the first preso was fantastic
but the second one, with new perspective and learning, is just great. key point here – not about tools. about behaviors, patterns, psychology… all that good stuff.
GI Generation – The Silent Generation – Baby Boomers – Generation X….
to my peers:
I say we just keep killin’ it, & let them define our generation by our results, not by our ‘childhood’ & default uncontrollable environment.
-Nick
you know you’re in the right direction when the founders can be away, and every aspect of the business continues and even grows.
Thought it was interesting to take a look at the 4 browser windows and multiple tabs that I have open right now and see what I’ve accumulated but have yet to read in the last day or so. Here’s a sampling:
I got this from my good friend @dentT in an email (I did not write the letter I’ve republished nor was it credited in the email I received). I could not agree more!
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
However, what you don’t see is the back story.
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70′s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.
Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds.
Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.
So where am I going with all this?
It’s quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
If you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about….
Signed,
Your boss
Those who add value and work hard are the ones left standing right now. Note I said work hard, because adding value and creating perceived value or value built on a house of cards (read vehicles such as and the like) are not the same.
Let the American core competency of innovation breathe again and allow capitalism to right the ship. This means that things fail, that people have to redefine what their value proposition is (in many cases have to actually get one). Do not squeeze those who have built the framework on which everything(one) else stands.
O ya, and read Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman.
I, like many others, get sick of hearing the (at this point) age-old quip “but I don’t care what you had for breakfast
” specifically in reference to , but also to the use of social tools and social web behaviors in general.
So, for all of you naysayers, let me paint a picture for you…
Tehran, Iran – circa June 2009
Let me explain.
There are many questions to be asked regarding the “election”, not the least of which may be whether or not it matters who is president in a supreme-power theocracy. However, it is the events surrounding the recent happenings which are intriguing – a convergence of global social behaviors, technology, now-web and modern web application development practices and theory. In short, the techy geeky “stuff” which you presume to be a fad, isn’t. It is communication now; it is communication of the future. The results are profound.
Ingredients:
Global Social Behaviors
– We live in a global economy and society. If you don’t believe that, please crawl back under your rock. It’s not just about multi-hemisphere conglomerates and international relations anymore, though. As is the common theme these days, it’s about the individual. Social technologies have connected the Common Joes of the world and they are genuinely interested in listening, talking, sharing, teaching, helping and learning from each other. From Bengal to New Hampshire they are participating in each others’ daily lives and having trivial(?) conversations.
Technology
– It’s cheaper, more powerful, more accessible and better mastered than ever in history. We all know a computer as powerful as my iPhone used to be the size of an entire room… blah…blah…blah. The amazing capabilities of technology today, IMHO, are not so much computational, but connective combined with the ease by which they can be applied. You can connect almost anywhere. You can connect with almost anything… and that’s the point… YOU can do it.
The mobility of technology is also a key component. Mobile phones and smart-phones are of the utmost importance.
Modern Web Application Development Practices and Theory
– Non-technicals stick with me here… there are a few crucial aspects of how people and companies develop web applications these days. Namely, the primary focus is on the engine – the core functionality. Many developers build and release (SDKs), most commonly (APIs), for their applications. These tools, libraries, protocols and services allow other developers to leverage the engine in unique ways – pulling, pushing and mashing up data and interfaces. If you’ve ever seen a in it, you’re seeing the result of an API. Users and developers find new uses for applications and engines all the time. Google is releasing it’s APIs for it’s new project – – to developers around the world long before the application will be accessible to the public. The idea is that thousands of progressive and diverse minds will help to finish the product, find new uses and make it better. So, applications are being released “unfinished” and “wide open”. *Note -Ownership and monetization are another story!
Still shrugging and saying ‘so what?’, huh? -
Tehran – People are trying to mobilize, trying to tell the world what is happening, but communications are being shut down. Traditional media are being . Sites are being blocked. But remember – people around the world are watching, people around the world want to help, people around the world care. Technology is accessible, connective and collaborative and our good friends at Twitter are aligned with the API-empowered web community.
What does this mean?
This means that because Twitter has an API, Twitter.com is not the only access point to the engine. It means that there exist 1000s of 3rd party applications through which people can read and publish tweets. Tehran can’t block them all, they don’t even know about them all. Fantastic! The masses with their mobile phones can be anywhere, communicate with each other, organize, assemble, and keep the rest of the world up-to-date while foreign journalists are being “controlled” and ().
Well, what about connectivity? Internet access? If you can’t connect, you can’t tweet. Tehran certainly has control over access, right? Yes and no. Enter software engineer in Oklahoma who is interested in the situation and wants to contribute. He configures his laptop as a and whala – people in Tehran can connect to TwitterFall through his computer and communications resume. That is, until Tehran finds him, and blocks his proxy. But then, another pops up in the UK, in Florida, in Singapore… you get the picture.
