Archives for September 2015

Book Review: The Ultimate Field Guide to Digital Program Management

If you are running your own company or if you have been charged with running the digital assets of your employer, you have probably, in desperation, sought knowledge in “social media books.” Inevitably, you ran into the story of “United Breaks Guitars” and Comcast. The problem, though, is that your company probably is not as big as United or Comcast. You probably do not attract the same levels of viral negativity if something goes wrong, and you probably do not attract the same levels of viral praise (hey, Ellen DeGeneres, did you hear that…) if something goes right. These social media books may have offered some interesting tidbits, but you may have felt they didn’t really apply to you. How can you have silos between sales and marketing if YOU are sales and marketing in one single package?

Seek no further. I have the Holy Grail of marketing and business development for you. It’s The Ultimate Field Guide to Digital Program Management (not an affiliate link), authored by Daniel Newman and Olivier Blanchard.

This is not a “sit on your butt and read” book

Much like John Jantsch’s Referral Engine (not an affiliate link), this book is not a book you want to sit down and read in front of the fire on a cold winter’s day. In fact, reading this book should not be a solitary affair. Here is my recommendation.

Form a book club at work, even if it’s just you and your one partner. Read a few pages the night before, make notes, and get together the next day to discuss and work towards some actionable goals. That’s the kind of book this is. You will want to start thinking about what the authors talk about as it relates specifically to your company right from the star. For example, what are your business objectives? The authors ask you to consider this question, and if you realize with a start that you don’t have a good answer, you will want to stop reading and start brainstorming right away.

The book takes you from the stages of defining your business objectives to building tactics to help reach those objectives. Per the name, many of the proposed tactics reside in the digital world – Facebook, Twitter, video development, etc. However, and this is where the major difference is between this book and “social media books,” this is not just a “how to get Chris Brogan to follow you” study (nothing against Chris Brogan, of course). This is a “How to use as many different tactics and channels as possible to acquire customers, retain customers, and grow your business.

B2B Marketers, Take Heart

Another thing you may have noticed in pursuing “social media books” is that most of them are geared towards the consumer world. The ones that claim to incorporate B2B examples may have used companies like IBM or Citrix. These aren’t exactly “mom and pop” shops, and if you are, say, a medical device manufacturer, these examples are not going to guide you much. The Field Guide, however, covers the spectrum from oncology departments to Starbucks (really!). The information and guidance presented is fairly universal, but I applaud the authors in giving a nod to the types of companies that many other social media experts have sort of overlooked in the past.

Just one criticism

I unequivocally suggest you invest in this book. My only criticism is one which unfortunately must be commonly voiced in the industry. There are more proofreading errors than I usually like to see in a published book. I am a stickler for proofreading and content perfection in professionally published works. These errors do not get in the way of the content, but they are noticeable.

Full disclosure: The authors sent me this book to review. However, that did not sway me from offering an honest review. In my opinion, this book is a must for anyone striving to develop business and a strong customer base today.

#PassionPlayers Steve Brightman

by Margie Clayman

I met Steve close to ten years ago in my old hometown of Akron, Ohio. I learned pretty quickly that Steve is an extremely gifted poet, but I also got the privilege to learn what a kind and smart person he is, so bonus! Steve embodies passion to me because he has been committed to publishing a poem every single day to his Facebook page. To me, that is living out your passion. Here are Steve’s answers to my questions.

1. How do you define “passion”?

Something that moves you to action. that isn’t necessarily be a positive action; plenty of people act with passion to their own detriment (and society’s).

2. What is your passion?

My wife, my life, my family, my writing, baseball, my job. For the purpose of this discussion, we’ll limit that to writing.

3. How did you know that this was a passion and not just a passing interest?

I knew it was a passion when I tried giving it up for about five years and it wouldn’t let me. I was dormant and not real productive during that time, but the bug was always there. I’m writing now (every day), so it came back at me with a vengeance.

4. How do you make sure you follow your passion and nurture it?

I set aside time. We have 1440 minutes a day. setting aside 60 for something that is important doesn’t seem like that great of a sacrifice, but it can be. You have to gift 60 to yourself (#gift60 is my one-person movement)

5. What is your advice to other people who are trying to find or follow their passion?

You give time to everyone you know. for want of money, for want of love, for want of quiet. give time to yourself for what moves you.

