Here are the three most popular blog entries of 2010, with a new year’s resolution to write many more in the new year!  Please enjoy.

UPDATE:  Moments after tweeting my resolution to blog more often in 2011, I see I am being held accountable (!) by WordPress’ PostADay / PostAWeek Challenge.  OK, WordPress, count me in … for the PostAWeek, that is!

The most popular post overall during 2010 was actually a 2009 post: 

Poor Communication can Scuttle Effective BI, Your Personal Brand, and a Simple Bus Ride 

Top 3 most popular posts added in 2010:

1.  Not All Interruption Marketing is Bad 

2.  Play the Product Marketing Game Like a Chess Grandmaster

3.  Animal Metaphor Farm: Don’t be a “Gorilla” or “Eagle” in Business … Be a Crow

Everything I know about   [subject]

I learned from  [game/etc.] .

You just might have a new best-selling book (or at least a blog post) topic now!

Ever since Robert Fulghum wrote that ‘everything he needed to know he learned in kindergarten,’ it seems like there is a lot of writing out there with a similar “Everything I know about…” theme – lots of it snarky parody, but many clever writings, too.

In the clever category is “Everything I Know About Business I Learned from Poker,” written by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, an idea appearing in the What Matters Now e-book (compiled by Seth Godin), which I just wrote about here. Tony Hsieh provides a clever explanation how poker has taught him about financials, strategy, education and culture, excerpted from Tony Hsieh’s excellent blog.  (As I have mentioned before, any company whose CEO is writing an informative, thought-provoking blog has a competitive advantage in leadership).

Still, it’s easy to take the idea too far: unlike business, poker has a much higher level of luck that can’t be reduced through proactive strategic planning and creativity (think effective product marketing and management, etc.). Even after correctly speculating an opponent has an inferior hand, a bad final “river” card can do you in anyway. In poker, it’s often better to be “lucky” than “good”!

Today poker is very widely regarded as very “cool”, with televised poker champions playing their personas to the hilt.

That said, I have a great deal of respect for someone willing to share an “Everything I know…” insight using a game, pastime, hobby, etc. that is…well, let’s say definitely not perceived as “cool” by popular culture.

For that I wish to honor Chad Henderson of Oklahoma City: Everything he needs to know about life he learned from…Dungeons and Dragons. (Thanks to BoingBoing for their original posting on this.)    

I suggest Chad makes a solid case for why Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games (played in-person, not online) might even have more useful life and business lessons than poker!

Watching his recent IgniteOKC talk, which I found offered useful insights from a marketing and personal branding perspective, and reading a bit more about Chad Henderson, he knows a thing or two about starting a business venture that is quite cool!  Read on…

I also want to compliment “Izzy” who shared these valuable comments on Chad’s blog:

I’ve used Dungeons and Dragons as a learning tool for my kids too! Their teachers have always been amazed at their vocabulary (but not necessarily their spelling). Also, they get a good feel for numbers and probabilities.

Other things we learn from D&D:

Group cooperation: groups can accomplish more than individuals
Roles: Everyone contributes to success and each person has their specific strengths
Choice: Sometimes moral choices override logic and tradition

Checking elsewhere Chad Henderson’s blog, I see Chad has co-founded the Oklahoma City Co-working Collaborative, a cool venture which offers telecommuters, entrepreneurs, programmers, consultants, and other self-employed professionals an outstanding professional work environment at a much lower cost than renting office space. Even better, in such a coworking environment (unlike a “hoteling” environment I was familiar with from once working for a consulting firm), you get to interact with a wide variety of creative professionals – in keeping with Tom Peters’ longstanding advice to get new marketing, business and other ideas by hanging out with people you might not otherwise get to meet.

I confess I had not even heard the term coworking until reading about Chad Henderson’s venture, but I’m impressed. Come to find out, there are coworking sites not too far from me in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.  If you are familiar with coworking as a user, a founder, or both, please comment here with your insights!

