Successful Blog

30-Minute Strike Force Strategy to Increase Your Productivity

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Move that Stuff

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A colleague in publishing once told me, “I can tell your productivity level by the amount of stuff around your desk.”

I checked my team at the time, the situation was the same for them. As the action of a project went faster, the piles around their desks got higher and wider. I also noticed that those collections of stuff did more than steal space …

Piled-up stuff steals time, decreases productivity, and causes stress.

As our piles move outward and get higher, we spend time:

  • visually scanning.
  • moving farther to get what we need.
  • remembering what each pile if for.

It’s a great rule to decide on every item as it enters our command center, choosing to

  • Do it.
  • Delegate it.
  • Dump it.

I find that I sometimes need more information before I can move on any of those three. Which means that some things end up in the option called

  • It Depends …

and that’s when the piles start neatly forming. It was the same for my team. A reset strategy was called for.

A 30-Minute Strike Force Strategy to Increase Productivity

When the piles start to slow down progress try this 30-minute strategy to get back to a Command Center that works for you and your productivity.

  1. Choose your ground. Great commanders don’t try to conquer the world in one day. Pick one field that deserves your attention — your desk, your inbox, your favorites, your LinkedIn page, your blog.
  2. Have a clear strategy before you start. Know your priorities and purpose going in. Define your allies and enemies. If you’ve not used something for 3 months why is it next to your keyboard? If you don’t want design work why do you talk so much about it on your LinkedIn page.
  3. Be on a lethal mission. Set a 30 minute time in which to sort what you’ll keep and what you’ll delete or throw away. (If you make a defer / delegate pile, put it farther and make it smaller than the trash bin. If you live a week without touching anything in that pile, dump it. You’ll survive fine.)
  4. Organize what’s left and define the space. Set the things you use most often closest to you. Decide how much time you can commit to maintain this.
  5. Claim your rewards and Celebrate. Take a few minutes to survey your work with your favorite reward.
  6. Leverage this process for the future. Try it in a new space.

The sense of accomplishment that comes from taking control is possibly the best motivator I know. I just was lethal with my workspace and that’s what led this blog post

And I’m still claiming my reward – workspace that’s working for me again.

Thinking about what I’ll tackle next …

What about you? Where would a 30-minute Strike Force Strategy increase your productivity?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Social Media Book List: Get Out of the Way and Six Pixels of Separation

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors and writers by managing their online book promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I will be highlighting ‘Get Out of the Way’. and ‘Six Pixels of Separation’ by Mitch Joel. The books I discuss will cover topics such as social media (Facebook and Twitter), organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

Get Out of the Way by John Levy

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“John Levy’s book is an essential read for managers of product development and innovation. John offers practical guidelines managers can use and signs they should watch out for to help them improve results of their teams. His book is a valuable resource for creating a highly effective product development organization.” Jan Richards, J. G. Richards Consulting

In the forward, Marks S. Williams shares, “In his book ‘Get Out of the Way!’ John Levy gives managers the tools to solve the unique problems of innovation: unpredictable customers; challenging technology; bright, opinionated people; and corporate environments that can be capricious. With all the buzzwords that attend the term “innovation,” the work fundamentally comes down to how people work together to make technology work for people. This is learnable, teachable, and trainable. But it is not easy. ‘Get Out of the Way!’ extends specific actions you can take to increase your odds of success.

About the Author:

John Levy is a management consultant who helps product development and IT organizations get consistent, predictable, and innovative results.

John has over thirty years of experience in the computer and software industry, including engineering management positions with Quantum, Apple Computer, Tandem Computers, and Digital Equipment. He earned a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University and holds engineering degrees from Cornell and Caltech.

You can purchase a copy of ‘Get Out of the Way’ online at ThinkAha Books or at Amazon.

This blog post is part of a virtual book tour done by Key Business Partners and I have received a complimentary copy of ‘Get Out of the Way ‘ by the author.

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel

Now I would like to highlight a book on my “review” reading list–Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone..

Want to know more? Read here–

Exploring how and why online forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs have gained such popularity—and credibility—with consumers, this practical guide offers proven strategies for organizations to leverage these new internet-based social media outlets. The differences between traditional and new media are explored, as are simple ways business owners and marketers can use these new resources to communicate with their customers. Practical tips on gaining the attention of and interacting with influential bloggers, the pros and cons of creating a company blog, guerilla marketing on the internet, and restructuring marketing expectations are also discussed.

