Tag Archives: Re-Imagine!

Social Media: What is It and Why Should You Care?

21 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Branding, Information Technology, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

“It’s a big waste of time,” is the most common reaction I hear when discussing Social Media (SM) with a novice or rookie user. That statement is followed by, “How do you have the time?”  It’s hard to discuss the topic with non-believers of the SM tools like Facebook or Twitter because the subject is difficult to comprehend if one does not understand the impact of the new world of communication created by the Internet.

The best place to start would be to attempt to define the term ‘Social Media.’

Social Media is the personal interactive use of Internet through fixed and portable devices (computers, phones, etc.) that allow text, voice, and/or visual communication and sharing of information that is accessible to multiple people in real-time, near real-time, or available as a file location at a web address.

Note that phone calls on cell phones don’t fall into the Social Media category; however,  a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) call using the Internet is subject to debate.  My take on the issue is that a VoIP call falls in the Social Media category because it bypasses the traditional phone system and it is personal interaction that can include multiple people.

Still not clear?  Here’s a Kiser Rule of Thumb: If it allows a user comment or user response then it is a Social Media tool. That includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, personal blogs, instant messaging, Flickr, email, music and video sharing sites, etc. under the Social Media umbrella.  Wikipedia has a great list of Social Media tools.

(Wikipedia – Social Media Definition and Examples)

Why is Social Media NOT a Waste of Time?

To understand the value of Social Media you have to understand what has changed for individual communication over the last 40 years.  For simplicity I’ll do it in chunks of 20 years.

1970 – The height of the Age of Mass Communication.  Individual remote (not face-to-face) communication was possible only by phone and postal service mail. Long distance phone calls were expensive and mail was slow. Mass communication was possible through one-way, strictly controlled, expensive media like newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio, and television. Society’s flow of communication was primarily one-way and the individual was a receiver.

1990 – The dawn of the Age of Interactive Communication. Individual remote communication was possible via phone, postal service mail, and email.  Email allowed rapid personal interactions that avoided the long-distance fees of the traditional phone company and the sloth-like speed of the postal service.  This made email it an inexpensive and rapid method of personal communication.  Internet websites offered a new type of mass communication that bypassed the control and expense of newspapers, radio, and television. Society’s flow of communication was beginning to become two-way.

The Age of Omni Communication connects people

2010 – The Age of Omni Communication.  Individual remote communication has become group remote communication with random conversations between strangers who often find they have similar interests. Communication has few geographic barriers only economic, political, and geographic technology disparities.  Discussions between people on social media sites influence micro groups of people who may be observers, but don’t necessarily engage in the conversation; however, they gain new insight and understanding by being a silent third-party.  A person can  now express her or his ideas through blogs and social media sites that allow freedom of expression and opinion never known in the history of the world.  Mass communications now struggles to compete with free market communication and finds itself too slow and too expensive. Society’s flow of information is moving in multiple directions at the same time creating a flood of knowledge for those who are connected.

People can choose not to engage in the new Social Media tools, but a person will likely become more and more frustrated and mystified by a world that seems to ignore him or her.  The best analogy of what non-SM users will experience by staying disconnected is that of a classroom where some people are in on a joke and the teacher is wondering why everyone is laughing.

Next > Aristotle’s Rules of Social Media

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Keep it Personal

19 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by in Branding, Human Resources, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Tom Peters

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by Paul Kiser

Part of the challenge in learning new things is getting enough information until you can hit that magic ‘A-HA!’ moment when the information starts falling into place.  Most of my ‘A-HA!’ moments occur when listening to someone who has insight on the topic AND they can frame the information in such a way that it makes everything else I’ve learned fall into place.

For over 20 years many of my A-HA! moments have come after reading Tom Peters, but recently my A-HA! moments on Social Media have come from listening to people like Dr. Bret Simmons.

(www.bretlsimmons.com)

He is well ahead of me on the learning curve of Social Media, but I am finding my course in the digital jungle easier by the path he is blazing for the rest of us common fools.  He has a unique perspective that I appreciate, and it doesn’t hurt that we both share a mutual distaste for archaic human and public relations management practices.

