...relationship tech will begin its innovation in the avant garde, then work back to the familiar.
R-tech first appears in the world of the web, but will gradually infiltrate the world of canned goods and sports equipment, as well as TV shows and vacation spots. Eventually it reaches the final stage in the progression of customer relations:
To change what a customer wants. The ongoing tango between customer and provider draws them together until their identities disappear at times. This is especially true in frontier arenas, where expertise is usually in short supply. At first there is no authority on what customers want or what providers should deliver--as in these early days of the web and e-commerce. Expertise has to be developed jointly, coevolved. Customers must be trained and educated by the company to teach them what they need, and then the company is trained and educated by the customers. We saw precisely this equation in the pioneer days of online conferencing about a decade ago. When email and chat began, no one knew the difference between great email and okay email, between fabulous chat areas and average chat areas. The best online companies learned all they knew from their first customers. But the customers, too, had little expertise of what to expect and so relied on the visions and vaporware suggested by the companies. Customer and company educated each other on what was possible.
Last week, I wrote one of the most popular posts ever on this blog. It was about the difference between doing normal work, and doing work that matters. I recommend you read it, before continuing with this post.
One of the many emails I received following that post, was from Giles Payne in Canada. Giles asks an excellent question, which echoed what the majority of you asked me. Here’s the question along with my answer:
I know it’s impossible to tell each reader what we, individually, should do in order to switch to the work that matters model, but can you help us with some ideas on where to start, Jim?
Your craft
The best general advice I can give, regarding where you should start, is with your craft.
- Your craft is the element of your work, which is uniquely you.
- Your craft is the creativity you inject into what you do.
- Your craft is about creating something fresh, which then touches the lives of other people.
If you give 100 people a pencil and paper and ask them to draw a bridge, you will get 100 unique drawings. Each of these drawings shows how that person sees and depicts a bridge. No one is right. No one is wrong. Everyone is unique.
In business, those who successfully apply their craft, accept the fact that they are unique and allow their uniqueness to touch everything they do. Commercially, the magic begins when your craft produces something, which others see unique value in. Doing work that matters is what I call the development and delivery of your craft.
The majority of business owners struggle, because they focus on being like their competitors, but just a little, cheaper, faster or better. By being to similar to their competitors, they render themselves almost invisible. They get into the numbers game. They find themselves selling on price, not value.
How doing work that matters can be a game changer
Imagine you are looking to buy a tablet device today. For most people, they are faced with the following question: Do I buy an iPad or one of the other devices? In reality, that is not the correct question. There are dozens of choices and some are very good indeed. The thing is, Steve Jobs’ approach to doing work that matters, means Apple produced a game-changing device that has so far, eclipsed everything else.
It’s worth remembering that Apple were not first to market with a tablet by a LONG way! Toshiba and others were producing tablet devices many years before Apple; yet they failed to produce anything that excited the marketplace. They simply produced what were essentially laptops, with a touch screen. They failed to use their craft to develop something fresh and compelling.
Sharing your craft
It takes courage to share your craft with the marketplace, rather than do work that’s expected. That’s because the more unique you are, the more visible you become. If there are 10,000 people standing in a stadium, wearing white shirts, and you are standing in the middle, wearing a red shirt, you will draw more attention than any of them. That’s because people’s attention is drawn to that, which is different.
Here on this blog, I share my craft with you very publicly. I try to write useful material for you, based on my unique experience and my particular approach to marketing and business development. Everything I do here is visible. Every idea I share is open to debate. However, as a direct result of sharing my craft, every day a subset of my readers contact me, to see how I can help them develop their business.
Whilst I’m sharing my craft here, there are marketing providers all over the world, attending networking groups, pestering people for business leads. Many of those marketing providers are talented. However, they need to ask people for referrals, because they focus on doing what’s expected, rather than applying their craft to doing work that matters. I have helped dozens of fellow marketing professionals to overcome this challenge and the first step always, is to focus on your craft. That is my suggestion to you too, regardless of your industry or profession.
That’s a pretty long answer to that initial question, but the subject is way too important to dismiss with anything less.
I hope you found this post useful!
