Managing the Gray – Positive Advice That Everyone Can Use to Succeed

February is here. The first month of 2010 is behind us, so it felt like the perfect time to check in with you on how your goals are going so far this year. Managing the Gray is here to help give you the kick when you need it in the right direction.

I referenced the Conan O’Brien farewell speech and if you haven’t seen it you can watch it here. Also, I mention my good buddy and super talented musician Matthew Ebel as well.

Also, I’d love you to learn more about Wediko since I’m passionate about getting the word out there about all the great things they do for children and families.

Welcome to all the new listeners. It is great to have you here. We hope you have subscribed in iTunes oand once you’ve listened to a few shows, we’d love for you to leave a review for the show. Thanks!

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A new year and a new decade is upon us and my plan is for Managing the Gray to help you not only get through the year, but prosper in it.

I’m not big on lists, but a listener asked what trends or predications I had for the new year. Rather then spouting off possibilities I’d rather focus on reality and when you listen to the show you can hear what I had to say.

After you listen to the show be sure to check out the new Lego Click site. It isn’t every day that an idea like that gets into my head so fast. I’m really curious to see how it goes for them and I guess I’m now part of it. The other sites I mentioned in reference to smaller networks were blippy and Blackbox Republic.

Also, my new podcast Cast of Dads is up to episode 5 and you can now subscribe in iTunes.

I mentioned on the show that I’m hoping to grow the audience this year so if you have a moment please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show. Thanks!

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The holidays got in the way of getting this out as soon as I wanted to, but I’m excited to share with you an interview with my good friend and author Ron Ploof to discuss his new book Read This First: The Executive’s Guide to New Media-from Blogs to Social Networks.

Ron granted me the first interview about his book and any chance to catch up and chat with him is a good thing for me. I’m honored to call him a friend and am psyched for people to get out there and read this book because I think it is better then most of the ones I’ve seen and read about social media.

Listen to the episode to find out how you can win a copy to give to your boss or another executive that you think needs to understand this stuff better.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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I recently was asked to take part in the Rule 53 podcast. Rule 53 is a cross-generational podcast that  focuses on leadership, business, technology, and professional development.  Each episode features one twentysomething student or recent graduate and his or her experienced counterpart.  The goal is to help define “Rule 53″, a curriculum for tomorrow’s leaders ad change agents.

I am sharing this directly with the Managing the Gray feed because I was so excited about the concept of the show and how the interview turned out. Plus, how could I not when all three of us on the phone are Bentley University Falcons?

Listen, enjoy and if you like what you hear be sure to check out all the other great stuff going on at DartBoston.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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When I went out to Blogworld Expo , one of the coolest things I got to hear about is what the US Army is doing with their new site Army Strong Stories. As soon as I heard about it I knew I was impressed and wanted to get them on the phone to talk abut it so all the Managing the Gray listeners could find out more.

A special thanks to MAJ Mary Constantino for taking time out of her busy schedule to chat with me about the program.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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My good friend J.C. Hutchins new book hits store shelves today called 7th Son: Descent. You should buy many copies of it for every science fiction and thriller lover on your Christmas list!

But, today I’ve got something special for you. A special free 10 chapter PDF of the book for your downloading, reading and sharing pleasure. Click on the book cover to enjoy.

What I love about this is that is just one part of all the new things that JC is trying around marketing this book. It is being published by a major publishing company, but JC wanted to keep trying new things like this (with their blessing) to further help sell the book. Experimentation is always fun!

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Blogworld Expo was a lot of fun, but it seemed that every other question in any conversation was, “So what do you think about the FTC announcing they will be fining bloggers?”

If you haven’t read about this there is plenty of coverage and here is the actual announcement.

For me, it really is simple and not that big of a deal because I personally have always made sure to disclose any relationships. What the ruling means to me is that the people who are NOT doing this will hopefully start doing it or will be fined. I’m not sure the government needs to get involved in this as they’ve got bigger problems to fix, but that is a whole other discussion.

On the show I talk about how I’ve been using http://cmp.ly to help me in disclosing relationships. It feels almost like creative commons for disclosure and so far it is the best thing I’ve seen out there. If you have seen others let me know.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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Fresh back from Inbound Marketing Summit Boston 2009 and I’m filled with a lot of energy. The people, the conversations and the learning all filled me up and I’m ready to go.

While at the conference I took part in a panel (that should be online soon I hope) and gave a presentation called “There is a Hole in the Bucket” that seemed to really resonate with people and I wanted to talk about it on the show since many of you could not be there and I’m not sure when the video of the speech will actually hit the web.

Here are the slides I used to go along with my presentation. Not sure how well they stand on their own, but they work much better when I’m actually talking to them *laugh*

I also talked a bit about what Campfire has been up to and the announcement this morning that we won six Pro Awards which always feels really good. Looking forward to talking to a lot of people about who we are and what we do at Blogworld Expo next week.

As always if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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Every person that creates content of any type online is an “influencer” in my mind and it is to you that I’m speaking today.

More and more brands are looking to engaged with influencers both long term and for individual programs and I think that too many people are selling themselves short when they take part in these programs and I want each of you to start thinking more about what I am calling a Personal Price Tag.

Also, here are the links to the upcoming events that I’m going to be attending. I hope to see some of you there!

• ANA Conference
• Inbound Marketing Summit
• Blog World Expo
• L.A. 140 Conference
• The Audience Conference

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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As you can imagine, life has been a bit busy around here since we made the big announcement about Campfire acquiring The Advance Guard. It is a big change and an awesome one and I finally get to share some thoughts with you about it.