About Mitch:
When Google wanted to explain online marketing to the top brands in the world, they brought Mitch Joel to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and in 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. He has been called a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. He is also a Blogger, Podcaster, passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing, new media and personal branding. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (recognizing individuals who have achieved a significant amount of success but have not yet reached the age of 40).
*courtesy of Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘Six Pixels of Separation’ on Amazon

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.

12 Major Social Media Myths about Big Brands that Need Taking Down

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Late December 2009, I was knocked over by two conditions:

  • the huge number of social media job descriptions appearing on job sites
  • a simple statistic predicting that 86% of Companies were planning a Social Media Marketing Bump in their Budgets for 2010.

They prompted me to write — the 10 Crucial Roles of a Social Media Director. That piece brought me fact to face with something I’d suspecting for some time …

To bring a new business to the web, the culture has to become a beginner again. The larger the business the harder that is … they have more past success, more to lose, more to fear, less to win. — 10 Crucial Roles of a Social Media Director in 2010

I’ve been watching the differences between how individuals and small business use social media and how big brands do ever since. What strikes me now is a number of myths that have grown around how brands incorporate social media into their cultures.

Though it can be said that big brands move more slowly than a smaller, more flexible startup might move, we can’t assume that slowly means blind, uncaring or mentally inept.

Big brands didn’t get to be big brands by getting everything wrong.

So I asked some of the people I admire most about navigating the social web while working in a brand culture. What myth about brands, business, and social media would you most like to put to rest?
I’ve sorted their answers into 12 major myths. Their words are filled with the mysteries they’re facing and the magic it takes to move a big company to serve customers well.

[I’ve included their names, their industries, links and their twitter streams. Each individual is offering his or her own opinion and observations — not those of his company or brand.]

Myth 1: Social Media Is a Science

Working with people is rarely all tools and numbers. It’s called the “web,” because we link and connect in myriad ways — site to site, message to message, comment to comment, Facebook to Twitter — which all comes down to person to person.

Even one to many is really one to one, one, one, one, one, one, one. Count me as a many; I’ll still feel it like a one.

Social media isn’t a ‘science’ one can master, but the ‘art’ of treating people well. — Robyn Tippins, Community Director

Myth 2: We Can’t Separate the Person and the Company

Great companies realize that people have been meeting and making friends with people who work at companies all of our adult lives — in person, on the phone, through email. Sometimes we meet friends who work at companies. Sometimes company folks become friends. Words in text online might seem to make this more important, but it’s not.

We don’t share the same with all of our colleagues, friends, and acquaintances offline. Why assume that we would online?

I’m not sure if I can be of much help; I deliberately keep my online activities separate from my employer’s brand. I don’t generally engage in social media on my employer’s behalf (though I think this would be a fun career, it’s not the one I have). And I don’t want to have to plaster disclaimers on all of my blog posts. Beyond this, I don’t know what “myths” you’re talking about. Tell me some, and maybe I can put them to rest. — Holly Jahangiri, author, Tech Writer, Information Developer @Holly Jahangiri

Myth 3: All We Do Is On Twitter and Facebook

Great social media teams and their directors spend much of their time managing change — making sure that folks understand the relationships, not just the tools. They “get” that people learn and adapt at their own speed. Great companies serious about taking on more social presence realize both the opportunities and the responsibilities.

Understanding before action is a smart move.

One of the biggest myths is that the fruits of our labor are summed up by our brand’s Twitter or Facebook presence. A response from a company representative doesn’t necessarily indicate they’re actually listening in a meaningful way. Many companies that don’t have the same type of social media presence per se really are listening by doing things like analyzing conversational information and transforming it into data that can be used to improve products and services. This may change someday, but right now, most of the “work” involved with social media centers around helping the company adapt and get contextual understanding of conversations happening online, how they can participate in a meaningful (and legal) way, and re-orient the interface of the business toward the real-time web. — Shannon Paul, Social Media Director, Insurance Industry, @ShannonPaul

Myth 4: Legal Is the Enemy

Great social media companies know how diverse teams build strong strategies through dialogue. It’s easy to find people who think the same as we do. But the best ideas stand the test of different points of view.

People who think differently add value.

