Conversation Agent

The Force of Desire

Have you ever experienced one of those moments when everything around you seems to go crazy?

You worked very hard on a project putting in insane hours, stretching yourself to the limit, getting all your proverbial ducks in a row and cannot wait for that magic moment, the tipping point, when it all comes together. And just when you expected everything to fall into place you get complete chaos instead. That is not the moment to start doubting yourself. It is not a good time to pull back.

In fact, that is the moment when you need to renew your commitment to the project, to let your desire to create, learn, and make a mark in the world carry you through. Take a look at how Seth Godin defines success. That is a very large part of it.

Desire to make something happen is an invincible force. Give it space. Let it gain in range.

Life is to be lived fully. Life is an expansion that combines passion with research. Success, very much like love, is connected with a person's ability to tell a story. We all build our lives around stories. Those who can build an open and expansive story will have an open and expansive life. Those who build a limited story, will live a limited life.

Our Love Affair with the Screen

I was reading The Sunday Inquirer and came across Karen Heller’s column titled The Tyranny of the Screen Reaches, and Ruins, the iPod. Heller writes “there are too many screens fighting for people’s attention, mostly people under age 25.” She calls what young people view on the tiny iPod screens junk. According to Heller music, which began life on the iPod as a personalized soundtrack, is going all visual on us and that is not a good thing. The visual aspects of music is the realm of stylists and hair extension artists, she writes, looks before talent.

That is an interesting view, one that does indeed merit some consideration.

The reality is that we are visual creatures. While we can turn off sound by focusing on what goes on in our heads, while we can choose to stand still for a spell, our vision is turned on from the time we wake up in the morning to the end of our day. We need to look to see where we’re going and to acquire knowledge, and we’ve come to rely increasingly on screens to pull our news, do our work, or be entertained.

Back in the day it was TV that killed the radio stars, as the song goes. As the Internet has grown in popularity and more producers of applications continue to make it easier to publish on the Web, that is becoming our interface of choice. We can watch movie clips on our mobiles, watch sports stars on stadium screens and, yes, watch music video clips on iPods.

Screens are multiplying and, in doing so, they are providing a new playground of opportunities to industries from marketing to entertainment to computing and telecommunications. Harry Joiner reports How Home Depot is Changing Marketing on their high-traffic Web site where vendors can communicate their stories via video.

Let's think for a moment what would happen if brick and mortar retailers provided the information that their online colleagues use to put order to massive variety and make choice easy. How cool would it be to have mini-screens available at supermarkets so we can sort products by popularity, comparative prices and reviews. Wouldn't we spend more time there? Wouldn't they sell more?

Kevin Roberts, CEO of idea company Saatchi & Saatchi, calls this phenomenon of multiplying screens SISOMO (Sight, Sound, Motion). He believes that creating emotional connections in the market through sisomo will see the transformation of every single player in the digital revolution. This transformation will be made with inspiration and emotion, not just technology.

Roberts believes that the three keys to the heart of consumers -- Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy -- come alive through Sight, Sound and Motion. Sisomo, he writes, is the key to the puzzle that is the growing complexity of technology – this is the true energy of the convergence equation, what allows for emotional connections with people.

Let’s think about this for a moment – the screen can be the new marketplace, the visual interface, the convergence of products, services, ideas, information, and inspiration. How do we design experiences through this medium that engage us to think with our hearts and feel with our brains?

What’s the screen's attraction?

It feels real – what comes through goes straight into the right side of our brains, the emotional, intuitive, creative space. Any memory we make on screen is a shared property of all who watched. Does Neil Armstrong own the memory of the first step on the moon? Not any more. We were all there with him, watching from our living rooms.

It is intimate – we love to feel special and unique. That’s why we have our own soundtracks on iPods. We customize our mobile phones, send photographs and videos,and many of us are addicted to our BlackBerries.

It pumps out content – these are the doors or windows to more stories, images, information, and excitement than ever before.  If we pull the statistics of favorite gifts we may not be surprised to find out many of them have screens – plasma television sets, digital cameras, laptops.

