Do Nothing.

For 30 minutes last weekend, I did nothing. I had retreated to the woods of Minnesota hoping for renewal through community and yet, in the first exercise of the weekend, I was encouraged to do nothing. It wasn't encouragement to engage in leisure. It wasn't an opportunity to take a nap. It was an exercise in doing nothing...which is remarkably difficult for me.

It had been almost 15 years since I had sat in a chair as a (temporary) college dropout and just stared at the wall. At that point, I was heartbroken and hopeless, and the world had come to a crashing halt. For 15 years after crawling out of that hole, I had done everything in my power to do something. Anything, really. And often, everything. I was terrified by the nothing.

So, on Saturday, I retreated to my room, sat on the bed and did nothing.

For a couple minutes, I rambled through my worries - my kids' future, my wife and marriage, my family, and my health. I worked through my to-do lists - my clients, my current book's marketing, my next book's writing, my bills, my kids, my marriage. I counted the the wood beams and boards across my ceiling. I thought about how I would write this post. I did so many things.

At some point, though, my thoughts transitioned and the noise in my head began to quiet. I could hear the wind, the dogs down the block, and my own breath. I could feel the sun making its way across my room. I was rushed with a sense of gratitude that had nothing to do with fear or obligation, but with a simple sense of appreciation for all I had been given by my wife, children and family. I, at once, felt completely alone in my nothing and deeply connected to those around me. I felt comforted and comfortable.

In short, in the nothingness, I found some peace and a deep sense of possibility. And, what a gift it was.

Exercise for you: Set aside 30 minutes. Shut down all distractions. Just be.

Icarus

It is no exaggeration to say that I have been reading Seth Godin all of my adult life. I read Permission Marketing the year I finished college, The Dip the year I left politics, and Tribes as I was planning the first OTA event. I've heard people call him repetitive, superficial, and self-centered, but I've found him to be continually provocative, passionate and probing. With his latest book, The Icarus Deception, I feel like he's finally and fully resonated with my soul. I come from a culture of "don't fly too high" and live with the insecurity of wondering whether I'm "flying too low." In Icarus, Godin challenges us to fly higher, make better art and be bold.

He wraps up his book with a chapter called Fourteen Real Artists. I was humbled to have the efforts of so many people on OTA (http://ota.is/) featured as one of the fourteen. It's a real pleasure to share the unedited text of that section below.

Building A Movement Out of Town

Hugh Weber understands that not all big ideas, not all important art, and not all movements start in big cities. He's the founder of OTA, a creative collective based in South Dakota that is nothing less than a catalyst for a regionwide explosion in creativity and possibility.

When he started, he thought that he'd have to single-handedly build this movement himself. What he discovered, though, was, "I've been forced to recognize that I'm not in this alone and that I can't do it alone. The people who have stepped forward to support, engage and help lead this effort have humbled me and transformed my perspective on community."

The hard work, it turns out, isn't in booking gigs or being brilliant. The hard work is in persuading others to see the same vision, to use the same can-do attitude that grew up on the farm and apply it to building an eclectic, creative community. "I think the primary difference is simply a perspective of possibility. Our region is remarkably well suited for problem solving. When there's a flood, blizzard or fire, everyone comes together, works together and survives together. But when we think about something bigger, innovative or possibility focused, we seem to believe that has to happen alone in our basement."

The connection economy amplifies the makers of change. These are people in the community, even in the flyover towns that New Yorkers sneer at, who are just waiting to be asked, just waiting to exercise their ability to be weird. The job of the community organizer is simple: not to find the right answer but to find the right audience, the right segment of the community. Connect them, amplify the positive outliers, and repeat until change happens.

Manifesto For Education

As my 3 year old daughter, Emerson, has grown and excelled in her Montessori school, I've thought more and more about what my hopes are for her future education and what I believe an education should provide. There's a great deal of talk these days about standards in education. I believe that it's time for a new type of standards. I've attempted to put together a set of 10 belief statements that highlight the positive perspective of Emerson's education and my own learning experiences.

