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It sounds a bit harsh. Perhaps he should say “Blog or Quit!”, but no matter how you say it he is right.
Companies, both big and small, must realize that the world around them has changed. Your customers/consumers are going to have the conversation with or without you. So, why not step up and be part of the conversation?
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Today, zefrank taught me about brands. The concept of “an emotional aftertaste” sure does fit it quite well. Who knew? He did.
If you have not seen this video podcast yet, be warned it’s a bit raw and direct. But, that is what I love about it! No punches pulled so you are liable to hear some “naughty” words and more then once laugh out loud wherever you are watching it.
I was watching his thoughts on terrorism (more “naughty” words & phrases) a few days back while riding on the train and everyone around me couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me because I was laughing and cheering at the same time.
zefrank IS new media. He’s got a voice. He’s got an outlet. He’s got my attention.
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I just saw over on Starbucks site that they are going to be podcasting in the month of September.
Part of me goes, “Oh cool another company dipping their toe in the water and trying out new media.”
But, the other part of me wonders:
I want every corporate podcast I hear to be a success. I honestly do, but the track record so far has been less then great and that’s too bad.
I’m looking forward to the next generation of companies who step up and truly embrace the medium and utilize it to the fullest. Who knows. Starbucks might surprise me and do it right. You never know. Either way they’ve got my attention for at least the first episode.
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New Media |
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C.C. Chapman: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Managing the Gray #13. Today, we are talking about talent, how to keep the best talent at you company, how to stay engaged, how to keep them there. That is what we are talking about. I think I finally figured out the format here. I mean we are talking about new media. We are talking about creative control, no control PR. We are talking about all the new things that are fun in marketing, all this digital marketing stuff that I love so much. What I think I am going to do is because I am getting so many great comments from you guys. You guys are calling on the comment line, which is 206-309-4729 and E mailing me at managingthegray@gmail.com and I am getting so many of them. I have not been playing them as often as I want. So, I think what I am going to do is I am going to start off every show with a question, a comment, something from the listener and then I am going to jump to the meat of the matter. If you like that format let me know. Some days there will be more comments than other. I am still going to try to keep this a very short show because I like shorter shows with things like For Immediate Release and Across the Sound clocking in over an hour twice a week. I know you are listening; you are not having enough time to listen. So, I want to get this out, get it in there, get it into your play list, get it into your ears, and jack into your brain. That is what C.C. is here to do for you. One of the things I got to get out of the way that I have not mentioned to everybody yet is I have left Babson College. Some people did notice that I stopped saying digital marketing manager at the front of it. I have left Babson College — no bad blood there. Babson is a great institution. They are going do some amazing things — it is just time for a new chapter in my life, almost a new book in my life if you will, moving forward. So, there are going to be some new changes going on. You are going to hear from me a lot more often; that is the way it is. Do not worry. Get excited. It will be good. Also, over at managingthegray.com, I am blogging more. There are a lot more content than just the podcast. So, if you are listening to this and you enjoy it, subscribe to the feed. Something that we will also pull down — I use Bloglines, which will also pull down the text for you or swing by quite often because I would probably a couple of times a day maybe, you never know, you never know.
Finally, I am also posting transcripts. I had a listener to the show say, “Hey, I do a transcription service. I think it would benefit your show.” Now, I have thought about transcription before, but it was not a good fit for Accident Hash or U Turn Cafe because it is a music show. It is not really about the content, but here at Managing the Gray it is all about the content. I scream that all the time. Podcasting is about the content and, thus, I thought what a great idea. So, a couple of days after I post the show you will see the complete show transcribed on the website. This is good for a couple of reasons: It opens up the listenership because I remember at Babson we actually had someone say, “Hey, great idea about the podcast, but I’m deaf. When can I get a transcript?” I just had not thought of that. I feel ignorant and naive for not thinking about that. So, now the transcripts can help open that up here at Managing the Gray. Also, it adds more content. You can read it if you want. Go back and reference it. Some people do not want to listen to the podcast. I think the podcast is more important. I think the audio is more important because you feel the passion. You hear the voices. That is important to me and I think it is important to you as well, but the transcription there is just an added bonus if you want them so they will be up a couple of days afterwards. I have got to go back and post the ones — I have got the whole library of Managing the Gray already done. I just got to get them up there. I put the first one up this morning as a test.
So, let us get right in to the feedback today. It is from my good buddy, Jason Painter, in Australia who has been a fan of Accident Hash for a long time and now a fan of Managing the Gray. So, Jason, what do you got to say today?
Jason Painter: Hi, C.C. It is Jason Painter from Sydney, Australia. I have thought of a topic that you could discuss in your podcast. It is all about album art. Now, I am not a perfectionist and I am an album art nut. I am a big music nut, too, but to me album art is very important for music. It is also very important for podcast and probably about, I do not know, a quarter of the podcast I download do not have album art and it drives me nuts when I am listening to them on the iPod and there is no album art. It just does not seem professional and I think this ties in with branding because if you put this constant visual reminder of the podcast, then that helps to cement in your mind who it is. A good example is Anji Bee’s Chillcast. Now, she does not attach album art and yet in early episodes, there was album art and I have written to her and I have said, “Why don’t you use it?” Anyway, I thought this might be — I thought it might be a good topic to bring up. It is not something that I think a lot of podcasters think about and I really think they should. So, I would be interested to hear what you have to say about this.
