Deal with It

"We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it."
Cluetrain Manifesto (1999)

The moment you think you have the superior product, service, device, solution, might be the same moment your company foundation begins to crack. Sears Canada has filed for bankruptcy and asked the government for approval to close all of their stores and collapse the company. It has been a spectacular implosion of a company that was in business for over 130 years and now it's pennies on the dollars while the vultures pick the bones clean.

Nothing for Service

Long-term Sears' employees are getting nothing for their years of service and the whole story is tragic. But it's also a lesson that your customers, my customers, our customers, decide whether we stay in business. Without sales, we don't have much, and anyone involved in Sears is finding that out in a stark and painful way.

As an executive recruiter, I am often speaking with candidates who are gainfully employed, happy where they are, but willing to keep an open mind about new opportunities. You may wonder why they are open when they're happy but no one is immune, and we all have customers whose reach exceeds our grasp.
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Adopting the Cluetrain Mindset

"We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it."
Cluetrain Manifesto (1999)

I’ve never endorsed or sold anything on this site but I felt compelled to share a story with you about my phone. I’ve been a BlackBerry customer since they made pagers. The culture at the company hasn't been great for years but I like the phones. I’ve been a (reasonably) satisfied customer. So far.

I live half an hour from their world headquarters. I know people who work there. I also know many who no longer work there. I realize gadgets break down but this is about much more than technical issues I had with my Z10.

Time to Switch

In my case, calls would often go straight to voicemail, the ear bud connection was temperamental, others would often say they couldn't hear me properly. I would contact my service provider and they would blame BlackBerry.

It’s disheartening when you go onto the BlackBerry site and the only people trying to solve issues are other BlackBerry owners. The company was no help and lost another customer. That’s how arrogance loses market share.

We know better

This isn't about mobile devices; it's a contrast of one company understanding that customers want choice and a good experience while the other felt they built the superior device years ago and all others should fall behind them.

The moment you think your company owns the hill, listen carefully for the sound of marching feet on the way to push you into the abyss. Being a market leader is not only about profits, it’s about appreciating what customers want.

After the cash register

Building great stuff is a minimum requirement. Building superior stuff will create loyal customers. Ignoring how you got there will give customers the choice to open their wallets to a competitor. I'm enjoying my new iPhone 6. It's pretty cool.

Celebrate the fact your users, listeners, viewers, buyers, customers, or clients have the choice and ensure you are there to provide them what they need. This is not to suggest you bend until you break but their reach exceeds your grasp.

Deal with it.
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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

Start Up Gobble Up

There's more to the story.

If we look at tech news over the last 48 hours we see that AOL bought TechCrunch, RiM released their tablet solution PlayBook, Google bought a million bucks worth of shares in a monorail company, Twitter gave us more details on promoted tweets, and Facebook is apparently finalizing a partnership with Skype.

The high-tech world is getting as much attention in the news cycle as Obama and the economy. I do some work with a start-up and it can be tempting to build something that perhaps one day can be swallowed up by a bigger fish but so can cashing your pay stub at the lottery kiosk.

If you are daydreaming about the sports car and lakefront property you will buy, you may be distracted from building what someone may want to purchase one day – a profitable company.

Twenty years ago, most of these companies didn't exist and now they're buying each other. We often forget that even Google and Microsoft were once start-ups hoping to make it big one day.

Tech is sexy now. Although it is much tougher to get funding these days, calling your company a start up is way cooler than simply calling it a new company. Start-up sounds feisty and scrappy. It’s cool to be a geek.

Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself. These are valid in start-up mode or at any point in your company's maturity.

• Do you have a documented Plan?
• How often do you review your Plan?
• If you are a start-up, how long will you call yourself a start-up?
• Is your goal to build a company or be acquired?
• Do you know what holes exist?
• Have you identified the strengths of everyone in your organization?

What would you add to the list?

knealemann

image credit: ecomodder

Our Gadget Laden Lives

The Power of Next.

If you read or follow or even skim any technology news you know there is a new thing to ogle over several times a day.

Yesterday, RiM announced the BlackBerry Torch. It's in stores in the U.S. August 12th, no Canadian date announced yet.



The iPad took over the news channels when Apple released it. Then Jobs & Co. released the iPhone4 to mixed reviews. Don't worry, the iPhone5 will be here soon.