I didn't set out to write statements that are exclusive to Montessori, but rather aspirational for the schools that I hope will help Emerson become the best possible version of herself.

***

I believe children deserve a PERSONALIZED and PURPOSEFUL education. They should be free to do INDEPENDENT, SELF-DIRECTED and FASCINATION-DRIVEN work. The classroom should be an ENVIRONMENT OF BEAUTY that allows for FREE MOVEMENT and COLLABORATION. A commitment to EXPERIMENTATION and DISCOVERY during childhood will create a foundation for lifelong learning.

1) PERSONALIZED - I believe that a child deserves an education that is responsive to his or her individual spirit and learning style, utilizes all of the senses, and focuses on his or her dynamic development as a whole person (i.e. emotional, physical, social, spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual.)

2) PURPOSEFUL - I believe that a child with a positive conception of purposeful and concentrated work is prepared to be present and satisfied with his or her life's work.

3) INDEPENDENT - I believe that a child provided an environment for independent decision-making is also prepared for responsibility in an ever-changing world.

4) SELF-DIRECTED - I believe that a child who learns the value of self-direction and self-correction will develop a positive self-image in a world requiring self-motivation.

5) FASCINATION-DRIVEN - I believe that a child with freedom to concentrate on his or her fascinations develops a capacity for both self-discipline and self-initiative.

6) ENVIRONMENT OF BEAUTY - I believe that a child who is taught the value and responsibility of learning in an environment of beauty and harmony will appreciate the value of beauty and harmony in one’s life.

7) FREE MOVEMENT - I believe that a child requires purposeful movement and activity as an integral component of realizing his or her full intellectual potential.

8) COLLABORATION - I believe that a child engaged in a classroom collaboration of diverse ages and cultures gains an open, empathetic, and respectful perspective on participation in a community.

9) EXPERIMENTATION - I believe that a child who is free to exercise critical thinking, experimentation and creativity will have an appreciation for the world of entrepreneurship and innovation in science and art.

10) DISCOVERY - I believe that a child started and supported on a journey of self-discovery will also discover the possibility of self-fulfillment and a lifetime of learning both inside and outside the classroom.

Is there something missing? Is something not clear? Does something seem misplaced, overstated or uncomfortable? Don't worry about formal remarks. I'd just love some kneejerk wisdom from others who care as much about education as I have grown to.

Thanks to Bobby George and many others for feedback on this draft.

Adjacent Possible

One my favorite authors, Steven Berlin Johnson, outlines a concept he calls "Adjacent Possible" in his book, Where Good Ideas Come From. The adjacent possible is the available next step in innovation. It's the combinations and outcomes that exist with the given set of components or knowledge or abilities. The Gutenberg printing method wasn't possible without the wine press it was built out of. The computer could be imagined but not built before the existence of the vacuum tube. The adjacent possible are the doors leading out of our current room.

Too often in innovation and in our personal lives, we know where we want to go, but its hard to see the first step. It's hard to know which doors we'll need to open to get to the room where the adjacent possible is actually the things we've been dreaming about.

The secret to this conundrum? The solution? Start opening doors. Start taking steps.

Em's Mantra

My daughter is a focused little nugget. I like to believe that she was blessed with my inclination toward curiosity and creativity. Unfortunately, she also received a pure form of impatience from me. It's this lethal mixture that has me deeply committed to raising her with a growth mindset. We've started with a simple mantra. We use it when things are easy and we remind ourselves of it when things are difficult. "When things get tough, I try harder."

This concept of mindsets comes from a fantastic book by Carol Dweck called, appropriately, Mindset. The basic premise is that individuals develop established mindsets as children, either fixed or growth, that impact their tolerance for challenge, risk and success.

A fixed mindset dictates that talents are set and unable to be improved. You're born with it or you're not. Every situation validates whether you have the gift or not. You avoid challenges out of fear of failure. Your worth is dictated by your latest success...or disappointment.

A growth mindset suggests that abilities can be improved through hard work and resilience. There are not failures, only opportunities to improve. When they find challenges, they rise to meet them. They exhibit this resiliency in relationships, work, and play.

