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Personal Integrity: Sometimes a List Is Just a List

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This is an invitation for a conversation on personal integrity and how we, as humans, interact. In this case, I’m having what might be called an examination of conscience.

Every person comes to his or her own views on religion and politics. I respect and honor those. I’d like to keep this conversation focused on the personal and the individual, not the national or international. Conversations on political or social problems are better and more deeply thought through in places other than on this blog in a single blog post. Please note that contributions that obviously belong in those other discussions will be not be posted here.

I need space to be understood and offer that personal space to the people I meet. If you are new or a long-time commenter, please feel welcome to discuss your views on the problem below. I truly would appreciate your wisdom and counsel.

There is, as always, only one rule here: Be nice.

Can we talk about . . .

personal integrity.

Last night, I put up a list of Women Bloggers. People have every right to question my doing that. I did too. I still am. It’s a matter of personal integrity.

I don’t speak a great deal about link lists on my blog, but it’s not hard to know my feelings about link lists that were made to boost rankings or game the system. So why did this one elicit a different response from me?

Did I cross my own line? Was I seduced by unconscious peer pressure? Was my reasoning really just a rationalization? Or was I being the complicated person I am? Humans are nothing if not complicated beings.

Too much information makes this problem bigger than I am. Yet I think it’s worth exploring, because we face dilemmas of this nature every day. What contributes to such decisions, I wonder?

Here’s what I know unequivocably.

As I begin writing, I don’t know for sure why I made the list.

I do know this. I invested close to 3 hours putting my part of the list together, despite the fact I worried about the people I would leave out. I find the list a resource because sometimes a woman’s point of view is what’s needed. Last night proved that I don’t know enough of them. Even now two blogs come to mind that I wish I had remembered to include.

When I first saw the W-List, my plan was to say “thank you and move on.” Sometime last night that plan changed. Several factors might have influenced such decisions come to be. Here are the influences and the questions those raise for me as I look back.

  • Who I am as a person — I am an individual who creates my own path. I don’t feel I’ve be obstructed unfairly — Was it link love or a sell out?
  • My history — I grew up with brothers in an all boys’ neighborhood. Don’t you dare say I throw like a girl — Was I honoring women or leaving out men?
  • I was on the list — Was it ego or gratitude?
  • New versions of the list were coming up, always with new content added by the blogger who offered it — Was it appreciation or peer pressure?
  • The fact that I was surprised by the number of great blogs I had not seen before — Was it guilt or a wish to share?

Who knows what other factors might have been an unconscious part? I went back to my “Dear Emperor” post this morning. I can say I passed the test that I set.

As they say in the world of law, we might be able to prove possible motive, but we cannot ever know someone else’s intent. I’m finding now it’s not that easy even to know my own every time.

At the end of writing this . . . it’s been close to two hours and then, I’ve taken out 60% of what I wrote . . . but I know more. I state it calmly and gently here with my head and my heart.

I celebrate the women bloggers on the list. By giving to them, I take nothing from the men I esteem. I only wish I had taken the time to celebrate the men too.

As a child I knew, sometimes my parents celebrated one of their children without mentioned the other two. Yet each of one of us was always their favorite.

One lesson that I have always had trouble with is that when I’m not included it’s rarely about me. (And when I am, that’s usually not about me either.)

Sometimes is just a list.

Gosh, thanks for listening. Feel free to disagree.

Liz's Signature

As a following note: Before I leave, I’d like to mention that I don’t believe much in fate or omens, but I do enjoy delicious irony and blogger synchronicity. When I awoke I found these. Brief Case Study: Liz Strauss appreciating readers on Successful Blog through comments and through encouragement awards and Now, Make me feel important! who pointed me to The W (and M) List – Promoting Quality Bloggers

Do A Survey to Focus Your Business

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Our Customers Know

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Have you noticed? Everything about setting up a business requires clean decisionmaking that comes from both heart and head. In other words, to do it well, we have to know who we are.

