Jim Seybert - Strategic Planning Retreats - Strategy Audits - Executive Coaching

As I continue to consider the most effective application for each of these platforms, my thoughts have been on what I am looking for when I visit each.

I recently posted that about 50% of what I get on Twitter has no value to me, and a friend asked me to describe my criteria. At the time, I didn’t have one - so here is where I am in the process. Before I decide what types of tweets are valuable to me, I need to filter out those that have low value:

16 - There are some people whose Tweets are seldom anything but a retweet (RT) of someone else, or the URL to a site with no comment on WHY they posted it - LOW VALUE.

17 - Tweets that are a random quote from a noted author or speaker usually lack the context necessary to give them real meaning - LOW VALUE.

18 - Some users will dump a half-dozen or more tweets all in a row. That’s like a conversation with someone who won’t shut up - LOW VALUE.

19 - Those whose tweets are never anything but an advertisement for their service or product tend to become an annoyance - LOW VALUE.

20 - Tweets with too many abbreviations show the person needs to distill their thought a bit more. A few shortcuts are OK, but don’t overdo - LOW VALUE.

So, I am trying to be a multi-dimensional Tweeter, with a mix of personal and professional content. If I forward a URL, I will always add my comment. When I send a RT, I’ll almost always say why, or add something.

If you want to follow me - http://twitter.com/jimseybert

When my internet connection goes soft, there’s a series of steps I take to determine where the problem is:

1) Close and reopen Safari. Usually does the trick.

2) Reboot the Mac. Yes even Mac users should reboot occasionally.

3) Repair Permissions. PC users, never mind. You can’t do this.

4) Restart the wireless router. Unplug, count to 30, replug.

5) SMS someone and ask them to try the same URL. To see if it might be the website’s problem.

At this point, I’ve usually determined the problem is not on MY end, so I find something analog to occupy my time. Calling the cable company has never proven to be an effective move because they have an automated system that tells me to do all the things I’ve already done. (And even I feel stupid cursing at a robot).

This time, I tried one new step - using my BlackBerry, I sent a Tweet “Is anyone on #Charter having issues in #SLO County - Arroyo especially?”

Within minutes, I got a Tweet from @Umatter2chtr letting me know Charter had a router problem and that engineers were already working on it.

Amazing

That one little Tweet from a tech at Charter’s service center in Missouri, let me know they were working to restore the outage. Case closed. Once I knew someone was “on it” I went about my day knowing they would fix it as fast as they possibly could.

If you’ve been wondering about the usefulness of Twitter - this proves it for me. Today Charter (and Twitter) got BIG GOLD STARS in my grade book.

Something Cali Lewis mentioned on a recent GeekBrief episode flipped a switch in my brain and sent me off on a wild goose chase of ideation*.

See if this provokes any different thoughts for you.

Cali reported that Twitter was changing it’s basic question from “What are you doing?” to “What are you thinking about?”

THAT restarted a mind game I play with myself - Am I a human being or a human doing? Am I more about what I do, or more about who I am? Am I more effective when I focus on activities or ideas?

Thinking? Doing?

Seems that the DOING part comes from the left side of my brain and the THINKING part is managed more by the right side. Or is it the other way around? What would Dan Pink say?

Does the logical and linear left side actually control my THOUGHTS allowing the sensitive and aesthetic right side to play with activities?

Am I a Doer?
Am I a Thinker?
Do I think about doing?
What do I do when I think?
What do I think about doing?
Do I sometimes do without thinking?
Do I sometimes think without doing?
Can I think one thing and do another?
Can I do one thing while I think another?

What do you think I should do?

* Ideation is one of my StrengthFinder themes, if fact it’s my number one theme. People with this theme tend to enjoy the exercise of exploring ideas that might not go anywhere. They (we) generally cause others to shake their heads and walk away. If you come into contact with one of these people, they (we) are mostly harmless and when left to our own thoughts we can come up with some pretty interesting things.

Despite the attempted humor in the headline, we are excited about my brother John’s decision to run for a seat on the Redwood City (CA) Council. This is a video of his announcement event, during which he “blames” me for being the influence that led him to throw his hat into the ring.

I suspect he meant that he had to do something to protect the community from people like me.

We don’t agree on everything, but I know he’d do a good job.

My Facebook screen asked What’s on your mind?

My LinkedIn profile asked What are you working on?

The answer is Where do I go from here?

