Huddle Up, Stakeholders

We’re reaching out to you today so we can put a stake in the ground, grab for the low-hanging fruit, and think outside the box.

You may not have noticed, but there’s been this juggernaut of jargon that’s taken over the business lexicon.

Seems like a no-brainer now, but back when we started talking this way, we thought it was a game changer. A win-win proposition. We were speaking the same language, mangling the same metaphors, and we really thought every conversation would be value-added — bringing us more bang for the buck.

Well, it brought about a paradigm shift, all right. It moved the needle…but in the wrong direction. Turns out we’ve become parodies of ourselves. Irritating ones at that.

Drilling down into the problem, we find the stigma of cliché, and the way that the overuse of tired, misapplied jargon actually weakens our messaging. Dive deeper, and you see that talking like a rigidly programmed Business Bot destroys your differentiation. You become plain vanilla, just another face in the crowd.

You’ve got a lot on your plate, we know. This probably wasn’t even on your radar. We’re not asking you to reinvent the wheel, but going forward, maybe you can repurpose some of this drivel? Transition it into another role?

At the end of the day, your communications skills are seen by your customers, competitors and employees as key performance indicators, showing them just how much bandwidth you’ve got for your core competencies. If they think you’re just parroting the masses, well then you might as well be down the rabbit hole.

Death to jargon, is what we’re saying. Do we have your buy-in?

The C4

1. The definitive guide to effective communications, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style includes every rule of English usage you can imagine.
2. Seriously, read it. It’ll make you a better writer and speaker. (And it will turn you against insipid jargon, forever.)
3. Its most vital advice, which if we follow it will end jargoneering for all time (amen), can be summed up in one very short sentence…
4. “Omit needless words.”

We Love A Great Interface

But not instead of face-to-face.

Here’s the next great mobile app that needs to be developed: you point your phone at someone else’s, push a button, and instantly beam them a message that says “Hey, I’m over here! Please look up and talk to me!”

We’re the same as you — we love our phones. They’re like mini-offices we carry around in our pockets. They’ve elevated our productivity to stratospheric heights. They’ve made us more connected than we ever could have imagined.

But paradoxically, they’ve also disconnected us from this analog life. There’s a bright, 3-D world going on all around us, full of wonder, beauty, and face-to-face interaction, which we ignore every time we turn our attention to that tiny screen. 

Marketing blogger Christina Childers shares an instructive anecdote about an industry trade show she attended where the vast majority of the vendors were only interested in playing with their phones.

How many customers walked away unacknowledged? How much business went undone? Maybe more importantly — how many simple, invaluable human connections were missed?

We’re not trying to turn back the clock here. We know that the digital lifestyle, the ubiquitousness of handheld devices, is here to stay. And we’re more than fine with that. We revel in it.

But we revel also in a simple, good old-fashioned conversation. We like eye contact. We live for smiles.

So we ask you to ask yourself: are your screen-gazing habits interfering with that? Are you checking your messages more often than you’re checking your surroundings?

If so, the solution couldn’t be simpler. Just put that thing down for a moment, look up, and give us a smile.

The C4

1. We won’t claim to be without fault here. We look at our phones a lot. They’re nifty little devices that streamline our communications, our business practices, and (let’s admit it) our entertainment. So yes, we look at 'em...probably more than we should.
2. But if you ever catch us ignoring our clients, our friends and co-workers, or our families in favor of pixels, please remind us how unspeakably inappropriate that is.
3. A lot of folks need just such a reminder. We all know this is true.
4. It shouldn’t be that way. Normal interaction shouldn’t suffer because of technology. And it doesn’t have to. Just think it over every time you reach for your phone. Ask yourself if now is an appropriate time to look at it. If the answer is no, then put it away.

Joe, Java, Black & Steamy

The bean buzz that gets it started.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could pour yourself a cup of creativity? Or share a mug of teamwork? How about brewing up a steaming pot of productivity?

It’s not nearly that simple, but we try, don’t we?

The coffee break, as practiced by our work-a-day culture, is really anything but a break. It’s a communal activity, a team-building retreat, one we can go on every day. And even if we really do "break" from work, for those 15 or 20 minutes, we never really leave. Problem-solving wheels are still turning and collaborative talk seems to naturally congregate ‘round the Keurig. When we return to our desks we’re amped (no surprise there), and much more able and ready to tackle the day’s challenges.

Of course, caffeine is a drug. Our legal-beagles tell us we cannot — must not! — advocate its use to anyone. It’s worth mentioning that our Keurig can just as handily brew decaf, tea, cocoa, hot cider and even soup. Sometimes it even does so.

So if you eschew coffee, well then, more power to you. We don’t really understand you — in fact, we’re not even sure you actually exist. But if you do, we respect your decision.

