Newsletter

Posts

  • Engagement and AI - challenges and opportunities

    AI presents major engagement challenges and opportunities — for how we bring people along, how we design AI products, and where humans must remain.

  • Engaging the "next level"

    How do you get the next level down to take more ownership and initiative? Three things that actually work.

  • Engagement and Transformation

    How do we engage people in transformation? Four principles drawn from Joe Pine's Transformation Economy.

  • The basics of engagement

    The brilliant basics of engagement — what it is, why it matters, and how it works in head, hands, and heart.

  • Culture that's written on the heart, not a business card

    How do you get culture written on the heart, not on a poster? Four principles for moving from head engagement to heart engagement.

  • The Past, Present, Future method

    A one-minute communication model for framing decisions, starting conversations, and getting aligned on the same page.

  • Engaging through frustration, disconnection and alienation

    How do you engage when you're shocked, silenced, or emotionally flooded? Three methods for navigating interpersonal and organisational disconnection.

  • Getting people engaged with your emails and newsletters

    How do you get people to actually read your emails and not unsubscribe? Four practical principles for lightweight, engaging newsletters.

  • Engaging with evolution NOT resolution

    How can you engage people in the idea of a fresh start — and prevent relapse? Framing change as evolution, not resolution, makes all the difference.

  • Engagement and RESTING!

    How do we keep people engaged when there are periods of rest? Engagement isn't a fixed level — here's how to think about the floor and the ceiling.

  • Engagement lessons from Christmas

    What can we learn about engagement from Christmas? Four lessons from the most sticky, adaptive, participatory festival we have.

  • 5 things that instantly engage

    How do we instantly engage someone? Five reliable mechanisms — and why subject lines like this one actually work.

  • Engagement and personal vs professional

    How do you balance engaging people as humans while holding the professional relationship? A few thoughts on a false dichotomy.

  • Engagement and the dish washer

    How do you get your kids to load the dishwasher properly? A proxy for one of our deepest challenges in engaging people in behaviour change.

  • How to keep up engagement when contact decreases

    When daily contact drops to weekly, how do you prevent commitment from falling with it? A case study that worked.

  • How do you keep engagement going over the long term?

    You have engagement now — but how do you keep it going? Four principles for sustaining engagement without desperation.

  • Getting people to care about what you are engaging them in

    Why do people understand your message but not care? The answer lies in the gap between communication, action, and formation.

  • Engagement and dropping balls

    When you have too much to do, what can you drop without losing engagement? More than you think — and some drops are actually useful.

  • Engaging a group in a workshop

    How do you get a group engaged in a training, meeting, or workshop? Four steps from individual rapport to group dynamic.

  • Engaging without pushing people too hard or too little

    How do you get the right amount of engagement without over-pushing or under-engaging? Four principles that help.

  • Networking and engagement

    We never get taught how to network. Here are four practical habits that build real connections over time.

  • Engaging small talk

    Four ways to turn small talk into engaging talk: see it as soft power, ask about preference or experience, find commonality or contrast, and keep the rally going.

  • Community Engagement Essential Practices

    Community Engagement essential practices: a regular gathering, regular clear communication, and member-to-member interaction. Purpose is optional — but those three are not.

  • Engaging with AI

    What does AI mean for engagement? We’re already fine with automated interactions. The issue is when AI is masked as genuine. The question is one of dignity.

  • Engagingly doing sales

    Engaging sales = Competence + Warmth. Fake warmth undermines both. Warmth without competence is also a trap. Firm but fair, honest but human — that’s the winning combination.

  • Engaging with the change placed on you

    How do you engage with change placed upon you? Four perspectives: it’s hard for everyone, use it to understand others, embrace the experiment, and bring your thunder anyway.

  • Engagement and neurodiversity

    Engagement and neurodiversity. Everyone engages differently AND the same core rules apply to everyone. Use the egg model: consistent yolk, adaptable egg white.

  • Emotional intelligence and engagement

    Does emotional intelligence help or hinder engagement? Engagement is being on the same frequency. Owning your frequency actually attracts people more than constantly adapting to theirs.

  • Engaging a manager who micromanages you

    Micromanagement is a self-fulfilling spiral on both parts. Five steps to break it: understand the dynamic, shift your frequency, act like a presidential advisor, say ‘I need you to trust me’, and give it a year.

  • Engaging over the looooooong term

    Engaging over the long term. Four things that work: engagement is its own reward, stay in touch with customers, most responses are invisible, and just keep engaging — consistency over intensity.

  • Making something STICK

    Four ways to make something stick: use a core analogy, anchor it to something people regularly use, make it Post-it simple, and design it to be genuinely useful.

  • Engaging through insecurity

    Engaging through insecurity. Four insights: we are over-insecure, how we engage with ourselves determines how we engage with others, nobody wants us to fail, and people will partner with us if we show up.

  • The 5-step communication framework that engages every time

    The 5-step communication framework that engages every time: open with a yes question, state your thing, lay out the steps, state the benefits, give the call to action.

  • 3 ways to get participation, EVERY TIME

    Three ways to get participation every time: Buttons (easy — do it or don’t), Dots (medium — a series of steps), Containers (advanced — creative freedom within boundaries).

  • When people don’t want to engage

    When people don’t want to engage — and when you don’t either. Three tactics: stop persuading, celebrate how far they’ve come, and do less than the least.

  • 3 ways ANYTHING can be engaging

    Three lessons from a mailing list screwup: anything can be made more engaging with fun, everything is an opportunity to go deeper, and something unexpected always occurs when you engage.

  • Engagement without overloading

    How to engage without overloading: make engagement about presence not content, remind people of what they already know, and make re-engaging feel like listening to a favourite song.

  • When you think you’re not being engaging because you feel inconsistent

    When you think you’re not being engaging because you feel inconsistent. Three rules: do things in a routine if you can, be regular-ish if not, and be sporadic without apology.

  • Don’t stop engaging

    Don’t stop engaging. Three mindset shifts: trust what you have to offer, maintain enthusiasm over the long term, and remember that most people don’t reply because their invite got lost.

  • Engaging over difference, especially at Christmas

    Engaging over difference, especially at Christmas. Three ways: approach with honest, considerate intention; talk about difference rather than hiding it; and use inclusive language.

  • 5 tactics for INSTANT engagement

    The 5 SPURS of Engagement for instant connection: Sharedness, Prompt, Unexpected, Role, and Story. Try using one today.

  • The universal framework of an engaging event

    A universal framework for making any event engaging: greet everyone, set intention and desired outcomes, do the thing, review outcomes, and say what’s next.

  • Engaging when you don’t want to

    When you don’t want to engage — and when the people you want to engage feel the same. Three tactics: stop persuading, communicate the distance already travelled, and do less than the least.

  • 3 amazing methods for getting participation

    Three methods for getting participation: Buttons (do it or don’t), Dots (a series of steps), and Containers (creative freedom within boundaries). Most people give containers when they should give buttons.

  • 3 ways to engage more by doing less

    We can engage more by doing less. Three ways: repeat what’s old instead of saying something new, say it simply rather than cleverly, and keep it short.

