Posted by Ellie Mirman on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 @ 08:30 AM
I recently read Seth Godin's newest book, Linchpin, and not only loved the book but also found that it so shockingly well described my office. So much so that I've started recommending it to recent grads interested in marketing, alongside Inbound Marketing and The New Rules of Marketing & PR, of course.
Below is a combination of summary and favorite tidbits from the book.
Linchpin is Purple Cow for people. In short, be remarkable.
The premise of the book is that the lizard brain, one of the most primitive parts of our brain, is in charge of survival instincts and keeping us out of danger. When translated into our complex world, though, this means that we confine ourselves to our self-made boxes and do not innovate. A linchpin is someone who acknolwedges the fear of the lizard brain but continues to create art to share with the world. It is ever more important, in the new age of the internet, to become a linchpin rather than a cog in the wheel of a factory.
We've been taught to be cogs in a wheel, workers in a factory. But we can choose to break from that mold to create art.
Instead what we should teach in schools is to (1) solve interesting problems (answer the question "What should I do next?" - a question that Google cannot answer) and (2) lead. The new American Dream is (or should be): Be remarkable. Be generous. Create art. Make judgment calls. Connect people and ideas. "If you can be human at work (not a machine), you'll discover a passion for work you didn't know you had. When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. And that creates even more value."
Act like a cog in a machine and you will be treated as such. Linchpins acknolwedge fear and create art anyway. Linchpins have a passion for creating and spreading art.
Linchpins create art that draw people to them and make people (customers, employees, employers) loyal to them. They create great art that makes people cross the street to get to them. Fear is what holds us back. And it's not that linchpins do not have fear. Rather, they feel the fear, acknowledge it, and proceed.
A cog in a machine is always waiting to get instructions. Even if you have a job that is typically like a cog in a machine, you still don't have to treat it that way. "If he waits for a job to be good enough to deserve his best shot, it's unlikely that he'll ever have that job." Linchpins create art, give gifts not because they have to, because if they did, it wouldn't be a gift, it would be a job.
"Passion isn't project-specific. It's people-specific. Some people are hooked on passion, deriving their sense of self from the act of being passionate... People with passion look for ways to make things happen."
Linchpins get things done.
The resistance (the lizard brain) keeps us from actually shipping a product. One case is in the form of thrashing when it's time to ship - surfacing all sorts of objections at the end of a project that delays us and keeps us from actually finishing anything. Instead, thrashing should be done at the beginning of a project when it's a lot cheaper, and should limit the number of people thrashing as much as possible. Some common manifestations of the resistance are: playing "devil's advocate," relying on deadlines to get things done, always juggling multiple projects, compliance disguised as humility. Seth calls out the sprint/scrum process as a great way to battle the resistance and GSD. "Successful people are successful for one simple reason: they think about failure differently." You become a winner by getting good at losing.
Being a linchpin requires good judgment and passion.
Seth calls out the importance of passion multiple times, explaining a two-way relationship between art and passion - passionate people create art, the freedom to create art inspires passion. Note that it's a lot easier to bring passion to your job than to find a job that matches your passion.
The Seven Abilities of the Linchpin
Linchpins do 2 things: (1) exert emotional labor (2) make a map. Linchpins have 7 key abilities:
- Provide unique interface between members of the organization
- Deliver unique creativity (requires domain knowledge, position of trust, generosity to contribute)
- Manage a complex situation or org (requires map-making and clear judgment)
- Lead customers
- Inspire staff
- Provide deep domain knowledge
- Possess a unique talent
Still having trouble being allowed to be a linchpin?
- Note the difference between the right answer and the answer you can sell. Ideas might be shot down not because they're bad but because the wrong person tried to sell it. If you have a controversial idea, you can trigger the resistance in other people.
- Focus on making changes that work down (customers & employees), not up (management). Use that to earn the trust and respect of those above you.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 @ 09:01 AM
Whenever I get into a conversation about the meaning of life, I immediately roll my eyes. I honestly can't stand that conversation because it seems so irrelevant to me. In my opinion, there is no singular meaning of life and it's not worth our time and energy to discuss it.
Instead, focus on what you can do with your life.
