You, my readers, my friends and whatever enemies I have all use social media (well, almost all), I don’t. No Twitter, no texting (no cell phone:), no Facebook, no MySpace—OK, I do business blog,
But I do read a lot about it; follow the trends and tragedies, as when Twitter went down. So I thought I’d share some of the more interesting articles I’ve come across recently.
First is a clear, concise description of three tactics to get your company up and using social media. Not strategy (as several commenter pointed out) but solid action items.
The Wall Street Journal offers (more) advice—why and how—on the importance of learning texting lingo—that’s one no one will ever sell me on, but you should if you plan to function in the cyber-world.
From Psychology Today, 5 Smartphone Rules To Live By that teach you how to own your smartphone instead of it owning you.
But not everybody believes that everything you do should be chronicled for public consumption. Protocols NYC, a salon created by five Manhattan news media types and those they invite, has banned texting, cell phones, pictures, etc. They call it off the record and just talk to each other—it’s called conversation for those of you too young to have experienced that kind of focus.
Two final offerings for kids and adults who think it’s cool put their life online. They should serve as a warning to anyone with kids and the second for anyone who holds or plans to hold a job at anytime in their lives. The first tells us that “one in 10 teens admitted posting a nude or seminude shot of themselves or others online.” Combine that with the second, “35percent of the 2,667 managers and human resource workers decided not to offer a job to a candidate based on the content uncovered on a social networking site,” and you have a recipe for disaster. Privacy settings aren’t the whole answer, since inappropriate pictures sent and information shared with friends may appear on their pages (and who knows where else)—and they never go away.
In spite of the importance of Obama’s success in office, there is only so much I can read on a subject before I become jaded. As a result I try to make my sources as objective as possible, which is difficult when the subject is political.
I’m also not a political junkie, so in looking for ‘how’s it going’ information I tend to skip sources with rigid ideologies, since I pretty much know what they will say.
(I must say I find it amusing and satisfying that we finally have a president that both the far right and far left don’t like.)
I did find three articles to share, two short and one longer.
The first is a compendium of opinions from a varied group of Wharton professors, one phrase I really liked was when Obama was termed “short on ideology and long on pragmatism,” an attitude I wish the entire country would adopt. I also found it amusing that he was downgraded for attacking too many major topics at once—healthcare, the economy, two wars—as if he had any choice.
Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, have been in the forefront of everything that’s happened in the country from the time they were born and that’s not changing any time soon.
So what’s up with the generation that changed the world, marched to end a war, protested for equal rights, overturned sexual mores, ushered in consumerism and turned on to drugs and rock and roll?
Harvard believes they are still the future and to that end has set up the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative“to lead significant systemic change in education, health care, community development, and the environment.”
Ads may be targeted to 18-34 year old males, but marketers have always counted on Boomer buying power; since the meltdown they may have to rethink that market.
The Millennials love to count the Boomers as Luddites, incapable of embracing social networking in it’s many varied forms, but is that true or just wishful thinking so they can keep their edge.
Having watched them all my life there is only one thing about which I’m sure and that’s that the Boomers won’t go quietly into the night any more than they passed quietly through the day.
And what the experts recommend for them will work for you.
Forbes has an article how to control CEO rage, but the best part is the accompanying slideshow highlighting the anger of a few of the most famous and infamous—those who lied, cheated and stole their way into history.
The Washington Post calls it the “Silent Language of Leadership,” but ignore the ‘leadership’. What is described is the silent language of influencing people, whether you are a CEO, Bernie Madoff or parents struggling to get through to your teenager.
Sometimes the boss decides it’s time to leave, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it—Sarah Palin did it the wrong way. See how it should be done; this is good information no matter what level you’re on.
Finally, how much disclosure should be required of the CEO of a publicly traded company? It’s a hot topic since Steve Jobs surgery was announced as a done deal.
As most of you know I write a series on Thursday called Leadership’s Future that looks at education, parenting, kids, Millennials, etc. In the course of my reading I see a articles that would be of interest, but I can’t fit them all in, so I thought that today I’d offer up some of the good ones that I haven’t had time to feature.
Assuming you live on this planet you’re aware that there’s a recession going on, so what’s happening in the world of youth and parents?
Do you tweet? Some college professors are finding uses for Twitter in their teaching, although enhancing spelling isn’t one of them; speaking of education, some schools are delivering sex ed via cell phone.