No less than six manufacturers are working on a tablet solution. Android beat iPhone in sales. Some reports say the Apple Cube in NYC has more visitors each year than the Empire State Building. Uncrate has over a quarter of a million daily visitors, Mashable has just over three million and Gizmodo has almost five million.


We love our toys, we love reading about them, sharing our thoughts about them and comparing them.

Most under 20 year olds use texting and messaging more than phoning on their mobile device and it's growing with older demos.


We have choice and price, options and colors, touch screens and qwerty. And other than wondering if we'll ever get to a truly wireless world or if a battery will ever last more than a few hours, one question remains...

Is it about the gadget or the community?

knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

image credit: dreamstime | channel4 | eikongraphia

Busy Being Busy

Confusing Activity with Progress

The world keeps getting faster and we keep adding gadgets and technology to make it easier which gives us more reasons to stay busier and less time for each other.

One second. Hang on.
I'll just be a minute.

I once worked with a dude who was always somewhere else.

During our meetings, his face was buried in his blackberry. He would squirm in his chair. His eyes would dart back and forth. He pretended to pay attention. He couldn't sit still for a minute. He was a busy guy, don't ya know.

Then I realized that he answered my emails when he was elsewhere pretending to be present in that meeting.

If you live on your smart phone, it becomes increasingly difficult not to telegraph to others you are ignoring their emails when you fail to respond.

Keep moving and hopefully you don't get any on you.

Years ago, a buddy moved to a much larger city. I asked him if he noticed the pace had increased and he simply said people seemed busier but he was unsure they were getting more accomplished.

Wise Words

Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau

If you want to conquer fear,
don't sit at home and think about it.
Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
John Lennon

The essential question is not, how busy are you?
But rather what are you busy at and are you doing what fulfills you?
Oprah Winfrey

In the busy world no object has time to make a deep impression.
Henry Home

We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that
we don't take time to enjoy where we are.
Calvin & Hobbes

It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy.
The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted.
Mary O'Connor

Beware the barrenness
of a busy life. Socrates

The malady of our age is that the young are busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.
Eric Hoffer

Doing nothing is better than
being busy doing nothing.
Lao Tzu

Are you busy or are you busy being busy?

knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

Stuff For The Stuff

Communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring. Clay Shirky

If you like toys, we live in exciting times filled with 3D televisions and computers the size of a paperback.

We can send complicated documents to the other side of the earth with a press of a thumb and pizza places still deliver.

There's An App For That.


Line ups were seen all over the U.S. (soon to be repeated in Canada) filled with excited Mac users waiting to purchase an iPad minutes after the store opened.

Online discussion forums got heated over whether the BlackBerry 9700 was superior to the 9000 while Android was also gaining new fans.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Carl Sagan

There may be a nominal charge in addition to the carry-on fee, the shoe removal surtax and the baggage handling service charge but on some flights we can now get Internet access. Tax not included.

One day, cars will be equipped with voice activated Internet browsers and drop down top gun instrumentation technology. Laptops will be a gift with purchase while plasma screens and Wi-Fi will be in every bathroom.

We are becoming the servants in thought, as in action, of the machine we have created to serve us. John Kenneth Galbraith

I have friends who reside in the hi-tech world and do fantastic work. They develop things that go on things that make other things go faster or look cooler.
But without the human, doesn't the car just sit in the driveway?

How can you help create content worthy of uploading, downloading or buying to put on all this stuff? Maybe something to think about while in line to get the latest coolest newest?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credit: wired

Stuff For Your Stuff

Are you satisfied with the content for your gadgets?
I’m sure you have a few gadgets in your life. You probably have a computer, PDA or cell, mp3 player, digital camera, printer, television, and other electronic entertainment equipment.

There’s Nuthin’ On!
The Holidays are officially over and you may have realized something startling. We seem to have to weed through a lot of crap to get to the stuff we want. Years ago Bruce Springsteen had a song entitled 57 Channels and Nothing On which can be said about most of the gadgets in our lives. Some days there are 300 channels and nothing on!

The Google Stare
Perhaps this has happened to you. Over the Holidays whilst trying to digest more bad food, I was often stuck not knowing where I wanted to go. So out of habit, I would check Twitter and Facebook, then Google Reader, perhaps a music site and the cycle continued. There are billions of sites to visit but why do we get stuck?

Perhaps we still don’t feel we have enough control over our environment – despite our spoiled existence? And that includes living through these tough economic times.