Funny enough, this thought was sparked by a book I just finished, Brazen Careerist. It's a book by blogger/writer/advisor Penelope Trunk on the topic of career advancement. The book and her blog are interesting reads.
One part that really stood out to me was a study she mentioned by Princeton professor of economics Alan Krueger. The study showed that "when it comes to workplace success, it doesn't matter if your get into an Ivy League school, it matters if you apply. Those who applied and those who got in had the same amount of success beyond those who did not apply." The takeaway? "What matters is ambition and self-image, not getting the best grades or having the best test scores."
What I love about this study - and generally what is shown in the book - is that what matters in life are your goals and your ambition to achieve those goals. It's not about WHY you're here, but WHAT you do while you're here.
The book has lots of similar thought-provoking bits. It's nothing so revolutionary that you'll fall out of your chair, but it certainly kept me engaged and kept me thinking. It's a quick and easy read and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in "career development books".
Photo credit: miss blackbutterfly
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 06:48 AM
As perhaps the unofficial official blogger of my family, and also a well-intentioned member of society, I feel it is my duty to share this wonderful read. The Will to Whatevs is the ultimate self-help book for dealing with all of life's twists and turns, from school to marriage to death. Perhaps in that order, but perhaps not.
This guidebook comes from the very funny Eugene Mirman. I won't dare try to compete with Eugene's hilarity, but instead will share some of my favorite bits from his book...
The purpose of this book is clear.
"Our grandparents may have had twelve-hour workdays in dangerous, filthy factories, and limited medicine, but they can't imagine how hard it is to list your favorite bands on a social networking site in a way that maximizes what strangers think of you. Some of our parents may have gone to college, but did they temp at a weird PR firm or software company?"
This book provides very practical tips, including ideas for college essay topics, including:
- How old people and young people are the same in so many ways, except age.
- A concert or reading you went to that had a powerful affect on you.
- How you overcame adversity (and tricking someone slightly older into having sex does not count).
- How people are animals, but shouldn't be hunted.
- Reasons it's wrong to be racist even though it makes sense to you.
- Pearl Jam.
- How your parents met their new spouses.
- The perfect murder.
- Your favorite places to throw up.
- An essay title, "If I Were Eric Clapton..."
On explaining family relations, these words of wisdom may have held true when I was younger...
Good Uncle, Bad Influence: "Being an uncle is like being a rock star no one but your niece or nephew has heard of."
If you plan on coming out as gay,
"The best place to tell your parents you are a homosexual person from now on (no changing your mind back after college, okay?) is at a fancy restaurant... In the middle of the meal, show them a Vogue magazine (if you're a guy) or a Popular Mechanics (if you're a lady) and go, 'This is me now, and you have to accept it.' If they are confused, whisper, 'I'm gay.' The point of this roundabout exercise is the joy of deduction. Giving your parents clues and making them figure out that you're gay will give them a sense of accomplishment that will balance their initial shock."
And, of course, some wise career counseling.
"A new job is like a new glove. You are excited, but it's just a glove. Still, maybe it will fit well?"
And I can't help but have a soft spot for this section:
The Internet: How to Harness the Power and Reach of New Media: "Make a music video of all your friends fighting in a forest with animals. Make sure the animals are dangerous, but not too dangerous. So no one gets seriously hurt. Put that footage to your catchiest song and post it on YouTube. Then just wait. I forgot to add that everyone (including the animals) should be in their underwear."
Also, a while back I went to New York for the book release party for The Will to Whatevs. Brooklyn Vegan had a good recap of the event.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Fri, Mar 13, 2009 @ 07:44 AM
There's nothing like a great conference to really get lots of thoughts and ideas jumping around in your head, just waiting for a blog post to flush them out. Yesterday I drove down to Randolph, MA for Geek Girl Camp Boston to talk to women about how to use inbound marketing and, specifically, Facebook, for business and afterwards I was so energized with blog post ideas about marketing and Facebook and social media newbies.
But that's not really what this blog post is about. I'm actually pretty new to the conference speaker role, and I was excited to get some experience at this event. Feedback was great (thank you all!), but of course I want to improve. I'll be the first to admit that I have a tendency to be a bit wordy and confusing when I try to explain things that I know too much about. I definitely fall victim to the Curse of Knowledge and need to work on better explaining things I know a lot about, like Facebook.
