The Cluetrain for YouTube

In 2004 I wrote the following introduction to Part 1 of the Millennium Matrix.

"Our communication tools have changed over time: from the spoken word, to the written word, to the broadcast-image word, to the digital multimedia word. With each change has come a new and different way of seeing the world. Here's what happens:

• When our communication tools change, our perception changes.
• Changed perception creates a changed understanding.
• Changed understanding changes our psychological makeup.
• Changed psyches change our interaction with the world.
• Changes in our interaction with the world change our relationships to one another.
• Changes in our relationships lead to changes in the institutions that facilitate those relationships.
• Our psychological makeup changes, and we reshape our world in our own image.

I thought all I needed to do is make a simple and profound observation about our changing world and everyone who read it would go - OMG - that is cool. I need to change everything!!

Well - only two problems. The message has only reached at the most 10,000 (if I'm really generous with all of my speaking, articles and book sales). Problem #2 - when you read that above paragraph did you pause, reflect and said - holy cow - this changes everything? I didn't think so. This blog gives you (and me) a second chance at that revelation. There is only 1 challenge - you need to watch a 60 minute video. I promise, if you do - you will be hit by the Cluetrain.

Michael Wesch is a professor of anthropology at Kansas State. I met him in 2004 at a conference at Fordham. I presented ideas from my book and he presented the impact of media on a tribe in New Guinea. Not much in common on the surface. However, I kept in touch because I was fascinated by his insight and understanding of the power of media to change worlds. A few years later I run across a YouTube video created by his class that explained how dramatically our education is changing. Then came the video on Web 2.0.

Both were so profound that they became phenomena on YouTube with millions of views.

Here is the third video that I highly recommend. Even though it is an hour - it will be one of the most informative hours you will invest if you believe that its important for you to "get it" when it comes to the YouTubization of the our culture.

This video is for executives - especially those who have the word marketing in their job description. This is not a video that you will immediately generate new ideas for campaigns (and please don't be as naive as GM - if you watch you will see what I mean). For those who do get it (the Cluetrain) - there are powerful implications for transforming how your company communicates with itself, its stakeholders, clients and the world. True to McLuhan's prophetic utterances it can release a level of innovation and connection that seems so hard to tap these days.

YouTube's sweet spot are the 18-34 year olds in terms of generating content.

Wesch's video explains how YouTube has exposed a new cultural tension.

• We express individualism but desire community.
• We express independence but desire relationship.
• We express commercialization or branding but desire authenticity.

We see connection in the current context as constraining - but this new medium allows connection without constraint.

There is a new dynamic - a new vibe - that we need to pay attention too.

mindshift has created an emotional connecting point for its members, changing our industry and improving our world. It has also created a platform for practicing participatory innovation. We call that being a "do-tank."

I'll be curious to see how many actually view the video. In many ways I'm jealous. I wrote a book and have spoken to several thousand with essentially the same message over the course of four years. These videos reach millions (in weeks) and provide a deeper level of understanding than 250 pages of writing. I'm old school.

Chopin and the Recession Impulse Theory

The video for this blog is a delightful insight into classical music but far more. The message I heard, and I think you will too, is a real mindshift.

If you listen closely I think you'll find a key to navigating the recession with grace and vision. Its not what you think. I'm not suggesting that you change your listening habits and become a classical music buff. I'm certainly not making the shift from Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

The message behind the message is being able to hold down your impulses to play through your recession melody using a single buttocks. You'll need to watch to understand.

I'll see you on the other side of the video.



Now you know what a single buttocks performance is all about. The challenge with a recession is that we tend to play it note by note. We're missing the big picture. We miss the melody and therefore the drama of the song (and story). We labor but we are so focused on the execution of each decision that there is no link or unifying narrative to make any of it fruitful or meaningful.

Recession rookies behave like this. Managers who are afraid behave like this. Sometimes we all behave like this.

This recession is a song. It has common themes and if you listen it will telegraph where it is going. Just like this Chopin piece - the tension builds, it subsides, it looks like it is moving toward a conclusion only to go back into several stanzas of indecision.

I was with someone today and comparing notes about past recessions. He said, "I know where this is headed. Several weaker companies will get weeded out. I'll have to get back to some basics, watch my spending and raise my game and in a year or so I'll be in a stronger position."

What song would you pick to describe how this recession feels? The songs we pick and associate to specific seasons and times really doe make a difference in how we perceive those seasons and times.

Don't let the media pick the song you play in your head about this recession. Pick your own. Don't focus too much on each day or week but try to see the bigger picture. Combine your one buttock approach with a vision for where you would like to be when this particular melody is over.

Happy mindshifting!

Surviving the Economy This Year

This is a weird recession. I've lived through four and this one doesn't follow any of the previous patterns. Some companies, regions and industries are having their best year ever. Others are diving into a classic survival mode; cutting costs, pulling back, lay-offs and hoping to wait it out.

The one lesson I have learned is that you have got to have a mindshift in order to come out ahead of your competition. When sales slow or signs of recession appear - MOST companies and individuals go into a classic survival mode. Not only do many of these tactics weaken a company long-term (like letting go of experienced talent) they also create a tone in the company that deadens the necessary creativity needed to innovate your way through and out of the valley.

Navigating these waters is more of an art than a science. I'll share a few of the approaches that have worked for me over the next few blogs. During each of these periods I thrived - not at first - but sooner than my competition and when I climbed back out of the valley I was so far ahead of my competition that I was able to work half-days in one scenario, receive an nice promotion and transfer in a second and launch a new career in the third.

The first dive took place in the late 70s and early 80s. (High oil prices, high interest rates - my first mortgage was 12.5% and that was a bargain, stagflation).

The second dive took place in Texas during the mid-1980s. (S&L crisis; Oil Embargo & Devaluation of the Peso)

The third dive took place in DC during the early 90s. (Black October, Oil Spike and Gulf War 1)

The fourth dive took place in Texas during the early 2000s (tech bubble - this was the ugliest one)

Here are some of the things I learned and used. I'll go into more detail over the next few blogs:

1. A strong network
   
2. Don't wait for an official notice
   
3. Automation
4. New markets
5. Creative compensation
6. Dashboards
7. Mastermind team
8. Planting new seeds
9. Holding on to good members (creatively)
10. Clearing out the closet
11. Drip marketing
12. Prioritizing clients
13. Sifting through the forgotten
14. A lesson from dad
    
15. Owners can sell too
16. Cash is king
    
17. MacKay 66
18. Remembering
19. Perspective
20. Virtual Teams (SWARM)