A little over two years ago, as I was talking to Rackspace Hosting about joining their Cloud Computing Division, I told Rackspace that I wanted to change the world (again). I was involved with creating WiFi – and I wanted to again make that kind of change for the world.

More than I wanted a J.O.B. – I wanted to change the world.

And here I find myself, at 4am, not being able to sleep – even though I need to be on a flight to Boulder in 4 hours.  I’m too excited to sleep – oh, I tried!  But every few minutes I would find myself peeking once more at the OpenStack Twitter Account (@OpenStack) – wondering if the hits were still coming in (they are) – and assuring myself this is real (it is!).

We’ve been hard at work for the last several years – working towards that end. Today, I think we have helped change the world.

By open-sourcing the second most popular Cloud Computing platform on the planet, I think we’ve just changed the world. Hell, by partnering with NASA, we may actually be changing more than this world. (I can imagine OpenStack running on the Moon, and on Mars!)

The list of partners is impressive – go look at http://openstack.org. There are a lot of forward thinkers on that list – and they are company I am proud to be in.

Mostly though, I am proud of the company I work for. This is a bold move by a Leadership team that has demonstrated exceptional thought leadership in our space. In the two short years I have been with the company we have more than doubled our customer count, drastically increased the number of servers and data-centers we have, and made bold moves in many other areas.

I’m sure there will be a lot of discussions and a lot of questions about our decision (there were plenty of internal ones!) – but I am confident that at the end of the day, a truly open cloud that is already in production will better serve the world – a cloud that has proven its ability to scale and serve real customers.

It is a great day to be a Racker. I’m very proud of what we have done, and what we will continue to do to change the world – one (open) code drop at a time!

Come join us at OpenStack – change the world with us.  Change your world!

Well, this blog post is about 4 months over-due.  That’s when someone I respect asked me to blog about the worst advice I have ever gotten.  In this case, I still get this advice almost every day – “Be careful”.

Now I am not suggesting any of you go out there and become dicks at work – that’s reckless.  I am suggesting that careful is career-limiting in some cases.

Don’t go tell your bosses they are idiots and then come back and blame me if you find yourself on the street – that is not what this blog post is about.

So what is it about?  It’s about risk and reward.  It is about knowing where the line gets drawn in the sand.  It is about knowing how and when to hold your company, your co-workers, and your contemporaries up to a simple standard.  Simple Standard? Yeah – it is not so simple – it is different for everyone.

I have a few very basic standards that I will not tolerate us (and by “us” I mean anyone I work with or for) abusing:

1. Never lie.  Not to employees, and not to customers.
2. Tell as much truth as you can as soon as you understand what the truth is.
3. Admit failure.  We all suffer from it.  It only seriously hurts us when we try to hide from it.  Or lie about it (see #1)
4. Never put your company ahead of your customers.  Unless you do not care about your company.

So the worst advice I still get is always about “being careful”.  “That VP is powerful – you better not piss them off – be careful”.  “Everyone loves this marketing campaign, don’t tell them why it sucks – you better be careful”.  “You aren’t making any friends by admitting we handled that poorly – you better be careful”.

Whatever.

I find that keeping the customer’s best interests ahead of mine, and ahead of the company’s is the only way to honestly advocate what is right for the company.  If I keep customers first and foremost, even when it causes short term pain for the company (and me), the company wins in the long term.  And I build credibility within the company, and with customers.

You can’t effectively advocate for customers if you are more concerned with keeping your job.

And if you work for a company that expects you to be the customer voice, but tells you to “be careful” with your internal communications – well, you are in the wrong position, and at the wrong company.

I can be a total ass at work when I think we are doing customers wrong.  And yes – that does not please everyone.  But it pleases my customers – and that pleases me.

My job isn’t to make the company happy, after all.  My job is to make customers happy.

And I am “careful” – I am careful to make sure we actually tell customers the truth.  I am careful that customers trust me because I have earned their trust.  I am careful that the arguments I am making internally actually matter to customers – that I am fighting the right fights.

But I am not careful to keep my job – that would render me ineffective at my job.

I don’t know why I get such a kick out of this video.  Perhaps because it does a great job spoofing all those other bogus “free energy” schemes…

My job introduces me to a lot of people. Sometimes a few hundred in a day. Most of those are very casual and random. But about 30 times a day, at a conference, I get a business card from someone that wants to connect in some way. It could be a current customer looking for help, a potential customer looking for advice, a current customer looking to buy more, a current customer that wants to talk to me ASAP about something – there are a lot of reasons I get business cards.