So, to summarize: a business venture co-founded by an avid player of Dungeons and Dragons, a game that requires creativity, imagination and the ability to work effectively as a team…yes, interesting, very interesting:

In related news, ABC’s Shark Tank
names a brand new cast! (ha ha):

Anybody can have ideas – the difficulty is to express them without squandering a (stack) of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph. - Mark Twain

Photo by: cayusa (Flickr CC)

Thanks to Bruna Martinuzzi, author of The Leader as a Mench, for sending me just before the holiday break a copy of What Matters Now, a free e-book compiled by marketing author and visionary Seth Godin.

Over 70 authors, executives, and entrepreneurs each share an idea, using no more than a couple of “glittering paragraphs,” for you to think about and act upon in 2010 and beyond.

Among my personal favorites that are food for thought related to marketing and personal branding:

As much as I am an advocate for blogging, being networked on LinkedIn, etc., author and entrepreneur Howard Mann shares his idea on being too Connected:

There are tens of thousands of businesses making many millions a year that still haven’t heard of twitter, blogs or facebook…Have they missed out or is the joke on us?…More megaphones don’t equal a better dialogue…

CEO Michael Hyatt on Vision:

Vision is the lifeblood of any organization…(but) in a down economy – particularly one that has taken most of us by surprise – things get very tactical…We are just trying to survive…When times are tough, vision is the first casualty. Before things can improve, it is the first thing we mist recover.

Marketing authors Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell on “the 1%“:

[Business success can begin] with a small – very small – group of self-identified fans within a category…It’s usually a small percentage of the tribe within a larger tribe who spread the word [about your product] – usually about 1 percent…The One Percenters are often hidden in the crevices of niches, yet they are the roots of word of mouth. This year, your job is to find them and attract them.

For many, many more succinct and inspiring ideas, get What Matters Now – now - via Seth Godin’s website.

You were supposed to give the bus driver the number of your bus stop near your car.  Running late, I rushed to catch my departing flight and didn’t make note of the number, but I knew where I was in relation to the entire lot.

“Excuse me,” I said to the bus driver, “but I don’t have my bus stop number. Can you just drop me off at whatever stop is near to the far right corner of the lot?”

“What’s the number?” grunted the bus driver.

“I don’t have the number.  But I know my car is near the far right corner of the lot from where we are right now.”

A slightly louder grunt this time: “What’s the number?”

Huh…?! After one more similarly circular exchange I said, “Sir, any stop near the far corner of the lot will be just fine…”

One of my compadres from the trade show mercifully interjected with a stop number he knew was somewhat close to my car. The bus driver, now given “the number,” did silently acquiesce to stop there, his eyes forward. Note that there was no language barrier or misunderstanding. The driver could also hear me just fine. But he was simply locked into his own way of thinking to a degree beyond the pale.

The way a person communicates is a major part of their reputation, and therefore, their personal brand.  I also suggest the vast majority of communication problems are caused by the personal baggage we bring to the table when communicating, known in sociological terms as conditional confirmation bias.  

Specifically, a person might pay attention to those bits of a conversation that verify their beliefs about the matter at hand, and ignore other information that doesn’t fit that pre-existing bias. That bus driver was certainly was not communicating with me; for all I know, his confirmation bias may have been, who does this guy think he is for not knowing his bus stop number…?!

There is an excellent book I am now reading of relevance to this topic: Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen by Michael Roberto.  A book for anyone involved in management, marketing communication, or business intelligence/data warehousing, Michael Roberto’s book addresses human flaws in how we interpret, communicate and act upon information.  Michael Roberto explores why failures to discover informational insight and/or act upon it happen.  He draws illuminating examples from business, healthcare and world events (including 9/11). Michael Roberto also highlights the active behaviors and actions needed to effectively communicate and see the forest through the trees of information to prevent crises before they happen.  I look forward to sharing more when I finish this book.