It's physical – think of the full body interface of many sci-fi movies like the ones we've seen in Minority Report. These full body interfaces are already in the final stages of development. Screens are the perfect medium to deliver complex information. Think about a 3-D environment where applications such as traffic control, medical imaging and security are treated through sisomo. True interactivity is just around the corner.

It can be a loyal companion – do you know anyone who flips on the TV just to have background companionship? We leave or mobile phones on all the time. My niece not only designed the cover of her mobile phone, she also composed and recorded the ring tone with her electric guitar; she never leaves home without her phone.

It loves to play – let’s consider some statistics. Gaming is a $28-billion industry worldwide. I was sitting on a Lufthansa flight next to a soccer fan on his way to Germany during the World Cup as we were getting ready to take off. While he was playing a game on his mobile phone his two friends were trying to make conversation with him and the in flight attendant was attempting to have him to turn the device off. There was no way he was going to put his phone away, he had to finish his play.

According to a new report by analyst firm IDC, 64% of mobile phone owners play a mobile game at least once a day. Sales of phone games are expected to grow from $345 million in 2004 to $1.5 billion in 2008 in the U.S. alone. Informa Media Group, a London-based media and telecommunications research firm, says that worldwide cell phone games sales could reach about $1 billion in 2005 and $4 billion in 2007, compared with $584 million in 2003. First-day sales of Microsoft’s Xbox game Halo 2 were $125 million.

It's likable – from the early days of noses pressed against store windows, the twentieth century had an intense relationship with television. Alas today's distribution is the bottleneck of cable broadcast.

It tells stories – that’s why more and more people are uploading content that can be viewed through screens. Think of the popularity of YouTube videos.

Google Video launched January 19, 2006. Along with being a front store and aggregator of mainstream DVDs, it allows people to upload videos for free. And, by the way, there is a separate process to join if you're from a TV station or production facility through here.

It's connected – as more and more devices get connected to each other, let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s the ultimate connection that counts, the one to people. We operate the devices through great technologies, yet that’s all they are. We experience connection through great content.

It adds up – 64% of broadband users watch television or read newspapers or magazines at the same time they are online. The figure rises to 71% if they are wireless broadband users. Screens don’t stand alone. They must work together to give people the experience they want.

It allows you to belong – think of the FIFA World Cup. Some of our greatest stories have been inspired by sports. The passion, the grace, the strength, the highs and the moments of shame – this is what Roberts calls storytelling at its inspirational peak, infused with drama, intimacy, mystery and the senses all on high alert. For me as for many people around the world, the World Cup was an experience I shared over the screen.

Video iPods and video-enabled mobile phones allow us to stream short form content meant to be watched in moments snatched between other things. Think about streaming the highlights of your favorite sports-game, what convenience. Entertainment could be packaged with longer content to provide greater substance and satisfaction, a-la-carte. Not any more the domain of mainstream media, it could be the work of teams who join niche projects ad hoc.

Do you see the possibilities?

The Language of Connecting

A couple of years back I received a copy of Imagine, a small booklet written and designed by Synectics, Inc. to give people a bit of the feel for the work they do in fostering creativity and innovation in organizations.

One of the ways in which we can foster productive and creative environments is by using language that promotes and facilitates connection-making.

What other words and phrases could we use for connecting?

Joining in, asking permission, inspiring, energizing, motivating, supporting, fostering leadership in others all come to mind.

When all else fails, a good sense of humor saves the day every time.

How Good do You Want to Be?

Paul Arden's book It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be has been defined as a pocket guide to making the most of yourself, the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. Maybe a book cannot do all that by itself. It did spark a few thoughts.

Taking a second glance at the concise paperback I felt inspired to flesh out some principles that have guided me in my career:

