Your people are your assets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business, a blogger, a non-profit or any mix of personal and professional outlet – your people are your assets.
Want to build a legacy? No-one’s going to know about anything you’re doing just from your voice alone; it’s what your people are saying about you that builds the legacy.
Want to create history? Your people are the ones that will share your stories down the ages.
Your people are your assets. Make sure you look after them.
You have a new product. You need to test it before it goes public. You hire an agency to carry out a focus group for you. You pay people to tell you what, essentially, you want to hear (many focus group participants won’t be completely honest since they want repeat invitations).
You’ve just spent five figures to find out just a tiny bit more than you knew before about your product.
Now. You have a new product. You need to test it before it goes public. You give it to your sales people; your marketing people; your customer service people. You know – the ones who have to live with its real value from the front line.
Who do you think will offer the real feedback?
Ideas begin with one person, but the best ones are chewed over by many before being released to the public.
There’s a reason for this. Personal bias and parental protection often makes us myopic about letting go, and this can make us miss the bigger picture. Afterward, we realize our good idea became great because of universal viewpoints.
Something to keep in mind the next time you’re about to tell someone they’re too junior to offer an input into your business masterplan.
Most folks know the story of Noah. How God warned him about an upcoming flood that would last for 40 days and 40 nights. To preserve nature, Noah took two of every animal onto his Ark in readiness for breeding once the storm had passed.
However, you could also look at it another way. If a cow died, Noah would still have had one cow left for beef and milk. He and his family wouldn’t starve, and they could come back to land and start afresh.
Moral of the story? Always have a back-up plan.
Marketing to a law firm is very different to marketing to a butcher’s shop.
Implementing social media strategy for a school is not the same as implementing social media strategy for a school for spine surgeons.
Flying a kite is not the same as flying a three hundred passenger Boeing.
One size fits all solutions?
No such thing.
