Finding Inspiration - a personal story

My husband's cousin's son (got it?) graduated from college recently and on Saturday they had some friends and family over for a traditional Puerto Rican pig roast.  I haven't met some of his family and I'm not Hispanic so there were two things I knew I was going to have to overcome: I don't speak Spanish and I'm not 20-something years old.

I feared about how I'd engage with people who don't speak English as a first language and what could I possibly offer to this new crowd of college graduates?  I can't really talk student loans or internships any more, and I'm fighting for my next job just as hard as some of them.

It was a lot to handle at one time.

Amazingly, neither of those things mattered because what I learned from those 20-something year olds is that they are paying it forward.  They are motivated. They are inspired.  They wear their causes on their hats, their T-shirts and their rubber wristbands.  They are laughing hard, playing hard, and willing to talk about dreams and goals.

I listened in part English, part Spanish to their parents talk about raising children, finding jobs, serving in the military, and overcoming addiction.  They never complained. They tried their best to communicate with me and every single one put their hand out to shake mine or give me a hug as a welcome.

I don't think I realized driving to this celebration how impressed I was going to be by the conversations I was about to have.  I sat on a folded chair, in a modest backyard, among 99% Latino men and women playing dominoes and listening to Spanish music among Brazilian neighbors and Caucasian neighbors only a handshake away and I didn't want to leave.  No judging. No ego-trips about their job titles or how much revenue their companies made last quarter.  Just family, friends and talk about how to make it better for the next generation and wondering if they can make a change.

And it was so damn refreshing.

Competitive or Strategic? Is That the Same?

What if you had an opportunity to call up your top two competitors and ask them to join forces to be the number one company in the world, would you do it? Would that be a strategic move, or one that strictly eliminates the competition in the name of greed and power?

Granted, businesses are controlled by rules that often don't allow that to happen, but Michael Jordan commented on LeBron James joining two other NBA heavyweights to create a potential powerhouse within the league. According to CBSSports.com he said:

"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team,'" Jordan said after finishing tied for 22nd in the American Century Championship golf tournament in Stateline, Nev.   "But that's ... things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."

Perhaps that strategic move by LeBron will motivate other teams to play harder, fight harder to win. Perhaps Jordan's upset because he owns a competing team in the NBA. But it really had me thinking about competing, complimenting and collaborating all in the name of winning and cashing in.  Would the heads of Burger King, McDonalds and Wendy's ever decide to knock out the fast food industry by creating Wendy's BKMickyDs?  Silly? Yes.

But is it fair to say that if you could combine forces with other known leaders in your industry, then by all means you would jump on board and ride the wave? Is it then joining the best organization already created or combining the best to create an organization?

It just got me thinking. Does it matter? And does it make you competitive or strategic...or both?

Love the Hash (tag)

I've seen some marketing - social media - social marketing - bloggers - tweet that it's time to lay off the hash tags (#) used on Twitter. The hash tag originated as a way to make search easier on Twitter. If you were referencing a product, person or location, you would place the hash tag at the beginning of the word (i.e. #Boston).

Over time, it was used as a clever way to mash together more than one word given the character restrictions of Twitter.  It then morphed into identifiers and funny anecdotes.  For example, one of my favorite hash tags is #wineoclock. Other frequently used hash tags include #justsayin, #followfriday (now commonly typed as #FF), and #tweetup.

I'd agree there are some users that clearly overuse the hash tag, but I like the concept and when done for fun I find them entertaining.  When applied to a cause or movement, they can be effective. When used during events, it keeps the stream of conversation clean and focused.

Since it's Friday, and in an effort to keep it light going into the weekend,  I'll share with you a few people that I follow on Twitter and some of the clever hash tags they've used recently that made me smile, think, act or laugh out loud:

• @JoselinMane - #antennagate (referring to the recent iPhone 4 problems)

• @iamreff - #iholidayshopallyearround (so do I!)

• @ellenrossano @clownface3 @stales - #tweet4ymca (fundraiser with Allstate to raise money to help combat domestic violence) 

•  @jeffcutler - #wwjce (series of What Would Jeff Cutler Eat? tweets and blogs)

•  @DougH - #redsox #celtics #patriots #bruins (ahhhh...sports fan)

Obviously there are several ways to apply the hash tag concept for both business and pleasure. Go ahead #getyourhashtagon

Mass Innovation Nights Take 16

When I left the house at 5:30 to head to Mass Innovation Nights at the Waltham IBM Innovation Center I really didn't know what a great night it was going to be.

As part of the inaugural event many moons ago, I knew the concept and the premise behind MassInno. I just didn't realize how much it had grown up and how many fantastic people attend and "exhibit" at the event.

Take for example, CleanJourney. They're goal is to create talent communities for individuals looking to work for Green or Clean Tech companies around the country, including New England. KC from CleanJourney bravely answered questions about his soon-to-be-launched web site and company ranking system with confidence and excitement for the concept.  It was refreshing.

I was also impressed with Episend - a start up that has developed a way to allow users to create content that can be emailed without the hassle of attaching large files.  Simply create your template, insert your content, create a link and email it. Voila! On the other end the recipient can open your masterpiece and enjoy the content without dealing with 16 attachments that may or may not bounce when you send it. (And as the founder explained to me, the system will also auto-format images so when your family member sends that 5 MB image that opens up to only reveal someones ear until you resize it, you'll be able to see the whole image.)