C.C. Chapman: All right, Jason. Thank you for the comment. I have got mixed feelings about this. First off, I realized some people may not know what album art is, what we are talking about because I am not positive but I believe it is an iTunes thing. I mean I know it shows up in iTunes, it shows up in my iPod, if you have a video iPod, and I believe Windows Media Player might also show it and Winamp, some other applications, but not all applications show album art. Most MP3 players do not show album art. So, if you are not familiar with what album art is, it is an ID3 tag where you can attach an image to a podcast. If you are on iTunes right now and on the left hand corner, you click the little arrow up button — you will see it, it is a little button — you will see Managing the Gray. It is a logo and this is hosted by C.C. Chapman, my little mug shot. I put that in every show. Now, is that important for branding? I do not know. I do not think it is. I do not think it is critical because most of the people who are — this is a podcast. It is about the audio and about the content. It is not about the image that gets displayed. For music, I think album art is critical. It is part of the experience. It adds to the experience. I want to see the album art. I want to see liner notes. I love the bands that are now putting in the digital PDF along with the album because I do miss liner notes because I do not buy CDs anymore very often, but for a show like this or for podcast in general, I am not sure it is critical. I know over at Accident Hash, I change it up. I have four or five standard ones that are branded, but then I will throw in a photo, a recent photo of me on a trip or somewhere and I think that is fun and I know Pacific Coast Hellway, another show that I really enjoy and not work safe, by the way — they change it up all the time. They have all sorts of different logos and have fans put it in and I think it is fun. I think on that side, it adds to experience, but I am not sure it is a critical branding from a marketing perspective. I know you disagree, Jason. I will tell Anji Bee — Anji Bee is a good friend — the Chillcast is a great mellow, mellow music podcast if you are interested in that sort of thing. Anji is very, very talented, has a great voice, but I am not sure. What do you guys think? This is a conversation. It is a two-way street. I would love to hear what you have to say. Again, 206-309-GRAY. That is 206-309-4729 or managingthegray@gmail.com. Give it back. Let us see what is happening. Leave comments on the blog. Let us get a conversation going and see what other people think because I am curious.
So, now to the meat of the matter today… We are talking talent. We are talking about keeping the best employees. If you manage or if you work — any sort of work environment, there are those people who stand out. Those are the people who want to do — they want to work hard, they want to play hard, they want to have good time, be rewarded, and you want to keep them with your company and in today’s market… No matter what you think about the economy or the world’s state, what is going on, you can find a job. You do not need to stay with the same employer right now and you can leave at any time. So, thus, you have got to keep your talent happy and so just some advice here from me to you on how to keep the talent. Send this to your HR person. Get them involved. Send them to your manager because hopefully this helps you out. Listen, first and foremost, it is not about the money, okay? It is not. Let me get that out of the way. There are some people, yes, who are motivated by money and it is their only motivator and personally, this is my personal opinion, I do not want them on my team. If that is all that motivates an individual, I do not want them. Those are perfect to have as consultants. You bring them in, you pay them, you get them out of the door. I do not want those sort of people on my team. The talented people, the really good people, it will not be about the money for them. Yes, everybody wants more money. We will all gladly accept a raise. No one is going to turn down more money for doing a good job. Do not get me wrong, pay your employees as much as you can, give them bonuses, take care of them, but it is not about the money and you need to keep that in mind. How many times I have heard, “What if we give them more money?” It is not what it is all about. Give them more money, yes, but there are more important things to keep the best talent on board. They want to be challenged. Nobody likes to be bored, being bored sucks, plain and simple. Pardon my French, but it does. That is not bad, but we want to be challenged. Give us exciting projects. Let us grow. When we are excited about something, let us jump all over it and just attack it. That is what we want. That is what we crave. It is what your talent really desires. Give praise. Constructive criticism is good as well, but do not only give criticism. Nobody wants just criticism and make sure it is constructive criticism and when we mess up let us know, that is okay, but also remember to give praise. We like to hear when we have done a good job, everybody does. A quick pat on the back — we are not talking about stroking egos. That is fun, too, once in a while, but what we want is just to be recognized for doing a good job and doing a great job, definitely make sure you praise.
Coaching is very important as well. The thing you have got to realize and this is constructive criticism, but it is also — coaching thing, you know, here is how we could do this better next time. Be very careful about this though because some employees will not realize what you are doing. They are not familiar with the concept of coaching. I love it. I have had managers who have done it well. I have had managers who have not done it very well and those who have done it well have said, “Listen, here’s a learning opportunity for you,” or “Here’s a little bit of coaching for you.” They prefaced it and I laughed after the fifth or sixth time, but it was good because — this is something they are really passionate about and I should take to heart. What they are telling me even if I disagree with it is something I should take away and think about. I mean it was a coaching moment that led to me calling this Managing the Gray. I have talked about that back on episode 2, but coaching is very important. Coach your talent because if you want to keep them on board, they are going to have to grow and prosper and you have a major part of this. So, you have got to, got to, got to do it, all right? Also, let them be part of the strategy. Let them be part of the success. Let them share in that. Most of your most talented people are not going to want to just be worker drones off in the corner doing their own thing. They want to have a clear understanding what the strategy of your company is. They want to help make that strategy if possible and then they want to help lead directly to the success of your company in your strategy. If you have a strategy over here, it is all high and mighty coming down from on high and what they are working on has nothing to do towards that, it is not going to keep them motivated for very long. You have got to keep that in mind. Let them be a part of it. Talk to them. Say, “What do you think about this?” Get them involved. I think that is a very critical thing. It is a step people miss and ask them. Maybe they do not want to be involved, but at least give them the opportunity so they realize, “Wow, they really want me to be a part of this,” and keep asking because they might change their mind later and they might go, “You know what, I haven’t really cared about this, but this new thing you’re doing, I don’t like it. Why are you doing that?” Empower them as well. You know what? Give them the responsibility whatever it is and then let them do it. Give it to them. Trust their opinion.
