A fascinating woman approached me in Vancouver prior to my keynote to ask if she could micro-blog. I said “Of course,” as if I knew what the heck she was talking about. I asked her to write a guest column about what she was doing and why. In my role as King of Social Media, I’m happy to present it here, and I thank Terry for writing it.
The Value in Live Tweeting A Keynote Address of Alan Weiss
By Terry Rachwalski, World of Consulting
For me, micro-blogging is just another communication medium. The difference is that unlike an article, blog or book, it forces the communicator to be concise—140 characters to send a thought demands a paucity of in-depth analysis. Micro-blog posts are more like a stream of consciousness, unfiltered and without the careful wariness of re-writes and editing. The communication is “in the moment.”
Is micro-blogging for everything we need or want to say? No. Some concepts need more substance for thorough communication, but micro-blogging has its place in the spectrum of options available to us.
When I started my micro-blogging account, I asked myself what I wanted to communicate. The form and structure of my consulting assignments are not based on the cult of “me.” The brand is not me personally, yet every assignment I have had came from a word-of-mouth referral. So what could I add to conversation and still be authentically who I am: kind of serious, kind of quirky, but definite about courses of action?
I decided to add value. I decided I didn’t want to spam with a link in every communication I send and I didn’t want to natter on about what a cute dog I have (though that is undoubtedly, true).
To add value, I decided to give snippets of information on consulting, the consulting life and how to consult, with the occasion personal, consumer rant built in—because that’s me.
The theme of Consulting Conference 2010 in Vancouver, BC was about charting a course to value. So I decided that what better value could I offer my followers than to tweet during the keynote speech by Alan Weiss? I asked Alan for permission which he graciously gave, informed my followers, and started tweeting.
Are the tweets anything special? Well, it depends on your point of view. but there are some nuggets of wisdom that are exactly what micro-blogging is all about—concise and pointed statements. The trending favourite was:
“Stop being a jellyfish who floats with the tide, be a shark + control your own destiny #cconf #yvr”
with the follow up pos:
“OK, Alan says be a tuna if you don’t want to be a shark #consultant. You get the picture #cconf #yvr”
Apparently, my followers agreed that there was value there. I added about 100 followers over the course of the conference and keep building my posse of consultants.
You can find the live micro-blog on Alan Weiss’s speech by searching the hashmarks #cconf #yvr #CeMC on twitter under my account @consultingmania
Ronnie, who owns the high-end spa where I get “done” and The Lovely Maria works once a week, was in Paris on a clothes buying trip for her store. She is having breakfast at Angelique, a well-known, “in” cafe, enjoying her “dessert” of Mont Blanc. The woman next to her, well dressed and well spoken, comments on the place and the Mont Blanc. She is just returning from an assignment in Moscow.
“What do you do?” asks Ronnie.
“I’m a consultant and speaker,” she says.
“Do you know Alan Weiss?” asks Ronnie.
“YOU know Alan Weiss?!” she says, “Of course I do. Who doesn’t in this profession? How do YOU know him?”
“Every Thursday afternoon, manicure and pedicure with Dawn.”
Let’s take a look at recent events and see what they teach us as consultants.
1. Toyota
Ultimately, leadership relies on judgment. Judgment should always be in the customers’ favor. The first reaction to adverse feedback or conditions can’t be to adjourn to the bunker or begin to “spin” the facts. You can’t blame floor mats and driver incompetence for engineering errors that represent a frightening expense to correct, because sooner or later the truth “outs.” Get off the floor and hold your head high, where you can truly see the landscape. As of this morning, Toyota released a statement claiming the problems “aren’t as bad as the media report.”
2. The Olympics
In short-track speed skating, as the Koreans were headed for a sweep, the second and third-place skiers took each other out on the final turn. The fourth skater finished second. In the prior Olympics, the American woman far ahead in the snowboard competition fell on the final small jump when she mindlessly tried an unnecessary move, and the woman in second by 50 yards won the gold. The downhill ski competition and luge competition were decided by hundredths of a second. You need to play hard through the finish line and stay focused all the while. And even then, you only need to win by an inch.
