In 1903 Dr. Horatio Jackson set off on a journey from San Francisco to New York becoming the first person to cross the United States in a “horseless carriage.” At the time there were only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire country. In addition, there were no gas stations and virtually no road maps as we know them today. This was America's first transcontinental road trip, and like many road trips that would follow it included breakdowns and wrong turns.

Tags: Twitter, LinkedIn, marketing, social media, business, online, horatio jackson, strategy, social platforms, organization

Bell Telephone developed the first automatic switchboard in 1910 after projections indicated that by 1925 every adult woman in America would be needed to staff the manual switchboards that were in place. Do you think the new innovative automatic system was an immediate hit with telephone customers and the industry experts? Well, probably not with everyone:

Tags: risk, marketing, resources, the innovator's dilemma, customers, companies, persistence, culture, learning, innovation, organizations, growth, balance, conflict

Has rational ignorance impacted your organization’s social media activity yet? Rational ignorance is the decision not to become more informed about something because the perceived cost of the additional intelligence — in terms of both effort and expense — is more than the expected return on the knowledge gained.

Tags: Twitter, marketing, social media, learning, training, organization

“Where all the solutions are best-in-class, the ROI is proven, and customers are engaged.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you are a fan of Garrison Keillor who reports the news from Lake Wobegon – a fictional town in Minnesota – on the radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” you probably recognized my spin on his tag line; “Reporting from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” It’s a fun show, and I’m sure you would enjoy listening.

Tags: ROI, marketing strategy, solutions, customers, proven solution, radio show, business, news, garrison keillor, leading provider, lake wobegon, organization

I completed my college studies at Abilene Christian University which is located in Abilene, Texas. I really like Abilene and look forward to my class reunions. However; for marketing organizations, Abilene is to be avoided when mentioned in the context of the “Abilene Paradox.”

Tags: marketing strategy, data, disagreement, groupthink, agreement, leadership, task force, the road to abilene, marketing organizations, conflict

“I’ve been in this business for 30 years, and I’ve never seen it like this.”

I can recall hearing that statement three times over the course of my adult working life. The first time I heard it was very early in my career. My boss at the time had been a part of the Texas oil field service industry for more than 30 years, and the mid-80s oil crash was taking its toll. What once had boomed was now busting, stripper wells that had been profitable were being plugged, and new drilling activity came to a virtual standstill. Prospects in the oil business were looking pretty dim.

Tags: social media, employer, computer, business, leadership, change, employees, management, strategy, volunteer, growth, digital, evolve, applications, organization, world wide web

I grew up in Grinnell, Iowa, a small town in the rural Midwest. It’s not exactly the place you would expect to find the most prolific scoring basketball team in the nation. Grinnell College’s run-and-gun offense is considered unorthodox, even chaotic, but it is fun to watch. Grinnell’s record as of February 22^nd is 18 wins and 5 losses. In the second game of this season, senior guard Jack Taylor scored 109 points, the third highest in NCAA history in a 173-123 victory over Crossroads College. According to Head Coach David Arseneault’s book titled “The Running Game: A Formula for Success,” his strategy is based on five basic principles:

The team must take at least 100 shots in a game. The goal is to attempt a shot every 12 seconds and try to get the ball back within 10 seconds.

Tags: branding, marketing, creativity, social media, Customer Acquisition, service, customers, audience, strategy, organizations, relationship-building, loyalty

International Literacy Day was Sept. 8, but we’ve decided to celebrate and promote it all month long with a series of blog posts based on marketing and business books we’ve recently read. Today’s featured title is John C. Maxwell’s "Leadership Gold."

Has rational ignorance impacted your organization’s social media activity yet? Rational ignorance is the decision not to become more informed about something because the perceived cost of the additional intelligence — in terms of both effort and expense — is more than the expected return on the knowledge gained. It’s not a condition you’re excited to encounter if you’re trying to create a lifelong learning environment.

Tags: Twitter, Klout, social media, literacy, leadership, learning, training

“Haha, made you look!” When my kids were little they would taunt me with that phrase. It was intended as a playful insult because they tricked me into looking at something that didn’t exist. With my marketing team, that phrase is code speak for marketing content and messaging that creates a favorable impression catching our target audiences’ attention. But in that situation, no tricks are involved; it’s all talent and by design!

In the world of social media marketing, the “Who's Viewed Your Profile?” module on LinkedIn is, in my opinion, a made you look requirement for serious networkers. This feature is no trick – it’s designed to help you understand who’s been looking at your profile recently and how many times you have shown up in search results. Here are four reasons why you should like this feature and why I want to make you look at it.

Tags: Twitter, LinkedIn, social media, networking, personal brand

There was breakdown in the assembly line and no one on Henry Ford’s staff could fix it. As the story goes, his production lines were down for hours; hours turned into days, and Ford was frustrated. In desperation he called an electrical engineer friend whom he trusted to come to his plant, diagnose and repair the problem. His friend promptly arrived and after about ten minutes the Ford lines were up and running. A most grateful Henry Ford thanked him and told his friend to invoice the Ford Company for the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received an invoice from his friend in the amount of $10,000. Flabbergasted, Henry called his friend on the telephone and protested, “You only tinkered around for ten minutes! Ten-thousand dollars?!” His friend agreed that he would re-invoice the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received a modified invoice:

Tinkering…..$10

Tags: branding, facebook, google, Twitter, sales, LinkedIn, Klout, blogging, marketing, marketing strategy, social media, social media strategy