• I do it for me - absolutely, unequivocally. Whatever your career goals, they should be your choice and yours alone. How good do you want to be? I would wager that many of us often think we are better than we are. But that is another conversation. We all want to be good, in fact many of us want to be great. Alas not many are prepared to do what it takes, to make the sacrifices required to go from good to great.
• Energy is a large part of it - call it what you will; passion, boundless enthusiasm, positive attitude. This is the vibe we give off when we feel anything is possible. We're in the flow, we dare to imagine and then we actually go ahead and take steps to get there. Energy is also believing in yourself, always.
• The right opportunity is the one in front of me right now - how many of us have been caught thinking or saying, if only (fill the gap here with your favorite opportunity/dream/situation/job) happened, then I could really shine. We are often waiting for the perfect moment, looking for the perfect job. There isn't a perfect job description out there, it is inside us, right now. We all have the opportunity to create our ideal job out of what is on our desk today, this moment, this project.
• Be interested, it beats trying to be interesting - and you can learn something, or a lot, in the process. The job interview is not the only type of interview we go to. We interview all the time. Sometimes we think of it as networking, sometimes we call it having an informational talk. Every time we try to put cleverness in front of communication, we lose. The substance resides in making a connection -- and that is more likely to happen when we are leaning in, engaged in the conversation, listening and processing what we hear.
• If you get stuck, draw with a different pen - this makes me think of the excellent advise I received a long time ago from a friend. If what you're doing is not working, don't do more of it, do something else instead. There are too many war stories to tell here. Suffice it to say that I have found jobs marketing myself with a brochure instead of a professional biography. Wouldn't word-of-mouth marketing be very much like networking? Change your tools, it may free your thinking and open up your mind.

How do you know when you're connecting with someone? A good indication is usually that if you are thinking you like them and you're enjoying the conversation, then generally they are reciprocating.

Blogs as Lovemarks

A recent report by Jupiter Research concludes that only a small percentage of consumers consider blogs and public forums to be trustworthy. When considering a purchase, they are twice as likely to trust information on a corporate Web site or on a professional review service.

20% of advertisers surveyed by Jupiter planned to use some form of viral marketing in the next year:

"New viral marketers will adopt advertising within blogs and social sites just as heavily as experienced viral marketers, and will also place increasing brand awareness ahead of direct response goals" according to the survey, which was conducted in April among 273 U.S. advertisers and 4,182 consumers.

If we go back and reconsider how we define blogs in a Long Tail world of content distribution, then we might agree that blogs are in fact lovemarks in niche markets. In that scenario, it would make perfect sense for marketers to reach their audience through that medium.

An example - Recently, Guy Kawasaki asked his audience to take a brief survey by Federated Media to learn more about his readership so that he could sell advertising on his blog. I like the idea of targeted marketing and branding. When I pull content from Guy's blog through my Google Account homepage, I give him permission to communicate with me and sometimes I choose to communicate back to Guy by way of posting comments on his blog. The greater conversation becomes 3-D to extend to other readers posting comments and, why not, the advertisers.

Remember that while it is wonderful to have access to free content and knowledge, the world moves and is sustained when something is sold so monetizing makes sense, especially in niche marketplaces.

Get Real: Surviving in a Reality-Show World

If you were looking for candidates to vote off the island ten years ago, Mark Burnett might have been on your short list. After distinguished service in the British military, he became a nanny, worked in an insurance office, and then sold t-shirts on the beach. But Mark Burnett is more than a "Survivor," and now he's one of the few people who can call Donald Trump and say, "You're fired!"

Today he is one of TV's hottest producers. With "unscripted" reality drama series successes like Survivor and The Apprentice under his belt, Burnett pioneered how reality television revolutionized the entertainment industry and raised the bar for audience expectations and participation in programming.

He discussed the impact of this shift on how businesses can meet audience expectations for constant innovation and having an active role in business decisions and communications at this year's IABC International Conference in Vancouver, BC.

So how do we survive in the corporate jungle?

1. The most important trait for success is flexibility. People who have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances triumph over seemingly stronger competitors. "People who stubbornly believe there is only one way to approach a problem are usually eliminated early," he said. "They become so obsessed with their plan that they don't even notice when circumstances around them change." Flxibility starts with paying attention to the people around you: what they do, what they say, how they operate, what they need. Consider no task beneath you. Do whatever it takes.

2. New ideas have to be presented right. How do you bring other people into your vision?  The first thing you need is enthusiasm. You have to engage the other person(s), paint the picture, to get the attention with a high energy level. You also need complete knoweldge of what you're pitching. You must be able to explain exactly how you will execute on your idea. That's how you gain the confidence of backers. Share the stories of you success with other ideas or from other areas. There are enormous advantages with being a pioneer in your field. We all recognize and reward ideas that are fresh.

