The past two years of my life have been somewhat hectic to say the least.  I was involved in a full-time MBA program, got married to a beautiful woman and worked in a high pressure/performance environment that innately stems from spearheading the sales element for a start-up technology firm.  While I take a great deal of pride in the time and effort I put into my life over that 24 month period, I really owe a HUGE “thank you” to so many individuals.

On a recent flight, I took out my Evernote and started to make a list of the people that needed to be thanked.  My immediate family was an easy one to jot down; but then I realized I had missed a few family reunions, many drinks with friends in Atlanta, tailgating at LSU/Saints games and even a soccer/basketball game or two.  The list began to pile-up, and I soon realized the inefficiencies (newly acquired MBA term) of sending out an individual note to each person.  If I sent you this note in an email or you took the time to click this link, then you’re someone that needs to be thanked.  I sincerely thank you for believing in me and not becoming too discouraged about the relationship that we have.  I’m not sure words can express how much I appreciate your support.  As part of my thanks, I want to give you a little glimpse into some of the wisdom that I picked up along the way.

I think Ferris Beuller said it best back in 1986, “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

All of us live in a very fast paced world today for so many reasons.  Technology gives birth to all of those reasons.  In some respects, you could argue that nothing really changes, we just evolve and endure.  It’s doubtful anyone would look back to 1986 and think, “Wow, remember how fast life moved back in 1986!!” But back then it was.  In 20 years, my son will make fun of me for being old school because I just tagged his grandmother on Facebook; and I’ll think how amazing he is for tagging me in his brain using the implanted RFID chip in my forearm.

Our world is flattening out, as we become a more and more mobile society.  It means that we have access to more information on any topic at any given time.  As consumers of that information, it’s our personal responsibility to decide how much to consume and when.  The purveyors of that information will always be irresponsible because it’s an arms race for them.  A few weeks ago a national news outlet invited a young couple on-set for an interview because they were hit with a foul ball at a Houston Astros baseball game.  The next day a JetBlue flight attendant became a hero and a celebrity to 1000s of people.  Our attention spans have become virtually non-existent.

Takeaway: Give people a real chance to succeed and shine.  People that would’ve never been able to shine in today’s world:

-Jack Welch (took 8 years for his plan to turnaround GE)

-Tom Landry (has one of the worst coaching records ever during his first 5 years)

-J.K. Rowling (finally got published while living on welfare, divorced with 1 child).

Lesson #1: PAUSE

I love social media because it has become an enabler in so many ways.  Ways that I remember dreaming about as a high school kid in the 90’s.  Social media represents a microcosm of how we yearn and consumer information, and it has its pitfalls.  One of those pitfalls is that it has stripped away our ability to pause.  No matter how much technology has evolved over the years, the basics of being a human have remained strong and constant because we are all just a bunch of well-constructed molecules driven by emotion and less logic than we lead ourselves to believe.

A great example of this is teenagers in high school now have to deal with their personal first time romances in an open-world in places such as Facebook.  Everyone on John’s friend list knows that he’s dating Susan and vice versa because of the infamous Facebook relationship status “In a Relationship.”  Susan breaks John’s heart one day by breaking up with him.  She didn’t call him, write him or even text him.  John simply logged onto Facebook one day saw the he was no longer “In a Relationship.”  He’ll be all right, eventually, because he will evolve to deal with such occurrences; but the basic emotion and hurt that comes from a breakup still remains true inside him.   And while you may be feeling bad for young John, you should feel worse for the adult couples that understand relationships but not social media.  I’ve seen knockdown, drag-out weekend long fights from fellow adult couples.  It’s even worse for them because they have to re-evolve to the new era of being “In a Relationship.”

Takeaway: Next time you feel the need to comment on your friend’s Facebook status or article that you just read.  Take a few minutes, hours or days to comprehend how one action affects another.

Lesson #2: FOCUS

Many times during the past 24 months friends and family would comment that they didn’t know how I was able to do it all.  I don’t think it was always meant as a compliment as I knew a few family members that actually meant it in a concerning manner.  I did do it, and I did it well.  I’m proud of that.  However, many times , I would take a step back and realize how much energy I was expending trying to do everything that I wanted to do at a high level.  It was a tough pill to swallow when I realized that I could possibly be performing at an even higher level at certain things in my life if I focused on a few things rather than ten.

