heavy lifting. More countries today want to be part of that larger global discussion and are more willing to step up to the plate with action.

With a new American administration many are relieved that Barack Obama not only has an American vision but a global vision to build and create more cooperation within the world.

2. Technology, Communication & Communities

Technology in the 21st century enables us to educate, organize, build awareness and find the financial and non-financial resources necessary to make changes at fundamental levels. There are tens of thousands of websites committed to making changes on major global issues like the environment, social justice, alleviating poverty and disease, creating peace, promoting religious understanding, improving trade, education and creating opportunities for people around the world.

Technology provides the infrastructure that allows us to create global balance.

3. Organization, Resources & Action

Leadership and technology enable us to communicate, educate, create the political will and come up with solutions necessary to improve lives. The next step is action. This is where nations, states, local governments, communities, organizations, NGOs and individuals provide boots on the ground and make the changes necessary to improve lives. I'll talk about how this being done in future posts.

I'll leave you with a video from Ted.com from Bjorn Lomborg on setting global priorities.

Food for Thought Friday - The Flat Earth, my Career Search and Gratitude

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been putting some thought into a variety of topics. I’m in gathering mode trying to understand and put together some of the pieces of my life puzzle. Here are some of my insights from the past 2 weeks.

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century

I’m reading Thomas Friedman’s book called, The World is Flat, a brief history of the 21st century. I have to admit I purchased the book a year ago but the 600 pages originally seemed a little daunting. The book was sitting on my shelf collecting dust but every now and then I could hear it calling my name, “Kevin…. Kevin….”

I’m glad I finally picked it up.

Technology & Globalization

Friedman talks about how technology and globalization are changing literally every aspect of our society and how nations, corporations and individuals are adapting or will adapt to that change. India, China, Eastern Europe, Russia and other developing nations are quickly emerging as dominant economies and the overall power structure within our world is changing.

He talks about outsourcing, increased competition, education, government policies and how we (meaning everybody) need to learn to think differently and plan ahead.

Did You Know Video

Here’s a great video that has been floating around on the Internet but that I recently found at Volker’s Blurb a blogger who talks about Life and Business.

How will we Adapt to the Coming Changes?

Make no mistake as the 21st century evolves China and India will become dominant economies, American and European influence will decline and world will establish a much more level playing field. Individually we need to understand these changes, adapt our lives and educate our children to prosper within this new economy.

Our changing reality is the main reason why I began talking about Meditation and the Life Balance Project but in future posts I want to discuss strategies on how we can adapt to the changes that are being thrust upon us by our changing world.

My Career Search

My career search has been a little slow partly because I’ve been balancing the process of wanting to find a job but also making sure that I find an opportunity that I want.

Cookie Cutters

Applying for jobs can be a daunting process because applicants are forced to put together a resume most of the time geared to a job description. Most companies still take a cookie cutter approach to recruitment and if you ever work with cookie cutters everything has to be cut the same way or it just doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s nice to just plop the dough on the tray and put the cookies in the oven. They usually taste better, especially if they’re chocolate chip.

Seriously though I recently took some advice from Chris Brogan and with insights from my World is Flat book and other sources and have updated my resume and Linkedin profile to showcase my talents.

Sales 2.0 and the Hybrid Salesperson

For years I have worked in software sales in the IT Industry and quite frankly I’ve found traditional selling techniques have become less effective in a Web 2.0 world. At one time in my career (from 1997-2004) I could make a call and send an email to a prospective customer and chances were good with a little persistence they would get back to me.

Today those same customers have more control and feel more empowered to do the research on their own but more importantly their time is limited often bombarded and overwhelmed with emails and the responsibilities of their jobs. Life has become significantly faster in the past 5 years and for salespeople there is less time to connect and make an impact. The best strategy is to become what I call a Hybrid Salesperson who is someone who manages sales, social media, marketing, customer service, relationships and helps customer find solutions - all in one package.

Here is an article from Hubspot that compares a traditional sales funnel with the modern sales funnel. (See pages 2 and 3 of the article)

You'll notice from the Hubspot article that sales used to be in control of the sales funnel but today that process at best is shared and sometimes the influence of sales is non-existant. The reality is the world of selling has changed and companies are finding they need to adapt.