3. Repetition is the key to retention. if you want them to remember you, give them plenty of face time. In The Apprentice, Burnett introduced an advertising component. The competing teams on the show had to develop product brochures or marketing campaigns for a product. The retention was this one-shot marketing effort was remarkable. Whether the teams did well on their assignment or not, they got people talking about the show, and the products. The message was presented in a a fun way and a novel context so you retain it. The whole episode was based on one product, making the whos in essence ad hour-long commercial. This made it good repetition.

Face time matters in another way, too. Burnett refuses to make pitches over the phone.

4. Dont' expect it to be always easy. You can always learn from adversity. Burnett had plenty of setbacks along the way. Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice as well as a much-hyped boxing reality show, The Contender, aired and sunk like a stone. "Successful people know they aren't going to hear 'yes' to every idea." In a crunch, it's better to keep momentum through compromise that to argue to a standstill.

5. Surround yourself with the best possible people. Never go it alone. A leader is only as good as his team. Burnett hires people who are smarter than he is; in a partnership he looks for the strongest allies he can find. If you're good at what you do, they'll recognize that, so you shouldn't be afraid and work with the best.

I confess I do not watch television so I have not been grabbed by the eyeballs with the millions who view Survivor and other reality shows. It seems to me that the desire to see behind the scenes, so to speak, to get a taste of the authentic person, is one of the reasons why weblogs have gained so much in popularity. The ability to join in, perceptual or otherwise, and interact with the content may be another one.

Word of Mouth vs. Viral Marketing

The September 4 issue of Brandweek magazine contained a small note on how Gary Spangler, who is responsible for word-of-mouth campaigns on behalf of DuPont, rescued the term "word-of-mouth" on Wikipedia. Spangler heard the free online encyclopedia was considering eliminating the term in favor of "viral marketing". He communicated this to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, among others, to pressure Wikipedia into not making that change.

Spangler defines viral marketing as a subset of word-of-mouth, along with referral marketing and brand blogging, among others. Thanks to him, word of mouth has saved word-of-mouth. Spangler admitted that Wikipedia is the real winner:

If anything, this demonstrated how Wikipedia works. it highlighted how you can get involved to present your viewpoint.

In my view, all these different types of marketing, sets and subsets alike, are part of the larger conversation taking place between producers and consumers.

When There is No One to Ask and Everyone is Watching

From 1992 to 1998, Franco Bernabe' was the CEO of Eni, Italy's large, energy-focused industrial group. During that time he transformed the organization from a debt-ridden, government-owned and politically controlled entity into a competitive and profitable publicly traded corporation focused on energy production. Along the way, he divested more than 200 businesses, asked for the resignation of hundreds of managers, and implemented completely new systems and procedures.

His story, narrated in an in-depth interview by Harvard Business Review [requires purchase. See an extract here] highlights the many qualities a leader draws upon, especially in times of crisis. Among them clarity of purpose, transparency of communications of his vision, and rigor in pursuing goals. Before becoming CEO, Barnabe' had the advantage of spending time at Eni at the edges -- not doing, but listening, observing, and learning.  At the same time he truly believed the organization could become a global network.

He had the knowledge, the expertise and the credibility to lead. Embracing risk while providing strategic and moral direction through exhaustive planning, he was prepared to move swiftly and firmly when necessary. While he sought consultation from others, he also understood the necessity of making all important decisions alone as not to be swayed by the needs, emotions, or agendas of others. Barnabe's inner compass stayed the course of humanity and justice.

Barnabe' reminded me of a level 5 leader, as Jim Collins characterizes them. He never thought of himself as CEO material, yet he felt a deep sense of connectedness to the organization he was called to run. One of his first actions was asking for the resignation of every senior manager in all of Eni's operating companies -- he wanted the freedom to remotivate and reorganize a company used to the patronage system based on political appointments into a commercial business founded on professionalism, merit, experience, and results.

It started with who -- Having spent time in the trenches, he knew there was a lot of talent, albeit sometimes untested, within the organization. Experience and performance were givens; Barnabe' was interested in finding people who would guarantee integrity and show signs of independence. So he begun his process of rewriting a completely new set of rules with who.

