Observed

When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he realized he needed help while he was away.  So, Odysseus asked his friend, Mentor, to be in charge of his son, Telemachus, and his palace until he returned.

While the meaning has changed a bit, we still seek and offer mentoring.

What’s the best platform for such a trusted relationship?  According to my friend, Nick Gargala, Ed.D., the best results occur when the mentoring happens face to face.  In interviews for his recent dissertation, Nick found that over the phone is a distant second, and e-mail mentoring is the weakest.

Where trust is important to a relationship (e.g., in business development), the more personal the better.

Seth just posted a thought about the importance of relationships and how to build/maintain them.  “The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen.”

My advice?

• Be tangible.
• Be tangible.
• Be tangible.

So, touch somebody.  Do something tangible.  Any questions?

The Andon cord is central to Toyota, Opel and other Deming-esque management models.  It’s the cord you’ll find throughout the factory and at each work station, ready to be pulled if the production process must be immediately stopped.

Who may pull the Andon cord?  Anyone may, even the lowest-ranking member of the team.

That’s part of the beauty of the system.  Anyone is empowered to pull the cord.

The real beauty of the Andon cord, however, is that it’s so very there — whether it’s used or not.  By its physical, tangible presence, everyone is constantly reminded that they matter.  The Andon cord is a clear and constant tangible symbol that they are part of.

Which, Toyota’s recent troubles notwithstanding, seems to work really well.

Why all the fuss about intimacy in marketing communication and, especially, sales?  Does it really matter whether you stay in touch with a client or prospect via Twitter or something more personal?

I believe it does.

Sure, it depends on the stakes.  In my case, I’m a freelance writer selling into a mature market.  If I want someone to hire me, I must offer them something more than my experience and credentials.  Something more than the promise or intention that I’ll be accountable.

So, here’s a re-frame for my last few posts on memorable communications from my own business development perspective…

• In order to hire me, a prospect must first trust me.
• In order to trust me, they must believe I care.
• In order to believe I care, I must demonstrate that I care…not merely assert that I care.
• In order to demonstrate that I care, I must be as tangible and personal as possible.  The more I sacrifice (e.g., my time, money and the like) in communicating that, the greater the value and impact.  The more I prove I care.

What I’m seeking is to be in relationship with someone.  Because I’m asking them to trust me with their baby.

OK, maybe the only place where size counts is in sumo wrestling.  After reading a reporter’s account of what it took to cover the Tour de France, however, I was reminded of the size of the platform it takes for some stories to get told.

It’s not that newpaper reporters are typically smarter or harder working or whatever than bloggers and others in the non-MSM. (more…)

What could ensure a more accurate portrayal of What Happened than having someone there?  Someone who was there and felt what it was like to be there.

That’s what I read when I learned this morning that the United States Marine Corps has an artist in its ranks, a painter deployed to capture combat scenes.  “We have somebody who was there who can tell the story,” according to Col. Robert Oltman, USMC, referring to Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles, the lone remaining Marine combat artist.

Why not photography?  I’ll let the New York Times answer that one. (more…)

Here’s an excerpt from a blog I recently started following.  It’s a post about Apple’s head industrial designer, Jonathan Ive, and the process he used for the iPhone 4:

“It’s very hard to learn about materials academically, by reading about them or watching videos about them; the only way you truly understand a material is by making things with it,” Ive explains, going on to add that years upon years of making his own models with his own hands is what gave him a deep understanding of the materials he’s worked. “And it’s important to develop that appetite to want to make something, to be inquisitive about the material world, to want to truly understand a material on that level.”

I couldn’t help but think of the Roycrofters.  These American arts-and-crafters espoused the same kind of creative process over a century ago.  The furniture, books and other everyday objects they designed, built and fabricated expressed the exact nature of the materials used.

Ive, Apple and the Roycrofters understood.  They found the true nature of the materials in their products.  They knew that for the user to be the most pleased required total honesty and that this required gemba.

A debate is under way about the pluses and minuses of books versus the Internet.  There’s mounting evidence, for example, that books do a better job helping us develop critical thinking, reading and math skills.  All of these seem to suffer once a home gets hooked up to a high-speed ISP.

This news comes at a time when I’ve been thinking (again) about the virtues of the tangible…particularly in marketing and business development communications.  It made me wonder about the many, varied ways we value the ability to touch, hear, smell and see a person, place or thing — ways such as… (more…)

How many of us are making a career out of messaging on our BlackBerry devices?  You?

Are we accomplishing more?  Or, just doing less faster.

Thomas Jefferson organized the first nation-wide political party in the late 18th Century with nothing more than pen, paper and stamp.  Think about that.

True, the nation was smaller back then.  Yet, I could have cited the drafting and passage of the Declaration of Independence or a dozen of other pre-digital accomplishments.  For Jefferson alone.

OK, I get it.  I’m not suggesting anyone try to put the genie back in the bottle.  But remember, it’s a choice.  Maybe we would be more creative, relaxed, balanced, productive, happier and whatever if we un-plugged more often.

So, quit typing so much.  Pick up a pen.  Or crayon.  Look at a cloud or bird or another person’s face.  Try being still.

You might be surprised by what you notice.  Or, by who notices you.

My heart stopped briefly this morning.  It resumed beating when I realized I had NOT written the Web copy pilloried by Seth at 6:28  a.m., Eastern.

My sympathies go to Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, an otherwise fine law firm in need of better editing.  (A testament to the power of Google that I found the firm merely by pasting in the offending copy.)

So what?  (more…)