mikey3982 bits and pieces

There have been a combination of small weak signals over the last few weeks that have made me realise that  I need to update my photo skills.  It's as if I am not seeing the right shots and whilst some snaps may be meaningful (my children growing up) my mainstream photos are definitely not.

Perhaps I haven’t told you about the time I was made redundant from a job.  Well I was new into using social media and part of Seth Godin’s tribe trying to learn more about leadership in these new environments.  I described my journey on that forum about being “made” redundant and the subsequent choices I had.  Amazingly Seth wrote to me in a remarkable demonstration of empathy.  It was the fillip I needed and clearly went beyond my wildest dreams.  What it showed me then is the power of connection.  I got another job quickly and since then owe a huge debt of gratitude to that group of people who demonstrated to me the power of connection and support during that time.

So when Seth was speaking earlier in the week and announced his new book “We are all weird”it was only natural that I would download it.   It is classic Seth, and further its bang up to date.  There is a common narrative and sits along side  the other books I’ve been reading over the summer from Tim Harford, Lynda Gratton and Umair Haque.  We need to consume less, we’re measuring the wrong things, we need to think about resilience, we need to focus on our niche areas and practice our “art”

The summary of Seth’s book is that there are no longer “mass” markets but rather we need high level personalisation, talking with people rather than at them.  Having true empathy of what is needed.   Again Seth reflects on the leadership needed and talks a lot about the ability to truly “make something happen”.  The thoughts that Seth had in Tribes is further developed and I see more and more the distinction blurring between online life and real world life.

The book was timely, as it seems as many social networks are moving into the main stream we are seeing “norms” of behaviour appearing.  I was also witness to seeing very unpleasant playground antics and media reporting involving someone who again is leading and making a real difference in the field of medical education and patient care, so was getting generally switched off to the whole notion of being social and did question whether we are collectively getting anywhere or whether we should leave social media to push “more average stuff to the average consumer”.  Again I’m glad to say that Seth has done it again for me and given me some brain food to rekindle my fire in developing tribes that will make a difference.

The book is available on kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Are-All-Weird-ebook/dp/B005G5DSLW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316810892&sr=8-2

Here are some classic quotes from Seth from the book.

“Human beings have always been creators.  We express outselves connect with people and make home in the world through the culture we participate in”

“As a result the mass marketer keeps missing the point.  He’s busy looking for giant clumps instead of organising to service and work with smaller tribes”

“But consumption is not why we’re here, consumption is not the point.  The very same dynamic that is changing the world of marketing is changing the way we govern ourselves, raise our families and take care of our health”

“The key lesson: humanity and connection are trumping the desire for corporate scale”

“Average is for marketers who don’t have enough information to be accurate”

“I’ve started using the work “factory” to define any organisational effort that’s built around repeated interactions and mass”

“We encourage kids and parents and teachers and coaches to help us enforce this normal middle. The bullies – the ones who torment the outliers, the gay kids, the dreamers, the math nerds, the visual artists they’re just being kids; lighten up”

“the freedom to make choices and he ability to be heard are the factors most highly correlated with happiness  around the world – Ingleheart” <sorry I know its habitual but I needed to look up the refrence for that quote> http://www.twq.com/Winter00/231Inglehart.Pdf

“The fact is, some days I don’t care about marketing.  I don’t care so much about whether or not Nike sells another sneaker or Marlboro sells another cigarette.  What I care a great deal about, though is each human’s ability to express her art, to develop into the person she is able become”….. “and I care about freedom, the ability to express yourself until it impinges on someone else’s happiness.”

“there is no us, No mass. No center. Our culture is now a collection of tribes, and each tribe is a community of interests, many of whom get along, some that don’t.

I guess the easiest thing would be to trust no one and live a solitary non attached existence then the concern that one day you will be hurt or suffer loss would never be present.  But we all know that is ridiculous although with so much news that seems to relate to trust this does seem like an option.

Ok its nearly 20:00hrs at night, I’ve had a long day working, my wife is working late and the children are getting ready for bed.  Maybe 10 more minutes and I’ll sit down and put my feet up.  Well NO a phone call and with that familiar  telesales patter.

Interruption marketing rather than permission marketing really bugs me.  For me it characterises the business model that a certain popular TV business guru advocates, in that we should be pushing as much stuff to people as we can and the fact that people in business should be pushy aggressive and do everything to “get the sale”

Well if the telesales call had been for double glazing or whatever well thats one thing, but on this occasion it was @nationaltrust.  I couldn’t believe it.  My first reaction was – is the national trust so desperate for money?

I was really pleased that the national trust replied to my tweets and there was some sort of apology there.  However the episode has moved me into writing this post and those people who know me know that writing demands quite a bit of inertia.

The charity field does seem to get populated by a breed of people who come in and say that they will bring “commercial” principles to the business.  They apply simple rules like drive the top line.  Maybe some of them are frustrated at the often chaotic nature of charities in terms of organisation.  Maybe some charities haven’t got a clear raison d’etre and could do with this level of help rather than a simple drive of sales.  Above all many charities need to be social and be able to engage with people at a level where they can accept what they are trying to do – or at least wish them well.

There are so many causes to support and you can see the marketisation of sob or hard luck stories.  There is almost a perfect storm of emotional levers that can be drawn on to gain attention.  But surely the engagement is not just can you give us money but other resources – time, effort, ideas etc.

When I think of the National Trust I have an overwhelming sense of the smell of moth balls.  For me its about reliving a bygone age of heirachy, wealth and power with big houses.  However, to be fair the National Trust is doing more, they are clearly looking at sustainability, they do promote a story of our culture and with that are part of our economic fabric.

I am happy to engage with the National Trust however I need to move past the just donating money stage.  Their business model needs to start to engage people and maybe using the engagement create value together.

My local NT house is Batemans and it is lovely.  I’d love to know what Rudyard Kipling would have made of all of these new media.  Why aren’t the NT inviting people to tweet /fb what they think of a house what ideas they have had.  Are NT staff curating audioboos of visitors asking some simple questions about the houses.  Are NT staff asking questions with their community on stories from the houses.  Are NT staff offering NCT groups free access or twitter groups free access to use the houses for a tweetup?

There again its probably easier spamming everyone. 

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I am a member of the NT and my Mum and Dad are absorbed in volunteering for the NT at a property in the Northwest