Ownership Isn’t For Real Leaders

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It’s ironic, isn’t it? We use social media super-widgets like Facebook; iPhones; and internet technologies to gain control over our lives. But in the overcrowded networking age they tend to reduce personal ownership of communications. This means less real productivity.

Think: how many of the last 20 non-salesmen you’ve tried to reach actually answered, maybe two or three? And if you’ve left messages, how many people returned your call in a reasonable amount of time–if ever?

Even friends or acquaintances, like strangers, seem too busy to talk. “Don’t call me, I’ll call you, when I want help or to chat about my priorities.”

This isn’t cruel or unfriendly behavior; it’s how we maintain ownership over our lives.

In a perfect world, everyone would be waiting for my call. Conducting business would be as easy as driving down the freeway at 2 a.m. But the communication superhighway is becoming snarled in a perpetual rush hour.

It’s the rare soul who’s willing to personally answer a call, or at least return it promptly.

That rare soul is also a Leader. Why? Because leadership’s no longer about status or position. It’s about offering more value to every task or interaction. And in our “drive-by” era, nothing is more valued than personal attention and authentic engagement.

Extraordinary leaders have always acknowledged others’ value, and relinquished direct ownership of tasks and solutions. Think of Kambei in “The Seven Samurai,” or the great CEOs. Each built teams respectfully, the way a conductor builds a great symphony orchestra. One superior participant and collaboration at a time.

This approach is also at the heart of Servant Leadership.

I feel like a celebrity every time I get through to the super-busy publisher of the local business newspaper. What a class act! And a few other folks are just as ready to answer and help when I call. Guess who I share my work or referrals with?

You carry your phone around to make calls with. Why not pull the autocratic little thing out of your pocket or purse when it rings as well? Your business will thank you for it.

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The Internet as “Experiential Marketplace”

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(Dedicated to my friends at Jobs Ministry Southwest)
It makes the news when an 89-year-old man straps himself onto the top of a plane for his 20th wing-walking jaunt over the English Channel (http://bit.ly/7IQpwR). He’s one example of the growing experiential marketplace.

It’s not as newsworthy when a laid-off executive sees his or her job status as “just another stage of exploration” and actively begins “tossing aside presumed limitations” by creating or enriching opportunities on the internet. But these men and women achieve much more in the long run than aging thrill seekers.

Their families, industry and community all benefit every day from their vision and bravery.

It takes guts to put aside years of identifying yourself with a title or job description, and adopt entirely new modes of communication. It’s scary to join in the hunt for online success alongside much younger people. First you have to unlearn many outmoded “secrets of success” that you learned over your long, often illustrious career.

You have to see yourself as a leader rather than one more cog in some corporate machine.

You do whatever it takes to stand out, because you’re determined not to fade out.

God bless all those old-timers who challenge their physical limitations to try something completely different. But let’s also honor those who reinvent themselves and transform society into a new and better experiential marketplace.  These pros are charting a more elusive and uncertain territory, and helping improve the life experiences of millions of us uppity “younger folks.”

Participating Is Never Enough

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Going to a party and waiting near the door to be noticed or approached isn’t being a “partygoer.”

Going to a networking meeting and simply handing out a stack of cards without connecting with anyone isn’t networking.

So how can anyone equate SEO to social media marketing, or typical social media marketing to authentic engagement?

You can participate socially, or at mixers, or in social media, without sharing anything of value. But what’s the point, when it’s so easy to move beyond participation to engagement? Simply turn the “flashlight” of your attention from yourself and what you need, to those around you.

When you get thirty seconds for self-introduction, use twenty of them to celebrate or recognize someone else in the room. Follow your grandmother’s advice and listen twice as much as you talk. Share an intriguing idea or funny story and make yourself memorable.

Online or offline, separate from the crowd to get meaningful results. A leader doesn’t try to disappear into their crowd of followers, he or she stands out and brings more value than anyone else. Be special and you’ll make the people you meet feel special too. Nearly instant celebrity!

As crowded as things get in the world (virtual or real-life), participating simply means standing still. Soon you’ll be surrounded. But the faceless, uncaring people who surround you will take you where they are going, not where you want to go. Stop wasting your passion, your gifts, your uniqueness. Stop settling for participation and move down the path to leadership and real success.

Are people the means to an end, or the end itself?

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I give great marketing advice to my clients. It always gets them to see their business and value in a whole new light; from 20,000 feet and ground level too. And then I help them create great content.

Marketing myself is harder, partly because every conversation is such an energizing experience. It’s a “rush” to discover what people do, then think out loud about how I can help them succeed.

To this day, my great-grandmother Mimi’s dictum drives everything I do: “Make yourself useful.”

Getting that much pleasure from every conversation makes each one a goal fulfilled.

At the same time, I care deeply about my current business project and would love to see many people use it. It will only work if people use it. So in that sense, every person is the means to an end.

Have to get that straightened out.

How about you? Is gaining many online “friends” a worthy goal in itself, or are you trying to get their money, respect, retweets? It’s easy to leave that decision unmade, but you’ll be more successful if you straighten that out for yourself.

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Are SEO Junkies Just Desperate For Attention?

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There are benefits to growing older. You don’t have to show your ID all the time, and . . . uh . . . you’re not so obsessed with getting the attention of strangers.

Okay, so there aren’t many benefits. But that second one is a biggie.

Nothing shouts “immature” like being noisy in public places: rattling windows with the high volume in your souped-up car radio. Showing passersby how drunk and disorderly you can be. Complaining loudly for no good reason at a checkout line, or in an airplane.

It’s normal for young people to confuse attention with respect; they’ll learn the difference as they grow up. But when mature adults start to equate “eyes” with “the prize” (success) we’re just kidding ourselves.

Could our passionate quest for getting an obscene number of hits be simply a sign of our second childhood–or laziness?

In the end, what exactly do those thousands of followers get you? If just two of them decide you have something of value and give you a little business, you haven’t accomplished much of anything. To be blunt, your ROI sucks.

You would have been better off going to a free networking breakfast and picking up two solid leads. At least then you’d have gotten a decent meal.

Everybody knows that Google and certain experts have made millions–or more–with good SEO tools. But unlike the millions of wannabes out here, they offer something of real value to every visitor. They’re leaders because they’ve brought the most value to the table, not because they’ve brought the most visitors to their site.

Eyes aren’t really the prize. Stop filling the coffers of SEO technicians because of dreams of sugarplums dancing in your head. Make your online brand quality, not quantity.

It’s time to stop trying to rattle more windows, and start getting authentically engaged.