Protected?  Embraced? Adored? Better for choosing to do business with you? 

If you don’t know, then your customer strategy is incomplete; then you are missing your chance to create an intended customer experience.

If you do know the answer, but can’t articulate what you do in support of your intended experience, then your strategy is still incomplete.

Intentions alone do not make for a strategy.  And when in doubt, ask your customers for their help understanding what you could do better.  After all, they want you to be as amazing as you do.

I wrestled with topics, with the courage to open up, with the humility that someone unknown may find and dismiss my ramblings.  And then a year ago this very month I made a left turn by deciding instead  to focus on an internal blog at work.

A first in our sizable company.

And the experience has been phenomenal.  I have learned to have appropriate expectations of my readership.  I have learned to expect both everyone and no one to read any given post, as I have expected both of them to engage in any sort of dialog.

I have learned that impact posts come in many different sizes.  And I have learned that I can learn exponentially more from those who have thoughts, ideas, feedback, and ultimately comments to contribute.  Therefore, I have learned that each post is more a journey than a destination; that the post becomes a platform.

I have also learned that my wandering style isn’t considered (by most) to be annoying or difficult to follow or rambling or… the feedback I receive is that others appreciate the stream-of-consciousness of the format, and that it feels less contrived and more human.

Score!

So, while it may be difficult (for me) to maintain two blogs, I am making a decided effort to try to do so.

Welcome to my (re) launch.

It is a song which will never be heard.  A picture no one will see.

It’s my own fault.

I didn’t expect anyone to find this site of mine, at least not this soon.  You see, these initial posts were intended to exercise these atrophied creative writing muscles of mine; to help me shape the voice and message of my blog; to help me overcome what is a curiously awkward endeavor: To write as though someone else will care to read it.

Yet, somehow it is liberating. My goal with this site is to author a site of my personal perspectives in hopes that mine will contribute to yours as you build your own vault of experiences and perspectives.

When I was a developer I spent many years bouncing from job to job as a consultant/contractor. I worked for companies large and small, public and private, innovative and conservative. I worked for many different managers, yet only a couple of real “leaders”.  Along my journey I have amassed a myriad of experiences of my own, and I have compiled those with the professional experiences of my wife. I have aggregated the experiences of not only mine and my wife’s, but also those of my friends and family. I engage in discussions with strangers and most everyone I know about the challenges they face in their work lives, and what they are doing to try to overcome them.

Mobile application product managers. Plumbers. Publishers. Personal trainers. Loading dock managers. Program managers. Business Analysts. Industrial survey equipment trainers. Team Leads. Directors. Off-shore liaisons. Human Factors Professionals. And so on… They all encounter challenges which must be overcome.  They all provide perspectives on leadership, on work life, on what it means to be an employee, and what it means to be a leader (even if the lesson is a byproduct of how they are being lead.)

My perspective is that lessons on leadership and models of change are everywhere.  Will you be open and receptive to them as you make your way through your day?  Will you take advantage of these opportunities to learn from and through others, to accelerate what you can learn beyond your years?

You get one shot every day – and that is to make the best of that day before it is gone forever.

“Progress begins with the belief that what is necessary is possible.”  - Normal Cousins

Yesterday (and again today), I sat through presentations regarding mobile devices; their growing prevalence, and how the constraints of the devices themselves change the way we think about the data/content we access on them.  Even more provoking was the notion that expectations on mobile devices may drive similar expectations on the internet.

The Mash-up Generation.

The presenter goes on to speculate that there is a growing gap between those who interface with the internet through Google (or another search engine) and those who have created personalized, context-sensitive experiences on the internet.

And I’m fascinated.  What does this shift meant to Google?  What does it mean when we use SmartPhones more and more on the internet (and through applications)?  What does it mean when the mobile carriers have extensive information about our habits – who we are, where we are, what we purchase, what we shop, where we surf, and so on?  Will marketers use our behaviors against us?   Will they bombard us with ads and recommendations and blah blah blah?

I am fascinated, but a little uneasy.  Why can’t we “walk freely” through our world?  Why do we have to accept that we will forever be watched?

Sorta sounds like a style of government.  And I ain’t diggin’ it.