"Organic Social Media"

While talking today in a meeting with Nate Riggs, the term "Organic Search" kept coming up with the subject being social media. This just kind of got my brain going....

Ask someone what the first thing that comes to mind of when they hear the word "organic" and most people would say something involving farming or food.

But in the context of the internet, organic takes on a whole new meaning.... just another great example of how social media and the internet have taken a word and made it into something altogether different!

Another example of the internets ability to change the context of a word: A few years ago this young kid named Mark Zuckerberg started a movement. He launched a project that started on a white board outside his dorm room in Harvard that we now know as Facebook. On February 4th, 2004 Zuckerberg turned the word "Friend" into a verb..... and I LOVE knowing that we each have the potential to make change happen like this.

Back on topic....

I couldn't help but start to doodle on my notepad in our meeting after hearing that term, "Organic Search" come up again and again. And that doodle turned into the picture featured on this post. I just couldn't get the image out of my mind of a little tree in the forest just off the Information Super Highway that had growing on it, all the magical fruits of the social media realm.

Who knows what we will change about our world next. But if anything is going to impact it.... It's Social Media!

Transparency Failed - A Strange Example

I know I've blogged about my experience at the Get Motivated Seminar already..... but I had to tell you about a GREAT parallel I noticed during the final speaker of the day. Rudy Giuliani, the man who held New York City together when time stopped on September 11th, was on stage to close out a great day. I was getting really into the presentation but something caught my eye about 3 minuets into his speech.

Standing in front of the stage steps was this HUGE security guard with a nice suit on, shoulders broad and hands crossed in front of his waist. This guy was a monster, he towered over Rudy when he came off stage, but he wasn't alone! On the floor, next to the corner of the stage closest to the pathway the speakers took to the back stage area stood another security guard. I started looking around and I noticed another back by the camera man Rudy was primarily speaking towards. Then another in the main seating section next to the large hallway leading out of the Civic Center. Then there was the trio "guarding" the door leading backstage. I looked up in the rafters and saw three more of these guys..... It clicked right then, these mystery men were either secret service or really expensive private security.

They were trying really hard to be transparent but they failed miserably at it. I'm guessing someone had them worried because they all started "Coughing/Talking Into Their Hands" at the same time. It was just highly entertaining, while they were trying to not exist the truth be told they were drawing away from the show on stage!

The whole thing got me literally laughing out loud because I'm thinking about all the conversations I've had lately with Nate Riggs about companies being transparent online. And here were these security/secret service/whatever guys trying to do just that, but sticking out like a sore thumb. Even in an environment where a good 80% of the people in the audience were wearing suits or business casual dress, they still just jumped out at me!

Oh the irony..... oh the irony.....

Work Hard Play Harder

I'm a firm believer in the saying that heads up this post. I work hard, so I can play harder!

To me that means giving everything I have at work, so I know the job's done right, then taking the time to just relax and let life show me what wonders it has hiding away at the lake, or on the hiking trail, or in the parking lot at a DCI show. Whatever it might be that I'm doing to unwind, I make sure I go full throttle. No other way to really enjoy it!

By far, my favorite two activities to unwind are fishing, and going to University of Akron football games! And I realized there's a lot of things about both of these that ties into the workplace.

Fishing- Trial & Error, Problem Solving, Creative/Abstract Thinking, Free Thinking, Determination

Football- Teamwork, Loyalty(fan loyalty that is), Strategic Planning, Leadership Skills, Hard Work & Practice, Determination

So when I'm relaxing, I'm actually working?! Wait a second.......... I thought work stayed at work, home stayed at home. I've realized that that will never happen. My friend Nate Riggs was just telling me before a meeting we had, "I have to turn it off when I'm with my kid." Referring to trying to unplug the work mind and plug in the family mind. Not that easy, so I've just started letting the two carefully compliment each other. I like to use the time when I'm down at the lake fishing to work through problems in my head, to think about new concepts or solutions.... to "Reboot" by solving every variable not accounted for while I was on the clock while I relax.

It's a careful balance, but it works. I catch a few fish, but solve a lot of problems and develop a ton of new ideas all at the same time. Hooray for multitasking.