My personal strategy audit indicates I have done a good job establishing my credentials as someone others can rely on to ask probing questions that help companies move past their roadblocks and do things differently. My track record as a strategic futurist is good. Not everyone knows me, but those who do recognize the benefit they can derive from employing the unique strengths with which I have been blessed.

This is the result of a strict adherence to the brand promise - I Help Companies Think Differently.

Through planning retreats, strategy audits and executive coaching, I’ve been able to guide dozens of clients along a change journey that has resulted in solid benefits for their organizations. Clients come and go, but I can’t think of one that’s been disappointed or who won’t bring me back for another assignment when the need arises.

I give good consulting.

Now What ??

So here’s the dilemma: I have identified five factors that will have significant impact on all organizations as they move forward into the future. The five are not trends, but rather foundational changes in the way human beings think and behave. I use the factors to help clients think about how they’ll need to change to meet the needs of their customers and I need to listen to my own advice.

One of the key factors is the desire by consumers to modify products and services to fit their lifestyle. I call it the “iTunes Lifestyle” after the renowned service that allows you to pick ONLY the music you want to hear and not an entire album. This factor is becoming a fundamental requirement for ALL organizations. People want to modify, to fit their lifestyles, whatever it is you’re providing - music, clothing, cars, religious services, healthcare, education, vacation travel.  Nothing is exempt from this factor, including my consulting practice.

So - that’s where I am right now. I have recognized the need to think differently about my practice and the way I deliver services - while at the same maintaining the valuebale franchise my brand has established in the minds of my audicne.

More later as I try to figure this out.

Here we go again.

Your brand is that metaphysical collection of images and ideas that make up the customer’s internal impression of who you are. The more consistent you are with your messaging and imaging, the more likely you are to plant a franchise in the mind of the customer.

That’s Marketing 101.

Consistency isn’t necessarily about using the same image or message over-and-over-and-over, although frequency does help. Consistency is also about making sure the images and messages somehow relate to your product or service without the requirement of additional explanation.

In my strategy audits with clients, one of the most common problems I encounter are collateral materials (ads, brochures, banners, posters) that assume the potential buyer knows more than they do about the product or service. Customers  - and especially potential customers - need to see your material and “get it” right off the line. If you need to explain what it means, you’ve lost them. On some platforms you have LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS to grab their attention before they move along.

So, this ad was served up alongside my Facebook wall today. I get that it’s for an adult degree completion program, but what does an ant farm (or rabbit burrow) have to do with finishing one’s education?

Frosty "The Man" Seybert

Frosty “The Man” Seybert went to sleep on the morning of March 21, 2009 and didn’t wake up. He had been suffering from some illnesses and was miserable, so his Papa fought back a flood of tears and took him to the vet so they could help him sleep.

Frosty came to live with the Seyberts in 1996 when his Papa saw a bunch of kittens in the bushes outside and told Sissy it was OK to pick one for a pet. Frosty wasn’t her first choice but she put down the other one when he made lots of noise and kept crawling right toward her. Sissy and Momma thought Frosty was a gray kitty until they took him to the vet and all the fleas got washed out. He came home and met his older brother William Robert Seybert and quickly settled in as the baby cat in the family.

Relaxing on Sissy's Popason Chair

He learned a lot of tricks. Sitting in the window was perhaps one of his best. Licking himself clean was an obsession and he told his Mom once that he liked to take “14 baths a day.” Every Christmas he would get SO excited because Papa would go down into the garage and get Frosty’s “bush” and stand it up in the living room. He loved his bush and as soon as the branches started coming out he would lay down under it and smile. On his first Christmas (when he still had claws) Papa was surprised one morning when came in and found a little white head sticking out, way up at the top of the tree. (It wasn’t long after that Frosty became clawless).

He was a great jumper and had the most adorable face you could imagine. When William Robert (Billy Bob) went to sleep and didn’t wake up in 2001 Frosty became an only cat - just like his Sissy was an only child - until Sissy and Momma went to the pound and brought home Skooter. At first Frosty was very mean to Skooter but they became good friends and until just a few months ago had some amazing wrestling matches in the living room.

Frosty and Skooter

When Sissy went away to college Frosty and Papa became good friends and developed quite a bond. They would actually carry on lengthy conversations when no one else was around. Frosty loved people and loved to sit for hours next to his Pop while he wrote books and other things on the computer (Pop wrote, Frosty sat). One year when Pop was too busy, Frosty volunteered to write the family Christmas letter, and he did a darn fine job for having no opposable thumbs.

Momma, Sissy and Pop are going to miss their little white friend but they just couldn’t watch him suffer any longer.