Bloghound

This post has nothing to do with marketing, and everything to do with listening and conversations. Last Thursday night I wound up in the emergency room of a major urban hospital because the right side of my face was pins and needles, my right eye was sagging and the pain in my head exploding.  (The good news: it was a “massively complex migraine” and not a stroke.)

Being in the ER was like being dropped into a parallel universe.  Because I wasn’t really sick I was able to both listen to and engage in some bizarre yet fascinating conversations - all of which educated me more in 18 hours about what’s going on in our world than a year of my usual information sources.

Waiting

Two young children played around the vending machines, demanding that their Pakistani-born father buy them candy.  He was visibly nervous, waiting for news about his wife and kept trying to pull his children away from the candy machines. Two 60-ish Italian-American women came by and not only bought the kids a treat, but taught them how to say, “Starburst.”  The children then danced and sang “Starburst, Starburst.”  Such a simple, kind gesture among strangers.

Inside

Once in an ER cubicle, I met my nurse Geeta, a gracious, professional young Indian woman and mother of babies 8-months old and two years old.  Geeta works three 12-hour shifts a week, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.  I asked if she would have child care help on Friday morning so that she could sleep when she got off her shift.  Alas, no.

I asked Geeta what it was like to work a long graveyard shift. She explained that things were likely to get crazy after 2 a.m. when the bars let out. Lots of accidents and shootings. Thursdays are bad nights and Fridays are the worst in emergency rooms. Sure enough at 2:15, a beep started blaring, followed by the Code Blue announcement.  With calm yet urgency the teams set off.

I asked the 30-ish African American woman who wheeled me over to the CAT scan room whether it was hard working all night long. “Absolutely. But I’m going to school during the day and I need to work at night to pay for school and living expenses. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to work days when I graduate.”  She is studying to be a surgical assistant.

The Brown neurology resident assigned to my case was nervous. Here he was with a 50 year-old woman with all the signs of a stroke in the dead of night and he was on his own.  His earnestness, respect, clarity of communications, and patience with an impatient patient showed maturity and judgment that I rarely see in much older people.

In the ER cube next door I overheard two state prison guards talking. Evidently there had been an accidental shooting that night and an inmate was injured. That inmate was next door, footcuffed and handcuffed to the bed, guarded by two policemen. When the doctor came in to do the exam, it was quite the procedure to take off some of the cuffs but not all. The inmate screamed at the guards, and the guards remained steady.  I imagine that they’d had quite a night already. One of their own had made a mistake that evening and a different kind of chaos was sure to follow. Every 15 minutes or so one of the guards would go in and wash his face to try to stay awake, while the inmate slept. (The restrooms were right across the hall from my cube.)

On the other side was a Hispanic man who spoke no English.  He had signs of a heart attack but the English-speaking doctors couldn’t be sure. It took two hours before a translator came.  Turns out that this man has no primary care physician and had been experiencing symptoms for days. Damage had been done.

Upstairs

In order to get an MRI that night I had to be admitted to the hospital.  At 5 a.m. I went up to a room to await the test results. The only room available was in the women’s oncology floor.  Early that morning I met my roommate Kim, a human resources director and mother of four children, who had just recently learned that she had leukemia.  Her month-long chemo treatments were starting at 10 a.m.

Around 8 a.m. Kim and I started talking and, laptop on her lap, she told me that she hoped to work at least five hours a day during her hospital stay, and she was looking forward to catching up on some good movies.  The oncology team swept in explaining what was about to happen beginning at 10 a.m.  A social worker spent extra time, suggesting that Kim get a notebook to keep track of questions, concerns, feelings.  The hospital chaplain came by with kinds words and prayers.  By 11:30 a.m, after 90 minutes of the first injection, Kim was experiencing massive headaches. Her sister and husband came to visit but she was already suffering in order to get her life back.

Leaving

I was discharged mid-day, but was marked by the short experience.  While I hate to pay taxes, I wish for better child care for Geeta, more educational loans so people like the CAT scan woman don’t have to work all night to go to school all day, a more humane medical training program so residents aren’t working such long, stressful shifts, and a better health care system so the Spanish-speaking man can more easily find a primary care physician and so that people like me don’t hog up precious resources when the likelihood of anything seriously wrong is so minute. We can’t continue to allocate resources as we do because of the risk of malpractice.

But most of all I wish more of us the patience of the prison guards, the calmness of the ER professionals in the midst of chaos, the determination of Geeta to work all hours to provide a better life for her family, the clear communications of the neurology medical student, the generosity of strangers buying children a candy bar, and most of all the optimism of Kim.

I have been inspired and feel fortunate to be a citizen of a world with such remarkable people.

The language of politics is fascinating when you look at it as linguistic science and infuriating when you look at it as manipulation and persuasion.  My friend May Kernan, an accomplished communications strategist, shared this today as an attempt to “see” better.

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..

• If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re ‘exotic, different.’
• Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

• If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
• Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.

• Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
• Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

• If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,  spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a  state of  13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.
• If your total resume is: local weather girl,  4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.

• If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.
• If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.

• If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
• If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you’re very responsible.

• If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America’s.
• If you’re husband is nicknamed ‘First Dude’,  with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

“Our customers don’t use social media, so why should we make it part of our marketing?”  That’s a question I hear a lot, and one that Marshall Kirkpatrick over at ReadWriteWeb addresses in his post “5 Ways to reach people who don’t use social media.” Here’s a summary. #3 is especially good.

