Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!
On far less lofty ground, marketers, advertisers and media types have for decades hypothesized about McLuhan’s precise inference, and the implications for which medium best fit what message.
And in the process, we often theorize right over the real point.
Aided by social communication tools, are we becoming lazy communicators with lazy friendships?
Yesterday I posed this question on Twitter: do you ever feel that your use of social media is resulting in more, but SHALLOWER relationships? Even perhaps making long-term friendships shallower? A few people responded with a hearty AMEN and few people said NO WAY. How about you?
It’s not “social media’s fault”; the word choice of “your use of social media” was very intentional. The tools are what we make of them, just like the tools that came before. And you know I love them as much as the next addict enthusiast. Through them, I have met all of you amazing people and I don’t take that for granted.
It has become very clear to me that listening is a more powerful communication tool than that of speaking (online or offline). I guess that is why we hear the expression we have “two ears and only one mouth” for a reason.
Think about it.
All human beings have the desire and need to “truly be heard”. In addition, human beings seek to be understood, appreciated and connected to others. Many painful times in our lives have come about because we said something we did not mean OR do not say something we should have said. Such situations often cause pain to both us and others. No good!
Does this apply to new communication mediums such as Social Media? You bet it does. In such new arenas- listening is more important than ever.
Missed opportunities for communications growth occur when we fail to further develop a relationship because we do not get to know a person better. In other words, we have “talked” to them a lot but have learned little about them– as we have instead focused on our needs, wants and desires.
The people I enjoy the most, in all parts of life, are those who are the best listeners. Why?
The reason is simple– these people make me feel important. Don’t we all want to feel that way? Don’t we all, whether offline OR online, TRULY want have a meaningful conversation?
Our goal should be to consistently improve our listening skills. And, remember “hearing and listening” are two very different things. Such strong listening skills– will not only make you a better person– but also a better communicator, marketer and leader in all endeavors- online or offline.
What do you think?
Ryan Sauers
Paul Greenberg, founder of the 56 Group, Social CRM expert and keynoter at the LiNC conference this year, gives his take on the Social CRM industry and what companies are, and aren’t doing….
Key takeaway for me is how Social CRM is one of the driving factors creating the need for the types of functional integration described in my recent post Facilitating Integration: Functional lines blurring due to social media.
Follow Paul Greenberg on Twitter @pgreenbe
When you have a big idea, the question is, how to spread it?
You can go through a traditional publisher and have it printed in the tried and true way, like Clay Shirky. I had a chance to read Clay’s new book a few months ago. No surprise: it’s pure gold, unalloyed insight about the state of media and the world.
If you’re looking for big ideas and are prepared to lose a little sleep, there’s no better book to buy right now.
You can have someone take a short speech based on your book and have them turn it into a animated video. Dan Pink’s video has been seen about 20 times as often as his book has been purchased. Video spreads.
You can turn your idea (like a focus on entrepreneurs) into cool trading cards, like Evan did.
You can skip the printing altogether and start your own video university, like Khan Academy.
Perhaps write a short manifesto and watch it spread as a free ebook. Like Changethis, a free service that has reached millions with the work of top authors from around the world.
Don’t forget podcasts or mp3s, which can be very funny or motivational.
Consider starting a conference with a unique platform and worldwide reach, like TED.
Or you can blog your idea for several years in a row, slowly building up trust and making an impact over time.
Of course, there’s no right answer. But there’s probably a best answer that matches your time frame, budget, audience and idea.
Seth Godin
What is going on these days? It seems that every place I go— countless people are looking down towards the ground (i.e. their phones, IPODs, mobile devices etc). For example, I have seen couples who are out on “dates” and although they are sitting across from each other—they are not listening or engaged in the conversation to each other- but instead are focused on browsing the web or texting someone else. If we are not careful we going to have a generation of people with strained necks from spending so much time looking down at such devices.
I have studied the subject of communications for years. It is funny that many people us the words communications and communication interchangeably. You might ask yourself– what is the difference of a simple “s” at the end? Well there is a lot of difference.
To begin with, TRUE communications occur only when what is being expressed by the sender is clearly understood by the receiver. If someone says s/he is a good communicator but most people cannot follow/understand what the individual has written or said– the fact of the matter is– that person is either not a good communicator or has failed in his/her communications attempt.
An easy time to observe this is during negotiation situations– or times of hostility– when people are tense OR upset with one another. During such times, it is easy to observe the communications process OR lack thereof it quite clearly.
In these times, one party tends to think the vantage point s/he is coming from is “what is right” and that the other person/parties point of view “is wrong”.
When this begins to happen– one way and stifled COMMUNICATION is occurring instead of the flowing two way stream of communications.
One of the best skills that a great “communications person” has is solid listening skills. This skill is oftentimes overlooked but, as the old saying goes, we have “two ears and one mouth” for a reason.
So for true and successful communications to occur– all parties– the sender and receiver… must be willing to listen, willing to hear the other side out, willing to clearly explain a message that can be understood, and lastly if all else fails… be willing to “AGREE TO DISAGREE– AGREEABLY.”
What differences do you observe between communication and communications?
When it comes to communication that is critical to the future, it’s easy to let the negatives we know (and probably understand very well) completely determine the framework of an important message.
Case in point — when discussing dating with my teenage daughter, it’s difficult for me not to speak completely out of personal experience, framing the message in the context of the “devil” I know – ”I know exactly what boys are up to because I was one!” Few would dispute that my perspective is rooted in fact; there is no shortage of data points to support the message. But the problem (apart from the fact that my target audience has no interest in hearing this message) is that this one-dimensional message does little to help my daughter develop a perspective that helps her move into the future.
What does this have to do with our communication as leaders? Simply this: without exception, when communication is couched and “toned” only by data points of the past — or for that matter, the present — it will lack dimension, skew perspective, and seed a faulty response.
Absent a perspective that allows for (and prompts) vision, the communication of leaders runs the risk of doing little more than contributing to the current noise of the marketplace. If the data is less than stellar (consider recent communication concerning the U.S. economic strains), the chances are great that the devils we know have far too much influence on the message — even when the message is future-looking.
Consider this: had the framework for Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or poetic Second Inaugural referenced only the reality of the moment, his speeches would simply have decried the nation’s condition, and mourned those yet to die. Instead, Lincoln used the past only to raise a new vision.
Had Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the throng speaking only out of experience, the “I have a dream” refrain would never have passed his lips.
And in the wake of the USSR having won the race to orbit the earth, JFK dared to stir the US with an unthinkable vision — to put a man on the moon.
What Lincoln, King and Kennedy did was seed a vision. Some might suggest that known data points and vision represent opposite perspectives — that the former is grounded in fact and the latter is right-side-of-the-brain creativity at its best . . . spin at worst. Yet, modern history’s pivotal moments are often marked by the communication of a leader who, unprepared for the past to define the future, was able to articulate a new view of the horizon.
Pivotal moments — whether in commerce, social enterprise or political endeavors – come when leaders understand that most of us are ready to be done with the devils we have known. We simply need someone to help us with the vision of what might be.
Have a Vision? Lead on.