The silver lining of Dweck's book is that you can change your mindset at any age. I'd suggest starting with Em's mantra.

So, which mindset are you? Are people born smart or creative or inspiring? Can you learn these skills and abilities? I'd love to hear your perspective.

What Do You Do, Hugh?

In the past week, over 15 people have sent private messages or emails that can be summed up as - 'I love the recent posts, Hugh, but what is it that you do for a living?' This isn't easy to answer. My wife and mother likely would struggle. So, I decided to try a picture instead.

Here's what I do.

[This is Version 3. Thanks for the input, friends.]

Now that we've cleared that up, what do you do?

Building a Jazz Ensemble

As a solo entrepreneur, I'm often faced with the challenge of building a team for one project or another. I simply couldn't accomplish much if forced to rely upon my own set of skills and limited perspective of this big world. While I'm well practiced in the creations of innovative concepts, they remain ideas in my head or scribbles in my notebook until I reach beyond myself. So, I seek out a designer or a developer or a filmmaker or a printer for the practical matters. And, I reach out to the well-read misanthrope at the bakery, my middle school teaching wife, or my electrician dad for a reflection from the world. And then, we create.

I choose to build my teams like I imagine Mr. Ellis Marsalis builds his jazz ensembles. The night I sat for hours in his dimly lit club in New Orleans he led a ragtag trio that included a noteworthy bass player and a very young drummer. I couldn't help but notice the glee Ellis had as he kidded and played and toyed with the drummer and the fiery intensity he displayed while improvising around the bass player. Ellis Marsalis, 80-something and prolific, built a collaborative team that would both amplify the joy of his youth and inspire the fighter inside.

So, if a jazz quartet is my preference, what's the other option? A drum corp.

Perfection, precision, attention to detail, narrow focus, and unity. Only the best of the best. Very impressive. But is it creative? And does a standard of perfection encourage or inhibit possibility?

Because this seems to be the focus of modern creativity and innovation. How can we limit the mess of the creatives? How can we operate in lockstep? How can we remove feedback and dissonance? How can we build efficiencies and metrics and ROI? And how can we move forward as quickly as possible?

There's nothing inherent wrong with this and I'm certain it leads to results, but in creative endeavors, innovative design, and dynamic teams, I can't believe that quick and clean ultimately leads to deep and long relationships, lasting experiences, and ultimate transformation.

Oh, I'll take notice of the drum corp. I'll be impressed by their skills. But I'll never dream about them. I'll never close my eyes on the hard days and find myself back in their presence awed by their art.

A Child of Possibility

I'm often asked how I became the person I am. I think what people are really asking is, "how did a kid from a small town in South Dakota develop such a passionate sense of curiosity, creativity and community?" Most times, I respond in shorthand, simply saying, "I was raised a child of possibility."

But when I'm feeling spirited, I tell the full truth, responding, "You'll often find that kids who have fathers that are grocery store clerking, lumber yard foremanning, electrical contracting, trophy and award designing, hardware store owning, operations managing, fireworks selling, halloween loving, school board membering, community sandbox filling, April Fools prank pulling, cannon building, peacock raising, customer service mastering, Discovery Channel watching tinkerers, inventors and do-gooders (deep breath) and mothers that are insurance company typing, hamburger waitressing, small town newspaper reporting, piano teaching, church organ playing, Creative Circle and Tupperware selling, community serving, opera and theater loving, non-traditional college degree receiving (twice), language arts instructing, middle school principaling, angel tree buying, exchange student hosting, Chamber of Commerce volunteering, personal passion encouraging, all-around caring nurturers, thinkers and life-long learners (second deep breath) ... well, you're just kind raised that way."

Gratitude.

In anticipation of the New Year and looking back on the old, I reflected a great deal on whether 2012 should be measured a success or something less. It's often easy to focus on the loses, heartbreaks and disappointments, but I find it much more productive to focus on the abundance of gratitude and plentiful sense of possiblity. Here's my initial list of things that I'm grateful for today. I'd love to see your list as well if you're willing to share.

