Stephen R. Covey: SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE : Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Thomas L. Friedman: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Seth Godin: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Tom Kelley: The Art of Innovation : Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm
Daniel Goleman: Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Stephen Denning: The Springboard : How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations
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Ego. The self. Man is self-centered, no? Chapter 24 warns us of the dangers of ego. Center Tao has an outstanding review of the chapter.
But what does it mean to ME? I think it relates to my post yesterday...listen more, talk less. "Just be" more; strive less. Appreciate more; whine less. Be grateful more; be stressful less. In short, be more humble.
Technorati Tags: Taoism
There will always be more questions than answers. That's what I've discovered about life. That's an uncomfortable fact for some people because our society wants answers. Clients want answers. We pour through data to formulate strategies so we can make recommendations. We give POV's. We're experts; answers are our business.
I just finished a book that's altered my state of mind about questions and answers. It's called Socrates Cafe, by Christopher Phillips. It's wonderful. Phillips left his profession as a freelance writer to embark upon a journey to bring philosophy to everyday people. He travels around the Country hosting "Socrates Cafes" -- informal jam sessions in coffee houses, schools, nursing homes and businesses. The point? To question. Anything and everything. Because philosophy, and life in general, is all about questions, according to Phillips:
"Questions, questions, questions. They disturb. They provoke. They exhilarate. They intimidate. They make you feel a little bit like you've at least temporarily lost your marbles. So much so that at times I'm positive that the ground is shaking and shifting under our feet. But not from an earthquake. Welcome to Socrates Cafe."
But why Socrates? Phillips explains:
"For a long time, I'd had a notion that the demise of a certain type of philosophy has been to the detriment of our society. It is a type of philosophy that Socrates and other philosophers practiced in Athens in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. A type that utilized a method of philosophical inquiry that 'everyman' and 'everywoman' could embrace and take for his or her own, and in the process rekindle the childlike-- but by no means childish -- sense of wonder...A type of anti-guru philosophy in which the person leading the discussion always learns much more for the other participants than they could ever learn from him. A type of philosophy that recognized that questions often reveal more about us and the world around us than answers. A type of philosophy in which questions often are the answers."
Beautiful. I didn't just read this book, I devoured it. I've always been a questioner. But the more experienced I've become, the fewer questions I've asked. Because people come to me for answers, not questions. But having the answers isn't having wisdom. Asking the right questions is wisdom. Conversing, not dictating, is wisdom. And as Phillips says, "the way people go about conversing is every bit as critical as their ability to converse freely."
The book is full of wisdom, much of it not from Phillips himself, but the everyday people he portrays in the descriptions of his experiences with Socrates Cafes all over the country and his numerous quotations from great philosophers throughout the ages.
The original Hellenistic Greek word for philosophy, philosophia, means "love of wisdom." I thought to myself, "What if we had an agency full of philosophers?" Wouldn't that make us more creative? Wouldn't we ask better questions, and therefore, find better solutions to clients' problems? Wouldn't we provide better client service because we'd be better listeners? The book made me question (ha!) the way I approach my profession. We simply must ask more questions!
Phillips said, "For a long time, the question has suffered at our hands. It isn't just that many of us fear questions. Rather, many of us seem to have only the flimsiest idea of the question's power and potential. An many of us no longer seem to have the faintest idea how to use it."
Amen.
He continues, "It'll come as no surprise that I think one of the most fruitful ways for steeling us to take the jump is the Socratic Method. It enables us to bring into better focus, and then to resolve, our perplexities. Not once and for all, to be sure, because new perplexities always present themselves. But in a way that can make us more knowledgeable and at the same time more empathetic and insightful -- more virtuous, Socrates might say."
I added the emphasis above because in my humble opinion, these two traits may be the most important traits of our profession and are all too often laking in our professionals.
I urge you to read this book, whether you're in marketing or not, or at least check out Phillips' website.
Technorati Tags: Philosophy, Socrates, Christopher Phillips, Public Relations, Marketing
Dalton titled this chapter, "Brief Speech, High Expectations," and I love it. The two stanzas in this chapter seem completely unrelated -- the first is about the dangers of talking too much, and the second is about getting what you expect out of life.
"Brevity in speech emulates nature," is Dalton's translation of the first line.
"To talk little is natural," is English's and Feng's.
My interpretation: "Listen more, talk less."
There's an epidemic of talking in our society, don't you think? Talk shows, talk radio, people that talk over you...talk, talk, talk. Almost nobody listens. And just because someone has their mouth shut doesn't mean they are listening -- most likely they're formulating in their head what they're going to say next.