Listen, you are paying these people, right? You are paying them for their expertise. You are paying them for their thoughts, their knowledge. Let them do it, right? I mean it sounds like just a novel concept, but it is very, very critical that if you have empowered somebody, your most talented people, to do a job and you have given them the responsibility, then let them do that responsibility. Do not keep throwing other stuff at them that detours them from that responsibility. Do not throw road blocks up. Do not give them curve balls. Let them do it, all right? That is what we are talking about here. Listen. I have mentioned this before. Your best talent can leave at any time. You know why? This is not the company — companies are not like my parents’ companies or the generation before where you went to work for one company your entire life. It is not that way. It is a two-way street. One, the company can cut you at any time. Most companies have a termination at will, I know, what we do here at Massachusetts. They know that you may be let — every individual knows they may be let go at any time. They know they are not going to be at the company for their lifetime and, thus, they can leave at any time. You have got to remember that as well. You want to keep them there. You want to give them every reason in the world not to ever itch. Itching is a dangerous thing when a talented individual starts itching that means they are looking for something else or they will at least start opening their mind to other opportunities. You do not want that to happen. You want to keep that little — think of it as a little like superhero protective shell over them where they are not even thinking about other opportunities and all they talk about is how great they love their job. That is a great thing to do. It is a very simple thing to do.
Listen. Talk is cheap. As a podcaster here I am saying that. Talk is cheap if it is not followed up with anything. If all you do is you say, “Oh yeah, we’re gonna jump on this new initiative,” or “Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna get you some more staff,” or Yeah, we’re gonna challenge you,” and nothing happens? You only get away with that a couple of times and you know what then happens is they get cynical. They hear you talk about things — everything you say, they question. If you are not following up on what you are saying, you are in trouble. Keep those lines of communication open. Communication is so critical. Let it be a two-way street. Let the people gripe. Let them give you constructive criticism back. People always seem to forget that. I have always been on firm belief that I should be able to criticize the highest level person in whatever company I am working for and if I cannot, if I cannot have that open — and I am not saying just slam them. I had a great, great, great manager — CEO of a company, named Ben Levitan. I am not sure where he is right now. I need to find him, so if you work for a Ben Levitan, let me know. He was the CEO of our company and he came right out and he said, “Listen, you can come in at any point in my office and tell me you disagree with me and tell me you think the decision I made was horrible, but you have to come in with a solution, another alternative for it. If you don’t, if all you are coming in and saying ‘I think this sucks,’ I don’t wanna hear it.” I respected him for that and you know what? He followed up on it. I can walk up to him and I did a couple of times and say, “I don’t agree with this and here’s my thought on it,” and it was constructive and he took it. A lot of CEOs cannot do that and that is one of the reasons why I respected the hell of him and I still respect him. I would work for him again in a heartbeat because it was a two-way street and he understood that. Keep that in mind. It has to go all the way up. This is not just talking about middle managers. It is the entire corporate structure. It is the entire environment, the culture. If you are going to keep these talented individuals there, you have got to develop this culture. It is a culture shift for some companies. Trust me, I know that.
Figure out what makes them tick. This is important. Every single person is different. What inspires me is different than what inspires you, what inspires the person in the cube next to you. It is really critical that you need to find out what makes people tick. You have got to engaged. Find out what these individuals — some people — it is different things. Some might want more vacation time. Some are more focused on the flexibility, spend time with their children. One of the greatest employees that ever had worked for me, his main thing was — he might leave early in the middle of the day and he might have to run out to get his kids or something, it did not matter. You know why? Because I knew at night he was still working on stuff. It did not matter to me because the work was getting done and that was what was — I gave him the leeway to do that and I was ok with it. If he ever get out of line, which he did not, we talk about it and it was okay. I know my dad recently was talking about some higher up in the company had pulled together all, like the managers at my dad’s level, and said, “You know, guys, what is it that you — what can we do to make — pick morale up?” All they wanted was a couple more vacation days. The guy was shocked, he is like, “That’s it?” He gave it to them. It is a no brainier. Ask. You would be amazed when people give you the answer.
Listen, if you value these people, if you value this talent you have on board with your team, do everything in your power to keep them. Whatever it is, try to keep them. Listen, if it comes to the time where they are thinking about leaving and you know about it, maybe they are resigning, it does not matter. What is critical, try to keep them even if you cannot, even if they have got the best job opportunity in the world, try to keep them. At least make the effort. Ask and say, “Hey, what can we do?” Have this conversation. Why? Because it shows you value them and it will mean a lot to them. Even if their foot is out the door and there is no way they are coming back in the door, at least try. It makes them feel valued. It gives them — it makes them go, “Yeah, they did value me here.” That is a very, very critical thing. You should show the value all the time, not just when they are walking out the door, but when they are walking out the door, make an attempt to keep them. Everybody always ask, “Oh, are they gonna try to keep you?” That is always a question people get asked. Please make sure you make that effort because it is a lasting impression as they walk out the door. Even if they walked out the door, they would be like, “Wow, they really did value me.” So, please keep that in mind.
