Joel's Mutterings

What is your networking style?

Not all networkers are created equal. There are broadcasters, procrastinators, collectors, clubbers, et al. Moreover, they can be karmic and/ or transitory. See the descriptions below to find out where you fit in.

Broadcast: Creating content and picking up connections based on the value of that content. Network value is tied to the audience that was drawn to the content. [attributes: Past, Present, Uni Directional Flow, little follow-thru, Open]

By Title or By Position: Network is built upon who you are and what you do. The question is will those connections exist when you are no longer doing the same thing. Tends to not network outside their industry [attributes: Past, Present]

Open Networking: This style involves becoming connected to anyone and everyone on the theory that any connection might be of value to you and or your other connections and therefore having thousands of connections is valuable. [attributes Present, Future, Online, High Flow, Open]

Collecting: This is a variant of the Open Networker but collectors are not interested in sharing their connections unless it is for specific gain. [attributes:Low Flow, Past, Future, Closed]

Mega Network: This person who typically has 2,500 to 25,000 connections (not to be confused with followers on twitter) and probably does not know many of them well but provides real value by passing connections back and forth between their massive network. [Past, Present, Future, Open, Heavy Flow, Low Follow Through]

Karma Networking: Doing what ever can reasonably be done for any of your contacts without expecting anything specific in return. Generally open contacts if one has met and or interacted with the other party in more then just passing. [attributes: Open, Past, Present, Future, Reasonable Flow & Follow Through]

Procrastination: This person always means to get to it when they have the time but never actually cultivates whatever network they happen to have and certainly is not actively growing their connections. They will go to events, register for services and groups but rarely truly participate in networking. [attributes: Low Flow, Closed by default, Present Focused]

Transition: This is a style adopted when someone who is not an active networker is placed in job transition. It is all about survival and getting a job.

Sales: This person is all about sales and does not typically want to network past a 1st or 2nd degree and is mostly interested in immediately gratification of closing the sale. [attributes: Future, Open, Good Follow Through]

Moving On: This person is focused on the present needs and once those are met they move on to new contacts and do not ever circle back. [attributes: Future, Open,]

Clubber: If you are part of the same club or organization all is good with this networker but otherwise you might find them difficult to approach. [attributes: Present, Closed, Good Follow Through]

Attributes:

• Focus: What is the goal of your efforts? Are you building a network for you or your employer?
  
• Open/Closed: Open Networking is a come one come all approach and closed networking is very selective.
  
• Online v Offline: Some people are face to face or only over the phone while on the other hand some people use Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and Linkedin to maximize and drive their efforts.
  
• Flow: How much traffic are you moving through or with your network? How much activity is going on with your network and you
  
• Follow through: How much do you act upon or follow up with your connections.
  
• Past, Present and Future: Are your efforts focused on your past, present or future connections?

If this post interest you we will be discussing it at the first ExecTec of 2009!

The parable of the corn field

I  came across this many years ago it is a parable often used to talk about dating and picking a mate. However it applies to many situation in life. It was a bit hard to find so I thought I would post it here as well.

There may always be one better, but life rarely gives you the chance to go back and change the choices you have made.

The trick is to make the best choice you can and be satisfied with that choice.

Once a man who was told by the landlord of the sweet corn’s field:  “You can pick and keep the biggest corn from my cornfield but with one condition: as you pick the biggest sweet corn, you have to keep on running without stopping until you reach the end of the cornfield. There is no turning back and no going back as well. To top all these, you can only pick one corn.”

The man said: “Well, that is easy!” and off he goes to run in the cornfield. Then he saw a sizable corn a few meters away, he said to himself: “this is one big corn.” BUT when he reach the corn stack he decided that he might find a bigger one in the middle of the field so he did not pick the corn. This goes on with the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and an almost countless big corns he just did not pick thinking that farther on the field there will be a much bigger corn.

Then the man reached the point that he could already see the end of the cornfield. He panicked then he pick the biggest corn he could see in sight. He ended with a mediocre size corn.

I also came across this which is clearly a different version of the same parable but seems be directly related to Love and Marriage:

What is Love?

A student asks a teacher: What is love?

The teacher said: in order to answer your question, go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back.

But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick.