A few months ago I listened to him talk to a group of young professionals. During the talk he caused an A-HA moment for me.  He said, “use your name” in the Social Media arena. That seems terribly simple, but it is a foreign concept to many.  He went on to say that the message that a person conveys to him by not using their real name is that they don’t value him enough to share his or her identity.

(Listen to Dr. Bret Simmons talk about Personal Branding)

I go farther than Dr. Bret, because when someone doesn’t use their own name..full name..I wonder what they are hiding.  I can certainly understand situations where using a full first and last name may be a personal security issue; however, if you’re in the business world and you want to build your individual brand then you must use your real name.

My father’s generation expected to work for one or two employers during their career. In the past 40 years that concept has died.  What has replaced it is an attitude by employers of a one-way contract.  They want the employee to pledge complete loyalty, but in return they have no obligation of offering the employee job security. Building your personal brand is the only job security you have in today’s market.

In today’s environment your name should be the address for your website, the title of your blog, and identify you on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Your resume is not what you have on paper, it is what you have out on the Internet and the quicker you accept that fact, the faster you can start working on developing your public image and engage in the today’s market.

Does that mean you risk embarrassing yourself?  YES!  Get over it.  With each embarrassment you will become a little better at self-monitoring, both online and face to face.  We are human beings and if you don’t get a job because of something you said two years ago then you have dodged a bullet.  Any employer who is looking for the perfect employee is going to be staffed with people who don’t risk failure and that is not the company to be associated with in today’s world.

You owe it to yourself and the rest of the world to create your own personal brand. If you don’t then expect your tag line to be, “would you like fries with that, sir?”

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations


Social Media 2020: Who Shouldn’t Be Teaching Social Media

18 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by in Information Technology, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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In Social Media, wading is okay for amateurs

by Paul Kiser

If you take 100 people to a nice sunny beach a certain percentage will sunbathe and never touch the water, another percentage will get ankle-deep, another group will go waist deep, and so on until you get to the group that is swimming in the water all day until it’s time to go home.

In the ocean we know as Social Media there are some who fear it and avoid it; there are some who will create an account but not even complete their profiles; and there will be some who are very careful who they ‘friend’ or follow, avoiding anyone not vetted. Finally, there are the people who dive in and will connect up with almost anyone who follows or friends them.

Personally, I’m in the latter group.  I try to friend or follow as many as possible.  I do have some standards.  If someone follows me on Twitter I go to their page and check out the posts. If the posts are all ads/commercials then I don’t follow them.  If the posts seem like they are a real person who isn’t desperately trying to sell me something, I follow them.

I certainly respect someone who tries to limit her or his social connections to people they know because that is within most people’s comfort zone, but it does tell me that the person is not really into the Social Media as a serious participant.

Ironically, people who adopt this limited connection philosophy are sometimes being selected to teach others on how to use the Social Media and this is scary to me.  Think of it this way, who would you rather have teach you how to cook?  A person who lives and breathes food and does it everyday and knows the kitchen like they were born there, or the person who only knows a few recipes, cooks occasionally, and always sticks to the recipes they know.

For people who fear cooking, they may want the less adventurous cook, but for people who need to understand cooking, they need to learn from the person who knows it best.  The same is true for Social Media.

Both intellectually and emotionally, Social Media presents the opportunity to grow and expand, but you have to get all the way in order to reap the benefits.  There may be a person out there in the digital world who has a lead to a great job, or a lead to the customer that could double a company’s business, but the person who limits his or her connections is never going to know about the opportunities missed because they have rejected the person who has the information they need.  Staying in your comfort zone is tidy, but not useful and it makes a person less competitive and less knowledgeable.

So, if your attending a seminar on Social Media and an ‘expert’ tells you to keep to people you know, then that is the sure sign that this person doesn’t understand Social Media.  It also means that the person who selected this ‘expert’ is afraid of Social Media and was looking for someone to justify her or his fear of it.

What should you do in this situation?  Just smile at them and then tweet me ASAP.  I want to know who is serving up snake oil.

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Did Women Legitimize the Social Media?

14 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by in Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Random, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Women

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Here’s a question for you to ponder.

Would Social Interactive Media (SIM) be where it is today if women hadn’t put their stamp of approval by becoming active users?

Did Women make Social Media acceptable to the World?