6. Anything else you want to say?

Let yourself be moved.

Book Review: I am Malala

by Margie Clayman

What do you think of when you hear the name Swat Valley? If you are like me, you might conjure images of violence and drone attacks or, perhaps, the search for Osama Bin Laden.

What do you think of when you hear the name Pakistan? Perhaps it’s a similar litany of images. It’s the country where Bin Laden was found. It’s a shadowy place that we don’t really understand, it seems.

When I decided to read Malala Yousafzai, I figured I would read about her struggle for education, her battle back from being shot in the head, and her calling out of the Taliban. Indeed, those facets are in there. What I did not expect, however, was to realize how completely ignorant I am about all things Pakistani.

Malala describes the Swat as if it was a Garden of Eden. Not perfect, of course. She talks about the constant blood battles between families, the consistent frailty of the leadership, and children so poor they were going through garbage trying to find things to sell. The overriding image, however, is beauty. The snowy mountains, the amazing diversity of fruit trees, the flat roofs on which children could play, and the socializing her mother did with the other women of their village.

Some Hard Truths

As an American, reading I am Malala is morally challenging. For me, I realized how much I had been influenced by the media in terms of understanding Pakistan. On a broader scale, however, you learn about how the CIA distributed text books that framed everything in war terms. “If you kill x number of the enemy, how many are left out of the total?” The attack on Bin Laden is also covered harshly by Malala. She points out that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people were not informed about the action. This made Pakistan feel that the US did not trust them, which in turn built more mistrust.

The Personal Struggle

More than anything, I recommend reading this book because Malala so beautifully brings home to the reader the struggle she, her family, and almost everyone she knew faced for years as the Taliban slowly started to infiltrate every part of their society. She describes her father’s tears after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the family’s increasing fear as people close to them were killed by the Taliban, and ultimately, of course, her own shooting.

For us, in the world outside of Malala’s existence, she was shot, we heard about her, and then she became famous. But in time between her shooting and her speaking at the UN she went through excruciating pain, both physical and emotional. Her family was not able to join her at the hospital in Birmingham for about two weeks due to bureaucratic confusion. She had nightmares that her father had been shot and that was why he wasn’t there. She had nightmares that her family wouldn’t be able to pay the medical bills so they were staying away for shame. She talks about seeing herself in the mirror for the first time, the left side of her face sagging and most of her hair gone. Her description of finally reuniting with her family moved me to tears.

A Bright Beacon

It is hard, very hard, to believe that this young woman just turned 18. She has already been an activist for over five years, at least. Today’s world gives us much to ponder that is ghastly, negative, barren of hope, and shameful. Against that background, Malala is a modern day hero – the kind we long for and dream about. Read her story. Do not be afraid to learn. Do not be afraid to feel. I couldn’t possibly recommend this book more.

#passionplayers – Molly Cantrell-Kraig

by Margie Clayman

When I thought about the concept of starting a conversation about passion here on my blog, I knew that one of the people I would most want to hear from would be Molly Cantrell-Kraig. Lo and behold, she is kicking off the series! I have known Molly for about five years now (although unfortunately we have not met in person….yet…) and she embodies passion so far as I am concerned. Her work for Women with Drive Foundation has always inspired me.

I asked Molly six questions, which are the questions all #PassionPlayers recipients will receive. I loved her answers – I think you will too.

1. How do you define “passion”?

Passion is a smoldering, sustaining energy. It’s a fuel that may ebb, but it never goes away.

2. What is your passion?

Helping people become themselves. There’s something humbling and miraculous about partnering with another to co-create his or her future. We are mirrors of each other, and when we can connect with those along the way to help us recognize and develop our higher selves, that’s a sacred transaction.

I can’t think of anything more invigorating.

3. How did you know that this was a passion and not just a passing interest?

It wouldn’t go away. Opportunities to help people become themselves kept on popping up in my life, like some cosmic Whack-A-Mole. The tools and partners I needed to move forward would show up when needed. Furthermore, when things were looking their bleakest and I would think of giving up, some glimmer of hope would always present itself.