So that is going to wrap up Managing the Gray today. Just some tips — it was on my mind. I really want to get it out there. I have seen a lot of change going on. Lots of people, different lives, friends, online buddies, lots of things going on, it is a shift. So, I want to give everybody some advice on how to keep talent involved with your company and I hope this has been very, very practical for you. Listen, a lot of people ask where we can meet up and stuff. I am going to some conferences in the near future that if you are around please come. PodCamp Boston is happening September 9th and 10th. You can get more information at podcamp.org. I am going to be speaking there giving a session on marketing, so that should be interesting. It is going to be very laid back, very conversational. It is going to be a lot of good times. Then, the Podcast and Portable Medial Expo at podcastexpo.com is happening September 29th and 30th in Ontario, California. I am actually on a panel there talking about music podcast — excuse me, musicians, how musicians can leverage podcasting technology to better themselves and get their name out there. That is going to be a lot of fun. I am on that panel and it is going to be a good time. There is going to be a lot of good stuff going out there, you know, podcamp.org, podcastexpo.com, check them both out. If you are in the area, please drop me an E-mail. If you are ever in Boston, too, drop me an E-mail at managingthegray@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. I would love to hook up, have a drink, grab some coffee, whatever it is I would love to see you. So, you guys and girls, take care and I will talk to you very, very soon. You have been listening to Managing the Gray.
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Thanks to my good buddy Julien, this is my new favorite word.
Wikipedia of course has the full blown description, but think about it as a reputation based currency. You give something away for free and eventually that will be repaid t you some how.
Think of it as Karma updated for lack of a better description.
I learn so much from my conversations with Julien and yet so few of them happen in real time face-to-face. That’s sad and needs to change. I need to see him more often. Psyched that I’ll get to hang out with him at the Podcast Expo!
Whuffie….it’s just fun to say!
Guy Kawasaki blogged about a new book called 
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart People Get People Talking.
It certainly sounds like a book that will be on my shelf soon because it’s all about the conversation and companies must begin to realize that.
One highlight that Guy pointed out that I especially like is that of a Las Vegas hotel that gave free rooms to cabbies in an effort to generate a word of mouth campaign. It’s so simple and yet why haven’t more people done it. THAT is how you get something started. It’s not trying to be cool with a horrible viral campaign or with a huge spend on a television ad.
Now you need to engage the people you want. Don’t think “outside of the box” because the box is pointless. Rip it up and throw it out with the recycling!
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Jeff over at the Amazon Web Services Blog has screenshots and commentary on his first shopping experience inside of Second Life with an integrated Amazon.com store.
I have not had the opportunity to check it out for myself, but just reading the account made me smile. Sure, it’s baby steps towards what can ultimately done, but it’s a huge first step.
I’m looking forward to the day that I can have magazines or books sitting on my coffee table or desk and individuals could click on it and buy it right there. Either with real world money or Lindens. THAT is going to be a cool day.
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second life, Virtual Fun |
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Today’s topic of conversation is keeping the most talented people on your team ON your team! There is also a call in from a listener asking about my thoughts on album art and it’s importance from a branding perspective.
Links from the show:
Also, as I mentioned in the show you will start seeing transcripts of all podcasts appearing a couple of days after the show is posted. I will always link to them from the original post so that they will be easy to find.
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I’m in Idaho at the moment and the big Second Life Community Convention is going on in San Francisco which I’m extremely bummed I’m missing.
But, I read a post from Giff at Electric Sheep with some very intersting new stats:
I love that this shows the growing global nature of Second Life and the fact of how much usage is going on every day. I’d love to see some stats on when the most active hours of the day are. I’m curious because my experience has been that starting around 11 pm EST things start getting busy every night, but that could just be the circles I travel in. I don’t know.
Lots of new faces in Second Life. LOTS of them corporations and name brands that you know. Toyota’s Scion is the latest one and there will be many more.
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(Original post and podcast file here)
C.C. Chapman: Oh hey, everybody welcome to Managing the Gray #12. I am C.C. Chapman, new media specialist, shape-shifter, all around web freak. Call me whatever you want. What it boils down to is I am enthusiastic about new media, all this new marketing that is going on in the world. Managing the Gray is here just to kind of give you my thoughts on the world, maybe give you some insights, maybe give you some ideas of things you can run with, and hey, I am always available for consulting or discussions or speaking engagements and all that jazz. Just drop me an E-mail at managingthegray@gmail.com and the comment lines are always open. The number is 206 309 GRAY. That is 206-309-4729.
So, I just got back from vacation. I have not been around, so it is why it has been quiet on the feed here for a little bit. I was buried in the woods of the Boundary Waters out in Minnesota. It was a great time and I unplugged completely for seven days. No E-mail, no cell phone, no BlackBerry, no television, no nothing. It was amazing and it is something that you actually should do on a regular basis. I think it is just, you know, get off the good for a while even if it is just a couple of days and just get away and rebalance as I like to call it and just get back to the basics and, you know, gives you plenty of time to think about all these things and think about new ideas and new ways to approach things. I know I thought about plenty, but when I got back the one thing on my mind was football because I am a huge football fan, I am not a big baseball fan so right now from the minute the hockey Stanley Cup gets awarded until the time football starts is a very dark time for me. This year I had the World Cup at least to be excited about and watch, I get into watching that, it was a lot of fun. I was not a huge soccer fan beforehand, I am bigger now, but football started last night, the Hall of Fame Ball was on and it really got me as I am sitting there watching it, it really got me thinking about a lot of things.