I'll be honest, I didn't get to try one of the electric bikes, but the crowd seemed to love Pietzo's new mode of transportation.   And they even provided helmets for bike safety. Score one for that!

Drupal Gardens had a great presentation outlining the ease and flexibility of their SaaS based system for rapid deployment of web sites.  There was also Real Cool TV whose presenter noted something I thought to be very poignant - complicated things can be explained much easier by using video. So true!

Between the July experts, shaking hands, sharing stories and meeting new people I know I didn't get to see and talk to all of the Innovators.  Next month I have it on my calendar again because I've heard rumors some of the Innovators will help fill up your bellies. You in? August 11 for MIN17.

Stop sending me diapers. Marketing to the person.

Some of my most recent marketing experience is born out of the direct marketing world. I worked for a company that sells predictive modeling solutions to companies and non-profits looking to improve their list returns.  You can find them here now as they have re-branded and are continuing to evolve.

What I liked about their approach was that it was trying to get the right message to the right person (an overused analogy if you ask me, but true) by identifying "likenesses" between people.  If Joe Smith is your top customer, find other people that look like Joe and market to them.

Think about it.  We are inundated with messages on an ongoing basis.  We receive mail pieces - both postal and email - in addition to online banners, buttons, videos, text, images and logos, all trying to grab our attention and get us to buy.

I was perusing the bookstore shelves today and noticed book after book on Facebook marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, inbound marketing, Twitter marketing, and video marketing.  I think all of that can be helpful, but at the end of the day what I really want is for companies to communicate with me - not at me. If you know something about me wouldn't that make it easier to talk to me?

For example, on a regular basis I receive sample diapers in the mail. My kids are 5 and 7 years old. Thankfully, neither of them is still in diapers.  And, 9 out of 10 times, the diapers are wrapped in advertising copy written in Spanish.  I married a Latino man, but can't read or speak a stitch of the language.  It proves they know nothing about me except the "child" column must be checked in their database.

Without getting into the argument over privacy and such, I do think channels and networks like Facebook SHOULD do a better job at targeting my likes and dislikes seeing as I use their network, for free, to store all of my personal information.  It's basically my auto-biography online, and if that will stop the diapers from showing up in my mailbox and gets them to the Hispanic woman who can really use them - I think I'm on board with that advertising model.

What do you think?  Would you rather stay anonymous and provide gender only and hope the marketers get it right? Or would you rather open up the lines of communication and get what could benefit you?

Tough one, I know.

Innovation in Boston

I had the pleasure of meeting Bobbie Carlton recently for lunch. She and I formally met at Mass Innovation Nights about 18 months ago. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, or attending any of the Innovation events, I highly recommend you swing by either at night or for breakfast to get your innovation-fix on. You will meet companies from all over the Massachusetts area that are doing cool and amazing things across a variety of industries.  Need an electric bike? There's a business for that.  How about an app that reminds you to get moving so you don't miss appointments? You can learn more about that, too.

And guess what? It doesn't end there if you live in or around Boston. The City of Boston has an entire district dedicated to innovation. And it's suitably called "Innovation District" (www.innovationdistrict.org).   The basic idea, as explained on their web site, is as follows:

As start-up companies take root and grow, they provides citizens with new job opportunities at a range of skill levels; the opportunity to test creative policy strategies can put Boston at the forefront of urban economic development in the twenty-first century; and the ability to conduct small scale tests of new technologies, materials, and designs to enhance urban life allows the implementation of only the most successful projects to other neighborhoods, benefiting all citizens of Boston.

Boston's Innovation District is located in one of my favorite areas, the South Boston Waterfront district. I spent many years watching that area grow, change and morph into a fresh, new neighborhood of businesses, restaurants and tenants. I got my roots planted along Congress Street in the early 90's working for Thomson Financial so it's almost like returning to campus for me. 

I'm excited by some of the initiatives already taking place, including MassChallenge and the CleanTech Incubator.

Check out the restaurants, hotels and businesses just waiting for you to visit.  It's so easy to get to - you won't regret the trip.

Delivering your message

Thanks for stopping by - I'm excited to share some thoughts, rants and questions with you.

In case you didn't know, I had been hanging out here for a while but am now on my own and figured why stop sharing and exchanging ideas just because I can't fill in the "Company Name" field any longer?  So let's get going and see where this takes us, shall we?

Today is my husband's birthday. I won't share his age, but he will always be older than me.  And in our kitchen is a small chalkboard where I will post messages for the kids - everything from "Make Good Choices" to "Happy July 4th". The kids love to see if it has changed each morning (or week) and what the new message is.

This morning my son look sad and told me he was disappointed that the message on the chalkboard still read "It's Summer Time" and not "Happy Birthday Daddy".  I quickly made the change and his smile returned. Doesn't take much to get back on his good side.

But it got me thinking about how messages are delivered and how our expectations are set for them. Do we want regular, updated statuses or do we want to be able to control when we receive information?

I was recently hounded by Verizon because I was over my texting limit (for one month out of the 60 I've been a customer) and they felt the need to repeatedly call my cell phone only to hang up when I answered. What kind of message were they sending? Perhaps it was, we will make you go over on your minutes to match your texts by calling you every hour or so.  I'm not sure. I only know it was Verizon because my frustration forced me to call the number back only to be hung up on again.

Whether it is words on a chalkboard, poor efforts at customer service or 140 characters online, there are messages thrown at us 365 and companies should take pause to be sure the message they're sending is the one they want received.