The Question of Tone as You and Them Collide
I have had a bee in my bonnet for a couple of months now regarding the implications of You and Them colliding in the marketplace of words. If blogging is now becoming an arena as easily accessible for corporate messages as for individual thoughts, what then happens to Tone? The Cluetrain Manifesto is clear that the tone used by Business needs to change but what does this mean for the way we engage and what will the impact be on the way individuals communicate their messages. Will these become more formal and business messages become more chatty? As we become increasingly subject to the tyranny of increased partial attention disorder, messages have had to become increasingly stickier. If You and Them start sounding the same, will this create a downturn interest in reading blogs or will there emerge a different tone to distinguish both? I would really love to have your thoughts on this as it is a topic which I think could have far reaching implications for the way we market and meaningfully engage.
21st Century Leadership
I am currently in the process of attempting to hone what it is that impacts on the way leaders manage. Obviously this is informed by the context in which they lead. But it is no longer a context which can just be cut and pasted. I have been working with my partner, Dave Duarte on identifying and understanding what the issues are which will inform and drive a new leadership style. These have been my BETA conclusions and I would love the input from others especially as we have to present these findings next week to a bunch of senior executives of a not insignificant organisation. They relate to five arenas:
- Community Based Economies – the articulation from commodity to product to service to experience as the base of a community driven experience
- Beta Testing – the realisation that consumers are forgiving and that we are Allowed to play in the arenas that may not immediately yield the Perfect but at least there is an allowance for the exciting which with their input may well become the important – God gets in through the cracks.
- Social Networks – Getting away from the old adage which says we need to know everyone and instead focusing on those nodes of a network which really influence well and with the least effort
- Ecological Innovation – Drawing on lessons from the environment which not only make us feel good but which genuinely harness profit in a way which does not strip mine the environment
- Attention – The realization that the exhausting attempt to keep up with everything serves no one and attempting to use tools which hone our understanding of what value really means for our significant engagement in the world.
We are attempting to use these five places as a way to harness a different and important 21st century sensibility. I would welcome your insights.
The Impact of US
So it's finally happened. The You (2006 Time Person of the Year) has collided with Them (2007 Unofficial Time Person of the Year) to create Us (2008 Potential Person of the Year). http://huddlemind.com/2008/02/04/social-media-2006-2008-the-years-of-you-them-and-us/ But what does this really mean for Business? Does it mean that user-driven content is going to change in any significant way? Judging by the extremely challenging task of just getting organisations to harness the value of Web 2 is challenge enough. If we have truly moved into an age where products and services are meaningless in and of themselves and it is only the power of the conversations we have around these products and services (albeit about their functionality or the way they impact on our lives) that drive consumption, what does this mean for the way in which we approach our organisational strategies? I don't have answers to any of these questions but I think that the impact of US could have far reaching consequences for the way we engage both inside of and outside of the firewall.
STICKY IDEAS... catalogue of some artists
So, the course is finished, and by tomorrow evening the final group exhibition will be on. The artists who are exhibiting tomorrow have put together a short catalogue of what they do, providing some reference material of their work. I thoroughly enjoyed this course, both in lecturing and in participating as a student. It has been a life changing experience for me, and very special to be in a class full of talented individuals, with a direct, honest and heartfelt approach to their work, and in communicating with others.
This is the start of continuing the network...
Thank you all for the impact on my life course,
Elske
STICKY IDEAS EVENT - The invite to final group exhibition
The Group Exhibition for this course is planned as a collaborative fun event, with selected visual art, jewellery, ceramic art, performance art, installations and screenings on display for one evening (30 November 2007). The thrust of the event is to have a final get-together where all delegates will have a chance to show their work to their classmates, and to increase their network. A catalogue of exhibitors will also be loaded onto the blog soon.
See you there, Elske
Open the invite to see the details.
