Tuesday October 20, 2009 
Tuesday October 20, 2009
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
(Ecclesiastes III (King James Version))
This is my time to change.
While I remain a part-time employee of my beloved Sun Microsystems, I've joined The Fibonacci Design Group, run by two friends and associates, Greg and Sloane Mann, to fill out the rest of my week - and to fulfill a growing need to express creativity in a different way.*
Over the past 17 years, Greg and Sloane have created a truly extraordinary little company. When they came to visit me at Sun three years ago to show me the kind of work they were doing, I was blown away. Gorgeous work. Thoughtful work. So much more than pretty pictures, their designs were insightful, interactive, engaging. I was so impressed that I hired them at Sun to work on our Great Places to Work campaign in 2007. Together we created a campaign that I remain very proud of: "I have the Best Job at Sun."
Why join a design firm instead of hang out my own shingle? Why join a design firm instead of a more traditional communication firm? Why join a design firm instead of taking another corporate position?
Since going part-time in February, I've had a lot of time to think about what I really want to do next. One of my early realizations was that after having the opportunity to work at Sun, I was going to find it difficult to replace that experience. I need some distance, and so it feels right to return to my consulting roots.
Why not strike out alone? A number of reasons. First, I don't want to work 100 percent alone. I like the give and take of partnerships, the built-in opportunities to test ideas and learn from each other. Second, as I've discovered from my aborted attempts to paint using different methods, I find it very hard to break out of my comfort zone creatively. Surprisingly hard, if you know me. Working with Greg and Sloane forces me to view the world from a another perspective that I can combine with my own experience. I like that. A lot.
Why a design firm instead of a traditional agency? Because I want to get better at my craft and I want to expand my thinking. After all, being different is not always better, but being better is always different.
And so I'm taking a deep breath, and I'm leaping off that cliff of comfortable routine and well-known territory. As part of that, although I remain a part-time employee of Sun, this shall be my last post at blogs.sun. You can find my new posts - and my old ones - at tmacwords.wordpress.com. Please join me! And please wish me luck.
You can get to know Greg and Sloane on their blogs, plus why they decided to name their company Fibonacci (a really interesting story but theirs to tell). And you can find more information about what I'm up to at our new website. Oh, and while my Sun email is still good, you can also reach me at terry@fibonaccidesigngroup.com.
Sun will always hold a special place in my heart. Starting with Scott McNealy, Sun allowed me to take big risks, try new things, and build what was the finest employee communication team in the world. I don't know what the future holds with Sun and Oracle, and I hope I can have a part in the next chapter. But even if I don't, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sun and its thousands of employees.
That was then. This is now. See you at my new adventure!
Terry
* Important note: Sun’s Business Conduct Office blessed my partnership with Fibonacci as I am very part-time employee…
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Oct 20 2009, 06:00:00 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Monday October 05, 2009 There's been a pretty lively online discussion amongst the members of CCM (Council of Communication Management) about social networking and social media tools. It started off with what seemed to be an innocent question from one of our members:
What are your key challenges when building senior management support for social media strategies?
What followed was a flood of comments, but the conversation really peaked my interest when one of the greats in our profession, Roger D'Aprix, spoke up (quoted with permission):
"...Why are we trying so hard to ram social media down the throats of senior leaders and get them to do something their instincts tell them is not a good idea? Where is the business case? If we can't show one and if there isn't any demonstrable ROI, don't we run the risk of further diminishing our often fragile credibility as a profession?As usual, Roger pushed the group to make sure we were considering the right question.
My mother used to tell me long ago that "Just because everyone else is doing it is not a good enough reason." And in this case, even that is not yet true.
This will probably bring the wrath of the gods down on me, but if I were the senior decision-maker, I'd want to see a solid business case specific to my organization."
There are surely many tactical issues to be considering when introducing social media to the "higher ups," and many tactical pitfalls when encouraging its use. But as Roger points out, if you don't know what problem you're trying to solve, the tactical issues are pretty irrelevant. Because no CEO worth his or her salt is going to approve an approach that is in search of a problem rather than the other way around.
So how do you determine the problem? Funny you should ask.
When I first came to Sun, I used my past experience to develop and articulate a way to develop true communication strategy. The tool, named the KAA Model (Knowledge, Attitude, Action) is an almost painfully simple way to keep the communication professional leading the discussion, not following. In its simplest form, you need to ask yourself a series of questions that will help you identify the gap between current state and desire future state. This is done before tools are selected.
Because while social networking is a revolutionary way to create different online behavior and true participation and exchange, you still need to know where you're going and how you'll know if you get there.
Look before you leap. Think before you recommend. Good mantras (trite because they're TRUE) to keep in mind regardless of how shiny the new toy is and how tempting it is to use...
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Oct 05 2009, 02:56:48 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
