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Social Media Book List: #PROJECT MANAGEMENTtweet and The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their online book promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I will be highlighting ‘#PROJECTMANAGEMENTtweet’ by Himanshu Jhamb and Guy Ralfe. and ‘The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web’ by Tamar Weinberg. The books I discuss will cover such topics as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

‘#PROJECTMANAGEMENTtweet: 140 Powerful Bite-Sized Insights on managing projects’ by Guy Ralfe and Himanshu Jhamb

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“Jhamb and Ralfe have provided a real treat with this book. Each PM tweet provides a rich mini-lesson on how to succeed as a project manager.”
Anthony C. Mersino, author of ‘Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers’ and President, The Project Advisors Group, Inc.

People are transcending cultures and geographies and are embracing diversity in their experiences and interactions with others. Most importantly, this book is a thought provoking resource for managers and those who work with a diverse group of people, be it in the workforce, community projects, team building assignments, social gatherings, or business meetings. Organizations need to know how to manage diversity to be successful in the future, and in today’s competitive age, the flexibility and creativity augmented by diversity is crucial for success.

‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’s’ quick-read and accessible format makes sure that you immediately ‘get’ the authors’ thought-provoking and time-tested insights and apply them directly to your own project management situations. Its tweet-sized wisdom keeps the reader’s perspective firmly in mind. In concise chapters, the authors cover what your bosses, your team members and your customers would wish you to know about project management. Among the many gems the author share is this takeaway: Every ‘unknown’ in a project can be guaranteed to introduce a ‘known’ risk. But, with ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ near at hand, you can be assured of immediately minimizing your risks and multiplying your successes in project management.

Here are a few tweets from ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ I would like to share with you:

#6 Testing without test plans is like landing in a new city without a map.

#15 Four key questions on a task:
What is being done?
How is it going to be done?
Who is going to get it done?
When will it be done?

#24 Acknowledge breakdowns, as soon as they appear, to the customer; but more important, to yourself first!

#36 Team members live in their own worlds. It’s the Project Manager’s responsibility to make the project a
part of their world.

#52 Pay close attention to the “Opportunity Costs” of your commitments to clients.

#77 Always try to recover any delay at the start like it was the last day of the project.

About the Authors:

Guy Ralfe, has worked on global projects for over a decade. At Starr Specialty Coatings, Guy manages project delivery. He is an active contributor on ActiveGarage.com, a web portal he co-founded to address the fundamental concerns of business.

Himanshu Jhamb, thrives on challenges in Software Project Management and has successfully led global teams in industries ranging from Telecommunications to eCommerce. Himanshu is Senior Project Manager for Atypon Systems and co-founder of Active Garage, where he frequently writes about Projects and Project Management.

You can purchase a copy of ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ online at ThinkAha Books or at Amazon

This blog post is part of a virtual book tour done by Key Business Partners, LLC and I have received a complimentary copy of ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT TWEET’ by the authors.

The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web by Tamar Weinberg

Now I would like to highlight a book on my “review” reading list–The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.

Here is partial book description on Amazon.com:

Written by an expert in social media and viral marketing, this book cuts through the hype and jargon to give you intelligent advice and strategies for positioning your business on the social web, with case studies that show how other companies have used this approach.

The New Community Rules will help you:

* Explore blogging and microblogging, and find out how to use applications such as Twitter to create brand awareness
* Learn the art of conversation marketing, and how social media thrives on honesty and transparency
* Manage and enhance your online reputation through the social web
* Tap into the increasingly influential video and podcasting market
* Discover which tactics work — and which don’t — by learning about what other marketers have tried

Many consumers today use the Web as a voice. The New Community Rules demonstrates how you can join the conversation, contribute to the community, and bring people to your product or service.

