As you said in your podcast, Mr. Godin stays at a higher altitude, not covering the detailed tactics. You may look at this as his making more general statements about “good and bad” marketing and the human condition, or academics will say that this is to ensure his books have as long a shelf life as possible. We talk about and live on the front line, which is why we like to talk about HOW things are done.

There’s a huge gap between what everyone believes is right and what actually gets done. Stanley Milgram discusses in his “Obedience to Authority” how small acts of cruelty can escalate out of control. You may hold Drucker up as your Patron Saint but when you select a link that says we recommend Nazi techniques, you practice Goebbels.

Lest we think this is consigned to the dustbin of history, it’s happening right now, all over the world. Georgians vs. Russians, Darfur, and even Republicans and Democrats in the United States, if you listen to some of the election rallies when partisans are screaming “Kill him!” about the opposition candidate.

We are always only a small step away from bringing Goebbels out of the grave and making use of his ideas again. If we don’t study them carefully, we’ll all fall victim once more, and the cost will again be unthinkably inhumane.

boycott blogtalkradio, boycott john sweet, boycott alan levy and bob charish they only care about themselves and not the hosts

blogtalkradio sucks horse bollocks

I’m sure we both agree, also, that when it’s no longer a matter of baseline participation, but there’s a planned campaign involved, measurement needs to be kicked up a notch. It was this that Kami did so well.

Shel Israel: I guess I’m kinda red in the face.

When I was pastor of the Friends Church, I learned to practice a certain kind of restraint which isn’t first nature with me: For 4 years I made it a rule not to correct anyone’s English.

There were exceptions. The exceptions were when non-native speakers had explicitly invited me to correct them because they wanted to improve, plus the one time someone very insistently corrected me, and he was wrong, and telling him so was the easiest way of ending that conversational sidetrack and getting us back to theology.

Since leaving the pastorate, I’ve mostly decided to stick to the same resolve. Yet I stupidly pointed out what I thought was a “grammatical gaffe” in your post, and I feel dumb about it.

It was just a case of my feeling the need to let everyone know that I know about this stuff. It was unnecessary.

But, Shel, if you tell me you actually welcome correction, I’ll tell you why I still think you got it wrong.

xo,

Max

I think you’re absolutely right, Max, that organizations need their people to participate actively in the various communities and conversations taking place that pertain to them. There’s a case to be made for such participation. But even with that as the goal, results-focused executives will look for proof that an adequate presence has been established and that it is producing results more positive than negative. I haven’t met a CEO yet who would accept, “I can’t prove it’s working, but my gut tells me it is.”

Measurement can also tell you if you’re using the right tools in the right places with the right people, which is the step that comes after deciding that a presence is necessary.