The student went to the field, go thru first row, he saw one sizeable corn, but he wonders….may be there is a bigger one later. Then he saw another bigger one… but may be there is an even bigger one waiting for him.
Later, when he finished more than half of the corn field, he start to realize that the corn is not as big as the previous one he saw, he know he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted. So, he ended up went back to the teacher with empty hand.

The teacher told him, this is love… you keep looking for a better one, but when later you realize, you have already miss the person


What is Marrage?

The student asked: What is marriage then?

The teacher said: In order to answer your question, go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back.

But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick.

The student went to the corn field, this time he is careful not to repeat the previous mistake, when he reach the middle of the field, he has picked one medium corn that he feel satisfied, and came back to the teacher.

The teacher told him, this time you bring back a corn…. you look for one that is just nice, and you have faith and believe this is the best one you get…. this is marriage.

Giving

‘Tis the season as they say.

Not to knock the sentiment of the season, but I say bah humbug to the concept that it should be about the season at all.

If you know me at all, then you know that every day is about giving.

Giving 100% at what you do.

Following that which you are passionate about and sharing your passion with others.

Be the first to offer a new contact your aid or guidance in following their passion or just a kind suggestion to aid them on their path.

Give without expectation of return.

Be more focused on the other person then on your own needs.

Freely give the best of your advice even when that means telling someone where you feels the holes are rather then telling them just what is right with an idea.

Give something of value on your blog, friendfeed and twitter stream.

Provide your financial support to any product or service you really find of value and use.

Give aid when ever practical and especially when the cost of that aid to you is less then the value of that aid to the other person.

Give credit where credit is due!

To that end I want to credit Tamar Weinberg and her blog post The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook, which I highly recommend you take a moment and read, for in some inexplicable way inspiring me to write this topic.

Solutions not Problems

I said this a few weeks back but in case you have been to wrapped up in work or life, times are tough and things are not getting better.

You need not look far to see the gravity of the situation and I do not think there is any business that is immune to what is happening.

So the question is are you part of the solution or part of the problem?

Are you focused on problems? Do you spend your day whacking moles and participating in fiscal search and rescues? Is the first question, when faced with a perplexed co-worker, out of your mouth what is wrong?

If this topic is resonating with you then perhaps you are slipping into the role of being part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Honestly, how much time and energy are you focusing on solutions and not problems? The difference is subtle but the effect of being solution oriented is very powerful.

In a time when things are going wrong at every turn it is so easy to say we can’t and to focus one why not. But what is really needed is to focus one what we can do and what we should be doing.

Jason Calacanis in his most recent email (if you wish to subscribe to Jason’s emails click here or if you want me to forward you a copy send me a note) titled the 120% solution talks about how as a society have been wasting 20% of out time, effort, money and not we must focus 120% efforts to recover. Maybe he is right, but I will take things in a different direction and say we must focus on solutions not problems!

Ok so what can you do:

A) Take some time and learn about SOLVE which is a problem solving system. While I am sure it is well covered in many learned texts used at the finest of B-Schools, I first came across this system in Stephen C. Finch’s book Winnie-the-Pooh on Problem Solving. Which I higly recommend and to those of you who are to busy whacking mole to order a copy from Amazon, I offer this solution: download this excellent summary here.

B) Get on Twitter and figure out how it can be a solution for you: ok I know you are all tired of hearing it from me but simply put if you are generally late to get on board with new technologies here is your chance to change that. The Wall Street Journal has an excellent intro to twitter (see even the WSJ gets it) which is a must read for getting started. Follow that up with Guy Kawasaki’s post How to Use Twitter as a Twool. {if you just muttered that you do not have time to do this then might I point out that you are focusing on the problem once again and not a solution}

C) Network, Network, Network: I know you don’t have time to network, but do you have time to get more customers? Do you have time to convert some inventory into much needed cash? Do you have time to save money on some of your “fixed” expenses? All these things are possible with the right connections. What is your company paying on for their cellular service? Might one of your contacts know someone who could provide that or some other service for less money. Simply put what you don’t know can’t help you. Reach out to your network and offer your best solutions in exchange for theirs.

D) Get out of your comfort zone: What is that something that you have not tried because you simple were not comfortable trying it. Why not ask a supplier for a better rate or discount. Now might be a great time to try that which you have been avoiding.

The potential solutions are limitless one need only focus their efforts on solving problems and not the problems themselves.