Over the last two years I have accidentally discovered a way to both listen to a customer, and remember who they are, and what they need – days later, when I have traveled back home.

When I receive a business card I hold it in my hand as my conversation continues. I hold it face up, right-side up. If I am talking to a current customer, I bend over the upper right corner. If I am talking to a potential customer, I bend over the upper left corner. A current customer that wants to buy more gets both upper corners bent.

I have a lot of variations of how I bend business cards. A card folded in half means someone wants to talk to me ASAP. A card folded diagonally belongs to a competitor that I feel I can talk to.

Each fold can include the components of the other folds. Happy customer, wants to buy more, and do it ASAP. Upper left and right corners folded over, card folded in half.

If I am talking with someone that is not happy, I fold the bottom right or left corner – depending on if they are a customer or not.

How you fold business cards, or if you do – is up to you. What each fold means to you, is up to you. And if you can somehow manage all these contacts without having to resort to “memory games” – then good for you. I can’t. So I use something that is easy for me to figure out even a week later. And each fold helps me remember more of the conversation I had with that person – which makes me better suited to respond correctly to them after the conference.

It doesn’t matter how you remember people, but you DO need to remember them – and the context in which you met them. If folding business cards turns out to be useful for you, please let me know. I know it has made me much more effective in my follow up conversations.

It is an easy “trick”, and I like easy.

Decided to go ahead and upgrade now – worked flawlessly. I’m also in the middle of changing themes, so thinks may look a bit scrambled for a bit

None of my days are typical. Every day brings something new. Some days I wake at 10am and work until 3am. Other days I work until 3am and wake at 7am. Today was one of the latter days, and that’s fine with me. I sleep when I need to and work every moment I can. My company “gets this”.

Today I woke up very early (for me) and drove ~90 miles to meet with a customer that wasn’t 100% satisfied with us. I had talked to him on the phone, and he wasn’t even really sure why he wasn’t happy. So at 9:30 this morning I met him in his office and we talked, briefly. It took all of 30 minutes to understand he did not have a problem with our service, but with how he perceived we perceived him. He thought we had grown too big for him to be important to us.

Until I showed up. The fact I just drove 90 miles changed his mind.

Showing up is the number one thing you can do for your customers. Show up where they need you – in their office, on Twitter, Facebook, or comments on a blog post. Just show up. Showing up is 60% of selling, my dad says. Another 10% is knowing your customer and the other 30% is just caring. You may not agree with the math, but my dad was a top sales producer for decades. I trust his math.

Show up, know your customer. Give a shit. This is really a simple game we tend to make overly complex.

This is Social Media, New Marketing – whatever you want to call it. But it is the same old game, with the same set of rules – we just have better playing fields than my dad did. It is actually easier for us to demonstrate that we care, and that we are listening – and that we are learning. But you still need to occasionally actually be there – in person, with breakfast tacos and a smile.

Published over on the Rackspace Talent blog, this is a pretty honest and painful to write account of how I came to my current position at Rackspace. Bottom line – I failed first.

Why I am a Racker

Where was I? In Omaha, Nebraska. Yes, you read that right. I was at Big Omaha.

Why didn’t I sleep?  Because I was surrounded by amazing people that had amazing stories to share.  And I may have shared a few of my own.  They were willing to sit in the courtyard of the Magnolia with me from dusk until dawn and share what they knew (and a bit of brew!)

I made many great new friends in Omaha.  It is an interesting city – much more interesting than I thought it would be, in fact.

But the conference was awesome.  How do you get Matt Mullenweg, Gary Vaynerchuck, Tony Hsieh and others to a second year event in Omaha, Nebraska?

I don’t know.  But Jeff Slobotski does.  It took him over a year, but Jeff got me and Robert Scoble and Rocky Barbanica to Big Omaha.  And I am thankful that he did.

And I really can’t explain why people were willing to stay up all night and talk to me – and have fun with me.  But they did.  Perhaps it was because we were in Omaha, and they loved having us there – they loved some freaking attention.  And they deserve some.

I’ll be in Omaha again, at least annually.  And before this event there probably was little chance I would ever say that.  Because I knew nothing of Omaha before this past week, except Omaha Steaks.  Oh – Jeff made sure we met the family behind Omaha Steaks as well, and that we got to be friends with them is an additional “Wow”.

