Living In the Age of the Hashtag

So much depends upon the hashtag...

William Carlos Williams never wrote that line, but today's poets cannot be that far away from it.  A homebred categorizing method brought to Twitter by its earliest users has marched across our television screens, direct mail advertisements, and computers. It seems we cannot escape the march of the pound sign and I have to wonder how many people still wonder what the hell these things are all about. "What is this strange pound sign and why is it on the bottom of the newscast I am watching?"

Hashtags have become more than the official a way to unify ourselves in one topic on Twitter, but they have also become a way to explain a frame of mind (i.e., #justsayin, #WTF, #FML). People discuss the components that make up a good hashtag versus a poor one.

An example of this hits close to home. Many people have given me grief over the hashtag #assnchat for Association Chat....pronounced "ASS n' chat". The community behind it (that is well over two-years-old), laughs it off and appreciates the hashtag as having potential randy connotations, but the truth is if we had it all over to do again, we probably wouldn't choose #assnchat for the same reason you wouldn't name your son "Seymore" if your last name were Butts.

So, what makes a good hashtag?

1. Make it memorable - Is it the acronym of your conference? Is it a representation of what you are doing? Will people find it easy to remember?
2. Make it short - For use on Twitter, brevity is key. 
3. Make it official only after you've checked to see if it already exists out there - Make sure there isn't an ongoing existing chat or use of the hashtag you intend to use before you commit to it. 

Will the hashtag always have relevance? It is today's rallying cry...instead of "Viva Las Vegas" or "Go Tigers!" we have chants of #assnchat, #eventprofs, or #bluekey.

How do hashtags impact what you are doing in your organization today?

Photo credit.

It All Looks Different at 10,000 Feet

With travel dominating much of my schedule lately, I've been appreciating the freedom of WiFi at 10,000 feet so I can keep up with work and communications while in the air. This may seem like a small thing, but it isn't. The ability to do what I want, when I want to is somewhat shocking to many people. But more and more people are like me and expectations are changing.

How are you changing your communication style to members to reflect your openness to adaptation and recognition of powerful trends shaping us all?

Pull The Next One Up – Developing Talent In The Workplace

[Cross-posted to the Relationship Economics blog]

When I receive Success Magazine in the mail each month, I usually pick it up with a balance of pride and humility. The magazine, blatantly named after an aspiration known since the beginning of time, represents a call to action before you ever open its pages. It takes more than a subscription to achieve success after all, so I take a keen interest in the articles focused on leadership – a true indicator of success.

This month’s issue of Success (April 2012) features John C. Maxwell’s article, “The Fifth Level of Leadership.” The article highlights the importance of leaders preparing others for future leadership roles. Maxwell states that leaders who reach this Pinnacle level of leadership go through three distinct phases: learn, earn, and return. As demonstrated in this Bloomberg Businessweek article, I would submit most organizations fall short of reaching this level of leadership, losing their way as a result of the rarity of big staff changes, a predilection for looking to the past, and managing in an era of CYA.

This “fifth level of leadership” brings to mind a poem by Marc Smith, “Pull the Next One Up.”

When you get to the top of the mountain

Pull the next one up.

Then there'll be two of you

Roped together at the waist

Tired and proud, knowing the mountain,

Knowing the human force it took

To bring both of you there.

[…]

-Marc Kelly Smith

Organization leaders can embrace succession planning by keeping the following three things in mind.

1.     Make room at the top – Where can you develop and place people you mentor and develop internally? Do they have a place to go when they grow within your organization? If you don’t make the room for new roles or initiatives, you will eventually lose the talent in your organization as leaders move on to places they can grow.

2.     Develop people so they can succeed without you – Create your legacy through those in which you invest your leadership equity. Set aside time each week to develop the leaders around you who will ultimately succeed you. Plan your legacy.

3.     Stay grounded – Remain teachable and open to continuous learning opportunities around you. Commit to challenging yourself and learn something new every day. Look for people around you from whom you might be able to learn new lessons or skills.

To achieve true success, you must do more than pay lip service to mentorship and succession planning. Your work life will be filled with stories of personal victories and accolades. But the leaders you develop along the way will determine how successful your efforts really are.

Pick up a copy of Return on Impact to read more about “Attracting and Developing Unparalleled Social Talent” or register for the upcoming IMPACT webinar with guest, Ashley Hodak Sullivan, http://www.relationshipeconomics.net/Impact.html.