So let’s summarize that. People in Iran can communicate with each other and with the rest of the world while their government is scrambling to block things as quickly as they can because they have mobile technology, the global community cares, is interested, can facilitate connectivity, and because modern web applications focus on the what, not the how/when/where.
Does it matter? I sure think so. A major geopolitical occurence was consumable in real-time and not only that… but it was MADE POSSIBLE in real time because of this convergence. Still not convinced it matters? Well, the State Department decided it did too… – a small group in a loft in – and asked them not to go offline for scheduled maintenance because… well… Twitter was contributing to democracy.
How da ya like DEM apples?
Today a good friend, Chris () who is a Startup Specialists at , tweeted something interesting. Funny thing – I saw it come through on Fwitter ( 
) – and responded.
Here’s what he tweeted:
“wondering does the world really need another social network platform?”
Now Chris is a startup specialist – that means that his job is literally to read business plans and work with entrepreneurs to develop them into something that can be a sustainable business and most often attract a funding round. Considering the popularity of (we’ve all seen the #s lately – FB=220mn users with 3+bn minutes/day spent on. is 34+mn actives. grew 1,382% yoy in feb… cough-monetize, all of you-cough!) social networking and the noisy coverage major media outlets have given them of late, it’s not surprising that Chris is seeing the next Facebook, Twitter, and so on every single day.
That said, here’s what I responded:
“maybe. depends if its just an augmentation or if it’s actually building on a communication pattern we havent considered digitally yet. e.g. twitter was transformational and not a replication.”
Another of Chris’ friends responded to me:
“How is Twitter transformational? It is clearly unique in the style and model of communication. From a usage perspective, it has been incredibly successful. Not that I disagree, I just don’t see how it is transformational.”
And I again responded:
“access, at least in current (read early) users. user-base is incredibly flat. from what ive seen, the brevity-ubiquity combo has allowed thought leaders to interact without breaking stride.
mass real-time. very very transformational. completely different than google/facebook (thus recent FB activity)
additionally, the idea that the technology at its core (not the implementation and scaling which is indeed complex) is simple and the real value comes from what can be imagined and built off of a wide open API.”
I think Twitter is transformational for these 3 reasons (I’d postulate more but with a deadline looming, I’m just going to get these out so I can get work done) and here’s a bit more rationale:
Access
– the nature of twitter – brevity and ubiquity – truly allows access while maintaining the context of a conversation. I’ve had the pleasure of actually accessing thought-leaders in the fields I’m interested in. In fact, it’s what my following (who I follow) is composed of – thought leaders in economics, strategy, web, angel and vc. Because keen users employ non-invasive tools to consume and produce, busy people making important decisions can quickly and easily reply, even converse, without breaking workflow.
Mass real-time
Simple and open – The input-output for of twitter is simple. It’s short, the interface isn’t complex. Data is relatively flat. Things get interesting with a usable . I look at it like I look at the Google Generation – the data/answers are out there. You can find them in .027 second. You can probably find 10,000 answers. It’s not about finding it or rote memorization anymore. It’s about application of the data/answer and the context. It’s what you DO with it. (note to teachers – application not memorization). The interface and technology are simple. I’d say they are so simple they are enabling. The real power is being able to step into this room, get your bearings in the midst of this huge conversation, extract VALUE from it and then do something with it. The ability is there (access to said data = great revenue point, dontcha think?), the key is thinking critically about what should be gathered, why, and how/to what it’s applied.
An augmentation of Facebook, Delicious, Digg, even Twitter, isn’t interesting to me. Fundamentally I consider these to be tools facilitating a more . It boils down to communication and each major player has understood (and perhaps shaped a bit from there) a key characteristic of how we communicate on which it has built. Twitter, most recently, has succeeded in facilitating time and space shift, forcing a distilling of communication, connected, and given us the opportunity to turn our signal which, blended can be noise, back into signal right NOW.
What do you think? Am I wrong? What makes an app transformational versus ‘just another’? Does Twitter qualify? What’s next?
___________________________________________________
*Notes
Chris will be facilitating April 3-5 @ TechColumbus. We have over 100 people signed up already. , held last summer, boasted 130+ with 2 companies being formed that are still in operation today.
That same weekend I’ll be facilitating (April 3-5). It’s the first time the event is being held in the Windy City. The event is at TechNexus and I invite anyone in the area to attend. We’ve got plenty of space. I know the city has many other tech-related events including and , but this is a unique event focused on building community and promoting innovation, creativity and critical thinking. is the local organizer and is sponsoring.
This morning as I began to juggle the 1023913249 things I do on a given day, I had to listen to a voicemail left on our office phone. I knew when it had been left – last night at 7:30pm – because I was still in the office but was head down working and not answering the phone at that time on a Thursday night.
