Geoff Livingston on Marketing and Strategy

May 21st, 2013

A CTRL ALT Delete Interview with Mitch Joel

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Canadian blogger and bald brother of another mother Mitch Joel released his new book CTRL ALT Delete today. The book captures the zeitgesit of workplace change caused by a universal shift towards digital media. Mitch discusses embracing digital change to survive and succeed.

To celebrate the arrival of CTRL ALT Delete, I asked Mitch several questions, including his take on Google Glass, the individual’s role in the workforce and more. Check it out, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of CTRL ALT Delete.

GL: CTRL ALT Delete focuses on change, and of course a big change may be coming with Google Glass. How do you see wearable computing hastening the mobile untethered (and somewhat free) work life?

MJ: I had the chance to wear and tinker with Google Project Glass at this past year’s TED conference. My expectations were not high and the product blew me away (big time). There has been a lot of online discussion about what it means to be wearing these pair of Internet-enabled glasses that made me think that this technology was not ready for prime time. That online discussion is wrong.

Geoff Livingston on Google+

Tags: ALT, book, change, CNTL, Delete, digital, Google Glass, media, mitch joel, Six Pixels
Posted in Geekery, Reality | 2 Comments »

May 20th, 2013

Differentiation Requires Show, Not Tell

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Image by Eric Lim

The Internet and in particular social media have empowered thousands, perhaps millions, to start their own businesses. One outcome of the social media movement is how easily people become “thought leaders” or topical influencers.

As a result, we have many paper tigers running about, almost indistinguishable from the ones with real teeth with one singular exception: Results.

Last week for PRSA-NCC and this morning during a keynote at Brand Camp NYC I discussed this exception, and its critical role in creating true market leadership.

When content and personal branding techniques online quack and act like ducks, many readers are quick to believe. Yet results are not necessarily associated to the voices, creating a problem. Because we have hit a saturation point, more businesses are becoming discerning in their choices of vendors, digging deeper than what’s published on a blog post or LinkedIn group.

As time continues and social becomes a place overburdened with branded marketing content and voices, differentiation requires more. Pundits are a dime a dozen these days, real businesspeople are not.

Geoff Livingston on Google+

Tags: become, ideas, influence, leader, leadership, pundit, Seth Godin, success, thought
Posted in Essay, Influence, Marketing | 8 Comments »

May 17th, 2013

The Battleground of Creativity

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Image by Cinematography

Without creativity we cannot differentiate and excel, and yet sharing creative ideas inevitably leads to a mockery at times.

The worst thing we can do is simply call a creative spirit a failure. It’s amazingly hard to remain creative if you listen to outside voices. This is particularly true in a world where declaring fail with a pic and a hashtag seems to generate lots of laughs and comments.

Creativity requires a resilience in the face of “fail,” “that sucks” and firm “nos.” It’s not that the every creative idea deserves to be praised. Truthfully, many inspirations make you want to run for the woods.

To successfully create you need to produce a consistent flow of ideas that fail because it’s part of the process. Success requires failure. At the same time, you also need to know how to optimize creativity, and also when to stop creating, and simply work through and polish concepts off.

Sure, silver bullets arrive, but in actuality most decent ideas require refinement, further innovation, and polish.

Geoff Livingston on Google+