We have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
This chapter speaks to the importance of being flexible. I personally like this chapter because it's a great reminder for how I should manage affairs both at work and home:
"Yield and become whole,
Bend and become straight,
Be empty and become filled,
Be exhausted and become renewed.
Have little and receive much,
Have much and be confused."
Another little nugget of wisdom I picked up somewhere (maybe it's in the Tao Te Ching in a future chapter) is this: "Be like bamboo; bend, but do not break."
This chapter, like many others, attempts to explain the Tao (which is unexplainable). From Center Tao:
"The Taoist path is essentially a path of following. When I slow down enough to notice my every movement, I can respond to reality as it is. When I'm not following reality, I take charge and push my idealized notions of how reality SHOULD be. Of course reality moves at its own pace and never matches my ideals. I waste a lot of energy for nothing. This inspires me all the more to follow the way things are so I can enjoy the contented state of appreciation."
Technorati Tags: Taoism
I'm proud to say Barkley is now an official sponsor of a development cycling team. We're partnering with Hincapie Sportswear, a leading manufacturer of clothing for performance cyclists. Hincapie was founded by George Hincapie, who is one of the U.S.'s most successful elite cyclists. He rode with Lance Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories.
The Hincapie-Barkley Development Team pairs elite racers with young riders and mentors them in their quest to join the pro racing circuit. The team will participate in many events throughout the U.S. in 2008.
We didn't do it for the PR (but this article in the NYT was a nice bonus). We did it for two reasons: 1) to learn about the category; 2) to get direct feedback from people who are in the category.
IV Whitman, who heads our account planning group, deserves the credit for the idea, and our leadership deserves credit for taking a chance on the idea.
Technorati Tags: Barkley, Hincapie, Cycling, Lance Armstrong
I gave a presentation on social media yesterday to the Kansas City Volunteer Coordinators' Council. Very interesting group with an interesting set of challenges (attracting, motivating and retaining volunteers to work with their not-for-profit organizations). Here's the presentation:
Download social_media_volunteer_management_31808.pdf
An audience member, who works for the Kansas City Zoo, shared a great example of how they use social media to engage both volunteers AND the public. They equip volunteers with digital recorders to walk around the zoo and give sound-seeing tours of the exhibits. The volunteers describe each exhibit as though they are docents leading a tour. Zoo visitors can download the podcasts and stroll throughout the zoo listening to their own private tour guide. And the volunteers love it because it leverages the knowledge and skills they already have and makes use of their time in a meaningful way, which is what volunteers want.
A special thanks to Laura O'Brien of Bridging The Gap for inviting me to speak. Thanks Laura!
You can call this chapter "Plain and Simple." A portion from Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English's translation:
It is more important
To see the simplicity,
To realize one's true nature,
To cast off selfishness
And temper desire.
And William Martin's short explanation in The Parent's Tao Te Ching was very powerful:
You do not have to teach the outward niceties.
In have to recognize the inward realities.
You do not have to make things turn out well.
You have to recognize that all is well.
Think about those last two lines for a second. How often do we as parents struggle to get things just right with our kids. To make sure we're on time. To make sure the house is clean and free of kid-clutter. How often do we stress about their behavior and try to force them to listen to us? I spend too much time trying to "make things turn out well," which is sending a signal to Joe that I can control him and the world. Instead, I need to spend more time recognizing that "all is well." My serenity and optimism and passion will teach him more than my words.
Technorati Tags: Taoism
I've been consulting with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation (GKCCF) on social media issues this year. It's fun. They're a group that does fantastic work in the Kansas City area and also sees the value social media can bring to not only their efforts, but the efforts of the community as well.
Laura McKnight, their President and CEO, is a personal friend and an outstanding leader. Her team has propelled the organization into a leadership position in the community-foundation category.
What I love about working with them is how open-minded they are to exploring new ways to communicate not only with their current donors, but prospective donors and the community at large. They are willing to take risks, to prototype, and to experiment. And that's the best way to approach social media, in my opinion.
Here's some examples of what they've done:
Laura maintains a blog.
They've developed a MySpace profile.
They are tracking philanthropy on the web via a del.icio.us profile.
You can chat with one of their staff via Yahoo IM.
And they're working on a Facebook profile.
They are also actively monitoring the blogosphere to look for opportunities to engage with bloggers who are interested in philanthropy, especially in Kansas City.
These activities will create a solid foundation in the social media space for them and attract them to the next generation of donors -- Gen Y. Look for the GKCCF to be leaders in this area too.
Technorati Tags: GKCCF, Philanthropy, Community Foundations, Kansas City