I recently read that vast majority of all organizations in a recent survey reported very little benefit from Business Intelligence systems, if ever!  While many such BI failures may have been due to various technical problems, I have to wonder: are such lopsided statistics really all due to the Business Intelligence tools and Data Warehousing solutions themselves, or, as Michael Roberto suggests, might it be due to the corporate cultures that discourage asking “politically unpopular” questions based on data analytics, or pooh-pooh “gut feel” when little or no supporting data exists (yet)…? As the saying goes, a bad carpenter blames his tools!

It’s easy to recognize the bus driver’s rudeness and poor communication skills. The much harder question that demands an honest answer is to ask ourselves what personal baggage have we brought to a series of communications that caused misinterpretation of information, inappropriate actions, or worse?  Did we fail to communicate, filter information to match our personal biases, and act in our own way at least a little like that bus driver?

Remix of Flickr photo (CC) by Salim Virji: http://flickr.com/photos/salim/

Without bothering with further commentary on the theatre-of-the-absurd “Balloon Boy” fiasco that also left the media bamboozled and humiliated over its national coverage of the hoax, there is a worthwhile lesson here for personal branders.

In this instant media age, it is more possible than ever to gain immediate attention. The question is, what are we going to do with that attention? Gaining attention for the mere sake of gaining attention is, in effect, the spectacle-seeker’s oddball way to merely say, “I’ve got nothing.”

The “Balloon Boy” fiasco reminded me of a fitting commentary, made some years ago by Ron Crossland, Chairman of Crosspoint Leadership Development, from one of the first editions of Crosspoint Leadership’s The Point e-newsletter:

I believe that each person is able and wants to add a verse to human history…The question is whether you will use your voice to make an addition to truth and wisdom, or simply to gain attention.  (emphasis added).

Here’s to all of us opting for the former and avoiding the latter like the plague!

Since I traveled to BWI at the end of September and returned in early October, I had a chance to read AirTran’s September and October issues of its Go magazine. I found it interesting that the business author profiled in each issue so thoroughly and diametrically opposed the other.

How is this for disagreement, not to mention two very different personal brands, as summarized by Go magazine:

Source: PicApp.com

On Leadership:

George Cloutier: I am Your Work God! You want your employees to do what you say, not what they think.

Anthony F. Smith: Avoid the myth of single-person leadership. “Leadership is really a shared phenomenon…(Each ESPN executive) needed to surround themselves with other effective people who could fill in areas where they were not as skilled.”

On Employees:

GC: “[Management experts say] ‘Work with everyone and be everyone’s best buddy.’  This is the opposite [of what you should do].”

AFS: Hire passionate employees. “Even if you manufacture cardboard boxes, [employees] should be fanatical about something, whether it be the job, the opportunities,…or that they have a great boss.”

On Mistakes:

GC: “Small businesses don’t have the time and resources to be particularly tolerant of mistakes and problems.”

AFS: Take risks and reward the effort. “If you say, ‘I want people to take risks,’ and then fire the guy if the outcome fails, it becomes clear how your organization really feels about risk.”

I will go out on a limb and predict most readers will side with Anthony F. Smith on this “point/counterpoint” between the September and October Go issues. Branding himself as “the ultimate contrarian,” George Cloutier no doubt is used to people disagreeing with him. It is easy to deride George Cloutier’s very sharp managerial recommendations; what is much harder, though, is to think of a company that has achieved long term, enduring success as a going concern following similar advice. To be sure, there are exceptions, notably turnaround situations with an eye to sell all or part of the “fixed” business, or ”forced marches” in which everyone suffers for now with the glittering promise of a liquidity event, like an IPO (remember those back in the dot-com heydey?).  And considering this from a different angle: Would I really want to lead like this? I think I would rather strive to lead as a mensch.

I look forward to any comments from anyone, including anyone who has read either or both books…

Photo: Mirandala (Flickr CC)

I recently received an email announcing the launch of VentureFizz, where you can “see what’s buzzing in Boston’s tech community.” The site includes links to a wide gamut of blogs by Boston entrepreneurs. One of the better blogs is Seeing Both Sides by Boston venture capitalist and former entrepreneur Jeff Bussgang, including his recent post, Should Entrepreneurs Be More Like Teenage Girls? As my wife and I are extremely proud of our two teenage daughters, Jeff’s provocatively-titled post easily caught my attention.