The stop doing list - Many times we are so focused on what we want to do that we forget to work on what we should stop doing. Barnabe' communicated a directive that served as a prehemptive strike: he was in charge. He believed everyone wanted the change, but he also knew about the lengthy consultations and the compromises people were used to as part of the process. He realized there was no one he could ask, too much was at stake and legally he was the leader. He had to set the tone. That meant defining what the organization would stop doing.

The inner compass - Amidst the confusion and emotional upheavel of all that change, Barnabe' learned he could never let emotions drive the situation. He used his inner compass, his conscience to guide him through. Dennis Haley, CEO of Academy Leadership, in his book Leader's Compass shows leaders how to create this compass by delineating and communicating their personal leadership philosophy.

The conversation - While other people around him had political or power objectives, Barnabe' had a vision and a firm strategic direction. The very detailed planning and the determination helped win people over. One of the critical factors that kept them with him was communication. He has to reach everyone within the organization directly. What were the ingredients for getting the message across? Emotional content -- to be effective, he says, you have to tap into people's sentiments, feelings and emotions. The message had to be simple -- that was the only way to combat the noise in the transmission. In going to everyone directly, Barnabe' in fact opened up the conversation.

Leadership is a conversation where there's ultimately no one for the leader to ask the most difficult question of vision and direction and everyone is watching. No one ever sees the value of change while it's happening, change is hard to go through. We all resist change. An effective leader is one who can shape direction and understands what's good for the organization and for the people who work there, and can create a space where both come together. In Barnabe's words, it takes patience and time.

The Knowing vs. Doing Gap

This past week, Guy Kawasaki posted a blog entry titled "Why Smart People do Dumb Things" where he proceeds to enumerate a number of reasons extracted from the homonymous book by Dr. Mortimer Feinberg and John J. Tarrant. Among them he lists hubris, arrogance, narcissism, unconscious need to fail.

Kathy Sierra posted an interesting entry in her Passionate Users blog, "Why Duh... Isn't" today. Both entries illustrate some examples of the ever fascinating knowing v. doing gap.

There is a big difference between knowing what we should do and actually doing it. The knowledge piece seems quite sexy; being interested, learning something new, coming up with that cool idea. The doing part sounds comparatively like routine work, no matter how easy this work may be to do or how obvious that it should be done.

I have found that the space between my knowing I need to do something and me actually doing it is at times quite messy, especially during first implementations. The idea was great, the planning was exhilarating, and now it is time to plunge in. Call it uncertainty, this is the moment when things have not taken shape but in my mind and in the minds of my team. What risks are we willing to take? Do we see the potential poor outcome as a path to learning? What level of forgiveness is embedded in the project?

Interestingly enough, I do not view any continous implementation as routine work. The outcome of a smooth customer service transaction for example may be a satisfied customer; the actions and conversations that need to occur to get there may be quite different each single time. The variables are the customer, the service agent and the circumstance(s) that brought them together, for starters. This experience also involves listening actively, wholeheartedly, almost to a point of forgetting for a moment what we know to be true (of our products/services standards, etc.) to be in the conversation with the other party.

So approaching the inquiry with a mind open to thinking we do not know, may actually serve us well in learning how to implement what we do know for the benefit of our customer, whoever that may be. 

Welcome to the Conversation

In observing what is happening to the marketplace and the blurring of traditional business roles, it has become increasingly clear to me that what we have called the experience economy from the famous book by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore and the new conceptual age with Daniel Pink, has become a conversation.

One where content and product producers, delivery channels, audience and customers come together to define the future of work and the creation of meaning. The meeting of the minds resulting in commercial and intrinsic value.

I have found myself the interested participant and learner from this conversation, the dynamics of which at times inched it closer to a dialogue. One quite like William Isaacs's definition in his book Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together; a space and series of actions, both verbal and non verbal, where people create the new from the ideas and energy they contribute.

This forum is dedicated to investigating and extending the knowledge acquired and the lessons learned while moderating Fast Company magazine readers' network business discussions in Philadelphia and during my work as communications and marketing professional. The plan is to integrate brief interviews with practitioners from diverse fields and industries, observations on current and future trends of work, and digests on useful tools with your observations.

Welcome to the conversation.