Manage To Change

Content, Publishing, Marketing, and Some Fun

We can’t be serious all the time – right?

Seriously, though, the links embedded in this story (story template courtesy of Successful Blog) are all great sources of information about publishing, media, marketing, and entrepreneurs. I read every one of them!

This was just the fun and creative exercise I needed this (US) holiday weekend.

Social Media Marketing and Publishing 2.0

Publishing 2.0 was enjoying great Success from the Nest, when out of the blue PersonaNonData appeared. You might think this is strange, but when planning an Escape from Cubicle Nation such things happen all the time.

Our brave and quirky hero knew exactly what to do — Micro Persuasion, but our brave and quirky hero had no PaidContent with which to do it! 

Seeking help to resolve this dilemma, our hero headed down the road to The Viral Garden.

The road passed three creatures — each of them was more interesting than the next.

The first was an Entrepreneurial MD who generated valuable content all the time. The second was a Content Blogger who often told others how content was changing and what they could do with it. The third was a VC, with money and vision.

Our brave and quirky hero ran the rest of the way, and when she got there, she got another surprise!

“Print is Dead!” our hero exclaimed.

“Perhaps, but Content Matters,” Barry answered.

“I was enjoying great Success from the Nest, when out of the blue PersonaNonData appeared.” our brave and quirky hero said, knees shaking.

“Could you spare some Logic + Emotion?”

And so it passed that The Krafty Librarian gave our brave and quirky hero The Bivings Report AND a publishing talk and all was well.

You might think this is strange, but when planning an Escape from Cubicle Nation such things happen all the time.

Jott This Down

Have you ever called voicemail and left yourself a message? 

I have. I do it all the time.

It seems as though important things I need to do, or interesting thoughts, often occur to me when I can’t write them down. 

I used to listen to those messages and then have to transcribe the important parts.

Not anymore! 

Thanks to Drew McLellan, I’ve been using Jott.com for a few days now. 

I’m completely hooked (and so far I’ve only “jotted” myself!). 

Instead of calling my voicemail, I call Jott’s toll free number, say who I want to Jott, and start talking!

Within minutes, the fully transcribed message is emailed to me.  

I’ve already started several blog posts this way (what a time saver!).

Go check it out and I’ll bet you quickly find a use for it too!

Outsell Hot Topic: Google’s Threat to Media

Today, as an unexpected benefit of my Electronic Publishing Services, Ltd. (EPS) affiliation, I was sent a copy of Outsell’s latest Hot Topics report: "Google: The Threat to Media and Information."

(Outsell, Inc. became EPS’ parent company in 2006.)

The report does an excellent job describing Google’s architecture (in relatively non-technical terms) and explaining why that architecture makes them a formidable innovator, product developer, and competitor.

The speed and specificity with which Google can react to user behavior is very impressive and rivaled by none.

The report also explains how certain products and patents under Google’s control might combine with their architecture and culture to impact publishing in a substantial way.

How substantial?

“…any content within the Googleplex can be used for creating custom content output that can be sold or further monetized with advertising, or both…An author can upload a dataset or document to Google Base and make it available for direct sale or as a component of an automatically generated content construct such as a book of readings for college coursework.”

But, if you’re a publisher, don’t despair!

Outsell describes where Google might go wrong and offers a list of essential actions publishers and information providers might take to manage the Google threat.

This Outsell report is truly an amazing resource.

My only hesitation with the topic is the word “threat”.

Any company that has the potential to reshape an industry is certainly scary to those of us in that industry.

However, only viewing Google, any new technology, or any innovative business model, as an adversary makes me nervous.

Why?

Most of us react to threats. They tend to illicit defensive behaviors. Defensive behaviors are often counter-productive.

In my opinion, some of the “spots on the battlefield” that Outsell mentions are areas that publishers might complement Google’s capabilities with deep and unique content knowledge that Google will likely never have (or want).

They are opportunities for publishers and Google to work together.

While I’m sure it’s semantic, I feel it’s more conducive to publishing innovation to focus on areas where complementary expertise exists.

What can publishers do, that consumers would value, and that Google can’t do (or doesn’t want to do)?

Semantic differences aside, I found this report both fascinating and useful.

Change Resistors Revisited

Last June I wrote a series of posts on change resistors.

I tried to address some reasons why people resist change and offer change managers strategies for managing that resistance.

I recently used those posts as the basis for a conference presentation.

I was nervous about covering the human side of change management at a relatively technical conference.

The reception, however, was very encouraging.

Several of the attendees told me that managing change from this perspective was something they had never discussed openly, rarely considered, and felt could positively impact their efforts.

It seemed as though everyone implementing new processes, projects, and systems had experienced some or all of the behaviors we covered.

They also reported other behaviors that hadn’t been included.

I’d like to flesh this series out into a resource that could be used as a reference when implementing change.

Should the change resistors be an e-book or even book?

Maybe - with a little help from you.

I’d like to hear your stories of change resistance.

Who were the change resistors in your experience?

What were they like? What kinds of tactics did they employ? How did you and your team deal with them?

Did they teach you something? Did you find that some resistance was justified and helped to successfully adjust your course?

Have you ever been the resistor? When? Why? What happened?

If you don’t feel comfortable telling your story in the comments here, please email me at ann.michael[at]managetochange.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

You’re Only a Stranger Once!

That’s what Liz Strauss’ dad used to tell his customers. He was a saloon keeper. Liz is a saloon keeper’s daughter. 

She often says that what she learned about relationships and community, she learned from her father.

