Whatever it is you’re passionate about and want to do – I want you to succeed.
For many of us it’s our career. You know that 9 to 5, Monday through Friday effort that allows us to support our families and obtain our dreams. Yeah, that one.
There is something that I wanted to share on that front, and hopefully it’ll help a bit. I want you to define your role. Define your role in your department, and in the organization as a whole. It could be in the company you work at today or the one you want to work for tomorrow. You need to take an active part in defining what you offer, and what what you bring to the mix.
Don’t allow yourself to be typecast or pigeonholed. Letting other people define the boundaries of where you’re supposed to participate or allowed to participate is unacceptable. You alone have that right.
You have the ability set boundaries and goals. You have control of the decisions that move you forward or backward. By defining your role, you establish your voice. By being vocal and establishing a presence, you have the means to share your perspectives and expertise in any situation your role lands you in.
Its not easy and it can be a little scary when first starting out, but the rewards are unending. Its also up to you to fulfil the role you define, but that sholdn’t be difficult because the definition of success and failure is also within your control as well.
Take that step to define your role in life, in work, and in the success that you want. Without figuring out what you want from your efforts, and what you want for your family, it’ll take a lot longer to get to your definition of success.
I sometimes refer to myself as a closet sociologist, mostly because I find myself looking at some of the outcomes of social media. Sure, I’ve always got “SocMed” on the brain! The past many years, I’ve been observing a few side affects of the evolution of the social web. One of them appears to be the reemergence of family values.
What kind of took me by surprise, though it shouldn’t have, was that this rediscovery of family and simpler things is mostly from Gen Y. Interestingly, the technologies that fueled web 2.0 and the social web have allowed us to finally start using computers for solving real societal needs – like those of connecting with family, friends and peers. Allowing us to share what we’re doing and how we’re feeling and what we think. Back in the “old days” that required a phone call or a visit. Think about the power of 140 characters in Twitter and how it can replace a 20 min. long distance phone call from one of those stationary wired telephones we used to have.
The ability of the social web to not only answer that question, but many, many others is mind-blowing to say the least. That’s the tip of the iceberg too as we continue to have many brilliant combinations of ideas (mashups!) come to the market to offer solutions we only dreamed of years ago – or maybe saw it on The Jetsons.
What I really find facinating though is the return to the simpler pleasures of family and friends by the latest generation. As they’ve emerged from college and started taking on the daunting role of becoming the largest portion of the workforce in the U.S. today, they’ve been able to show a lot of class in the process. Sure there are the gamer/slackers among them (and Gen X too!), and some fascinating entrepreneurs as well. Every generation has them.
However, its these savvy, digital natives that focus on family, integrity and professionalism that impress me the most. We’ve been told for decades how the Boomers had changed the world, and ushered in a new age of enlightenment. How the generation before them – the Greatest Generation, as it were, tackled so many difficult issues and problems. I suggest that the world that Gen Y is entering adulthood is no less troubled and stressed – in many ways we never thought possible even 20 years ago.
The interesting thing is how this youngest generation, has the potential to change the world in ways the Boomers never could, and doing it from a position of integrity, focusing on family, and being transparent. Its who they are – as natural to them as the iPhone in their hand.
Its been a long time since I really posted a personal post on what really is a personal blog. I’ve been wondering why that’s the case, and I’m sure you have too. Honesty I don’t know that is, but I do want to figure it out.
2009 has been a wild ride for me, with many highs and luckily only a few lows. The rapid and exciting growth of SMBMSP here in Minneapolis & St. Paul has been rewarding, yet stressful. The work at Land O’Lakes as their Social Media Strategist is similar but for vastly different reasons. The amount of work involved in each is daunting and keeps me engaged. For that I’m grateful.
On the personal side of things, life has again been good though recently my wife has started having some heart palpitations that have me worried. It’s worse for me because I just don’t know all the medical things that go on or what they mean. Yeah, I’m a pretty typical male when it comes to medical things – just don’t pay attention as well as I should. We’re still finding out more about this and it’ll be a learning experience as we adapt to new lifestyle needs.
I’ve been quiet around here for awhile, and I don’t have a reason or message as to why. This year has been a challenge and I neglected making the time to share information and ideas. The past week, I’ve started posting on my Happiness series again. Mostly because of recent events, but partly because I liked them so much. They have little to do with social media in business, which is where my specialty in social media is going, but proved to be an important part of my inspiration in 2008, so they’ll be making a comeback.