  • Engaging people in change

    The technical part of change is easy. Engaging people in it is hard. The ABC model: Alpha (get buy-in from decision-makers), Beta (test with advocates), Complete Version 1 (launch it).

  • 3 things to do when “people just aren’t engaging!”

    Three questions to ask when people just aren’t engaging: Is it obvious? Is it possible? Is it going to make their life better?

  • Engaging with encouragement

    Encouragement costs so little but is worth so much. Three ways: express joy at seeing people, thank them for who they are, and recognise their strengths out loud.

  • Engaging with silence

    Three ways to engage using silence: say you don’t know what to say, be silent, or simply say ‘I’m listening.’ Engagement existed before words.

  • When you don’t know what to say… say this

    When you don’t know what to say, there’s always one thing you CAN say: remind people of what you’ve said before. Three ways to do it without apology.

  • One of the most powerful engagement tactics

    The most powerful engagement tactic: put all the kids in the show. Four levels of giving people a role — additive, performative, elective, initiative. Start at level 1, not 4.

  • Engaging the antagonistic

    Three ways to engage the antagonistic: really listen, find the common intention rather than just common interests, and use ‘what ifs’ to lower resistance.

  • 3 tips for following up

    Three tips for following up: tell people you’ll follow up, do it without commentary, and remember that following up is often a favour to people who are simply overwhelmed.

  • 5 steps to ASSURE value

    Communication isn’t what’s said — it’s what’s heard and understood. 5 steps for assuring value: declare before, demonstrate first, transfer during, redeclare after, remind beyond.

  • 3 ways to be SURE something is valuable

    Three ways to be SURE something is received as valuable: Ensure you give it, Assure people you’ve given it, Insure it by keeping it current and maintained.

  • The 6 parts of an engagement operating system

    To operationalise engagement you need 6 systems: Connecting Messages, Coordinated Channels, Stimulating Meetings, Social Interaction, Profitable Platform, and Purposeful Mission.

  • Engaging detractors in 4 steps

    Four steps for engaging a detractor: affirm commonality, affirm their viewpoint, ask them to offer ways to address their concerns, and keep returning to the conversation.

  • 4 tips for communicating important messages

    Four tips for communicating important messages: bottom line up front, explain why briefly, frame it around them not you, and always state the required action — even if it’s nothing.

  • 5 lessons from engaging kids at sports day

    Five engagement lessons from my kid’s sports day: have a memorable chant, high-five everyone, clear the path, make people the finishing point, and be joyful.

  • What to think when people don't engage

    When people don't engage, it's easy to spiral. Three things to remember: they're probably busy, they probably do care, and they almost certainly aren't thinking about you at all.

  • Three keys to unlock Monday Mornings

    Will it be usable on Monday morning? Three ways to make things practical: make it specific (When X, then Y), make it memorable, and make it tiny.

  • The essentials for engaging your teams

    Three essentials for engaging your team: establish a weekly meeting, develop a clear purpose and goals together, and become the Chief Encouragement Officer.

  • Ever struggled to ask people to do things?

    Four simple steps to ask people to do things: state the context, make a specific request, give the reason using the word ‘because’, and affirm they have a choice.

  • The way to instantly engage anyone

    How do you instantly engage anyone? Years ago I was a socially awkward teenager. Here’s the four-level approach I stumbled upon — from their favourite subject to your shared commonality.

  • Have you heard of BLUF and I DO?

    Much of work comes down to two things: emails and meetings. One tip for each: use BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) for emails, and I DO (Intention and Desired Outcomes) for meetings.

  • Get people to take action with these 4 phrases

    Turning agreement into action is hard. Four phrases to get people moving: suggest a trial, offer choices, identify the single critical action, and break things into stages.

  • 4 elements of engaging meetings

    Meetings are the crucible of engagement. Four essential structural elements for any meeting: greet everyone, state intention and desired outcomes, triage agenda items, and review outcomes.

  • 3 questions to make things more engaging

    Three questions to make your thing more engaging: Is it clear? Is it enjoyable? Is it useful? Ask these before you ask why people aren’t engaging.

  • Four metaphors for instant understanding

    Communication isn't what is said, or even heard, but what is understood. Four metaphors — buildings, vehicles, baking/music, and jobs — for instant understanding of almost anything.

  • 3 tips for CLEAR communication

    If you confuse, you lose. Three ways to communicate anything more clearly: use a metaphor, use common language, and make it dog-simple.

  • ‘In any event’: the 5 things that are true of any conference

    The 5 things true of any conference: people come for what they get, remember who they met, seek corridor conversations, buy tickets for names but remember authenticity.

  • What I Learned About Creating Advocates from Leading a Church

    The most important lesson from leading a church for ten years: put people in the story. When something is partly theirs, they defend it, promote it, and bring others into it.

  • The Definition of Engagement

    Engagement is the ongoing, active involvement of a person with an idea or organisation to a degree that produces mutual value. You cannot engage people. You can only create conditions for it.

  • The 3 Stages of Engagement: An Introduction

    The 3 Stages of Engagement: Head (understanding), Behavioural (action), and Long-term (internalised values). You can’t have the third without the first two. But the first two without the third is just compliance.

  • The Difference Between Mentoring vs Coaching

    Mentoring and coaching are not the same. Mentoring is guidance from someone who has been where you want to go. Coaching is facilitation to find your own answers. Know which you need.

  • Restaurants as a Model for Digital Experiences

    What can restaurants teach us about digital experiences? The service is the experience. Pacing matters. The ending is remembered longest. Regulars are the business.

  • 4 Stages of E’s

    The 4 Stages of E’s: Exposure, Experience, Engagement, Endorsement. Most organisations invest in Exposure and neglect everything else. Where are people dropping off?

  • Review: Oversubscribed, by Daniel Priestley

    Oversubscribed: the most successful businesses don’t chase customers — they create more demand than they can supply. Here’s how: signal early, build a database, be known for something specific.

  • How HMRC runs engaging webinars

    HMRC runs webinars watched by millions. Here’s what they’ve learned: keep it short and focused, use questions throughout, acknowledge the audience, make the next step clear.

  • Review: The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson

    The Slight Edge: the small disciplines that lead to success are so easy to do they’re also easy not to do. Most people quit before the curve turns. Momentum compounds.

  • The 5 C’s of Exceptional Platforms

    Draft notes: Curation, Connection, Convenience — the 5 C’s of exceptional platforms.

  • Three Strategies to Increase Participation

    Three strategies to increase participation: lower the barrier to entry, make participation visible, create identity through participation. Most organisations only do the first.

  • ‘Small and social’ vs ‘big and broadcast’

    Small and social vs big and broadcast. These are not just different sizes — they are different models with different logics. Most organisations optimise for what they can measure, not what matters.

  • My Values

    Values are not aspirations. They’re descriptions of how you actually make decisions under pressure. If they don’t hold when things are hard, they’re not really your values.

  • The difficult journey of being yourself

    Being yourself is harder than it sounds. The pressure to perform a more acceptable version is constant. But the cost of performing is exhausting. What’s on the other side is worth it.

  • Focussing In

    Focussing in. Not starting something new for the sake of it. Bringing back what matters most — the ideas, conversations, and relationships that have shaped the last five years.