1. my son's healthy left kidney
2. my daughter's depth of emotion
3. the Brooklyn Blackout cake at Queen City Bakery
4. the breakfast at Kempinski Residence & Suites in Doha, Qatar
5. the love my parents have for each other after 36 years
6. a completed Dude to Dad manuscript
7. impromptu dance parties with my girls to "Call Me Al."
8. the West Wing on Netflix...finally.
9. holding my daughter's hand as she falls asleep
10. watching four generations bake family recipes
11. the musical gifts of Chris Thile
12. holding my wife's hand on a snowy day
13. the sunshine on the prairie
14. new friends
15. old friends
16. firsts - like Em's first basketball game, my first camel ride
17. Jiro, Jay O'Callahan and other masters of their craft
18. my wife's love of teaching & my daughter's love of learning
19. full days watching squirrels
20. chasing hot air balloons & shooting rockets
21. quick reads & Field Notes
22. red shoes
23. spraypaint art
24. Self portraits by Emerson
25. the power of story - remind me to tell you the one about fishing on the Persian Gulf

....A life filled to the brim with possibility

Finally, thanks to Instagram for making a tool that allows me to share so many wonderful moments.

Five Focuses for 2013.

As arbitrary as the change of the calendar is, I find it to be an opportunity to consider and evaluate the life I'm living and make changes of focus and priority. For 2013, I have committed to five areas of focus: presence, parenting, portability, possibility and a perspective of plenty. Presence.

Mindfulness. Awareness. Attention. In an attempt to follow my fascinations, I often end up distracted and diminished. I don't expect a full conversion to meditation and yoga, but I do expect an attempt to be more present for my wife, children, friends and clients. A critical part of 'presence' will be found in my attention to parenting my daughter (age 3) and son (due 4/6/13) with my lovely wife.

Deliverables: Monthly "digital detox" of 48 hours. Regular business hours.

Parenting.

According to the gospel of Wikipedia, parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. I believe that I have been an engaged parent, but I don't believe I've been the kind whole-minded parent this definition requires. To me, this includes individual quality time (that doesn't involve a screen), outdoor activities and a focus on education. It also requires an effort to provide support to other parents and children where I can.

Deliverables: Monthly Daddy day trips. Fitness efforts that I can share with my children. Further exploration of Montessori, its integration into our household and awareness around the world.

Portability.

After over 15 moves in a decade, I have spent the last several years in one location. This has meant the accumulation of 'stuff' and 'things.' While I don't anticipate a household move in 2013, I do hope to develop a more portable, perhaps even minimalist, lifestyle. The three most immediate areas for improvement are books, 'stuff' and physical health.

• Books. Last year, I purchased well over 150 books. These are added to the 100s that have already accumulated in our home. Now, I love books and plan to continue to read aggressively, but I believe I can do this without purchasing any books in the next 12 months. So, as of 5:30pm last evening, Mrs. Dude changed my Amazon password. There will be books purchased this year for OTA and other events, but Mrs. Dude is the gatekeeper.

Deliverables: Read, review and release 100 books into the wild in 2013. Develop a library concept for books that I can't give up.

• Stuff. I have an unwieldy collection of thousands of pieces of political and historical memorabilia ranging from Dakota Territory to the JFK administration, which I have been collecting since age 8. Sadly, because of the size of the collection much of it occupies boxes and bins in the basement and my office. None of it is bringing joy at this point for myself or others. In the next 12 months, I hope to 'share' much of the collection. I'm not certain what this means as the idea of selling or giving it away is horrifying, but I know that something needs to change.

Deliverables: Distribute or display a large portion of my 'stuff' collection. Inventory collection for purposes of insuring or sale. Give away the clutter.

• Physical Health. This past February, I ended up in the ER convinced I was having a heart attack. I laid on the table getting stripped, shaved and scoped while my three year old sat nearby eating cookies. In the end, it wasn't anything more than an extremely expensive wake-up call. It's important now for my children that I dedicate to a daily focus on health and the development of healthy eating habits. Over the past 9 months, I've lost over 50 pounds. That's only a good start.

Deliverables: My goal is to lose over 100 pounds by December 31, 2013.