I would like to put to rest the idea that Legal is always the roadblock to social media adoption. More times than not, my experience has been that the Legal folks have a ready willingness to help and provide the best counsel for their clients. My advice to anyone starting a social media program at a brand is to involve a member of the Legal team as early as possible. — Michael E. Rubin, Social Media Director, Financial Industry, @merubin

Myth 5: B2B Can’t Rock Social Media

Maybe it’s because consumer companies got into the game sooner; or maybe it’s because their consumer groups are larger and sometimes louder; whatever the reason, some folks are stuck on the idea that companies who sell to and partner with other businesses can’t use the social web to grow their businesses.

I’d love to dispel the myth that B2B can’t “do” social media. There are so many outstanding businesses proving that not only can it work, but that B2B might actually have advantages around content, relationship cycles, and niche communities. It’s time we look at social media as an enhancement to business as a whole, and adaptable to many different models. — Amber Naslund, Director of Community, Social Media Monitoring Industry, @ambercadabra

Myth 6: Social Media Is Just Another Marketing Channel

Great companies see the shift in relationships allowed by the speed and reach of new tools. Yet, they never lose sight of their values and the value of the relationships those tools touch.

Social is part of every business function and relationship.

The notion that social media is just another marketing channel is one that is short sighted and flawed. Sadly, many businesses charge junior staff with social media initiatives. Those efforts exist in a vacuum—and consequently come up short. The reality is that social media extends and enhances advertising campaigns, direct mail messaging, sales efforts, recruiting and just about every business goal if utilized correctly. When was the last time you heard of business tasking a bunch of interns to formulate a “telephone strategy?” — Rob Birgfeld, Director of Audience Development, Marketing and Communications Industry @robbirgfeld

Myth 7: Social Media Is Free Broadcasting Platform

Social media spammers might not understand this one.

Community respects and listens.

The notion that social media is a free platform to blast out your brands message is honestly, complete crap and yes, a myth. First off, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are free, but the time and energy it takes to build and maintain an interactive community on them is not. Second, if you only want to talk about your brand and how fantastic it is, buy a print advertisement or a billboard that targets nameless, faceless people. — Sarah Caminker , Fundraising Manager, Nonprofit and Social Good, @SarahCaminker

Social media may be free, but it’s not just another broadcast platform. It requires a significant shift in how to think about connecting with customers, and it takes work and attention. — Richard Binhammer , Corporate Communications @RichardatDell

Myth 8: Brands Can’t Be Nimble

It’s true. Great brands know jack!

… the myth that I’d like to put to rest is that brands can’t be as nimble on social media as the rest of us. In fact, this depends on the brand and the visionaries who are responsible for driving communications for that brand. — Alexandra Levit , Business/Workplace Author, Journalist, Speaker @alevit

Myth 9: Brands Use Social Media Selfishly

Successful businesses large and small focus on supporting the people who help them thrive. The ROI of being selfish is negative. Great companies know that.

If I had to try and dispel one myth about brands and their use of social media it would be that companies only use social media to their exclusive advantage. Everyone has seen a few brands attempt to use social media to push their own agenda. Everyone has also seen these same companies falter … in public. Most everyone knows of a few companies that have had success with social media too. I think these companies have figured out a secret about social media — it’s that employees are passionate about being able to use their voice to do good.

These companies have figured out that the simple act of empowering their employees allows for a huge return. Not necessarily a traditional return on investment (ROI) – although that is often one of the effects. It’s more of a return on engagement. When people are engaged – they engage back. One way to think of this is that’s like a “corporate hug” – Most people don’t think about hugging a brand, but they will hug back when the brand makes the effort to engage them.

There are so many companies using, and I do mean the word USING, their corporate brand for the social good. Everyone knows of a few huge brands that are using their brand for corporate good. Which is great to see. There are also a few smaller companies using their brand to engage the community that deserve to be highlighted. One that comes to mind is the clothing company Life is Good. They put on a festival that combines outdoor and in-person activities with a great cause. Another is a subset of the work @ShaunaCausey of Comcast is doing with Voluntweetup – where Comcast sponsors community based efforts on a local scale.

There are countless companies using their brand to do some social good. I hope to see more and more of these stories start to be highlighted in the coming months and years. The smart companies are leveraging their brand and the power of social media to do some good.

