There was a confluence of events this week for me that got me thinking about a word. That word is: Control.
By the time most of you read this, there will have been some decision (one way or another) on one of the largest pieces of legislature that has been considered in years – the healthcare bill. And, no matter what side of the political argument you fall, what we can all decidedly agree upon is that the process has felt "out of control". Conservatives argue that the bill is being forced through with no consideration of the opposition – and thus out of control. Progressives feel as if the opposition paints an emotional caricature of the substance of the bill and therefore – the debate has become beyond their control.
For those of you who follow @ChrisBrogan – you may have seen his"redrawing" post on Friday – where he talked about how he was feeling overwhelmed and a bit out of control. Chris is an extraordinarily popular Social Media consultant and blogger. And, his is a common refrain that many in the marketing/social media space are starting to echo. And, it's one I also hear from colleagues and clients.
How Do We Maintain Control?
In an always-on, real-time, transparent and socially connected world – how do we simply keep up? How do we make thoughtful decisions? How do we sift through the mountain of analytics to make smart business decisions? How do we keep the creative side of our brain from atrophy when everyone talks about the "science" of marketing? How do we lead our organizations?
All of this coincides with the fact that I just finished "The Leader's Way: The Art of Making the Right Decisions in Our Careers, Our Companies, and the World at Large" (disclosure: I stole the idea for the title of this post from the introduction).
Written by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Laurens Van Den Muyzenberg, the book is a wonderful approach to how we have the opportunity to make decisions that feed our soul. As the book puts it - by "improving the quality of our leaders' decisions, we will find ourselves in a better world for everyone".
So, What Are The "Right" Decisions
I won't go into the details here – and no spoilers for those of you who might want to read the book – but the two most important concepts that the Dalai Lama discusses for making good business decisions are taking "the Right view" And "the Right action" (emphasis mine). These are decisions made with intention. The Right Intention that comes from a place that deeply understands that whatever the resulting action – it will benefit everyone affected by it. The "Wrong" Intention is sourced from self-centeredness, anger, jealousy or negativity (there are others but you get the idea).
Understanding this helps us to understand the chaos around the Healthcare bill. Again, without taking a side – we can all agree that not everyone is arguing with integrity.
I've Seen The Enemy – And It Is Us
Through Social Media, One-to-One Marketing, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Lead Nurturing and all the other Cluetrain goodness that we've adopted over the last few years, we are starting to understand that, as marketers, the veneer is being stripped off of the messaging of the "faceless" corporation and being given to the individual.
It starts creatively, and giving the brand a point of view - and avoiding the Gobbledygook that David Meerman Scott made famous. You develop Seth Godin Linchpins in your organization – and your company worries about addressing "personal brands" as Jerermiah Owyang discussed. These are all the new "face" of our marketing. Individuals bring the uniqueness that is "them" or "you" to your marketing positioning. We're creating unique points of view. We're bringing the "human" into the process – and that's, of course, a double-edged sword.
Don't believe it? Ask yourself what would happen if Frank Eliason (the @comcastcares guy) went rogue and started posting ugly things. Or, what if - @scottmonty at Ford Motor Company is photographed eying a new Prius? Or, just ask Twitter developer Alex Payne who immediately had to gobble some of his own words when he tweeted about the "cool features" they had that others didn't. Like it or not, these are the new marketing "leaders" in your organization. And, the decisions they will make will affect your brand – and your success. And how you "control" that messaging is changing.
As @chrisbrogan poignantly illustrated on Friday – one-on-one doesn't scale. There's just no way that you can keep up. Whether you're the one in charge, or the one that's the "face" – there will come a time when they or you will desperately grasp for control – and for ways to make good decisions.
And as you do, hopefully some of these sources can become good influences for you and your team. Just consider some of the ideas posed by the Dalai Lama. There are others as well – such as Dan Pink (and the amazing new book Drive) and of course Dan Heath. Let's make sure that as we forge ahead – that we don't forget that the path we forge is of our own making. And, that the decisions we make will create the environment we live in. We have both good maps and bad maps which to follow. May I humbly suggest that the map that our own Congress is laying out for us is the wrong one.
There's a wonderful quote at the end of the Dalai Lama book that I just love. He says:
"when you become a leader, your power to influence and your ability to get things done grow very substantially. With that boost in power comes an increase in your responsibility to make the right decisions. Making the right decisions in an interconnected world is becoming more challenging all the time. When you are able to keep a calm, collected and concentrated mind even under intense pressure you will be better able to reach the right conclusions – and consider the consequences from many perspectives – employees, customers, shareholders and society at large."
Or as he says in the beginning.... "the best way for a ruler to reign over his country if first of all to rule himself".
What about you? Having difficulty keeping up, and maintaining control? How are you adapting?