So when I got home last night, I pulled out (one of the four books I'm currently reading) Made to Stick to pick up where I left off (months ago... I really need to focus on one book at a time). Made to Stick has been one of the best business books I have ever read, really helping me with this Curse of Knowledge that I so easily fall victim to. Something that occurred to me - both in observing the authors' writing style and also the section specifically on Concrete ideas being "sticky" - was that concrete examples or case studies can be a huge help in delivering your idea in an effective way while also overcoming the Curse! By using real life examples of what you're explaining, a reader or listener can more easily remember your story. Also, by using case studies, you paint a picture that is worth a thousand words - your audience can fully experience what you're talking about, draw their own conclusions, and all at the same time, you make a lot more sense by not being so abstract.
Uh oh, I'm falling victim to it again. I'm being too abstract and not using concrete examples! So let's try this again.
In my presentation at GGC, I spent a lot of time talking about the news feed, about business Pages, about Facebook applications. Sure, I was giving step-by-step instructions for setting up a Page, but I still got a lot of questions like, "What if I don't want my clients to see my friends' kids' photos?" or "Should I use my real name?" -- questions more easily answered by just jumping in and seeing how Facebook works from a user's perspective.
Here's what I could have done: logged in to Facebook. Shown the news feed. Look! My friend Dan posted a link to his latest blog post. Mike uploaded a video of his son. Ashley became a fan of Flight of the Conchords. From there, we could go look at the Flight of the Conchords Page on Facebook. We could look at Ashley's profile, that shows she's a fan of that Page. And we remember that her action of becoming a fan actually showed up when I logged in. That's pretty cool.
That's one idea. By making it a lot more concrete, people can see exactly what Facebook is and how it works and will (hopefully) be better able to jump in using it.
What I especially like about the case study approach is that I can still allow myself to be wordy... But in this case, my words are used to describe a story. They add color and texture, and at the end, the listener can get a fuller experience of the picture, instead of me throwing a thousand words at them to describe the picture. I'm hoping from now on I'll try to paint more pictures... and not write any more dissertations.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Sun, Feb 22, 2009 @ 11:28 AM
It's been a crazy week for us over at HubSpot - and I swear this time it's crazier than usual.
HubSpot 1K Customers Celebration
First up, we had our HubSpot 1K Customers Party, at which we had probably 200 HubSpot employees, customers, friends, and family join us in our new office to celebrate our 1,000 customer base.
We had HubSpot TV live, SWAG and temporary tattoo stations, tarot readings, foosball, RockBand, and, of course, food and drinks. It was a rockin' time, as the photos will illustrate.
MC Hammer Visits HubSpot TV
And the very next day, just to top the biggest company party ever, we had a surprise visit from - are you ready for this - MC HAMMER. Yup, he just happened to be in town and decided to visit our little ol' internet marketing startup.
Really, what happened was another twitter success story. He tweeted that he was in Boston, a number of HubSpotters responded, saying he should stop by... and he did! As my fellow HubSpotter, Rebecca Corliss, said, twitter really does level the networking playing field. Could you ever imagine our little software company getting a celebrity like that to come to our office?
View a short clip from his visit to HubSpot TV:
World Wide Rave Video
Now, just to top it all off, today David Meerman Scott posted a new video that features over 100 people who have created World Wide Raves (triggering people to spread their ideas and share their stories for free). Watch carefully for my cameo at about 1:12 (right after John Hodgman). David was very nice to even credit me in his post - thanks David!
P.S. - David's new book, World Wide Rave is pretty awesome (I got an advance copy - thanks again, David!) and it officially comes out at the beginning of March, though online sales have already begun.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Mon, Jan 12, 2009 @ 08:56 AM
In my earlier post, I talked about concreteness - or, more specifically, concreteness as a form of constraints - in helping our minds focus and be more creative.
On a broader level, concreteness has two main benefits vis-a-vis the reception of your ideas:
- Concrete ideas are easier to understand and remember.
- Concrete ideas make it easier for us to coordinate our activities.
I want to skip to the second, less obvious, point: concreteness allows coordination. The idea here is that by not only being specific, but by being concrete, a diverse and otherwise disconnected group of team members are able to rally on one clear and concrete idea.