Life is Good Festival – http://www.lifeisgood.com/festivals/history-of-Life-is-good-festivals.aspx
Voluntweetup – http://www.voluntweetup.net/wp/ — Jeff Shuey, Director of Business Development, @jshuey

Myth 10: Social Belongs in Marketing or PR, or…

From the first comment, the social web has been about conversation. Communication cannot be shoved into a single department or made a one-sided event. Everyone is responsible for owning and sharing what works. Every employee is the brand.

As with most things, being balanced is a very important and an often forgotten principle. Personally or professionally, folks usually operate on one side of the spectrum instead of somewhere on the mid line. Social media for business is no different and in my experience, I’ve seen people spend a lot of time arguing where social media should be housed or if it pertains to certain disciplines more than others instead of sitting down with each different group that social media will touch and say, “How in the heck can we bring to our people (clients, audience, constituents, what have you) the message in the way they want and is best for them to digest it.” Social media has many facets that touch about how an organization speaks with its publics, so it should be discussed from the top down and all around in an organization’s goals and business strategies. The reason this is so difficult and why so many struggle is because marketing, PR and other disciplines have been segregated or siloed in most organizations. People and departments need to collaborate in order to succeed long term and with the masses. Social media is no exception, and its existence in fact could very well be the thing that starts holding organizations accountable to collaboration. — Lisa Grimm, Digital PR Specialist, @lulugrimm

From General Motors’ standpoint, our social media outreach efforts are not just another PR program. We are interested in keeping the relationship going. Once you are family – we want to keep you in the family. — Connie Burke, Communications Manager, Social Media, @connieburke

Myth 11: Brands Think Too Much, Too Little, Not Enough

Brands are people. We all do all of that.

I think most brands, large and small, worry far too much about how they, themselves, should manage social media, and far too little about how customers use it, and more importantly, how customers interact with the products we offer up. — Robyn Tippins, Community Director, Internet Developer Network, @duzins

Myth 12: Social Media Is a Waste of Time

Time spent without meaning and value is a waste of time. That’s not a social media problem that’s something else.

The social media myth that is no longer valid is that “social media doesn’t work or is a waste of time.” You are reading this, engaging this, using this, retweeting this, arguing this, and thinking about this statement because of social media. There’s no denying it, whether you agree with the termonolgy or not, social media is the new means of communication and connection. It’s no longer a matter of standing out, it’s a matter of relevancy and ultimately existence for your brand. — Kristen Rielly, New Media Developer, @GeekGirls

When we learn, we take in new information and test it against old models we’ve built on information we’ve gathered in the past. Sometimes, we forget to let the new information replace the old … and a myth forms.

What myths about brands and social media do you think need taking down?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Get a Great Deal When You Join Third Tribe Before June 1, 2010. I’m a proud affiliate.

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Five Critical Pitfalls that Can Disable Any Social Media Team

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A Team Needs Power to Work

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As you consider and hire the people for your social media team, think through the responsibilities you’ll be handing over. Because if you don’t hand over responsibility, accountability and the corresponding power, you’ll be be setting the team up for failure.

Now, if that’s your purpose – to ensure failure. You can do that by first setting aside any leadership skills you’ve learned and tapping into your own insecurity. Get closer to your fear of change and cling tight to what used to work. Repeat after me

If this social media thing works, I might have to change how I do things or worse they might take my job.

If you read that without a smile, then maybe it’s time to click away, because this is really is about how to make your life easier by building a powerful social media team who will take work and worries off your desk.

Yes, the worries too … because if you can avoid these five critical pitfalls they’ll on your team and be making the same great choices you would make in the social media situations they face.

  • Pitfall 1: Change your team’s priorities randomly and often. Make each day a moving target. As soon as they start to look good at one thing, place your focus on a different aspect of the job.
  • Pitfall 2: Don’t allow them time to develop a realistic social strategy. Ask for a schedule that will have them up and using every tool you can name before they have enough time to learn it’s nuances and relational value. Just pull out a calendar. Then hold them to dates they can’t control.
  • Pitfall 3: Develop a plan for resources and budget, but don’t share it. That way they’ll have to ask permission for every paperclip they need to use. They won’t be able to have a viable idea, let alone respond to someone on social site.
  • Pitfall 4: Focus heavily on a quality and communication standard that requires every word to be vetted by 14 approval stages before it can go live. Remove all sense of trust in the people you hire. Train them to fear failure, mistakes, and problems. Then complain about the lack of response to customers.
  • Pitfall 5: Constantly point to misbehavior of customers that have spoken out against other companies. Live by a defensive motto of us versus the “users.” Never allow or invite customers to offer input or reach out to build relationships with the people who buy or use your company’s products.