Jeff Bussgang’s post refers to an article from The Economist which suggests that the more willing a person is to give up on “unreachable” goals, the less likely they are to be depressed. Dr. Randolph Nesse of the University of Michigan suggests that just as pain is a warning you should stop you doing a damaging physical activity, so too low mood is a mental warning that you should stop doing a damaging mental activity – in particular, pursuing an “unreachable” goal.

The article goes on to quote a Canadian university study that may support Nesse’s hypothesis. The study measured depression and “the goal adjustment capacities” of 97 girls aged 15-19. It was concluded that the girls who experienced mild depressive symptoms could more readily disengage from “unattainable” goals and were also less likely to experience severe depression in the long run.

“Persistence is part of the American way of life,” (Dr. Randolph Nesse) says. “People here are often driven to pursue overly ambitious goals, which then can lead to depression.” He admits that this is still an unproven hypothesis, but it is one worth considering.

What concerns me is how one defines an “unattainable” goal. Is the goal in question really unreachable, or is it unreachable without a long period of new learning and practice?  Is it a really a ridiculously futile goal, or is it what I called in a recent post a “Grit Goal”?

Jeff Bussgang hits the nail on the head when he refers to the research of Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck on this topic:

Dweck’s research shows that successful people in business, sports and life have “growth mindsets” rather than “fixed mindsets”.  The “growth mindset” is one in which a person believes that one’s world view is less about ability and more about lifelong learning.  ”Growth mindset” individuals feel they can always learn from experiences (failures and successes) and … focus on the learnings and the self-improvement opportunities that come from adversity.

Carol Dweck’s work (which I mention in my above-linked post on “Grit Goals” and is available in detail in her book Mindset - thanks to Jeff for that link!) seems to both echo and compliment the messages of George Leonard’s classic book Mastery, an absolutely essential read. The person with a “growth mindset” Carol Dweck identifies is the same person who will readily agree with George Leonard’s description of “mastery” as a “journey” that “brings rich rewards, yet is not really a goal or destination but rather a process…available to anyone who is willing to get on the path and stay on it, regardless of age, sex, or previous experience.” (Mastery, p.5).

Even more importantly, a person on the road to mastery, whether learning a new skill, a new sport or seeking mastery at their job, must learn to love the ongoing practice and learning itself that mastery demands; love the journey rather than coveting the “destination” of a rigid goal. Having read Mastery, I suspect many goals are mistakenly deemed by people as “unattainable.” 

I also suggest the perspectives of George Leonard and Carol Dweck have enormous implications on the personal brand one wants to convey both to the workplace and the outside world. A strong personal brand must include a robust “growth mindset,” eager for knowledge and “willing to play the fool” as Leonard writes; that is, not afraid to make inevitable mistakes that go with the process of lifelong learning and mastery.

George Leonard’s book ends with a moving conclusion: he conveys the story in which Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, now very old and near death, tells his students he wants to be buried in his white belt. George Leonard suggests that Jigoro Kano recognized at the moment of death, we are all white belts – beginners for whatever may happen next. Similarly, in life, to choose to get on the path of mastery requires a person to “wear the white belt”: to choose the path of lifelong learning and personal groth, to admit they don’t know everything, and yes, to be willing to “play the fool” and inevitably make the mistakes that coincide with learning.

So, just as George Leonard concludes his book, to achieve true business success, enhance self-esteem and avoid depression, and add authentic value to the personal brand you want to convey to the world, you must “be willing to wear the white belt.”