  • Where to begin (again)

    After five years, I’m returning to this blog. A lot has changed. Some things haven’t. The questions about engagement and community feel more urgent than ever.

  • Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right

    Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right. Belief precedes capability. Not always, but often enough to matter.

  • Chrysler Creates a Common Enemy

    Chrysler’s ‘Imported from Detroit’ campaign creates a common enemy — the idea that Detroit is finished. The most powerful marketing doesn’t just describe what you make. It describes who you’re for.

  • The 4 Universal Social Gifts

    The four universal social gifts: Time, Talent, Treasure, Tongue. Most people default to Treasure because it requires the least. But Time and Tongue are often what people need most.

  • What you learn in 4000 comments

    This blog has had over 4,000 comments. The biggest lesson: a comment is not the end of the interaction. It’s the beginning. What you do with it is what matters.

  • Keeping A Good To-do List

    Most to-do lists are anti-productivity tools — bloated, undifferentiated, demoralising. Here’s what I’ve found works: one list, everything captured, all items actionable, reviewed weekly.

  • Keep it Simple, or you’re Stupid

    Keep it simple, or you’re stupid. Complexity is the default. Simplicity is the result of sustained effort. Simple spreads, is remembered, is trusted, and scales.

  • How to Write SMART Emails

    Most emails are poorly written. SMART emails are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Write fewer. Make them SMART. You’ll waste less of everyone’s time.

  • Buyology: The Logo is Broken

    Logos don’t work the way we think. Buyology’s neuromarketing studies found logos generate almost no emotional response. What matters are the rituals, stories, and communities behind them.

  • We Are The Future

    We are the future. Not the people in power. Us — the people building communities, creating meaning, connecting others. The future is not something that happens to us. It’s something we make.

  • How to make Meaning

    Making meaning starts with identifying something you want to change about the world. Not improve — change. The meaning has to run all the way through your product and behaviour.

  • Productivity vs creativity and the creative’s problem

    Most creatives don’t resolve the tension between productivity and creativity well. Creativity requires slack. You can’t be productive with creative work — you can only be creative.

  • Freak or unique: a lesson in Twitter bios

    Your Twitter bio is a test of clarity. Most people try to sound interesting rather than being specific. Thinker, writer, dreamer tells me nothing. Specificity creates followers. Vagueness doesn’t.

  • Your Brand: Is it Making Meaning?

    Is your brand making meaning? Not just products or promises — meaning. Brands that make meaning create advocates. Meaning-driven growth is more durable than attention-driven growth.

  • Rethink public speaking: 5 ways to get off the stage

    Five ways to get off the stage: start with a real question, build in discussion breaks, use the room as your source material, take questions throughout, close with a commitment not a summary.

  • If it doesn’t Spread, it’s Dead

    Virality is passive. Spreadability is active. Spreadable content gives people a reason to share it — social currency, utility, the chance to be part of a story worth being part of.

  • Put People in the Story

    Put people in the story — not as background, as protagonists. When you do, the audience sees themselves in it, and the people you’ve included become advocates.

  • Why you must see yourself as the leader that you are

    Leadership is not a position. It’s a practice. Stop waiting for permission to lead. You have influence right now. The question is whether you’re exercising it with intention.

  • Birthday Party

    Today is my birthday. I’m 27. This has been the most significant year of my life so far. The thing I’m most grateful for is the people who showed up and made things better by being present.

  • The Last Great Human Freedom

    The last of the human freedoms is the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. Not freedom from circumstances — freedom within them.

  • What on earth IS influence?

    Influence is the capacity to move people toward a different way of thinking, feeling, or acting. You can have millions of followers and no influence. Are you actually changing anything?

  • Presentations vs Participations

    Presentations are one-way. Participations are two-way. After a presentation, people remember 20% of what they heard. After a participation, they remember 70% of what they said.

  • If you’re not talking, you’re not learning

    If you’re not talking, you’re not learning. The kind of learning that sticks happens in conversation. Comments matter more to me than posts. Conferences are about conversations, not speakers.

  • Your Opinion: Can You Teach Leadership? Or Are You Born With It?

    Can you teach leadership? Yes. But only to people who want to lead for the right reasons. The skills are learnable. The desire to serve rather than be served — that’s harder.

  • 4 Ways To Focus When You Meet People

    Focus when you meet people is a gift. Most people don’t give it. Phone away, one good question, repeat back what you’ve heard, remember something and come back to it.

  • The 5 Innovations of the App Store

    The App Store changed everything. Five innovations: frictionless discovery, risk-removing pricing, curation and trust, the platform economy, and ecosystem lock-in.

  • The Secret To Writing A Practical, How-To Blog Post

    The secret to a practical how-to post is not structure. It’s specificity. Most how-to posts describe what to do in general terms. Those are sentiments, not instructions.

  • What One Man Can Do, Another Can Do

    What one man can do, another can do. The gap between where you are and where you want to be is not a question of capability. It’s knowledge, practice, environment, and time.

  • 5 Things You Need To Blog Every Month

    Five things you need to do every month if you want to blog consistently and usefully: write one piece you’re proud of, respond to every comment, share generously, ask real questions, review.

  • Are You That Person? And What To Do About It

    Are you that person? The one who always has a reason why it won’t work. I’ve been that person. It’s invisible to you and obvious to everyone else. Here’s what to do about it.

  • Why I Don’t Complain On Twitter, And Why You Could

    I don’t complain on Twitter. Not because I have nothing to complain about. But because complaining in public is almost always counterproductive. It costs more than it’s worth.

  • Steve Jobs on Apple and Value, in 1997

    In 1997 Jobs brought Apple back from bankruptcy by returning to values. You don’t start with what you make. You start with what you believe. The product is an expression of that belief.

  • The Importance Of Being Encouraged

    Praise is about what someone has done. Encouragement is about what they’re capable of. I can trace almost every significant thing I’ve done to someone who encouraged me before I believed I could.

  • The 5 Mindset Shifting Ways To Make 2011 Count

    Five mindset shifts for 2011: from content to context, audience to community, volume to value, interesting to interested, individual to together.

  • The Top 5 Qualities In A Team Player

    The top 5 qualities in a team player: reliability, honesty, generosity, coachability, initiative. Talent isn’t on the list. These qualities compound. Talent without them is often a net negative.

  • The One Word You’ll Never Hear On The Apprentice

    The one word you’ll never hear on The Apprentice is: together. The show celebrates competitive leadership. But the most effective leadership is collaborative — how do we all move forward?

  • Why Most Blogs Miss Out On The Greatest Value They Have

    Most blogs miss out on the greatest value they have: the comments. The post is the opening of the conversation. The comments are the conversation itself.

  • Ford with Showcase Strategy

    Ford’s Fiesta Movement is Showcase Strategy in action. Rather than broadcasting about the Fiesta, they put 100 social media users in it and let their networks do the spreading.

  • Do Retweets Matter?

    Retweets are a broadcast metric. Comments are a relationship metric. I’d rather have ten people who genuinely engage than a thousand who pass it on without reading it.

  • Making It Matter

    Making it matter is harder than making it work. The difference is whether the people involved felt seen, valued, and genuinely engaged — not just processed.