Extrapolation Gets You No Where

Most of my life I have tried preparing for the future the best that I could. Sitting deep in thought,  going around and around looking at all the options and all the possibilities before moving forward had a dizzying effect. I've struggled with anxiety.

And here's what that did for me:

• Nothing.

A friend of mine recently beseeched me to "stop extrapolating" so I would focus on being present and not worrying about things that haven't happened. Actually, she said this a lot and once I was finally able to stop thinking so much, an incredible thing happened...clarity! 

Not only did I feel a lot less anxious, but it was easier for me to make decisions; follow one step after another; be present.

How guilty are you of extrapolating rather than doing? What would happen if you just stopped?

Since meeting with her, I've been catching myself at various moments, getting all wrapped up in worry and then her lovely and mildly irritating admonishment comes into mind. It has actually had quite an effect on me and if she's reading this, she knows.

This year I started out with three ideas to guide me; goals to achieve: 

1. Do the work.

2. Say "yes" less.

3. Find the white space.

Extrapolation was getting in the way of "doing the work." You can't "do" when you are always and forever dwelling on one detail or planning too far ahead. 

Struggle with anxiety? Stop extrapolating and fully experience the moment. 

I'm Just So In Love With All of You Right Now [a.k.a. A Case of TMI]

I share. Probably too much, but I like to share everything online from the drawing my daughter creates to a link to my latest webinar. People who follow me on Twitter, Facebook, G+, Pinterest, or any of the other online places I tend to hang out in probably know me better than I do.

That said, like many of us these days, my private and work life mingles closely online and for me they are practically indistinguishable from one another. Which is why I choose to steer clear of anything that might be considered too incendiary. Just like I wouldn't want to make someone uncomfortable visiting my home, I do not want to make people uncomfortable visiting my profile on Facebook or LinkedIn (or anywhere else for that matter) online.

Why am I talking about this? Because I came across some photos on a professional connection's Facebook profile that made Angelina Jolie's passionate kiss with her brother (see photo) look downright innocent.

To be clear, I have plenty of photos raising a glass or dancing like a maniac out there and I have rarely been put in a position to play hall monitor for my online connections, but after this evening's discovery I wanted to post a kind reminder to all of my friends: digital is forever.

And also, check out Facebook's privacy settings. Please.

Duh. Pinning. (Advice for Association Executives Interested in Pinterest)

If you are sick of hearing about Pinterest, then you'll really hate this post.

Pinterest has basically taken the world by storm and is one of my favorite excuses for insomnia lately. Haters are quick to call Pinterest an online campground for women who want to get married, lose weight, make scrapbooks, and decorate their houses. Admirers could say the same thing. There is a lot of all of those things there. But to be fair there is more to it than that.

Quick description: Pinterest in an online corkboard for cataloguing interests and sharing those interests with connections (or anyone). Does it have an application for associations? Yes. But right now you just want to know about this so you're aware of the phenomenon and will be ready if and when someone asks you about your organization's strategy with Pinterest.

I found this on Pinterest. Duh.

Here's the deal. None of the people who do social media that I hang with are happy about Pinterest having a practical application for business, including me. I have had a lot of fun going onto Pinterest to escape my usual business-related work and thinking, instead, about how much I love the color combination of plum and chartreuse. Too bad for us. Pinterest has some business applications for more than the obvious ones for retailers and Pinterest hasn't caught up to adding the functionality that would make business easier. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Rule 1: Follow this man

I mean, after you follow me. Noland Hoshino is nice and he's smart. He is also one of the first people on Pinterest to begin curating a board on non-profits that are on Pinterest.

Tip: Noland also sells the awesome SMObooks.com that I wax poetic about when it comes to great ideas for sharing with clients. 

When you follow Noland on Pinterest, you will quickly see the smart way to use Pinterest for personal development, interest, and business. His business-related boards will appeal to those people who can't handle following everyone and who need a more down-to-earth, non-crafty sort of Pinterest experience.

My favorite boards of Noland's:

• http://pinterest.com/nolandhoshino/want-smo-social-media-optimization-smo-books/
• http://pinterest.com/nolandhoshino/social-data-proof/
• http://pinterest.com/nolandhoshino/nonprofits-on-pinterest/

Rule 2: Be smart. There is no privacy mode. All boards are public.

I know. You probably want to create cool vision boards for your clients (with the ease of the Pinterest bookmarklet - see Rule 3) without sharing them with the world or your client's competition.  I know I do. Too bad. That functionality doesn't exist yet. But I bet it will at some point. 


Rule 3: Use the Pinterest bookmarklet.