Multiple studies by professors at a variety of universities show that having interracial roommates reduces prejudice. Not that surprising, it’s hard to hate a real individual vs. a hypothetical stereotype.
Finally, there’s a new texting champion (control your enthusiasm) who practiced by sending 14,000 texts a month. Isn’t that thrilling?
It’s one of those odds and ends day, no unifying theme, but some good stuff.
Phil Gerbyshak sent me a link to an interesting post by his friend Roy Atkinson. Roy talks about speedership—the need to act quickly in today’s world. Roy sees it as a requirement for a positional leader, which it is, but I see it as an attitude that everybody needs these days.
Click over to the slideshow at Business Week and learn what experts are saying about how leadership has changed.
Next, in case you hadn’t heard, one of the newest social media trends are Facebook suicides, as in killing your profile. Click the link and see why people are choosing to kill their profile.
Finally, something for you to think about. What happens when doctors start treating medicine as a business? What does it mean for the future of medicine, not healthcare, in this country?
Dan McCarthy over at Great Leadership By Dan is once again hosting The July 5th Leadership Development Carnival (it will be hosted other places in the coming months) and, as Dan says, “It’ll help work the cramps out of your brain,” now that the holiday is over.
There’s a lot of excellent information available from the many outstanding participants.
Click around, read and enjoy, but with my normal caveat—leadership is for everyone, not just the person out front.
Real leadership is found in everyday actions and the way you choose to live. You can’t dictate how others do it or how they perceive you, you can only control and direct yourself.
Today I offer up two ways you can lead.
If each of you do them and encourage three friends to do them and they each draw in three more and on and on we can make one hell of a difference.
First, the Four Freedoms Franklin Delano Roosevelt described in his State of the Union speech on the eve of WWII in 1941 seem to be on the wane in our own country.
So starting today be willing to defend each if you see it being subverted and remember that it’s their freedom—not your way or the highway.
Second, click AnySoldier and learn what you can do directly to help those serving.
“Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit; thus, our name. Due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member of the Armed Forces in harm’s way.”
So shake your piggybank, hit up the folks at the BBQ, have a garage or bake sale and DO something for those who are doing so much for you.
Do it whether you believe in the fighting or not. Supporting the troops has nothing to do with the politics that put them there, they are your brothers, sisters, friends, schoolmates, colleagues and they deserve everything you can do.
Finally, enjoy this stunning display of Army expertise. Beautiful, amazing and inspiring.
Today is about an author, by an author and ideas for you to tweak and author for your company.
Do you know who Ray Bradbury is? An icon in the science fiction world, writer of screenplays, and hater of the internet and lover of libraries. “When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last offers a new look at why companies with everything going for them blow it. Check out this review; if you’re looking for some good summer reading you could do a lot worse than How the Mighty Fall … and Why Some Companies Never Give In.
Last, but certainly not least, is a white paper from McKinsey on creating a performance culture. It’s good reading and you’ll come away with ideas even if you aren’t ‘the boss’.
In a new series Jim Stroup is exploring what drives our need for “the cult of the superlative individual leader as the cure for our current difficulties” in spite, as Jim points out, of those same cult members having caused many of the current problems.
“We will take the position here at the outset, then, that the family of definitions of leadership that we are discussing is that which incorporates the idea of ineffably sensed forward motion – profound vision, unfathomable wisdom or judgment, courageous decisiveness, a charismatic ability to attract followers, and the like.
After all, it is this type of leadership that we are being told we must place our faith in, so that its exemplars can grasp the reins firmly in their hands, and with reassuring sure-footedness steer we poor, benighted masses out of our barely perceived and dimly comprehended peril. Into which, let it be said again, those exalted exemplars’ predecessors led us.”
Please click over and read this brilliant, irreverent discussion of what leadership has come to be and why it destroys instead of sustains. (Be sure to subscribe to follow it.)
Then check out Wally Bock’s comments regarding the continued idiocy of the leader vs. manager concept.
And my series on the same topic is worth reading if you haven’t already.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
But I do read a lot about it; follow the trends and tragedies, as when Twitter went down. So I thought I’d share some of the more interesting articles I’ve come across recently.
The first is a 
Dan McCarthy over at Great Leadership By Dan is once again hosting 
