Category Archive: Church Scattered

New Marketing

Posted by on December 15, 2008

A good friend of mine recently exposed me to Seth Godin who is the author of several incredible books on the subject of new marketing and how it is significantly different from the old models most of us know.  He has an incredible blog and I would encourage you to visit Seth Godin.com and click on Seth’s head to read his blog.

In his book Meatball Sundae he writes, “New marketing leverages scarce attention and creates interactions among communities with similar interests.  New marketing treats every interaction, product, service, and side effect as a form of media.  Marketers do this by telling stories, creating remarkable products, and gaining permission to deliver messages directly to interested people.”

One of his incredible insights is that Old Marketing was all about interrupting people with ads that may have no interest whatsoever to the person involved.  Can I hear click the remote control?

New Marketing is about connecting people with similar interests so that when they get your information there is already a high degree of buy in because of the products and services involved and the relationships that already exist within the community.

As a matter of fact, the relationships within the community will initially be a stronger selling point than any brand loyalty to your company.  Failing to see the power in this human dynamic will position you with a competitive disadvantage the in new economy.

Marketing has always been about knowing what people want and providing them a way to get it. That basic dynamic will probably never change.  What has changed forever is how and when people get their information and what they do with it to make sure their friends know about it as well.

 

Categories: Career Development Leading Change | Comments Off on New Marketing

The Obama Factor

Posted by on December 11, 2008

I have been fascinated by the huge debate that was going on between the Clinton and Obama camps on what is more important inspiration or execution.  Just recently Hillary told us that she had a lifetime of experience and all that Obama had to bring to the discussion was one speech.  His camp then takes the bate and gets into a who is more qualified on experience back and forth.

What is missing here is the fundamental issues of being a Leader vs. being a Politician.  Politicians tend to tell people what they want to hear for self interest while leaders tell them what they need to hear for their own good.

 At the very core of leadership is the need to change the status quo so that we can personally and professionally move to something better. 

Change always requires people to be highly motivated to leave behind the familiar and move to the unknown.  Bottom line, if you can not inspire people to action then all the strategic planning in the world will not make any difference.

One of my favorite quotes is by Thomas Watson, “nothing so conclusively proves a person’s ability to lead others as what they do from day to day to lead themselves.”  So where are you in your personal journey?  Are you in reality a politician who is accepting a whatever works mentality about life or have you chosen to be a leader who inspires change not only in yourself but in others along the way.  

 

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Termination

Posted by on December 5, 2008

This is not a pleasant subject either for the person who needs to go or for the person who made the wrong decision to bring them on the team.  It requires courage and it must be done well or the moral of the entire organization can suffer.

I always feel to some degree as a leader that I have failed when we finally get to this point.  I want to make absolutely sure that I have given this person the right amount of leadership, specific feedback and the necessary resources and training to be successful.

After this due process, how do you know the timing is right?  The two questions that are listed in Good to Great offer some incredible perspective.

 The first is would you hire this person again?  If the clear answer is no, then you know it is time to act.  The second is if they were to go on their own would you be disappointed or relieved?  If the answer is relieved, then you know what you need to do.

Leaders must have the character to act and make the hard calls.  There is clearly one thing worse than  having to deal with an appropriate termination.  The later realization that your entire team had reached this  same conclusion six months ago and were beginning  to wonder why you could not see it.

 

 

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The Power of Vision

Posted by on December 3, 2008

My home town for all practical purposes is Tuscumbia, Alabama.  Our number one and only claim to fame is we are the birthplace of Helen Keller.  On CNN web site recently there was a story about researchers who had uncovered this rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod.

Helen was born blind and had to overcome many difficult obstacles in her life.  In spite of all the hardship she lived and very meaningful and rewarding life that impacted a lot of other people in a very positive way.

Helen was once asked, can you think of anything worse than being born blind?  Her immediate answer was, to have sight and yet lack vision for your life.  The overwhelming majority of people you know have physical sight but do they clearly see all the things that are really important in life.

What vision do you have for your life?  Please tell me it is more than going to work, coming home and watching T.V. and then going to bed.  There are so many important things to be done and hurting people that need to be touched.

Can you see them?

 

 

Categories: Career Development Core Values Leading Change Pastoral Leadership | Comments Off on The Power of Vision

Marginless Living

Posted by on December 2, 2008

In yesterday’s blog I talked about the need to create margin in our lives.  Margin is the space that used to exist in all of our lives between all the physical, emotional and mental pressures of every day and our capacity to respond in a meaningful way to all of the people and circumstances that we must address.

The lack of margin is exactly the opposite when we have too many demands and not enough resources.  For most of us the public parts of our lives centered around our work life demands its percentage first.  I know people who can make million dollar decisions all day long at the office only to be so spent by the end of the day they can’t even decide if they want pizza or hamburgers for dinner.

They put other people first all day whether they are customers or co-workers only to come home with nothing left for a lonely spouse or stressed out children.  We may feel successful at times because of all the public praise that comes with making your numbers but at the end of the day we know something is terribly wrong.

Whatever it takes all of us must find the courage to stake out some core values that are non-negotiable.  This will allow us maybe for the first time in our lives to have the margin we need to live the life we want rather than the one someone else has scripted for us.

You have the capacity to write your own script, so take out your pen and start writing.

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The Convergence Point

Posted by on December 1, 2008

The whole idea behind The Convergence Point is that people will be able to sort through all the noise and activity that is out there and find real meaning and purpose in life.  This means that we really need to know what we want and make sure we are willing to pay the price to get it.

I want to erase the artificial lines that exist between the personal and professional.  The cost is too high to succeed in one only to fail in the other.

For most of us this means that we will have to be willing to buy into the whole concept of Less is More.  The overwhelming majority of us have full calendars but empty hearts.  To create the margin we need for meaningful relationships something has to go.

It may be something as simple as less entertainment and more conversations.  It may be something as complex as changing careers and downsizing to create the emotional space we need to move the people we care about to the top of the list.

Life is a journey and we only get to do this once.  I can think of nothing more important than the merging of your values and your voice into the everyday Business of Life.  The integration off all our stories will lighten the load for all of us so let the conversation begin.

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