The one basic of running a successful business and life is the 80/20 rule; but sometimes people get down a path and don’t realize how far they’ve gone until they look back, pause and reflect on what is the best decision.

Takeaway: Use your energy to block out as much excess noise as possible, so you can focus on what will make you successful.

Lesson #3: LIVE YOUR LIFE

Pause & focus so you can live your life.  It’s not hard.  Focus on creating some silence for yourself.

-Wakeup 5 minutes earlier than normal so you can spend some time clearing your mind in the shower.

-When you stop at a red light or stuck in traffic, avoid dialing your next business call.  Call your mom, crank up your favorite mp3 (no talk radio or news) or just drive in silence.

-Stop worrying about what Tiger Woods or Lindsay Lohan are doing on a daily basis.  Realize that you can’t possibly understand or comprehend the lives of others unless you are actually involved in them regardless of what CNN, FOX or ESPN would lead you to believe.  You have a life too…live yours.

-People in LA wonder how people can sanely live below sea level in New Orleans while people in New Orleans wonder how people can sanely live on a cliff in LA; and people in NYC wonder how anyone can possibly live outside NYC.  Tribes in Africa wonder how Americans can drink milk from a cow, and Europeans think we’re crazy for working more than 40 hours in a week.  Unless it threatens your livelihood, embrace cultural stereotypes and differences…don’t question or judge them…it will teach you respect which plants the seed for love.

Takeaway: Stop assuming all people should or want to live the same life you do.  The world is becoming flat, but I hope we’re not forced to all become robots one day.   Acceptance is when amazing happens.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this.

Last week, I attended Merkle’s impressive CRM Super Bowl (aka CRM Executive Summit) in SoBe.  Having worked with Merkle for just over a year now, I am always impressed with the strategies and tools they bring to the table for their clients.

2 common themes peppered throughout the conference were that this is the year that mobile and SaaS CRM platforms will take off.  Barry Judge, CMO of Best Buy, emphasized that the next 12 months would be the time that mobile hit.  I feel like I’ve heard that line for at least the past seven years.  With 2+ million iPads sold, the new iPhone 4, increased Android (Froyo) handsets and the upcoming release of Blackberry OS 6, it’s hard not to be wide-eyed at all the potential money making opportunities in mobile; however, there is still too much fragmentation amongst the market to scale at the level experts preach mobile hitting.  I don’t think 2010 will be the year mobile CRM climaxes…not even close.

SaaS CRM platforms are out in full force (I work for SaaS provider Dukky).   It really is amazing to see how the cloud has allowed companies to focus on niche CRM SaaS platforms.   Brands are starting to become more comfortable with having their valuable data run on the cloud enabling them to cash in on the speed and flexibility of running on the cloud.  Just look at the recent news about Enterprise 2.0 company Jive.

The next big thing will be technology that allows brands to channel all of this data into a few measurable and useful results.  It’s uncanny that we have all this individual user data, but brands are still marketing to them as mass demographics.  I don’t think the 30-second spot is dead (or the other traditional formats); but the decision makers are in denial about their business models.  Agencies and consultancies that focus on this change are going to be the Mad Men of the new generation.

Thoughts?

I’ve been intrigued with History Channel’s recent product America: The Story of Us. Last night, I caught up with my DVR to watch Episode 6 (Heartland).  One entrepreneurial story covered was that of R.W. Sears.  It obviously struck me from an entrepreneurial aspect; but it really dawned on me that in the 100+ years of advertising & direct response marketing innovations we have undergone, we are in the exact same spot from which we began in the 1870s.  The quick story on Sears:

Once the four standard time zones were created (reduced from 8,000!), Sears bought a handful of unwanted pocket watches and through the use of Morse Code sold them to other train station attendants using the trains to make deliveries.  The next year he expanded his product offerings by getting products to farmers and their families in the Midwest that had limited access to stores for products such as bicycles, sewing machines and even automobiles.  At its maximum, the catalog was over 700 pages!  People ordered what they needed and received it in a relatively timely manner.  Less than 20 years later, he was fulfilling 30,000+ orders per day.