About Tamar:

Tamar Weinberg is a freelance writer and author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web (O’Reilly, July 2009) who specializes in social media consulting and strategy, blogger outreach, reputation management, and search engine marketing (SEO, link building, and Pay Per Click Marketing). She has been involved in the Internet since the early 90s and has dabbled in social online interactions for more than fifteen years. Tamar has been working nearly exclusively with Internet Marketing side since 2006, though she also has experience with web hosting and technical support and can handle complicated WordPress installations and configurations with ease. At the present time, Tamar is the community & marketing manager of Mashable and consults at social media marketing agency M80, in addition to working alongside other companies in her own role as a consultant.

Read more: http://www.techipedia.com/about/#ixzz0t0VnajSg

*courtesy of Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web’ on Amazon.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.

#DellCAP: From Behind the Curtain to Next Steps

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Fodder to Focus

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Wed through Friday last week I was honored to be part of the inaugural DELL Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) event at the DELL HQ in Round Rock, TX. (Thank you, DELL, for generously covering the costs of our travel.) I arrived with curiosity about the experience fueled by the information sharing that introduced the event.

Now I’m home and my mind is filled with the experience — so much “fodder.” This is a case study in a new sort of customer outreach. It was participatory anthropology. The people studying our responses were in the room asking questions, adding thoughts, and most importantly, listening and hearing.

This was NOT a focus group.

What Impressed Me

This was the first #DellCAP event.

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Here’s a little about the event that impressed me:

  • Two groups attended each on a different day. The fifteen invitees on Tuesday were people who might be considered DELL critics. Some in that group told me they didn’t see themselves as anti-DELL. The fifteen invitees on Thursday were people who might be considered DELL evangelists. Some in that group said they didn’t see themselves as particular pro-DELL either. The idea that DELL invited people they saw as both ends of the spectrum impressed me.
  • The morning sessions included C-Suite and senior executives. DELL interest in the event was high. The room had an audience and folks outside the room could “dial in.” DELL considered the event a valuable experience. Conversation with people at every level of the organization proved their excitement to be learning from outside sources what they need to change.
  • The breaks and side interviews showed DELL employees interested in extending the conversation and forming relationships that went beyond the day that we were there.
  • The tenor and the tone of the morning conversations, especially that around customer service was particularly open and centered on learning. The people who work with the outsourced and overseas help talked frankly about their goals and their focus on price. Their ownership of policy problems led to some great discussion that went beyond service to strategic positioning — ideas that could bring the awesome DELL of the past back to us.

What Might Have Worked Better

The afternoon was in the DELL Labs and took the form of a presentation. Personally I see some ways that it might have invited more interaction to pull more value from the event.

  • The product presentation about the specialists and generalists DELL serves was enlightening. It might have been fun to ask the invitees which group most described them and invite the larger group split off to explore more deeply the products designed for them. A chance to discuss one product line might have triggered a more invested discussion than a survey view of the whole product offering. Smaller groups might have offered a refreshing change in the day and a chance to see who’s most like us.
  • The upcoming new product (NDA session) naturally had to be a “talk at us” session. At this stage, our input is moot. It’s nice to get insider information, but it might have been more exciting if DELL had said, “If you’re interested, we’ll send you more information right before the release it so that you can play with it and be the first to share news about it, if you choose.”
  • The session on sustainability and recycling was also Web 1.0. Imagine how engaging it might have been if DELL had shared what they’re doing; then invited us to brainstorm ideas on how they might use social media to spread the news about the worldwide efforts on http://www.dell.com/recycle/ I had no idea they have so many sustainability partnerships going on.

Information to Strategy?

I can only imagine the wealth of ideas and information compiled throughout the two long days of conversation and demonstrations. Graphic conversationalist, Sunni Brown, recorded key points throughout in this murals like this one …

4714070461_e200a062b9_dellcap_conversation_via_paul_mooney

DELL said they’ll be displaying the murals where customers and employees can see them often. The calls to action throughout are both inspiring and almost overwhelming. It’s hard to move a huge company — every huge company becomes less adventurous and more protective of what it already owns.

DELL how will you report back on what you’re doing with what you’ve found out?