Overall, I’m looking forward to the next couple months. More writing is on my todo list, but more important is taking things to the next level. I guess that’s what I’m here to invite you to do as well. Its time to make the next step on all levels. Enough of working within the confines of the current norms. Are you ready to step up the pace? Ready for the challenge? I hope you join me on the journey as we plan for and enter 2010. I hope to share a few new and exciting things in the coming weeks as we close out this year, and begin to cap off the decade next year. Until tomorrow my friends.
Well its high time that I start posting the SMBMSP podcasts, as we continue to crank them out every month. A visit to good friend and fellow SMB organizer Mykl Roventine’s blog got me thinking I should start. So below are the show notes and podcast.
I’d like to mention that we’re holding a contest for a podcast theme song, and we discuss the details in this show. Along with Mykl Roventine is our producer, Brad Bellaver of Bellamedia and special guest Amy Bryant who wrote a fantastic Thanksgiving post on her blog last week.
We talk a bit about giving thanks and what we’re thankful Social Media has brought into our lives and experiences, so I hope you give it a listen. As always, feedback is very welcome.
You can find the podcast home page and information and feed links here.
Sometimes I get tired of telling the same story, but very often, that’s exactly what it takes to induce change. That change is the very root of social media and its associated tools, networks, and concepts. Since everyone learns at a different pace, and in different ways, it becomes necessary to relate the concepts of something new, multiple times.
Take the many layers of an organization for example. You have the executive level, the management level, and the worker level. There are several variations on these, some unique to different industries and professions, but bare with me for a moment.
Each of these levels requires the same information to be related in different, unique ways. Sometimes it could be adding or removing detail, in other cases it might be exchanging case studies to make the point more relevant to the person listening or reading. In any case, being able to read your audience and recognizing how the recipient needs to digest the information is part of the puzzle of a good communications professional.
This is but one of many skills the social media professional needs to have in their toolkit, and goes back to being a multi-disciplinarian, what our grandparents used to call “a jack of all tradesâ€.
Doesn’t it seem like we talk a lot about social media as a tool for sales or marketing? It certainly is a great channel for that in the right context, and the right usage. I’m curious how many folks who talk about building a community for their customers have thought about building community for their employees. Take that external viewpoint and turn around… apply it internally… what do you think could happen? The idea is nothing new, and actually pre-dates "social media" by a long time. We’ve all been part of special groups within other organizations. I’m sure the companies you’ve worked for have had groups that range from bowling leagues to cross-functional project groups, to cost-reduction purchase management councils. Groups take many different forms, but these examples don’t really represent "community" as we use the term for social media. I was reminded during the "Behind The Firewall" chat on Twitter last night (#btf every Thursday at 8pm CT) that IBM had done a lot of this work in the late 90s using Lotus Notes. That was probably one of the first packaged tools available that allowed for both free form and structured interactions. Businesses have been looking for ways to build more productive teams. Social Media, er… I mean collaboration, (no they’re not the same, but many folks confuse the issue – we’ll roll with it for now), is one of those methodologies that can accomplish multiple tasks. If you remove the technology portion for a minute, and the marketing perspective, you can start to focus on solving business issues. This is where social media can prove it’s adaptability to an organization.
Building community inside most large organizations is difficult, but no more so than building community in a public forum. You have several different interest groups, and numerous points of view in every organization, these aspects and others make up the great diversity that companies can draw on to power their internal communities. Building collaborative environments that allow for socialization of profiles and interaction enables employees to find like-minded folks elsewhere in the company. These folks are having conversations about work, life, projects, challenges, problems and much more. These conversations already take place at the "water cooler", in the cube farms, on the loading docks, in the lunch room and anywhere else employees feel comfortable talking.
That’s the key to it too, comfort level. Providing an environment that people can speak their mind can be a larger productivity boost than a time waster. Create that space using social media tools & ideas, and let folks have a venue for conversations about work, conversations about non-work life, and a anonymous sounding boards that let folks give feedback and even vent frustrations a little bit.
Collaboration is a key piece of the puzzle to be sure, but make sure to include the social part too. "Social" is not a four letter word, and is not exclusive to non work life. We all socialize professionally at work, collaborating on increasing sales, and satisfying customers in one way or another. If everyone is "on the same team", how effective is that team without getting to know each other better? Let those relationships grow organically within the employee population rather than trying to mandate it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
“We are not enemies but friends.” Live your life. Completely. Without fear. Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy. Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
I want you to succeed.
I sometimes refer to myself as a closet sociologist, mostly because I find myself looking at some of the outcomes of social media. Sure, I’ve always got “SocMed” on the brain! The past many years, I’ve been observing a few side affects of the evolution of the social web. One of them appears to be the reemergence of family values.
Its been a long time since I really posted a personal post on what really is a personal blog. I’ve been wondering why that’s the case, and I’m sure you have too. Honesty I don’t know that is, but I do want to figure it out.