So how have we not evolved in over 100 years of direct marketing?

Big brands are freaking out and having to work harder than ever for customer loyalty because customers are back in control with word-of-mouth discourse that can be released to thousands of people on impulse.  That impulse is very real and very measurable. Customers tell brands what they want and not the other way around.  When I think about it, the time of Mad Men (1950s) to let’s say 2000 were really an anomaly in our nation’s history with regards to advertisements.  Brands used to push and tell people what is popular.  The people are back in control of their buying habits.

The only difference between now and the 1870’s is that the scope of access has dramatically increased.  I can now go to Google to find my favorite sewing machine* at the lowest price and then virtually truck on over to Facebook to instantly discuss my potential purchase with thousands of my sewing buddies*.  Relatively soon, I will use my Android-based GoogleTV to purchase my favorite advertised sewing machine* (based on my Facebook viewing habits) at its lowest price in the middle of my favorite History Channel show.

*Disclaimer: I do not sew!  That is all.

The Leadership Video Toolbox project is barely a week old, and I have 3 video submissions already!  The 3 qualities taken thus far are: Vision, Initiative & Teachability.

I’ve got 18 more qualities to cover so just pick the one that sounds best to you.  You can also redo 1 of the 3 already chosen.  I’d like to hear as many viewpoints as possible.

Click here for the details on the project.

Let me know if you have any questions or ideas.

HELP: CALL FOR VIDEOS ON LEADERSHIP!!

Background: I’m currently working a on video blog for my MBA Leadership class.  The project is called a “Leadership Toolbox.”  The professor wants us to create a “toolbox” that future leaders can refer to for guidance.  My idea for the toolbox is to create a video blog that has individuals whom I see as leaders spend 30 to 60 seconds on the one of the 21 leadership qualities discussed in the book by John Maxwell “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.” It’s simple to do.  Pick one of the 21 Leadership Qualities and send me your 30-60 second video commentary about that topic.

In the past, this project has been a static one.  I want to use the the collective minds to create and grow a living, breathing toolbox for myself and others.  I plan to continue growing this toolbox long after my class has been concluded.  But, I need your help now!

Directions: The video can simply be recorded with a webcam and shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes of your time.  If you need help recording it, just let me know as I have several methods for doing this.  Don’t worry about editing it. I’ll do that.  Just film it.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or ideas on how to start.  You can email the video to me; or if you use Dropbox, let me know, and I’ll setup a shared folder between the two of us. (You can sign-up for Dropbox free here)

The final video blog will be located here: CLouvi’s Leadership Toolkit (Note: the current videos are just placeholders).

Timeline: Before Monday, April 12, 2010

21 Indispensable Qualities: Character, Charisma, Commitment, Communication, Competence, Discernment, Focus, Generosity, Initiative, Listening, Passion, Positive Attitude, Problem Solving, Relationships, Responsibility, Security, Self-Discipline, Servanthood, Teachability, Vision  Here is a 21 Indispensalbe Leader Qualities Summary that overviews each chapter.

Extra: If you’d like me to include any links to your blog, LinkedIn profile, bio, etc, please let me know and I’ll be sure to include it online.

Great thanks to all the people have submitted videos thus far! Special thanks to Liz Philips for the suggestion to crowdsource this project.

An acquaintance of mine, Josh Martin, today asked, “What is Twitter’s future?”

It’s a question that has been asked many times and answered many ways over the past 15 months or so.  Many who attended SXSW this year were hoping for some earth-shattering insight into Twitter’s next big thing and were largely underwhelmed with the announcement of @anywhere.

Here are 3 future areas of development I see for Twitter:

TwitterSense: I’m more anxious to see Twitter release and ad revenue model similar to that of Google’s AdSense.  Many 3^rd party apps such as HootSuite are already doing this, but I bet stakeholders in Twitter are dying for a piece of this action.