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Source: evo_terra (Flickr)

I recently came across CornOnTheJob.com, a blog by Philadelphia-based headhunter Rich DeMatteo. Helping job seekers with good advice is important to Rich, as it is to me, and I enjoyed visiting Rich’s blog. Rich just posted on a topic that was on my on-deck circle: job candidates “thinking outside the box” to gain attention. There are definitely many job seekers acting “outside the box”…but I’m not so sure these folks were “thinking.”

The Boston Globe did a very good piece on “outside the box” (more like ”beyond the pale,” unfortunately) job seekers making spectacles of themselves, including, among others, Pasha Stocking of Connecticut who blew $2,500 for her “HIRE ME!” billboard that earned the “odd news” type of national media attention…but no job opportunities.

Since that Globe article, others have joined this group of job hunters gaining attention, but not the “good” kind of attention that will land them a job. Chances are you have heard of one Trina Thompson, who has sued the college she graduated from seven short months ago because she remains unemployed. Now we can all agree this is the worst public spectacle attention a job candidate can get. Rich gives Thompson a well deserved dressing-down along with some good common-sense advice that Trina Thompson should have done already (join LinkedIn, look into a resume writing professional, etc.). The Onion sums up Thompson’s hapless lawsuit with suitable irreverence. Litigious mediocrity is not a good personal brand to embrace, Trina…

But Rich DeMatteo and I have agreed to disagree on the virtue of an ”outside the box” tactic by Sean Christman, a recent La Salle graduate.

Rich wrote: ”On Wednesday, July 22, Sean found himself wearing his finest suit, standing on the median of a busy Philadelphia street (presumingly during rush hour), holding copies of his resume for passing cars.” Rich gave Sean a “brilliant” thumbs up for his gambit and vowed to connect with Sean Christman for an interview. I can certainly understand Rich going to bat for a fellow Philly kid trying to hustle up something - anything – even if it’s randomly passing out his resume to passing motorists.

I suggest Sean’s tactic actually falls more into the category of “inside the box” job searching than it does an “outside the box” negative attention-grab (but I think it was that too).  Sean’s tactic is basically just a more public, visible version of a conventional wisdom, “inside the box” job search: Send your resume to every company and online job board possible. There are, unfortunately, scores of frustrating job seeker stories that begin with “Joe/JoAnne sent hundreds of resumes to employers and job boards, without one response…” As posted elsewhere here, wide distribution of resumes is not a job search strategy – it’s tanamount to buying lottery tickets; and the days of sending out 100 resumes to get seven of them turning into interviews and one job offer simply doesn’t work anymore.

If passing out resumes, be it via email to company websites and job boards en masse, or given to strangers driving by on a busy street, is an “inside the box” job search, and resorting to spectacle “outside the box” tactics will give you attention, but not the kind that will help get a job, what’s left?  I suggest the answer lies in building a better box.

As an example, I would like to point to fellow Bentley University alum Jayna Dinsmore, whose job search after a major company layoff 10 months ago has taken her on a round trip that has happily culminated in a new job.

Jayna tried to “build a better box” through asserting herself as an expert in the effective use of social media for business. Jayna launched a blog on the subject, Little Miss Social Media, in tandem with active networking efforts, including co-founding the Bentley Success Network (which is how I met Jayna).

Jayna also offered her marketing services to the New England Job Show, a new experiment in which job seekers shoot an ePitch, or a 30 second video of their elevator pitch, at a Chelmsford, Mass. local cable TV access studio.  The ePitches were then featured with the other segments in the show and distributed throughout several towns and cities in MA & NH, Comcast OnDemand and online on YouTube and their blog. Now Jayna, as Social Media Integrator, and the founders of New England Job Show did get substantial media coverage, including interviews by Associated Press, the Boston Globe and others, and even a live Fox & Friends interview. However, none of that media attention was of the variety that might translate into any job opportunity.

What didhelp Jayna finally hit paydirt was leading a free seminar to Bentley Alumni: a hands-on intro to using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. A fellow Bentley alum and former colleague of Jayna’s saw that she was teaching an intro to social media class and got in touch with her to discuss launching his social media offering…resulting in a job offer. Best of all, Jayna tells me the job she accepted is her ideal job; “the one that I envisioned as being an ideal fit for me long before I knew this opportunity ever existed.” Well done, Jayna!

