I’m spending a lot of time thinking about what makes up communities, social engagement and advocacy as a unified strategy.

This strategy will be powered by a vertically-integrated platform that helps engage and encourage a wide range of audiences that include customers, advertisers, employees and partners.

Humans want to connect with other humans in authentic conversations that help them succeed personally and professionally, not just receive republished marketing content or artificial support.

No Trolls Allowed

By far the greatest threat to communities facing the internet community. I have a solution. Discriminate against them. Lock them out. Don’t even create a place for them to exist in the ecosystem of communities.

By creating a channels, chat rooms, or platforms specifically designed for “colorful” conversations encourages the very thing we are trying to stamp out. It’s...

Having a great network is the difference between success and lonely Saturday nights. I’m going to share a couple of tips that I have learned over the years that keep my network as powerful as CTU’s.

Networking has been done very wrong for years. It’s not a ‘cool kids’ club as most have turned their contacts into. It’s actually much easier than that.

Fame doesn’t matter. People do.
Whenever you meet someone of note, make it count. Show them that you are interested in them as a person first, and as a contact second. At the core of networking is mutual respect. Get to know that person well, and they will return the favor .

Don’t wait. Get to the point.
The 1 mistake people make in networking is failing to quickly identify what they actually want their new special contact to do. Don’t waste another email. “Maybe…. If you could….Not now, but soon…..Hey, I was wondering” are the kiss of...

Have you ever felt validated?

Maybe you won an argument, recalled an obscure fact, or simply felt like you were smarter than your peers because you scored an A+ on your last exam. Validation is great…for yourself. But rarely does being validated have a positive effect on groups of other people.

Sure you feel awesome, high-fives all around. But what can other people do with your validated thought? Not much.

However, if you change your personal validation into a team-driven expression of progression or creativity, you create something much more powerful.

Influence

Changing the behaviors, speech, and emotions of others is far more valuable than validating your own thoughts. It is essential to validate assumptions before digging in on an idea. That’s true in most cases. There are sometimes when you need global buy-in to your assumption that takes you past validation to the targeted...