Possibility.

Much of my life has been tied up in a framework of 'potential.' "You have so much potential," "You need to go away to an East Coast college to reach your potential," and worst of all, "You're not living up to your potential." A life of potential is often defined by others and requires a lifelong commitment to one path. What happens when the athlete with great potential wants to become an artist? Disappointment. What happens when the high potential artist want to commercialize his or her work? Sell out. Over the past few years as I've worked through my own issues with "potential", I've stumbled upon a much more rich and rewarding perspective and posture of "possibility." Possibility is limited only by creativity, curiosity, connection and community. I can't wait to share this perspective with the world.

Deliverables: Share the principles of possibility with the world. Launch the institute. Release Work, Play, Do Good.

Perspective of Plenty: ota.

Many of you know about my work on an organization we named ota. Since 2009, ota has served as a creative collaborative offering extraordinary experiences and engagements that educate, empower, and serve as catalysts for community-builders and change agents to improve the lives of all people living in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota. This entire effort is built around the belief that we have everything we need in this region to become a global hub of creativity, innovation and change. For generations, so much of our culture has been based on scarcity or what we're missing - population, capital, etc - and ota is based on the amazing abundance and plentiful talent and resources we do have.

It struck me over the holiday break that there was almost certainly a translation for 'ota' which comes from the Lakota-originated state names of (S&N) Dak'ota and Minnes'ota. It turns out there is a translation and it couldn't be more appropriate.

In the Lakota language, ota simply means 'many, plentiful, abundant.' Amazing how the answers are sometimes hiding in plain sight.

Deliverables: Take the steps to share the message of ota/abundance with the entire three state region. Host the most successful ota event to date on March 15. Complete an initial community map of 1,500 ota-ns.

///

Enough from me. You'll hear plenty more about all of this throughout the year.

What's your focus for 2013? How can I help you reach your goals?

Grant County Christmas

Preparing for our first Grant County Christmas in about 19 years. It still feels like home.

Montessori Blueprints

The Montessori Blueprints have shipped. You can buy one for your favorite Montessorian here!

www.MontessoriBlueprints.com

Design

I had the privilege of sharing some thoughts last night at a Pecha Kucha night focused on ‘design.’ Earlier in the day, I found out that a close and unusual friend had been brutally murdered Thursday night. The photo above is the only picture I have of Robert. It was taken a year ago when we helped him move out of the shelter and into an apartment - an incredible time of hope. The text below reflects the thoughts as prepared.

When the first pioneers reached this region, they described the prairie as a vast sea of grass. You see, the prairie cordgrass (spartina pectinata) was known to grow as tall as 10 feet and when the wind blew, and boy, did it blow, the wind would cause waves across this beautiful, shimmering plain.

It was said that, even on horseback, it was easy to get lost on this smooth land with endless horizon and limitless possibility.

This was special grass. It’s network of scaly, stout, woody underground stems called rhizomes formed a dense, tough mat beneath the group that created some of the deepest and most fertile topsoil on our planet. This network of underground rhizomes could independently reproduce and create a new plant, which meant this diverse sea of individuals blades of grass was really one, complex, collaborative and co-dependent organism.

The French philosopher, Deleuze, spoke of a philosophical concept or image of thoughts also called the Rhizome. He had a conception of knowledge and experience that was connected and dynamic with no end or beginning only the middle. He described sense of mutualism that allowed different species or concepts to interact together in a special way that formed an entirely new and dynamic organism.

He believed that culture and knowledge and indeed design spreads like the surface of a body of water, spreading towards available spaces or trickling downwards into gaps, always seeking. Limitless possibility.

He contrasted rhizomes with trees. Independent, singular and autonomous with deep roots, but no diversity. These structures had a clear chronology and organization, a beginning and end. Limited.

This morning, I sat for coffee with a philosopher, a technologist, a book publisher, and an educator. All of them designers, though none in the classical or professional sense. And, as usual, the conversation was incredibly lively.

We talked about how design and creativity have become like a tree. Limited in their definition and scope and participants. Strong, but not collaborative or diverse. Design and creativity are now limited to the drafting table or the artist’s studio, but what if design could be something more. What if here, on the prairie, design could be like the native cordgrass?