I’m not talking about numbers, because 60% of Facebook users are women, so it’s obvious that they have had an important impact in the volume of users, but I’m talking about legitimizing it for everyone else. I don’t want to get into stereotyping, but as George Clooney’s character in Up In the Air said, “It’s faster.”

Consider that, with the exception of having sex, most men need a reason for becoming involved in an activity.  Men don’t shopping; they go to a store to purchase.  A man may say that he plays golf just for the enjoyment of the game, but don’t let anyone kid you, a man’s golf score can make or break his day.

Women, by contrast, don’t need to have a reason to go to the store or play golf.  They can find pleasure in just doing the activity.  For a woman, life doesn’t need justification to be enjoyed.

Now look at the Social Media arena.  I often find that men are the most phobic when it comes to participating in Social Media.  They mistrust and fear it.  Often the comment is, “I just don’t understand what the purpose is!”  And there lies the stereotyped gender difference.  Men need a reason (and they tend to leave their participles dangling.)

Women don’t need a reason.  The format of sharing information and ideas is in their comfort zone and that’s all they need.  Women are accustomed to be judged by others, so they don’t fear being judged online.  Women are also better self-monitors, so they know how to control their emotions when they post and tweet.

I believe that it was the acceptance of Social Media by women that pushed it into the mainstream.  Now, men are just trying to keep up…and trying to find a justification, a ‘reason’, to explain why participation in Social Media is important….hmmm…how’s that working out for us, guys?

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Fear of Public Relations

21 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by in Crisis Management, Human Resources, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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The fog of Social Interactive Media is burning off

There are two approaches to Public Relations. The first is to live in fear of it and tremble at the prospect of screwing up. Take only measured steps that are carefully calculated and planned.

The other approach is to dive in. Risk mistakes and live and breathe being real and human.

The old school of Public Relations is the former. It is controlled by the Chain of Command. No one is authorized to speak unless cleared by multiple levels of authority and even then, to say or do anything that is nothing less than perfect is to fail. It is that Public Relations of which the world has become accustomed. Anyone who mars the perfect image risks banishment from the corporate world. Nightmare situations such as the current Toyota recalls reinforce the fear that Public Relations is a beast that must be closely guarded and heavily controlled.

This is why the new world of social media terrifies the old school. The unprecedented access to expressing our individuality on Facebook, Twitter, or even our own blog is the worst possible situation for those who believe that control of the message is the alpha and omega of Public Relations. Many companies are establishing strict policies for their employees on using Facebook, blogging, and all other avenues of professional or personal expression. Most of this comes from the management attitude that employees are a necessary evil and potentially a major embarrassment to the company.

What the old school of Public Relations doesn’t understand is that social interactive media (SIM) is creating a new model of business that is being driven by a desire of the consumer to do business with real people, not corporations. In today’s interactive world the branding of the individual is now becoming a driving force to he branding of the corporation. This is 180 degrees from the mission of most Public Relation professionals in major companies and it gives indigestion to old school managers that live in fear of employee self-expression.

Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

In 2003, Tom Peters came out with a book called Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age. If you understand that the book was published before Twitter and Facebook were available to the public, you have to wonder if Tom Peters can travel into the future and back again. Today everyone throws around the term ‘Branding’ but few know that today’s usage of the term originated from Peter’s 2003 book. On page 232 of Re-Imagine! Peters explains a new world of people who develop her or his individual brand separate from the corporate world. Now, in 2010, social interactive media has provided the vehicle for individuals to show off who they are and what they know and Peters has become the Moses of the new business world.

Like all business, the winner will always be the one who can embrace change before others. Companies that can adapt and use social interactive media to promote and showcase the quality and expertise of the individual within their ranks will have the advantage over the competition. In those companies the new role for the Public Relations professional is to help employees brand themselves instead of trying to muzzle them.

Still, the old school will loudly point out every slight misstep or mistake made by an employee that may reflect poorly on a company’s reputation. What they don’t understand is that errors make us human and that can deepen the bond between the company and the customer. An error is the opportunity to make things right and that is the key to all long-term relationships.

Passionate People Can Save a City

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

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Rick Parr: A Force of Nature

Last night I sat in a back room of a restaurant in downtown Reno (that shall remain nameless) at the Rotary Club of Reno New Generations meeting.  The restaurant had decided to pack the back room with patrons who were not part of the meeting and who seemed to be oblivious that someone was trying to speak to the group. Despite all of this distraction the club members were focused on the man standing up.  To everyone it was apparent that this man was passionate about his job and all the noise around him didn’t keep him from making it clear that he loves what he does.

