Simple Creativity

August 15, 2011 in Creativity - 2 Comments

Two weeks ago while I was down in Texas I had the opportunity to visit a church called Gateway Austin. They were starting a new series called Outed: The Secrete Lives of Almost Everybody. (Great title by the way) The day I was there they were talking about hidden sexual sins and used the story of David & Bathsheba to tell it.

Now, for those of us that grew up in Church, we’ve heard this story many, many, many times. It’s a classic. For people outside of the Church, they may not know it and hear it and think, “This is in the Bible?”.

So, instead of Gateway just reading the passage then giving a sermon they used this very simple creative element to capture the tension and heaviness of what David did. Check it out below.

So, what about this simple element is so powerful? It’s a chill, laid back song and lyrics on a screen. When it got done I felt like I had been transported somewhere and experienced something new.

What do you think? Do you experience something similar from just watching the video? What was sacred about this moment?

Conference Roundup – Echo 11

August 8, 2011 in Creativity, Social Media - 3 Comments

Two weeks ago I had the chance to head to Dallas and be apart of a few great opportunities. I wanted to share a few of my thoughts or take-aways from that week. There’s much to share but I’ll keep it to just a few things you need to know.

The first event was a Church Communicators Roundtable that MonkDev hosted. I’ve never really been apart of anything quite like this. First, it was an honor when I was called and asked to join them, secondly it was humbling to be apart of a group with so many people who are doing great things in their churches. Here are a few takeaways from that day with this group.

  • If you ever have the opportunity to be apart of a legit roundtable like this, DO IT! Just being able to network with the other people like you who will be there is worth it.
  • We talked about how we can go beyond just communicating and moving to influence. This was an incredible discussion. Things we discussed were, “less is more”, “show value”, and lots of discussion around the idea of “story”.
  • When you get around people who are similar to you, have the same passions, or are just great people, you can’t help but be inspired. After just a few hours with the people at this round table, I walked away inspired. Which was something I really needed right now!

Thanks to Justin Wise and MonkDev for this great experience!

The second thing I was able to attend was the Echo Conference.

This was three days of hanging with designers, videographers, internet nerds, and creatives from all over the country. Our goal, to be able to continue influencing through the creative media we use. To be able to tell the story of God’s love for us and how our lives have been changed. Again, so many things I can share, but here are a few.

  • “Everything should have a process.” – Ben Jordan I know this might make some people feel uncomfortable, but it was a great reminder. To get things done, you need a process. If you have one, you will always bring it.
  • “There is no creative class” – Carlos Whittaker Carlos did a great session on creativity. His first point which stuck out to me was that there is no creative class, only the human class. As humans we are all creative. We just bring it in different ways. So, next time you think you “aren’t creative”, there’s no excuse.
  • “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle” – Jon Acuff If you are starting out towards a dream or goal, don’t play the comparison game. No one wins. I wrote more about Jon’s talk here.
  • Justin Wise has more social media engagement stats then I can shake a stick at. Check out his notes from his presentation here.
  • Andy Crouch gave the best talk on story that I’ve probably ever heard. Wish I could download the session into your mind.
  • Bryan Allain did a session on why the world needs your blog. After sitting through his session, and knowing he lives just 45minutes down the road from me, I don’t know why I’m not trying to hang out with him more. Check out his new startup Blog Rocket.
  • Scott Belsky made productivity look sexy. It’s also making me rethink the way I work.
  • And, Kem Meyer gave a great session on leading change and influencing within your organization.

Phew! That was a lot. And it’s just scratching the surface. Here’s what I hope to share with you in this post. I obviously can’t write everything down (nor do I want to) but I can share with you a few snippets of what I learned. My hope is that you’ll check out the links for at least one of these people and look into what they have to say.

I know it’s taken me a week or so now to process some of this stuff. How do you process after a conference or great learning opportunity? Do you share the knowledge with everyone or just chew on it for a while? I’d love to hear!

Best Practices: Facebook Pages Pt.1

August 2, 2011 in Best Practices, Social Media - 4 Comments

Here’s the next installment of the Best Practices blog series. I figured I would try to tackle a big one! Facebook Pages.

I’ll start with this reminder. What I’ll share are what I’ve found to be the best practices in my experience. There are very many different opinions on how to run a Facebook Page, and I hope that you’ll share yours at the end of the post!

For part 1 I’ll have us look at some good tips for setting up your Facebook page.

