Insights

An Update on the 12for12k Challenge

Now that the 12for12k Challenge has officially launched, it?s beginning to catch the imagination of the media.

The challenge has already been featured in the Mississauga News in the Greater Toronto Area, and the press release is being picked up by various online media outlets.

On top of that, I will be interviewed on Toronto news station CityNews by CityNews reporter Kris Reyes. The interview will take place on the morning of Thursday 8th January, with probable airing time that same evening.

Today (Tuesday January 6) also sees me discuss 12for12k with Beth Harte at The Cause Is The Habit, an online discussion station, where people can learn more about the 12for12k Challenge and how to help the charities involved. You can take part in the discussion by joining in here from 7.00pm EST this evening and selecting the Causechat option from the navigation menu.

With the holiday season well and truly behind us, the big promotional push to raise awareness of the challenge begins in earnest. This is where you can help as well, by telling your friends, family and co-workers about it. If you need any promotional items or details how to donate, you?ll find all you need here.

Thanks for being with us so far – let?s push on and make the first charity WarChild a success.

Donate to WarChild

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Choosing Bus Stops

: Image by threecee via Flickr

Yesterday I mentioned that I see myself as a chartered bus driver, and this blog as the bus with you as the passengers. I wanted to let you know that without passengers, buses don’t really have a need for existence, so your travels with me are important.

I want to expand on that a little and look at you and the buses you drive, and how you can help your own passengers.

Everyone Is On a Journey.

Some will always be passengers, happy to be along for the ride and meeting new passengers along the way.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, and the interaction you gain from fellow passengers makes the journey even more interesting. Yet for every passenger, there’s also a bus driver – so how can you make your bus the one people want to travel on?

Be a Sales Person.

It might seem that a bus driver only has the one job – getting you to your destination – but there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. He (or she, although I’ll use “he” just for easier use, if that’s okay) has to be the public face of the company he works for. He has to offer a positive view of the company at all times, and ensure that passengers stay with his service and not try someone else.

Be the sales person for your company. It doesn’t matter what your role in the business is – CEO, director, customer service or mail-room guy, every single thing you do reflects on your employers. If you give off a positive vibe, that will come across to the people you deal with every day, either in public or cross-company.

Times are hard enough as it is, without businesses crumbling from within – help make it the place you’d buy from and the positive knock-on effects can be long-term.

Safety First.

A bus driver has to make sure his passengers arrive safely. While they are on his bus, their well-being is paramount. He may have had a crappy day so far, or he may be going through personal issues, but they have to take a back seat while his passengers are traveling with him.

If you’re a business owner, look after your employees. Not just their physical well-being (although this is important) but their mental well-being as well. Be the approachable boss that really cares about how his workers are feeling, and have an open-door policy at all times. If you’re too busy at a given time, make the time later to speak with someone – and stick to it.

Time you have plenty of – happy employees are harder to come by. Make yourself available and keep an eye in your mirror at all times.

Be a Mind Reader.

To ensure his passengers are safely delivered to their destination, a bus driver has to be aware of his surroundings, both inside the bus and on the roads it’s traveling on. Other vehicles pulling out suddenly; red lights being jumped; pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk; how his passengers are interacting with each other – a bus driver needs to be aware of all this and more as he goes about his job. Mind reading becomes second nature.

Learn to read minds as well. If you’re running a business, monitor the tactics of your competitors and learn to gauge what their next move will be. Converse with your customers to plan ahead for the next three months, six months, a year even – keep abreast of what they want to help you get to where you want to be.

If you’re an employee, learn how your company works and what makes your leaders tick. Be pro-active at making their job easier, which in turn makes your job easier, which in itself makes the company more attractive and encourages success. Even in your personal life, be aware of those around you and where they want to be – knowing that will let you help then get there sooner, and you with it.

There are many kinds of bus drivers, just as there are many kinds of passengers. Which one you want to be is up to you, and there truly is no right or wrong.The one thing that does connect everyone is the journey itself.

How will you travel this year?

New Year, New Look But Same Old Me

: Image by M.Omair ( A New Beginning ) via Flickr

Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed that it’s gone through a bit of a facelift. While the old theme I was using was perfectly fine aesthetically and functionally, I just felt that it was time for a fresh lick of paint to suit where I am in life at the minute.

The end of 2008 saw a lot of changes in my life, loss being just one of them (albeit a very large one). One of the things that loss does is make you take stock of everything around you, and one of the things I realized was that there was a lot of clutter in there that didn’t need to be.

So, time for a change in all areas of my life. De-cluttering and eliminating waste to focus more on who I want to be with and where I want to be.

Personally I’m making changes, and I know that professionally 2009 promises to be a year of interesting turns. So I guess it’s only natural this carries over to my blog.

Less clutter, more space and easier to get around (hopefully). It’s still going through very minor tweaks but it’s pretty much the end product – I hope you like it. One thing that will remain constant is me (and, again, hopefully that’s okay with you).