Isn't this little baby a cutie?

Look at it. It's so cute. It just says, "Pin It" up there with your bookmarks making it omnipresent while you are online. Oh, this makes pinning what you find on any website so much easier, you won't be able to help yourself. Boop. Boop. Boop. Done.


Advice for Association Executives Interested in Pinterest

• You don't need to jump on Pinterest right away, but you should make it easier for others to promote your content on Pinterest.
• SEO works well with Pinterest already (its domain authority is rising fast) and can definitely work for you.
• You know all those sharing options you hopefully already have for your content? You should look for the "Pin It" button to add to those.
• If you sell books, merchandise, anything...make it Pinterest friendly.
• Start thinking of images and videos a lot more seriously for their Pinterest use (you should already be doing this for future mobile use anyway)...arm your conference speakers, attendees, members, content providers, authors with Pinterest enabled promotional materials. Ways to spread the word on Pinterest from their websites and newsletters.
• Start thinking of if you have "How To" videos, articles, or tutorials that might be of interest to a large group of people. These types of things are extremely popular on Pinterest.
• If you want an example of an association using Pinterest, check out The American_Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Pinterest page. They discovered a large amount of traffic coming from Pinterest in their website analytics. When they explored it, it turned out many of their members were using Pinterest for sharing ideas and news. ASHA's social media queen Maggie McGary helped other ASHA members figure out how to use Pinterest by writing about it on their blog (bonus points for educating all members on the hip new way to share!). This may be something your organization could do, too.

KiKi's Pinterest Functionality Wishlist

Here is what I wish Pinterest would develop so I could use it for business:

• Brand Pages
• Privacy and Private Sharing Options 
• Another option filed for tagging
• Improved search
• Analytics details

What do you think? Will you use Pinterest for business soon? Let me know what you decide to do!

Does Your Association Move Like Jagger?

It has become apparent to certain persons who did not previously recognize it - critics and the like - that Mick Jagger has perhaps the single greatest talent for putting a song across of anyone in the history of the performing arts. In his movements he has somehow combined the most dramatic qualities of James Brown, Rudolf Nureyev, and Marcel Marceau. He makes all previous movers - Elvis, Sammy Davis, Janis Joplin, and even (saints protect me from sacrilege) the great James B. himself - appear to be waist deep in the grimpenmire. This tradition (of movin' and groovin') had its most modest beginning with Cab Calloway at the Cotton Club in Harlem where he would occasionally strut or slink about in front of the bandstand by way of "illustrating" a number. After each, he would take his bow, mopping his forehead, beaming up his gratitude for the applause as he reverted to his "normal" self for the next downbeat (and invariably a change of pace). The phenomenal thing Jagger has accomplished is to have projected an image so overwhelmingly intense and so incredibly comprehensive that it embraces the totality of his work - so that there is virtually no distinction between the person and the song. This is all the more remarkable when it is realized that there is also virtually no connection between the public, midnight rambler image of Jagger and the man himself...

  - Terry Southerner, writer, 1972

What can association executives take away from this?

• Mick's job was to put a song across to people and he achieved it remarkably well in unconventional ways. Know the mission - yours and your association's mission - and do the best you can to achieve it looking to whatever innovative, improvisational, unique ways you can to own it. 
• Jagger the performer and Jagger the man were different. Be able to take time away from your job to "fill the well" and find inspiration to make your life fuller. Doing that will fuel you so you can bring more to your work and not burn out.
• Jagger brought tight pants, big lips, and conviction to his performances with the Rolling Stones. Take a look at that list and see which one your association needs more of when communicating to members (hint: it's not the tight pants or big lips). Know what your members need from your association and be it, know it, own it. Work with your colleagues and board members to be audacious enough to be what your members need you to be.

Then you might get some Satisfaction.

 

Down with SOPA and PIPA - Do What You Can Today!

http://sopastrike.com/strike/

Finally! A Year With Some Balls

{EAV:d5be4453707ce396} There are some things about 2012 I already love.

• "2012" takes fewer syllables to say than "2011"
• I've been accidentally writing "2012" for most of 2011, so I'm ready for this
• Whether it's a crock or not, the whole "end of the world" transition predictions from all kinds of prophets and calendars makes 2012 take on an air of "now or never" and I can't wait to see what that looks like for people

I have always looked forward to creating resolutions for a new year, but this year I have been hesitant. Even coming up with five words or terms for 2012 à la Shelly Alcorn's goal-setting exercise has been difficult. Partially because I'm afraid of tainting future goals with memories of past resolutions ignored and partially because I am no longer certain of what EXACTLY I want.