But sorry, we won’t emulate it. Our coffee time is magical. We hang out, serve each other, kvetch and commiserate.

And we create. Oh yes indeed we do. Sure, we share much creativity when we’re sitting at the brainstorming table or pitching for our clients. To be fair, though, there’s usually coffee within easy reach in all those circumstances.

But when we commune by the Keurig, we’re in a slightly different mindset. Somehow more relaxed, more egalitarian; just friends sharing a cuppa. We never set out to leverage those golden moments. But almost every time, without fail, someone suddenly looks up and says, “Hey! I got an idea…”

We don’t mess with that kind of success. It ain’t broke so we ain’t gonna fix it. We’ll go on seeing what gets brewed up on our coffee break tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.

Speaking of which, hey look at the time. Please excuse us, we’ll be back in about 15…

The C4 (or Four C’s):

1. Coffee. We need it, man. Can’t get out of the house in the morning without it. But it’s not just a jump start. It’s a ritual. It helps build our team and fuel our creativity. If coffee had a face it’d be on our payroll.
2. Caffeine. Yes, it’s a stimulant. Yes, too much of it is a bad thing. But this isn’t just about the pep we get from a cup or 10. It’s about the time we spend chatting and laughing while the Keurig drips its precious elixir.
3. Cappuccino. We never turn down a cup of something fancy like a grande latte with soy milk, sprinkle of cinnamon and a shot of vanilla or Double-latte-foamy-half-caf-whatever. Sure, we’ll give it a try. But we think we can do just as well, and have at least as much fun, with a paper cup filled with the stuff from the gas station. The coffee supplies the jolt, and we bring the togetherness.
4. Culture. We’re not alone in this, are we? Western society was built on the back of the coffee bean, so to speak. Chances are, your workplace is just as java-centric as ours. Do you find your coffee breaks are as productive and as appreciated? Stop by sometime and let us know. We’d love to hear your story. We’ll keep the Keurig on for ya.

What You Don't Say Speaks Volumes

Processing your message.

As you may recall from either your psychology or sales classes (the concept is equally important to both), the majority of communication going on during a two-way conversation happens on a non-verbal level. That means that regardless of the words we say, our interlocutors receive the most of our message based on our facial expressions, body language, and other contextual clues. Knowing this arms us well for our one-on-one encounters; we can plan ahead and think about our postures and the nuances of our smiles, to ensure that we’re supporting our message with every non-verbal cue we give.

But it puts us in a bit of disadvantage when it comes to written communication. An email, letter, or dashed-off note is decidedly one-dimensional, without the clarifying add-ons that come with a nod, a grin, or an arched eyebrow. You might think your written missives are in constant danger of misinterpretation — unless you’re one of the millions who’ve suffered some office drama because your well-intended sarcasm didn’t translate into email format. Then you know that’s true.

The most well-reasoned defense against this is a careful, clear-eyed reading of all your output, checking for passages that can be misconstrued. It’s certainly not a bad idea, and you might consider getting into the habit.

But who wants to be stuck on defense? The best offense is a method of writing that employs the tools your word processor gave you to round out the subtleties of your writing.

For instance…the use of ellipses (…) provides a mental pause, and clues the reader that something momentous is to follow. Need to add some extra emphasis? Try italics. Even more emphasis, something like the written version of an attention-getting hand clap, is boldface.

And pay attention to your use of paragraph spacing. Setting important words and phrases all by themselves—

—like this—

—gives them weight, dimensionality, and particular focus. There are *other* tricks as WELL, probably limited only by the functions and macros available on your keyboard.

It’s a simple, handy way to help get your written message across. Just...try not to overdo it.

It gets ANNOYING, fast.

The C4:

1. In a one-on-one conversation, the majority of the conversing is happening non-verbally. Messages are emphasized, amplified, and clarified based on facial expressions, body language, and other non-spoken cues.
2. This leads to a problem with written communication. Our audience has no message to interpret other than the words we’ve composed. If there’s ambiguity inherent in them, we can sure they’ll be misconstrued.
3. So read everything you’ve written before you send it out, and try to spot and refine anything that’s not crystal clear. And use every macro, function, and special character your word processor provides, if they can help you to impart the message you mean to impart.
4. Oh, but use those sparingly, if you can. A page full of italics, bolds, and underlines can quickly clutter a page and become a visual turn-off (supplying, that way, yet another message you didn’t intend to send).

Jump On The Blog Wagon

There's a logical explanation for your organized thinking.

What if we told you there’s a single tool that can support all your marketing efforts, enhance your management and internal relations, improve your communication skills, and sharpen your critical thinking?

Already it sounds too good to be true. So just wait until we add: This tool is absolutely free.

The tool we’re speaking of is the blog, and if you don’t have one already you should start one right away.

