Chatting over breakfast the other day at Il Fornaio with Nilofer Merchant, whose book The New How, Building Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy I discussed in a former post, I realized that a “new how” often starts with a “new me.” This “new me” can be triggered by unforeseen events – events that can either traumatize and send us into dispiriting limbos or, instead, move us forward. The latter definitely illustrates the early life of Nilofer. A Muslim girl born in Mumbai who followed her mother to the United States when she was five, she was culturally destined to become the lovely wife of (preferably) a rich man.

The tale of two worlds: Nilofer’s mother came to the Silicon Valley after she divorced her husband in India. In order to make a living to support her children, she decided get a degree in respiratory therapy. Nilofer saw her mother become a student – a great role model in a way. Yet, it’s a case when role modeling doesn’t necessarily mean that much. Nilofer’s mother worked out of necessity and not for self-development or accomplishment. In other words, she stuck to the culture in which she was born; as a result, she did not inspire her own daughter the way she intended, and the relationship between mother and daughter turned into a dialogue between the deaf when the time came of discussing the terms of Nilofer’s arranged marriage.

Nilofer had graduated from high school and just started Community College. She did not have an issue with the arranged marriage itself, and she had no interest in a cultural rebellion. “I knew,” she says, “that it was my responsibility to accept an arranged marriage. My mother had made many hard decisions to raise us. I always felt a combination of debt and gratitude, and my assigned cultural role was to get married in such a way that it would dowry-wise take care of my mother.” So what went wrong? One day, Nilofer, coming back from school, found her entire family (uncles, aunts, and cousins) in the midst of a sort of pre-Nikah party celebrating the fact that a contract for the arranged marriage had been completed. Everything would have been fine, except that when Nilofer asked her uncle if the contract arranged for college for her, he responded that her mother didn’t want to put the topic on the table. Being raised in the US, Nilofer asked to simply add this clause in the contract. Her mother wouldn’t allow it. After a few days of fighting, Nilofer realized that her threat of leaving the house wouldn’t sway her mother. So, she packed books and clothes in boxes and moved away — and was disowned: ” I no longer had a family;  I no longer had a culture. I no longer had a community,” Nilofer says.

Alea jacta est (The die has been cast): Such a defining moment comes by chance or mishap. It’s an inflection point on the road of your personal history, a sudden discovery that shatters your world and creates the acute sense that you must act quickly. Had Nilofer ever dreamed of moving out and settling into the tiny space she was given as student body treasurer? Obviously not: but she recognized that, while her mother had power because she owned her community, she herself had the power to negotiate because she was a valuable commodity. She saw two choices ahead of her that had never materialized before – one safe, the other unknown – and chose the uncharted road. In that act, she unwound her personal destiny from her cultural and family identities, and placed it into her own hands.

For Nilofer, reinventing herself was not so much an act of mutiny or even of provocation (in fact she was sure that her mother would change her mind) – as it was the instinctive acknowledgement that the world exists beyond one’s doorstep. Nilofer worked her way through college for ten years, landing jobs at Apple, GoLive Systems, and Autodesk. I found interesting that, as soon as she completed her MBA, she named her consulting firm Rubicon Consulting (a company she ran successfully for ten years). She is now onto her new venture, also quite significantly branded: Innovative Cultures & Kicking Ass.

Note: This book will be published in French by Diateino in January 2011. As a reminder, Diateino is also the French publisher of Seth Godin’s and Guy Kawasaki’s most recent books. To read my French version of this preface, please go to the Diateino blog.

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I’m a cartoonist – This is how Hugh MacLeod introduces himself on his blog, www.gapingvoid.com.