Think of it as being in a dark room and thinking that you’re going to be trapped inside forever, and then seeing a sliver of light from a door, slightly ajar. The slant of illumination beckoning from beyond the doorway always served as a thread to my next iteration.

4. How do you make sure you follow your passion and nurture it?

I learned how to be quiet, shut out the chorus of Others and attuned myself to my higher voice. Learning this was an excruciating process, because the valley of the shadow of death is a lonely place. A great poem about this stripping away is Theodore Roethke’s “In a Dark Time.”

I also have a group of friends to whom I refer as My Inner Sanctum Crazy Margaret Mead People. These folks are the angels in my life who remind me that I’m not crazy and this will all work out. These are they who remind me of what I’ve already accomplished and encourage me to keep going. They see my blind spots and give me opportunities to grow.

In terms of following your passion, I love Steve Jobs’s quote about learning how to say “no.” Building your passion can be a selfish act, and you must be ruthless about saying no to things that drain and distract you from your ultimate goal.

5. What is your advice to other people who are trying to find or follow their passion?

Shift your brain to its Possibility Setting. Most of us are born with this setting as our default, but as we progress through school and careers, the switch gets flipped to “Fear and Risk.” Ask yourself a few questions:

• What is something I do without thinking that others marvel at my ability to do/accomplish?

• What are activities that I do where I lose track of time or forget to eat?

• When I serve on boards or volunteer, which task is usually mine?

• Ask aloud, “Please show me what’s possible.”

• Speak aloud, “I am willing to recognize opportunity.”

• ALWAYS thank people for helping you, no matter how insignificant their assistance may seem. Gratitude is fuel. Passion thrives on it.

6. Anything else you want to say?

I’m working with an expert on impact investing to develop the next stage of WWDF. During one of our meetings, he said, “You do realize what you’re doing for women through WWDF you could be doing for individuals as part of a coaching business?”

His observation startled me into laughter. “Of course! … Of course I could!” was my answer. So our passions don’t change necessarily. They manifest and morph into different forms. Since he and I chatted, I’ve begun to help people become themselves by working with them to navigate transitions, be they personal or business. For those who would like to know more about working directly with me, ping me at infoplease.lodestar@gmail.com.

Dear @DirecTV – Your Randy Moss Ad is HORRIBLY Offensive

by Margie Clayman

This is a post I would have hoped I would not have to write. Unfortunately, it seems that insensitivity still rules the roost.

If you watch much TV you have probably seen the series of Direct TV ads that feature athletes talking about all of the games they can access with Direct TV. The lesser version of these athletes as presented in the ads just has cable. There is also a version of the ad for regular Direct TV versus cable that features Rob Lowe. Today, however, while already being offended by how putrid my Cleveland Browns were playing, I saw this:

There are two primary issues I have with this ad. The lesser of the two issues is towards the end when “petite Randy Moss” is shown trying to reach something on a top shelf at a grocery store. This may seem funny to some folks, but as a person who has to scale the shelves for pretty much everything I want, I can tell you it is certainly not funny to me. It’s probably also not funny for people who are shorter than me, as many people with achondroplasia are. People in wheelchairs probably don’t find it funny either.

The greater concern I have, however, is the overriding sentiment of the ad. It presents the message that a “petite” version of a person is lesser than a regular-sized person or a tall person like the real Randy Moss. Super-imposing “Don’t be like this me” as they show the petite Randy Moss trying to reach something on the shelf sends the distinct message that little people are a) laughable b) inferior c) something you don’t want to be.

I do not share these concerns on my own behalf. My ultimate worry is for young people who are probably dealing with bullying at school already, just like I did. They may be dealing with self-confidence and self-image issues, just like I did. For boys especially, this ad says that it’s ok to make fun of short people, not to mention Little People, because a celebrity is participating in the joke.

That is what makes this ad unforgivable to me.

It’s easy to make fun of Little People for some reason. Somehow it does not occur to people that dwarf jokes and things like this ad are actually really offensive to people who just might be, well, little. This ad is not ok. It is insensitive, inappropriate, gratuitously foolish, and potentially harmful.

Please join me in asking Direct TV to take this commercial off the air and to apologize for the insensitivity they have shown. Imagine if another minority was portrayed as lesser in such a brazen fashion. The outcry would be palpable. This is not, or should not, be an exception.