Imagine a place or system or process of design where ideas of all sorts, formal and informal, rigid and relaxed, from all sorts of people and perspectives could come together around ‘design.’ What would our streets look like if the bicycle had the same voice as the automobile? What would our schools look like if parents and politicians shared the same table to imagine them? How might architects or artists change their work if farmers and fast food cooks were part of their process?

What if just a little bit of design, a little design on the prairie, better reflected the nature of our context and place and heritage?

I recently enjoyed a design collaboration of this sort. Robert Thunderhawk was unlike any of my other relationships. We met on a snowy, November morning when he knocked at my front door. He had taken notice that my sidewalk needed shoveling and was there to help. Robert, a native of Pine Ridge and homeless resident of Sioux Falls, and I would develop one of the most unusual and dynamic of friendships over the next two years. We couldn’t have been more different in our mix of prestigious college degrees and hard won wisdom. He’d ask me about Facebook or tell me about the Kardashians and I’d share a bit about a logo or a recent trip to a far away place. Our conversations would happen weekly at times and have gaps of months at others. Our unspoken deal was simply that I’d buy him clothes or food or such if I could and, over time, he’d give me a deeper appreciation of my wife, and daughter, and immensely good fortune. When I spoke to him for the last time on Tuesday, he took the opportunity to tell me how thankful he was for our relationship and how he always wanted to just keep his end of the deal. He did that and more. There was deep topsoil under Robert and I. Fertile ground that will lead to great harvests for generations. And like the prairie grass, and design, I like to believe that the collaboration has no beginning or end, only the middle.

This type of collaboration, diversity, strength and shared destiny has a place here on the plains. It really always has. It has a place in design as well. Can’t you just imagine the possibilities?

What Do You Dream About?

I’ve found that sometimes the world speaks with a still, small voice in the midst of earthquakes, fires and wind. Other times it speaks through sidewalk chalk and simple questions.

I’m been thinking a lot about “possibility” lately and how little of it there seems to be in business, education, government, parenting, and the world at large. Perhaps it’s the sheer abundance of information in our world, but we’ve stopped dreaming.

We’ve become remarkably efficient, strategic and “connected,” but we’ve lost our ability to imagine “what if” and what else might be possible. Our solutions, communications, and innovations are largely warmed up leftovers and recycled clichés void of passion, purpose, perspective…and ultimately possibility.

It was in this frame of mind that I wandered the streets of Chicago last week. It was in this context that I literally walked into the question that I had been needing to ask myself and everyone around me.

What do you dream about?

I dream about learning to play the standards on an accordion like my grandfather once did. I dream about standing in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower with my wife on her first visit to Paris. I dream about the look in my daughter’s eyes when she finds her first real obsession (whether that’s Presidents, princesses or Bieber.)

I also dream about growing a region of creative leaders that commit to solving the challenges of their communities.

I dream about working with a very specific team of creatives who have committed themselves to movements, people, and love. I dream about guiding an organization focused on people who have nothing and creating something that lasts.

I dream about inspiring a movement that renews a culture of possibility among our communities, colleges, candidates, creative leaders and children.

It’s amazing how much bigger and richer the world gets when you take just five minutes to answer a simple question. Now it’s your turn.

What do you dream about?

Tools

These posts were published in 2009-2011 on wediscoverstories.com. Abraham Maslow (of pyramid and self-actualization celebrity) once famously said, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” If he enjoyed shrinking heads in the general public, I suspect he would have found real pleasure in analyzing the advertising world.

With deference and respect to those wielding extremely talented hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers in this community, I think the problems that our community, business and organziations face are too varied and too complex to always assume that the same tools or tool set will work. Yet altogether too often, without a moment’s consideration of context or culture, we meet new clients with hammer in hand and start pounding away.

This approach is much easier than facing some hard realities. Perhaps we don’t have the technical chops to build the web solution that is necessary even though we consider ourselves a full service agency. Maybe we haven’t invested the time as a design firm to be prepared to create the packaging or the point of purchase pieces that are ideal for a project. It’s even possible that this project doesn’t have the budget to justify production and media buys that provide the revenue we need to make this project profitable.