Bottom line, there is good, bad and ugly attention job seekers can draw to themselves. The “bad” or even “ugly” attention might get you your 15 minutes of fame (infamy?) on TV but that’s about it. “People say, ‘Hey, you’re famous [for your 'HIRE ME!' billboard],’ Pasha Stocking told the Globe. “Yeah, I’m famous. I’m famously unemployed.”

The “good” kind of attention is the kind that earns you recognition as an authority, an expert, a go-to person in your field. Networking, blogging, presenting, personal branding, “doing the job in your interview“…will earn you that “good” attention.

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Hopefully you have worked for a person who demonstrates these traits routinely; who communicates with openness and dignity, acts with honor and integrity, and eschews asserting positional authority for leading by example. If you have worked for such a person, as I luckily have, you have had the unique pleasure and personal enrichment that can only come from working for a mensch.

mensch (měnsh)  n.  Informal. A person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: “He radiates the kind of fundamental decency that has a name in Yiddish; he’s a mensch” (James Atlas).

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mensch (accessed: July 21, 2009).

Take this quick survey: What one word best describes your boss…

Any organization that has a true mensch (or mensches!) as its leadership has a powerful competitive advantage. A mensch strongly disdains leading others by means of persuasion (the carrot on the end of the stick) or through the power of positional authority (forget the carrot, just hit people with the stick). A mensch chooses instead to lead by example, through the sheer force of authentic character and unassuming integrity (not to be confused with the faux, two-dimensional charisma of a “celebrity CEO”). People want to work for, even rally around, a mensch leader. An interaction with a mensch manager leaves a person with, to borrow a religious metaphor, “with his cup filled up;” having just been the beneficiary of genuine wisdom, respect and dignity. A mensch is selfless, builds up others around her, and is key to the sustained success of any organization.

I’ll go even further: for capitalism itself to be successful, it is essential for organizations to be led by mensch executives. There is a vast world of difference between the unassuming yet powerful culture of innovation nurtured by David Packard, held up as a mensch in Bruna Martinuzzi’s book, and the ruinous leadership of ethically-impaired celebrity CEO Carly Fiorina, eventually paid tens of millions just to leave Hewlett-Packard alone. Subsequently, Mark Hurd, named HP CEO successor to Fiorina, ushered in a return in the direction of Packardesque menschdom which revitalized HPgoosed up HP’s stock price yet again (link - see page 7), at least for a while [EDIT: Hurd's tenure at HP has long since been discredited...much more here]

The good news from Bruna Martinuzzi is menches are born, not made; which is why I implore you to buy, read, reflect, and act upon her new book, The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow.

Bruna Martinuzzi explores the key character traits that make up a mensch through the analogy of a tree: roots, the foundational mensch qualities (humility, authenticity, empathy); trunk, those qualities visible through everyday interaction with a mensch (accountability, optimism, mastery), and branches, those additional visible traits which help to build up other people, mentoring others to also become menches (a positive mood, generosity, appreciation). The tree is a very apt metaphor, particularly when considering that one of the most infamous CEOs of recent history, purely antithetical to the notion of menschdom, was nicknamed “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap.

Each chapter is a supremely well-written vignette on each mensch trait, building lucid examples and research to verify compelling need for that trait in a leader. At the same time, Bruna Martinuzzi gently yet decisively challenges skeptical readers to reexamine why they might disagree with the value of that trait. In a typical example of her persuasive writing style, Bruna Martinuzzi wrote on the topic of how mood affects worker performance:

(A) participant in a recent leadership workshop made this heartfelt and realistic remark: “I can’t see how I am expected to be in a good mood four quarters in a row.” The point is well taken. But can you afford, as a leader, to even entertain this thought? All of employee research points to the contrary. There is a concept in French which is called nobelesse oblige. It implies that wealth, power and prestige go hand-in-hand with certain social responsibilities – in other words, with privilege comes duty. It is a privilege when we have the opportunity to lead a team of people. However, with this privilege comes many responsibilities, chief of which, leadership pundits would contend, is managing moods. (p. 65-66)

For an extended example of Bruna Martinuzzi’s pragmatic, persuasive writing style, please check out her previously noted article on optimism, here on my blog. It is a de facto advance excerpt of her chapter on optimism (with more content appearing in her book).