I’ll echo the many leaders who have praised the grace under pressure Bill Hybels showed at The Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek. As many of you know, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks canceled his speaking appearance due to an online petition from the homosexual community threatening to boycott Starbucks should Shultz speak at the supposedly “anti-gay” church. Schultz decided to cancel, and the Summit let him out of his contract.
What was remarkable, then, is how well Bill handled the situation. I noticed a few things about his announcement that I’ll keep in my file the next time I’m forced to share bad news:
1. He explained the situation accurately, and without judgment for either Mr Schultz or the homosexual community.
2. He corrected the misunderstanding that led to the protest, while also acknowledging a difficult truth that led to the misunderstanding.
3. He showed Mr. Schultz grace and understood his position, even asking the audience for empathy for Mr. Schultz.
4. He invited the audience to “take action” by showing kindness to Starbucks and Mr. Schultz as a way of further dispelling the misunderstanding that led to the protest.
I thought he did a terrific job in a difficult situation. Here’s the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFhSfr13Y6o&feature=player_embedded
How to Share Bad News is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog
 Spoify, a music service with instant access to over 13,000,000 songs, launched in the United States last month to huge buzz. Users have three options to access it. There is a free service, with limited access and commercials, a "computer" based sevice with unlimited access for $4.99/month, and a "mobile" service, also with unlimited access, but with higher quality streaming for both computers and mobile devices for $9.99.
It's a great service. More or less, you type the artist you want to listen to, click on the song you want, and it starts playing.
And I think it's good for the music business. At the height of the business, when people were both new CDs as well as back catalog, to replace worn out vinyl and cassette albums, the average consumer was spending about $3/month, which was split between retailers, distributors, labels, publishers, songwriters, producers, and artists.
If we can get 2-3x that money, without worrying about the "middlemen" and costs of physical distribution, we'll be in good shape as far as revenue.
Plus, a service like Spotify allows consumers to explore music. You can find an artist that you like and, instead of focusing on one album or a single you've heard, you can dig deeper, going into back catalog and more obscure recordings, of which Spotify has many.
This gets people more interested in and involved with the acts they like. Knowing one song is great, but knowing entire albums worth of material creates a relationship.
Imagine having fans who knew everything that you've ever done, thanks to a service that paid you every time your music was played? That's Spotify.
Spotify, and services like it, will help you to develop the type of fans you're looking for. People who have access to music like this are more likely to come to a live show, more likely to buy a t-shirt or other mechandise, and more likely to support you in future endeavors.
If your music is not available on Spotify, you can make that happen now via CD Baby or Ditto Music.
Years ago, the authorities decided that a key weapon in the war on terror (sic) would be to make people more afraid.
Two reasons for this: if you make potential bad guys afraid, they might not move up and graduate to become actual bad guys, and second, if something does go wrong (and of course, things always go wrong), at least it looks like you were trying.
And so an infrastructure is built in which photographers are detained, in which expensive scanners that don't work are installed and in which people believe they are doing their job when they engage in the fear mongering part of the work without paying attention to the actual inspecting and crime fighting part.
At the airport on Thursday, a colleague of mine was detained by two armed police officers because he took a picture (out the observation window!) of a sunset. And when I politely declined to go through the magic scanner, I was put through the regular (inferior?) scanner, detained, carefully searched and basically encourged not to do it again.
Of course, the hard-working folks doing the detaining feel like they're doing their job. It's easy to measure. It's in the manual. It feels like progress. It's actually a cargo cult, though, the sort of thing an organization does to simulate progress when it's actually distracting itself from the mission at hand.
Fear can be used as a tactic, but it's almost never the end goal of marketing. The problem with using it as a tactic is that it's so easy to do, organizations almost always forget the real point of the exercise.
Stand Up and Wear Blue for Colon Cancer Awareness
Posted on March 3, 2011 10:09 AM
This Friday, March 4, friends and families across America are making plans to wear blue in an effort to help raise awareness of colon cancer and the importance of having your colon checked.
Dress in Blue Day began in March of 2006 as a local event in Seattle in an effort to raise awareness of colon cancer, and the importance of screening. However, today it is a nationwide event on the first Friday of every March to raise awareness around the disease itself and the best ways to prevent it.