One example of this that immediately came to mind ist that of buyer personas. Personas are fictious characters created to represent different user types, an archetypal person whom your company may want to reach. Personas allow employees across an organization to visualize and understand who they are marketing or selling to or building a product for. Ask yourself: is it easier to create a marketing campaign to your Uncle Joe who owns his own packaging company, or more generically, a small business owner?
Made to Stick authors Chip and Dan Heath propose the analogy of the mind's memories as velcro - with the more "hooks" (velcro consists of a series of hooks on one side) you have, the stickier the memory. If you picture each detail about your Uncle Joe the small business owner as one of those hooks, it's clear how easy it will be to understand and reference who he is, his preferences, and so on. It's a lot easier to build a product that works for him, create a marketing message that speaks to him, and more effectively sells your product to him - or someone like him.
Photo by andybardill
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Fri, Jan 02, 2009 @ 09:57 AM
In school, I think you're taught to write the body of a paper first and then go back and write the introduction and title. I could never do that. I needed to write the title first, and then the introduction, to frame my thoughts and prepare myself for writing the rest of the paper.
I just finished another chapter of my new favorite business book, Made to Stick. This chapter, focused on making your ideas concrete, sparked so many exciting thoughts that I just can't squeeze them into one blog post. So this will be one of a few posts on the topic of concreteness.
Jumping to another story. (Don't worry, they all tie together in the end.) In college, I took an educational psychology class on creativity (side note: how awesome is it that?). One thing that really intrigued me was the concept of fostering creativity through the use of constraints. My hypothesis was that, by imposing constraints in a creative situation, the result would actually be more creative.
The authors of Made to Stick conduct an experiment that, although it's meant to illustrate the concept of concreteness, it more specifically addresses the power of constraints.
Here's the experiment:
Step 1: Grab a pen and paper and spend 15 seconds doing the following: Write down as many things that are white in color as you can think of.
OK got it?
Step 2: Now, spend 15 seconds doing the following: Write down as many white things in your refrigerator as you can think of.
Remarkably, most people are able to list as many white things from their refrigerator as they can white "anythings". Which is pretty odd, right? Because the contents of our refrigerators are much fewer than the contents of the whole universe. The authors say that "concreteness is a way of mobilizing and focusing your brain." I'd say that here concreteness is imposing constraints on your brain, and, yes, it helps you focus, and you're more able to think more creatively about something more focused.
So that's why I always start with the title first. This blog post is an example of just that. Coming up with the title first helps focus my thoughts and helps me write something more coherent (and hopefully interesting). Otherwise, with my attention span and tendency to get excited about lots of different things, I'm sure my blog posts would be absolutely all over the place (which in a lot of cases, especially "in the old days", they certainly are). Why is it that teachers teach us to write the title and introduction last, anyway?
Photo credit: churl
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Mon, Nov 24, 2008 @ 08:29 AM
I've just started reading Chip & Dan Heath's Made to Stick and already I'm loving it. Wish I had read it months ago (when I first received it from Amazon). The book is all about what makes ideas "sticky" or, in other words, "why some ideas survive and others die" (taken right from the cover...). The book exemplifies exactly why I ever got into marketing, namely, the coming together of psychology and language to explain how the very way you communicate something can have a dramatic effect on how a given idea or statement is received. But beyond that, I'm also really learning from this book. You may think, as a marketing professional with a degree in the humanities, I certainly must be able to communicate effectively already. Well, I am not so bold as to say that I could not use some improvement.
The first key quality of a "sticky" idea is Simplicity. Time and again I've been told to get to the point. Boil down whatever I'm trying to say. In my papers, in my presentations, I've been known to be wordy and I'm still constantly working on simplifying my communications. What I think I've learned - now that I've read a whole chapter simply on Simplicity - is that I just get too excited. I get so excited about something that I want to talk and talk and talk. Explain this and chat about that because my mind is racing from this to that and I just can't contain my excitement. Well, now I'm going to try. Try to contain my excitement. Because, as my new favorite business book points out, an idea communicated ineffectively is useless.
Along the way (reading through the book), I'll try to relay some tidbits here on my blog. Not only do I like to share my excitement (*smile*) but also the process of reorganizing and repeating these ideas certainly helps make them stick.