However, if 2012 has the balls to be the year when everything ends, what am I afraid of? Certainly not using the word "balls" in a blog post.

So here it goes...my list of three terms for 2012. Many thanks to Shelly, Lowell, and Jay who already wrote some great blog posts on their own words for 2012.

KiKi's Three Terms for 2012

1. Do the work.

I always scoffed when people said they were afraid of success. After all, who would be afraid of success? That's not only counter-productive, it's stupid. 

However, I recognized some traits in myself this past year suggesting I might be guilty of this fear. I realized I wasn't putting as much focus into my efforts - any and all of them - as I knew I should be. I rationalized. I made excuses. I played the time-management card. But the truth is this:

I was afraid if I put the effort in, I would still be disappointed or come up short.

This sounds weak, I know. Condemning words all flood my mind: egotistical, melodramatic, pathetic, sad, self-important...there are more.

But getting hung up in what it sounds like or how it might appear to others is just another place to get caught and not accomplish what needs to be done to make any initiative or project the best it can be.

Do the work. Do the work. Do.  The.  Work. 

Take the time to make each presentation the best it can be. Do the work.

Take the time to make each blog post the best it can be. Do the work.

Take the time to make each interaction, each meeting the best it can be. Do the work.

Take the time to make each report the best it can be. Do the work. 

Enough with the "multi-tasking" excuses. Enough with the "time-management" excuses. 

Screw Nike for saying it first...

Just do it. 

2. Say "Yes" less.

When I asked on Facebook and Twitter for advice on how to be better in 2012 (essentially an attempt to crowdsource my resolutions), one piece of advice rose to the top: to say yes less.

I credit Jeff Hurt, Sandra Giarde and Jeffrey Cufaude for taking the time to post to my Facebook wall with this suggestion and why it is so important for me.  In Jeffrey's words, "Remember you can't mean yes if you never say no."

This one is difficult for me as I tend to want to say "yes" all the time, but not always be able to really effectively do everything I say I will do. My career, family, friendships and health have suffered (probably more than I know) as a result of taking on too much. 

Just like marinating steak can make a huge difference on the outcome and quality of the meat once prepared, so can taking time to think about how a speaking gig, meeting, or other project will impact my life so that when I say "yes" I can really mean "yes" and do what I do with gusto.

3. Find the white space.

When I imagine a tranquil place for rest, I automatically envision an almost adobe-like...maybe grecian...domain with a very minimalist interior with white everything inside and out...open windows with white filmy curtains in the middle of  green, rolling fields...lots of space. I have imagined this place since I was in grade school and always imagined it as a healing kind of place. A place for reinvention and renewal. 

I need to find the white space in my life to survive and thrive. 

2011 brought with it many challenges, including health issues, that made me hyper-aware of a need to create breathing room in my life and establish some kind of pause practice, like meditation, in order to take better care of myself and my spirit lest I give way to the "ghost in the machine." 

My hope for all of my family, friends, and readers is that we may all accomplish great things in 2012 in a "balls out" embrace of who we are and what we wildly need to do to be our best. To avoid conflagration and instead collaboratively rise from the ashes so when we celebrate 2013, we know we fully lived 2012 without regret.

Happy New Year!

Why Most Would-Be Super Executives Will Never Witness Their Greatest Success

Because they get distracted by emotions and their daily tasks.

[the following is reposted from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/jobs/to-avoid-distractions-at-work-hit-the-reset-button.html] 

 The part of the brain devoted to attention is connected to the brain’s emotional center, says Srini Pillay, author of “Your Brain and Business” and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Any strong emotion — frustration with a colleague, problems at home — can disrupt your attention, he says.

Refocusing is hard for many people because they have trained their brains to work on a variety of things at the same time, Dr. Pillay says. He suggests visualizing a reset device in your brain and saying: “I need to press the reset button and get back on track.” This takes the spotlight off the distraction and puts it on the redirection. “You are rewiring your brain,” he says.

Robert Epstein, a research psychologist in San Diego and founder of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, suggests the following: “Stop and listen to music for a few minutes, go for a short walk or take a cleansing breath, where you breath in deeply, count to five slowly, hold it and breathe out very slowly.” This can “blow out all the tension and clutter in your mind, and that can restore your focus.”

But if you are having severe problems maintaining focus at work, you should consult a psychologist or physician, Dr. Komie says, as severe symptoms could be a sign of anxiety, depression or adult forms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.