So Here’s Your Challenge

Where do you call your social home? Likely it includes LinkedIn and Facebook. Perhaps YouTube and Twitter. But what about Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok? Or, the 500+ other social networks that exist? The significant challenge of social media is that you don’t know who is looking for you (or your services), nor where. What you do know is that if your target users can’t find you on these 500+ sites, then a potentially important opportunity will be lost. But who has the resources to maintain a presence on 500+ sites, let alone 50? (Or ten?) Enter the Anchors and Outposts model

While the internet has changed the world of publishing fundamentally, the world of writing has been fundamentally shifted as well. Consider the vastly different groups who are actually doing the writing:  Professional writers, and Subject Matter Experts...  

Is your content really that effective? Do they grab the reader, listener, or viewer, and convince them to continue? And is there a magic bullet that can immediately make this so? Too often, content is an outgrowth of “stream of consciousness” thinking, and rarely hits the mark.  Adding strategyand structure can make a vast improvement.  

Do you actively seek out different opinions than your own, or unwittingly reinforce your personal world-view by only consuming “agreeable” content? While we may think we do the former – who doesn’t have a self image of being open-minded – too often we live in a bubble.

How often have you struggled to show up on time for a meeting, only to be kept waiting as others stumbled in 5-10-15 minutes later? Or have you ever tuned in to your favorite TV show, only to find that it was “rescheduled” for some other time? Or travelled to a faraway store, but finding it had closed an hour early and you couldn’t get in. Research shows that by far, the two most important determinants of service quality are responsiveness and reliability...

Do you see your website, CRM, social media, and other digital initiatives as a way to improve service levels, market your organization, or be a central part of your thought leadership strategy?  While important, at best these are merely tactics:  too often the bigger opportunity of digital transformation is ignored.  This isn’t surprising, as digital initiatives are often driven from marketing or IT, not from the board or the CEO.  

Have you ever had a problem – or a disastrous – project in your organization?  When this happens, it is often “clear” that the problem is with the consultants hired to help, and sadly, this is often true. But is some of the fault also with your organization?  

Has your organization invested in a “game-changing” software project, only to discover that the promised benefits never really materialize?  Or that the implementation was so flawed that the system is regarded as a financial and operating disaster? Sadly, this happens far more than it should… but must this always be the case? 

Would you rather be a reporter, or a columnist? Reporters have a great combination of investigative skills, communication skills, moxy, and pluck. Columnists are made from the same raw material, but they get paid far more.  Why?  

How can you be your most creative? Google the topic and you will find millions of pages with an answer. Some will say you are “born” with it. Others will say it is a matter of following a process.  And others will claim it is a matter of using a secret sauce formula, which, when applied, will help you create the new and the beautiful...