Sports marketing is a whole other world and I actually, I mean this ties in nicely, it has been on my mind because I have had this book sitting here on my desk called the Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Market Place. It is written by Irving Rein, Philip Kotler and Ben Shields. I sure hope I said those names right because they sent me this book as listeners of Managing the Gray and I am going to read it. I have just started it now. I thought it is an interesting concept because I had not thought about it that, you know, it is a lot harder, say in the world of everything else you got to market to your fans, but I think they are missing some really easy things to do and that is what I want to talk about today. Even if you are not a sports fan today, I think you can get something out of this. I think there are some interesting opportunities at least for people to jump on board or companies and hopefully someone is listening out there to do this. I mean a while ago, you know, obviously I am a huge Second Life fan and I got to thinking why are not there branded items in Second Life. I still think it is a huge misopportunity. I have not seen, at least I have not seen any college branded things. People are huge sports fans. Why are not there BC Eagles gears in there or Ohio State Buckeyes? Where is the jersey, even the hats? It was not until really recently that I saw a whole bunch of the NFL and NHL hats and jerseys come into Second Life. Finally I have seen them. Someone went it and made them all, which makes sense. It does not cost you a lot to make them. The logos are out there, being better if the actual teams got involved, but even though they are not, I mean I am all cool with people doing their own thing. I think that is what it is all about, right?
I think it is great that they are finally out there, but all I have seen is the NFL and the NHL. Where are all the baseball caps? Why cannot I get a Red Sox baseball hat in Second Life? I am sure I can now. I am sure someone has made it, but why is not there like a sports apparel store? Why is it not out there? I do not get it and sticking to Second Life for a minute, I was thinking about it. I am not sure if the NFL specifically does it yet, but I know other sports you can get streaming audio and/or video in some cases. Most of them are paid for so let us stick to the audio, you can get audio for free I believe. I know the NFL does. Okay, so you can listen to the audio, but why not stream it into a Second Life sports bar? Yeah, it is not the same as going to a real sports bar and I get that, but what if I am not, you know, what if I am in New England. I am a Miami Dolphins fan. Oh, I just admitted it, yes I am. I am a diehard Dolphins fan. The games are not always on. The Pats games are always on and I cannot necessarily go to a bar and watch that game. Yeah, I could just sit here at my computer and listen to the game, but what if I could go into Second Life and have a rich experience where I am interacting with other fans? Maybe it is a Dolphins bar and everyone there is a Dolphins fan or maybe it is just all sorts of different football fans and I could interact with them while listening to the game. It adds to the experience, it makes it a bit richer. Yeah, I am not going to order nachos and beer in Second Life, yeah I could, but that stuff sure makes me laugh, but I could engage with other fans of what I am interested in and this could go for any sport. I am just focusing on football because it is on my mind, but why does that not happen? Why is that not going on? If there was video it would be even better, just make a big video wall. Yeah, I could stream in it RealPlayer, but I could also watch it in a “bar” in Second Life and I could interact with people. I know people… The Major League Baseball did this this year with the home Run derby. People turned out in groups. They paid for tickets to take part in this. That is a big step in the right direction.
But then getting into Second Life for a minute, there are all sorts of other new media opportunities that I think sports are missing. I mean why not sponsor a tailgate cast? Now, it could be generic. It could be the Weber Grills Sportscast, sports tailgate cast. It could be a sausage or a beer company sponsoring tailgates and they could go around and tailgate or they could just go around and interview people. There are so many different ways you could do it and why are they not doing it? Furthermore, why are not there more sports teams with podcast? I do not get it. Now, listen. I do not want a sportscast put out by the team. I just do not. I am a firm believer in it is all about the content. I want a fan’s perspective. I want some psycho rabid fan doing the podcast about whatever team it is they believe in. Perfect example, a good friend of mine named Mrs. B does Mrs. B’s Patriot World Podcast. It is a great, great show. It is patriotworld.com. If you are a Pats fan, you should be listening to this and why, because she is fanatical about the Patriots. She is at a training camp right now giving daily reports on what is happening. She would go to every game, she records from the tailgate, she talks about the game, she does a recap afterwards, she is a fan and you know what, the Patriots are doing nothing to support her and that is pathetic. I have actually heard that the Patriots are going to start up a podcast, which is great. It is about time they do something, but you know what, I am going to listen to Mrs. B’s instead and I think most fans would rather have a fan’s perspective. Being better if it was a fan roundtable and if the team supported it like they set up a booth or something at the tailgate, I think that would be awesome. I know Mrs. B would jump all over it. So, why is it not happening?
I searched high and low last year for a Miami Dolphins podcast and I finally found one, but it is actually run by the Miami Herald. So, the team has nothing to do with it, but it is the newspaper, which I thought was an interesting take and these guys are fanatical, too, in a different way. They are all sports writers, so they get inside information, they share it, and it is actually a really, really good podcast. I enjoy that as well. I would rather have a fan’s perspective, but I love the fact that it is professionally produced. It comes out every week during the season and I can depend on it, but why are not more teams doing it? Fans are fanatical. They would listen to it, so step up to the plate and do it. That is what I am talking about.