Even better, Bruna Martinuzzi concludes each chapter with numerous and copious “leaves” of advice; specific action recommendations to help develop each mensch character trait, making this not just a book to read or even just skim, but a workbook to reflect on, “weigh and consider” as Francis Bacon said, act upon, and refer back to. Bruna Martinuzzi also cites numerous resources to expand the reader’s efforts to develop a character trait, with a very useful recommended “mensch library” as just one of a number of useful appendices concluding the book.

Perhaps best of all, this book was not written just for people who have already elbowed their way into a high-profile management role. As Bruna Martinuzzi explains in her introduction, this book is for the “everyday leader” – from managers, supervisors, team leaders to community organizers, teachers, professionals, shopkeepers – anyone who aspires to be a mensch leader within their respective spheres, large or small. For that matter, the greatest personal brand one can aspire to is being a mensch, making this book a must read.

I also imagine this book and its slim but very valuable 125 pages might be a bit hard to find in the book store, no doubt surrounded by pudgy, “co-written” hardcovers by gaggles of celebrity CEOs. But do make an effort to seek out this book. To my earlier point, Bruna Martinuzzi concludes her introduction with a call for a return to menschdom in business:

Years ago, I read a line in a book which said, “When in doubt, act like the Chairman would.” Sadly, this phrase would now elicit derision when we ponder the moral depravity of leaders of companies like Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Anderson…This climate has certainly raised the bar for current and future leaders. People follow the footsteps of those they consider trustworthy. You cannot have effective leadership without credibility; and the quickest route to earn credibility is to act as a Mensch.

Further reading:

Don’t miss Guy Kawasaki’s interview with Bruna Martinuzzi.

Link to The Leader as a Mensch homepage.

Just to be clear, this is NOT effective networking! (Source: University of Melbourne, Australia)

Without networking, I never would have found this job, or for that matter, another good offer for an appealing extended consulting opportunity. I was not one of hundreds of resumes in someone’s email inbox. Neither opportunity was advertised anywhere. In fact, the opportunities were not even fully defined yet when I first explored them.

If I did not have my network which I initiated before I was laid off, if I had not cultivated my network with new contacts after I was laid off, I would still be unemployed.  It’s that critical.

Holland-Mark CEO Chris Colbert led a thought-provoking presentation at last week’s Bentley University Success Network meeting which I believe inspired attendees to build and nurture their networks.  Effective networking is made possible by your personal brand (Brand U); who you are and what makes you unique (what Chris refers to as your One Simple Thing).  Chris’ presentation was recorded and should be available on the Bentley University website soon (stay tuned).

I spoke yesterday with Chris about his presentation and dug a little deeper on how job searchers predisposed to introverted behavior might be at a disadvantage, as they might be more reticient or even shy about approaching others and developing a network to succeed in their job search.  The bottom line is clear: Not networking is not an option.  But introverts out there who bristle at the thought of getting out there and networking should take heart: Networking is not about winning a popularity contest or using phony flattery to manipulate others to help you.  At its core, networking is all about being authentic.

Read on for my chat with Chris Colbert.  I hope you find it helpful.

Mike Urbonas: You led a very outgoing and engaging talk at the Bentley University Success Network, and yet, you said something like, “This is all an act; I’m actually an introvert by nature.”  I think a lot of people can relate to that and unwittingly hold themselves back due to introverted tendencies.  How did you break through it and get past it?