Thingamajigs and Doohickeys
One of the most popular sites in the world is Gizmodo. It has all the newest coolest toys available. It's cool that you can buy a Bugatti for a million bucks, but what good is it if your route to work consists of urban gridlock? And do we really need a toaster radio?

Everything we own depends on other things to make it work. No power, no service. No content, your laptop is landfill. If you are out of cell range, your phone is rendered useless.

What is Stuff?
Stuff is content. Stuff is the device we need to access that content. Stuff is tools for work, games to play, words to read and music to enjoy.

It is fun to play with all applications on your iPhone or Blackberry but once that novelty wears off, what do you do then? You must then search for stuff to put on your stuff.

Possibilities
The great news is we can create whatever we want. If we don’t know how to write that computer code to make that cool thing dance on that website, we can find someone who can do it. If we want to gather a group of people to create a new concept or project we have that ability. The first stop is to ask ourselves - what we want to create?

Are you satisfied with the stuff on your stuff?

km

It’s Not About The Canvass Or The Canvas

It’s everywhere: pontification, prediction, forecasting, and we still have no idea what’s next. And we never will know. The reason we all try our best to look toward the future is because we think that something magical will happen some day that will solve any problems we may be facing today. All we have is now.

Media Media Media

Media is a word lobbed around to give us all the appearance of knowledge and wisdom. It seems to be all about social media, digital media, or mass media.

The word media is used primarily as a technological reference. Whether it is a radio station transmitter, a website mainframe, an outdoor surface, or a television broadcast tower; content transmitted from one source to a desired listener, user, viewer, or community seems to be the reference point.

But as you know, media is simply the plural of medium. Medium is the canvas that content is placed upon, that’s all.

Toys Have Become The Message

What is scary is when the content becomes less important than the thingamajig.

The most successful of the last decade is the iPod. It’s portable, (mostly) user friendly, nimble and cool. Apple has done a remarkable job of creating a need to own their portable mp3 player which has given them more than a 70% share of the market.

It matters not that the battery dies too quickly, the ear buds are uncomfortable, and the sound quality is horrible. Audiophiles need not apply. And it doesn’t matter.

Facebook has an estimated 100 million profiles and growing every day. But the interface is still awkward to navigate and there are very few customizable options – other than adding more applications to the left side of the screen or in a hidden box. It’s not the prettiest website on the planet. And it doesn’t matter.

Radio has been under attack for many years because of their musical safeness, horrifically inaccurate ratings’ system, and lack of deep rich content. Instead of growing bands online and on the street, the response for the most part has been to create even safer environments and hope not to cause “tune out”. The phrase “shut up and play the hits” grew tired decades ago.

Have you ever been watching TV, scrolled through hundreds of channels several times only to find “nothing to watch”?

Have you ever experienced the Google stare? There are an estimated 10 Billion websites available at a click, and you don’t have a clue where you want to go.

And I'm done with the BlackBerry vs iPhone discussion. Pick your favorite, you're both right.

Toys and sites are cool. They are requisite to all of this. But if we don’t continue to work on the stuff that we’re putting on the stuff, we may as well offer the unit in fifty colors. It won’t matter.

km

Those You Know. Those You Knew.

I made a decision a couple of weeks ago that I would spend more time on the phone. My partners are laughing somewhere because I’m on it enough, but I meant for actual meaningful conversations. These chats were also meant to reconnect with so many people I had said “call you sometime”, “let’s catch up soon”, or “we gotta get together”.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

A few months ago, I found a number of a guy I knew in my radio days when he worked at a music label. He left the music industry years ago and is now a bigwig cell company exec dude. So I called the number, got his voice mail and left a message. Two days later, he left me a voice mail and was completely surprised and happy to hear from me. We don’t have business together anymore, we aren’t looking for something from each other, it was just a reconnection.

Has this happened to you?

Yesterday, both portable phones ran out of juice and my cell was buzzing all day. This was all because I was just reaching out to people to say hello and check on how they are doing.

When did you last do that?

I don’t suggest anyone should sit on the phone yackin' with their buddies all day - I am making business and industry connections - but it’s amazing what happens when you just pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t spoken with in a while.

And the moral of the story?

Let your mind wonder and think of someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Think of someone you keep 'meaning to call' - and call them. Today. That's social networking.

Which reminds me, there's a lot of lunch and coffee in my future...