Strategy that Leverages Opportunity

The task before #DellCap is to keep the conversation going, to refocus on people who grow the company — inside and out. It takes strategy and company-wide focus to reconnect with customers in a true value relationship. Change isn’t easy. Without a deep commitment and strategic plan the vision is just a nice thought.

Some strategic thinking I’d love to see (and be part of) include:

  • Building a strategy about finding opportunities, not holding ground.

    True strategy combines mission, position, current conditions, resources, and well chosen tactics set out incrementally to move us forward.

  • Build from strengths and eliminate ‘thinking poor.”

    Thinking poor leads us to throw away the good things without seeing them and to increase our chances of following them down into that hole. Some great examples of poor thinking include … discounting prices for unlimited periods … customers who value us only for discounts will leave when they’re gone … reducing services … just tells customers we don’t value them at the time we need them most …

  • Build out the social media leadership group.

    Macro and micro businesses get stuck in process models that they’ve outgrown, but keep using. Fear of change, love of past success, bias that interprets history in our favor leads us to repeat and re-imprint bad or outdated behaviors in our organizational brains.

Tactics: Where I Might Go From Here?

I sat in a room rife with opportunities. Fine minds were jumping into help and offer ideas on how to reach out and grow.

What might I do if I were in that “OK, big shot, moment?” What next steps seem possible to gain the most traction from what started at #DellCap? Here are a few ideas to get the folks who want to stay with it moving forward with you.

Premise: You can’t be inside and outside the system at the same time. Know that the real value of the event was that the people who came weren’t part of the thinking that built the system. Every system needs a clear outside view.

What I might do:

  • Compile, reflect on, and share the ideas and issues came out of both groups in an open report available to anyone interested in the event.
  • Invite 2-3 attendees to write a presentation — a case study on the event itself.

Premise: Follow through is the loudest thank you. Honor all valid input and the time of those who contributed. Asking for opinions and insights is good. Valuing and honoring what you get is imperative to keeping communication open. A change in behavior is a tribute and shows respect to people who inspired that change. Show that commitment.

What I might do:

  • Talk about what’s been learned with gratitude online and offline. Just as you’ve been doing.
  • Blog about the event. Thank the people (inside and outside of DELL) who gave time to be part and link back to what they write with your thoughts.
  • Compile one major list of all posts people write from one main blog and use individual blog posts as fodder for ideas and future blogs posts when they might be relevant.
  • Start a newsletter that shares changes that came from this conversation. Send it out to people both inside and outside the company who have interested in #dellcap.

Premise: Intentionally extend relationships. Make room for the best. At least two people in my group are looking to work full time with DELL and several others would be delighted to keep working together.Value truth tellers who won’t let you fail. We all need to invest in the people who help us thrive.

What I might do:

  • Gather more information about the areas of expertise of the invitees. You might invite managers to consider this group when opportunities to test new products, discuss new ideas, or train new employees might benefit from an outside view.
  • Invite employee volunteers to keep in touch with one guest as a personal “customer advocate.”
  • Arrange for attendees to manage one relationship with DELL, not one with every department.
  • Invest resouces in the building the online #dellcap channel you’ve opened to solicit ideas.
  • Invite each guest to advocate for their customer segment from the “generalist / specialist” pie chart. Offer those who do a chance to be advisors, community builders, or “prototypical customers” for products in the appropriate product line. Make a long-term plan of building some ambassadors for each distinct product line.

Premise: Gather ideas and new process innovation by partnering strategically at every level and across industries. As the world becomes flatter and more social, the opportunities to raise a company to a category of one come from partnering with people and businesses who want the same things.

What I might do:

  • Build partnerships outside technology circles with companies, customers, and employees who have passionate values that align your values.
  • Invite social media, marketing, and PR students from UT to build a campaign to get the word out about DELL sustainability efforts.
  • Partner DELL interns with entrepreneurs to bring in new ideas.
  • Sponsor think tanks and events and send DELL employees to learn how other industries solve similar problems.
  • Invite experts into your building to for a learning exchange.

