The Carrot and Stick form of reward and punishment has been part of business and employee motivation for a very long time. Some might argue that this form of business motivation is the only way to get quality output. You give rewards (bonuses, raises, good reviews, perks, stock options) for a job well done. You [...]

This week at the Austin Social Media Club, @db, one of the evening’s presenters, used a tongue in cheek porn analogy to comically discuss social media. He showed highly pixelated pictures of beautiful naked women (with the BEST designer shoes anyone can buy) captioned with crowd sourced responses to his question “What do porn and [...]

Sometimes online you might want to wander outside your brand. Maybe the latest political issue has you steamed and you want to engage in political debate. Or, maybe a new life passion is bubbling up inside you and the audience or persona you want to create from just don’t fit well into your current brand. [...]

Do you think original content is dead? Me, not so much, but I’ve been called a dreamer.
I hear lots of people complaining about it - how the Internet is just a recycled, regurgitated mess with everyone parasitically aggregating a minuscule amount of “real news”. This usually comes from someone lamenting the death of traditional publishing [...]

Embrace your flaws as a marketing strategy? Yes, that’s what I said.
If you feel confused by social media, or get overwhelmed by your business tasks, or maybe yearn for the good ‘ol days when people wrote letters and didn’t know what a crackberry was, then here’s a thought - you aren’t the only one. [...]

As children, we were told to use our “inside voice”.
The request was usually triggered by us running around, yelling at the top of our lungs, wrecking havoc in our pathway. Often, we were just having fun, but we might have been fighting for stuff, or maybe angry, or maybe trying to get attention. Safe to [...]

The voice of the people - the Tribe - is the new business paradigm. Never in the course of history has such engagement, interaction, and immediate connection been possible. With the ever increasing social acceptance of the Internet and all its opportunities - online purchasing, blogging, Skype, YouTube, citizen reporting, Twitter - the game changing [...]

Yesterday, I met Kevin Leahy, a body language and communication expert at Knowledge Advocate, LLC. He shared a great tip with me for changing your body language and mindset - put your eyebrows up! <==click there to go to his full blog post.
Maybe not what you’d expect, the eybrow thing, but Kevin makes a lot [...]

Is it time to get a job? It’s a question I am answering for myself. And, I’ve decided that yes is the answer. It’s time for me to take that leap!
When I examine employment vs. entrepreneurship, I actually have to admit some real advantages of corporate employment. I feel, especially in these economic times, that [...]

I have entered a contest to be sent to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos 2010. Here is my video submission - am anxiously awaiting the judges’ decision on finalists. Wish me luck - and, please add comments and ratings if you’re so inclined. I will let you know if I am a [...]