So, I took the time to listen this morning. JOY! It was a recorded message from inviting us to come talk about how to create jobs in Ohio, talk about our dependence on foreign oil and green technologies. (Side note – funny she wants to talk about job creation as my city – Columbus – is about to pass an income tax hike which REALLY PUMPS US UP to continue to locate and grow our business downtown. Smell the sarcasm? No, but it’d be cool if you could, right?)
Ok, seriously?
1) A recorded message mass distributed via phone (and a voicemail at that!) is F’ING stupid. Apparently she and her staff/consultants are not being exposed to the new rules of engagement and best practices that are getting just a little bit of coverage these days – personal, new media, social web, etc etc. Oh wait, Pres. Obama has been… so you’d think Kilroy’s camp would too. No?
How do I, and most people, add things to their calendar? There is a digital invite and we have the ability to explore it and add it if we want to. If Kilroy’s crew is doing this (Facebook/Email/Twitter/Meetup/other), then I’m not aware… and I tend to have a decent finger on the pulse of such things in this city.
2) Our number is on the DO NOT CALL listing. Funny how these politicians passed that act…. but left a loophole for themselves.
So, the culmination of the medium (phone), the timing (7:30pm), the fact that we aren’t supposed to be contacted like this, the completely generic impersonal effort, and the fact that she wasted my time has left me a bit put off this morning.
I was thinking the other day – what’s going to happen to my social media personas/profiles/accounts when I die? I’m hoping that this doesn’t become a real issue for quite some time, but just the idea of it caused me to question – I wonder how long it will be until people begin to make specifc (and legal) stipulations about their social media presences in their last wills.
Seriously though, when are we going to read a news story that says: Mr. So-and-So has indicated that he would like his Facebook status to read: blah blah blah
, that he’d like his grandson to update this status every month with the following list of quotes. Additionally, he would like his Twitter Account to respond with the following DM: blah blah blah
to any new followers.
Or how about this – when is there going to be an app written that you can pre-populate/stipulate/dictate your SM behavior once you’ve left us and have gone on to that better place? [interested? ive already got user-cases and wireframes]
I’m pretty sure Facebook might have a policy on this, but I didn’t care enough to look it up.
I’m interested – what do you want your social media presences to do once you die
?
How will you take care of it? What is your list of requests? Let me know.
A (some might contend THE) business periodical in Columbus, Ohio put together a “Social Media Bootcamp” this summer aimed at small-medium businesses. The goals (quickly paraphrasing here) are to introduce social media and a number of tools for use.
I’ve got some good friends who are presenting as part of the summer-long series. These friends, unlike many, are legitimate digitals – concerned with strategic deployment, measurement and bigger picture.
However, their presentations are focused on specific tools and networks (because this is what the camp is aimed at).
I’m not opposed to the introduction of and education on tools. It’s important.
However, I think that this camp, and SMB in general, with regard to the approach to ‘social media’ is off-target, or at least putting the cart before the horse.
1) Stop calling it social media. Start calling it social web. Web is the platform, and tools, behaviors, expectations and technology are socializing it.
2) Before you pick up your hammer and swing, let’s talk about why you’re doing it. Will the picture you’re hanging balance the room? Will you be moving it later in the month when you remodel? Are others hanging pictures? Do people even want to see this picture? Is it the right one? or does it completely throw off the theme you’re going for?
-Straight up – small and medium (even large) businesses are hip to the hype – they hear “twitter” “social media” “linkedIn” “money money money” and think “my god I’ve got to get into this!”.
Ok – maybe.
I’d like people to take a step back and understand their environments in more detail before running to learn about tools.
1) Understand your business/industry environment. Who are you serving? Who should you be serving? What is your brand? What is the industry doing? etc etc. Often, when we engage clients and work through our process, we find the standard discovery is eye-opening in that the questions we are asking have never been asked (or at least haven’t been asked in a very long time). Before you run to broadcast to the world, to engage clients and activate advocates, don’t you think you should be pretty solid on who you are, what you stand for and what you want to achieve? Else, you’re creating a spike – something that’s not sustainable and won’t have lasting impact.
2) Understand the web environment. Being able to Google something and having a Hotmail account does not mean understanding the web environment (no offense to anyone there – it helps us stay in business). The web environment is not LinkedIn & Twitter. It’s not generating leads and broadcasting (read: shouting). The web environment is a combination of light, flexible, adaptable technologies, psychological and sociological factors, time and space shift, combination and recombination, human and NOW. Business-speak: the web environment is consumer empowerment and pull-model. It’s customization, comparison, 24-7, conversation and individual. The web environment is access, value-add and trust.
If you can’t understand the web enviornment, the , then tools which exist there are useless. Time put into them is useless. Lasting value can’t be generated.
Small business or large, regardless of end-goals for implementing social web in a business environment, a failure or inability to understand the landscape and fundamental parameters often means an attempt at a quick fix and an outstretched hand at dollars instead of value.
What do you think?
