Successful Blog

E = mc2 of Business — Better than Flow

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E = mc2

You’ve probably heard that.
In the world of physics, it’s explained as

Total energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

Not long ago, I had the rare and amazing experience of being in a group, with a group, part of a group of coworkers who are on common quest. They’re building a company and they’ve invited Amy Derby and me to join their social media quest.

The room was electric with ideas. The total kinectic and potential energy really did equal mass multiplied times the speed of light squared. I can’t stop thinking about what makes that happen — because when we went back it happened again.

  • The leaders are learners who liked learners around them.
  • Every person in the room is clear on his or her role.
  • Every person has the power to see what see and know what they see and know.
  • Information is the currency of getting thing done and the trust was the speed of execution.
  • Making progress and enjoying it is more important than being right.
  • They understand how to be personally invested without taking things personally.
  • The challenges were within reach for the skills and the time line.
  • Everyone knew which priorities came first.

The first four-hour meeting sailed by with total engagement, without self-consciousness or boredom. The seond one did too. It was group flow — that state of “being in the zone.” Twitter was discussed, but no one even thought of tweeting.

E = mc2 of Business is putting all of our social-relational team energy into our work. It’s better than flow, because it’s got the exponential power of a team.

I wonder if they were aware how much they smile.

Have you ever experienced the E = mc2 with the people you do business?
How do you know when you’re with a team that has it?
How do inspire it and fire it up?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

 

How to Find Your Tribe in One Word

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relationships button

Two weeks ago, I wrote about finding your voice when the tribe has spoken. Losing a job is a sure a way to feel we’ve lost our tribe, but it’s not the only one. A relocation, a divorce, a huge setback of some sort, or some way of thinking can make us feel apart.

Lots of folks have lots of reason for feeling we’re on the outside.

It’s almost overwhelming. The world can seem to be one huge tribe and we can seem to be the only one who’s not a part. Of course, that’s flawed thinking. Ever met a group of people who could agree on anything huge for very long? The whole world is too big to hold a meeting about who belongs.

It’s not how the world sees you. It’s how you see yourself that counts.

Which tribe do you want to be part of? You get to pick. Now is a better time than any other to get the word out about who you are. We have social tools to launch a campaign and so many ways to find a new tribe.

The key to it all is in one word — chosen and used wisely.

Connect — Online and Off

  • Connect with the things that made you successful in the past.
  • Connect with the things you want to accomplish in the future.
  • Connect with people who are positive and who see the person in you that you like.
  • Connect with your family and friends and talk about what they’re doing.
  • Connect with positive people who can teach you.
  • Connect with people you find interesting and smart.
  • Connect over coffee, at church, at any venue that invites learners.
  • Connect online and off.
  • Connect with people who enjoy helping you connect.

Every person you connect to is an opportunity to find out about what you’ve been missing and what you can learn to survive.

Keep these thoughts in mind when you connect.

A connection is not as simple as clicking on the “follow” button. It’s finding out about a person, learning what you have in common, showing what you have to give, not what you need to get.

Solid connections are built by listening and then sharing back. Taking the time to connect with fewer, quality people can be more efficient — each person you get to know well can open the door to a whole network of friends.

The Three Rules of How to Connect

  • Connect with an open, hungry, beginner’s mind to the situations that teach you.
  • Connect with an open, generous, fearless heart to people who want to help you.
  • Connect with purpose to the future that you couldn’t imagine until now.

How will you know when you’ve found the tribe where you belong? You’ll not be thinking about who you are when you’re with them, you’ll be thinking about what you’re learning and what you can offer them.

And if you have a tribe … your tribe will strong if you invite new folks in.
How might we reach out to help someone who needs that first connection?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! Buy Liz’s ebook to learn to the art of online conversation.

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Connect to a Power Network.

Sponsor Love: Buzz Corps and Allstate Join the SOBCon Sponsor List!!

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Sponsor Love Is Contagious

At SOBCon09 What fun to announce this! SOBCon09 has two new sponsors!!

My relationship with Buzz Corps started with track I managed for BlogWorld Expo. I asked Geoff Nelson if he would speak on a panel about the sponsoring deals Buzz Corp makes For, By, and With the community of Blogger. One of the first things he said to me was that he and his partner Chris Aarons are champions for bloggers because they believe they learn most of what they know from blogs. We got to know each other at Gnomedex and through the months after — Geoff, Chris, and Nick, their third partner talked to introduce our event. I’m thrilled Geoff and Chris will be joining us at SOBCon.
Their contribution will provide

  • funding to help the conference — allowing us to better serve participants
  • visibility and new conversations for Buzz Corps
  • Geoff’s participation — a chance for participants to find out how Buzz Corps works with bloggers and perhaps how Buzz Corp might work with them.
  • A new kind of expertise brought to the SOBCon table.

Kudos to Beth Rosen who helped connect me back with Marcia Hansen, a woman I sat next to at BlogWell. Marcia and I got a chance to extend our relationship recently and now Allstate is sponsoring SOBCon. I’m delighted that Marcia will be fully participating in our event including

  • funding to help the conference — allowing us to better serve participants
  • visibility for Allstate
  • Marcia’s participation — a chance for participants to find out how Allstate is using social media.
  • The Allstate entry in the “Show the Sponsors Challenge”

Because They Invested in Us We Can Invest MORE in YOU!

Thank you to our new Sponors!!

Thank you also everyone who took the Blog It Earn It!! Discount

If you don’t have your promo code, please leave a link to your post below (with your email in the form) and I’ll make sure that you get it.

We’re sincerely grateful to everyone who makes this such an incredible event!!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

That many incredible people make it incredible!!

Visual Authenticity: How Do You Show Your Promise?

