Who should control social media within a company (PR, Marketing, HR or IT)?

There are so many ways to tell a story.  Narrative clarity and simplicity are critical, but many business stories also contain data, and its presentation can either strengthen or muddy the story.

Too often, business pictures require a thousand words of explanation, instead of replacing the words with an intuitive snapshot.

As business communicators (this includes managers and leaders, not just your IC team or agency), we have to master the art of information design - or engage others for support.  

If you've haven't yet been to informationisbeautiful.net, this is a great place to stimulate your thinking.

Or look to the arts.  Next month Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal will have his back tattooed with a dot for every Iraqi and American killed in the current war.  One red dot for each of the 5,000 Americans killed, and one white dot for the more than 100,000 Iraqis. 

Um... ouch, but I do get the point.

We came to understand slowly that David would not be coming home from Haiti.  

Hours passed with no word, and then days, and then the picture came into focus.  David had been in the lobby of the Hotel Montana when the building collapsed around him.  Five stories became a mass of stacked concrete.  Photos from the scene were suffocating.

We prayed the walls had fallen just right, leaving our friend trapped in an air-filled void.  We took hope from the rescued colleague who’d last seen David wearing a backpack often stocked with water and energy bars.  We read about people surviving two weeks with no water, and we sat transfixed as Anderson Cooper reported of miracles on the ground:  The man in the grocery store who survived on Guiness and Coca-Cola.  The girl who lived 15 days on dirty bath water.

But days turned to weeks, and it became harder to believe, and then near impossible, until finally we knew:  Our beloved friend David Hames was among the scores of thousands killed in Haiti’s devastating earthquake.

****

What can I tell you about David?  He was extraordinarily gifted – a filmmaker, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer, storyteller and ukulele player.  He was funny, and thoughtful, and interested.  His taste in movies and music was impeccable (or, at least, very similar to my own).  He was graceful on a snowboard, and great company on the drive home.

David was a devoted husband and father, and a man of deep and beautiful faith.  He loved his wife Renee, and his boys Aiden and Zander, and his God.  

God, how he loved them.

David was a good friend.  He was 40.  He is gone far too soon.

****

If the estimates are right, David Hames is one of 200,000 miracles denied in Haiti.  200,000 crushed in the rubble.  Hundreds of thousands more crushed by their absence.

****

We did not get our miracle.  But I’ve been thinking:  Maybe we just missed it.  Maybe we didn’t know where to look.

The world is filled with earthquakes and hurricanes and heartaches.  We are all-too familiar with man-made disasters, and the rubble left behind by our lies, rancor and greed.

But even in this world, some people give more than they take.  Some people bring passion and joy and selflessness to their work and their friendships.  Some people care deeply, love freely, and live abundantly.  

Some people rise above the rubble.  David Hames was one of them.  

Maybe David was the miracle.

Conan O'Brien's issued a statement saying he won't be hanging around while NBC bumps his show to a new time slot.  

We've come to expect a lot of blah and yadda from statements like these, but O'Brien's is a masterwork in communication right from the salutation:  

"People of Earth."

...

There are real lessons here for leaders.  O'Brien start by putting himself into audience shoes:

...no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky.

He tells a "Who I Am" story, establishing credibility, empathy and trust with the audience:

I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004, I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. 

He's pointed about the dilemma at the heart of his decision:

It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

And he is transparent - and human - about how much this hurts:

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it

O'Brien closes by pointing the way forward, talking clearly about what NBC needs to do to resolve a contract dispute with speed and grace.  And he signs off as he began, with humor:

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Leading in a “VUCA” world:  Finding Clarity through Story

It’s a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world out there. Dr. Bob Johansen says we might as well get used to it. Johansen is the former president and CEO of the Institute for the Future, and the author of two terrific books on forecasting (Get There Early) and leadership (Leaders Make the Future). I recently asked him about leadership principles for these tumultuous times. He says clarity is the key, and story is one important way that leaders create clarity.


Let’s start with the question I’m sure is on most everyone’s mind: In 2007 you wrote that, “The next 10 years will be extremely challenging, and they will feel that way to almost everyone.” Are we really in for another seven years of this?

Yes. I think we have to assume that we’re living in a permanently VUCA world. You’re better off assuming that there’s going to be Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. But there are still going to be winners and opportunities and the potential to make the world a better place. We just need to change our expectations.


All this uncertainty can leave employees unfocused or even paralyzed. As leaders, how do we keep our teams focused and productive?

The leadership skill is clarity. Clarity’s always been important, and in a VUCA world it’s even more so. The way to succeed is to be very clear about where you want to go, and very flexible about how you’ll get there. In the military that’s called “commander’s intent.” The leader defines the outcomes, but empowers teams to figure out how.


You make a strong distinction between “problems” and “dilemmas” – why is that so important?

A problem can be solved, and a dilemma cannot. If a leader sets the expectation that a problem will be solved and then it’s not, then the leader is in a big hole. There’s a better approach: Set the expectation that this is a dilemma no one is likely to “solve,” but that we’re going to figure out a way to make it better. 

So for example, if you’re a large manufacturer and you’re selling to Walmart, you will probably come to realize that Walmart is both a very large customer and a very large competitor – and since we’re never going to solve that problem, we have to figure out how to make it work. We have to build strategies that allow them to be both a competitor and a customer. 

This is the leadership skill I call “dilemma flipping.” You realize you’re not going to problem-solve your way out of this, that a lot of the challenge you have won’t be solvable and yet you have to figure out a way to win anyway. The world may be VUCA, but you still have to make decisions. You still have to find ways to win.