Premise: Claim your rewards and leverage them for the future. Find a way to commemorate and claim the investment and growth that took place. Make it something special to have been there — something special that we’ll all look back on with pride.

What I might do:

  • Build a #DellCAP Hall of Fame page as the first step in a TimeLine of Change. Include the biographies of all who attended — employees and guests. Record the event and add to it as you move forward. Share the page url with the company.
  • Pick a #dellcap team to brainstorm ways to extend the breadth, depth, and reach of the event before the momentum fades.

I’ll stop here.

The Wizard of OZ and Trust

In a sidebar discussion about the new iPhone and the DELLStreak, I was mentioning how some folks are feeling an anti-Apple sentiment over their closed system. The designer I spoke to said …

Open is a huge thing.

yes.

In the Wizard of OZ, OZ, the great and powerful, was just an image. Remember the saying?

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Pay NO ATTENTION to man behind the curtain.

Dorothy didn’t have a relationship with OZ. She feared him.

Fear doesn’t inspire fiercely loyal fans. Trust and fear can’t exist in the same space.

It was when the little man came out from behind the curtain that the problem solving began.

Thanks for coming out from behind the curtain. Now on to the problem solving. Thank you Chris, Carly, Sarah, and Vance, for inviting us. Thank you, Mack, for an outstanding job at moderating a group who likes to talk.

What ideas do you have for DELL? What problems do you think they should be working on?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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#DellCAP DAYS: How DELL Builds Trust Long Before a Meeting

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From Wondering to Commitment

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This week I’ll be attending the inaugural DELL Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) event at the DELL HQ in Round Rock, TX. (Thank you, DELL, for generously covering the costs of our travel.) As anyone might be, I was delighted to receive the invitation — who doesn’t feel good to know their opinion is wanted and valued?

That this will be the first Customer Advisory Panel and that DELL has integrated social media so well throughout its business also sparked my curiosity. I decided to wait until this week to research the event beyond what information I received from DELL. I was interested in the pre-event preparations and what they might reveal.

You see, I’ve been to meetings portrayed as learning with and talking with customers. Some have been great conversations and shared learning experiences. Others have been presentations in which the hosts talked, demonstrated, and even apologized, but only wanted validation from the invited guests. Bet you have too.

From the first #DellCAP email, I wondered about the make up of the group, about the purpose of the event, about the form the discussions might take. One small action at a time, DELL raised the bar and built trust that this will be a great meeting. I hope they don’t mind if I share some of the most brilliant, yet most basic, beautifully executed ways that they’ve already built a high-trust relationship with me by showing (not telling) that they value the people who are coming down.

  • Opt-in travel arrangements. Part of the stress of any trip is the getting there. Every airport, every city has it’s own unique ways of doing things. Every new hotel is a strange space until we’ve stayed there. The care for detail builds trust.
    • I received a link with information about the rocking hotel DELL had arranged for their guests to stay in.
    • I received an email asking my travel preferences – airport, airline, time of day, window or aisle. When the flight was booked, I received another email asking my approval of the selections, which were exactly as I requested.
  • Clear CAP Day Guidelines. As Sally Hogshead says, “Trust comforts us with certainty and reliability.” Knowing the goal of the event, knowing the expectations, and knowing how the company plans to support them is a huge comfort and trust builder.
    • The goal was clearly stated and so was the intention of a long-term relationship (not a one-CAP stand):
      Our goal for this event is to hold open, honest and collaborative dialogues around topics that you have identified as top of mind as well as to get to know each other better and help bring our collective communities together and keep the conversations and ideas begun today going long after we’ve said adieu to this CAP Day event.
    • The commitment to the community was defined:
      To help bring turn these goals into realities, and to make our teammates in the Legal department comfortable, we have outlined the following guiding principles for participating in the CAP program – today and ongoing. These guidelines apply to both Dell customers and team members participating in the CAP Day event.
    • The five principles to guide employees and invited guests included open, collaborative communication; transparency of affiliation; protection of privacy; standards of conduct; and sharing of the event happenings.
  • An Event Framing Survey. Most surveys are a “Web 1.0” experience. We ask others, “What do you think of me? What do you thinking of what I’m doing?” DELL built their survey to model the two-way dialogue they envision. The survey showed the respect and commitment the people putting on the event have for the ideas and opinions of their guests.
    • The first few questions were “listening questions” that were about the participant. What would you like to talk about while you’re here? Product questions were limited and didn’t appear on the first page.
    • A follow-up question explored the thinking behind a quantitative answer in the way that someone in a meeting might say, “Can you tell me more about why you think as you do? I want to understand what you mean.”
  • Other well-timed, well-thought preparations. Each contact demonstrated the same commitment to a quality relationship. I won’t share all of the DELL special touches yet.