Loyalty Marketing: An area being severely overlooked in my eyes as I see many opportunities to tie dollars back to loyalty marketing campaigns.  @CoTweet, which was recently acquired by @ExactTarget, has the right model.  Who will adapt it for the loyalty marketing space?  With my company, Dukky, our clients’ offers are shared across Facebook 3 times more than Twitter; but Twitter redeems at 10 times the rate of Facebook.

B2B Twitter: This is CoTweet’s bread and butter; but no one has really pushed the boundaries of selling internal business Twitter technologies.  For instance, at tech conference all of us geeks go to town with our hash tags to communicate; but do people really efficiently utilize this in other industries such as healthcare or industrial machines?

These are a just a few future growth areas I see for Twitter.  What do you see?

The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts will play for NFL supremacy in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, February 7^th, 2010.  All the “experts” are picking the Colts purely based on Peyton Manning’s mastery of the game.  Mastery may be an understatement as he is so good that his name may one day become a verb in football vernacular.  No one searches the Internet anymore because they “Google” it.  The golf world had to “Tiger Proof” courses to level the field.  Future NFL quarterbacks will one day learn how to “Peytonize” their play.

But, Manning hasn’t been canonized yet; and I have yet to see any real hard stats on why the Colts are going to beat the Saints.  I continually hear that they tore apart the #1 ranked defense in the NY Jets.  Well, hell, just give the Colts the trophy now.  Read the top 10 below to see how irrelevant that stat is.

Since I have seen very few numbers provided as to why the Saints will lose, I’m going to provide you with 10 hard statistics that prove why the Saints have a fighting chance to win Super Bowl XLIV.

First…Numbers That Cancel Out

#9 & #18: As expected, most of the talk about Super Bowl XLIV has been built-up around the quarterbacks playing on Sunday.  Trying to compare these two is like splitting hairs.  Drew Brees and Peyton Manning lead the NFL in touchdowns with 122 each since 2006.  For the 2009 season, both had stellar passing percentages with Brees slightly ahead at 70.6 (NFL Record) and Manning at 68.8.   Brees threw 34 touchdowns to Manning’s 33.  Manning threw 16 interceptions to Bress’ 11.  Brees was the highest rated passer at 109.6.  Manning was 6^th at 99.9.  The bottom line is that you will see the top two quarterbacks in the game today play on Sunday.  Regardless of allegiance, what a treat!!

5: Football games are won in the trenches.  The Colts and Saints are very evenly matched on their offensive lines.  Both are ranked in the top 5 in sacks allowed (Colts 13 / Saints 20) & hits on the QB (Colts 44 / Saints 52).   Neither offensive line is legendary, but they have stellar leaders that possess great internal clocks and know how to move in/out of pocket.

34: Receiving TDs – Both the Saints & Colts are tied for 1^st w/ 34 (Vikings also had 34).

#1: The most overrated stat I’ve heard is the Colts beat the NFL’s best defense already, which in 2009 was the Jets.  The pedestrian logic is that since Peyton tore up the #1 ranked Jets’ defense in the AFC Championship, then the Saints are doomed as they are ranked #25.  The only one stat used to declare the best defense in the NFL is yards per game allowed.  Of the top 10 teams in this category, 4 did not make the playoffs and the other 6 have been knocked out already.  The Colts rank 18^th giving up 15 yards less per game than the Saints.

Now…10 Stats That Back the Saints to Win SB XLIV

0: The number of kick-off Returns of 40+ yards the Colts have made, which ranks them at 28^th.  The Saints are ranked 4^th with 5 on the season.  Both teams are about even on kickoff touchback percentage, so it could be a big kick-off return that gives either Brees or Manning the edge they need.

3: The Saints defense has beaten 3 more Super Bowl tested quarterbacks than the Colts have.  The 5 quarterbacks the Saints played are E. Manning, Delhomme, Brady, Warner & Farve.  The Colts have only beaten 2 (Warner, Brady).  Combined, those 5 quarterbacks have 11 Super Bowl starting appearances and 6 championship rings.  In contrast, the Colts opponents have 7 appearances with 4 rings.