Work Balance & Looking Outside the Box

As I seek out my next career or consulting project I’m looking for organizations that use cookie cutters more as a frame of reference rather than set in stone commandments. That’s part of the main reason why I’ve started the Work Balance Project because I'm interested in companies who look outside the box and have high standards for their business, customers and employees.

In a flat world I recognize that some day soon I may be working for a Chinese, Indian, European, American or Australian company. In fact location won’t even matter. That prospect is exciting!!

If you missed my Linkedin profile here is a list of my talents:

• Adaptable
• Teacher, Explainer, Story Teller
• Collaborator
• Team Player & People Skills
• Leadership & Mentoring
• Integration & Technology Proficient
• Ideas & Vision
• Flexibility

And one more: Fun!

Story Telling & Teaching

Of all these talents the one I relate to best is that of a story teller or teacher. For companies wanting to tell their story I’m great at getting a message across whether written, spoken or in person.

Gratitude

Earlier in the week I posted about gratitude and what I've learned is that gratitude is all their is. I feel an incredible appreciation for my life, my family, my health, living in the country that I do (Canada), the opportunities that exist out there in the world and the people that I meet both online and in person. The worlds is good and as much as the world has problems there's a lot more good going on than bad. This is good to remember.

The Weekend

The weekend is here. I’m looking forward to exploring the areas of work-life balance and finishing my World is Flat book. There are other books sitting on my table ready to be read. Maybe I’ll check out Twitter, do a little meditation, play my guitar and then go to the gym.

Maybe it's not too late to join the Flat Earth Society.

Have a great weekend.

Food for Thought Fridays - #1

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This was a productive week with a lot of activity some good quality connections and a number of new insights. Fridays afternoons are usually my time to reflect on the week just past, finish up on projects and then plan for next week. I’ve been trying to figure out what do with Friday or weekend postings and thought it might be an idea to offer other bloggers the opportunity to do guest posts or talk about things that I learned this week. Here goes – Food for Thought Fridays #1...

Social Media, Blogging, Web 2.0

Thought Leadership

David Meerman Scott is one blogger I follow. He comes from a marketing background and talks specifically to marketers and companies on how to communicate more effectively with customers in the Web 2.0 world. David has introduced me to the concept of Thought Leadership and has inspired me to look at my own blog, my experiences and begin presenting my insights so they provide real value for my readers.

Coming from IT software sales I’m putting together a Sales 2.0 E-book that will help companies, sales managers and sales people become more effective in selling in the new social media and Web 2.0 world. Look for it soon.

Life Balance

Yesterday I published 6 Tips for Bringing more Flow into our Lives and received some great feedback from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and my blog. Flow is so critical to our happiness in life and goes within the framework of creating Work-Life Balance.

Conversations & Twitter

On Twitter there have been some great interactions. Twitter is such a great tool for learning to have discussions with people who share similar ideas. Here are some of the folks I’ve had the pleasure to chat with recently: @DebSoul @AnitaBruzzese @naimul @williger @Nurul54
@ShawnaCoronado

Guest Post on the Baby Boomers Knowledge Center

Here is the link to my guest article:

Social Media, Baby Boomers and the Technology Generation Gap

That’s it for my week. Enjoy your weekend.

Insights for a Friday - Twitter, Stumble Upon & Blog Readership

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Here are some of my Friday reflections for the week.

My Twitter Account

My Twitter followers are now at 1000. This is cool considering I only signed up back in mid January. My main motivation was to look at ways of promoting my blog but what I’ve realized is Twitter is a networking tool that can be used to build your personal brand, your business, find a job, have a voice and connect with others with similar interests.

The experience can feel overwhelming because of the volume of conversations. What's important to remember is you don’t have to be there for every conversation. There is no way I can build personal relationships with 1000 people and over the next year or so this will likely grow into the tens of thousands.

Twitter when used effectively can help you build your personal brand, promote your business, find a job, have a voice and connect you directly with interesting people.

