MikeTrap Home Feed

5 Rules for Driving Change

Tue, 29 May 2012 22:08:12 -0400

Into Week 3 now. Having used PowerPoint to define and secure executive buy-in to a simple story that will guide our external messaging, it’s time to get the organization behind that story and the ideas that comprise it. As any good consultant will tell you… once you have the answer, the real work begins.

The biggest misconception about being an executive is that once you get the title, you can make stuff happen by fiat. It doesn’t work that way. As I detailed in a post a while back, being an executive isn’t about being given the authority to make things happen in an organization. It’s about developing the power to get people moving in the direction the organization needs them to move… More here.

Love It Or Hate It, You Gotta Fix the PowerPoint First

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:04:51 -0400

I have a love/hate thing with PowerPoint.

The vast majority of it sucks. Every time we’re forced to endure some shmo standing up to read a wall full of bullets, a faerie dies. Microsoft is partly to blame, given how easy they make it to produce crap, but the truth is the real culprits is the craftsmen, not the tool.

I shared a few thoughts on How To Present as one of my first posts on BostInno, which you can check out here. This post is less about that, and more about the important role PowerPoint is playing as we try to get better at marketing Actifio.

PowerPoint is a tool that can help you tell a story to a group. Like all great marketing, a great presentation starts with a clear sense of what your audience thinks, feels or does today; and an equally clear sense of what you want them to think, feel, or do when you’re done. It lets you create a structure for that journey – a logical progression – and a string of visual aids highlighting points in the journey from A to B.

Looked at this way, the app becomes useful not only in telling a story, but in crafting one… more here.

Fascinating piece on the evolution of technology marketing, from...

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:39:29 -0400

Fascinating piece on the evolution of technology marketing, from the Mad Men days forward… (via Make mainframes, not war: how Mad Men sold computers in the 1960s and 1970s | Ars Technica)

Stay Close To Sales

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:37:36 -0400

Stay Close To Sales:

Been drinking from a firehose the last few days, starting with a sales meeting at 8:30 on my first day here in Waltham. It was a fitting start given some really good advice I got from the head of product and marketing at PTC last week…

Copy matters. If you want to change behavior, you need to make...

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:04:34 -0400

Copy matters. If you want to change behavior, you need to make them FEEL something.

Why I’m Leaving Holland-Mark

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:13:57 -0400

Why I’m Leaving Holland-Mark:

This will be my last post for the Holland-Mark channel, and my last day at Holland-Mark. There’ll be plenty of time to talk about where I’m going and why I felt compelled to leave a successful partnership of good friends, but for my swan song here I thought I’d share a few thoughts on my journey that might be useful to you.

It’s too long, but it’s a pretty good story. The short version is that I’ve come to organize the journey of my career in the same way I’ve tried to organize the journey of a business.

I start with a Vision of who I am, and the ways I think I’m uniquely able to create and capture value in the world. From there I focus on finding the Truth - to corrupt this original vision with the external reality – in a way that refines it based on new information and ideas. Once I’m there, it comes down to Conviction, to having the fortitude to accept and act on the changes necessary to deliver the result.

That’s it, really. If you want the details… here’s what happened.

The Power of Good Copy

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:30:00 -0400

The Power of Good Copy:

If you’re interested in how subtle changes to the structure of a marketing call-to-action can lift your results by 173%, you should click the title above.

TechStars Boston is not your father’s startup showcase....

Thu, 03 May 2012 17:33:00 -0400

TechStars Boston is not your father’s startup showcase. Here’s a sample of the goings on there this morning, just to highlight the level of attention they gave to making this a fun and great experience for everyone who attended. In the process they create a context where people are open and listening to accomplished people talk about tangible progress realizing big ideas. That’s worth a lot.

I was utterly blown away by today. To Katie, Reed, and everyone else… bravo.

Geeks With Guns

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:34:00 -0400

Chris Sheehan, Kai Gray and David Cancel sponsored a fantastic day of firearms and startup camaraderie yesterday, cheekily called “Geeks With Guns.” About 15 of us headed out to the Minute Man Gun Club in Burlington, MA, and let off a little steam by blowing some shit up. Fun.

A few things struck me heading home after the great dinner that followed the event. The first was how great a group of people were gathered there, and how happy I was to be considered in the context of entrepreneurs I genuinely respect and admire. The second was how important the social layer of the startup ecosystem is… how each of us was doing something right now we might not be doing in 5 years, but how these relationship would endure and support us in the changing tides of a hard-charging career.

Finally, it struck me that I was relaxed. Firearms take focus. Focusing on them means unplugging for the stress of everything else - something I’m sure other people get from running, fishing, bird-watching, whatever.

That’s some good ju-ju. Need to do more of that going forward, whether it means blowing shit up or not.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why they do...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:31:11 -0400

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why they do it.” Yes.

First Why, then How, then What. Magic.

Much to learn from the story of Caine’s Arcade: Do what...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:42:52 -0400

Much to learn from the story of Caine’s Arcade:

Do what you love, and you’ll never work again.
Inspire people with your story, and they will carry you on their shoulders.
Entrepreneurship is a craft, that can be learned. But entrepreneurs… they’re just born that way.

Good luck, Caine. To contribute to his scholarship fund here.

Great marketing is less about what the product is, and more about why it matters to the people who...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:07:56 -0400

Great marketing is less about what the product is, and more about why it matters to the people who buy it.

Solitude and Leadership: If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:57:18 -0400

Solitude and Leadership: If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts.:

Powerful West Point lecture given by William Deresiewicz, and shared in American Scholar magazine.

The short version is that great leaders demonstrate an ability to rise above the clatter, retreat at least mentally to a place of reflection, and formulate creative, thoughtful solutions to challenging problems.

Profound stuff.

Actifio’s Ash Ashutosh asked us to kick off his marketing...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:28:28 -0400

Actifio’s Ash Ashutosh asked us to kick off his marketing planning meeting with some thoughts on the state of marketing itself… how it’s changed, what it’s about today, and how smart companies are using it right now in new ways that push the envelope, and get results. High level stuff, hopefully with eye toward the practical and applied.

Here’s the deck, welcome any thoughts or feedback below.

Objectified documentary trailer. “When you see an object,...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:28:54 -0400

Objectified documentary trailer. “When you see an object, you make so many assumptions about that object, in seconds. What it does, how well it’s going to do it, how much you think it should cost…”

Startups, This Is How Design Works

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:22:21 -0400

Startups, This Is How Design Works:

AWESOME overview, what design really is and why it matters more than most startups think. Great stuff, props to @taylorwriting for the get.

While the world hardly needs another news aggregator, LinkedIn...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:28:39 -0400

While the world hardly needs another news aggregator, LinkedIn Today is a nicely curated list of the content you’re most likely to care about.

God, I wish I’d written this… (via An Offer You...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:36:58 -0400

God, I wish I’d written this… (via An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Leadership Lessons From “The Godfather” | Fast Company)

Bruce Springsteen Brings the Noise

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:49:00 -0400

Bruce Springsteen Brings the Noise:

Post in today’s in BostInno: “In a show that was part fond farewell, part celebration of hope, and 100% rock & roll revival, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band brought a Boston Garden crowd packed to the rafters together like old friends, and set us free with an experience of soulful joy, poetic artistry, and hip-grinding passion…” More

Springsteen. Like a down home revival. (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:23:03 -0400

Springsteen. Like a down home revival. (Taken with instagram)