As the second leading cause of cancer death it the United States over 80 percent of all cases can be prevented when detected early with recommended screening, so it's important to spread the word. Not sure what recommended screening entails? The Colon Cancer Alliance recommends having your colon checked regularly if you are 50 years of age or older, unless you are at higher risk because you:
- are African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Jews of Ashkenazi descent;
- have a personal or family history of colon cancer, polyps or inflammatory bowel disease;
- have a personal or family history of other types of cancer;
- have poor diet and exercise habits, type 2 diabetes, or smoke or drink heavily.
By waiting or avoiding having their colons checked, many people are greatly increase their risk.. Seven out of 10 people with colon cancer have no symptoms at all, which means that getting screened before symptoms develop is crucial. A simple test may save a life.
To celebrate Dress In Blue Day, SU2C is joining this important effort by urging the public to proudly wear blue on March 4 and continue to spread colon cancer awareness, not only in the month of March, but all year long. By standing together we can spread the word in the hopes that one day colon cancer, and all cancer, will be a thing of the past.
To learn more about what you can do to prevent colon cancer, visit the Colon Cancer Alliance website at www.ccalliance.org.
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Most people don’t care whether they own music downloads or not.
Of the more than 8 million people that are estimated to buy a Kindle this year, only a small fraction of them understand that the ebooks bought on the device are licensed – not owned – which means they can’t lend or sell their titles. By agreeing to Amazon’s terms of service, which they didn’t read, they’ve accepted these conditions. Soon, single ebook lending may be allowed on the Kindle, but users won’t be allowed to buy used ebooks.
The “first sale” doctrine indicates that consumers can sell their physical books, give them to a library, or do just about anything else. This legal principle covers CDs, DVDs, and videogames too. It enables the used marketplace and retailers like eBay and Amazon to exist and sell used titles. In the digital age, this concept is under fire. It’s no longer clear that consumers should be granted the same rights when they buy digital downloads.
You own an iPod and Kindle, but not the songs or books on them.
“In the context of a downloaded book or music file, the Copyright Office suggests that first sale rights could be limited to the medium used to make the copy,” Seth Greenstein writes. “In other words, to resell your digital downloads, you must also sell your hard drive, ebook reader, or iPod.” However, he notes, even those rights may be forfeited by “clicking” agree to the terms of service that Amazon and iTunes put forth.
This amounts to 10 billion music downloads – that nobody owns.
As far back as 2006, the RIAA said in a statement to MTV that, “Selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection. Either act is a clear violation of U.S. copyright law. The RIAA is monitoring this means of infringement.” To which they conclude, “In short: seller beware.”
So, fans can’t resell music downloads on eBay or Amazon – it’s not allowed. Nor can they try to sell an iPod that’s full of songs that you bought. That’s illegal. Thus, digital collections are worth nothing. And as I suggested, most people don’t care about this.
Should we care? Should digital collections be worth something? As someone that recently purchased an iPod and Kindle, this question has renewed interest to me.
What’s your take?
1. Know Who You Are: Wear one hat
2. Know Why You're Here: Do it because it's right, not because it's right for your resume'
3. Think Independently: The person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.
4. Build Trust: Care, Like you really mean it
5. Listen For The Truth: The walls talk
6. Be Accountable: Only the truth sounds like the truth
7. Take Action: Think like a person of action, and act like a person of thought
Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks.
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Music Eases Cancer Pain
Listening to just thirty minutes of music significantly reduced pain and distress for cancer patients.
The patients were receiving medication, but still had pain.
Music reduced pain scores by more than 50 percent for almost half of them compared to fewer than 1 in 10 similar patients who just rested in bed.
Nurses randomly assigned Taiwanese patients to listen to their choice of music for 30 minutes or to rest without music. They measured pain at the beginning and end of the time using a visual scale.
42 percent who listened to music had their pain scores fall by 50 percent or more, compared to 8 percent of those who merely rested. A statistical test showed a large effect of the music for both changes in the sensation of pain and changes in the distress patients felt.
Patient had their choice of folk songs, Buddhist hymns , or American harp and piano music. Although 7 out of 10 chose the Taiwanese music, the American music was also enjoyed and effective.