1) Create a Page: If you are a church or non-profit looking to start a page the first thing you need to find is the “create a page” link. For some reason Facebook doesn’t put it where you’d think, but they put it at the bottom of the page. To get started, click that link!


2) Page Name: As you go through the set-up process of the page there will be a number of things to fill out. There’s one that you don’t want to mess up. The name of the page! Here’s why, after you get so many “Likes” on your page you won’t be able to change your name. This is an annoying feature. For example, one of the pages I help run changed the way it’s described itself a few years ago from “young adults” to “2osomethings”. Because of this feature I wasn’t able to take the Young Adult part our of our name out. Frustrating. So take the time to think through how you want your page named. Make sure it’s consistent with the rest of the branding for your organization.

3) Wall Tab & Default Page: Another option you have is to set the default landing page. When you are first launching a page, you probably want this to be set to “Wall”. The time you would change this is if you build a custom landing page for when people first come to your FB Page. Check out this example of a great custom FB Page. Once you set your default page then make sure you have your Wall Tab preference set to “All Posts”. If you don’t do this and someone shows up at your page they just won’t see updates from other people, they will only see the posts from your page. Some people like this, I really don’t. I love being able to see posts from other people and what they are asking/writing on your organizations wall. This is all about the conversation right?

4) Username: Once you get 25 “Likes” on your page there is a new setting made available to you. You can set a unique username for your account. Basically all this does is create a unique url for you to share with those you want on your page. So, instead of your url being www.facebook.com/pages/YourPageName/1234567898765432?sk=wall your url would be www.facebook.com/YourUserName. That’s a lot easier to share! So once you have 25 likes find that setting under basic information.

5) Your Settings: The next two things to check out are more preference based. There are two options under the “Your Settings” part of the page. The first lets you choose how your posts will show up on your page. The default is for your posts to always show up as your FB Page posts, but you can set it up to show as your personal profile. If you are the main person posting on your page, you probably want to keep this checked. The second option is notifications. What this does is notify you anytime someone comments or posts on your page wall. This is a good thing to know! The problem is that it sends it to whatever email you have linked to your personal profile. For me, that’s a personal email. I’d rather these notifications go to my work email. I actually turn this option off and use a service called Hyper Alerts. I like using that service because you can customize what you are notified about and when you are notified.

In effort to keep this post shorter we’ll stop there this time. This is enough to get you on the right step in setting up a Facebook Page. In part 2 we’ll look at setting up Admins and best practices for posting content. Obviously reading about setting up a page can be a little mundane but for some it can be overwhelming! I hope this quick run through is a help for some.

If anyone has other tips in setting up a page I’d love to hear from you. Let us know below how you like setting up a page.

Learning While You Lead

July 25, 2011 in Leadership - 3 Comments

Image by Mark Brannan

When you are in a position of leadership there are certain responsibilities you have. They may include any set of job specific responsibilities, taking care of a team or individuals you lead, and continued learning. Usually, when we come into leadership roles it’s not because we got lucky or worked the system. If you are truly leading in an area and influencing people and a direction of an organization, it’s because you did all the hard work to get there. A lot of times that means you did a lot of learning.

As a leader it’s essential that we continue learning.

What does learning do for a leader? Keeps them fresh! It keeps their mind sharp and helps them to continue to hone in on their vision of where they are leading people. There are so many benefits of continued learning that it might be worth taking another blog post to write them out.

For now, I just want to give three ways to keep learning.

1) Read. This is a pretty simple idea but sometimes it is lost among the busyness of our hectic schedules. Here’s the thing. Just don’t read leadership books or books just pertaining to your “occupation”. Sometimes we need to get out of our circle and read things that are different, because you never know when you might come across something that takes you to the next level. This includes reading a good fiction book every now and then! Here are a few that I’ve recently read that I really was challenged by. Everyone Communicates, Few Connect – John Maxwell, Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey, The Silver Chair – C.S. Lewis. Books I’m currently reading or are next up on the list: Socialnomics - Erick Qualman, The Smashing Book 2 - Smashing Magazine, Rework - Jason Fried & David Hansson.

2) Connect. Learn how to connect with other leaders. This is essential. Leaders + Leaders = explosive things can happen. “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” – Proverbs 27:17 (NLT). It’s almost like a law of the universe. The only reason I believe in this idea of connecting so much is because of the difference I’ve seen it’s made in my own life. I’ve been challenged to connect with people who I want to be like or be able to lead in areas that they are in.