Chris Colbert:  I think there were two factors.  First, I always had the benefit of being responsible for other people who worked for me.  With the exception of three years, throughout my career I have always been head of my own company and knew that development of new business was the company’s life blood.  I had to reach out to as many new businesses as possible, develop new business, and in so doing, make payroll.  A lot of people working for me counted on me to do this.  Really, it’s a case of sink or swim; if you have to swim to save your life, you’re going to learn how to swim.

I also came to realize that introversion is a fear-based emotion; a fear of rejection or failure.  People must resolve to do whatever they personally have to in order to overcome it.  They simply must reach out to as many people as they possibly can.

MU: Networking has always been vitally important for the job search, but it seems to me that’s never been truer than it is right now.

CC: I’ve never seen a market like this before.  The old models and methods, not only for job searching, but also for business itself, aren’t working anymore.  The “one size fits all” model for job searching is over.  Sending out 100 resumes with the plan of seven of them turning them into interviews and one job offer doesn’t work anymore.  I wonder how many people at the Bentley Success Network event still hold onto that old model of job seeking.  It’s stunning to me how many people don’t have a network.  Even I struggle to network sufficiently, at the high level I think is essential in this market.

MU: I suppose some people look at others’ LinkedIn profiles and see people with “500+” connections, but it’s often obvious many of these are trying to just bulk up their connection count, without really knowing who those people are.

CC: Right.  It’s definitely not just the size of the network, but how you engage with your network: with authenticity, not just as an overt asking for help; that is, networking with authenticity and just not out of desperation.

MU: What role does blogging and other online communication tools play in interacting with your network with authenticity?

CC: I think blogging is an excellent networking resource; an excellent way to offer value to others.  When I am writing my blog, I always do so with the hope my posts will help someone out there.  (NOTE: Link to Chris Colbert’s blog here.) In fact, I have two blog entries in progress but I haven’t published them yet, because my thoughts aren’t quite together on the topics sufficiently, in my opinion, to be of real value to the reader.  So, I took a break to organize my ideas better, to ensure they are of real value to others before I publish them.  It’s that important.

In a related question from the Bentley event, a person asked me, “How frequently should I follow up with someone?”  I think you should follow up as often as you have content that may be of interest and benefit to them.  Really, it is essential to be of value and help to others.  Doing so requires a high level of intellectual and creative engagement.

I also think it is well worth becoming an expert with LinkedIn.  It seems like an incredible tool to affect new relationships.  The common perception is that introverts are more methodical and analytical.  I don’t know how true that may be, but if it is, introverts might possibly be more adept at understanding the nuances and special features of LinkedIn to help cultivate communicating with other people.

MU: Okay.  Suppose someone out there is reading this and agrees with everything you have said so far, both from your talk and from our conversation here.  They want to turn over a new leaf, overcome any introverted tendencies, and develop an authentic network.  How should they start?

CC: There is no one silver bullet to it.  But I would definitely like people to recognize that today is the first day of the rest of your networking life.  Therefore, your task is to create value for everybody you meet and you will eventually, just naturally, get value back.

I’d like to give one little example.  I genuinely appreciate the hard work of the guys who work at the parking garage where I work. I have always made it a point to let them know that when I talk with them.  Recently they went way above and beyond to help me with parking a friend’s car in a safe place while he was away.  To say they helped me out is an understatement.

Now, I am appreciative of those guys not because I ever expected anything from them; that’s not authentic.  Instead, it’s about committing to live in such a way that you just want to give help and value to everyone else, whether that be genuine respect and appreciation or help with some specific situation or offering information of value to others.

People should be fully aware that literally every single engagement with everybody everywhere is a potential opportunity, whether personal or professional.  The guy at the gas station, the lady the next pew over in church — there is no real difference today between your personal and professional life in your network.  If you engage with everyone authentically it will repay you.  That may be the best news for introverted people: networking is not about disingenuous glad-handing.  It’s really about authenticity in every single interaction with people.  And you have to begin with that core mindset in order for your networking efforts to take hold and prosper.

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