In France, the word “cartoonist” generally refers to the creators of American animated cartoons. In English, the term applies to any person who draws cartoons in a variety of formats — such as editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, or animation. The word comes from the Italian “cartone” that started to designate preliminary drawings and sketches for paintings, stained glass windows, and tapestries early in the sixteenth century. Even though the Webster reports that the first known use of “cartoon” in English dates back to 1671, Punch Magazine is the publication that gave the word its modern meaning in 1843 by labeling one of its illustrations, “Cartoon, No.1: Substance and Shadow,” a satirical drawing where caricaturist John Leech (1817-1864) was deriding the preliminary drawings of the paintings that were to decorate the Houses of Parliament under reconstruction because of the 1834 fire. From then on, “cartoons” started to brand humorous drawings that often had social and political undertones. During the same period, France also has its “cartoonists”, of course, such as J.J. Grandville, Honoré Daumier, or Charles Philipon; however the French press never went into a similar intensive marketing of cartoons as its Anglo-Saxon counterpart did. As indicated by Jean-Paul Gabilliet, one of the rare French specialists of American cartoons, “the democratic mythologizing of press illustrations in France only happened in the nineteenth century and faded after WWI, with images being treated as a mere additive to writings.” Nonetheless, Gabilliet does not fail to mention contemporary notable exceptions, such as Cabu or Pétillon.

A cartoonist, a writer, an entrepreneur, whatever! A creative mind…

Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist in the pure sense of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. He is a writer: this is clear from his book’s climb onto the Wall Street Journal’s Best Sellers list. He is an entrepreneur: in 2006 he became the CEO of Stormhoek USA that markets South-African wines in the United States. He worked in advertising intermittently until 2004, starting right after college, needing a job to pay for his bills.  All such activities anchor him in what he calls “the real world,” as he deems living as an “artist” to be too unpredictable.  Is this too much of a compromise when you are an artist? It’s a matter of vantage point. In fact, it’s by securing a revenue stream that MacLeod was able to do what he wanted to do as an artist – and ultimately without compromising. “The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do from what you are not. It is this red line that demarcates your sovereignty; that defines your own private creative domain.”

In this book, which reads like an autobiographic essay, Hugh MacLeod shares his experience and his perspective. Whether you are an artist or an entrepreneur, your personal obligation is to protect your freedom and your sovereignty: this is what will enable you to constantly more forward, pushing you to innovate as well as find the self-sufficiency that frees you from the tyranny of others — friends who see you a certain way, always the same over the years, or colleagues who box you in categories based on what is professionally convenient to them or on what fits with the stereotypes with which they comply. So, if you are an artist, don’t get trapped into the romantic clichés of the misunderstood genius ready to starve for the sake of Art; if you are an entrepreneur, keep away from buzzwords and sing in your own voice. Your goal is certainly to be recognized, but your chances of succeeding are higher if you accept solitude and beaver away. Yes, “Ignore everybody, but also “Just shut the hell up and get on with it. Time waits for no one.”

For MacLeod, success didn’t come overnight. He crafted it. It’s a success earned through work, patience, and his ability to leverage the platform of expression that the Web offers. MacLeod could have waited to be recognized through traditional means. Instead, he chose to create his luck. His free spirit made him choose self-publication in his own “magazine,” his blog. Hugh Macleod is a cartoonist, yes, but on his own terms, and on a ubiquitous tribune.

An artist…

Ignore Everybody contains two books in one. It’s a text, of course. But it’s also a collection of cartoons to be appreciated separately, that tell a slightly different story even as they illustrate the narrative. They display a whole different dynamics, capturing the precariousness of ideas, feelings and impressions, as well as the fleetingness of viewpoints: “One of the reasons I got into drawing cartoons on the back of business cards was that I could carry them around with me (…) So if I was walking down the street and I suddenly got hit with the itch to draw something, I could just nip over to the nearest park bench or coffee shop, pull out a blank card from my bag and get busy doing my thing. Seamless. Effortless. No fuss. I like it. Before, when I was doing larger works, every time I got an idea while walking down the street I’d have to quit what I was doing and schlep back to my studio while the inspiration was still buzzing around in my head. Nine times out of ten the inspired moment would have passed by the time I got back.”

