Our warmest wishes to our American colleagues and clients that are celebrating Thanksgiving today. We hope that today is filled with family and friends and that everyone embraces all that there is to be thankful for.
A day dedicated to giving thanks for what we do have, rather then focusing on what we do not have.
Enjoy.
Today has been declared Random Acts of Kindness Day (RAK) and is being spearheaded by the Oakville Community Foundation. The concept is much like the concept that was made into a movie – Pay It Forward (a great movie featuring Kevin Spacey).
Special “Random Acts of Kindness Day” cards have been printed to help celebrate this event and are available at numerous locations such as Oakville Place Shopping Centre, the Town of Oakville Recreation Centres, the Town Hall, Branch of the Bank of Montreal, Sheridan Institute, Whole Foods, Studio Ph Hair Design and at many other locations. If you can not get to any of those but would still like to participate you can download the card from the Oakville Community Foundation and print it yourself.
Enjoy the fact that there is kindness in all of us and celebrate every day, that it is in you to give away.
When is enough too much? When is constant change too radical for the average visitor. I have witnessed in the past when the hype machine steers the masses to decide they’ve been jostled and exposed and had their privacy settings changed enough, that the tide washes out and the visitors along with them.
I am not predicting the demise for the largest social network (roughly 800 million users). I am waving the saturation flag. I think that the way companies use this social network need to be creative in a sense to offer a distinct offering to its audience and not load it with the same content that is being provided elsewhere. Early adopters and technology advocates and tech geeks together love the ‘new’ thing and Facebook is far from that but used in a fresh and exciting way, can be made interesting again.
There are numerous changes being integrated into the platform. The features, appearance and behavior. Lesson – Don’t offer so much that your audience can’t keep track of or know what to do with all the enhancements. This is starting to resemble the Microsoft Office model of feature on top of feature.
Facebook is mentioned and used in a variety of marketing and advertising channels by numerous companies. The important thing to remember, so as not to perpetuate the saturation is to ensure that you offer value to the visitor that visits your brand space within this social network and keep the offerings focused.
I remember the days when WordPress was young and Matt Mullenweg was just starting to kick out one of the most exciting and user-friendly ways to run a blog and self-host it. Then it got real beautiful and super exciting because the open source community embraced it. Developer and designers a-like, believed that if you enhance a platform for the love of it and to improve it for all, more people will use it. They were more then correct on that assumption, they were dead on. WordPress has evolved into a robust CMS (Content Management System) which is being utilized by a variety of different businesses and individuals. I personally have grown up using it, developing and deploying it for clients and I am a huge supporter of the WordPress movement. It was great to hear one of the co-creators share on the history and future of the platform. To read and see the address head over to WordPress – State of the Word 2011 or view it below.
There is a saying that is quite applicable in everyday life and it is hard to live by but can benefit everyone involved.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.- Abraham Lincoln
If you are too busy talking then you are not able to hear what is being said. What is being asked of you? What guidance is being provided? In a constant strive to make ME the most important word in the story…gear down. Set the cruise at a lower speed then you think you can handle, crank the guilty pleasure songs you admit to no one that you listen to and strive to be humble.
You do what you do because you know how to do it -all day – no doubt, you are a champion of all things you.
BUT
If your career is to extrapolate what others are trying to accomplish, then listening is not only vital but hyper listening is a mandatory requirement. You have to foresee the limitations of communication in all people. Bank on this. The client will always try with their best effort to convey the idea or tactic, it is up to you to use your intuitive interpretation and ensure all the obvious and not so apparent thoughts are captured and acted upon.
If you say nothing until they are finished and truly process what you heard – you will be much more effective in formulating a refined focused response which has been customized to their needs. This will make your guidance more sound and your vision a shared one.