“Don’t give voice to your pain. If asked, say ‘I’m outstanding!’” – Jesse Itzler
A hilarious anecdote from a 3 year old puts it all in perspective. I only have four things left to do for my book. Well, depending on how you count.
“If we are going to be part of the solution, we have to engage the problems.” — Majora Carter
“If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person.” – Russell Simmons
“People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do takes risks generally make two big mistakes a year.” – Peter Drucker
“If you’re looking for the next big thing, and you’re looking where everyone else is, you’re looking in the wrong place.” – Mark Cuban
“Soon is not as good as now.” – Seth Godin
“Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.” – Howard Luck Gossage
“Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula.” – Bill Bernbach
Curious about what I am doing over on www.wellmadedecisions.com? Learn more about what it means in this little video.
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” – Peter Drucker
“Don’t find customers for your product. Find products for your customers.” – Seth Godin
I’ve been thinking about gratitude. As many of you know, I am a thank you note writer. I have always done hand-written thank you notes. Since my elementary school days, I thanked friends for coming to my birthday party. And in recent years when I have thanked customers for their business, colleagues for their generous referrals or introductions, and press for covering our company or brands. I even love the Tonight Show bit with Jimmy Fallon where he writes comical thank you notes.
This became more and more rare as time went on and email dominated written communications. I am sure some thought it old-fashioned (like something their grandmother would insist upon while criticizing their penmanship) or a quirky gimmick of a marketer (and perhaps were too nice to tell me). In any case, it was a differentiator. I would often get a thank you email to thank me for my thank you note!
Today, we are in the midst of a pandemic and increasingly people are working from home or other private places, sometimes temporary locations in the homes of extended family. We are, everyday peeking into the private spaces and lives of our colleagues and customers with the miracle that is video conferencing.
And now the work mailing addresses on company websites are not reliable ways to reach individuals who might not be back into the office for months (and might not think about checking their mail slot at all). And even when I know someone’s home address, I feel like it is a particular act of intimacy to send something to someone’s home.
So, I find myself writing emails. Or, regrettably, thanking people verbally on the phone, and not following up as I should or know to do with an email or other gesture afterwards.
So, what do you think I should do?
Move to email like everyone else, but be very diligent about doing it in a timely manner? Should I write out a note, snap a photo and include it in an email (I have done this before when things have come back undeliverable, but never sure if it is appreciated or just weird)? Should I do some sort of social shout-out instead thanking people for being so awesome? Should I get over my reservations and continue (or resume) writing thank you notes? Should I come up with some other signature show of gratitude (eg, like emailing them that I am making a donation in their name or something)?
I am open to ideas and your thoughts on whether COVID is accelerating the slow death of hand-written thank you card and what we should do about it. I posted this out on LinkedIn as well and will do a recap post here in a few weeks with all the best suggestions.
“If you want to understand how a lion hunts, don’t go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.” – Jim Stengel
“Curiosity about life, in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker
I work for AWS Training and Certification and we offer digital badges for those who successfully pass our rigorous technical exams to achieve AWS Certification. As of late, I have become a student of these badging programs and the wealth of training opportunities that exist for professionals and aspiring professionals on a wide range of topics.
I often learn about new programs by checking out the LinkedIn profiles of my contacts . Here are a few that caught my eye recently that might be of interest to you. Because of recent events and a concern for health and safety and getting people productive in the economy, so many training opportunities and many of the related certifications are available for free. These are in addition to the large catalogs of academic and continuing education offerings from companies like Coursera, edX, Udemy, Udacity, LinkedIn Learning, Salesforce Trailhead, and more.
What others would you recommend? Put them in comments or message me on LinkedIn or Twitter and I’ll add them here!
MARKETING
Google Ads, Analytics Academy, and Google Marketing Platform by Google (free)
Bing Ads Certification by Microsoft (free)
The Conversational Marketing Certification by Drift (free)
Video Badge from Twitter Flight School (Free)
HubSpot Academy with topics for individual certs range from content marketing, email, inbound, social media, and sales (free)
Social Media Analytics by Quintly (free)
Email marketing by MailChimp Academy (available to members of their MailChimp & Co partner program for freelancers and agencies)
Pragmatic Institute with topics including marketing, launch, and pricing (classes run $1,195)
Adobe Analytics and Adobe Marketo Engage from Adobe (prices range from $95 to $225)
Social Media Certification from Hootsuite Academy ($199)
Facebook BluePrint Certification ($150)
Digital Marketing Certification from American Marketing Association ($249 for Members)
EVENTS
Event Professional Certification including Virtual and Hybrid Events by Cvent (free)
Virtual Events Institute Certified (rates vary from $975 standard to discounts for students, freelancers, and open to work)
Certified Meeting Planner by the Events Industry Council (requires 3 years of event industry experience; $250)
Fundraising Event Management Certificate by Event Leadership Institute ($636 member course cost)
Inclusive Event Strategist Certificate by Meeting Professionals International ($299 for members for class)
Certified Event Designer by Event Design Collective (on-site 3 day class, 6 months of coaching; cost of 2750 euros)
DESIGN THINKING
Enterprise Design Thinking by IBM (5 tiers; free)
Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate by IDEO ($1200)
As you might imagine, there are a number of outstanding academic programs, beginning with Stanford University who helped pioneer the category.
MACHINE LEARNING
AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty by AWS ($300)
Machine Learning by Stanford University on Coursera, taught by professor and Coursera founder, Andrew Ng (audit for free or purchase course with sharable certificate for $79)
A recent LinkedIn post by a fellow marketing exec, Jo Ann Herold, got me thinking about the best advice I have ever received.
I have been blessed with many wise mentors, coaches, and peers from whom I have learned. It is hard to pick just one piece of advice. That said, one did stand out.
Ask more questions
Maybe like you, I am a time-starved, experienced, and opinionated person who makes their living solving problems, anticipating problems, and rallying others to do the same. So, I am quick with answers. But I have learned (or am learning, to be more accurate) that more is accomplished with questions. Through questioning, root cause can really be established, customer needs can be fully understood, the talent of team members can be brought to bear, and alignment occurs more naturally. Asking “why?” five times is the staple of lean thinking and there is magic in asking questions. As a communicator-at-heart, my tendency to tell or sell can get in my way. I know I am not alone.
The other reason that asking questions is powerful is that there are more things to know than I will ever know. Others have forgotten more about subjects that I don’t know anything about. The pace of innovation, information sharing, and interconnections between us is growing so fast that the only skill or knowledge that any of us can hold for any length of time is the ability to learn and be curious.
I have a sticker on my laptop that says “Ask More Questions” (which my son picked up for me at an Alpha class he attended and thought I would like). It is a good reminder that I could heed more often.
“No is the best word.” – Nick F. Nelson
“You are, in a word, constructively-dissatisfied.”- Jim Casey, founder of UPS