Thanks Jeff.  Thanks Omaha.  And thanks to everyone else that forgave sleep for conversations and new-found friendships.

I am no longer in Omaha, but Omaha is now in me

I talk to a lot of people that deal with people. Social Media people, support people, sales people. Almost everyone I know deals with a customer at some level.

And they almost all hate “dealing with” a pissed customer.

I actually like talking to disappointed customers – it gives me a great opportunity to learn what is important to them, and where our weaknesses are.

It is also an excellent opportunity to make real change happen. If you are empowered to drive it back into the company.

Talking to customers that you haven’t completely satisfied is empowering. They tell you where you have failed them, and why.

If you are only interested in talking to customers you have pleased, you are missing out on both a great educational opportunity and a customer satisfaction opportunity.

Pissed customers are very honest – you can learn more from them than from surveys, I think.

What you are empowered to do with that information is critical. If all you can do is listen, that sucks. But if you are empowered to use that feedback to drive change – well, you have a great job.

The second week I had my iPad I traveled to San Francisco – for 5 days. I travel light – I can travel for a week with a single backpack. I have not checked luggage in 10+ years.

So what worked?

No WiFi on the plane, even though it was United both ways. Their bitch airlines (err, partnerships) don’t seem to offer it. But I had placed a number of videos on my iPad that me and a coworker were able to view in-flight that made the flight seem shorter that it was (headphone splitter required).

In five days I never even had to consider battery life – the device just worked when I needed it to. I did plug it in when I remembered – but unlike my iPhone I was not “jonesing” for power all the time.

Email with corporate worked wonderfully until I needed to print, sign and fax something – so I thought I have found the iPad’s Achilles’s Heal. Until I realized that in a foreign office I would not have been able to print the document even from my Macbook Pro. Instead I emailed it to someone in the office, got the paperwork done, and moved on. Easier than installing printer drivers on a MacBook. So no issue.

Connectivity. I do not have a 3G iPad – so I relied on WiFi during the entire trip. Guess what – 90% of the time that is available in a city like San Francisco. Or San Antonio. ONLY once was I left without WiFi and that was in a scary little bar in China town that I should not have been in.

I received no attachments I could not view and comment on (sure – I could not edit them). Basically I had email, and Skype, and GTalk (although not all at the same time – hurry up that multi-tasking, Apple)

Bottom line is that I can travel with just my iPad. No Laptop Required. For what I need to do when on the road the iPad just works. And gives me the added pluses of battery life, entertainment, light weight and being instant-on. When I needed it, it was ready.

So if you have an iPad, and are doing a trip – trust the iPad. It is a good replacement for a laptop unless you have to create a ton of content.

I’ve had a ton of roles in my life. Neonatal Respiratory Therapist, entrepreneur, Customer Support guy, Software QA Manager, Developer – and now managing both a media team and social media. And trying not to mix the two up.

So why do I hate “Social Media”? Because I hate what we’ve made it seem like – like a light touch, semi support, mostly marketing, lead generation tool.  And by “us” I do not mean my company – I mean most of you/us.

Why do I run our “social media” then, if I don’t like it all that much?

Because if I do not run it, I do not have a voice in it.  I can care, or not.  I can be involved, or not.  But if I do not care and am not involved I have little right to complain.  I like to complain, so I need to be involved to maintain some credibility:)

So I “run” our SM efforts because I want to make sure they have the right focus.  I want to make sure we focus on customers – and not marketing, lead-gen, sales, etc.

I want to do it “right” – or at least what I consider to be right.

To me Social Media is just a new name for “loving customers”.

So I don’t care all that much about “measurement”, or “analytics” or “any of that BS”.

To me I want to know that we are first helping customers.  And that is NOT Social Media.  That is customer support.  Which I really love.  Something Rackspace loves.

I am Rob La Gesse and I work for Rackspace.  My home number is 210-370-3861.  My cell is 210-845-4440.

And I love customers.  Social Media helps me find them. I may run Social Media, but it is really all about support.

We use Social Media to find new ways to talk to customers – and give them new ways to find us. That is pretty much it. So far.  I hope to keep it that way.

I planned on writing an internal message to my company, reminding them of some Social Media guidelines.

But as I started writing I thought, “this is not specific to us – and may help others”.

I “manage” Social Media for my company – and that is in quotes because I do not run the various Twitter accounts, or tell people what to say and when. I am more like a guidance counselor, for those that want to listen. I influence what we do in Social Media. I don’t direct or dictate it.