So, I am really looking forward to reading this book and talking more about it. Now, I could end right here, but I got this great audio comment that I just want to play because they called it in. No, this one came via E-mail to managingthegray@gmail.com and I thought it brought up some interesting topics I want to share it with you.
Anna Farmery: Hi, C.C. This is Anna from The Engaging Brand and I just wanted to pick upon the subject of the iTunes categories. In many ways, I do agree that some of the category move rounds are not necessarily that helpful, but the more I have thought about it, the more I wonder whether it could actually help in terms of podcasting in general and also for individual listeners. The reason why I say that is that I am much more in the management category. I am talking about how to motivate and inspire people at work, but a lot of that is about self-marketing. It is about marketing your team. It is about marketing your company to the people who work for your company and I feel that there is a lot that money just could not learn from listening to the marketing podcast. For instance, I listen to a lot of the creative podcasts as well to look at their techniques of how to bring creativity into management styles and leadership styles, so my question is if you really think about it, is there much difference between management and marketing and by bringing those two categories together, do you think there is a real chance of cross fertilization and actually learning from each other and not becoming too insular within your chosen career or chosen domain? Anyway, maybe just a question to ponder on. Love the show, love the podcast and hopefully we will meet up soon in Second Life. Cheers.
C.C. Chapman: I love the comment and I like your points a lot. I agree. I think management in a certain sense is marketing. At least I think the good managers realize that, I am not sure if everyone does, and I do think you should be listening to podcast across the board. My problem with the iTunes categories though was if I am going to look for a marketing podcast or a PR podcast, and that is exactly what I want, I want to be able to find it quickly and easy. That is where I think the categorization falls down. The fact that I might just scan management, I might miss it as it is in marketing. I do not see how those two necessarily go together. I actually wish there were more categories and I wish there was a role of which you can click the business and you see them all, which I like, and that helps because I listen to stuff on both sides. I mean Manager Tools is a new podcast I just started listening to because I seem to be getting exposure all over the place and I really enjoy it. They are a little long-winded, but I think they are doing some great things. It is one of those… It is catch 22. You either make too many buckets and then you are pigeonholing people into very specific buckets or you make too few buckets and then everyone kind of gets lumped into these weird categories. You cannot win either way is the way I look at it, but I wish there were a few more categories. It is kind of like when it comes to music. I mean I am a huge music fan. You guys probably know I do U-Turn Café once in a while and accidenthash.com and genres are tough. Everyday there is a new genre or some bands do not like to be pigeonholed into a genre and I understand that and podcasts are the same way. I just wish that iTunes made it a little more broad so that when I am looking for something specific I can find it and right now you cannot. It is my only concern with it. I do think it is neat that people are cross-pollinating. It is important. I wish you had given a URL for your podcast in your audio comment, so I could put it in the show notes. I am not sure where you are at, but I am going to find you. So, I appreciate it.
Hey, anybody else who wants to send comments, I always love getting them. You can call again, 206 309 4729 or E-mail me at managingthegray@gmail.com. I am going to get out of here. I am going to be back very, very soon. You are going to be hearing this podcast a lot more often, I have a feeling. I am very excited about some new things coming down the road, some exciting opportunities, so you get to hear my little voice a little bit more often. Thank you to everybody who has been subscribing to Managing the Gray. You can go to iTunes and subscribe. Just search for C.C. Chapman. It is the quickest way to find it. You can go to PodShow Plus if you want. You can go to managingthegray.com. You can go anywhere imaginable and you can find me. If not, ask a friend. Tell a friend. It would be even better because we are getting a lot… Every show is growing more and more and it is very, very exciting and if I have not told you already, managingthegray.com is also where I am going to be blogging a lot more. So, there is going to be a lot of content outside of the podcast that could be there and I love getting your comments there as well. It is all going to fold in together because I am going to blend all the media and yes, I know, so many of you people have been coming into secondlifeoffice.com. Coming to the house, coming to the office saying hi and I am not there that often. I am usually there post 9:00 p.m. eastern standard time on most weekdays. The problem is there is just so much going on, so we have a trouble crossing paths. There is a group. Look for a group. Search for C.C. Chapman or Managing the Gray. There is a group called All about C.C. Join it and it will be a good way to get updates and what-not and we will have a good time, lots of cool things coming down the pipeline. So, thank you guys for listening and I will talk to you very, very soon.
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Managing the Gray #10 Transcript
“C.C.’s Management Style & Tips”
(original post & podcast)
It is just things I believe in as a manger and things that I tried to do and hey if you take something away from this, if you are new in a management role, it is something I have noticed with companies. I think it does not matter what company you are. If you get the manager title or if suddenly you are taking over and you are actually managing other people, there is not like any training, they just kind of give it to you and you just kind of go and you kind of have to figure out as you go along. I know I have learned all of my stuff on the job. It is not like I have a management degree or anything. I mean I took management in college, but it is textbook. It is nothing. Real world goes a lot further but I mean everything that I have learned that has become my management style has been from feedback from employees and more importantly from other managers that I have had. I have had some amazing managers in the past. Managers or CEOs I mean people like [02:25 unintelligible] come to mind, best manager I ever had. Ben Levitan was a CEO that I loved. You know these are people that I would work for again in a heartbeat because they had such a lasting impact on me as an employee and a friend and it has been a lot of fun just speaking of that.
