“The media that is good at creating conversations, is no good at creating groups.  And the media that is good at creating conversations, is no good at creating groups” – Clay Shirky from TED@State

Thanks to Mitch Joel, I came across this great video from June 2009 where Clay Shirky shared the above quote.  Mitch was dead right when he said that the below is a must-watch video.

I find it hard to believe, but today marks the two year anniversary of Hard Knox Life. As I did last year, I wanted to mark the anniversary by recapping my favorite posts that I have written on the site. I decided to include a handful of posts that made the Year One list, as well as a couple of new ones.

1. A Brand Manager’s Call for Change: My riff on what Brand Manager’s need to do in order to be a Brand Leader in the 21st Century.
2. Now is the time to become a Marketing Technopologist: The term was originally coined by the Wall Street Journal but I have embraced it fully. Marketing Technopologists are people who combines the skills of marketer, technologist, and social anthropologist.
3. The new job of a Brand Manager is to facilitate conversations & community: Part of my series on Brand Manager 2.0, this posts talks about a change in who tells the brand story.
4. Start-ups need to invest in building brands, not just products: Based on the comments, I riled the feathers of some entrepreneurs who took offense to this post. I still stand by the importance of mapping out your brand by day one as you start a new business.
5. Lessons of the Square Watermelon: Probably my most successful post from Year 1, especially based on search traffic. Thanks to a plug from Guy Kawasaki and Marketing Profs, it’s had well over 25K views.
6. There is no better time to be a marketer: In the heart of the recession, MarketingProfs claimed that “its just not a fun time to be a marketer.” Of course, I had to give my take on why that thinking was just plain wrong.
7. What I believe in: My Personal Leadership Philosophy: The other post that search engines seem to love, this talks to how I approach my personal leadership philosophy in the business world. In 2009, it even had more views than the Square Watermelon post.
8. Even a Brand Manager needs their 10,000 hours of practice: Inspired by Bob Lefsetz and Malcolm Gladwell, this is all about what it takes to be your best.
9. Networking isn’t a dirty word: There are tons of interesting people doing interesting things out there. Are you the type of Brand Manager that sits in conference rooms all day or are you making it a point to get out there and find out what’s next in the world of marketing?
10. Don’t make the mistake of giving up the voice of the brand: With a little inspiration from Tom at Brand Camp, my take on how Brand Managers should navigate the world of Social Media.

The other day, Miles Nadal, Chairman and CEO of MDC Partners, shared this quote from David Ogilvy, which I promptly retweeted:

“Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.”

The quote really resonated with me because it is the type of gusto we don’t see all that often in business any more, especially in the world of Consumer Packaged Goods.  After all, when your sales are measured in $ Billions, Wall Street is going to reward you for consistency.

But with that said, I was still surprised by some of the responses that I received when I sent this retweet.  I heard from one colleague that “if you always swing for the fences, you’re going to lose a lot of games.”  And another said that in all but the rare situation, you should “bunt every time.”

So was Ogilvy wrong?

Should we stop aiming out of the ball park?  Should we stop competing to make every idea great?

When I was in the middle of writing this post, I came across an interesting take by Mark Suster at “Both Sides of the Table.”  Mark is writing a series of posts  on what makes an entrepreneur successful.  In this latest effort, he talks about the need for competitiveness.  As he puts it:

One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness.  I know I do.  I like to work with people who hate to lose.

I feel that is the same point Ogilvy was trying to get across.  From everything I have read, the man was ultra-competitive and his mind, if you weren’t swinging for the fences, you were destined to lose.

You see, it isn’t about the “act” of aiming out of the ball park, but instead the “intent” of aiming out of the ball park.  Your intent is to go for it, to “force your heart and nerve and sinew” into winning.

And that is where the baseball aficionados who responded to me on Twitter missed the boat.  Yes the act of aiming out of the park in baseball is going to cause you to strike out.  And there are plenty of times where a bunt is the right strategic move.  I am not going to deny that.

But for me, I want to surround myself with people who have the “intent” of aiming out of the ball park every time.  Business isn’t an easy game, so if you want to win, I think you need to have the intent to “aim for the company of immortals.”

Broadly speaking, the most difficult thing in business is trying to make a sale to another company.  This holds true whether this “sale” is an entrepreneur trying to raise capital, an agency pitching a new campaign idea or a start-up trying to get a brand to buy their platform.

But despite this being one of the toughest things in business, there are really only two approaches that companies use to make a deal happen.  Some take the approach of going straight to the top, only wanting to engage with a senior executive who has direct budget authority.  Others take the opposite approach, instead looking for someone that can become their advocate within the company.  Usually this advocate is a more junior employee, the person that influences the budget instead of controlling the budget.

Anyone that favors the first approach generally views the junior people at the company as unnecessary gate keepers.  But as Phin Barnes, a Principal at First Round Capital, points out, it might be natural to take this view, but it is also dangerous:

Non-partners on the investment team are friction in the system, but if we do our job well, we can be the friction that keeps you IN, rather than the force that keeps you out.

Phin makes a great case that entrepreneurs should take the second approach and view junior people at a VC as advocates and allies instead of gate keepers.   And I would echo that anyone looking to do business with a CPG company or brand should take the same approach.

After all, in the world of Brand Management, there is tremendous noise at the top levels of management.  You are talking about executives that oversee billions of dollars of sales and hundreds (if not thousands) of employees.  Their time is managed down to the minute and their inbox is filled with hundreds of messages.

In other words, good luck breaking through that clutter.

But you can break through the clutter with junior people such as myself.  When I was an Assistant Brand Manager, one of the first lessons my Marketing Director taught me  was that my job was to know the consumer better than anyone else.  She stressed that my job was to use that knowledge of the consumer as the foundation for our marketing plans.   As a result, the senior brand leaders trusted my judgment when I said a campaign idea wouldn’t resonate with the people we were trying to reach.  And they took notice when I advocated for us to try marketing in a new area that are consumers were using (think social networks back in 2005).

Good business leaders use the people working for them as filters to find the best ideas.  They trust their people to be specialists with deep knowledge of specific areas of responsibility.

It is a simple truth that holds true in both the venture capital and brand worlds.  Instead of fighting against the system, I believe there is real value in making the system work for you.  If you can find an advocate, they can help you make your proposition better.  And more importantly, they can give you – an outsider – an insider’s seat at the business table.

Over the course of the holidays, I am taking the opportunity to disconnect a bit and get a started on brainstorming for the New Year.  To help you do the same, I am sharing some of my favorite posts from the new eBook, “What Matters Now” that was compiled by Seth Godin.  You can download the eBook in its entirety here.

Productivity by Gina Trapani

Getting things done is not the same as making things happen.

You can…
…reply to email.
…pay the bills.
…cross off to-do’s.
…fulfill your obligation.
…repeat what you heard.
…go with the flow.
…anticipate roadblocks.
…aim for “good enough.”

Or you can…
…organize a community.
…take a risk.
…set ambitious goals.
…give more than you take.
…change perceptions.
…forge a new path.
…create possibility.
…demand excellence.

Don’t worry too much about getting things done.

Make things happen.

Gina Trapani blogs about software and productivity at Smarterware.  Her new book, The Complete Guide to Google Wave, is available to read online for free.