But I do remind people when they cross a line, like using our brands in their Twitter handles – “IBMJake” is probably not a good Twitter name for you, or IBM. Aligning yourself as an advocate of IBM is very different. At Rackspace we encourage people to be passionate about their work – but we discourage mixing the brand into personal social media persona’s.

We have corporate personas, and even a verified account. These are the voices that speak as the company. As much as we encourage Rackers to have a voice, and speak their minds – we want them speaking as them, and not as Rackspace.

There are some mistakes in life you cannot recover from – a lesson I have spent two decades drilling into my children’s heads. You cannot recover from a felony arrest, or a teenage pregnancy – these things will affect your life forever. You may overcome them – but they will slow you down.

Making Social Media mistakes has a similar effect – if not as permanent. Drunk tweets, mistimed tweets, tweeting as the voice of the company when you are not, talking about finances or how your day sucked because your boss was a pain – there are a lot of ways to screw Social Media up.

So it should scare you if you elect to talk about your company, your job, your boss, or your co-workers. I wish it scared more people.

But that doesn’t mean you should be afraid to participate in the conversations surrounding your employer – hell – to most of us, our work is about 50% of our lives – if not more.

I started our social media efforts with two simple questions. “Is it hurtful?” and, “Is it helpful?”.

Everything we have built over the last year plus has been based on those key tenants.

We have seen mentions of us on Social Media rise from 400 a month to over 13K/month. Partially because people know we are in those communities. Mostly, I think, because they know we exist to actually help. When people reach out, we reach back. We aren’t mouthpieces – we are ex-customers who love customers. We know the company from many angles. We’ve been customers, been in support roles, we know the systems, and we know how to get stuff done. And we are sponsored by Senior Leadership – so people know we have the ability to actually affect change.

I think we have one of the most perfect infrastructures for Social Media that a company can have. We were already based on a culture of support – Social Media is just an extension of that culture. Everyone here gets that customers are important – and that happy customers bring more customers.

So every time before we respond to a customer, we ask those two questions. “Is it hurtful?” – if so, stop. And, “Is it helpful?” – if not, why do it? If we can’t help, we shut up. It makes us more efficient and the brand more helpful.

And sure, it gets a lot more complicated than that – but it is also as simple as that.

Customers just want to be taken care of – by people they know actually care. If the only people that feel that way in your company are in Social Media, you are in trouble. And if your Social Media team is not focused on that same goal – you are in trouble.

Since I am reviewing the iPad I am also writing his post on the iPad.

I wl not correct any typos
Or odd formatting errors (like the random carriage return above)

As you canp seethe onscreen keyboard is a challenge
Pbut the devce is amazing.

OK – the above was written using the iPad o-screen keyboard – which either I need to get used to, or it sucks. I thought the iPhone keyboard sucked at first but learned to use it, and expect the same is true of this. Right now I am typing with the (optional) bluetooth keyboard – which I have had for two years so I am used to it.

So what is bad about the iPad?

1) It does not multi-task – so for me it can NEVER replace a notebook unless it adds that capability. I am a multi-tasking fool and need Twitter, numerous IM clients and email and Browser open always.
2) I can’t program it with NewtonScript (yeah – leave me alone – I liked NewtonScript!)
3) I couldn’t afford more than one of them.
4) The docking port is in the wrong place. I would have put it so that when docked I was in wide-screen (so I could watch movies, etc)
5) It is WAY too slippery. I would have preferred a rubberized coating that gave me some grip – you almost HAVE to have a case for this thing – which makes it feel much larger that it really is.

What is great about the iPad? Almost everything else. From reading books, to streaming wide-screen Netflix movies, reading news sites – it is amazingly easy to use. It is amazing easy for even me to spend even more time online (and trust me – that is saying something).

It is so natural to pick it up and read on it – especially for anyone who grew up with books. This feels like a good-sized novel. About 1.5 pounds. But it carries thousands of books.

The battery life is amazing. Apple (kudos to them!) sold me a unit that was 96% charged – so after 10 minutes on the charger I had a full charge. After two hours completely undocked and watching video, reading blogs, etc I still am at 93% power.

Apps built for this device look amazing – and apps that weren’t built for it kinda suck – but I still prefer them on this device than on my iPhone – partially because I can actually SEE this screen

I’m sure I’ll have more later, but for now this will have to do. TIme to go watch some Netflix on my iPad!