  • We’re a Top 50 Leadership Blog.

    This blog has been ranked in a Top 50 Leadership Blogs list. Leadership is the underlying thread of everything here. This recognition belongs to everyone who participates.

  • Reflections on Pakistan, Day 1

    Day 1 in Pakistan. The warmth of the people is not a cliché. Hospitality is a value here, not a courtesy. I’m beginning to think I might learn more than I teach.

  • The 4 Values of Leaders

    The four values that matter most in a leader: Honesty, Humility, Hunger, and Heart. The last is what makes leadership worth following.

  • The Best Way I Build Team Is…

    The best way I build team: invest time in people one-to-one before asking anything of them in a group. People follow people they feel known by, not plans.

  • Not A Presentation, A Participation!

    Not a presentation. A participation. The question is never how do I present well — it’s how do I create conditions for people to participate? Presentation is about the speaker. Participation is about the room.

  • What is your biggest weakness?

    Knowing your biggest weakness — really knowing it — is one of the most useful pieces of self-knowledge you can have. Known and owned, it becomes manageable. Hidden, it derails you.

  • Give Some Money Because I’ve Grown A Moustache

    It’s Movember. I’ve grown a moustache. It looks awful. But it’s for a good cause. If you’d like to donate, please do.

  • Something Beautiful Podcast

    An interview about Like Minds, church, and how the two mirror each other. Community — whether in church or a conference — operates on the same principles.

  • The 5 Most Important Blogging Lessons

    Darren Rowse’s 5 c’s of blogging: Content, Community, Connection, Cash, Contribute. Of these, the fifth is the one most people neglect. It’s the one that points outward.

  • How To Humanise Campaigns

    Humanise campaigns by putting real people at the centre. Convert followers to advocates by genuinely including them. Both are expressions of the same principle.

  • What Farmers Can Teach Us About Social Media

    With all the talk of pull over push, there’s one problem: it all starts with an initial push. The farmer scatters broadly before he gathers selectively.

  • Who Is Your Phyllis Wills?

    Phyllis Wills doesn’t appear in Google. But my life was built on her contribution. You don’t need to be famous to matter. You just need to be there.

  • Exposure

    One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is exposure to new things. Exposure opens the mind. The question is whether we’re pursuing it intentionally, or consuming the same things through new screens.

  • Where are Foursquare and Gowalla going?

    Where are Foursquare and Gowalla going? The identity value has been eroded by faster tools. The only reason left is financial benefit. Fatigue follows.

  • Interview with Matt Young at Rokk Xpress

    Rokk Xpress fills a huge gap: quality websites under £2,000. Matt found his connection through Like Minds. A reminder that mattering to the small guys is what it’s all about.

  • Audio: Scatter, Gather, Matter – A Marketing Lesson From The Bible

    Scatter, Gather, Matter — a three-step framework drawn from the Parable of the Sower. Scattering without gathering is just volume. Gathering without mattering is just community without purpose.

  • How To Serve And Grow A Community

    A video interview on how to serve and grow communities — what communities really are, why Facebook community rarely exists in the meaningful sense, and the role of micro-communities.

  • Related Posts Plugins. Do They Increase Dwell Time?

    Are related posts plugins actually working? Looking at the stats, probably not. But low traffic with 20-30 comments a day proves the value of value-based blogging.

  • There’s Growth in the Boredom

    There’s growth in the boredom. Once you’ve made the sale, you must deliver. And delivering isn’t as fun. Respect the boredom. The business is in the boring.

  • HTC Desire Review: The Digitall and the Digicool

    Reviewing the HTC Desire as a Digitall and a Digicool. The product is not enough — we need warmth as well as light. And if you need a manual, the product won’t last.

  • What The New Facebook Groups Mean For Community

    Macro community is the product of micro communities. Facebook’s new Groups acknowledge what we’ve always known: real community happens in the small, intimate, co-owned spaces.

  • The Warmth And The Light

    Light might bring someone to you, but it’s warmth that keeps them. Great content gets people there. Community keeps them. Light without warmth doesn’t last.

  • Making Our Blogs Conversation Corners In One, Limitless Building

    This blog is only part of the conversation. The future of blogging is collaboration across many corners. Not one voice broadcasting — many voices, well guided.

  • The Key To Delighting Customers: #WhatIsWom

    Customer delight isn’t soft or intangible. 1000heads showed me what it looks like in practice: deliver on the promise, then go the extra mile. You have to actually care about people.

  • Scott Gould and Friends: A Whole New World

    The ‘I write and you read’ strategy lacks richness. Guest-post-only communities lack an evolving narrative. Welcome to the middle ground: Scott Gould and Friends.

  • Top 10 Productivity Tips

    Ten productivity tips from a comment on this blog, worth pulling out and keeping. Point 10: make sure you’re doing 1 to 9.

  • And Then, And Then, And Then

    And then, and then, and then — the structure of a report. A real story has a spine: situation, complication, resolution. Find the spine and you find the meaning.

  • What One Man Can Do For God

    The journey is too great for you. Rest is not the enemy of productivity — it’s the precondition of it. Faithfulness, not talent, is what enables one person to do remarkable things.

  • What Is Social? Well…

    Social is not a media strategy or a platform. It’s a disposition — the orientation toward other people that says your perspective matters and what we create together is more valuable.

  • Twitter: Something Has to Change

    Most people use Twitter as a broadcast channel with a reply button. The original promise was real-time conversation. It’s still there, but buried under the noise.

  • A Conversation With Me and Andrew Pickering

    Strategy emerges from action — but not from action alone. Start with a directional hypothesis, hold it loosely, and let what you learn revise it.

  • Using Social Media to Extend and Enhance Offline Events and Communities

    Two years of running Like Minds: here’s how to use Social Media to extend and enhance offline events before, during, and after.

  • The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

    Content tells you something. Context tells you what it means for you, right now. In a world drowning in content, context is the scarce resource. The age of context is beginning.

  • How McDonalds Turned It Around

    McDonald’s turned around because customers changed and they paid attention. The social mindset of consumers created pressure the broadcast model could ignore, but the social one couldn’t.

  • Producing Proof

    Most organisations claim expertise. Very few produce proof. Proof is doing the thing, showing you did it, and showing what happened. It transfers the burden of proof.

  • Understanding Value In A Share-Economy

    In a share economy, value is created through sharing rather than hoarding. In a world where information is abundant and attention is scarce, sharing is the better strategy.

  • Media Isn’t Social?

    Media isn’t inherently social. The social part has to be earned. It comes from intent, not the platform. The question is never which platform — it’s whether you’re actually being social.

  • The Internet and Mental Health

    The internet creates conditions that are hard on the human psyche — comparison, performance, relentlessness. The question: is the way you use it making you more human, or less?

  • Using A Community

    Communities that are used eventually notice and disappear. Communities that are built compound. The test: if you disappeared tomorrow, would the community continue?

  • Ecosystems: Riding on Them, and Creating Them

    An ecosystem is more than a community — it’s the conditions in which others can thrive. Here’s what I’ve learned from trying to create one with Like Minds.

  • Start With Why

    People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it. Starting with why gives you a filter for every decision, every hire, every communication.