So, with a new look it’s probably an apt time to ask you what you want to see in 2009. What do you want me to talk about? What can I do to offer you any kind of information that you may not have had before? I don’t proclaim to know it all (far from it!) but what I can offer I’m more than happy to share.

After all, you make this blog what it is every time you visit and share your views with me. Consider me a chartered bus driver and you’re my passengers – how can I make your ride as enjoyable as possible?

Why 2009 Is Going To Be YOUR Year

: Image by Denis Collette…!!! via Flickr

You offer me hope.

You continue to amaze me (in the best way possible) with your ability to negate all the naysayers that doubt there’s still kindness in the human race.

You prove the positive nature of mankind is alive and well. And you do this on a daily basis. You are the heart of the future.

Why? Simple.

On Twitter last night, I mentioned that I wanted the community I share space with to write this blog post. I made a simple request: “In one line, how will YOU encourage greatness in 2009?” And you didn’t let me down – not by responding itself, but with the content of the responses.

These are the responses.

@haverhill01835 – “Don’t just listen to people, hear what they say.”
@3keyscoach – “Encouraging entrepreneurs to take their vision and put it into action on daily basis.”
@cognac – “Goodness follows Greatness. Be good, do good in 2009.”
@tmonhollon – “Help make work and writing fun through creativity and play.”
@sbradley3 – “Good is the enemy of greatness. Never settle for good. Never be afraid to start over when a good idea is not enough.”
@marinabroker – “I will always sell the best spot!”
@juliebonnheath – “My motto for greatness is what my drama teacher taught: Professionalism is attention to detail.”
@LaughingCrow – “I will spend more time with my children, help and inspire others, and spread ripples of compassion.”
@isCool – “I will be the change I seek. No one else can be that change.”
@russell_cook – “Greatness will be achieved when we give all we have to a purpose greater than ourselves.”
@abarcelos – “Using our talents (we all have them) to influence and help others in positive ways personally & professionally.”
@KatieKrafka – “I will encourage greatness by REPORTING greatness!”
@ShayRockhold – “I will encourage greatness in others by being their constant cheerleader and (when applicable) coach.”
@ScottHepburn – “Elevate your less ‘connected’ followers instead of fawning over A-listers… you’ll be amazed at what happens.”
@greytblackdog – “Act on the inspiration that I find everyday. The results will show up everywhere in my life, including my writing.”
@SternalPR – I will light a fire under people who lost a job and encourage them to find the entrepreneur spirit in a way that changes the world for the better.”

My own motto? Be interested in others. Genuinely interested. Encourage growth and assay fear. Be the rope for others to climb on.

I look forward to continuing to learn from you all in 2009 and thank you, and everyone I’ve connected with, for making this year the one where I really grew. If it’s true that we’re all in this together, I can’t think of any other people I’d rather be in it with.

Now it’s your turn – how will you encourage greatness in 2009? I’d love to hear your plans.

Turning Towns Into Cities

: Image by incendiarymind via Flickr

My good friend Susan Murphy wrote an interesting post yesterday, about how small towns are social networks. She points out that small towns have led the way for years when it comes to networking and seeing social leaders rise to the top. It’s a really good read and I highly recommend it.

It reminded me of something I’ve been thinking of for a while – how to involve the offline community more with the online one. While the likes of Twitter, Friendfeed and other social media tools are in the ascendancy, they’re still only used by a relatively small number of users, personal and professional.

So how do we change this?

How about we offer real-world and relevant use to offline communities so the online ones would experience growth and understanding? If we gave examples – workable examples – and led the way in showing users how to benefit from these self-same examples?

A conversation I had with my friend and PR person extraordinaire Lizz Harmon led me to think that this can be easier than many might think.

Imagine for a minute that you’re looking to travel somewhere for your vacation. Generally, you go by what the travel agent tells you. Now, unless you’re one of the very few lucky ones who’ve had great travel agents, the information you receive often doesn’t tell the whole story. Unfinished hotels, work sites just off the beach, sewer problems – and that’s just the good stuff.

I don’t blame the travel agent completely – after all, their job is to sell you a vacation and that’s where they make their money. I just wish for a little more honesty.

Now, imagine if you’re the same person looking to go on vacation and you get your information from a town or city’s Tourist Information Bureau – but via Twitter. Customer service representatives cover the account 24/7 and are able to answer any questions you might have. They’re not on commission so there’s no need for any imaginative descriptions.

They give you up-to-date information on places to stay and visit, local events and much more. By interacting with the future visitor, the tourist information office is doing everything right when it comes to placing its town or city in a positive light. And for small towns, it lets them keep up with their city equivalents and encourages tourism into their little part of the world.

Why stop there? Why not have councillors or Chambers of Commerce online and answering concerned citizens or incoming businesses respectively? Restaurants or movie theaters could offer discounts and incentives to anyone that brings in a printed deal from Twitter, Facebook or similar.

There’s a multitude of ways that businesses in particular can encourage the online and offline communities to come together. Our job is to help them get there. Who would you want to see online and what services would you use?

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