My friend, Dawud Miracle, and I take that idea seriously. We don’t just discuss it in the one2one conversations on our blogs. We talk about it on the telephone and via email whenever the need strikes, which is often enough.

A few weeks ago, I asked Dawud how I might help a client get to his core offer and together we decided a survey might be one way to go. If you’re feeling a bit the same way, let’s see how a survey would help.

A Survey to Focus Your Business

The single greatest value that I bring to a client relationship is the truthful perception of someone who is not them. I stand outside their business and tell them what a naive, intelligent customer sees.

Getting focus means seeing who we are and what we do well. If the picture is too foggy, it’s helpful to have several points of view against which to test our perceptions of ourselves.

An informal survey can gather those points of view.

A Survey to Focus Your Business

Let’s start with the survey itself. Here are some survey questions to make this happen for you. You’ll notice a blank for your name or the name of your business.

  1. What kind of work does _____ love doing? Why do you think so?

  2. What successes can you point to that _____ has had in the past? What does _____ do better than almost everyone else?

  3. If you were to recommend _____ to a close friend, what would you say?

  4. Do you see any disconnects in what _____ loves doing and does well, and what _____ could be doing to serve customers?

  5. What do you think _____ can promise to deliver that people really need? Are you confident that _____ would keep that promise? What makes you think so?

  6. Would you count on _____ to deliver on that promise? What makes you think as you do?

Only six questions, but use them well and they’ll get some critical information.

Putting the Survey to Work for You

Sometimes the key is asking questions. Sometimes the key is having someone ask for you. To get a true picture of how folks see your business, I recommend that you allow them to talk a friend anonymously rather than having them write to you.

People often say the best things about us when we’re not listening.

Let’s get this survey rolling.

  1. Ask a friend to be an interviewer.

  2. Provide the interviewer with no more than 7 questions. Use the ones above to get you started. Ask interviewer to help you word any additional questions so that they leave room for explanation.

  3. Identify no fewer than 5 people who are familiar with your business or your performance at businesslike tasks. Have the interviewer help you choose folks who can give an informed response. Work toward a list that represents the customers you want.

  4. Discuss with the interviewer the best way to introduce the interview to each person on your list. Make it a goal together to set up a high-trust situation so that each respondent can answer freely.

  5. Have the interviewer contact the people on the list and conduct the interviews.

  6. Ask the interviewer to compile the constructive information into a summary or a bulleted list for each question. Respect respondent’s privacy. You’ll want to survey them again.

  7. Discuss a plan of action with the interviewer. He or she was heard the responses and so can say whether your reaction is the right size for the information gathered. He or she knows whether you need to find out more on some points.

  8. Use what you found with what you know about yourself and your business to
    • Decide what businesslike thing you love doing.
    • Choose your ideal customer.
    • What you can promise and deliver to the ideal customer you want to serve.

  9. Introduce changes you’ve identified into your business slowly and one at a time.

Information from people who know us is the most valuable data we can find. When we put it with what we know about ourselves and what we do well, we can make incredible things happen.

How might you use a survey to improve your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck? Check out the Start-up Strategy Package. Work with Liz!!

Related
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

121: How Do You Use Social Media to Stay Customer Centered?

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Customers Inside Everything

I just got done reading Dawud’s answer to my question . . . What do you want from your business when it grows up? Isn’t he the most amazing?

At the end of his article, Dawud left me (and you) with a question.

How can social media/blogging help businesses stay customer-centered?

You’ve probably noticed that Dawud has uncanny timing.

Here I sit alone in a room just outside of D.C. I’ve spent the past two days and will spend the next two thinking about products, marketing, and customers. I’m launching a new project soon. Questions like this one from Dawud are high and heavy on my mind.

How do I use Social Media to Stay Customer Centered? Not very well actually. But I know a few folks who do it really well. I’ve been watching and listening. Hopefully, I’m picking up a few things. . . . Here’s what I see.

