Conventional wisdom says humans are creatures of images. However, really understanding a subject requires words (and complete sentences). Amazon’s Jeff Bezos gets this:
“When you have to write your ideas out in complete sentences, complete paragraphs it forces a deeper clarity.”
So save the PowerPoint (or Keynote) for the stage and podium. If you really want people to take you seriously, put your thinking into a stream of nouns, verbs and punctuation.
Slides from my closing keynote at The Social Business Future Conference yesterday.
I’m a big fan of citizen journalism…but an even bigger fan of seeing my images in the press. Caught this shot while riding on the new Route 202 Parkway on a lazy Sunday while it was open to cyclists and pedestrians. This guy was decked out in his finest Little House on the Prairie attire and cranking circles on a wooden bike.
As someone who has written a number of speeches in his career, last night’s oratorial tour de force by President Bill Clinton was, in my opinion, the greatest speech he’s ever given and, likely, one of the top three political speeches delivered over the past decade.
And a great job by The New York Times turning on the multimedia spigot to annotate the video.
Last week, I had the pleasure of being the opening keynote speaker at the second annual Social Media Business Life Conference produced by Chuck Hall. I’m usually the guy writing speeches for others, so it was an interesting role reversal to be the guy in front of the audience for a change.
Chuck does a great job organizing this conference and putting together a full-slate of content that is, refreshingly, vendor-free. Too often, those of us who have been involved in social media for years forget that many people are still ramping up. There were nearly 250 people drawn to learning about how they could use social media to improve their organizations. In a suburb of Philadelphia. As my friend, John Patrick, often said when the web was first molten hot: “We’re only 10% of the way there.”
My talk focused on the need to look beyond the tools of social media and see the humans behind those tools. I also challenged the audience to stop using social media to sell…which I think forced Chuck and several members of the audience to wonder if I’d started the conference-ending happy hour a bit early.
(My keynote starts at ~9:30 into the video.)
Leadership insight from one of cycling’s greats:
Men’s Health: What’s it like giving up the spotlight to help bring up the next generation?
Jens Voigt: I hate to admit it, but I’m an older rider. I don’t like that fact. But I think a career should be a circle, equal between taking and giving. You come in young, let people help you, support you. Then you come to the higher part of circle, and it’s “I want to win, I want to win” and you use all of the resources to make it happen. When you close the circle, it’s your time to give back and keep the balance. I have experience I’ve paid for with blood, sweat, and tears. It would be just stupid not to pass it on and keep it for myself. I help younger kids by guiding them a bit, and physically, I try to help the boys on top.
(via http://news.menshealth.com/jens-voigt-interview/2012/01/25/)
“All truth passes through three stages: In the first stage it’s ridiculed, in the second it’s violently opposed, and in the third stage it’s accepted as self-evident.” — German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer via Bill Gross’s “12 Lessons for Entrepreneurs” at LeWeb 2012.
Two cups of coffee into a crisp November morning and I stumble upon this tweet from the SWIFT innovation team’s Peter Vander Auwera:
A couple of clicks and another cup of java later and I realize that the good rebel versus bad rebel characteristics Lois Kelly lays out are too black and white for the real-life I’ve experienced over the past 15 years playing the role of corporate renegade in companies as big as IBM (“Faster Company”), Unisys and Alcatel-Lucent (“Alcatel-Lucent Is Damn Serious About Their Plans To Make Wireless Carriers Relevant”).
Never has the fluid, gray area of corporate rebellion been more pronounced or exciting than the last two years. Led by one of the best (and most tireless) change agents I’ve ever known, Laura Merling, we’ve built a team that not only straddles the line between good and bad rebel, but frequently spends time on each side in an effort to not only change a company’s culture, but also an industry’s.
We’ve been the corporate renegades, as Peter calls us in “Pirates, Rebels, Mercenaries and Innovators.” We’ve been the “brave (or foolhardy) enough to stand against the prevailing doctrine of the organization and seriously argue for another way,” as recently-retired CIA executive Carmen Medina describes corporate heretics. We’ve been called a lot of other things, too.
And that’s why I disagree with Kelly on the hard dividing line between good and bad rebels.
Looking at our team — the personalities, the drive, the success — I believe the best corporate rebels straddle the line between good and bad, embodying a healthy mix of both qualities. Below, in bold, are the good and bad qualities described by Kelly. The straight text that follows is commentary based on my direct experience:
Bad rebels break rules…Good rebels change rules. Often times, you have to break rules to jumpstart change. The consumerization of IT didn’t start because someone asked for permission to change the rules.
Bad rebels complain…Good rebels create. You have to make the squeaky wheel squeak louder in order to get other parts of the organization to realize things are broken.
