A note on leadership from a frustrated Klososky about the way leadership is done and taught today.
While John Maxwell may teach traditional leadership skills, many don’t apply today (connect not just communicate is not one of them), because they’re hands off some of the most important aspects of what drives business today, notably technology.
If you’re going to stay relevant and not just prosper, but be sustainable, suggestions for the table:
- As a leader, you need to make great technology decisions which means not outsourcing all of those decisions. In other words, don’t let your token geek make all the decisions. If you’re going to lead it, you need to understand how to make good technology decisions, you can’t just give it away.
- You have to be better at predicting the future. As the economy speeds up, you have to make decisions faster and faster, so you need to see further into the future.
- Get systems in place that help automate things to make you more productive.
Systems, says Scott are key to sustainable success. Below are the key components:
- Web Properties: build websites using a constituent based design. (destination sites).
- Social Technologies (conversations) . Engaging with people nearly every day through the various platforms out there, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, forums, discussion threads, YouTube. (stat to get you to reconsider if you’re not playing there: 2880 hours of uploads every two hours).
- Mobile: You can’t ignore mobile. Google says over half of the searches this year will be from a mobile device.
ALL PIECES need to be integrated, so get them ALL into your net and then move them around.
- Traffic – “I don’t know where they’re going to connect with me, as long as they get in my ‘net.’ Traffic is how do I drive people into my net wherever that may be.
- Measurement – people generally do a poor job at measuring what’s happening in their digital marketing. They don’t measure things like conversion rates, i.e., what percentage of people took action after coming into my net?
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