  • Fail Forward

    Fail forward means the failure itself becomes the next step. The people I most admire don’t have fewer failures — they fail faster and convert them quicker.

  • Are You Afraid To Give It Away?

    The more you give away, the more people want to work with you. Generosity draws people toward you. Give it away, then develop the next thing.

  • Are You Living A Life Of Purpose?

    Are you living a life of purpose? Not activity, not achievement — purpose. The answer to the why. When purpose is clear, decisions become easier.

  • B2B & Social Media: Provide A Solution

    Nobody cares about your product. They care about their problem. B2B Social Media that provides real solutions to real problems doesn’t need to be pushy. The value does the selling.

  • Together

    Ordinary people achieve extraordinary things when they understand the power of together. The most important word in leadership is not vision, not strategy — it’s together.

  • Build Not Buy

    Community, reputation, authority, trust — none can be purchased. Shortcuts in relationship-building are not shortcuts. They are detours. Build, don’t buy.

  • Your Business, Ubiquitous

    Ubiquity in a social world can’t be purchased. It has to be earned through consistent presence, usefulness, and engagement. Not being everywhere — being where it matters.

  • Social Innovation, Broadcast Duplication

    Social is our default form of communication — fluid, dynamic, adapting. Broadcast is what happens when we package it up and ship it. It no longer changes. Social innovates. Broadcast duplicates.

  • Innovation Over Tradition

    The mouse and the GUI were controversial whilst being developed. They valued innovation over tradition. The question is: are you going to talk about innovation, or actually practise it?

  • Robin’s Thoughts on Maintenance

    Robin Dickinson is the best I know at maintaining what’s been built. Here are his practical tips on how to maintain well, from long-term planning to diamond focus.

  • Case Study: Value-Based Blogging

    A value-based blog gets more comments than retweets. Here are the stats that prove it — and why 60% of engagement happening on-site is the result of choosing community over vanity.

  • Change is the Essence of Growth

    Change is the essence of growth. To not change is truly destructive. Here’s the framework from Switch by Chip and Dan Heath that I’m using to understand how change actually happens.

  • Are You Guiding Or Governing?

    Guidance says go for it. Governance says hold on. Neither at the extreme is right. The art is knowing which to apply — and when you need both simultaneously.

  • It’s Easier To Obtain Than Maintain

    Is it easier to obtain than to maintain? I find starting and leading easier than managing what’s already built. My wife is the opposite. The balance between us is what makes it work.

  • Not Viral, Spreadable

    Not viral — spreadable. You can’t make a viral video. But you can make something spreadable. The distinction matters, and this presentation from MIT explains why.

  • Three Things We Need To Give

    Three things we need to give to the young people around us: Exposure to a larger world, Insight into themselves, and understanding how to Give beyond money.

  • If You Had To Start Again

    If you had to start again, what would you do? Not build a brand. Not get a logo. Create useful things, engage the people who engage with them, and help them.

  • 3 Social Strategies For Small and Big Business

    Three social strategies emerge from the Social / Broadcast Matrix: Watercooler (socialise your channels), Showcase (socialise your content), and Elbow (socialise your culture).

  • The Myth of the Personal Digital Brand

    The myth of the personal digital brand: image precedes substance, following matters more than delivering. Build the kingdom first. Make it worth being king of.

  • Gather What You Scatter

    Spreadability is like scattering seeds. But you can’t live in the volume game forever. The move from volume to value is the move from scattering to gathering.

  • What’s In A Name?

    You can’t underestimate the power of knowing someone’s name. Chris Brogan, Malcolm Sleath, Sy Taylor and I share our practical techniques for remembering names.

  • MC Hammer on Social Media

    MC Hammer on Social Media: the music industry goes from grass roots to mainstream. Long term view, short term execution. Keep your eye on the bigger picture in a rapidly changing arena.

  • The Fight Our Youth Face

    The blessings of our knowledge economy have created an abundance of choice that paralysis young people. Three fights they face that they don’t even know about yet.

  • The Value of a Value Approach

    A value-based approach is about giving more of yourself to fewer people. Here are four returns I received this week, all as a direct result of that approach.

  • What I Learned From Chris Brogan

    When I asked Chris Brogan how he remembered everyone’s names and details, he said: ‘I genuinely just love people.’ Two words that changed how I operate.

  • How I Profile A Community’s Participation To Inform Next Actions

    Don’t target everyone, target the right ones. Here’s how I profile a community’s participation using the 7 Levels model and then implement next actions based on that profiling.

  • Another Look at Scattering Seeds

    Like Minds Helsinki came from a relationship I couldn’t have predicted. I’m reassessing my thinking on value vs volume. You can’t predict which relationships will be valuable.

  • Unmarketing

    Scott Stratten on Social Media: automated tweets are pretending to be present. Relationships take time. Volume doesn’t work. Value does. Here’s what I took from his talk.

  • Lessons from Helsinki: Kill the Speaker / Attendee Divide

    The best bit about Helsinki was when the panel crossed the invisible divide and talked to the crowd like equals. Because that’s what they are. Here’s what worked and what didn’t.

  • Preparation WITH Action

    There is a difference between preparation for action and preparation with action. One waits for the perfect conditions. The other starts, and lets reality define the plan.

  • Like Minds Conversation Helsinki

    Tomorrow I leave for Helsinki for the first international Like Minds event. The preparation required for a virtually-organised international event is ten-fold what you’d expect.

  • Developing A Strong ‘NO’

    The more I say yes, the more likely I am to let people down. Develop a strong ‘no’. It’s better to keep three people happy than to let down three people out of five.

  • Transparency in 2012

    The Telegraph edited comments. Starbucks deleted them without acknowledgment. Transparency in 2012 will mean documentation of every action. You can’t just delete and pretend.

  • Building The Kingdom: Knowing Me, Knowing You

    To be a king-maker, you have to know your kings. When you spend your day doing what you’re best at and let others do the same, 1+1 doesn’t equal 2. It equals 10.

  • Video: What Social Means for Broadcast Business

    Social innovates. Broadcast duplicates. What starts as value in Social, ego or technology turns into volume with Broadcast. And there are three ways to move from one to the other.

  • People-to-People: The Future Of Everything

    People-to-People is the new way we operate in a knowledge economy. Success is built not by the speed of a machine, but by the strength of your team. What’s your story?

  • What ‘Social’ Means For ‘Broadcast’ Businesses

    SMEs fear Social Media because they don’t understand it. We fear what we don’t know. There are three ways for broadcast businesses to move into social: content, channel, or both.

  • Building the Kingdom: Number 1s and Number 2s

    There is no such thing as a team of kings. Number 1s are the visionary trail-blazers. Number 2s make their words reality. Both are leaders. Both are necessary.

  • Spreadability and Guidance vs Governance

    For something to be spreadable, it has to be guided, not governed. If content is heavily restricted, it can’t filter into new areas. If you want things to spread, let go.

  • Are You A King, Or A King-Maker?

    It’s far more rewarding to be the king-maker than to try to put yourself on the throne. Ego is hard work. The best kings were king-makers first.

  • What Have You Bought, Because Of Social Media?