Rodney Rumford commented on Robert Scoble’s video. Rodney’s customers are Facebook citizens. He’s listening to everything they say and responding.

Jeff posted a link about homerooms and social media. Jeff’s post prompted some feedback that added some insights to Jeff’s thoughts on the subject.

Over on Twitter, Chris Brogan asks questions and invites experts to call him.

Folks all over Facebook, LinkedIn, Pownce, and StumbleUpon are asking and answering questions on discussion boards and in personal messages.

You get the idea.

I suppose that there are vast customer groups for whom it would be less than useful to gather information from Social Media. Customers who don’t blog aren’t likely to be well-portrayed or accurately described by a medum on which they don’t participate, (as much as we might think they need to, if that’s our opinion.)

At this moment, I’m still learning. I’m a little shy about social events, even those that are only virtual ones. If you’re not, I’d appreciate any help you offer.

While I stand by the wine and cheese watching, I’ll leave you with this question.

What advice would you give to a friend whose audience wasn’t his niche market group?

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. Find the answer at dawud miracle on Monday. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.

Blog Post Fatigue? Please Take the Keys . . . Again!

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The Day I Learned What I Know

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A turning point in my blogging history was called “An Open Thought: Please Take the Keys.” I knew when I wrote that piece that something was wrong; I even had a feeling what it might be. I had been looking for a way to bring it up. . . .

When I did, you were there. You stepped up and told me what I was doing wrong. It was the coolest thing. That was the day this blog became a community.

I’ve always been grateful for the day that you took the keys.

Relationships grow and change.

Last week at BlogHer I overheard someone say something. It’s something I’ve heard in passing on this blog. I’ve also heard the same thing inside the compliments that you give me and in the apologies that come when we talk.

The person at BlogHer said, “If they post more than once a day, they’re banned from my feeds.”

You’ve been more tactful than that, but you’ve been sort of saying the same thing.

Blog Post Fatigue? Please Take the Keys

Not to worry, it’s no longer about me being brave. This time it’s me asking you what you think, what you need, and what you like to read. I can tell from your comments a few things. I’m also perceptive enough to read a bit of what you’re not saying.

On the other hand, I’m as blind as every other human. No one knows that better than this human being.

You’re the people I trust and the people I serve. So, you’re the ones I’m coming to. I’ll lay out the problem, and I hope that you’ll tell me what you know.

The problem: I’m about head and heart, business and life, information and relationships, so I post twice a day at least. When I add in the projects I want to keep up with, references lists and resources, 200 outstanding blogs, and the questions/photos things I like to throw in for discussion, I’m feeling like I post way too frequently.

It’s not like anyone’s advice is going to change who I am, how I write, or maybe even what I do. I’m still the one who has trouble walking in a straight line. . . .

But you took the keys one time and you didn’t steer me wrong then. I’d be downright stupid not to listen now.

I’m many things, but stupid ain’t one of them.

Please take the keys.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck?Work with Liz!!

Building an Outrageously Solid, Customer-Centered Model to Test All Business Decisions

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Me You Me You

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Are you still with me?
Here’s where we are.

We started inside our hearts and looked inside the hearts and heads of our ideal customers, as best we could . . . hopefully we’ll keep doing both. It’s not a spreadsheet. It’s personal, from me to you, to me, and back to you again.

Me you me you

Now that we’re used to that, we can work on the most basic decision model. Every decision that follows will have this model as a test.

Here we go. We started building it sometime last week.

Building an Outrageously Solid, Customer-Centered Model

the model that we’re building will test future decisions about a specific business. To do that we need to define the business by building these four parts.

  • An explicit description of the customer and the niche market he or she would be part of — The group will be relational and easy to describe The goal is to crawl inside the customer’s head and to feel his or her needs before he or she does.
  • A company named for the customer — will fit and appeal to the ideal customer “Call it what it is,” a wise man once said to me. A customer can find us more easily when we let them see who we are.
  • A tagline that does its job — will state what you promise and deliver It’s a promise that explains the value we offer to the people we want to serve.
  • A “do” statement — will be a few-word answer to “What do you do? This answer becomes easier to get to once we’ve reached the answers to the first three parts.