3. Sarah Palin
No matter what your politics, this woman is a lightening rod of attention. I’m convinced that a great deal of the attention is actually generated by her detractors and the opposition, which in turn fuels media attention, and re-stimulates the cycle. The opposition keeps asking what is it about her that can possibly attract such interest and publicity. Maybe they should stop asking that question, stop attacking, and stop talking about her, and see what happens. One of the best ways to deal with your competition is to ignore them.
4. Late Night NBC
The decision to move Jay Leno to prime time and the ensuing mess has to rank as one of the worst programming decisions in the history of prime time television, and will wind up costing NBC hundreds of millions. Jay Leno will be back where he started, where he’ll try to regain that time slot’s old lead over David Letterman. Conan O’Brien is gone, with $30 million in his pocket but a questionable future in the medium. And Jeff Zucker, the executive who did it all, is still in place, still making decisions, and will probably be “promoted” and given more money when Comcast completes its acquisition of NBC. Bad decisions are not the fault of the implementers, and the higher the position you hold, the more you should be accountable. How do you improve with this guy still in a key position of any kind? Who’s accountable for THAT decision?
5. Steve Jobs
My understanding is that Steve Jobs is cooperating with Walter Isaacson to write an authorized biography. Isaacson’s credentials are impeccable—CEO of the Aspen Institute, former CEO of CNN, award-winning author and biographer—and the resultant work should be fascinating and, I suspect, overall, quite laudatory. Organizations and individuals should establish and control their “story” and image, and not leave them to others by default.
It’s not difficult for consultants to develop material, approaches, and examples. They are in the headlines every morning.
Here’s a link (www.forbes.com/2009/12/09/employee-retention-compensation-leadership-managing-ceo.html) to a Forbes.com op ed piece written by my two co-authors of The Power of Strategic Commitment, Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader. They’ve undertaken a very sophisticated and comprehensive approach toward using the new book (from AMACON) to leverage their business. I’ve also co-published over the past year with Omar Kahn (The Global Consultant—Wiley) and, as a business venture, with Nancy MacKay (The Talent Advantage—Wiley), and am currently writing books with Chad Barr and Phil Symchych. Two other people are in negotiations at the moment.
Josh and Gershon are using events, video, publishing, and attendant publicity to extend and highlight their expertise and commensurate strategic projects. You can find their book site, with videos of New York (I’m in that one) and Toronto client events here: http://www.strategiccommitment.com.
These are good examples of two strategists executing an excellent strategy!
I developed this list with managing partners from accounting practices in a half-dozen countries while working with them in Atlanta this week. I think it applies to all professional services firms’ principles, and to all entrepreneurs who seek to be a “trusted advisor.” (My thanks to Norman Same of Sydney for setting up this work, which was a result of Rob Nixon asking me to speak for over 500 accounting professionals in that city, my thanks to him, as well. That’s how marketing gravity works!)
How to be perceived as a Trusted Advisor:
• Do pro bono work in the community.
• Publish with third-party endorsement (e.g., business publications).
• Speak at every opportunity when there are influence leaders in the audience.
• Create and maintain an interactive web site.
• Blog, with frequent (e.g. three times+ weekly) provocative issues.
• Conduct breakfast and lunch meetings for networking and discussion.
• Provide free diagnostic products.
• Elicit and publicize testimonials.
• Seek community leadership positions (e.g., planning board).
• Create the proper office environment (privacy, dignity, success).
• Create the proper employee attitudes (courtesy, responsiveness, proaction).
• Create a regular newsletter, hardcopy or electronic.
• Create and promote your brands, and trademark you property.
• Convert intellectual capital (intangible) into intellectual property (tangible).
• Teach locally at a college or university as a guest lecturer.
• Seek professional and trade association leadership positions.
• Create “best practices” from you wealth of experience in your profession.
• Constantly ask happy clients for referrals.
• “Paint others into the picture,” by demonstrating how they can benefit.
If you want to be seen as someone whom important clients can trust and rely on to the degree that fees are not an issue, then you have to walk the talk and talk the walk. How many of these pragmatic actions are you engaged in?
“More than half the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during economic downturns.”— “The Right Stuff,” by Alexander Stein, Fortune Small Business, September 2009, page 27.
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