October 2009

October 10th – Me lookin at you and you lookin at me: Staging Social Network Advertising

Show Outline: “Just as i thought it was goin alright I found out how wrong when i thought i was right, Its always the same its just a shame that’s all

I could say day, and you’d say night, Tell me its black when i know that’s its white Its always the same its just a shame that’s all!”

For those of us who remember the mid-eighties and in particular Phil Collins’ run of hits the above lyrics will be familiar.

The tie-in to today’s segment is that talking does not mean connecting. Sending out a message does not mean it is being received.

When I first viewed David Cushman’s SlideShare presentation titled “Why Traditional Ad Models will not work in social networks (and what will…),” I was immediately caught by both the succinctness of the message (it is only 10 slides long) and the significance of its meaning. A meaning, which given the fact that I had just published a series of articles on the viability of social media models, took on added significance based on the prediction of industry veteran J. William Grimes that the daily newspaper would no longer be in existence in 5 years.

Unlike traditional advertising in which the number of eyeballs looking toward what Cushman referred to as a stage is the critical point of connection, social networking as the refrain from the Collins song goes is “Me lookin at you and you lookin at me.”

The trouble is that most companies whether large or small do not really grasp what this direct one-to-one connection means and what it really involves . . . “Turnin me on, turnin me off” is more often that not the end result.

Like it or not, social networking has redefined how we interact and do business.

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October 15th – Health in the Boardroom: A Question of Time Management or Exercise?

Guest(s): Dr. Gaby Cora

Show Outline: Angioplasty or Exercise, which would you choose?

This was the title of a blog post on Ecademy that I received from Dr. Gaby Cora in late August.

As I eventually had to admit that the tightening waste line of my pants had nothing to do with being shrunk in the wash or some cruel conspiracy on the part of my tailor taking-in the waste band, Dr. Gaby’s timely post was an exclamation point that at 50 my former six pack was threatening to turn into a one pack (or paunch).

The only answer to her question crystallized when she added “This is obviously not a surprise to many but what may surprise you is how few people exercise consistently knowing the benefits to the heart, the brain and overall Wellbeing.”

With more options than time, many of us find ourselves on the unhealthy treadmill of a busy schedule, poor eating habits and an exercise routine that amounts to a power walk to the fridge for a late night snack. Did I mention poor eating habits?

While my mother lived to just shy of her 90th birthday, my father suffered his first heart attack in his early fifties. Succumbing to the statistics of the day in which the expected life span after an initial coronary was limited to 13 years, he died at the relatively young age of 66.

While I, unlike my father, do not smoke I cannot help but contemplate whose hereditary influence will be most predominant in determining my longevity. I can only hope that like my head of hair – I am the only man in the family to have hair beyond the age of 35 – I too follow my mother’s gene influence and live to enjoy my grandchildrens’ wedding.

However, and as we will undoubtedly discover in our October 15th conversation with Dr. Gaby, we do not have to be spectators of hope. We can actually be “pro-active” (emphasis on active) influencers of blissful longevity.

Am I glad that Dr. Gaby sent me her post . . . now where is my old football jacket from high school?

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October 20th – The Leader Undone: When the Wheels Come Off!

Guest(s): Dr. John Ullmen

Show Outline: Dennis McCallum observed that “The biggest problem with many of us is that we are soft from too much success. We are like a child riding a bike on training wheels who thinks he has actually learned to ride. His parents warn him, “It’s a little harder when you take the wheels off,” but until you actually do take them off, the kid continues to enjoy a false sense of mastery. Once the wheels come off, the child may have to endure a few nasty crackups that could lead to tears, and even a refusal to ride any more. But without removing the wheels, he will never learn to ride.”

McCallum added that “Leaders accustomed to nothing but success become, themselves, hard to lead. They are always convinced they are right, and will fight to preserve their base as though their self-worth depended on it, which it often does. In their dread of failure, they may become downright unethical and manipulative. They find it hard to listen to the wisdom of others because they can’t help but observe that their own ideas seem to be working perfectly well.” The above observations raise a number of interesting questions including whether success is the precursor to failure, and conversely if failure is the precursor and a prerequisite to success.

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October 29th – Fear of Success and the Influence of Positive Mindset

Guest(s): Ingrid Elfver

Show Outline: In the October 28th segment “Stop Sabotaging Your Career” I open with the following reference; “American psychologist, Matina Souretis Horner, who was the 6th President of Radcliffe College is known for pioneering the concept of fear of success.”

An article from March 20, 1972 in Time Magazine indicated that “Even though the number of educated women is at an alltime high, the representation of women in the traditionally male professions is still extremely low. One likely reason for this paradox, says Harvard Psychologist Matina Horner, is that U.S. women actively fear success.”

The article continued with “The revelation about fear of success came from the one sex “cue” included in the experiment. Horner had modified the familiar TAT (Thematic Apperception Test*) to require males to write about the success of another male, females on the success of a female. Asked to write about a mythical girl at the top of her medical school class, more than 65% of the women associated her success with depression, illness and sometimes even death. Asked to write about a boy in the same position, 90% of the men equated his success with happiness and prosperity. The women obviously seemed afraid of success.”

Finally, “Horner discovered that women’s fear of success increases with their ability, and that the greater their fear, the less well they do in competition with men. She also found that fear of success increases as women progress farther in school, affecting as many as 90% of college juniors.”

Ingrid is one of the world’s leading mindset experts, helping women (and highly evolved men) to understand how their current mindset might be hurting their business; why most entrepreneurs struggle to maintain a positive mindset; and how they can develop and maintain a positive mindset – one that can withstand any fear, doubt, challenge, or crisis.

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