I hope this post has intrigued you, it is a topic I will be featuring at my networking dinner on Tuesday the 7th of December. Feel free to check out my networking group and our weekly dinners either on the 7th or for some future topic. We are there every Wednesday!

If you can’t join us why not solve that problem by sharing a solution at the bottom of the topic

No More Free Lunch!

This week one of my favorite services, iwantsandy.com, announced it would shut down in less then 2 weeks [update the creator has stated he will now extend the shutdown to give users more time totranstion]. Sandy was a virtual assistant program which allowed you to email appointment and tasks to the system and it would schedule those items and even remind you when asked. Sandy was a service that never started charging and ultimately when the developer opted to take a paying job with Twitter was something he chose to no longer maintain and while Twitter has taken over the IP of the project they have no plans to support or use the technology in its existing form.

Like many fledgling web 2.0 services, Sandy had people who were more then just users rather they were fanatics about the service. Unfortunately when using a free service one can not place to many expectations on its on going existence and while many have asserted they would have paid for the service we will never know if Sandy was a sustainable business or not.

So in a world where hanging out a virtual shingle and starting up a web2.0 endeavor is as simple as slapping down your Visa card, is there a new paradigm that needs to emerge.

iwantsandy is an unfortunate example of things gone off track. A good and unique service which never really tried to make it as a business but none the less left many hanging and created much bad will in its wake. Some might assert that theiwantsandy endeavor has hurt cloud computing endeavors as a whole because it flaunts the fact that a seemingly viable free services can not be depended on.

So what services are you using for free? Are you growing dependent on some service but not willing or have not helped that services to become a viable business? If you are willing to promote and proselytize a service via your powerful social network, do you have an obligation to help that endeavor become a viable business through some form of legitimate revenue generating interaction?

Do you run or want to create a web2.0 service and are struggling to figure out how to start it and then convert it to a sustainable revenue generating business?

Is the excuse that it was free therefore “we had no obligation to you” really hold water or if you proselytize your endeavor and take aid from others in making that endeavor better do you owe some loyalty to those who participated in the process?

Are the users the solution or part of the problem?

I think in the end the thing about iwantsandy that hurts is that it seems like they did not try. They developed and sold a dream and never once said it was just a lark. He did not ask for aid in making it a viable business and when ultimately the developer needed to get a job he tossed the project aside leaving all those he “sold” on the endeavor left holding thin air.

Digital Hollywood, October 27-30, 2008

Tuesday I will be moderating a the following at Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica. Join me and this fine panel as we hash out Digital Workflow.

Tuesday, October 28th
10:45 AM - Noon - Special Workshops
The Revolutionized Digital Workflow Experience: Understanding How Information Technology, Broadcast & Entertainment Production Merge
Steve Poehlein, Client Industry Executive, EDS
Tom Ohanian, Chief Strategy Officer, Signiant, Inc.
Jake Winett, Global Industry Manager of Media & Entertainment, Microsoft
Michelle Munson, president and co-founder, Aspera, Inc.
David Beebe, Director Video Production, Disney/ABC Television Digital Media Group, ABC.com & ABC Mobile
Mike Palmer, Director of Broadcast Digital Distribution Systems and Strategy, Associated Press
Kenneth Yas, Market Development Manager, Cameras, NA, Grass Valley
Joel Ordesky, Chief Technical Officer, Wexler Video, Moderator

