The biggest objections I hear to Facebook are the amount of time it takes to mine the conversations (feed), and the confusion over how Facebook can add value to a business. These objections are commonly coming from folks over 40. Baby boomers (like me) are set in their ways. We have become addicted to email. We built our careers gaining knowledge and sharing it with a select few. We protect our privacy and can’t imagine sharing our personal lives with thousands of strangers.

To gain a following on Facebook, Ning, MySpace or any other site you have to immerse yourself in it. Spend some time daily posting, responding, joining and creating. And if you’re thinking I just don’t have time! Well, think about how much time you spend on email. In many ways, Facebook is the new email. And baby boomers who need their email fix every few minutes are struggling to make the transition.

Today, to gain a following for your business, you must expose who you are and what makes you believable. You must interact with people you don’t know (even though we call them “friends”) and share information because that builds trust. Facebook and others make it easy to do all of these things while encouraging people to find out more, partner with you, and advocate for your business (by connecting to you, getting involved and spreading the word).

The Web-effect of information sharing with your friends, and they with their friends, and so on allows you to reach people quickly who you might not otherwise contact.

If the business you’re in has lots of competitors, then it’s a good idea to focus your groups, conversation, message to an idea or point-of-view that stands out from the pack and will draw people in. The only way to learn is to set up an account and get started. At a minimum, you’ll find people you haven’t talk to in years who are happy to get back in touch.

Best of all, it’s free. Show me more »

How are college kids different today than baby boomers of 20-30 years ago? You might think it’s that they want more from work than a paycheck. Or, that they expect companies to be human, care about humanity, and treat employees as if they are human. Or that GenYrs just want more free time and flexible schedules.

I don’t think so. Baby boomers wanted all of this too. But instead of demanding it, speaking out about it, or creating it for themselves, they buried these desires and went to work for 12-16 hours a day.

GenYrs are braving new territory. And they view the world differently. In no time, they will be our employees, our bosses, our customers, and every marketer’s most important audience.

See what some GenYrs have to say for themselves. A really great video…

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I was born into a family of interrupters. No one ever got to finish a sentence (or for that matter, gets to today). I then spent many years in corporate life where several management coaches explained to me that it is better to let people finish their sentences. “They feel heard.” So I worked on letting other people talk, and talk, and talk.

Meetings seemed to go on forever where few new ideas erupted. People had a tendency to repeat their points or the points already stated by others. Conversations were long and quite frankly boring.

The best teams I have every been a part of were filled with people who all had a sense of humor and had no issue being interrupted. There’s a spark when people are interacting in a many-to-many conversation. Information moves quickly and more can be learned from facial expressions, body language and the direction the conversation heads in.

I say it’s time to stop listening — and start interacting, whether that’s in person or on a social network, or while IMing. People who want to push their idea without immediate, real-time feedback are going to go the way of the dodo bird. Waiting for someone to finish feeds their ego. It doesn’t do anything to push an idea forward.

So next time we’re talking, feel free to interrupt me. Show me more »

These days social networking is everywhere. And each time you set up an account with Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, LinkedIn, Zimbio, and any of the thousands of vertical social sites, you are putting your brand out there. You may not think of it that way, but when someone searches on you, that’s what they get, an understanding of the brand that is you. Show me more »

Yes, I agree, 2.0 is the marketing term of the year with Web 2.0, Business 2.0, Marketing 2.0, etc. It is over used, but I believe there is meaning behind the madness. Developments in social networking, widgets, word-of-mouth, and virtual worlds, among many other tools, technologies and features, has driven a fairly dramatic change in marketing.

So, it’s time to ask, do you and your team have the skills to execute in this new, evolving arena? If not, what are you going to do about it? How will you hire differently? How will you train your staff?

There are several things I suggest to get going: Show me more »

These folks made it to the top level in their organizations. Yet, they show an unabashed lack of morals or ethics. What does that say to employees, partners, customers, and shareholders?

John Mackey, CEO, Whole Foods
Anonymously blogged on Yahoo Financial site to pump up his company’s stock and hurt a competitor. I blogged about it here.

William Swanson, CEO, Raytheon
In his book, he plagiarized the work of another author.

David Edmonson, CEO, Radioshack
Lied on his resume. Stated he had university degrees that he had not earned.

David Colby, CFO, Wellpoint
Multiple sexual affairs with female employees

Doug Parker, CEO, US Airways
DUI (driving under the influence)
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“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”

— Ghandi

When you start a new project, ever think about pulling out a similar project done years ago and well, copying and enhancing? Old ideas applied anew might actually work and save you some time. Apparently Disney animators do this regularly according to BoingBoing. See more examples on Hemmy.net.

Posted in the Wall Street Journal (June 7, 2007)

Below is the prepared text for Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates’s commencement address to the Harvard University class of 2007.

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people. Show me more »

SlideShare has chosen the world’s best presentations. The three winners cover substantially different topics. What do they have in common? They have one message per slide, very little type and powerful images (also one per slide). Show me more »