Hamlet at the Barbican – Reimagined was fine with me

by Margie Clayman

There were a lot of reviews of Sonia Friedman’s Hamlet production floating around in the month or so preceding the moment when I would get to see it for myself. I did my best to avoid them. It’s not that I didn’t know how the play ended (spoilers – most of the characters die). It’s that I didn’t want my experience to in any way be biased one way or the other. I like to experience books, plays, movies, and music through my own personal filter, then see if I agree with other folks. Even despite my efforts to avoid the reviews, however, it was hard to avoid the sense that the production was getting dissed a little. Well, I guess that’s what happens when friends and family email you all of the reviews as they get published.

From what I gathered, there was a huge outcry because Friedman’s production actually began, initially, with the famous “to be or not to be” speech. Some Shakespearean purists of course felt this was sacrilege. There were other complaints as well, and from what I could gather they were all along the same lines. “But Shakespeare didn’t do it that way!” Well, Shakespeare also used men to play female roles. Sometimes purity can evolve into close-mindedness if you’re not careful.

Hamlet has always been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I have read or watched renditions of it over the course of my adult life, and each time I experience it I gather something new from it. I suppose this is not revolutionary where Shakespeare is concerned. He’s kind of a big deal, and for good reason. But I have to say that Sonia Friedman’s Hamlet, which I was privileged to attend at London’s Barbican Theater, drove home for me more than any other experience how alone Hamlet’s character truly is. Somehow I was able to see how much of a puppet Ophelia was made to be and why Hamlet had to try to distance himself even from her.

The Cumberbatch Factor

OK, the elephant in the room. Anyone who knows me knows that a large part of the appeal for me in seeing this play was the fact that I would be in the same building, nay the same room, as Benedict Cumberbatch, a man whom I much admire. Truth be known, I figured I would really just be focused on not acting like a teenaged girl during the production (I’m at the age where acting that way is getting increasingly unattractive and unforgivable). If Cumberbatch announced he was going to be reading a phonebook on a stage, I would probably try to go.

But, and this is a big but, his performance as Hamlet was good enough that for most of my time there, I was not enmeshed in the idol worship that I thought would be preeminent in my mind. His interactions with Sian Brooks (Ophelia), Leo Bill (Horatio), Jim Norton (Polonius), Anastasia Hille (Gertrude) and Ciarán Hinds (Claudius) were genuine, engaging, and they all felt real. Indeed, despite all of the attention I’m sure he felt on him, Cumberbatch was able to disappear into the play and into his character. No one could have been more surprised than me that I forgot at times who I was watching on the stage.

Oh, it’s not serious enough!

I suppose a lot of people have rolled their eyes at some of Friedman’s reimagined parts. A lot of people have talked about the clothing. Hamlet goes around in a hoodie for awhile, for example, and Horatio looks like he could have just stepped off the tube. There are scenes where Hamlet does quite silly things which were of course not specifically delineated by Shakespeare, and apparently some people have felt that these parts that stray away from the original perhaps do not show enough respect or are too modern.

The clothing was an interesting player in itself, it’s true. Some characters were in traditional garb while others were not. For me, I did not find it particularly distracting, but upon pondering it, I think it accentuates the timelessness of the story. Sure, not everyone is a prince of Denmark, but many of us have been in situations where we feel like we are crazy because no one seems to notice that which is rank and wrong. Many of the themes of the play are as relevant today as they were 500 years ago. Bringing the characters into the 21st century did not pose a problem for me.

As for the silly parts, sure, some of them may seem over the top to a high-browed scholar, but then these parts of the play also offered a welcome relief from the true feelings of pain and torture that predominated. It was pleasant to be able to chuckle at the exchanges between Hamlet and Polonius, which were played so well. Seeing Hamlet dress up as a toy soldier was unexpected, but Cumberbatch again pulled it off so that you truly felt like you were watching someone who had gone mad.

In short, I greatly enjoyed the production for itself, not just because an actor I admire was in the starring role. It is a testament to all of the players that the production can step over all of the modern day fanfare and draw the audience into Shakespeare’s world. If you happen to be in London between now and the end of October, I highly advise you to check out the play and let me know your review of it.

Archives for September 2015

Footer