by Starbucker on March 10, 2010
Think for a second about what sliced bread did for humanity.
Seriously.
Why else would all new products or innovations be compared to it since it was first sold in 1928? It was just another consumer convenience, allowing us to make our sandwiches faster.
But because it made it that much easier, it launched the sandwich into a whole new level of popularity. And much time was saved, particularly in the morning. So we were able to sleep longer. Thus, sliced bread brought us the ultimate in convenience, AND a more rested society. Not bad.
Now let’s consider Social Media. It too has a “sliced bread” quality, in that it too delivered a quicker and more efficient way to “consume” something.
That something is conversation. And boy oh boy, can it do that. Everybody that has dramatically expanded their conversation universe well beyond what you ever believed you could 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, please raise your hand {sound of my hand quickly going into the air}
Just like sliced bread, Social Media has made something much easier, and gave us an incredible side benefit: Many more people to converse with.
And there’s my case that SM is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
All good, right? Wrong.
Unfortunately, I can also make a case that Social Media isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The evidence? Allow me to present Exhibit A:
Me.
While this marvelous thing has opened up so many doors, like one of those drug commercials on the nightly news (yes, I’m in that demographic that still watches the nightly news) it has a couple of not-so-good side effects, both of which I have experienced.
Number one, it has eroded my focus on too many occasions – I call this the “Under Toad”. The Toad pulls me away from the here and now – and can lead to some dangerous things. Like Tweeting while driving. I only did that once, but that was one time too many. Or being distracted by the flashing Blackberry light, or worse yet, multitasking while trying to personally visit with someone, face to face or on the phone.
Second, it can spread you too thin – and can therefore erode your productivity as well (It’s no coincidence that I just wrote a whole piece on productivity – that message was for myself too).
Having experienced these side effects firsthand, it then becomes difficult to conclude, on this level, that Social Media is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Sliced bread has its weaknesses, to be sure, but they are not like this. And I can’t imagine I’m the only one in this boat.
So what’s the bottom line here – are we ready for a new era where the new saying is “the greatest thing since Social Media“?
Based on the evidence pro and con, I’d offer that we are not.
Yet.
Those side effects need to be worked out- by all of us who use it.
But once they are - look out sliced bread!!!
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by Starbucker on March 7, 2010
You set a goal, and with a lot of hard work, you hit it. You’ve achieved success. Now what?
That’s the critical question in sustaining a long and fruitful career, or keeping a business at the heights of profitability.
Answering that question really boils down to this: Do you choose to go forward, or backward?
You may have noticed that “status quo” isn’t an option here. That’s because there’s no such thing in this context. Standing still is akin to going backwards.
And that puts you in the position of being a victim of your own success.
Coming to that realization is very important, because there are natural forces at work that put the status quo option in play. Even the term “success” has a sense of finality to it that works against you.
For example, say you finally got that big promotion that you coveted for years. It’s a logical feeling to put yourself on the very top of a mountain that you’ve painstakingly climbed, and want to stay there, enjoying the view with great contentment and satisfaction.
I can vividly remember my own first experience with the big title, and the big desk, and the personal assistant. It came way too early for me, and the gravitational pull towards inertia was very strong. I thought, “how could I do any better than this?” So while I certainly was learning some valuable lessons in that position, I really wasn’t trying to propel my career forward.
I failed to do one simple thing – move the mountain higher, and start climbing again. I finally did come to that realization years later, but not before some self-inflicted (and terribly unsatisfactory) stagnation.
Let’s look at a business example, like hitting an important business metric that has eluded a company for years. Once again, because of the effort necessary to achieve the milestone, there’s a strong temptation to ease off the accelerator (especially from the rank and file, who have toiled the most), at least for a short period.
Leaders must resist that temptation. I have learned that once milestones are hit, the mountain must be raised, as soon as possible. The company must keep climbing. In my personal experience, I’ve raised targets 3 and even 4 times during the course of a year, because of my hard-learned resistance to inertia.
The real trick here is to not diminish the significance of our (and our business) achievements – of course the efforts should be acknowledged and celebrated. We just need to convince ourselves, and then our teammates, that the climbs are ultimately more enjoyable than the summits.
Sir Winston Churchill said it best: “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb”
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