Stumble Upon

Stumble Upon is great resource for bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Stumble Upon allows you to bookmark and tag sites that you find interesting. You set up an account, network & create friends (if you want) and people can see sites you’ve selected. There is also a random selector where you can select at tag (let’s say “guitars”) and Stumble Upon will direct you to some awesome sites!

No more having to file or keep track of favorites for me in Google.

Stumble Upon is a great resource for keeping track of your favourite sites as well as finding great content.

Insights on My Blog – Building Readership

This week I had an interesting breakthrough. Building a blog or online business often takes time, patience and determination to make it work. At the same time there are so many people selling or promoting on the web that I sometimes wonder who’s really listening.

Most who are promoting their blog or service will never read my blog because they are so focused on their own goals. They take a yang approach to building their business and this is okay and works for many. The bloggers that I have personally connected with tend to have more of a balance. They know how to promote their service (yang) and they know how to listen or give (yin). This week I discovered building my blog is about that balance, building readership one subscriber at a time and on a personal level. It’s not about web hits, Twitter followers or how many people click on an ad.

Authentically connecting and networking might take time but in the long term your blog and brand build more credibility.

Patience is important. All is well.

Turning Up the Light!!

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Alright I have a confession to make. I’ve been spending a lot of time writing and blogging lately. There’s good reason for that. Back at the end of January I was downsized from my job. In fact it was January 22nd the day I did my first complete post on the Meditation Project.

Coincidence? I’m not so sure.

I’m always a believer there is reason for everything that happens and this was no exception. I wasn’t the only one. There were others downsized and the reasons given were due to the economy. Millions of people in the past year have either lost jobs, had work cut back, are in fear of losing their job or know of someone who has. These are uncertain times for business and people as our society navigates our way out of this. What’s interesting about this economic slowdown is there are sectors that are performing well while others have suffered. Time will tell how it all unfolds.

Losing my job has been a blessing because it’s given me time to write, blog and learn about social media and networking tools like Twitter and Linkedin. The last 1-1/2 months has allowed me to lose weight (about 15 lbs), re-start my stalled exercise program, and focus on the Meditation Project. This time has also helped me gain clarity on the important question, what is it I want from life? This is exactly what the doctor ordered.

The time is right for me to find a new career, this time a little wiser and more aware of what I want.

Blogging and Finding My Authentic Voice

During my time as a blogger (2-1/2 years) I’ve been trying to find my authentic voice. What is it I really want to say? This blog started as a travel blog telling of my wife Karen and our honeymoon to France, Italy and Switzerland. As much as I love traveling we haven’t done much since and blogging about my recent trip to the grocery store would probably be a little boring.

Other topics I have written about include the environment, current events, and talks and while I find all these topics important too many people take sides and because we’re either left or right, green or oil, conspiracy or non-conspiracy. I’m not interested in discussions of who’s right or wrong. Personally I think these debates are pointless and do nothing constructive for our society.

Obama came along with a new message about unity. He impressed me so much with his message that like millions of others I became a fan and wrote about him.

Whether we make our home on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, our blog or wherever I’ve discovered, all anyone really wants to do is tell their story.

Blogging for me is like a painting, you create a sketch, throw in some colors and before you know it begins to look like something. My blog is my painting and it’s my opportunity to tell my story.

The light of authenticity is now fully turned on and I'm looking forward to sharing a lot more.

Social Media: Bring your Bike, Training Wheels & Helmet!

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last Friday I wrote an article on Social Media and Technology Fatigue and several interesting discussions emerged.

Time Limits

One comment from Jay Frawley at Inner Noodle was a recognition that our time is limited and those who individuals who take Social Media seriously tend to focus on one or two communities. Jay’s are Twitter and StumbleUpon.

The Novelty of Social Media

Nimesh Shah wrote an article on Social Media projections for 2009 and said in a comment on my blog that Social Media is still in the novelty stage. Like most things, when they are new people rush to try them out, fatigue sets in and then value gradually dies out. Adding to what he said people will come back normally a little smarter and wiser, the next wave happens and if it’s a good trend will bring more people along.