Our job as advertising, communications, public relations, design and web professionals is to put in the hard work necessary to discover and ultimately share the core values, culture and identity of our clients. To beat the metaphor to death, we must determine if they are, in fact, hammers and to market them as what they are…not what we might hope them to be.

As our business evolves, if we’re to be credible as organizations and an industry, we need to do the same hard work to determine what it is that we are. We may want to be cutting edge interactive firms, social media experts, or full service agencies. Those answers are simple. But do we have the staff and culture to deliver on those promises? Do we have the commitment to challenging clients and pushing creative? Are we willing to do what is right, even when it doesn’t bring a profit? Would we pass on a big budget project if we didn’t think we could meet their needs?

Sometimes those questions can be very, very complicated. There are times when we may not realize what it is that we are or how best to serve those that trust us with their businesses, organizations and communities. Most of the time, however, we know when we’re really nailing a project…and when those same businesses, organizations and communities are just getting screwed.

Originally posted at http://www.sdaf.org/2011/02/designing-solutions/

Perspectives & Priorities

These posts were published in 2009-2011 on wediscoverstories.com. Now, I’m the kind of guy that took conference calls during my honeymoon. At beautiful oceanside restaurants. Over incredible Maine lobster. While my new bride waited patiently alone as I roamed the beach looking for a better signal.

And, I’m the kind of guy that live-tweeted my wife’s extensive labor and my daughter’s miraculous birth. Causing great stress for one of my girls and nearly missing the arrival of the other.

And I’m the kind of guy that left my phone on vibrate, “just in case”, during my grandmother’s recent funeral.

In fact, I don’t remember the last time I didn’t text or tweet or habitually check for emails on a Blackberry or iPhone or ancient Motorola. I simply can’t remember a time before I was accessible 24 hours a day.

So this week, in the haze of post-event decompression and post-funeral introspection, I set aside 48 hours (44 if I’m being totally honest) and I unplugged. And I learned some things.

I learned that by being available 24 hours a day I was actually unavailable in my physical life the same duration. My friend, riCardo, calls this “ghosting” and believe me, I was a ghost.

I learned why my two year old daughter repeats herself three times even when I’m paying attention. It’s because that’s the magic number of repetition it takes to break me out of the Twitter hypnosis.

I learned that I check email between 5-10 times per hour at least 18 hours every day and that it actually only took me 18 minutes to check my day’s email when I set that time aside.

I learned that my productivity skyrocketed and my anxiety decreased when I could focus on the task at hand and remove the temptation to read what was happening online.

I learned that feeding the beast was simply that. The second I disappeared, so did the dialogue that I have placed so much value on. With the exception of some close friends and passionate clients, the dialogue and conversation largely disappeared. And those close relationships took the conversation to email…and upon receiving the “I’m offline” autoresponders, they gave me a call.

In short, I got some perspective.

While I wasn’t online, I learned about the Jante Law and how we Midwesterners have a social code that’s been passed down through the generations.

While I wasn’t online, my two year old learned to identify James Knox Polk and John Quincy Adams in a lineup of 40 Presidents. (Our vintage flashcards only go to Reagan. And she already knew Calvin Coolidge.)

While I wasn’t online, I handwrote thank you’s to a group of people that have given freely of their time, passion and creativity over the past several years without ever asking for anything in return.

While I wasn’t online, I wrote and sketched the ideas that I believe can help better deliver services to the working poor of my community.

The web has tremendous power to be harnessed and I intend to remain immersed in it. It’s how I make my living and it’s a fantastic platform for sharing deep narrative. However, it’s also amazing what we can accomplish when we unplug, refocus our priorities and get some perspective on the world around us.

Story

These posts were published in 2009-2011 on wediscoverstories.com. Having established my perspective on Community, it seems only appropriate to also provide a vision for ‘story.’

A dictionary would define ‘story’ something like this:

Story: noun: a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader.