I started by wondering what the event would be like. Now I’m looking forward to meeting folks and getting to work. Their investment in this event telegraphs in every communication. My commitment to a successful event has grown to match what they’ve shown me.

DELL has built a high-trust environment even before we’ve walked into the room. Outstanding.

Other Views of the Event

I waited until I wrote my own experience before I explored other blog posts about the event. Here’s what I found.

The next evolution of social media for business is … by Mack Collier

Here’s the twist that makes this event so interesting to me; The 15 customers Dell will meet on the 15th are customers that have issues with Dell, and want to voice those issues to the company. The 15 customers Dell will meet on the 17th are evangelists of the company. So over the course of 2 days, Dell will be meeting with 30 of its most passionate customers, from both ends of the spectrum. I think this event is also an example of the next evolution of social media for companies.

Dell Forms Customer Advisory Panel by David Gardner at Fast Company

As many of my followers here know, one of my primary interests is helping companies improve business execution. Dell surveyed me and others last evening in preparation for this event (good job!), and, while I’m sure they are more interested in impressing me with their technology, I want to know what they are doing to eliminate the business execution issues that frustrate their customers.

I’m on Team DELL by Shawn Collins at Affiliate Tip

I got my first computer back in 1994 – it was an Acer with a 9600 baud modem modem, if I remember correctly. My next one was a Dell, and I’ve been a fan of the brand ever since.

TommyLog Dell Gets It

They just want to have some people who have talked Dell in Social Media to come to town and they want to listen Did I mention they would pay for all my expenses!! THEY WANT TO LISTEN!!! What a concept. How amazing!!!

What do you see as key to a successful DELL initiative?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

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Cool Tool Review: Bit.ly

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Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Business

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: Bit.ly
A Review by Todd Hoskins

If you’ve been cryogenically frozen for the past two years, the discovery of URL shorteners would be confusing. Why are there all these nonsensical domains appearing on Twitter, Facebook, and even in email?

Prompted by the 140 character limit, the early URL shorteners (we’re talking 2008) served an important purpose – freeing space for you to get more words and letters into a tweet. You want to share Lady Gaga’s controversial Alejandro video, for example, but simply sending the link is not enough. You want to offer your endorsement, commentary, or related questions (and for this video, there are many). Shortening the URL gives you the chance to do this. Otherwise, the link itself will take up half of your tweet characters.

So, thank you SnipURL, urlBorg, Cligs, is.gd, Su.pr, TinyURL, Ow.ly, and all the others for allowing me to add my two cents.

There is also a business utility to URL shortening, and Bit.ly remains the leader. Bit.ly and it’s companion service J.mp (which I use) shorten nearly 5 billion links per month. Why are so many people using Bit.ly? First, it has been Twitter’s default shortener. But also, Bit.ly offers analytics on your links that can be endlessly fascinating and valuable to your business.