4.5: The Saints running backs are just better than the Colts as they are ranked 5^th in team rushing with 4.5 yards/carry.  The Colts are ranked 31^st with 1 full yard less per carry (3.5).   The Saints are a much more balanced team as they accomplished that stellar mark on 812 more rushing attempts than the Colts.  Ironically, the Jets, whom the Colts beat, also had 4.5 yards/carry.

…so why will the Saints fare better?…The Jets were a 1-trick pony (no pun intended)…

8.3: The Saints are ranked 3^rd for number of passing yards per attempt at 8.3.  The Jets were ranked 31^st with 6.6.  The Colts place 10^th at 7.7.

11: The Saints are ranked 3^rd in turnover margin at +11.  The Colts are 14^th at +2.

21: The number of rushing TDs by the Saints, which ranks them 3^rd in the NFL.  The Colts are 13^th with 16 rushing TDs.  This difference of 5 will prove to be relevant since the both teams are near even in the passing game.

31.9: The Saints are ranked 1^st with 31.9 points per game (PPG). The Colts are ranked 7^th with 26. (Vikings 2^nd 29.4 / Jets 17^th 21.8)

32: The Colts rushing attack is ranked dead last with 1,294 yards.  As a team, the Saints are ranked 6^th in rushing with 2,106 yards.

39: The Saints are ranked 2^nd in total takeaways with 39.  The Colts are ranked 18^th with 26.  The Saints defense is so hawkish that it caused the Minnesota Vikings to turn the ball over 5 times.  If the Saints had recovered every turnover, then they would have had 9 on the day.  Until the NFC Championship, the Vikings had turned the ball over no more than 2 times all season.

889: Total defensive penalty yards racked up by the Colts, which is good for 24^th place.  The Saints finished 9^th with 717.  It will be interesting to see if the refs pay special attention to the “late” hits on Peyton seeing how the Saints have already roughed up Warner and Farve to this point.

A Few Extra Points…

8: The Saints are ranked 1^st in defensive touchdowns with 8.  The Colts are tied with several teams in 16^th place with 2.

Rushing: Only 2 Saints (Bell, Thomas) have rushed for more than 100 yards this season.  No Colt has rushed for more than 80 yards this season.

SB Teams That Were Given No Shot: 2008: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14…2003 Bucs 48, Raiders 21… 2002: Patriots 20, Rams 17. … 1998: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24. … 1970: Kansas City Chiefs 23, Vikings 7. … 1969: New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7.

Intangible: I believe the Saints are collectively playing with higher sense of purpose than their counterparts. The Super Bowl trophy is named after Vince Lombardi and he once said, “Success demands singleness of purpose.”

Prediction: Saints 38 Colts 34

Gene Wojciechowski’s Take On the Colts Winning

“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” – Harry S. Truman

Do you want to be the best in your field?

People are inherently good, which in turn makes them dishonest because everyone walks on eggshells today for fear they might offend someone. The hypersensitivity of my generation (Y) has made it even worse.   Criticism is seen as a four-letter word; but if you want to be the best at what you do, then you better learn to ask for criticism, accept it and then fix it.

Real Coaching

I remember during my prime athletic days when everyone would tell me what a great job I had done, regardless of my performance quality; and I’d always take it with a huge grain of salt.  I learned quickly not to read the papers (blogs weren’t relevant yet) because they can only see 2 sides to any issue.  Plus, they only offer problems and never solutions.   Until college, the only person that I always felt gave me a real assessment of my performance was my dad.  The great thing about it is that he never offered it to me.  If I asked (which I always did), then he told me what he thought.

When I was first invited to be an author on Brazen Careerist, I was fortunate enough to get some 1-on-1 coaching with Penelope Trunk.  She told me straight up that the only people that care what you write about are your family and the person you’re currently sleeping with.  She was right because now I have people that write to me from all over the country.

While at LSU, I was fortunate enough to spend time playing under Nick Saban.  Saban’s reputation is not a sparkling one, but I hold immense respect for him because I learned a great deal about my mental toughness.  I was a back-up kicker on a field of 21 future NFL draft picks, and he tore into me with the same fervor that he did all the others.  At the end of the day, he made me better.