Are you getting the urge to give it a try?

km

Serendipity

Two nights ago, I was checking in to my hotel and realized when I got to the room that I had forgotten something in the car. So I went back out to get it, and just as I was walking through the lobby I stopped to answer an email on my Blackberry.

When I got back to the lobby, I realized my phone wasn’t in the holster …or my pocket …or my other pocket …or that pocket …it was gone. So assumption dictated that it was still in the car.

An hour later after tearing the car to shreds, the hotel staff calling my cell constantly, I finally accepted that the phone had vanished into the time continuum. Or I had dropped it and a car had smashed it, or it was stolen by the world’s most masterful pickpocket.

While I was looking for the thing, someone yelled my name. It was a colleague I had worked with in radio who is now running the marketing and promotion department at a music label. He was picking up one of his bands and suddenly he and the band were helping with my dilemma.

When I finally had time yesterday to get a replacement, I immediately called my label friend to thank him for his help the night before. He then invited me to his band’s show in a few hours. So I went. The band is Thriving Ivory if you wanna check them out.

At the gig, it was great to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. Some say stuff happens for a reason and perhaps some say it to cope with stuff when it doesn’t go their way. In this case, it truly was Serendipity.

And the guy who was yelling "No! No! No!" 24-hours earlier whilst tearing apart his car was suddenly reminded - it was just a phone. We learn lessons from the strangest places and most of the time it is all for a reason.

km

Ode to Road Warriors

If you travel for work you may relate. Hotel life loses its luster very quickly. There are wonderful comfortable places to stay all over the world but there is still something missing. The little things become the big things.

If you travel, you become a master of tiny soaps and mini-shampoo bottles. Towels are in abundance and tossed in the tub. You leave for the day and return to a bed made and a fresh supply of towels.

But anyone who lives on the road more than at home should be commended, or perhaps committed? It's not as easy at it seems. I know of many very successful business people and consultants who have chucked it all for a more stable work enviornment.

With all the worry of the financial crunch we take advantage of technology in the form of teleconferences, PDAs and webinars, the airport is still a snarled mess on any given Monday morning.

Business travel can be a great way to meet new people and share different experiences. But it's not so exciting when you are toiling in your hotel room, eating another chicken sandwich, while the game is on. An activity shared with a lot of the people lined up at the airport that morning.

I’m sure most of us have experienced the unforeseen trip extension. Murphy’s Law #871: This is the trip where you packed ‘just enough’ for the original length of time. It's day five and you have to shop for clothes because you were supposed to be flying home on day three.

Maternal wisdom can prove paramount for the survival of any road warrior. Those immortal words ring true no matter what; “Take care of yourself, eat properly, and get some rest”. And bring some extra clothes just in case, I'm speaking from experience. Recent experience.

This does not solve the worst part of travelling - the travelling part.

km

We Are Cry Babies

First things first, today is the national election in Canada. If you are a proud Canadian - like me - get out and vote!

Well, it hit me over the weekend while I was watching some of the live stream from the Microsoft Social Computing Symposium (thanks @chrispirillo!) that we are simply a bunch of sniveling whiny cry babies. This is not about Microsoft - the event is fantastic! This is about me and you.

I was up this morning working on the newspaper/online column because my editor hasn't seen anything new from me for a while and the world will end if I don't get this done. I am working on an article about luxury and what it means to each of us. Feel free to email with what luxury means to you.

Then it hit me. Could I have eaten more food this weekend? Could I possibly stop thinking about the super car I'd buy or vacations I'd take with more money?

Enough with the what’s next and who is saying what and what software do you use when hooked to your cell phone via download link and the blah blah blah.

We are spoiled rotten.

Yes the markets are volatile. Yes we have too much credit card and mortgage debt. And yes we are greedy.

If you are reading this, I will make the assumption that you are not in Baghdad or Congo where real problems occur. Because if you were, you may be more concerned about whether you will eat today or whether your family is safe. Frivolous things like clothes and shelter may not be taken for granted. And it’s doubtful you would waste any consciousness on the fact that RIM took so long announce the Storm.

So as I work on work today, I will smile because what I do for a living is absolutely ridiculous. And while I check in with the live feed from the Microsoft SCS, perhaps I’ll complain a little less about this excellent chair I’m sitting in whilst sipping my flavored coffee and learning from people all over the world from the comfort of my office. Boo Hoo.

km