3) Go. Go may not be the best word to describe this last one but I’ll do my best painting the picture for it. Go and get away. Here are two places I’d encourage you to get away to. Some type of leadership conference that will challenge you, and vacation. These two places to go will help pull you out of your current environment for a short time and help you refocus. First, going to a leadership conference can help you connect with other leaders but also gives you the opportunity to learn under some people you may never connect with personally. Usually you also have to leave your current context to go to something like this. A few days out of the office can help you refocus your mind and what you are working on. It may even help you look at a problem differently. Secondly, if you never take a break, you will break. And it won’t be pretty. It’s not natural for us to be constantly working and producing. Our bodies and minds are meant to rest. Take the time and do that. Get away for a week. Unplug from the computer for a weekend.

These are just three ways to continue to learn. In different ways they help engage our minds as leaders. Over the next couple weeks I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to practice all three of these things. On conference I’ll be attending is the Global Leadership Summit. If you have the opportunity, try and find one of the locations this is happening and go. I highly recomend it!

So, what are ways that you stay fresh as a leader? What are you reading right now?What’s your next conference that you would do anything to get to?

Apps – Do They Make You Or Break You?

July 18, 2011 in Creativity, Leadership, Social Media - 15 Comments

Last week I blogged about some of the tools I used to be able to go on vacation. It made me start to think about my iPhone/iPad/computer and how I use them. I realized that the tools we have today are incredible. Four years ago no one had any idea what an iPhone was, and no matter what side of the iOS/Android debate you are on, the iPhone has changed a lot. So, I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the Apps I use the most. This may seem a little bit of a stray from my usual topics, but I believe the apps you choose to use can make or break you when it comes to Leadership, Creativity, and Social Media. Let’s dive in.

Current Homescreen

This is my current homescreen. It’s a little disorganized right now but I’m slowly weening down on what I need on that front page. What I’d like to do is break down the Apps in categories.

Obviously, I have my four main communication apps docked at the bottom of my screen. Phone, Messages, Mail, and Echofon. Echofon is a Twitter client I use. Some other great Twitter clients are the Twitter app and Tweetbot. Having a great Twitter app I believe is very important to engage well on the platform. I like something that will notify me of DM’s and @ replies. The great thing with Echofon is it syncs with it’s desktop companion.

Continuing on with the social apps: Facebook, Foursquare, and HootSuite. Facebook is a no brainer if you have an account with them, though I still prefer the web interface. Foursquare is a location based check-in app/service. I think it’s fun to use to get tips on local restaurants and specials. For example, use this app to check-in to Chili’s and you get FREE chips and salsa! Booya! I won’t say much about HootSuite since I blogged about it last week. I use this app for only the social work accounts I oversee.

Now, my utilities folder. There are some goodies in here! I’ll list them out and give a little info on each.

  • Evernote – If you ever have creative ideas or things you want to remember, use this app. I could do a whole blog post on Evernote.
  • Dropbox – If you don’t know what Dropbox is click this link here and sign up and thank me later. Oh yeah, it’s free too!
  • 1Password – 1 Password to rule them all. Keeps all my passwords synced up with any web browser.
  • Gashog – Helps me keep track of my gas milage on my truck. I know, I’m geeky like that.
  • Calcbot – Best calculator app out there.
  • Flashlight – Turns your iPhone into a flashlight, even better with the iPhone 4 LED!
  • Paperlinks – Best QR code reader that I’ve found.
  • HeyTell – This app is like a walkie talkie app for your iPhone. Not sure how to better explain it other then just try it out!
  • Notes – Notes is my go to “I need to right something completely random down and find it later” app. It’s a little redundant with Evernote but I seriously put the most random things in it.

That is a very quick run-through on my most used apps on my phone. The cool thing is a lot of these apps are available on Android too!

I’d love to hear from you, what apps do you use the most on your phone? Let me ask it this way, what app could you not live without?

Tools to Vacation With

July 11, 2011 in Social Media - 1 Comment

This past week I had the opportunity to vacation with my wife’s family and get away for a while. It was one of the most refreshing times away I’ve had in a long time, and it was much needed. But, you know how it is going on vacation. You always have to work twice as hard the week before or the week after to make up for the “lost” time.

This year was the first time I vacationed while being in charge of multiple social platforms for the organization I work for. Obviously you just can’t let a Facebook page or Twitter account go unattended for a week and hope to pick up the pieces when you get back. I thought I’d share some of the tools I used while I was gone so that the social media properties I oversee kept going strong. Hopefully, if you are a part of a non-profit or church some of these tools can be useful for you too! Possibly even in your daily workflow.