I also wanted to talk about hard work and the advice I gave a recent college graduate who was looking to land a job with a public relations firm. It was a simple answer, but the right one.

I also talk about a great post from Derek Sivers on only saying “Hell Yeah!” that is already changing how I approach things and why you might want to think about adopting this as well.

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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This past weekend I attended Podcamp Boston 4 and had an absolute wonderful time.

But, I left with one thing in my head that I had to share with the world and that is the fact that while some people might get in your way during your career, life or chasing dreams the only person that really holds you back is YOU.

I wrote about this topic on Digital Dads and now had to cover it on Managing the Gray. Once you listen I would love to know your thoughts on it.

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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Several months ago, I had a friend tell me that he had a book that I had to read and a person I had to talk to. That was the first time I heard the phrase “family first entrepreneur” and it has stuck with me ever since. While I never had a phrase to describe it, that is how I’ve always approached work.

On today’s show I have the pleasure of chatting with Marc Warnke, author of ONO: Options Not Obligations.

It is a great book and one that while may not be the usual fare for the Managing the Gray audience, it is something I firmly believe in and wanted to give more exposure to.

Marc was very kind and offered a 30% discount when you order the book using promo code CC.

Links to find out more about the book and Marc:

• ONO Book Page
• Marc’s Website
• Marc’s Twitter

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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I was very psyched when the opportunity to interview Chris Anderson here on Managing the Gray came up. Special thanks to my friend Kevin Smokler for making the introduction.

Photo by Joi Ito

Chris and I got on the phone to chat as we were both getting ready for Father’s Day weekend and I had a fun chatting with him about all the different things he has going on. Sure, he has the new book Free coming out on July 7th, but I wanted to talk about everything else he does as well. We got to talk about robots, the future of magazines and the publishing industry.

Links mentioned on today’s show include:

• BookTour.com
• The Long Tail
• Wired Magazine
• GeekDad
• DIY Drones

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show.

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I’ve been a big fan of Ze Frank since I first heard about it, but I honestly never thought he’d directly inspire an episode of  Managing the Gray. But, I watched a video of a presentation he gave and it really hit home for me.

Today is really a straight from the brain to microphone type of episode. I had just finished being on national radio as an guest on the Doug Stephan show and that as well gave me the urge to put out a podcast.

Links mentioned on today’s show include:

• Ze Frank’s Webstock 09 Presentation
• Webstock
• Ze Frank
• Doug Stephan
• Podcasters Across Borders
• TEDx Announcement

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show. We always love hearing what you have to say.

Update: Sorry for the troubles, here is a MP3 version of this episode.

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Before someone reads that title and never listens to the episode the point of today’s Managing the Gray is to say that there are a lot of people involved in parenting outside of people who fit into the typical little box of “mommy bloggers.” I think Dads are getting the short stick and I think that there are more women out there who are parents, but they create content in other areas. I don’t see the term going away anytime soon but I wish the singular focus on it would! This might be the closest thing to a rant that you’ll ever here on the show. *grin*

Links mentioned on today’s show include:

• DigitalDads
• Dad-O-Matic 
• Savvy Auntie
• Alltop Moms

This weekend is Father’s Day and I hope that you take the time to give your Dad, husband or favorite dad an extra hug. Presents are fun, but at least for me, quality time is the best thing.

If you liked what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes or leave a review for the show. We always love hearing what you have to say.

Update: By request, here is a MP3 version of this episode.

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I apologize for the silence around here while I get my software problems solved. It feels REALLY good to be back here on Managing the Gray.

Topics on today’s show include:

• My “Social Media is a Small Town” presentation
• Digital Content Newfront 2009
• Current’s VCAM (Viewer Created Ad Model)
• Ubercaster
• Eric Rice
• Media Hacks

Thanks as always for listening to the show and we’ll be back real soon with all new content. Hope you come back soon!

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I recently gave a presentation in Memphis talking about how more brands need to start leveraging the passion of their consumers in their campaigns. I had a lot of people ask me to talk more about the slides who couldn’t be on hand to see the presentation so today I discuss them here.

Special thanks to Christopher S Penn from Marketing Over Coffee for a great comment he sent in for the show as well.

Passionate about Managing the Gray? Then I encourage you to leave a review in iTunes telling others.

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Once again, Advertising Age gives me something to talk about on the show today. I think they have stepped up their writing or something because it is certainly getting bigger reactions from me lately.

Today I focused on discussing their 5 New Rules for Marketing and what I thought about them. You can read the whole article right here.

The rules Ad Age laid out were:

1. Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them.
2. You can’t hide the corporations behind the brand anymore – or even fully separate the two.
3. PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager.
4. Cause marketing isn’t about philanthropy, it’s about “enlightened self-interest.”
5. Social media is not a strategy.

I’d love to hear what other rules you’d add so please put them in the comments.

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The hot assignment that everyone seems to be getting or looking for is to develop a social media strategy. Every day I hear about someone having to figure this out for their company and they don’t know where to start. So, today on Managing the Gray I thought I’d give my advice on how to approach this and succeed at it as well.

Links that I mentioned during the show include:

• Robert Scoble discussing the need for humans on web sites
• Using Social Media to Listen to Consumers article in Ad Age
• The 2009 Digital Issue of Ad Age (not all online so find a print copy if you can)
• Steve Coulson’s Mashable post on 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence

At the end of the day I think every company from the smallest of corner shops, all the way up to the biggest global companies have got to figure out where social media enters into their mix. It should not be tacked on to each program, but integrated from the start into all your programs. There is so much to gain if you do this right.

I hope this show helps you and if you need further help please contact me.

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