The man is Rick Parr and he is Passionate about his ball club. Rick is the General Manager of the Reno Aces and last year the new Triple A team came to Reno and erased all doubt of whether this town could support the Arizona Diamondbacks ‘farm’ team.

Rick Parr - General Manager of the Reno Aces

The Reno Aces exceeded all expectations for a first year club with a season attendance approaching 500,000 fans.  But that achievement was nothing compared to what happened during the first four months of 2009.

On February 1st of last year the ballpark looked more like the first phase of a major construction project rather than a state-of-the-art baseball stadium only 10 weeks away from the first pitch of the first home game.  But on April 17th all, and I mean all, were amazed.  For anyone who was paying attention it was a miracle.

Rick doesn’t look like he has 30 years in baseball management.  When you talk to him about the Reno Aces he sounds like the person who was just hired to take a job that he has dreamed of all his life.  He loves baseball and he loves his team.  You get the sense that the miracle of last year’s opening day was due in large part to the force a nature known as Rick Parr.

But Rick’s passion doesn’t stop with baseball.  He is passionate about redeveloping downtown.  Like Denver’s Coors Field, the new Reno Aces Stadium is located in an area that has had little economic benefit to the city in recent history and like the Colorado Rockies, the Reno Aces are bringing in people and new development to revitalize the downtown area.

Rick has only been in Reno for 18 months, but as the designated hitter for the Front Office he taking the vision of the team owners, Jerry and Stuart Katzoff, and bringing home a Re-Imagined* downtown that offers more attractions than just a baseball team.  This year the Aces will open up the next phase of new dining and shopping with the Freight House District’s first retail offerings.  There is no doubt that this area will become a ‘Mecca’ for tourists and local citizens, bringing new jobs and revenue for local businesses and to the City of Reno.

Even before the completion of the full Freight House District retail project it is obvious that the Reno Aces have changed Reno for good.  Rick would probably be the first to credit the work of many others for the success, but there is one common factor in all that is happening in the downtown area and that is the passion of Rick Parr.

Rick is a great example of how one person can change a city by having passion and vision.  Peter Drucker wrote, “Wherever you find something getting done, you find a monomaniac with a mission.”  Rick Parr is Reno’s newest monomaniac.  Just in time!

(*Re-Imagine! is a 2003 book by Tom Peters about rethinking business in a new world.)

Reno Aces website is at http://www.renoaces.com.

Not so Greats are Killing American Business

10 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Management Practices, Public Relations, Rotary

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by Paul Kiser

Tom Peters is one of the most annoying people in the world.  I say this because people are usually annoyed by a person who is always right and Tom Peters is almost always right.  For decades he has been scolding business, mocking those who excel at mediocrity, pointing out companies that are doing it better, and generally being relentless at not accepting the status quo in the corporate world.  Sure he gets paid big bucks to chastise organizations and industries to their face, but that doesn’t mean they like him.

Tom Peters book, Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

After almost 30 years of spelling it out for executives and business leaders that they are doing it wrong, he still makes a great living from ranting at the corporate world.  The reason is simple.  It’s not because it is difficult to take his advice.  It’s not because Peters asks the impossible.  It’s not because the corporate world consists of stupid people (well, maybe a few).  The reason Tom Peters is able to continue his assault on business is because he offers the perfect commodity:  Common sense in a nonsensical world.

The problem is a fear of Greatness.  Most people seem to be comfortable doing good work and live in terror of risking failure by going for greatness.  Case in point:  Government.  Right now most State, County and Municipal governments are operating under the assumption that they have failed and the only thing they can do is plan for more failure.  You can’t do great things when you have decided you’ve already failed.

Jim Collins book, Good to Great, talks about how great companies have a realistic view of the challenges they face AND at the same time those companies are absolutely certain that they will succeed.  Taking the lessons learned from Collins research, greatness involves; 1) great AND humble leadership, 2) getting the right people in the right positions AND getting the wrong people out, and 3) confronting the facts, no matter how stark, AND believing that success is possible.