These cartoons are a world in and of themselves. While the text of the book sometimes gives the impression that words thwart the communication of the message, the vignettes express the moment with vividness and perceptiveness, instantly revealing how MacLeod sees the world around him, be it personal or professional, what he likes as well as what he detests, humorously or ironically, yet almost always with an iconoclast and libertarian resonance. While the book compulsively hammers how urgent it is to resurrect in oneself personal leadership and creative energy free from constraints and conventions, the drawings accurately reflect that impulse, as does the laconic style of the comments that accompany them. MacLeod’s drawings have something of a Lettrist Hypergraphy manner à la Isidore Isou and a situationist energy à la Guy Debord. The cartoons of Ignore Everybody, as well as some if his drawings for a number of books, such as Seth Godin’s Linchpin, Nilofer Merchant’s The New How, or Barrie Hopson’s and Katie Ledger’s And What Do You Do?: 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career carry the same clear message: Get away from what Guy Debord called “The Society of the Spectacle”, take charge of your own destiny, be constructive and innovate: “The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.”

… Or follow a great tradition by making it yours and enriching it with your own idioms, as is the case for MacLeod. He calls himself a Texan, but his father is Scottish, and he has spent part of his life in Great Britain. As a matter of fact, there is something quite European about his style. At times, you will think of Paul Klee’s pencil strokes, of entanglements in the style of Hundertwasser, of postures à la Ronald Searle, or of proliferations like Sempé (for whom “nothing is simple” and “everything gets complicated”). At times, the metal-wire-like lines surmounted with a black ball, a while circle, or a spiral may remind you of the tension, attraction and repulsion effects of some of Alexander Calder’s mobiles. In all cases, though, you will still discover a very personal style and, on the minuscule area of a business card, the large space of the experiences and fancies of an artist, expressed with the insolence and the cynical benevolence of the best cartoonists in history.

Tom Foremski, the editor/publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher, has been reporting on the business of Silicon Valley for US and global newspapers and magazines since 1984 and focuses on an important topic: Why “Every Company Needs To Become A Media Company.” To use his striking summary, “EC=MC is the the transformative equation for business.” Hard to disagree! Traditional media is in jeopardy and companies will have to control their own future by setting up their own communication channels and a consistent social media strategy. Podcasts, videos, blogging, and micro-blogging are inexpensive means by which companies can get their messages out. But how will you rise above the noise? Creating a media department and selecting social media management systems (SMMS) are important first steps, but they are not sufficient by themselves. The key questions for companies will be: what message(s) do we want to communicate and who will be empowered to create these messages? 

Theses questions are at the forefront of a few forward-thinking companies, and some of them have created extensive guidelines and digital IQ Programs. A great example of this is Intel, whose initiatives are very well described in Engage!, a recent book by Brian Solis. The reason for the success of the Intel program is a strong company culture, a long tradition of employee empowerment, and a strong network of satisfied users, developers, and customers. In other words, Intel did not just take on the opportunity of the social media trend overnight while starting from nowhere.

There is still a premium granted to early adopters of social media, and many companies still benefit from the additional publicity provided to them by social media gurus, analysts or paid digital ambassadors echoing their initiatives (basically like the press used to). However, the future will be far more complex. To rise above the noise – and get to be heard of the public – companies will not simply have to be fluent in social media, they will have to work hard at ensuring that what they say is synched with what they are, and that what comes across above the surface is consistent with lies underneath. The public, i.e. an enormous mass of individuals, will become the actual umpires of the game. As a result, a social media strategy compels companies to address the following:

1) Company Values. What messages does the company want to convey? Does its vision inspire and energize all the employees? Followers are not going to repeat marketing slogans just because they were cooked in a social media department. Followers want to relate to the people they follow – if not, they are passive followers of no bigger interest than all the names that already sit in corporate databases. If you mean nothing to people, people turn to your competitors.

2) Employee Empowerment. Today, you may have 15 or 20 people tweeting in your social media department. That’s fine. Yet, any solid marketing starts from within. The real scalability of social media departments requires that they ensure that employees from all departments are capable of representing the company meaningfully. This entails a whole different way of hiring people, training new employees, checking or building up their writing skills. Remember, engineers with a passion for what they do are ten times more eloquent (and more credible) than marketing folks (who usually can’t even demo what they talk about).