One of the most amazing parts of community (to me) is reciprocity. You don’t go in to relationships and become part of communities because you expect something, but you almost always get back equal or in excess of what you put in. 

So, how would you feel if your customers, friends, and “fans”, got together and scheduled a conference for you?  

A conference that showcased your beliefs, how they impact your life and your business, and what you can do to take your efforts to the next level? 

I would think that was an incredible display of loyalty, support, and respect.

And it is, but more importantly, it’s the very definition of community. 

I must admit that I hear about relationships, conversations, and community almost to the point of nausea lately.

Why do I put it that way? Because many of the people that use these words have no idea what they mean in practice. 

Sure they can TELL you how important those terms are to business, to marketing, and to them personally – but it all falls apart when you see them in action.

Liz, Phil, Mike, and the other organizers and presenters at SOBCon07 are not posers!  

They practice what they preach – and that’s why I’ll be there.

Hope I get to see you!

(Click the SOBCon07 button on my sidebar to get all the details.)

Busting the Block

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? 

What about manager’s block, marketer’s block, or <insert your profession here>’s block? 

For me, a block is when I either can’t get started on something, repeatedly do the same thing over again, or lose track of what I should do next. 

It usually occurs when I’m over-thinking, under-thinking, or generally uninspired. 

Working from home (and blogging) has taught me a few strategies to break myself out of a rut. 

1. Call someone. While I love speaking with just about anyone, I have several virtual colleagues that really get the blood flowing to my brain.
2. Stream of conscious. Sometimes I try to refine my thoughts too early in the creative process and get stuck. When that happens, I’ve found that just getting my ideas on paper (or in Word), no matter how unorganized or random they may be, can get me moving along a productive path.
3. Change scenery. Instead of working at my desk I work in a different room or go someplace public (with wifi, of course!). Or, I stop working and go take a walk  (often with my camera).
4. Take a deep breath and look around. I try to find humor, excellence, or controversy in something that’s right in front of me!
5. Exercise.

When all else fails, I completely turn off. I pick a time when I’ll shut down my computer and my brain for the day, no matter what I’ve accomplished, and plan to start fresh in the morning.  

While none of these ideas are rocket science, they seem to work for me.

What works for you?

I’m always interested in expanding my repertoire!

LinkedIn Keeps Growing!

Since my last post about LinkedIn, its traffic has continued to rise and I’ve continued to get emails from old colleagues, new colleagues, friends, and friends of friends asking me to connect or endorse them. Several others have also endorsed me.

I’ve offered my consulting profile to prospective clients only to have them tell me they already read it on LinkedIn. (Cool!) 

I’ve met a few people that I never would have known existed had I not poked around my network on LinkedIn.

It may have started out slowly in 2003, but LinkedIn is now expanding at a phenomenal rate. People are signing up, using the service, and writing about its impact on business. 

Business 2.0 ran an article recently that highlighted several successful LinkedIn users. They feel that LinkedIn can thank Web 2.0 for its recent surge in popularity.

Job Search 2.0 on Conversation Agent discussed how LinkedIn is impacting job seekers. 

The Future of Linked-In on MarketingHeadhunter.com contemplated the impact on recruiters and future LinkedIn enhancement possibilities (including some neat ideas about mash-ups).

LinkedIn or Locked Out on The Virtual Handshake Blog explored the pros AND cons of LinkedIn’s expansion. 

Linked intelligence is an entire blog about how to effectively use the tool (and it does not appear to be sponsored or run by LinkedIn).

The bottom line: If you’re someone who depends on being connected you need to explore LinkedIn. It is an amazing resource!

 

PS: Reid Hoffman (CEO, LinkedIn) will be a speaker at the Software and Information Industry (SIIA) Summit in NY January 30-31, 2007.

Great Find: I, Cringely

Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I had never heard of Robert X. Cringely before I saw him referenced in a comment.

When I googled him (Can I still say that?), I found: Take My Job, Please: How to Predict the Future and Become an Industry Pundit

It’s worth reading the whole article, but here are my favorite parts. 

“… if prognostication is unavoidable, then let's consider the rules that should underlie predictions.

1. We tend to overestimate change in the short term. While change is inevitable, and sometimes a mountain of change can be seen distinctly across the valley, few of us are good at measuring the width of that valley. We just naturally tend to see change as closer than it actually is…
2. We tend to underestimate change in the long term. When change finally does happen, it sometimes looks very different from what we expected…
3. The more specific a prediction, the less likely it is to be correct… [discussing potential competitors he continued] the "not yet heard from" category ought not to be rejected out of hand since that's where the real danger lies for current market leaders.
4. Past performance is a predictor of future results but not a good one.
5. The most reliable predictions are those that follow established trends.”

I’ll be looking at his column from now on.

You have to admire a guy that is referred to as both a nerd and a sex symbol!

Are you LinkedIn?

I added a “Linked In” button on my left side bar a few weeks ago.

A colleague of mine first pointed me to Linked In about 3 years ago. It was an interesting way to put together a professional profile and then link to the profiles of others you know.

It didn’t really catch on back then and I forgot all about it. 

A few months ago I started getting Linked In invitations again, several each week.

So, I dusted off my profile and started using it.  

I’m really curious as to why Linked In is catching on now.

The website statistics on Alexa show a big jump in popularity in May (right around the time I started getting more invitations). 

Did it reach its tipping point?

Did it introduce new features that make it more attractive?  

If any of you know the Linked In story, I’d really love to hear it!