    What have you bought because of Social Media? Books? Event tickets? Local services? The best data on social commerce is our own collective experience.

  • How To Sell, Today (With Video Example)

    People keep telling us to tell stories but don’t say how to monetise them. This stop-motion video is an exceptional example: create an experience, then offer a way to extend it.

  • People, Not Parts

    In a knowledge economy you don’t manage people like parts. You lead them. Parts create volume. People create value. You need a strong team, not a faster machine.

  • Model: The 7 Levels of Participation

    The 7 Levels of Participation: Consult, Consume, Connect, Compete, Comment, Create, Curate. As participation level increases, the number of people who participate decreases.

  • My Like Minds Slides on Spreadability at WOM UK

    My slides from WOM UK on Spreadability vs Reach — how Like Minds makes things out of nothing, motivates teams, and builds community through spreadable ideas rather than reach.

  • 4 Things Charities Can Learn From Christian Aid Week

    Christian Aid Week offers four lessons for any charity: find advocates who are stakeholders, make sharing easy, offer multiple levels of participation, and value more than money.

  • Let Attendees Be Participants

    People remember 20% of what they hear and 70% of what they say. We don’t let people say, because of our egos. Let attendees be participants.

  • Polarising People: How Far Is Too Far?

    Polarise People: you want people to love you or hate you, but never feel ambivalent. But does polarisation cap your audience? And is it necessary for success?

  • If Your Blog Is REALLY Your Home, Then:

    If your blog is really your home, the implications run deeper than bringing people somewhere to stroke your ego. Here are 5 things a good host does that most bloggers don’t.

  • What is the Real Asset?

    As information becomes commoditised, rethinking what your real asset is becomes critical. More often than not, it’s the thing that you can’t take away.

  • 4 Issues With Comments, And Why Most Blogs Are Anti-Social

    Comments matter because that’s when blogging becomes social. Four issues: readers don’t know what to comment, bloggers don’t know what to ask, community ignores comments, and we’ve forgotten what social means.

  • “What Do You Think?” – The Social Cop Out

    When people tag on ‘What do you think?’ to the end of a blog post, it’s a cop out. Either value the comments or don’t ask for them. Be specific, not vague.

  • The 4 New Faces of PR

    Four distinct levels of PR are emerging: Public Relations, Public Relationships, Personal Relations, and Personal Relationship. Mix wide and deep. Work your way down to the individual.

  • Some Thoughts on Social Shopping and Click Consumerism

    Facebook’s Social Plugins show which of your friends liked a product. This is the beginning of Social Shopping. And for local businesses, it’s a shortcut to social authority.

  • What Are Your Social Sales Funnels?

    Blogs are not businesses. A blog is a promotional medium. The real question is: to what end? Here are the three funnels I’ve mapped out — Sales Seeds, Sales Teams, and Sales Leads.

  • Facebook’s Cohesive Web and Postmodern Epistemology

    Facebook’s cohesive web means what you see is shaped by who you are. Two people get different stories. We’re giving up a shared information commons for personalised truth.

  • ‘Social’ as a Consumer Mindset

    People increasingly expect participation, not just consumption. The one-way broadcast model isn’t just less effective — it’s increasingly offensive. Social is becoming a consumer mindset.

  • The End Of The Age Of Content

    The age of content is ending. Not because people have stopped consuming it, but because scarcity has disappeared. What’s scarce now is curation, connection, context, and conviction.

  • 5 Ways To Use Twitter As An Active Authority

    Twitter is not just a broadcast tool or a conversation tool. Used well, it’s an authority tool. Here are 5 ways to use it as an active authority in your field.

  • Spreadability is Like Scattering Seeds

    Spreadability is like scattering seeds. You create it, release it, and let it go. You don’t control where it lands. But you can control the quality of the seed.

  • How Apple Created a New Level of ‘New’ with the iPad

    Apple’s iPad created an entirely new level of ‘new’. Not a better phone. Not a bigger iPod. Here’s how they created a category and populated it simultaneously.

  • Creating Conversation Around Brands

    Creating conversation around brands is sought-after and poorly understood. Most organisations approach it backwards. Build the brand around the conversation, not the other way around.

  • Social Means Celebration – Not Hiding

    Social Media has exposed our tendency to hide what isn’t finished. The people who do best share the journey, not just the destination. Social means celebration. Not hiding.

  • A #hashtag As A Platform

    A hashtag is more than a search term. Used well, it’s a platform — a shared space where community forms around a shared interest, in real time.

  • People Don’t Remember What Was Said, They Remember How They Felt

    People don’t remember what was said. They remember how they felt. Design for the feeling first. The words will follow.

  • The Social / Broadcast Matrix

    There are two approaches to communication: social and broadcast. Most organisations default to broadcast and wonder why Social Media isn’t working.

  • What Nestlé Should Do, In 4 Steps

    What Nestlé should do next, in four steps: stop the bleeding, acknowledge publicly, investigate and report, make a specific commitment. Not complicated. Just hard.

  • The 7 Things Nestlé Should’ve Done

    Nestlé had a bad week with Greenpeace’s palm oil campaign. Their response made it worse. Here are the 7 things they should have done.

  • Mass Relationship

    Mass relationship sounds like a contradiction. But the best brands don’t try to personally know every person — they create something every person can personally connect to.

  • Do Talk Do – What Collaboration Looks Like

    Collaboration has a shape: Do-Talk-Do. Start with action. Then talk about what you did. Then act on what you learned. Not Talk-Talk-Do. Not Do-Do-Do.

  • Be Useful: The 6 Social Media Presences

    The most effective Social Media presence is the one that is genuinely useful. Not the one with the most followers. The one people actually benefit from.

  • 6 Classifications of Social Media Engagement

    Six levels of engagement: Consuming, Collecting, Contributing, Creating, Collaborating, Co-owning. Most audiences consume. Most campaigns hope for contributing. Design for the right level.

  • Preaching to the Converted?

    You’re just preaching to the converted? Good. The converted are your advocates. They’re the bridge to the unconverted. Don’t neglect the bridge.

  • Developing Social Media Strategy

    Developing a Social Media strategy is not about choosing platforms. It’s about answering a prior set of questions that make the platform choices obvious.

  • A Better Way For Event Sponsorship: Partnership

    Most event sponsorship is a bad deal for everyone. A logo on a banner. A mention from the stage. There is a better way: partnership, where the sponsor is genuinely part of the experience.

  • Broadcasting Hypocrisy

    There is something deeply hypocritical about broadcasting the importance of listening. Does your behaviour match your message? Do what you say, or change what you say.

  • You’ve Got A Heart, A Wallet, And Contacts – So Use Them

    You’ve got a heart, a wallet, and contacts. Most people have all three. Very few use them in the same direction at the same time.

  • What Can We Do With Our Collective Like Minds?

    We have hundreds of smart, passionate people who share a set of values. The harder question isn’t how do we grow — it’s what can we do together?

  • Local Charities Doing Good – With Social Media

    Local charities have passionate people and limited resources. Social Media offers them something unprecedented: the ability to reach communities without a significant budget.

