Conversation Agent: When You're Speaking in Slogans Rather than Solutions

Do we expect too little, or too much from digital content?

I've been thinking about the parallels between political and business environments and how the conversation is stumped by words that don't work.

Because they have good intentions, and a mismatched intent. More worried about the effect, than how they affect.

When you're speaking in slogans rather than solutions, that's what people hear, and what doesn't get done. Whatever your political persuasion, message mishaps occur when words don't work.

Positioning an idea linguistically so that it affirms and confirms an audience's context can often mean the difference between that idea's success and failure, says Luntz.

I would add that at the root of the positioning, there needs to be a genuine idea that speaks to a solution, and is not just a slogan. By communicating in a connective way, you are trying to sell the execution. You have a plan (or are at least willing to accept and consider one), not just the idea.

Holding positions and saying no is not a plan. It's idea suicide.

The future depends on stuff getting done.

Business and technology are both environments filled with slogans and, at a minimum, jargon. I spent two decades in the business world, helping complex organizations with mature brands rediscover what they stood for, and the models to trade promises again.

My mission now is to help technologists and entrepreneurs build viable businesses that produce meaningful changes in intellectual, emotional, and utility value for customers. That means commercial, strong, relevant, and enduring.

I've been deeply embedded in digital media and new technologies for more than a decade. Hence, with the intent of bridging business and technology, my proposal for next year's SxSW interactive conference focuses on what's next:

Disruptive Tech: When it Builds Strong Business

Neither innovation nor best practices are good enough anymore. It is the value of your promise and the wisdom of the trade that earns your place in the market.

Too many technology companies expect a place in the market and bitch when no one turns up to experience their high volume/high cost platforms for securitizing traffic by being all things to all people.

In a crowded market you need to stand above the competition with truly disruptive technology and not apart with a "me too" plan done better.

Disruptive technology is both meaningful -- relevant, private, and personal -- *and* commercially viable (even in the early stages).

A technology is disruptive when it helps a business make and keep the best of all promises and get in exchange the things that go to making that business stronger, more resilient, and enduring.

The session will help answer:

How to build a better technology company
Why strong, resilient, and enduring brands have and will always be the goal?
What are some examples where companies have succeed at evolving their disruptive edge, and where they might have strayed?
How do you increase value by embedding products and services with meaning?
What are some applications and examples of a truly disruptive technology?

I'd rather speak in solutions, wouldn't you?

Vote and comment here if you'd like to see this conversation happen at SxSW interactive next March.

Thank you for your support.

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