Bad rebels assert…Good rebels ask questions. I’ve never met a renegade who wasn’t sure of herself or who wasn’t insanely inquisitive. Renegades know in their hearts and guts that they are right and ask the questions necessary to prove it.
Bad rebels are me-focused…Good rebels are mission-focused. Renegades often work on the fringes of an organization. They are given vague missions and asked to accomplish those missions with little organizational air cover. You bet rebels are me-focused; they better be. It’s called survival. But you can also rest-assured that they think day and night about their mission.
Bad rebels are angry…Good rebels have passion. You can have passion for love (or lust) and you can have passion to right wrongs. The passion to right what is wrong burns from an anger that things can and should be fixed. Anger is the fire of passion.
Bad rebels are pessimists….Good rebels are optimists. The best optimists are those who have already (and constantly) think about what could go wrong. Imagining the worst lets you build for the best.
Bad rebels are energy-sapping…Good rebels are energy-generating. The best corporate rebels generate excitement about what they are doing. They also sap the energy of those (organizations and individuals) who are unaccustomed to maintaining the rapid pace required to drive change.
Bad rebels alienate…Good rebels attract. Change is hard. Corporate renegades alienate those who find it difficult or impossible to change. Alienation is good. It weeds out those holding an organization back from growth and innovation. But it is only good when the renegade’s mission attracts more than it alienates.
Bad rebels see problems. Good rebels see opportunities. Opportunity is found in addressing the problems nobody else sees or is able to fix. Good renegades are constantly on the lookout for problems.
Bad rebels vocalize problems…Good rebels socialize opportunities. Too many times in large organizations, the problems become part of the organizational fabric. We know this as “Yeah, it’s broken, but we’ll never fix it.” Vocalizing the problem — giving voice to the frustrated — is how rebels socialize the path to opportunity.
Bad rebels worry that something will happen…Good rebels wonder what will happen. Corporate rebels aren’t afraid of failure. They don’t ask for permission. They try things because they have a gut feel that something good might come out of it. They live by the motto: “What’s the worst they can do, fire me?”
Bad rebels point fingers…Good rebels pinpoint causes. Sometimes it’s necessary — especially in large, established (read: bureaucratic, political) organizations — to out those who block change because of their own personal or professional fear. Unfortunately, sometimes the role of a renegade is to get personal for the benefit of the larger cause.
Bad rebels doubt…Good rebels believe. There is no such thing as a doubting rebel. A questioning rebel? Absolutely. But no rebel ever doubts that the change he’s trying to achieve can’t be accomplished. Yes, renegades hit hurdles, but they always believe in success.
Bad rebels are social loners…Good rebels are social. At an individual level, corporate rebels are inherently social. They are experiential by nature, looking to soak up all that is around them — people, places, sights, sounds, tastes. However, when a team of renegades bands together within an organization, they often become social loners (at least within the social structure of the organization). This happens because they are working on the fringes, pushing change that threatens the comfy existence of organizational lifers, taking the bold risks few are brave enough to take. Corporate renegades realize that success isn’t a popularity contest.
Being a corporate renegade is a constant life of adrenaline rush. It’s a selfless job that nobody ever (really) gets credit for. You’re a mercenary. Many envy what you get to do, but few are willing to accept the sacrifices it requires (personal and professional). It is a career that is never black and white…which is why the best renegades sometimes have to be the bad renegades.
Tomorrow night I will attend my first meeting as one of the newest advisory board members of Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic (MoMoMa). I’ve been a long-time proponent (and fanboy) of the global Mobile Monday movement, so it is an honor to work even closer with such a great organization.
For those who aren’t familiar with Mobile Monday, it is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials whose goal is to foster innovation and facilitate networking across the mobile ecosystem. I got my first taste of Mobile Monday when I participated in its 10th anniversary summit in Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia, which is where I met Mobile Monday’s chairman, Jari Tammisto, and Tokyo kingpin, Lars CoshIshii. Following Helsinki, I was invited to moderate a panel on mobile developer ecosystems co-hosted by MoMoMa and RCR Wireless.
Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic was founded in 2007 and has grown to more than 2,000 members — making it one of the fastest growing technology networking and educational organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region. According to the 2011 Philadelphia Business Journal, we are the 7th largest regional networking group.
If you are involved in the mobile industry and are interested in what’s going on in the greater-Philadelphia community, give me a shout.
Last night I participated in another great unconference: BarCampBucks. Unlike other bar camps I’ve attended — where the focus was on technology or social media — BarCampBucks focused on the creative side of business: advertising, photography, etc. I am continually amazed at how vibrant our creative community is here in Bucks County…although I shouldn’t be given its history with the arts. Here’s a shot of me from last night (center) holding court after one of the sessions discussing influencer management.