We’re trained in school to solve problems, and many of our large organizational cultures are built around this same notion. How do we make the shift from trying to solve problems to embracing the mystery inherent in dilemmas?

I think some of the good business schools are making that shift, but you’re right that the current generation of leaders was trained to problem-solve and control. The primary way to learn dilemma sensemaking is through simulation – get yourself into a gaming environment where you can try out different leadership styles in response to different dilemmas. This is one area where the military is way ahead of the business world, but it’s something we can learn. The leadership skill is immersion. You put yourself in a dilemma-ridden situation and you figure out how to lead through it.


Two of the skills you argue leaders need are Sensing and Sensemaking. What do you mean by those terms?

Sensing is figuring out what’s important and what’s worth following. If you’re looking to the future, almost nothing that happens is completely new – chances are it was tried and failed long ago. So, the real question is not whether something is new, it’s what’s ready to take off. And that’s the sensing part. You have to figure out, out of all the things that are happening out there, what’s worth my attention?

Once you’ve got that on your radar, the leadership skill is Sensemaking – how do you make sense out of that for your own work? This is taking your foresight and carving out an insight – what does that mean for me?


In Get There Early, you say that stories are how we make sense of dilemmas. How does Story add to Sensemaking?

The story is the biggest motivator for change. A good forecast is nothing but a story from the future that provokes insight. And then once you have the insight embodied, you need a story that carries that insight to others. 

Stories create clarity. Southwest Airlines is a great example. Their story is, “We’re going to be the on-time, low-cost airline that’s competitive with the cost of automobile travel and has a touch of fun.” The clarity of their story empowers Southwest’s employees to create experiences that embody the story for customers.


What’s the leadership skill that’s missing here?

Most of today’s leaders are good storytellers, and have good stories they tell. But they are sometimes not as good at listening for stories. We know that just about the time you get tired of telling a story is right when it’s probably starting to gain traction with your audience. That’s true, but it’s also a trap. If you do nothing but tell the same story over and over again, then you never learn any new stories. Leaders have to always be looking for new stories, listening to new sources, and finding new ways of helping others understand old stories.


Some business leaders see story as a “soft” concept, and storytelling as a soft skill. How would you rebut that?

I think it is a soft skill. A lot of leadership requires soft skills. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be quantitative as well. The best stories help make sense of the complexity.

The title of Leaders Make the Future suggests something more than simply embracing ambiguity and being open to possible futures.

The problem with ambiguity by itself is that it encourages a passivity – as if the future is only happening to us. I’m really trying to encourage an activist view toward the future – not to trust others to make it, but to realize there are lots of people out there who want to be engaged in shaping the future. And a leader’s job is to figure out how to engage them.

What does Mark Twain have to say about business communication?

In a famous lambasting of James Fenimore Cooper's Deerslayer, Twain offered 18 rules for writing. I'd argue that at least some of these apply to the simple business memo, team meeting, or PowerPoint presentation.

An excerpt:

In addition to these large rules there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:

12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.

14. Eschew surplusage.

15. Not omit necessary details.

16. Avoid slovenliness of form.

17. Use good grammar.

18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.

For practical help eschewing the surplusage of your next business message, you might start here.

[H/T: Roger Ebert]

Saw this in a client's office the other day.  Strikes me as just the right motto for these mercifully post-Secret times.  

And, of course, you can order the coffee mug or t-shirt here.

For further musings on the real secret, check out today's Monday Morning Memo from Roy Williams.

I'm slowly posting a series of reader emails -- stories from business leaders about how they've adapted to the new economy.

It's the adaptation that fascinates me.  For many, things have changed dramatically, and yet we accept, adjust and move on. 

Here's the second in a series.

I have never worked harder (or for less money) than I have this year.  I've never been more challenged or stressed.  I also am not sure I have ever felt more rewarded.

2009 has been a year of hard conversations, salary reductions, layoffs, sleepless nights, and probably too many glasses of wine.

It has also been a year of smart decisions, new ideas, deep commitment, extraordinary collaboration and support, and imagining (and building for) a better future.

We are smaller today than we were a year ago.  We are also smarter, stronger, and better positioned.

I can't wait for this year and this recession to end.  But I don't know that we'd be the company (or the people) we are today if it hadn't come along.

Share your story:  jim (at) boatzknutsen (dot) com.

Tim Morin's "Friday's Post" is a blog you should be reading every week.  In the echo chamber that is the blogosphere (does anyone really need another link to Seth Godin?), Tim is a consistent source of genuinely unique insights.

Last week's "Friday's Post" opened with a quote from Karl Barth via the diaries of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton:

Everyone who has to contend with unbelief should be advised that they ought not to take their own unbelief too seriously. Only faith is to be taken seriously...

Tim believes unbelief may be the biggest problem facing American business. 

Peggy Noonan echoes the theme in today's WSJ:

The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes. The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass, and that it afflicts most broadly and deeply those members of the American leadership class who are not in Washington, most especially those in business. [emphasis mine]

I think that's true of about 80% of the market.  These are the business leaders bunkered down waiting for things to get better, blinded by the roadblocks in front of them, or paralyzed by uncertainty.

Then there's the 20%.  Those who have accepted the new realities and adapted to them.  They've adjusted their strategies, scaled their businesses, refocused their teams, and started moving forward with new ideas, new energy and new optimism.

Doesn't mean they've been unaffected, it's means they've chosen to invest their energies in how to succeed, not why they may fail.  

Some businesses focus on what they believe, others on what they doubt and fear.  Which ones do you think will survive?

More to the point:  Which kind are you?

Rumor has it Chrysler will stop making the PT Cruiser next year.  

As I've said before, some ideas won't survive in the new economy. And that's not always a bad thing.