1) Team – The first thing that helped me get away was to have a team setup. The past two months I’ve been working on putting a team together to help manage our Facebook Page and eventually help with Twitter too. What is great is that there are so many staff members already engaged on these platforms that there were some logical picks on who to ask when helping with this. Starting small is key. Here’s what important about a good team. Invest in them. Give them examples in how the “organization” responds to things online. Just because someone is on Facebook doesn’t make them a pro. Help them understand how to use these social tools well!

2) Hootsuite - We just recently started using Hootsuite. It’s really the best in its price range. I really prefer CoTweet over Hootsuite but CoTweet is just way to expensive to be using at a non-profit right now. If you are looking for a solid, team based, social platform tool check Hootsuite out. Here’s what’s great about it. You can link all of you accounts together then share them with a team. Essentially this allows you to hand the keys over to team members to respond on behalf of the organization without giving them the admin keys to the page. The other major thing I was able to do with Hootsuite was schedule posts for the week. This was key. The week before vacation I was able to plan ahead and schedule multiple posts to go out throughout the week while I was gone. BOOM! This was nice for my team then who didn’t have to worry about creating content and were just able to focus on people’s questions, concerns, or comments.

3) Hyper Alerts - Hyper alerts will send you notifications when you get comments or new posts on your Facebook page(s). What’s cool about it is that you can get alerts for any page, not just your own. I always have these alerts set up for myself, but I was able to get my team to set them up while I was gone. That way the team members didn’t have to always be checking the page but could be alerted when someone posted something. It helps save some time while they are focusing on their main job responsibilities. What’s nice then, is I can come back and go through my email and catch up on what happened during the time I was gone.

These are just three tools that were extremely helpful for me to get away last week. I know there are so many more out there too! How about you? Have you ever used any tools like this? How have they helped? How about for every day workflow stuff?

(Image by: Chewy Hooey)

Creativity = Copying

July 4, 2011 in Creativity - 4 Comments

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed the other day and saw Carlos Whittaker tweet this. He was saying how truly creative people copy. I saw a few interesting interactions in regards to the tweet but it got me thinking.

Then a few days later I came across the video below. Which is part 3 of a 4 part video series on creativity called “Everything is a Remix”. I blogged about part 2 here and you can watch part 1 here.

Check out the video below and catch my thoughts on the other side.

Here are a few of the thoughts that stand out to me.

- Creativity comes from “applying ordinary tools of thought to existing materials.”

- “We can’t introduce anything new until we are fluent in the language of our domain.”

- “The most dramatic results can happen when ideas are combined.”

- Three elements of creativity are Copy, Transform, Combine.

I don’t know about you but I find this video very inspring but also very challenging! What is my fluent domain? Who am I copying? Whose ideas am I combining with? All questions I start asking when I watch this.

What about you? Do you agree with the premiss of copying? I’m looking forward to the 4th video that looks into the ethical & legal issues of copying leading to creativity.

What have you copied that has led to a great idea?

P.S. – Happy 4th of July!!!

A Leadership Legacy

June 27, 2011 in Leadership - 2 Comments

A couple weeks ago I was hanging out with a group of people who were talking about their current leader who they just found out was going to be leaving. After blogging a few weeks ago about Leading to Last I thought this would be a great follow up to that post. It’s cool to see a leader who has lived out some important principles.

While sitting there listening to this team describe their leader there were three themes that kept coming up that they believed and that they had heard said of this leader.

1) This leader was Visionary. This leader had led their organization in some unique ways drawing together teams that might not always see eye-to-eye and help them be on the same page together. This leader was able to rally a large group of employees and “customers” around this vision on where the organization was going. Not everyone agreed necessarily but they were willing to follow and try it out.

2) This leader was Inspiring. People felt inspired and important when around this leader. The few times I was around this leader I felt that way. Employees felt like they could deal with big hurdles because this Leader was inspiring and believed in them. Part of the reason the inspiration was there was because this leader was great at connecting with people. Because of the connection employees and clients were inspired to great things.

3) This leader had assembled a Great Team. Usually when a leader leaves an organization or company there can be a void that needs to be filled. Sometimes this affects how the organization is working and moving. What was cool to hear about this leader is how everyone said, while they will miss her, she has done a great job at assembling a diverse team that will continue out the vision and mission of this organization. Sure, there will be bumps but it won’t fall apart.