Mike Palmer, Director of Broadcast Digital Distribution Systems and Strategy, Associated Press: Since joining AP in 1998, Palmer has played a leadership role in key areas within the organization and the industry. He has been a driving force and a spokesman for the MOS Protocol, a newsroom integration tool recognized by much of the industry as the gold standard for machine communication in the newsroom. As a result in 2001, Palmer was awarded the prestigious Oliver Gramling Award for Achievement by AP. Palmer also has been a key architect of the AP’s ENPS software and other products in his role as Director of Technology Development, a position he still retains. Prior to 1998, he worked in local news and engineering operations in positions ranging from field photographer to news operations manager. Palmer also held management positions in satellite operations at Conus and USSB, both pioneers in the satellite industry. Palmer is a Mass Communications (Journalism) graduate of the University of Southern Colorado, and studied electrical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Steve Poehlein, Client Industry Executive, EDS Communications, Media & Entertainment Industry: Steve Poehlein is a client industry executive for the Global Communications, Media & Entertainment Industry group. He is responsible for U.S.-based media & entertainment companies. Poehlein brings more than 16 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry to EDS. Before joining EDS, Poehlein was the vice president, Strategic Studio Relations at Deluxe Digital Studios. In this role, he established the relationship with Walt Disney Studios and its post-production business across all Deluxe divisions and was instrumental in strategic initiatives for Digital Post Production & Delivery. After serving as MIS director in the design industry, Poehlein served as a software engineer at Metrolight Studios, where he worked on a wide range of TV, commercial and interactive CD-ROM projects. He was president and CEO of Class6 Entertainment, producing animation for commercials and CD-ROM games for Disney Interactive, Broderbund, Electronic Arts and others. He was instrumental in the inception of Internet content company, planetLingo, Inc., as its director of Production. Poehlein moved to Walt Disney Feature Animation as manager of Digital Animation Software. He managed development, supporting production in character modeling, animation and rendering for several of Disney’s animated films. He transitioned to the role of director of Mastering and Restoration for Walt Disney Pictures and Television. In that role Poehlein managed a staff responsible for the creation of digital cinema, video masters, scripts and international dubbing reference for all Disney released and distributed films. As head of restoration, Poehlein was instrumental in the development of a program for Disney’s classic animated films. He has been actively involved in the many facets of the entertainment industry for more than 16 years. His contribution to these companies has spanned from management and financial oversight, strategic direction to hands-on technical and creative development. Poehlein is a rare executive that can “see the big picture,” yet understand low-level technical details of an issue. He is adept at cultivating and maintaining relationships and always strives for “win-win” results. Poehlein obtained a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Cincinnati and a master of architecture, computer aided design and graphics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tom Ohanian, Chief Strategy Officer, Signiant: As Chief Strategy Officer for Signiant, Tom Ohanian oversees the development, improvement and customer acceptance of all Signiant offerings with a special focus on exceptional customer experiences and continuous innovation. Ohanian is an accomplished strategist, designer, and inventor of digital media products and workflow solutions and was a founding member of Avid Technology. Drawing upon his 26 years in the media industries, his inventions and efforts in product creation and evangelization have led to the widespread adoption of digital nonlinear video, film editing systems and workflow strategies in addition to LAN and WAN digital media collaboration. He is an Academy Award® and a two-time Emmy® recipient.








Michelle Munson, president and co-founder of Aspera, Inc., is co-inventor of Aspera’s core technology and responsible for overseeing the company’s direction. With breakthrough technology solving the fundamental problems of network data delivery, Aspera has quickly become the market leader for high-performance, global file transfer in media and entertainment, and is extensively deployed throughout a variety of industries, as well as government and defense markets, worldwide. Before founding Aspera in 2004, Michelle was a software engineer in several research and start-up companies including the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. She is a frequent speaker on how new data transfer technologies are revolutionizing content production, transformation and distribution workflows. A Fulbright Scholar, Ms. Munson holds B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and physics from Kansas State University, as well as a master’s in computer science from Cambridge University. She was the 2006 KSU College of Engineering Alumni Fellow (the youngest recipient ever), and has received national achievement awards from Glamour Magazine and USA Today.