Can Social Media Provide Real Value?

Greg Cannon from 41 Days asked on Linkedin, Can Social Media make profit? Greg reflected on the dot com boom back in 2000 where there were thousands of companies but only those who provided real value and created profitable services made it. He says the same is true today in our social media world and we both agreed there is a real opportunity for traditional businesses to succeed in this area.

Changing Business Models and Social Media

In business we are still in the early stages of social media being adopted. Companies are not yet fully engaged because it requires a very different mindset for doing business not only with customers but with employees. There are the thought leaders who are helping us understand these trends (David Meerman Scott or Chris Brogan) and more of us are catching on everyday. For the most part we are riding our social media bikes with our training wheels, a helmet and Dad’s holding our seat to make sure we don’t fall. In most cases Dad's no where to be found so we're trying to balance ourselves.

The Obama campaign showed us the real potential of social media and how we can align large numbers of people towards a common goal. The future is going to be incredibly exciting as our world gradually embraces these new technologies.

More to come on social media...

Finding and Living your Passion - An Introduction

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last night a friend invited me (last minute) to an open mic night for song writers. It was Monday night and my wife and I were planning a quiet evening but I thought why not. So I drove down to the restaurant, met my friend and we had a chance to mingle and listen to some awesome guitarists, piano players and song writers.

The songs started at 8pm and we were last on the list so didn’t actually get up to play until 10:15. By then being a Monday night most of the early crowd had left but I still got to play a couple of my songs, Love is Free and New Day.

You can check out my song writing page to take a listen although I did a much better version of New Day last night.

Playing on stage is fun and although I’m still not fully at ease with what to say when I’m up there I’m rarely nervous when I play. I simply put my songs out there and hopefully someone will like them. Driving home I thought about writing songs, blogging and the things I love to do. What if we could all have a career that allows us to do those things we love? What if we could live our passion and at the same time earn good money?

Over the next few posts I’m going to write about finding and living your passion.

Here are some of the topics.

• Discovering your Interests & Passion in Life
• Personality Types – Being Real About what we Want
• Meditation, Visualization and Focusing on your Life’s Passion
• Branding You and Your Message to Align with your Passion
• Using Social Media to Find and Live your Passion

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Social Media & Technology Fatigue

Fridays is my day to either offer guest posts or talk about other topics that interest me. Here it is Friday morning and I just received another invitation to join an online community. This one is sure to change my life, help me increase traffic on my blog and be part of a movement that will change the planet…blah, blah, blah!

Communities, Burnout & Fatigue

Between Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin and a whole bunch of others I’m probably registered on 20-30 communities. Most I registered once and have never been back. I’d hazard a guess this happens for most people. Why? Because. There are too many communities, too many people, too much email and not enough time.

There are those who live their lives online and thrive within their communities but my question is do we burn out over time? You’ll see someone on Facebook or MySpace posting frantically, text messaging, status updates, posting photos and then suddenly… SILENCE… they disappear and you never see them again. Is it burnout, fatigue are they just taking a break? Not an easy question to answer.

Katherine Jennex aka @northernchick on Twitter posted about Social Media Fatigue (SMF) a couple of weeks ago.

Communities, Freelancers, Bloggers and Strategy

If you look at those who make money from the web you can tell they plan their time. They target specific communities, set time limits, keep their messaging tight and have a specific purpose. It’s all strategy designed to drive business.

As someone just starting take blogging seriously I find I have to set limits on being part of communities. Online communities can be big time wasters when there is no purpose.

Communities and Corporate Strategy

In the corporate world online portals & communities have been around for years and most companies now design communities as part of their marketing strategy. As more companies get on this band wagon I’m wondering how users will handle the influx of these requests.

Are we at or getting to a breaking point with social media?

Will we become more overwhelmed and confused?

Will we eventually push back against communities and refuse to give out any info?

How many communities can we be a part of and still do our jobs effectively?

I’m not sure what the answers are but there is certainly a fatigue factor involved. Time will tell how our relationship evolves with social media and online communities.