So here are some of C.C’s personal rules about being a manager. I think it is important to be a friend to your employees but it is also more important to be a mentor. It is a fine line where you have to… I mean I have only managed small teams, which I like. I have never had a gigantic department and I like that so that I can be friends with these people on a personal level. I know their wife. I know their kids. I know of them. I have not always met them but at the same time it is more important to be a mentor because sometimes when you are managing friendship can get in the way. They can make things awkward especially if it is something disciplinary or something not going so well. When it is happy, being a friend is fine, but when it is tough or when it is crunch time or deadlines get missed, it is tough. So, you got to be a mentor and work with this person. Let them grow. It is very, very important and related to that, somebody said one time you know, I firmly believe that as a manager I need to take all the heat and give all the praise. I am only as good as my team and thus if some project really goes well or what-not, I make sure to give praise to the guys and girls on the ground doing the work. It is sort of like, not make a war metaphor, but it is sort of like that. The generals only do so much. It is really the soldiers down there in the dirt, getting dirty and fighting that get the job done and all the heat should go to the person on the top. So, when something goes wrong, I want to be the one in the frontline. I want to protect my team from that. That is my philosophy and your team will respect you for that, but you have also got to be honest. You have got to be honest with your employees but you got to know where that line is, where you go, “Yeah, I shouldn’t say that.” If there is a major project going on at your company and say you do not firmly believe in it but it is going forward anyways, you got to be careful what you say to your team because if they see you hating it, they are going to start hating it. You have got to be… There is a filter there and it is really tough to know what it is.
Now, you have got to also motivate your employees. You have to know what motivates it. Let me tell you the truth, money is not the only option. Money usually is not the biggest factor. If you are working in a high-tech sector like I do, well I guess I do not work in the high tech… I have a high-tech sector in an academic job. The pay is okay. Academic is a perfect example. We do not pay as much as the real world, the corporate world. So money is not the incentive. There has got to be other things there and you have got to find out what it is because with every employee you have it is going to be a different motivator. Not everybody, some people like the flexibility of coming in and going. Some people just like the stability of a job. Others like the challenge of what you are giving them for work. It all depends. It is crucial as a manager. You find out what it is for each person because it is very different and that is not a question you can just walk up and ask. It is something you have to find out through trial and error. I mean you can ask but you are not going to… You have really to observe and that is a key thing. As a manager, you have to observe. You cannot be one of those managers. I hate the manager who is often in the corner office with the door shut and never interacts. You cannot do that. You have to go out and be with your people. Plain and simple, you need to be there. Just trust me. I once had a manager say I do not pay you to be good. I hired you to be great. It is an important part, why would I ever hire a mediocre person? I would not. I am hiring the best people I can find always. No matter what job it is. You need to as well. Never be satisfied for someone mediocre. I do not think anybody does that. Even though you are in a crunch time, you get a body in there. Do not put a dead body in there. It does not work. They smell. That is an important thing to stress to. I stress it to my employees. I demand excellence. It is what I want because it reflects bad on me if we are not delivering excellent results no matter what it is from the littlest thing to the biggest thing. It is super important.
One philosophy that has gotten me in trouble plenty times in life, but I have told this to my employees as well, is ask for forgiveness not permission. I would much rather you go out there and do something that you firmly believe in. If you do something stupid that is one of the things, but I would much rather you take the risk and come to me and go I messed up rather than asking for permission every step along the way because that can block innovation and creativity. You have got to let go. It is the same thing with all… That is what we are talking about now with all the digital marketing and the brands and stuff in Second Life. You have got to kind of let it go and let these things, trust me they will foster. See, I got Second Life in there. It will grow. You cannot just keep a leash on everything because it is not going to work and I think with employees, that is very important. Give them the rope to hang themselves was what someone else said, but let them grow. Let them just have some fun. I mean mistakes. You can make all the mistakes you want, but you have to learn from them and you are never allowed to do them a second time the same way. Mistakes happen. Some of the most smartest people in the world have had failed companies. Do you think Einstein figured everything out the first time? No, of course he did not. You got to make mistakes in order to grow but you got to learn from them. If you make mistake and you make it again, I have no sympathy for that. You cannot do that. You have got to learn from your mistakes and grow with them. Take the risk, take a calculated risk and if you fall flat on your face just get back up and figure out how to do it better and do it again, but do not do the same mistake. It is not that hard.
One of the other things I try do is I always tell my employees, I will try to shelter you from all the BS that happens, all the political stuff because your employees do not need that. That is your job as the manager. One of the fun things that come with the title is all the meetings and all the BS and just do not let that get to your employees. Keep it away from them and be honest with them if they are hearing things, answer their questions, come on. Again, that goes back to knowing what you can say because you cannot answer it fully but have open dialogue. You need to. If you do not have open dialogue as a manager, I do not care. Yeah you might yell, you know, have your minions do all your work, but it is not going to work. Have open communications. Talk to your people. Find out what is bugging them. Squash rumors. Just get out there and do it and honesty, honesty is mandatory back and forth. If you cannot, do not make up crap. If you cannot answer questions, say it, you know, I cannot talk about that. Likewise, as an employee, to me tell me straight up. Do not sugarcoat stuff. Do not hide around the truth because you are worried about getting in trouble. Just tell me the truth. I tell this to my kids all the time, honesty, just honesty, honesty, honesty. Never ever, ever, ever and that means no creative truths, none of that stuff, that drives me nuts. Listen, when I ask you and I say how long is it going to take? Give me a real answer. I do not want you to add fluff, you know, thinking I do not know and I do not want you to give me super aggressive, just give me realistic of what you think and I know that is tough on every project, but a real thing you need to think about is that when someone says how long is this going to take? Think about it and you can say, you know, we have not done this before, I am not sure, but I am estimating about X, but if you put way too much or too little, you are going to set precedence and that is dangerous.