I am a pain in the ass employee.  You don’t get a title of “chief disruption officer” unless you cause problems.

I DO cause problems.  I question much, raise hell often, and bitch perhaps too often.

It is amazing I still even have a job.

That is part of why I love where I work – I KNOW I am difficult.  But I almost always raise hell for a customer.  So I almost always get a “pass” for being an ass.

And I don’t have any internal agenda except “I want to make customers happy”.

Almost always my company backs me and supports what I am trying to do.  But sometimes (gasp!) I am wrong.

And I love when they call me on that.  Nothing builds a functional group like honest communication does.  Nothing destroys it more quickly than NOT talking.

Confusion and disarray is the worst thing you can have in any company – and it gets worse in a public company,

I appreciate that I have thousands of Rackers all ready to call BS on me.  It keeps all of us honest.

It keeps me honest – and focused on customers.

Are your employees and customers helping keep you honest?  Or do they just not care?

Do YOU care anymore?

I’ve been really busy since SXSW.  Met some really great people there that convinced me to start my own SM “firm”.  I put that in quotes because I am not so sure just how firm it is.  But it feels firm.  Sometimes firm feels fake, but this firm feels real.  Firm but with flesh.  So kinda firm.  Fleshy-firm.

I’m going to start managing Social Media for third parties.  I’ve already obtained a lot of useful twitter handles that I think will drive business, like @comcastreallyreallyreallyfreakingcares and @buyafordbecausetheywontkillyoulikeToyotawill and @Ilovethefactthatwalmartletsmespendmoneyintheirstores

The really long twitter names are not an accident.  I really don’t want to work too hard on this stuff and really long names give me even less characters to “share” with your customers – who really don’t care who I am except for the value I add to you.  Besides – you pay me by the character so I am saving you a TON of money since I charge only 75% on the characters in the handle (LIMITED TIME OFFER!)!

I want a check and I am measuring my worth by dollars/character – so short conversations mean I make more – which adds value to you.  And if I make more I know my customers are happier.  Because that is what motivates them – making me happy.  And that is how your business wins, and gets to that next amazing level – of making me happy.

But it is all about the customer – so I hope I get a couple.  Especially some with money, because they rock.

I want to help you sell more stuff to your customers.  I have Twitter bots, spambots, robots, and ding-bats all ready to help me help you help your business grow!

I’m an online social media expert. I am a wizard at talking to your customers.  I will make you millions and take only about half of it. Sometimes I take less than more than half.  Call me – I am open to almost anything that moves money from you to me!

That is just the way I guru it.

Together we are twice as good as I am without your money!

Please feel free to contact me with proposals that gain me more than 50% of your company – but sorry – I don’t accept debt anymore.  I’m so beyond that!  So make sure you at least make enough money to pay me enough to make you look amazing and make me feel marvelous.  If you underpay me you will be perceived as weak.  And in some cultures with a small penis.  Go big or stay home.

And if you just don’t have time to talk to me, but want the benefits of working with me, just send some money to kr8tr on PayPal and we’ll both be happier. And your investors will be amazed by what you have accomplished!

And don’t forget - I don’t make money unless I take money from you.  Really! 

I guarantee it!

This should be an amazing new stage in my career – and in your business.  Prove it to yourself – take that first step now.  SEND ME MONEY.  The results won’t be measurable but they are guaranteed.

BTW – I am currently offering a 1% discount (on pseudo-services only) to anyone that gets me an iPad before 05APR10.

I hadn’t ridden my motorcycle but once in the last 6 months – and that was  a brief trip to the office last week.

When I woke this morning it was already 64 degrees, and not quite fully light.  But before I even brewed coffee I knew I was hitting the road.

As the coffee brewed I prepared my bike, and myself.  While 64 degrees sounds warm I would be riding north, and knew it would get colder – so I layered up on clothing, filled my thermos with fresh coffee, and took off to wherever the wind and whim took me.

Normally when I head out of San Antonio I shoot straight up US281 – the fastest way for me to get to the Texas Hill Country.  But today I headed West first – until I hit Highway 16.  I’d never taken this path before, so it was immediately my favorite path. I love what I do not know.

I was near the town of San Geronimo before I felt I had truly left the city behind.  I visited the “Blue Hole” at San Geronimo Creek, where I stopped to drink my coffee and just spend some time with myself.