David Beebe is currently Director, Video Production for Disney/ABC Television Digital Media Group where he oversees the video production, post production and distribution of all short form and long form content on ABC.com, ABC Mobile and other digital media platforms where ABC Entertainment content is available. Additionally he oversees the production of all original video productions for ABC.com, including “Start Now” (ABC.com’s Daily Show - A Network First), ABC Entertainment Show Derivatives, Live and Taped Online Specials (Hosted Weekly Shows, Red Carpet, Thank You Cam, Road To Series, Behind The Scenes) and ABC Entertainment’s 24 hour live channel on ABC Mobile featuring full episodes and original short form programming. Beebe also works closely with the digital sales team to monetize short form original productions and the digital media technology and platform teams to improve the viewing experience of all short form and long form content for ABC.com and ABC Mobile. Beebe was originally hired as ABC.com’s first Video Producer where he project managed the launch and production of the first full episode player on ABC.com which won an Interactive Emmy the following year. At the same time, he rapidly built relationships with shows and network executives to expand the production of original videos online while also rapidly building out and expanding the video production, post production and distribution teams to over 20 people working around the clock to produce, edit, distribute and program video content on ABC.com and ABC Mobile. Prior to joining ABC.com, Beebe worked at DIRECTV as Sr. Editor and Producer, where he was responsible for managing editorial marketing copy online for DIRECTV.com and producing promos and original shows for DIRECTV’s own promotional channel on air and online. Beebe also led the charge to launch the first video player on DIRECTV.com and played the key role in working with television networks and studios to run promotional content online within the DIRECTV.com video player. He also spent four years working at two broadcast centers for DIRECTV in various satellite broadcast operational roles including scheduling and asset coordination. He was a key leader and part of the original broadcast center launch teams at both the Long Beach Broadcast Center and Marina Del Rey Broadcast Centers. During a mutli-season production deal at Showtime, Beebe also oversaw the production and post production of six DVD Bonus Features for Showtime Networks Original hit series “Queer as Folk” in addition to producing DVD Promos for Showtime’s Original Series “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!”
He also freelanced for Venice Magazine, where he interviewed television and movie celebrities and wrote over 50 articles for the magazine. He also oversaw the launch of the magazines very first website which allowed readers to read the magazine articles online and manage their subscriptions. Having produced and managed content for multiple platforms including online, mobile, satellite, radio and DVD over the past 10 years, Beebe got his start in multiplatform communications serving in the United States Coast Guard as a Telecommunications Specialist where he worked in Top Secret Communication Facilities and was responsible for sending, receiving and managing voice and data messages as well as emergency radio communications during search and rescue and law enforcement operations. He also worked in radio announcing news stories and traffic updates while also producing and writing radio commercials.

How Much Time Does It Take To Do Social Media?

Reposted from Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media by Beth Kanter under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

How Much Time Does It Take To Do Social Media?

Time Chart - See Flickr Discussion on Version 1
Wanna Remix it?  Download it here

I’m getting ready to a workshop later this week,   I did a simple pre-workshop assessment, asking folks about their level of experience/comfort and their burning questions.   I usually do this in a room with a quick poll, but I wanted to push myself to create the content based on their questions.

Here’s a question I get all the time:

How much time and resources does it take to implement social media?

In my presentations, I use a slide from Nina Simon’s blog post called “How Much Time Does It Take To Do Web2.0 In A Museum?“   I’ve been thinking about remixing that slide so it matches the framework I set up for WeAreMedia tactical modules.

So, how can you quantify - as close as possible - the amount of time it takes to put social media in practice with good results?  It’s so hard and you could cop out with “It depends …”   It does take more time in the beginning if you’re just acquiring the skill with a particular tool.  As soon as you have the workflow in memory and have routine, it will take less time than when you first started.  But, there’s the whole issue of being efficient - and if you have super human getting things dones with social media skills, then it will take you less time.

Also, it isn’t matter of less or more time - it is also how you manage your online time.  Are you staying on task and getting the workflow done for each specific strategy?  It has nothing to do with the tools, have you avoided getting distracted from your to do list or work flow or too much multi-tasking— social media can be ADD producing.

Also, the categories have  overlap in terms of tools.   For example, you can use Twitter as both a listening tool and for participation.  (And for spreading buzz for that matter).  Also, I wanted to lay this out in a sequential manner — obviously you’re not going to stop listening once you begin sharing your story.

So, here’s a stab with lots of caveats.

Let me define the categories for you.

Listening:
Knowing what is being said online about your organization and the field you work in. You can listen with google alerts, technorati, twitter, and RSS readers. Key skill is pattern analysis. Link listening and analysis to decisions or actions. About 5 hours a week once you learn how to use the tools and make listening a daily habit.  (5 hours per week)

Participate:
Is joining the conversation with your audience. By making a human connection with people online, you can influence their perception of your brand and help them find meaningful, relevant ways to support your mission. Tools to help you participate are Twitter and Co-Comment.  You can also participate vicariously through bloggers by encouraging them to write about your organization.  (10 hours per week - also includes listening tasks as they go hand-in-hand)

Generate Buzz:
Your raising your organizations profile and spreading awareness of your organization’s programs or campaigns. What happens is that you share your message with enthusiastic supporters and they in turn may choose to pass it to others with a similar a interest in your organization or campaign. But first, you have to build trust, credibility and — most importantly — a relationship with those who might interact with your posted content.  Buzz tools include FriendFeed, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Digg - and of course you add many others to this category that are found in other categories.  I’d also include your individual social networking profile which can be a great way to spread buzz (or spread yourself too thin.)  (10-15 hours per week - also includes some listening tasks)