Last but not least, if you are sick, stay home. Do not come into my office. I do not want… It is just a little thing. So, this has been a little different Managing the Gray. I just kind of wanted… That was my list, just a little quick thing where I want to dump out some management stuff out of my head and what I am thinking is I know we have got a very diverse population I figure you can take any, if you take nugget and just think about it in your day-to-day life, it does not have to be management. They are just little things there that you should think about and I hope it helps. It is a little different Managing the Gray. We will get back to our regular scheduled program next week, but no the cool thing about podcasting is that we can talk about whatever we want. This whole media space is changing. The way you manage someone yesterday is not the same as you manage them today. What happens if you are a virtual company? What if you manage people around the world that you have never actually met but they work for you? How does that work? I mean the dynamics is going to shift as more and more people are doing it. Now, they brought you there is telecommuting. There is Second Life. There are things like that. The world is changing around us as we walk forward. How does that going to work? Management is going to be really, really important. Management in this digital marketing space is a whole new ballgame. Sure, some of the old techniques are going to work and a lot of it is tried and true, but there is going to have to be some evolution in people’s brain as they move forward. After all, what are we here about? We are here about engaging the evolution, right?
So, hey, as always E-mail me managingthegray@gmail.com or swing out by managingthegray.com. I do not know if I mentioned it, I have people who get surprised all the time, I am blogging there as well besides just podcasting. So, if you subscribe to the feed, you will get posts as well as podcasts. We are going to be back really, really soon with another podcast. I am having so much fun doing this and you guys please keep the E-mails coming whether it is about consulting opportunities or just questions or a ton of you guys are coming into Second Life, which is a lot of fun. You can find me at secondlifeoffice.com. If you want to, that will take you to my home base. It is great hooking up with you guys and you guys are doing some amazing things out there in the digital marketing space and I am very excited hoping to see some of you October 19th and 20th in Toronto at the Community Marketing Associations Annual Digital Marketing Conference. I am speaking at that. That is going to be a lot of fun. We will see you very soon, all right? So take care, guys. Talk to you soon.
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I’ve got a new laptop. It’s all shiny and new and thus has no software on it. I realized this last night as I needed to take an idea out of my head and type it up. What to do?
I instantly thought of Writely as the perfect solution, but it’s not an open BETA yet so I had to find an alternative. Google pointed me towards Zoho Writer so I gave it a try.
It boils down to an online word processor which is exactly what I needed. Nothing to install. No footprint. Just fire up a web browser from anywhere in the world and I can write. It was exactly what I needed at that moment in time.
I love that in todays world I can realize I need a piece of software and discover that someone has created it. That makes me happy. VERY happy.
Oh, so what was it that I had to write down? That you’ll have to wait and hear about later.
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In a sort of “why did it take so long” moment I just read over on 3pointD that a sim is being built for the book Snow Crash.
If you are not familiar with the book, let’s just say that it predicted things like SL and coined the term Metaverse. I’m not a fanboy or anything, but it’s a great read and as pointed out in the post you’ve got to remember that this book was written before graphical web browsers as we know them even existed.
Eric is going to love this news.
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second life |
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A new report today released by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) focuses on US based entrepreneurship.
I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to these reports through my work at Babson College who put out the GEM reports in conjunction with the London Business School.
The highlights of this report are pretty interesting. Especially for anyone thinking about starting a business or interested in the trends of new business in America.
A new term that I had not heard before is an “HPE” or High-Potential Entrepreneur. The report found that in the US these are most predominantly young motivated by opportunity males from the upper income arena. They think differently then the general population and don’t believe they have any competitors. Nothing shocking there, but interesting that the study confirmed it.
The stat that I found most intriguing was that in the US the average amount of funding needed to start a business is $70,200. I’m happy to see that it isn’t in the millions of dollars as most people would expect. Also, it found that 67.9% of those initial funds come directly from the entrepreneur themselves.
You can download the full report or read the press release with highlights.
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Smirnoff gets viral marketing. At least with this “Tea Partay” spot they do.
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New Media |
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I’m back from vacation and was psyched to see the NFL back on television last night.
It got me thinking about some very simple things that sports teams are missing out on and that would not be that hard for them to embrace in the new media space. If a sports team actually wants some help implementing anything I mention on the show, drop me an e-mail and lets chat.
Links from the show:
The comment line is always open at 206-309-4729 and so are the doors/lawn over at SecondLifeOffice.com.
[Update: Transcript for this episode now available]
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C.C. Chapman, Partner at The Advance Guard, uses this marketing podcast and blog to help business professionals and individuals, stay up to date on what is happening in the world of social media. Got a question? Want me to speak at an event? Just want to talk to someone? I'm only an e-mail away.