3) Customer Evangelists. It’s fine to pay digital ambassadors. It’s finer to see happy customers rave about your fabulous products and services. They speak about you truthfully. They want to share their experience. They are the most effective marketers you will ever have. So make sure that you know and pamper them! You will learn from them – and be able to readjust your messages based on what they say. Ergo: Retweet your customers instead of simply expecting to be retweeted by them. And, incidentally if, as a business, the number of people you follow is far below the number of people who follow you, you have it all wrong. Customers are your real amplifiers: nothing and nobody else.

Keep measuring the results of your end-to-end social media management process. The most comprehensive platform today (disclosure: I am also a Board Member) is Objective Marketer. Listening to customers is more than listening, it’s the art of continuously improving communication between the inside of the company and the outside world by not only managing and producing messages, but by also orchestrating the voices of others and increasing their reach. Build up an army of amplifiers – and not simply a retinue of followers and influencers.

Note: The notion of Company Culture and Employee Empowerment sounds kind of boring these days. Yet, you can’t be an effective Social Media Manager in the long run if you don’t dive into these areas seriously. I know, books on the topic are rarely exciting, but there are a few notable exceptions, such as the The New How, Building Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy by Nilofer Merchant. I wrote a post about it last December.

Most strategies are doomed to fail from the start because of how they were formed. They are positioned as visions disconnected from implementation considerations – and therefore foster adhoc measures and improvisation. By erring on the side of the “vision,” modern “strategists” have moved away from what military leaders of the past (no way to avoid the etymology of “strategy”) never failed to take into account: building a strategy is all about coordinating soldiers/teams that are fully committed and responsible, interrelating actions and operations as well as anticipating potential problems and making adjustments – and “All this needs to happen before execution,” Nilofer emphasizes. That’s what strategy creation means, regardless of the domain. While Nilofer keeps away from any military analogy (always hastily associated with an antiquated “command and control” organizational schema), she still offers a revealing definition of the word strategy: ” simply put,” she writes, “a strategy is a way to win.” 

The book shows how to rebuild and realign the connective pieces and synergies that drive successful businesses, i.e.:

• How people can engage with one another and create value together.
• How collaborative planning must rely on an efficient framework.
• How small acts rather than big announcements transform company cultures for the best.

“Incorporating collaboration into the company’s dynamic” is not a pompous motto that comes from the top and fades away as you get lower into the hierarchy, but each employee’s personal responsibility: “Think about your work not in terms of what you do, but in terms of the role you play. Your role is not just your title, but includes sets of behaviors, tools, and approaches to create value for and with your organization.” By becoming aware of their roles, people are able to create strategies collaboratively and move faster towards creating meaningful business solutions and improving business performance. The  book provides a detailed methodology for collaborative efficiency, the Collaborative strategy process framework, with a thorough description of each of the phases and practical recommendations within each phase. Beware the politically correct kumbayas, and learn about Nilofer’s colorful phrases such as “MurderBoarding,” i.e. “the art of killing off even worthy ideas,” for It’s not just the weak ideas that get killed; good options or ideas at the wrong time also need to go.”

Each page has a show and tell feel that will prod you to want to enact the “new how” and evolve. You may be inclined to brag about your innumerable “personal accomplishments.” But are you really a leader, able to “facilitate as much as you decide, catalyze as much as you act, and coach as much as you direct?” Maybe not… This book explains how you can transform yourself into a collaborative leader capable of making things happen within your organization. Leadership within a company entails employeeship – the “Medarbetarskap” of the Swedes. ”Building Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy” relies upon the ability of individuals to rethink their personal development: this book gives the practical recommendations that enable employees to reinvent themselves and find purpose at work.

A must read. A very serious book with a lot of humor. Abundant and excellent illustrations by business cartoonist Hugh MacLeod! Here is one of my favorites:

Additional information about Nilofer Merchant,  CEO of Rubicon Consulting: http://rubiconconsulting.com/about-us/bios/nilofer-merchant.html