What can you do with a blog? To begin with, you can explain yourself. You can provide the detail behind your decisions — to your customers, to your employees, to strangers…maybe, if need be, even to yourself.

That’s because the act of writing, of blogging, forces a focus in your thinking and an examination of your procedural logic. In sitting down to write the 500 or 1,000 words on whatever’s relevant to your business this week, you’ll find yourself delving into why it’s relevant, and what that means, and what it foretells.

You’ll support and amplify your marketing campaigns by providing a longer-format appeal that just isn’t possible through any other outreach. You’ll humanize yourself and the voice of your company, by supplying the ongoing narrative that explains why you’re in business and what makes you tick.

You can spend money on blogging, to be sure. Spend as much as you want. But you can get started, and you should get started, right now, for nothing. And similarly, you’ll probably get started with few or no readers. That shouldn’t stop you either. Every blog you write, whether it’s read widely or not at all, sharpens your mind and hones your ability. Every entry makes you a better writer and a better thinker. And rest assured, the better you get the more attractive your blog gets. The readers will come.

This is a tool that’s loaded with potential. Your potential to start a conversation, to introduce yourself to an unlimited audience, and to begin explaining why you’re doing what you do starts with the gentlest of efforts.

We urge you to make that effort at once.

The C4:

1. The blog is the definitive format of twenty-first-century electronic publishing. It is open and available to all and is equally serviceable for business, for art, for pleasure, and for no particular reason at all.
2. From a business perspective, there’s probably no comparable tool that can reach so many people, that can explain or justify so ably and thoroughly, and can elicit such critical thinking, for so little outlay and effort.
3. Your earliest efforts at blogging might attract little notice. Your first few blogs might be choppy or rambling. Soldier on. You’ll get better with practice, and your practice will attract attention.
4. Blogger and Wordpress are free hosting services that can have you up and running with a beautiful, dynamic blog in just a few minutes. With Tumblr, you can create a more visual-oriented and stripped-down yet still great looking blog even faster. With Wordpress you can download the open-source Wordpress software and host it yourself. You can buy a domain name for a few bucks and redirect it to any blog, anywhere. The point is you can spend a little, a lot, or nothing — and still create a blog that lets you speak with your customers like never before. Why not get started today?

I Said, Fill The Void!

The whisper of whitespace amplifies meaning.

Let’s preface this with a declaration: we love design, every aspect of it.

But there’s one certain aspect of design that is perhaps our favorite. We could rave (we have raved!) about its elegant simplicity, its deceptive minimalism. Funny thing is, it's often our clients’ least favorite aspect of design.

It’s the whitespace.

See what we did there? We added paragraph breaks, that is, whitespace, before and after that one short sentence, those three short words. Do you see the way it draws the eye, the way it heightens the drama?

That’s why we love whitespace.

Oh, but we see our clients’ point. They’re paying for ink on the page and pixels on the screen, and most importantly for the effort it takes to put them there. Paying for whitespace? That’s a little too much like paying for the air in a bag of chips.

Hard to argue that point, except like this: in marketing design, what you’re really paying for is the effect. And the effect of whitespace is phenomenal.

Remember, we’re having a conversation with your customer. We’re stopping him in the street, staring him in the eye, and telling him all about you. Maybe he doesn’t want to listen. Maybe he’s hurrying to an appointment. Doesn’t matter. It’s our job to start that conversation, any way we can.

The whitespace is the dramatic pause in our sales pitch. It’s the knowing smile and confident nod that tells him that what comes next is going to blow his mind. Whitespace allows the message to breathe, separates it from surrounding visual noise and places it on the pedestal of absence so that it can be better understood.

We surround your message with whitespace, not because we’re in love with minimalism and dramatic design (true though that may be), but because we know it’s one of our most powerful tools to awe, to captivate, and…

…to communicate.

The C4:

1. Marketing design: it’s equal parts marketing and design. Design serves marketing. Design is gorgeous (maybe we’re biased), but unless it serves marketing it’s self-congratulatory and a waste of everyone’s time.
2. With that in mind, please believe us when we say we will leverage every tool in our considerable design kit to further ours and our clients' marketing aims. We will make gorgeous design, never doubt it, but we’ll do so only with that laser-like focus in mind.
3. One of those tools, one which we often find ourselves defending, is whitespace. We understand the doubt. Whitespace is, by definition, nothing. Who wants to pay for that?
4. Here’s the thing, though: you’re not paying for the nothing. You’re paying for the drama the nothingness creates. Our whitespace draws the eye, heightens the awareness, and lends an exhuberant exclamation to the elements it surrounds. It’s a message that reinforces itself by demanding attention. It creates a mental cadence to let the audience know that the central point is at hand—

          Just

          like

          this.

NLP Is A Tool For Programming Change, But...

Beware of duplicity?