Driven

Most reading this blog are hungry people, but sometimes you need to get out of your own head and gain some perspective.  Everyone sees a performance in their own way, so an outsider’s view should always be welcomed.  Good coaches and critics are hard to find, but if you want to rise above the rest in life, then you need to find a few.   They’ll be honest with you.

Photo: tdub303 via flickr

So now you have your Innovation Dream Team.  Are you being as effective as possible using your current tools to communicate and collaborate with your team?

I’ve written about the importance of communication when it comes to change management and/or innovation.  Below, I’ve listed some of the tools that I use because of their ease and effectiveness.

1. Google Talk – I send very little email because it’s time consuming and too formal for the majority of conversations.  Aside from instant messaging, the best features of Google Talk are: On / Off-the-Record Chatting, Free Voice and Video Chat & Instant File Transfers.  Also, Google Talk has mobile apps for the most popular mobile OSes including iPhone, Blackberry and of course Android.  If your group doesn’t have Gmail accounts, then you can easily sign up for one.
2. Basecamp – 37signals has a nice package of collaborative tools that are perfect for any organization from bootstrapped to venture funded.  Basecamp is their project management platform.  It allows you to manage multiple projects, assign certain users to certain projects and milestones.  The dashboard provides an easy to follow snapshot of everything that is going on within a project.  My favorite part is that I can subscribe via RSS or email to the reminders, so I always know where everyone stands.
3. Food / Drinks – Not “hi-tech,” but I’m a firm believer in getting away from my static habitat to increase productivity.  With my laptop and a mobile phone, there is nothing I can’t get done from a coffee shop that I can’t get done from my office.  Besides a change of scenery, it does 2 important things for my teams and me: 1) It provides an opportunity to talk one-on-one with team members about their concerns and/or accomplishments.  People like to be known other than a name on a screen and this helps achieve buy-in. 2) Change management requires innovation and innovation requires new perspectives.  A change of scenery always stirs my creative juices simply by having new surroundings.

What other tools are vital to your organization’s success?

Photo: liz burnunzio via flikr

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin

How do you lead innovation in an environment that is resistant to change?

Unless you work in a zoo or some place where people are the minority, then you will face resistance to change because people are inherently resistant to it.  Innovation leaders understand how to manage change when people want to run from it.

I’ve been successful at several companies where innovation is a necessity; and the people inside them that survive adapt to the change that naturally comes from innovation.  Some of my companies have changed their business model every quarter, month and even every week, so it becomes a necessity that your team adapt to change that naturally occurs from innovation in order to survive.  The need for speed in change management varies from start-ups to corporations; however, these 5 factors will ensure successful change management regardless of size:

1. Endorsements – Get true sponsorship for your idea from the top to the down.  If you’re serious about your idea, then don’t settle for simply getting one or two sponsors.  Make sure you have sponsorship from all the people that will be required to make the idea work.  Always be prepared to sell your idea by showing its immediate benefits.  If you are the “top dog,” then it’s your job to make sure the people you bring on to help you buy-in to your idea.
2. Honest Communication – Typically, honest communication relates to something that you could read about in the self-help aisle.  As far as change management is concerned, it relates to deadlines, realistic expectations and real needs.  The success of innovation will come if communication is always open and timely.  Priorities are constantly shifting inside of innovation endeavors, so deadlines are in constant flux.  The person that doesn’t provide a realistic deadline will commit the crime not the person that has to change it.
3. Employee Investment – A simple concept…but usually the hardest for leaders to execute.  Let people show-off their strengths by taking over responsibility for their parts of the project.  Trust them to succeed, and they (and you) will shine.
4. Change Agents – #4 won’t happen without #3 happening first.  The change agents are the ones that become the internal champions for your idea.  Once they buy-in, they will become the best PR ever because they have true blood invested.  In essence, they should become mini-yous.
5. Culture – You either have it or you don’t.  And if you don’t, it will make your job harder; but it’s crucial to the long-term success of your innovations.  Culture is not something that can simply be created overnight.  Culture takes time to grow.  Steps 1 – 4 will lay the groundwork for your culture change and at the same time providing a blue print for a successful change management strategy.

Photo: ucumari via flickr