Thursday 3 February 2011

Social media action as part of business development that is not supported by personal attention is a recipe for heartache

Stories about management consultants abound. Here is one of my favourites:

A management consultant is on holidays on a tropical island. He notices a local fisherman who sells out of fish every day by noon. He approaches the fisherman and suggests a four point plan to sell more fish and make more money. Getting some subcontractors to fish for him will increase production by 25 percent but then moving to a fleet will double production in just six months. A joint venture with another shipping company will see the man become a millionaire within ten years.
The fisherman asks what the fourth step is. The consultant says he will be able to retire, do some fishing in the morning, have a siesta and then play with his kids. The fisherman replies, “but that is what I do now.”

Anon

The management consultant above is guilty of not providing or paying personal attention.

From my perspective much of social media and social networking is like this.


My goal online is to attract a few people that I can pay personal attention to in real time, and to nurture and grow relationships with these people of high value and mutual reward.

The intentions behind my goal i.e. the why, is three-fold.

1) Give without attachment to getting back
2) Enhance my reputation in my areas of expertise
3) Attract the right kind of people that I can pay attention to

What are your intentions regarding your online work?
As the saying goes be very careful what you wish for as our wishes usually get granted!

I recommend a great article on giving personal attention by Kaila Colbin here.

My free to fee model here is an overview of how I pay attention to people both online and in person and how I maintain harmony between online and in person actions.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
The Change Master™ - catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

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