As I was thinking through these three descriptions, I thought what great things to work towards as a leader. Although, part of me feels that these three things might not have been this leader’s main focus. Yeah, everyone wants to be visionary, inspiring, and have a great team around them, but I really think this leader led with an others first mindset. You don’t leave a leadership legacy like this with out being focused on others and connecting with them.

Thoughts? What other’s focused leaders have you encountered and what kind of impact have they left on you?

(Image by: Arash Ashkar)

3 Things My Dad Taught Me About Social Media

June 20, 2011 in Social Media - 0 Comments

Growing up my Dad has always worked for the same company. He’s worked in the Ag business doing sales for around 30 years. That’s a long time! When we were younger sometimes my brothers and I would get to go on calls with him where he’d go meet with farmers about what they were doing and look at options for feed and other products. As we got older that obviously didn’t happen as much but we still had conversations about his job and the types of interactions he had. Today, I believe a lot of what I learned and understand about social web interaction I learned from my dad. I thought sharing these three things would be great reminders on how to engage people well online but also a great way to say happy Father’s Day to my Dad. (even though it’s the day after)

  1. Relationships – One of the first things I noticed about my Dad’s job is the relationships he has to build. He often has to drive down a farmer’s lane and try to get him to buy some feed. Now, you just don’t do that the first time you meet someone. You have to build a relationship with them. Also, you aren’t just building a relationship to make money, but to help someone out. I feel like the relationships my Dad has with his customers aren’t just built on business. I would venture to say that some of them look at my Dad as a friend or someone to go to for advice. No one likes the sales guy that is using the relationship to make a sale. Most people like the person that builds a relationship with you, interacts with you, cares about what you’re interested in, and wants to help you out.
  2. Listening – When it comes to sales (and social media stuff) listening is key. If you never listen to what your customer/client is saying, you’ll never know what they need. Plain and simple. You can’t have the previous point (relationship) without listening. Who wants to buy something from someone that all they talk about is the product they are trying to sell and never take the time to hear what you actually need as a customer. My Dad does this exceptionally well. He knows what his customers need. Sometimes he even knows what they need even if the customer don’t actually know. That happens because he listens to what they are dealing with and knows how to help them out.
  3. Clear Communication – If you don’t have clear communication you might as well just stop where you are at. My dad is usually a middle man between the customers and feed mills that supply the feed to the customers. Because of this he has to communicate clearly the expectations from customer to those providing the service. He also has to clearly communicate what his product is capable of and how it can help their output. If you don’t do this well customers will think you aren’t living up to your word. Or they may think you were just trying to get a sale and you just said what they wanted to hear to get that sale. We need to be clear in our communication so that those we are working with understand what to expect and what they are getting.

These are just three simple things I picked up from my Dad. These three simple things are essentials when it comes to engaging people in online social environments. If you are a church or a non-profit you need to listen, build relationships, and have clear communication. It may seem like a very simple thing but I’ve seen one to many not follow them and subsequently get “un-followed” because of it.

Thanks Dad for leading well and teaching me a few things that have helped me along the way!

Lead to Last

June 13, 2011 in Leadership - 7 Comments

Not to long ago I came across this article explaining how Steve Jobs is implementing a leadership program in Apple called Apple University. Steve Jobs, recognizing that his time with Apple is getting shorter, wants to make sure that his style of doing things and maybe even ways of thinking continue on in Apple’s future.

This is very smart.

When you look at something that you’ve created you want to make sure that the vision for it continues even after you are gone. In this example, Jobs is wanting Apple to continue to make revolutionary software and devices that focus on simple user experience, and in his words, they just work. If you really care about something, this should be a value of what you are doing. This doesn’t necessarily mean things will always work the same but it does mean that the vision for the company/organization/ministry/project continues.

Here is where I would do things different from Jobs. This article was written in May so I’m assuming this is a newer project they are implementing at Apple. If you are wanting to leave a lasting impression after you are gone, then you need to be doing this investing into leaders from day one. Maybe Jobs has been doing that, maybe not. Either way I believe this is the best way to do it.

Think about the impact you can have on a future leaders life if you are bringing them along now as they get the inside look on the decisions you make. That experience goes way further then any leadership course. Learning on the job with the leader is invaluable.

I know that it’s not always easy. I know that you have to find that person to invest in. But, if you want to make a difference in the long run you need to lead to last.

Personally, I’ve been experiencing this first hand over the past year. It’s been a blessing. So, how about you? Who are you bringing along now that will help continue on the work that you are doing?

Have you seen any practical examples of this?

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