1. Develop relationships with people who bridge the gap inside organizations. (Reach out to younger people who use social media and influence decisions.)
2. Use Web 2.0 tools to learn about real life public events. (Find out what they are attending and reading using Web 2.0 tools.)
3. Make your blog an email newsletter. (Yes!)
4. Look harder, your audience probably is using social media. (Think YouTube, LinkedIn)
5. Use the Internet to make yourself smarter in real life. (Even if your marketing organization isn’t adopting social media, you can use it to propel your career and performance.)

New online communities SavvyAuntie and FirstWivesWorld are good examples of successful communities. Each:

1. Focuses on a niche group of people who share a passionate bond:  women who love children and relish their roles as “aunties,” and women who have gone through a divorce or are in the throes.
2. Allows people to connect with other people and ask questions, share stories, and just be social.
3. Provides lots of helpful advice, resources, and experts on topics related to the community’s theme.
4. Adds some fun: both have entertainment sections and some celebrity angle. (Did you know Hulk Hogan and his ex have just added a 5th team of lawyers to their divorce proceedings?)
5. Has a fairly simple technology platform with an easy-to-use interface and lots of easy ways for people to get involved, from creating a profile and uploading photos to starting a blog or creating a group. Then again, just reading these rich, content-filled would be fulfilling for many.

In any cateogry there are always niches of opportunity. Many businesses are approaching communities too broadly, trying to serve everyone about everything, and ending up with rather bland communities that have no real community. Auntie and First Wives show the power of going narrow.

Mind mapping is an incredibly helpful way to brainstorm, solve problems and actively “doodle” to see possibilities. Raj Dash has a good post over at The Freelance Switch, suggesting that mind mapping gets us into a new mindset, helping us to heed Einstein’s advice: “You cannot solve problems by thinking within the same framework or mindset that discovered the problems.”

Some people like using mind mapping software. I find that sitting on the floor with giant sheets of paper and drawing with different colored marketers opens me up to many more ideas. I guess sitting at the Mac to brainstorm is till too much of my usual framework.

PS — this is a useful technique when running brainstorm sessions. I often ask teams to “name” their maps at the end, which helps people articulate what they’ve created/learned/solved.

I’ve been collecting examples of companies’ beliefs, values, guiding principles and the like. All are meant to serve as a sherpa-like guide to the organization’s culture, decisions and behavior. The ones I like best go beyond the usual blah blah — quality, integrity, customer-first — and connect with people in their guts and in their heads. Here are The Container Store’s six principles:

1. Fill the other guy’s basket to the brim. Making money then becomes an easy proposition
2. Man in the desert*
3. One great person equals three good people
4. Intuition does not come to an unprepared mind
5. The best selection anywhere plus the best service plus the best or equal to the best price in our market area
6. Air of excitement

*Container Store employees are told the story of a man crawling through the desert gasping for a drink of water. He finds an oasis, where an ordinary retailer gives him water. If it had been a Container Store retailer, employees are told, he would have been told “Here’s some water. Do you also want something to eat? And I see from your wedding ring that you are married. How about we call your family and let them know you’re here.” The principle is that you’re cheating the customer if you are not offering them the opportunity to buy more.

Save the Honey Bees

As a partner in a company named Beeline Labs, we always get ribbed about bee related topics.  Here’s a bee video worth watching.

For the past few years IBM has been inviting its employees to be part of 72-hour online innovation jams, brainstorming about everything from IBM values to new product and service ideas. It’s a great example of the business value of social media, which at its core is a platform of participation and sharing.

The Fall 2008 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review has an in-depth article about IBM’s experience: “An Inside View of IBM’s Innovation Jam.” IBM brought 150,000 employees and stakeholders together to help move its latest technologies to market. Both the difficulties it faced and the successes it achieved provide important lessons.

Hillary’s Clinton’s speech last night was intended to unite the Democrats, persuading those who voted for her in the primaries to support Barrack Obama. As a communications analyst I can tell you that the speech did not succeed.

The intent of Clinton’s speech was not to garner support for Obama. Instead, Hillary talked about Hillary. The speech largely recanted her experiences on the campaign trail. It was Hillary’s swan song to Hillary and her almost-successful campaign.

While her style was articulate and strong, it failed to affect behavioral changes because it was too controlled and too clinical. Her gestures of support for Obama were clearly stated, but not deeply felt. Reason without genuine emotion rarely succeeds in changing people’s minds, never mind their actions.

Michelle Obama’s speech on Monday night, on the other hand, was effective. She was articulate, passionate, accessible, and aspirational. Unlike Clinton’s detachedness, Michelle Obama combined reason and genuineness. No wonder there are so many Tweets and posts flying around that say: “Michelle Obama: 2012.”

This is a sweet television ad from United Airlines that is totally disconnected from its business. Why is United romanticizing the flying experience at a time when planes are dirty, seats are cramped, food is terrible, and staff is grumpy? The disconnect between the promise of the ad and the actual experience is huge. Why promote an experience that you can’t deliver? That’s just dumb marketing.

Then there’s United’s new tag line: “It’s Time To Fly.” What is that suppose to mean to the customer? How does it build preference or loyalty? And doesn’t United realize that actually it’s a bad time to fly in view of greater overbooking, flight delays, rising costs, and the need to reduce our energy footprints?

At a time when airline business is bleak, this expensive and irrelevant campaign is especially appalling. What were the marketing and agency people thinking?

Southwest gets that marketing is the customer experience

Fortunately there is one airline that understands that marketing is the customer experience, not a new ad with a Robert Redford voice over or a tag line.

It’s hard to work while traveling, but Southwest’s new seating in gate areas makes it easy for me to plug in and have a little workspace to get things done. The children’s seating area is also a nice touch.