Writing in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, lead author Shih-Tzu Huang said,
Offering a choice of familiar, culturally appropriate music was a key element of the intervention. Soft music was safe, effective, and liked by participants. It provided greater relief of cancer pain than analgesics alone. Thus nurses should offer calming, familiar music to supplement analgesic medication for persons with cancer pain.
SOURCE: Huang et al, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Volume 47, Number 11, November 2010.
What This Means for Patients
Sometimes the simple things that we do intuitively prove to be effective scientifically.
In this study music was not offered instead of medication, but in addition to it.
Patients also got to choose the music that they liked from culturally appropriate choices.
This simple method may help cancer patients both in the hospital and at home.
Posted by Kate Murphy on September 28th, 2010
Tags: cancer pain, complementary therapy
I recently read the book Radical by David Platt. I can honestly say it challenged me as much as any book (other than the Bible) has in recent memory. The book is subtitled “taking back your faith from the American dream”, and Platt challenges you to consider how culture has tamed how radical the call to be a Christ follower really is. It is strong medicine but is delivered with both a humble and bold attitude. I have spent a little time with David and find that to be a good reflection of who he is. Some of the points that stuck out (or into) me were:
- “Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.” (see Luke 9:57-62)
- “We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle class, American Jesus.”
- “We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about His commands, His standards, or His glory…but the gospel demands and enables us to turn from our sin, to take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and to follow Jesus.”
- “This is the design of God among His people. He is giving unlikely people His power so it is clear who deserves the glory for the success that takes place.”
- “Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell.” (see Romans 1:14-16)
- God blesses us so we can bless others and glorify His great name. (see Psalm 23:3; Psalm 67; Isaiah 43:1-13)
- “Anyone wanting to proclaim the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth must consider not only how to declare the gospel verbally but also how to demonstrate the gospel visibly in a world where so many are urgently hungry” (note: 26,000 children die each day due to starvation or a preventable disease).
- “Why not begin operating under the idea that God has given us excess, not so we could have more, but so we could give more?”
- “To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus…as long as Christianity looks like the American dream, we will have few problems in this world.”
- “Things look radically different on a luxury liner than they do on a troop carrier. The faces of soldiers preparing for battle and those of patrons enjoying their bonbons are radically different.”
- “Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God.”
As you can hopefully tell, I think Radical is an excellent book written by one of God’s best. It challenges the believer to live in a Biblical lifestyle that brings much honor to Jesus. I do feel a couple of words of caution are warranted:
1. An immature Christian could become very legalistic with some of the things in the book. I define legalism as making my preferences your burden. One could take some of the points about the church and say that ‘it is too expensive to put in carpet, A/C…that money could have fed the poor in Africa, etc…do you really love your AC more than the orphan’s life you materialistic American?’ For sure, materialism IS a bigger problem for us than too much generosity, but Biblical balance is necessary. Briefly, I see several principles in the Bible about money that need to be held in respectful tension:
a. God gives excess to some so that they can share with those who have less. (2 Corinthians 8:13-15)
b. Jesus’ radical generosity toward us should be to us a model and motivation for radical generosity with others.
c. God delights in our enjoyment of His material gifts & gives us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17-19). (Note:if you take this principle apart from the others, you can justify an indulgent lifestyle that is not honoring to God)
d. We are not to trust in riches but in God (Matthew 6:25-33) (watch Steve Farrar’s message on this passage)
e. Wealth management is wise and includes how to save money, make money, spend money, and give money. (Proverbs 6:6-8; 14:24; 21:5; 3:9-10; 13:22; 10:22, etc.)
2. It would also be easy for someone to romanticize a particular foreign Christian culture over the “indulgent Christian American” culture. Christian cultures have both darkness and light, wickedness and goodness. The key is desperation and dependence. It is true that we in the states often have more “stuff” that we mistakenly trust in. David hits it well on page 60 when he states, “Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only He can accomplish. Yes, we work, we plan, we organize, and we create, but we do it all while we fast, while we pray, and while we constantly confess our need for the provision of God. Instead of dependence on ourselves, we express radical desperation for the power of His Spirit, and we trust that Jesus stands ready to give us everything we ask for so that He might make much of our Father in the world.”
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