  • Wax On, Wax Off: Headfake Marketing, Without Marketing

    Headfake marketing: using one thing to teach another. Mr. Miyagi taught wax on, wax off. Daniel learned to block punches. Here’s how to use it for your ideas.

  • Are You Building Community or Connections?

    Community support is great, but it only gets you so far. If you really want to achieve something, build connections out of that community. Then pick up the phone.

  • It’s (Still) All About People

    It’s still all about people. See you at Like Minds today.

  • “Our Specials” to “You’re Special”

    Selling has been replaced by serving. Rather than talking about ‘Our Specials’, start talking about ‘You’re Special’. Serve hard. Don’t sell.

  • Times are Changing, Teams are Changing

    In open innovation, a team comprises the people who can make the project happen — regardless of where they work. Wages don’t buy blood, sweat and tears. Influence does.

  • No More Big Events?

    Why do we still try to fill rooms? Don’t run a big event that stands alone. Create touch points. Make the event the last in a sequence, not a standalone.

  • What The World Needs Now

    An idea that goes nowhere is just an ideal. What the world needs now is not more content, not more ideas — it’s access to actions. People joined with people who help them make the next step.

  • Creating A People-To-People Conference

    Making ideas happen is the simplest and simultaneously the hardest thing to do. Here’s how we designed Like Minds to create People-to-People at three levels.

  • Conversation About vs Conversation With

    Conversation About and Conversation With are two very different things. 95% of social conversation is About. Getting people to talk With you requires actual motivation.

  • Do You Believe In A Flat Social Media Earth?

    Social Media gives you a direct line. But not everyone who preaches flattening actually lives it. Tuttle isn’t for everyone, but it is for anyone. That’s the real test.

  • People-To-People: A Few Thoughts

    Everything is about people, and people are what everything is about. People-to-People means building, not bulldozing. The deeper the foundation, the taller the building.

  • Social Media Planning, In 4 Phases

    Social Media planning in 4 phases — from vision and objectives at 50,000 feet down to guidelines, training and measurement on the ground.

  • The Pitfall of the Overestimation of Participation

    I’ve failed many times by committing the cardinal mistake of overestimation of participation. Ghost towns. Disappointed clients. Here’s the three-step process that actually works.

  • Friendship 2.0 and Beyond

    Social Networking has created faux friendships — where there is no exchange of life. Real connections require slowing down in a world that is wired for speed.

  • 100 Blog Posts On, My Number One Lesson

    My number one lesson from 100 posts: it’s better to have connection than community if you want to achieve greatness. Community is about hits. Connection is about heart.

  • The Basics Of Expectation Management

    Managing expectations means controlling what people expect from you. Front-load for short-term gain. Back-load for long-term loyalty. Here’s how to apply it.

  • The Pyramid of Expectation

    The central pillar of a compelling experience is exceeding expectations. Customer Sacrifice, Satisfaction, Surprise, Suspense — here’s what the four levels mean and how to climb them.

  • How Apple Creates Suspense, Why Satisfaction Doesn’t Matter, and A Lesson From Star Wars

    Apple creates suspense by never revealing the full product. Satisfaction is just meeting what you promised. The real goal is customer suspense — the experience of anticipating an experience.

  • Pepsi and a Thought About Cause Marketing, Authenticity and Commonality

    Pepsi dropped its Super Bowl spend for cause marketing. But what has Pepsi got to do with social change? Authenticity is only real when the platform is the product.

  • A Tale Of Two Case Studies: Amazon, Pepsi, and Tangible Intangibles

    Amazon sold more Kindle books than physical books on Christmas Day. Pepsi dropped its Super Bowl ad for Social Media. Two cases in how intangibles challenge perception and authenticity.

  • 2010: Make Sense, Or Die

    My prediction for 2010: Make Sense Or Die. There’s too much content for everyone to cohabit. Those that lack clarity will die. Those who walk their talk will win.

  • Understanding Leadership and Management Roles in Social Media

    You manage things, but lead people. Social Media requires both. A lack of leadership creates ghost towns. A lack of management creates train wrecks.

  • The Problem With ‘The Last Tweet Of 2009’

    Businesses tweeting ‘this is our last tweet of 2009’ reveals a fundamental misunderstanding. Conversation doesn’t stop for special occasions. That’s not how conversations work.

  • 4 Flaws To Learn From Eurostar – A Social Media Case Study

    Eurostar's Social Media failure reveals four flawed views most companies hold. It's not a Social Media problem. It's a communications, strategy, integration, and experience problem.

  • Rage Against The Machine: The Case Study In Spreadability vs Reach

    Rage Against The Machine beat X Factor to Christmas number one via a Facebook campaign. A case study in spreadability vs reach. Reach gets your message out. Spreadability gets people to move it for you.

  • How Much Blogging Is Too Much?

    Is there such a thing as too much blogging? I’d rather post less and mean more. One thing worth saying, said well, beats five things said for the sake of it.

  • Under Promise, Over Deliver

    Under promise. Over deliver. The gap between what was promised and what was delivered is where trust goes to die.

  • Handing Off vs Signing Off

    There is a difference between handing off and signing off. The best organisations treat endings as handoffs — making sure whoever comes next has what they need.

  • What The World Needs

    What the world needs is not more content or more marketing. It needs more people who mean what they say and do what they mean.

  • Sucker For A Story. A Bigger Sucker For A Mystery

    I’m a sucker for a story. But an even bigger sucker for a mystery. The best brands have mystery at their core — a sense that there is more here than meets the eye.

  • If You Fail To Prepare, You Prepare To Fail

    Preparation is not the same as planning. Preparation is a form of respect. It says: this matters enough for me to be ready.

  • The Desperate Need For Clarity

    Clarity is in desperately short supply. Not clarity of design — clarity of thought. Of purpose. Of communication. Clarity is a gift you give to the people you’re trying to reach.

  • Digitall, Digicool, Digitool and Diginots

    My taxonomy of digital adoption: Digitall, Digicool, Digitool, and Diginots. Know who you’re talking to. Your strategy for each is completely different.

  • Immerse Yourself

    Immersion is one of the most underrated learning strategies. Surface knowledge produces surface results. Immersion produces transformation.

  • 10 Insights Into Guidance, As Opposed To Governance

    There is a difference between guidance and governance. Governance produces compliance. Guidance produces conviction. Conviction produces better outcomes almost every time.

  • Moving Forward Part 1: Creating Permission

    Permission is not a form someone fills in. It’s a relationship someone chooses. When someone gives you their attention, that’s a privilege. Treat it accordingly.

  • Social Media, First-Mover Advantage, and Why You Should Take It

    First-mover advantage in social media is real. It rewards accumulation — relationships, trust, community. You can’t buy any of that. You can only build it.

  • Tactics Aren’t Strategy AKA Just Because You Could Doesn’t Mean You Should

    Tactics aren’t strategy. Just because you could doesn’t mean you should. Activity is not the same as progress.

  • Free From The Factory

    For most of human history, reaching an audience required institutional permission. That’s over. You are free from the factory. The question is what you’ll do with it.

  • Influencers And Translators

    There are two kinds of people who matter in any community: influencers and translators. Most organisations focus on influencers. Translators are often more valuable.