The pleasures of the pitfalls are that they will keep a team “on their toes” and so busy trying to make something happen, they won’t have a chance to do something that will build anything.

On the other hand, if you want a peak-performing social media team let them onto the field.

  • Hire people who love serving people and give them clear goals and priorities.
  • Choose the people who love the company’s mission and let them build a practical strategy to achieve it. Give them time to move slowly onto the social web as they know the tools.
  • Give them the resources — people and tools — they need to perform well.
  • Train them how mature online relationships work and trust them to ask when things get critical or need legal counsel.
  • Encourage them to advocate for customers and ways for customers to build relationships with the company and each other.

The pleasures of opening the door to peak performance is a team that grows, keeps learning, and turns customers into fiercely loyal fans.

What are the pitfalls of social media management you’ve discovered? What do you see that leads a team to peak performance?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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A Dozen $100,000 Brand Ideas for Celebrating Our Heroes Through Social Media

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I’ve been reading about the history of Memorial Day, before it became about blow-out sales and backyard bar-b-ques.

And the words I’ve found take me back to when my mom still called it “Decoration Day.” She’d buy a paper poppy from the man at the VFW to put in the button hole of my coat. Then she’d take me with her to put flowers on the graves of those we love who lay sleeping while we could still stand, reflect, kneel to say, “thank you.”

Memorial Day is about gratitude, reconciliation, and honoring heroes who paid the ultimate price. They gave and we got.

Rebranding Memorial Day

In his series for Fast Company, Steve McCallion says:

So far we’ve explored how Memorial Day lost its meaning, but how can we get it back? How can we remember Memorial Day in a way that is authentic and relevant today? In this era of instant gratification, can we come together as a nation to recognize the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms?

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Click through on the image for his marvelous ideas on how to rebrand to remind us what Memorial Day means.

A Dozen $100,000 Brand Ideas for Celebrating Our Heroes Through Social Media

Social media is about honoring our heroes and connecting people, isn’t it? If anyone knows how to do that we do … big companies, little companies, individuals don’t need to do much to put the celebrating and gratitude back into remembering those who sacrificed for our freedom.

Here are a few ideas …

  1. Apple might sell a limited yellow version of the iPhone — or simply choose any yellow iPod product — to donate a portion of sales to hire a social media team to help the White House Commission on Remembrance or The Memorial Day Foundation get their message out next year.
  2. 3M might build a Post-it Note Quote Community by inviting friends and families to publish quotes of their fallen heroes.

    My son would always smile and say, “There’s lots of apple pies, but I’ve only got one mother.”

  3. Berskshire Hathaway might find a volunteer team of social media mavens among their thousands of employees. If that team put out a penny-match challenge, I bet they could pitch a penny campaign that would travel across Twitter and fire through Facebook. Perhaps the collected money go toward health insurance or college scholarships for children of fallen soldiers.
  4. Johnson & Johnson already has communities of nurses and caregivers. They could send out a call via their site, Twitter, and Facebook. They could connect with nurses and caregivers who have shared the final hours with fallen soldiers. Imagine the wealth of history in those stories. If they partnered with the VFW or the Military Channel, that content could make an incredible interview series.
  5. Kodak or Polaroid could build a YouTube channel or a flickr collection for customers and employees to retell the stories of fallen soldiers. With the help of Scholastic, they package them as primary source materials with lesson plans for teachers to share with kids studying history. Teachers could upload comments, videos, and new ideas to add to the community.
  6. Kraft Foods or ConAgra could build the recipe book of heroes. How hard would be to use social media to ask the families of fallen soldiers to share the favorite recipes of loved ones who served our country? Imagine if the Food Channel cooked each recipe and shared the videos on YouTube?
  7. Hallmark Cards or American Greetings could invite the families of fallen soldiers to share cards they received from our heroes and tell the stories behind the cards. Suppose they tweeted a new free Hero ECard for a year?
  8. Starbucks or Panera Bread might print the pictures and a simple memorial statement on the cups that hold their coffee and tea. Folks could Tweet and Facebook their nominations.
  9. Lands End or L.L.Bean could offer a yellow ribbon discount to honor fallen soldiers. Instead of a promo code they might ask for 140 characters in tribute to our heroes. The promo codes could forward to Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook.
  10. Sony Music or Universal might put together a collection of songs for heroes by celebrity artists and donate the proceeds to HireHeroes. The songs could be on blip.fm and tweeted. We could DJ a Friday night hero Twitter party.
  11. Netflix could partner with the major studios to sponsor a $1 day of movies and documentaries about our heroes. Ambassadors from families could help chose the appropriate titles and be featured as recommending them. MailOurMilitary.com and milblogging.com might help promote a cause like this one. Netflix might challenge corporations and foundations to add matching funds to support grants to families of fallen heroes.
  12. Southwest Airlines, Marriott, and CNN might partner to offer veterans incredible deals to gather together in D.C. on Memorial Day 2011 to share the stories of fallen heroes.

