Thoughts from an 8pm Warrior

Have you ever tried “half pushing” something heavy?

It doesn’t work.

There is no such thing as a “half push” or semi-push.  We’re either pushing something or not.

Pushing is an “On” or “Off” activity.

The same goes for our work, our dreams, and our personal limits.   We won’t reach our full potential by “sort of pushing” or sometimes pushing.   The more we push, the more we move towards our goals.

We’ve got to keep the dial turned “on.”

On a side note, it’s important to push big things.  If something is too easy to move, then we can’t call it pushing.  It’s just sliding.

Big dreams need big pushes, and big pushes should have big dreams to push.

Push it tonight!

Aaron@Biebert

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Yesterday I wrote that “Caring is Sharing” on the social web.

But what about someone who doesn’t share, like, or add to the discussions we all depend on?  What do you call it when someone takes in everything on the web, but doesn’t give back?

I call it being “Social Selfish” and I believe that it hurts everyone.

For the record, I think that we are all self centered sometimes when it comes to social media.  With too much to do and too little time to do it, something must get pushed to the side.  

Sometimes that means less give, and more take.

This post is not about those situations, but rather for those who have never commented or appropriately shared anything that someone else created.

Even though I believe that being “Social Selfish” is bad for everyone, I’m not convinced that people know that they’re doing it.  After all, Web 2.0 and Social Media are still gaining mainstream usage, and people may not truly understand what they’re doing.

To help explain these behaviors and how they hurt us all, here are three “Social Selfish” actions to think about:

1)      They see something amazing and don’t comment.

By not commenting or adding anything, they’re also not helping the material develop.

If a person doesn’t have anything great to add, a simple encouragement or acknowledgement is nearly as helpful.  It takes a lot of time to prepare material, and it’s nice to have encouragement.

For those of us who don’t advertise or promote products on our blogs, these thoughts we write or record are not-for-profit.  We’re spending our time sharing thoughts and ideas for different reasons.

For me, I love hearing new ideas, growing, sharing, and learning.  This community was built for that.  Your comments are payment for the hours I spend each week doing this.

2)      They see something amazing and don’t “Like” or share it (assuming it’s easy to share).

By not sharing, liking, retweeting, or similar action (validating what they think is great), they’re not helping it spread.

Not helping a great idea spread hurts everyone.  In many ways, Web 2.0 is like an information democracy where the best ideas are identified by how many times people share, like, or comment on the idea.  Not liking or sharing is similar to not voting for a leader you believe in.

If you like it, “Like” it!

3)      They take someone’s material and use it without giving others a chance to find the originator.

I frequently see people quoting other people in tweets or emails without crediting the originator’s name.  This hurts the advancement of good ideas and great thinkers, and makes it hard for people to collaborate with the originator.

One of the ways great ideas (and thinkers) advance is through discussions and interaction amongst those “in the room”.  Sharing a great idea allows that idea to gain momentum.  However, sharing the idea without giving credit makes it hard for real collaboration to take place.

We are all pioneers in the Web 2.0 world, and I humbly submit these thoughts for your consideration.  Since I personally have a lot to learn, I welcome any suggested additions or subtractions for the list (let’s discuss below).

Have a selfless night,

Aaron@Biebert

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While reading Warren Buffett’s letter to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders last week, I came across something very interesting.

Apparently, Warren Buffett just hired 39-year-old Todd Combs as part of his succession plan.  Some are up in arms, saying he “lacks experience” and is too green.  Since Todd and I share the same generation, I was intrigued by the following explanation by the “Oracle of Omaha” himself:

“Our goal was to find a 2-year-old Secretariat, not a 10-year-old Seabiscuit.”
- Warren Buffett

I want to be clear that I have absolutely no problem with experienced people.  In fact, I’m on the lookout for an experienced mentor myself.  I believe that experience may bring additional maturity, strength, and other positive traits to a person.

However, in a time when our world is changing faster than ever before, I want to caution people who focus on “experience” rather than talent and learning ability.

Just look at the last 10 years, as Google went mainstream and some of the most popular marketing tools in the world wove themselves into the fabric our lives:

• Wikipedia (2001)
• Linkedin (2003)
• Facebook (2004)
• YouTube (2005)
• Twitter (2006)
• iPhone (2007)
• Groupon (2007)
• Foursquare (2009)

The Attention Age has begun!

With New Media entering the stage, business leaders must deal with 24 hour news cycles and the collective attention span of a world constantly seeking out the next big thing.

Personally, I’m enjoying it.

I’m embracing it.  I’m learning it.  I’m living it.

Whether you’re a “10-year-old Seabiscuit” or a “2-year-old Secretariat”, one thing is for certain:

Experience isn’t as important as it used to be.

We’re all students in these new and exciting times, and the leaders who are best with creativity, learning, and vision will win big.

Todd, I’ll be cheering you on.

Have a great night,

Aaron@Biebert

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It’s my wife’s birthday tomorrow and I took her and my two kids to the Circus this evening.  At several points there were so many great acts going on at one time, it was tough deciding what to watch.

When I mentioned this to my wife, she kindly informed me that this was typical and dated back to early circus styles.  It’s no wonder most traditional circus companies have gone out of business while modern and focused shows like Cirque du Soleil continue to grow in popularity.  It’s about telling a great story.  One chapter at a time.

Is your company a circus?

I don’t mean this in a bad way.  The performers in the arena were absolutely phenomenal and I was very impressed.  It’s just that sometimes they had 12 people all doing their own tricks at the same time, periodically making a frustrating experience rather than one cohesive program.

Sound like your company?

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of my time in marketing leadership and branding, and while studying several companies I’ve found that the Shriner’s Circus isn’t the only one in town.  It seems to be a challenge for many 8pm Warriors that have several great stories to tell, multiple positive events happening, and so many good ideas.  Instead of synergy, we get quite the opposite.  We get a corporate circus.

Let me know if this sounds familiar:

• Jane is sending out a mass email over here.
• John is posting a different corporate Facebook announcement there.
• Sue is blogging about something completely different than Jane and John on the corporate blog.

They’re all good things on their own, but from an outsider’s perspective it’s hard to focus on one story.  It’s like telling three stories at one time.

It’s a Circus.

This is something to think about if you’re in leadership trying to reach customers who only have so much time and attention to give you.

Weave it all together. Have one voice.  Tell a great story!

Have a great night,

Aaron@Biebert

I think it’s great that many 8pm Warriors are also “Jacks of All Trades” (or” James of All Trades” in this 8pm Warrior’s case), some by necessity, others by nature.

I don’t mean this to be a bad thing.  Often times, people only recite half the famous poem, making it look like a bad thing by ending at “master of none”.  But the poem actually finishes like this:

“Jack of all trades,
master of none,
though often times better
than master of one”

And I couldn’t agree more.  Just look at two of my favorite 8pm Warrior polymaths of all time:  Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo Da Vinci. After looking at their history and my own experiences, I believe that a person’s creativity is limited by their scope of experiences and understanding.  The biggest creations happen when two different concepts are fused together to change the world…hard to do when you only know one set of skills.

How does this apply to modern times?

With the Mechanical Turk, advancing robotics, and a seemingly endless and relentless flood of technical specialists coming out of Asia, things don’t look good for those who lack creativity.  Luckily for many western countries (like the US), this may be one of our strategic advantages for years to come.

Instead of locking our kids down to master one thing (sorry Amy Chua, author of the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother), I think that the future of extremely successful 8pm Warriors will be in creating solutions and ideas, not mastering them.

Apparently other CEO’s of the world agree.

Have a diverse (and creative) night,

Aaron@Biebert