When advising clients on their microblogging efforts I start with two main focal points:

1) Accessibility of your voice (warmth, personality, interactivity, humor)
2) Relevancy of your content

Bit.ly analytics can give you real-time and cumulative feedback on the relevancy of content. Are people sharing what you have shared? Are they clicking on the link? What types of content do your readers find compelling? What conversations take place around these links?

Once you have an account and shorten a URL, either with the Bit.ly sidebar or at their domain (also Tweetdeck has Bit.ly integrated), you can track and manage the links to see when and how often people have clicked through, as well as the ratio of the traffic you are driving compared to the rest of traffic monitored through Bit.ly.

bitly

You also get posts and tweets that have used your shortened URL, so you can see who else is distributing the content and in what context. It’s a great way to discover influencers and fans. Don’t fall into the trap of measuring your online presence based on click-throughs, but it is a fast way to learn and adjust for the content your company is creating or distributing.

One more note . . . I will also use URL shorteners within emails sent to clients. If you send an email to five colleagues, for example, and want to see not only how many people are reading what you have highlighted as important, but how often that email has been forwarded, Bit.ly provides an easy way to see whether the article you recommend is being digested.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 5/5 – Dashboard and branded short links with Bit.ly Pro

Entrepreneur Value: 4/5 – Improve your content. Inform your voice. Analytics help.

Personal Value: 3/5 – Effective replacement for bookmarking (Like a site? Article? Shorten it and it will be archived.)

SOB Business Cafe 05-21-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
“It can’t be done”

“You can’t do that”

How many times have you heard these words? Plenty of times, I bet. “Can’t” is a big, fat, stop sign designed to sabotage a dream.

The Social Media Marketing Blog
It turns out that it’s pretty simple to understand what women want. All you have to do is ask them. Of course, you have to be listening and willing to put it into practice. Having been married for nearly 9 years, I’m no genius at dating; but there are some parallels here that even my feeble brain can pull out.

Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/2010/05/online-ad-targeting-is-pretty-much-like.html#ixzz0oXCwqvf5

ReveNews
The service is called CinemaNow, partnering Best Buy with Sonic Solutions Inc. The service will start as a la carte, and hopes to progress to a Netflix like subscription service. Movie rentals will start at 2.99, videos for purchase will run from 9.99 – 19.99.

C-Level Strategies and Awakenings
To be honest, I used to avoid networking events if I was not absolutely sure that someone I knew would be there – someone for me to “hang out with.” This was a real detriment to my career as it drastically limited my exposure to executives outside of my little “bubble,” and prevented me from making wonderful new business connections.

One Mann’s Opinion
It’s scary and exciting and big monsters are there to eat you and you don’t know where to start. The best place is with your personal or business strategy. You don’t need to embrace it all, you don’t need to be everywhere and frankly no one can.

Des Walsh
Conversations about social media in business often start with questions about tools. “Should we have a Facebook page?” “Should we be on Twitter?” “Should we have a blog and if so how do we go about that?”

These are perfectly reasonable questions. But they jump the gun.

Related ala carte selections include

Connie Reece
As they say about a picture …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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How to Be Good Greedy for Your Brand, Your Business, and the People Who Help You Thrive

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Attracting Minds

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IT BEGAN with a conversation right after someone had handed me a glass of wine. The vibrant Sally Hogshead walked up and began telling me a story that showed me she livesher life. Fascinating is what Sally calls it. Irresistible is my word for for it. Some folks call it influence or attracting like minds.

It’s a pair of eyes filled with the curiosity and fearless hear of a beginner that’s out test-driving what wisdom and models and learnings already collected to try new ideas on for size. Kind of like when we all were captivating unself-conscious children asking questions like “Would a chair still be a chair if it only had two legs?” And everyone knows it’s not a test or meant to make folks crazy.

Appetizing. Appealing. Outright attractive … you pick the word that means “can’t keep away” to you.

Makes us good greedy for more.

What brand what business wouldn’t want to have and share some of that?

IT CONTINUED the next day with more smiles, more questions, more answers, more ideas. And there it was another single glass of wine. Hers this time.