Tom Peters has shown repeatedly that we fall into traps of mediocrity and that’s the alpha and omega to squandering a great opportunity.  I am constantly amazed at how many people have never read Peters and can’t figure out why business seems so hard to understand.  I am more amazed at those that have read Peters and still don’t get that ‘good’ is never going to be ‘good enough’.

The Coming Employment Perfect Storm

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Management Practices

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Storm Clouds on the Horizon
While some may fear a disaster coming in 2012, employers may want to worry less about the world ending and more about a new world emerging.

When the pendulum swings one direction it will always swing back the other direction.  In 2009-10, employment has swung to one extreme (labor surplus) and it’s not difficult to foresee it will eventually swing back the other direction.  The question for employers is what factors will influence the return because that will determine if we are moving toward equilibrium between labor and jobs or if we are moving into a new labor shortage.  Unfortunately for employers needing quality workers, a perfect storm seems to be brewing that may bring about the worst labor shortage since World War II.

A Symbiotic Relationship
The engine that drives employment is a symbiotic relationship between the employee and the employer.  In this relationship the employer provides; 1) wages and/or benefits, 2) job security, and 3) a source of pride and well-being from gainful employment.  In return the employee basically submits themselves to abide by the demands put upon them by the employer.

A One-Way Street
Unfortunately for the employee, employers have often exploited their workers by not providing one or more of the unwritten agreements of that symbiotic relationship.  Companies have been able to do this because a person’s need to survive has been largely dependent on gainful employment and though self-employment has been an option, it has been an option only if you wish to sacrifice your sense of security.  For a period of time labor unions helped the worker by leveling the employment playing field; however, with most unions devolving to some level of corruption, the employee sometimes is dealing with the lesser of two evils.

A New World
For decades we have observed that job security has been on the decline; however, the current recession has crushed the last vestiges of job security in the workplace.  Government and university employees were among the sectors of employment that still retained some job security, but this economic crisis has undercut the government revenue bases of property, sales, income, and many business taxes, leaving city, county, and state governments drastically cutting jobs.  No longer can an employee be deluded with the myth of job security and that removes the corner stone of the symbiotic relationship that employers have used to maintain some control on the labor market.  It is understood that for an experienced, educated worker there is no more risk in being self-employed than being under the thumb of a corporate manager.

The new reality is bad news for an employer that needs an experienced and/or educated workforce.  These workers are now seeking to earn their living outside of a corporate environment and organizations can no longer expect any leverage of a better opportunity within the corporate structure.  In fact, many people will discover greater opportunities and more control in the entrepreneurial world than behind the company desk.

The length of this recession is also contributing to dispelling the mystic of needing a job for a sense of well being.  With so many unemployed it no longer is a mantle of shame to be one of millions out of work.  Many unemployed workers are going back to school, re-imagining1 their careers, starting their own companies, working for volunteer organizations, or a combination of all the above.  Like a snow drift in Spring, the current labor surplus is gradually melting away and when employers return to the labor market they may find the labor surplus is a suddenly a shortage.

Damn Tom Peters!
In 2003, Tom Peters published his latest treatise on the future of business.  His book titled, Re-Imagine!  Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, described the demise of the corporate employee.  His description of self-branded people who floated from project to project foretold an entrepreneurial environment where individuals reigned supreme and corporations fought for the best talent.  Whether Peters has a crystal ball or just exceptional perception, the impact of the current recession has made his predictions of the new workplace become our reality.

What to Do?
For the employer, the days of employment as usual are over.  Some human resource professionals may be smirking at the current power balance based on today’s labor surplus, but that smile will soon be wiped off his or her face.  The best strategy for an organization is to reevaluate the workplace and address any issues of people management that devalues the employee.  The guiding principal of treating the employee as an equal will help an employer to meet the new reality, but most organizations cannot fathom what that means.  Eliminating job standards, employee evaluations, and all other human resource and management tools designed to send the clear message that “we own you” will have to be sacrificed.  That is contrary to everything companies have been told in the past sixty years, but that is the only part of the extreme workplace makeover that will be necessary to revamp an organization for what is coming in the next storm front.  Many organizations that survive the new economy will emerge only to be swept away by the new workplace.

1Tom Peters term of rethinking the future of business.