I followed Highway 16 in a large slow loop until I reached Bandera.  I thought I had spent time in Bandera before – but I was wrong – I must have had it confused with Blanco or Boerne.  I liked Bandera.  Of course I like Blanco and Boerne as well.

From there I took a slow ride south down HWY 173 to Hondo, TX – a familiar place to me.  After a late breakfast taco I hit the highway for the 40 minute ride back to San Antonio – and home.

I was gone a couple of hours.  Time I needed to spend away from me, and the Internet, my kids and Twitter.

I miss these days where I wake with no plan other then, “get out there and go”.  It’s part of why I hate the winter, which keeps me shut it.

The Spring begs me and my bike to find something new, and amazing.  And sometimes all it takes is me not being here.

Sometimes the journey is all that matters.

Sometimes amazing means nothing less than different.  And today I had a different day.

Having ridden this pony before I can see SXSW is becoming a horse of a different color.  This year the newcomer to the Interactive, Music and Film festivals became the 300-pound gorilla, with an estimated 15,000 SXSWi (Interactive) attendees.

The rapid growth in the Interactive Festival demands some changes from SXSW.

(I started this post before I saw this one, by Jolie O’Dell – but I agree also with most of what she says.)

I’ll take each area individually.

SXSW -

This is no longer a little conference.  It is one of the major “tech” conferences in the world now – and while well run and well managed, there is always room for improvement.  SXSWi could start by defining what “interactive” means to them today and who the target market is.  Interactive could certainly include the “Social Media Gurus” that others have complained have taken over the stage.  Interactive could also refer to the proliferation of real-time data exchange applications that now exist and the real geeks that are building off of them.  Like apps built on the Twitter API, etc.  I don’t think it can be both.  Perhaps you need to add another block.

Let me pay an extra ten dollars and have my badge and shit mailed to me – the cattle-chutes are untenable.

And for the love of what makes sense – get the city to close East 4th Street between Red River and Neches, at least.  The Hilton is “Convention Center Two” even for those not staying there and the number of people trying to cross 4th to get to the convention center, along with the bikes, bike-cabs, and autos is just begging for trouble/gridlock.

Austin  -

See above on the street closure.  GET MORE CABS OUT LATE AT NIGHT/EARLY IN THE MORNING.  Borrow some from San Antonio if you must.  But the cabs are all focused on what seems to be a ten block area downtown.

Attendees -

Know what you are getting in for – don’t carry huge backpacks around with you – you block sidewalks and hallways.  Austin is a walking city – plan to walk!  Travel light. Don’t have your own mini-convention in the middle of hallways and crosswalks.  You are NOT that important – move to the side!

Stop spitting on the street, pissing in the bushes, throwing your trash anywhere you damn well please and otherwise acting like a moronic twelve year old with a doting mother.  Be a decent human being (even if just for a few days).

Remember the people who live in Austin were there before you, and will be there after you.  Respect them and their property.  I saw three arrests in Austin this past week.  I probably saw two dozen more that should have been arrests.  And I am not talking minor things, or even drug related things – I mean property damage, assaults and basic ass-hat-isms.

Venues (bars) -

Please learn to say “NO”.  You do NOT need to get everyone in every event drunk.  Really.  Tell them they have had enough – BEFORE you send them out into the streets to get into trouble.  I can’t believe how much over-serving of alcohol I saw.  People who could not stand or walk were getting served.  I know the party sponsor is paying for the booze – but the venue is responsible for serving.  Act responsibly.

Don’t pretend you hold 500 people when only 300 can fit. (Oh – this should also be under the notes for the City of Austin – re-examine your “maximum occupancy” codes – they are fucked up).

Oh – and at least have SOME plan for rain.  Like mats you can put on slippery spots where stairs meet wet concrete.  An dwhile you are at it – spray some of that adhesive grip stuff on your staircases.  You make a fortune during SXSWi – spend a little of it preventing that one lawsuit that will reverse your fortunes.

Venues (Hotels) -

Our hotels cost a LOT during SXSW – and honestly, my hotel is my sanctuary.  I would prefer that my hotel limited admission to the hotel bar and restaurant to hotel guests and their guests.  Yep – sorry, but I said that out loud, and I mean it.  Not being able to get breakfast in my own hotel because it is full of people from other hotels sucks.  Why pay so much to stay in downtown Austin if I don’t have any advantages?

There are more, and I could go on – but I’ll see what if anything you do with this simple list.