Share Your Story:
You share the impact of your organization’s programs through blogging, podcasting, sharing photos on Flickr, or YouTube or other video sharing site.  Once you have content created through these methods, it can be easily shared using the buzz tools above through social networks.   But even better is getting your constituents to share their stories about your organization with others (which takes more time because it is more in the community building area) (15-20 per week depending on the type of content, number of different ways you’re creating it, and skill)

Community Building and Social Networking:
You build relationships online, nurture a community, engage people and inspire them to take an action, or raise money using social networks and apps. If you want to build an online community for knowledge or skill sharing, using social network tools like Ning or LinkedIN will help you get there. If you’re looking to engage and inspire new supporters, setting up an organizational presence on one of the larger social networks like Facebook or MySpace is the best step. Finally, consider how you can mix in fundraising.  Note, this step goes beyond just setting up your individual profile or creating a fan page or profile — to get results in this category - it requires heavy lifting.  I wouldn’t advise an organization to start here …  (20 plus hours a week)

And of course, Einstein’s theory of social media relativity.  It takes a few months before you see results.  People don’t understand that — you have to give it time. We’re not talking about the immediate gratification of email blasts.

What’s your best time estimate for investing in social media?  How much time do you spend on these tools and tactics?   Does equal with results?

Rosh Hashanah 5769

Today is Rosh Hashanah which is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. This day which is considered one of the most significant of the Jewish religious holidays kicks of a period of reflection which ends next week onYom Kippur . I like many of my friends was raised in a family that went to services on these High Holly Days but as I married and started a family the logistics of life, temple memberships, and child care got the better of my drive to attend services.

Traditionally on these holidays most Jew do not work, rather we spend the time in reflection about life. Just because I have not managed to make it to services does not mean that I do not reflect and wish to be connected to my faith on these holidays.

Judaism is much about traditions and while one may at anytime reflect on life and your purpose/focus in that life it is on these days betweenRosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we as a culture stop and reflect on our lives and our place in this world.

It is in business terms it is the start of our business planning period. It could be said that on Rosh Hashanah we take a day to celebrate the new year and to reflect on where we are today and what we have achieved in the last year. We spend the next week planning for the coming year and reviewing our core values. We take measure of our performance in life against the core values of our ancestors. We take time to take responsibility, reflect on past errors, assume control of our lives and business and change course if necessary.

Judaism has always struck me as a very pragmatic religion. Everything is done with good purpose if one looks deeply enough. This holiday creates a tradition of stopping ones day to day life and taking the time to take measure and reflect on what one is doing. The tradition is ingrained and many of us find it hard not to head the call of theShofar (the rams horn which is blown on this holiday) which calls the start of this reflection.

It strikes me that the concept while simple is missing or mis-shaped in the business world. While budgets are done and business plans are written/updated those plans often lack grounding in the faith of those businesses. How many businesses, or families for that matter, manage to truly reflect on the past and the future of their businesses and to compare those to real and culturally (the culture of the business or family) driven values.

Mostly we do what we do by pattern and necessity. Rosh Hashanah is more then pattern and necessity, we do not do this just because someone tells us to, it is ingrained into us a need to heed the call to participate in the process.

What will you do in the next year with your life and your business? When will you next take the time to pause and reflect on where you are and where your going? How will you measure the passage of time and be sure to stop again when a year has past? When you do pause do you have real core values to measure yourself against?

Time is fleeting, as we all get older and the challenges of life hit us faster it is hard to seriously take the time to look at where we are and where we are heading. If one fails to take a mandatory rest stop one may soon discover they somewhere they never intended and indeed are not happy to be.

So no matter what your faith, culture, business or purpose it is good to have a tradition which brings pause and gives you a chance to look around and make choices not out of need but out of calm intentional and reflective thought.

The Content Value Proposition

Content is everywhere. Movies, User Generated Video, Blogs, Podcast and Music.

More and more the war for the audience is heating up. No more do three networks, a handful of movie studios and a limited number of radio stations control the content we have access to.

The issues with all this content is where is the value proposition?

In order to draw an keep an audience one must do more then incite and titillate, these things may spark interest but without true value to back them up there is no way, in this day, that you will succeed past your allotted 15 minutes of fame.

So how does one provide value in their content?