Consider the hammer. It's the tool that, probably more than any other, built Western civilization. In the hands of a Michelangelo, it helps to sculpt David. But in the hands of a psychopath, it becomes truly frightening.

All tools are like that: neutral by nature, beneficial or maleficent depending on intent and application.

Next, consider NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming. It’s an approach to therapy, self-help, and behavior modification that’s been around since the 70s. It leverages the mind’s atavistic reaction to language, in order to alter demeanor, improve performance, and develop communications skills.

Now go Google NLP; or worse yet, do a search for that term on YouTube. You’ll find every type of huckster peddling NLP miracles, and promising of the ability to manipulate people to your will. Books like The Game by Neil Strauss detail how “pickup artists” use NLP to razzle-dazzle females into submission.

Some of it’s disturbing. Some is disgusting. But that’s what happens when powerful tools are used by bad people. None of it should discourage good people, though, who can use a tool like NLP for the best of reasons.

Want to improve your ability to communicate? Collaborate better with your peers? Shed harmful habits and cultivate healthy ones? Neuro-linguistic programming might be your ticket. It’s worth looking into.

As with all your endeavors, this one requires caution and common sense. Do your homework and be wary of inflated promises. There are scores of honest NLP instructors who can build a targeted course to help you and your organization reach your goals. You just need to separate the honest ones from the hucksters.

So will it work for you? Only one way to find out. All we can hope for is that you’ll respect it for the tool that it is, and use it only with the best intent.

The C4:

1. Neuro-linguistic programming is a behavior-modification technique developed by psychotherapists in the 1970s that uses language, rapport, and suggestion to achieve goals.
2. NLP can be used in business to create better communications methods, increase sales, and improve collaboration throughout the organization. It can also be used on a personal level for targeted self-improvement.
3. NLP is earning a bad rap, though, because some truly awful people are using it — selling courses that promise Svengali-like manipulation, and demonstrating pickup techniques based on deception and duplicity.
4. A tool in the hands of a bad person does bad things. In the hands of a good person it can better the world. What can you do with NLP?

Keep ’Em Close

Defeat? Yes. Destroy? No.

Competition is healthy. That’s something businesspeople grasp almost intuitively. We understand that competition creates efficiencies and forces us to better serve our customers. It can even make our work more enjoyable. Some of us thrive on competition and enjoy the fact that it brings out the best in us.

But it can also bring out the worst. Quick self-diagnosis: Do you consider your competitor to be your mortal enemy? Ever use words like “destroy,” “bury” or “scorched earth” when describing your competitive plans?

Now that’s not healthy.    

There are very few industries in which competition is a zero-sum game. In other words, your competitor’s successes are not necessarily your failures. Thinking of them as such only leads to ugliness in the marketplace.

Instead, focus on areas of possible collaboration. Are there projects in which you and your competitor can form a strategic alliance? Failing that, can you pool resources to influence public policy on behalf of your industry at large?

If nothing else, just have a conversation. Take a lunch every now and then to talk through differences or just get to know each other. You don’t have to be best friends, but you should come to accept each other as decent human beings just trying to earn a living.

We’re all just trying to earn a living, but chances are, we’re all someone’s competitor. And it’ll take all our efforts to make sure that competition stays healthy instead of turning into something ugly.

The C4:

1. Business competition drives market efficiencies and creates choices for the consumer. All else being equal, it’s a positive force for our economy.
2. But competition can turn ugly. It’s all too easy (and far too common) to dehumanize our competitors and to work toward their destruction.
3. That’s not healthy and it’s not good for our economy. Competition is about finding an equilibrium. Very little in business is zero-sum. There is room for success for all of us.
4. Look for common ground. Look for areas of cooperation. Keep lines of communication open. Compete, by all means, but remember you’re competing with decent people who tuck their kids into bed at night. Hopefully they’ll remember the same about you.

Huh?

"Walk with me. You've gotta meet this guy with the LMK. He's kinda this entrepreneurial social guru — thinking outside of the box in the green/sustainability space and developing concepts around sort of Web-based social media platform, and he's way past the AI crowd and now in a round two capital raise in the 501(c)(3) space with the people at NDPA sometime in Q1."

How many times have you scratched your head after hearing something like — no — precisely this sentence?

Let's say you miraculously navigate through the first part of the sentence. (You won't, but let's say you do.)

You're still in a brain freeze when you get to that last NDPA acronym. You're thinking NDPA...let's see...National Decorating Products Association? North Dakota Pschological Association? National Diploma in Performing Arts? National Drowning Prevention Association?

This might be amusing if it weren't true. Some business people just don't make sense anymore.

Why not gain credibility, become more productive, make those around you more efficient, and get more joy in your work life by simply looking someone in the eye when you hear one of these verbal log jams and anti-communications assaults and simply state to the perpetrator, "I don't have a clue of what you just said to me."