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The Promise of What’s Inside

As a book publisher, I looked at hundreds of suggested book covers. Sometimes the most well-designed were the ones that got turned down immediately. They might have been beautiful, but they didn’t do the job.

The cover’s job is to communicate what’s inside. It makes a promise of what you’ll find if you explore further.

People say “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But we we’re not wired right, nor do we have time, to do an indepth study of everything and everyone before we decide.

I know that this can seem controversial, but to me how you look speaks volumes to someone who might be your next client. — William Love, VividlyDrawn

The one who visually communicates what he or she offers
is far more likely to get an offer. The connection happens before a word is said.

Disconnects, Visual Authenticity, and First Impressions

Yesterday, I had two meetings at The Image Studios. the professional image communication consultancy in Chicago. We accomplished several things.

Kristin, Colors, Clothes

Meet Kristin Evans wardrobe consultant. Kristin and I sat for about an hour discussing what I do, how I live, and how much time I like to spend on things like clothes. We took a phrase from my friend RoxanneDiana. I want “a high maintenance look with low maintenance management.”

Then we went to a three-way mirror. Kristin pointed out the shape of my face, the width of my shoulders and my waist, the length of arms, my torso, and my legs. Then she explained how to use clothing pieces to get the best look for what I’ve got — to draw the eyes up, to even out my height, to make the mathematics work.

We covered my hair and clothes and put colors around my face to find the color palette that works best with my skin tones … I’m delighted to report the colors I’ve chosen for my new blog design are in that group.

Kali, Diversity, and Reversity

Meet Kali, the founder and passionate entrepreneur. Kali and I talked about my goals and her goals for several hours. She talked hair and took photos use the computer imager to choose the hair style that suits my personality — the authenticity words I’ve chosen to describe myself, when no one’s looking. We’re not there yet … keep watching.

We also talked about diversity and “reversity.” We explore the idea that by teaching diversity, we’re focusing on the wrong thing. We’ve built a culture that teaches us to “allow for” differences, but don’t teach folks the skills they need or enough avenues to acquire them.

For example: We say that men, women, people of various colors and cultures, Boomers, GenYers, you and I should be understood. But any amount of diversity understanding for me — that I only sound uncertain, that I never learned to small talk, or that I only look as if I don’t care — won’t change the fact that those “differences” make it harder for me to succeed. What I need is the skills and information to reverse those perceptions.

First Impressions, Mixed Messages and Trust

First impressions are made of context and trust. If people see one thing and hear the same thing, the impression resonates with trust. If what they see and hear don’t match — I say “yes,” but shake my head “no.” — they have to reconcile the differences.

It’s hard to trust mixed messages.

When we offer visual and verbal authenticity — communication is easier for all of us. It’s a great promise we deliver on. Like the book and cover, what’s inside starts the process.

I’ve started with a new t-shirt.

t-shirt by Reflect
Elpoep gnizama tcartta i -- t-shirt by Reflect

How do you show your promise? I’m working on it and I’d really like to know.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Register now for SOBCon09

Put your promise into action.

Silly Out-of-Context Tweets — Can They Hurt?

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Ever heard someone describe something you weren’t prepared to hear about? Ever had it happen online? Ever had one of your random “tweets” show up in a Google Search or a Google Alert?

Tabz said: @lizstrauss Yep. Some of my random tweets show up in Google Blog Search.. it’s weird.

Aruni said: @lizstrauss yes, it’s weird. I’ll get a Google Alert with one of my tweets but it’s not consistent…

It can be weird. It can be funny. But the potential of words out of context doesn’t feel good. We know what we meant, but not everyone who see those out-of-context words would.

Imagine how a random tweet might seem to folks who just dropped in to see who we are, to get reference, or to explore some social media topic our comment was in. It’s probably a good thing most clients or family wouldn’t start with Google Blog Search or a Google Alert.

Can silly out-of-context Tweets hurt?
The Internet has a long memory and no eraser.

Andrew Lightheartsaid Re: Alerts – it does worry me a little. I *try* to not say anything too out there just in case…

Twitter is discoverable in court.
Twitter is findable by Google.
Twitter is more than 140 characters that float away on the stream.

As the phrase goes, I’m just sayin’ … what do you say to that?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Have You Tried the DO Strategy of Social Business Success?

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Relationships in Business

We’re not just tools and sticks. Business is inherently social. People add value to or interrupt the flow of every transaction we make. We interact with coworkers, our customers, our clients, our vendors, the person who delivers our packages.

How well we do at getting to our goals is our definition of whether we succeed.

I’ve been watching people who succeed. They have common traits. They know what they do well. They are focused on their destination. They’re saturation learners and more than anything, they DO what it takes to get themselves where they want to be.

Malcolm Gladwell talks about it in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success
on page 39 when he says

… the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he o she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

They do the work.

I’ve been thinking about doing as a strategy for success. It’s got some research (like Gladwell’s) behind it. It also make plain sense. Try this for the next two weeks.

  • Do what you’re good at.
  • Do what you say you will.
  • Do it when you promise.
  • Do your homework before you ask question so that you don’t waste other people’s time.
  • Do it right the first time, so you don’t have to do it twice.
  • Do what you were asked, not what you think is better unless you’re 100% certain everyone will agree.
  • Do what’s right, what’s beautiful, what you know you’ll be proud of when you look back in 10 years.
  • Do own your missteps and mistakes so that bad spirits don’t linger.
  • Do care about the people touched by your work, your words, and all you do.
  • Do hold control for your success in your own hands.

I wonder if these are the “DOs” Nike had in mind?

Have you tried the DO Strategy of Social Business Success? What do you DO to succeed?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy Liz’s ebook to learn to how to write for conversation.

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Spend a weekend working with a dream team of social media.