• Entertain: Clearly this is the original content value proposition and it as valid a method today as ever but it is crowded space and one persons entertainment isanothers sleep aid.
• Inform: Ones ability to deliver timely and useful information is a clear value proposition. The really good content providers do this with style and efficiency.

  Access: Exclusive information or access to that which is not readily available provides a clear value that an audience will find worth coming back for.

• Quality: We are all drawn to things we find to be a bit better then the rest. Any time your content is better then the rest you will do more then just differentiate yourself.
• Authenticity/passion: People are drawn to the simple and passionate truth and if you are passionate about the creation of anything and that passion and authenticity are inherent in the content this is something that will help draw and keep an audience.
• Timing: You must have sense of time both in length and in pace of your content as well as how the timing of your message fits into the market place.
• Resonate: To many people fall into the trap of creating for themselves which is fine if there is an audience for that. However if one hopes to attract and keep an audience then you must be mindful to deliver content that will resonate with them.

No matter if you create major movies, network news, daytime talkers or are a technorati elite, superstar/pod-caster the same value proposition applies.

So how can we take these and other elements of the content value proposition and benefit from them?

Lean Forward Networking

Years ago, a new contact of mine wrote the following in an email, “One of my favorite activities is extending a helping hand to new friends and colleagues. Please let me know where I can help you in your business  or networking  efforts.”

We were not well connected in fact we barely knew each other however the offer above is one of my favorite examples of lean forward networking.

Today the social media crowd calls it participating. Participating is obviously not lurking and never saying anything but it is also not broadcasting. If you speak more then you listen then you are not interacting and hence are not networking.

Try sending an email with the line, “How can I be of aid to you?”

Powerful words and if you think not, try typing an active invitation like that at the bottom of a few emails. You naturally will hesitate and think of the obligation those words place upon you. We all tend to focus on our needs and often forget to listen or better yet seek out how we might be of aid to others.

Networking is a lean forward activity and the fruits of the endeavor will not come to those who stand on the sidelines or stick to doing just what they are paid or commissioned to do. It is not enough to be known. 10,000 followers on Linkedin or the social networking tool of your choice does not make you a good networker. To be good you must actively get involved and seek ways to aid those in your network and not merely wait to be asked.

Why bother you may ask, after all you are moderately to very successful in what you do.  Perhaps you are honestly to busy trying to get by day to day to add one more thing to your plate.  So why should you put yourself out there unless the return on investment is assured? Simply put no matter what you think you will get out of truly networking with others you will get more then you expect out of the bargain.

As they say you have to spend money to make money and in the same vein there is lean forward networking. Opportunities do not come to those who are unwilling to engage. You must be willing to open dialog with everyone and offer your aid as much is possible.

In truth, you can be of aid to anyone in any matter even if that is only to help them take one small step further on the path to their goal.

Burgers and being Blue not Green!

I must say I have not been a fan of the “Green” initiatives. Most were more about hype then actual performance and “Green” is more often associated with profit mongering things like carbon credits and other efforts that put as high a burden on the environment as the original effort.

Blue is what Green should have been and it is more about being blue sky and clean oceans. It is about living in concert with our environment and not about efforts that pay lip service to the environment while having as big an impact just more profitable for some and in a way that seemed green.

That being said be on the watch cause Blue is the start of something new and I hope better then Green.

Today I had lunch at O! Burger in West Hollywood. My wife has long disallowed my eating red meat out of the house for fear of what was in the meat (mad cow disease was the start of this rule).

As someone who used to have lunch every Sunday at the Apple Pan on Pico and was so well known there that the guys behind the counter put my order in even before I manage to get a seat at their busy counter, I truly missed my burgers.

So I was thrilled when my wife Suzanne found O! Burger and have been waiting for a weekend when we could try it out.

I must say I was thrilled with the quality of the food and the owner even came out to chat with my wife and kids. The classic O!burger was just that, classic in the way things used to be. Everything was organic and grown the way it was before modern times came along and messed up my ability to enjoy my burgers in peace with out my wife’s fear that the things in that burger were going to kill me.

At O!burger as the menu says If it’s edible, it’s organic. Their intent is to be as eco-friendly as possible.  They use packaging that is made from renewable resources that are recyclable, compostable and/or biodegradable.  Even their  cleaning products are green and non-toxic.

I look forward to getting over there more often and doing my part to be a bit more Blue while enjoying my burger habit in peace!