What would the companies and brands get? They’d get the respect and loyalty of employees and customers who honor our heroes. People remember generosity that connects them to authentic, relevant meaning.

Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure. – Abraham Lincoln

Isn’t that also true of our businesses?

I know you probably see a thousand ways to expand on each of these ideas — ways that each could be tweaked or twisted to fit another business. Take ’em and use ’em. I’d love to hear how you might re-invent an idea or what new ideas came to mind while you were reading.

How will you remember our heroes?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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What if FDR’s Ideas Ran the C-Suite and Your Social Media?

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These Times Ain’t So Different

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As part of a my quest to move outside my dad’s story, to learn from it as a business case of a growing business in a bad in economy, I’ve been studying the climate, conditions, and character of the people who lived through the terrible economy after World War 1 through the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great American Depression.

One hero, a pivotal leader in changing the world, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, the only president to serve more than two terms, the man married to the famous Eleanor Roosevelt, also called FDR.

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He’s of particularly interest because he was elected in 1932, at the height of the depression and took office in 1933, the year prohibition was repealed and the year that my father opened his saloon.

What if FDR Ran the C-Suite and Your Social Media?

FDR was faced with a jobless population and a world that was preparing for a second war. I don’t wish to devalue the power or gravity of what he said then, but as I read his speeches and his conversations, I can’t help to think his words and wisdom might serve us all now as we look for leaders — not dreamers — to change the world and get growing again.

1: Try Something.

To the students of Oglethorp College, he set this challenge in 1932, but every commencement speaker knows the audience is more than the graduates and as a presidential candidate he was speaking to the country as well as to those before him.

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

2: Don’t Wait.

The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.

3: Connect with Young Hearts — your own and others

We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer. We need the courage of the young.

In his first inaugural address , FDR laid out the challenges we face and pledged himself to leadership for change in ways that resonate to this day.

4: Speak the Truth

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

5: Fear paralyzes.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

6: Confidence requires deep commitment.

Confidence… thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.

7: Achievement and creativity are joyful and thrilling.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

And from his speech at the Citadel in 1935 …proof in his relentless, fearless, strategic leadership.

8: Our strategy will save us.

Yes, we are on our way back— not just by pure chance, my friends, not just by a turn of the wheel, of the cycle. We are coming back more soundly than ever before because we are planning it that way. Don’t let anybody tell you differently.


9: Leaders embrace change and value social justice.

Throughout the world, change is the order of the day. In every Nation economic problems, long in the making, have brought crises of many kinds for which the masters of old practice and theory were unprepared. In most Nations social justice, no longer a distant ideal, has become a definite goal, and ancient Governments are beginning to heed the call.

In his speech before the Democratic National Convention in 1936, he summed up our mission.

10: Leaders rise to the call.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

It’s good to have heroes. It’s good to learn from them and carry their wisdom forward with us.

The tools may change. The speed of connections may get faster.
But the values that move and motivate people to great things are unchanging, authentic, and core to our species.

These new social tools are only as good as the leaders who pick them up and the strategies and cultures they choose to bring to them. This new reach, this new speed the tools offer can help us, our friends, our clients, and the people we meet grow our businesses to get our economy rolling again … we are the difference in whether that happens.

What if FDR’s Ideas Ran the C-Suite and Your Social Media?

How will FDR’s words guide you to grow your business? How will you his wisdom to enlist those around you to join you to bring the economy back?

Start small. Raise a barn. Don’t build a coliseum.

We can change the world … just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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