  • No Man Is An Island

    No man is an island. The most effective organisations aren’t those with the strongest individuals — they’re those with the strongest connections between them.

  • Becoming P2P

    We are moving from a B2B and B2C world to a P2P world. Person to person. People no longer trust institutions. They trust people.

  • The Reason Why Companies Don’t ‘Get It’

    The reason companies don’t get it is not lack of information. It’s lack of imagination. An empathy failure. Solved by proximity, not data.

  • PRE – Your Social Media Stance

    There are three stances in social media: Passive, Reactive, and Engaged. The question is not which tools to use. It’s which stance you’re taking.

  • The 6 Types Of Social Media Presences You’ll Meet In Heaven

    There are six types of social media presences. Most organisations are Broadcasters wishing they were Performers, not realising they should be Conversationalists.

  • Uniting People Around A Platform

    A platform without people is just infrastructure. A platform with people but without unity is just a crowd. Build the people first.

  • Marketing 101: Get People Talking

    The most powerful marketing is not the campaign you run. It’s the story someone else tells about you. Because their story is trusted in a way yours never will be.

  • 10 Tips For Creating Spreadable Service

    Service that spreads is service worth having. Here are 10 tips for creating service so good people can’t help but talk about it.

  • Lift The Restrictions

    The restrictions that slow us down are often self-imposed. What if you offered the client something they didn’t know to ask for?

  • PR 2010

    PR was designed for a world where information was scarce. That world is gone. Here’s what PR looks like now.

  • PR, Static Wine and Dynamic Wineskins

    New wine needs new wineskins. New ideas need new structures. The question isn’t just what’s the idea — it’s what container does it need to thrive?

  • The New PR

    PR is broken. Not as a concept, but as it’s practised. The new PR is not about broadcasting. It’s about participating.

  • Keeping You In The Loop

    Like Minds is growing. Consulting work is stretching me. I’m writing a lot. Some of it will appear here. Some of it is becoming something larger.

  • Copy and Paste

    Being influenced means something passed through you and came out different. Copy and paste means it came out the same. The world needs your synthesis, not your copy.

  • Patrick Swayze

    Patrick Swayze was given five weeks. He lived twenty months, and kept working the whole time. What are you waiting for?

  • Life, Not Lifestyle

    There is a difference between a life and a lifestyle. We’ve become very good at lifestyle. We’ve become quite bad at life.

  • Thinking Outside Of The Bin

    Great ideas don’t come from where we expect them to. They come from adjacent disciplines, unexpected conversations, different lenses on the same world.

  • Making It Personal

    Personalised is a system. Personal is a relationship. The difference between the two is felt immediately.

  • Give Yourself To The Season

    We want growth all year round. But the most fruitful lives I’ve seen are those that have learned to give themselves to the season they’re in.

  • Relaxed, Refreshed, Re-envisioned

    The holiday gave me three things: rest, refresh, and re-envision. When you stop reacting to the immediate, you start responding to the important.

  • Making Room For People

    Making room for people isn’t a programme. It’s an orientation. It’s deciding, before anyone arrives, that people matter more than your agenda.

  • Perspective

    When you’re living on the ground, you can’t see the wood for the trees. Getting perspective requires getting above it. And sometimes you need someone to help you fly.

  • You’ve Helped Me Find My Voice

    Yesterday’s post received 1 comment. That comment helped me find my voice as a thinker. You have created a demand, and in that demand, I found my purpose.

  • Every Innovator Is Winging It

    Every innovator is winging it. Churchill was winging it. Jobs was winging it. They all were. The question is whether you wing it with confidence or retreat to safety.

  • Maximize Your Strengths

    Stop trying to become better at what you’re bad at. Become the best at what you’re good at. That’s the shift that changed everything.

  • Cast Your Bread On The Social Media Waters

    Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. In social media, we are continually putting stuff out there. The effort returns, often when you least expect it.

  • 5 Steps For Making Quality Decisions

    I make quality decisions based on personal convictions — decisions about what I will and won’t do, long before the opportunity to enact them. Here are the 5 steps.

  • Again, One Is Too Small A Number

    Happy first birthday to us. One year in, I realise again: one is too small a number to achieve significance. We did it with you.

  • A Time For Peace, A Time For War

    You only go to war when the spoils are worth the endeavour. But how do you decide what battles to fight, and which to leave?

  • One Is Too Small A Number To Achieve Significance

    My take away from the Exeter Tweetup: one is too small a number to achieve significance. What can we do, together, that will cause change in this world?

  • It’s All About People

    All my examples, doctrine, memorable phrases and effort was for one thing and one thing only: people. The thing missing from your formula, Scott, is people.

  • Life Never Closes Its Doors

    Business hours are dead. 24/7 is the new 9 to 5. Life never closes its doors. Leaders live in a fish bowl. If someone is watching, make it worth their while.

  • Switching Off

    An abundance of information has created a poverty of attention. I’ve found I’m unable to switch off. My mind buzzes when I want to rest. How do you switch off?

  • Uncompromising On Your Experience

    Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. Experience is remembered even longer. I’ve decided: providing a compelling experience is a non-negotiable.

  • Hacking Yourself

    I’m a man of fads. What I’ve come to know is that I’m obsessive. And I’ve learned to hack that obsession to my advantage.

  • Life Isn’t Lego

    In many ways life is like Lego. But the biggest difference? Lego you build alone. Life is lived with other people.

  • Real and Fake, False and Authentic

    Just because something is staged doesn’t mean it isn’t authentic. The line between real and fake can almost be reduced to one word: integrity.

  • A Compelling Experience: The Original Word Of Mouth

    Women In Touch did a conference last week. What people remember isn’t the teaching or the music. It’s the whole experience. A compelling experience is the original word of mouth.

  • If You’re Going To Blog

    Some of my friends have started blogging. Of all the reasons why to blog, there are some that I think are more important than others.

  • Community Is Made From Two Words

    The buzz phrase is ‘community’. But do we know what it actually means? Community is made from two words: common and unity.

  • Life: It’s the Experience That Counts

    Last night was the opening of Touch 09. Life is not the things we do, but the experience we have whilst doing them.

  • The Measure Of A Man

    Richard Branson retweeted Archbishop Desmond TuTu this week. The question he posed stopped me: not ‘do you hit women?’, but how do you treat them?

  • Keeping Your Head When Everyone Else Is...

    This week is busy. It’s weeks like this, where you have to manage multiple things at high stress and time pressure, that easily break your daily routine.

  • Experience: Today’s Currency

    When you go into Starbucks what are you buying? A product? A service? Or something far greater? Experience is today’s currency.

  • Content is a Commodity. Clarity is King.

    We have so much content that we are drowning. Less content, more clarity.

  • The Most Precious Human Resource: Action

    Content is a commodity. Take your pick of entertainments, places, ideas, tinned foods, holiday destinations. The thing we lack is not content — it is action.

  • How GTD Rescued Me

    Jesus saved my soul. GTD saved my future. Really, it did. When started working at church at 19 I had no office experience.

  • Early Memories of Design Fascination

    I remember being in my first year at school and seeing a group of boys build a boat using Lego. “Idiots” I thought, as they built columns of the ships hull one brick directly on top of another.