The excitement grew as more and more people discovered the fascinating, irresistible fun of just being who we are and then tweaking that toward the people who help us thrive … customers, clients, friends, family, sort of everyone who know it’s not about taking a test or giving one.

THEN IT BECAME A PLAN when we met on Twitter the next morning and knew that we’d be in a different city, but the same city as each other again. So we set up a lunch meeting to be fascinated by the irresistible ideas again.

And in an email as we were blocking out the time. How much time could we set aside for such kind of thing? Sally would be on her way to the airport — so our meeting would be a risk of the very best kind — an airplane on a schedule versus a chance to have a truly unique, meaningful mind-growing experience.

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I wrote: You know what kind of risk taker you are and what kind of risk I pose. heh heh

She responded: Yes, I’m a risk-taker but ALSO I’m greedy, so if I get time with you, then I want more more more!

I chimed: We are so the same. You get all of my time you want … for the same reasons.

And then I added: Topic of conversation over a bottle of wine — they have a wonderful Sancerre — and title of a blog post:

How to Be Greedy in a Good Way for Your Brand, Your Business and the People Who Help You Thrive

She said: I’m so In!

Of course, I called ahead to order the wine. There would be two glasses this time.

And here’s what we gathered from that meeting …

How to Be Greedy in a Good Way for Your Brand, Your Business and the People Who Help You Thrive
by Sally Hogshead and Liz Strauss over a nice wine

We had left everything to chance. Well, not really, the atmosphere was outstanding; the food was delicious; and the wine was as promised. The conversation was ideation, sharing, and good greedy — filled with everything that is fascinating and irresistible.

Here’s a few things that came home with me about how to get good greedy for your brand, your business, and the people who help you thrive over and over again.

  • Get good greedy about offering the best quality experience you can so that folks can relax and trust that you care about them. When an atmosphere is well cared for, we can’t help but feel that we’re cared about too.
  • Get good greedy about trusting yourself and trusting that good intentions will win. Trust telegraphs itself as confidence and safety. Fear or insecurity have a hard time putting up barriers to communication when true trust is in the room.
  • Get good greedy about anticipating the company of smart people whenever you you get to meet one or two or two million of them. Anticipation heightens an experience and prepares us to take it all in. Smart people recognize the smart in you.
  • Get good greedy about making space for great ideas and have rituals for celebrating the heroes who bring them to you. Great ideas expand into more great ideas, but ironically they get simpler the more space you give them to breathe.
  • Get good greedy about gathering up curiosity and asking questions. Explore the mysteries of why we do what we do by talking about them … don’t just measure behaviors or deep down-inside you’ll be in the shallow end of the pool. Meaning inspires and moves people to action.
  • Get good greedy about telling your stories over and over again and inviting other people to do that too. Hearing a story gives us something to capture, cherish, and share. It helps us belong and feel part of a common history. Oral histories, parables, fairy tales, fables, stories are how we take ideas out of our heads and learn from them. Let us learn what it’s like to be you. Powerful relationships happen when stories are shared. .
  • Get good greedy about the urgency of your story and tell how much you rely on the folks who believe in you. When we’re greedy generous about sharing our vision, our goals, and our plans, people share theirs too. Passion is urgent even when the goal is long-term.
  • Get good greedy about finding ways to be your highest standards and raise up folks who share those standards with you. Live what you want your customers to value. That will attract people who want to invest their loyalty in you.
  • Get good greedy about playing and enjoying every minute of what you do. Don’t seek the hard road when the playful road will invite people to join you. People who are having fun doing something intelligent and meaningful are fascinating and irresistibly attractive.
  • Get good greedy about playing and enjoying every minute of what you do. People who are having fun doing something intelligent and meaningful are fascinating and irresistibly attractive.

And don’t forget the power of the simple invitation, reminder, excuse to reach out to a customer, a client, a friend to say “thank you.”

What ways of being good greedy are part of what you do to take care of the people who help build your business for you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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