I would love to “Keep Austin Weird” – but you also need to “Keep SXSW Useful” and “Keep SXSW Safe”.

I know – a lot of people are out of work, and a lot of people hate their work.

I have work, and love my work.  So if a “I love my job” post is going to irritate you, you should probably leave now

25 years ago I though I was a Neonatal Respiratory Therapist – and that I would be for life.

20 years ago I thought I was a Sales guy – and that I would be for life.

10 years ago I thought I was a Developer – and would be for life.

5 years ago I thought I was an independent consultant (and that I would be for life).

Then a vendor of mine hired me.  And I thought I was a “Development Manager”.  Not for life – but I figured for a few years – that lasted less than 6 months.  It just wasn’t me.  Not in a company that loved customers as much as I love customers.  I was better at loving customers than managing developers.  It was more natural to me, and a better value proposition for my employer.

I went to work as the Director of Software Development for Rackspace Cloud (then Mosso) in June of 2008.  I loved the people and the company, but the company and I made a mistake.  I was the right guy in the wrong place – and we both knew that.  It took some time for us to both admit it at the same time.  And then find what really worked for us both.

About a year ago, during SXSW, we announced that Robert Scoble and Rocky Barbanica had joined Rackspace.  We did this from a hotel room at the Hilton in Austin – on Gillmor Gang (then hosted on Leo Laporte’s channel, and now hosted on building43.com).

Who would have known back then that Robert and Rocky would end up working for me – and that we would build http://building43.com, where Gillmor Gang – the very show that announced them joining our company, would now be hosted and sponsored by us.  Not me.

I DID recommend to Rackspace that we hire Robert and Rocky.  But I never imagined they would work for me.

So it has been just about a year since I went almost overnight from being a “dev guy” to working more in corporate communications, PR, and Marketing.  I’ve sponsored over two dozen events, and we have shot and published 99 HD videos as of today.

It’s been an amazing amount of work.  And very rewarding.  And confusing, and educational.  And challenging.

So I get to run building43, meet some amazing people, enjoy being with Robert and Rocky  – and I still spend most of my time talking to customers.  Which is what I love most of all.

I get paid to talk to people.  Which I love to do.

I work more hours in a week than most people are awake in a week.  Because I truly love what I do – and what I am allowed to do.

And I love the company I work for because they are bright enough to see the value in someone that thinks differently – and is passionate enough that it sometimes gets him into trouble

Figure out what you love, then figure out how to get paid for it.

Life is really grand once you do!

Rob

First, I am not presumptuous enough to tell anyone how to apologize, or think I am in any way an expert at it.  I am just pretty good at it, so I thought I would share what I have learned.

So this is how I apologize – your mileage may vary.

1.  Listen. And by that I do not mean, “let the customer vent”.  I mean listen.  Listening is not passive. Listening is active, and you should be contributing back to the conversation even as you listen.  You should be seeking clarifications at this point.  Do not get defensive.

2. Repeat what you think you heard and make sure you and the customer agree with the basic issues.  This is actually a great opportunity to dig deeper and find out what that one really big pain point is (and in my experience, it is almost always one major issue, even if they have a laundry list of issues to start with).  Listen and engage – don’t just listen – they will think you are blowing them off – or that you just get paid to listen. Interact.

2a – Do correct any factual mistakes or assumptions your customer has made at this point.  But do it in a methodical and no-nonsense, non-threatening way.  Make that quick and then focus on the main issue.

3. Know what you are talking about. Know your product better than your customer does.  Make sure you know the pain points.  It makes all the difference.

4. Empathy – people often mistake this as “feeling sorry for”. It is NOT.  Empathy is more like, “been there, done that”.  People who raised children alone are empathetic to each other. Those who haven’t often “sympathize”.  Being sympathetic is nowhere near as effective as establishing that connection with the customer.  Empathizing is a shared pain point – one the customer knows you have also experienced – because you really have, and you can share thier pain because you have honestly felt it.

5. Follow up.  No painful customer conversation should ever end with one conversation.  Call them again in a week. Ask if they are doing any better – or if you are doing any better.

6. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, but deliver what you promise.

7. Take their side when you should.  Don’t be afraid to agree with your customer if they say, “this feature sucks”.  If it sucks, it sucks.  And if it truly sucks and you try to pretend it does not – you have lost.