All parts work as a whole to define the business from view of the ideal customer. When all parts are defined together, this definition becomes the touchstone to which all future questions and definitions can be tested and verfied.

Does what I’m about to do fit within this model to make the business stronger, clearer, and more real to my ideal customer . . . or does what I’m considering weaken my plan and fogs up my message?

Use the model to be sure that future decisions support how we’ve defined the company.

What do you see here so far? What questions do you have?

More is coming I promise.

Next: The tagline

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck? Check out the Start-up Strategy Package. Work with Liz!!

Related
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

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Worse than herding Cats

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I admit it. To my thinking, one thing is worse than herding cats. It’s wrestling with the things I have to do. In my world, a To Do List can quickly get overwhelming. It can be filled with things I don’t know how to do, little things that are labor intensive, and too many things that are unrelated yet need getting done in the same time period. It always seems that part of the list is extremely URGENT and can’t wait for my learning curve. I can’t get to done that way.

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

To Do items are in the flow of things when there are only a few. When there are many, I have to get out of the details to where I can see to move them into a organizational groups. These are key steps to mastering a To Do List.

Every item I write begins with a verb. When appropriate, they begin with “Learn to” to remind me that they need more time and more steps.

  1. Brain dump. Write all of the items down a list in any order. Do it first thing in the morning, or last thing — to be able to hit the ground running when a new day begins. Get them out of your head and on paper or on computer. A spreadsheet works nice. It allows one item per box, and they’re easily movable.
  2. URGENT Sort. Group those things that are URGENT. Define URGENT as something of high consequence will be impaired, if this action does not happen in the next 24 hours. Calculate the amount of time these actions will take. If the time to do them is less than the time you have, get help now. Set the rest aside until the URGENT list is under control. Looking for URGENT items should be routine. Finding them should be rare.
  3. Action Sort. Sort all projects three ways to get things done. Group actions that are better done together. Two criteria rule this step: time sensitivity and power to make things happen.
    • HOT List. Sort everything about the most time-sensitive (HOT) project. List all related actions that need to be executed in the next 2-3 days. First apply these two questions to the HOT project. Then apply the questions to the whole list you have made.
    • What can I do in a few minutes that will get someone else working when I move on to the next item? List these so that you can do them first. Two people working move two parts forward.
    • What similar things can I do in series to save time? List like activities together, if doing them that way will save time. Blocking time to make all phone calls or writing all email related to the HOT project can save bundles of time. When is the best time in your day to do each type of task?
    • Quick Hits List. Sort short 5-10 minute tasks that are not HOT!! but need to be done in a timely fashion. This list is one to keep close. When a few minutes open up, or a piece of writing gets stuck, you’ll be able to grab the list to move something forward. Then switch back to regularly scheduled programming.
    • To Do List. Sort the remaining items. List them by their importance and time sensitivity. Then schedule them into the next 2-3 days.
  4. When new actions anitems arise add them to the list where they fit.
  5. Have a partner on call for emergencies. Some folks, like me, are drawn up to the macro level, we work well organizing strategy. We work best at the 30,000-foot view. Other folks are down to drill down to the beauty of details to build structure at the micro view. When time is short and a pile of action details demand attention, nothing compares to a working partnership — one person sorts the relationships, the other makes the lists.

Attend to the HOT List immediately. Attend to the Quick Hits as time opens — carry it with you to take advantage of opportunities wherever they arise. Attend to the To Do List when you have scheduled each item. Turn off interruptions when you’re working. Revisit your plan every morning to sort, list, and schedule the day.

You might think that three lists are more work than one, but in fact, three shorter lists allow focus and save time when scanning for the next thing to do. The key, of course, is to list everything that needs doing and doing everything on the lists.

Did I just confuse you?

–ME “Liz” Straus
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.