8. Invite the customer in.  Tell them how to send suggestions for improvement – offer to call them every couple weeks to get feedback.  Add them to your advisory board.  Customers that are so passionate about your product that they get angry when you fail them are the best customers to have advising you.  They care enough to let you know they care.  And tell you what they think, and what they need.

9. Be human.  This is vastly underestimated in most of the reading I have done on this topic.  If you have a script for dealing with upset customers then you fail.

10. Don’t offer to credit or “pay” your customer anything until you get through most of these steps.  Customers that are passionate about your product but just pissed about a current issue, or even a longtime flaw will just get offended.  Do offer reparations after the fact if that makes sense.  But if a refund is your opening move you are destined to fail quickly.

So those are ten quick points – and they don’t apply to everyone, I know.  I wasn’t trying to write a rule book – just trying to explain how I apologize.

I listen actively, with engagement.  Make sure I really understand the important issues.  I know the product so well that I probably know their pain point as well as they do.  So I can empathize – without seeming phony.  I don’t let it stop at one conversation and I share all my personal contact info, including my home phone number.  But I DO make it clear that I am not support – I am more of a lifeline.  I do not want to be the first person they call.  So I set boundaries.

I treat people well.  Even if they are angry at me/my employer.  Everyone is allowed some emotional and sometimes even irrational moments.  I have my share of those.

I don’t try to pay to make the problem go away.  I try to make the problem go away and then use credits/refunds as more of a parting hug.

I also make myself available – I am easy for customers to find.  And I want to be found.  I want to try and make someone happy.  That’s my job – why would I hide from it.

I’m no Social Media pundit – there are thousands of them that describe themselves as such.  Just yesterday I was followed on Twitter by someone who had a bio of “Twitter Marketer Extraordinaire”. I have no clue what that means, but I won’t pay for it.  Won’t follow it either.  It seems like rubbish to me.

I have no such illusions or delusions about my ability to use, and find useful, this new tool-set we’ve been given.  Twitter is but a knife in a culinary set though.  It is not a full set of utensils.  We have an ever-growing set of tools and utensils.  And I don’t think the tools matter much – at least not as much as how we decide to use them.  A knife can be used to cut.  Or it can be used to butter a shared loaf of bread.

Yes, the tools change – but the way they are wielded has been unchanged for decades.

So let us ignore individual tools for now, since they are so varied, and they have a different level of usefulness depending on your company and industry.

The bigger question is, “Can Social Media Be Measured?”.  I ask a smaller question – “Should it be measured”?

I’ve effectively used social media in a number of ways.  But that doesn’t make it a replacement for meeting people face to face, or using more traditional methods to target a specific audience.

Social Media is a shotgun approach to meeting and conversing with those that you are interested in; or might be interested in you.  It is, if done well, an invitation – and that should be enough.  For me, and my company, it is enough.

But behind that invitation to a conversation you need real people – people that know your business, and your product – and that are empowered to affect  change.  Otherwise you are talking to a wall.

Social Media has been useful to me, and to the company I work for, because we don’t just listen and respond with useless banter.  We have a team of engineers behind us that actually CAN make change happen.  In fact – our entire Social Media Team IS engineers.  We have also been customers.  WE know what the pain points are – and this was done by design.

When you have that level of understanding of your customers – and what they really need – well, measurement takes on a new meaning.  A less significant one.  We use “social” to be helpful – with people empowered to help.

I am not overly concerned about “measuring” Social Media – as long as we keep it relevant.  If it is relevant to your business – as long as it causes conversations and resolves customer issues – well, I don’t think it needs to be measure more than that – today.  Over time measurement will become more important.

But if you work for a company now that is MOST concerned with measurement – and NOT as concerned with your impact – be afraid.

Focus on just making a difference.  The tools will catch up to us.  If you try to catch up to the tools you will take your eye off the prize – customer engagement.

So I have ONE measurement this year – only one.  How do my social media outreaches affect customers.  How involved are they where I post, with what I care about, and in a context that makes sense to me and my business?

Do they care about what I care about?  DO I care about what they care about?

If they respond in any way, I can measure social media.

If they do not respond, I can also measure social media

But I am not keeping score beyond, “Are we doing more good than bad”.

I think many are over-thinking this right now.

Are you talking to your customer or not? If you are – you can measure that – just by the number of conversations.  If you are not – don’t waste your time in measuring in.

But don’t focus on the numbers.  Focus on the conversations.  The REAL conversations you have with customers.

Rob