However, it seems to me there is something much more significant at work in ‘story’ than a simple, well-formed narrative.

In 1978, writer Reynold Price wrote a book called A Palpable God, which sought to offer tangible translations of 30 biblical stories. While considered a treasure in its totality, its introductory essay is of great relevance for this discussion.

Price writes,

“A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens—second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives.”

It’s easy to imagine a day not that long ago [everything is relative] where the free and open Community ‘story’ provided the context for all human interaction. Because there was no written record, there was also no author. All interaction contributed to a rich oral history that was owned, authored and immediately amended by all that participated. Simply by virtue of the act of retelling [think: word of mouth] did an individual become part of the Community ‘story’. Within this context, ‘story’ transcended mere ‘tale’ and became the foundation of communication and Community.

Contrast that with the handwringing nature of corporate ‘story’ that exists within traditional marketing and advertising. We have stripped the community nature of word of mouth, provided it authorship/ownership and made it exclusive. With trademarks and copyrights, we have provided ourselves some semblance of consistency and continuity, but for whose benefit? The stories being told today are less authentic than ever before. People find few advertisements to be trustworthy in any sense. Even the fictional parables contained more truth than most advertisement copy.

Where the story once belonged to the Community, in marketing today it only belongs to the corporation (and perhaps their advertising agency.) Except in the most extraordinary situations (consider the freedom given to users of the Obama logo in 2008), when a brand evangelist chooses to make a brand or story their own, they are usually greeted with a form letter or worse encouraging them to remove materials or return them to their ‘brand standard’ format. What do we sacrifice in this process?

The oral tradition understood that a ‘story’ needed to be personalized and evolutionary in nature. The core didn’t change, but the outer details needed to remain open to adaptation for its survival.

We are searching for clients and partners that are prepared leave behind the mentality of individual authorship and begin the process of returning to collective storytelling. By returning ownership and authorship to the Community, we create a bond and loyalty that’s transformational in nature.

Modern marketing is so temporary. We see a television commercial that tickles our funny bone one moment and leaves our mind the next. We find the thousands of advertising impressions we see daily to be hyperbolic at best and offensive at worst.

On the other hand, stories in their traditional sense transcend time. They are committed to memory and told and re-told again and again. We share them with friends and family who make them their own. The story becomes our story.

Which approach to story do you think would have the most benefit for you and your Community?

We Discover Stories That Build Communities

These posts were published in 2009-2011 on wediscoverstories.com.

I’ve been doing a great deal of study on ‘Community’ lately.

I want to be clear. I’m not very interested in the soft, sales-driven style of what I’ll refer to as, little ‘c’ community. I listen to marketing and social media experts speak loosely of community as though the only purpose of organizing is to create additional revenue channels. The communities they build, and the people contained within, are means to an end. This is sad, manipulative and sad. Did I say it’s sad? It is.

If you know me at all, you’ll know that the broader, more sociological side of big ‘c’ Community is what I’m interested in. ‘Community’ is a much debated term across fields of study from biology to sociology with “ninety-four discrete definitions of the term by the mid-1950s,” according to the online monastic Community, wikipedia.

“The word “community” is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.” Think about this for a second: together as a gift or together creating a gift. The implication to me is that in the process of bringing together people we must understand that we create something more significant than the sum of our parts. The collective wisdom is greater than any one person. Brilliant.

I’ve recently picked up a copy of Scott Peck’s In The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace (Simon & Schuster, 1987). He talks about community in terms of deliberate design based on rules and stages and describes “true community” as the “the process of deep respect and true listening for the needs of the other people in this community.” In 1991, Peck spoke about the maintenance of Community:

“It takes a significant amount of effort to build community, but it takes even more effort - ongoing effort - to maintain it. The biggest problem with community maintenance, as with community start-up, is the problem of organizations simply being willing to pay the price - which is, primarily, a price of time.”

We must realize that Community isn’t finite. There isn’t an end date or expiration. Community needs to be designed and lead. This is a slightly bigger responsibility than the community that we’ve been sold through most social media fan pages and marketing campaigns.

My firm and I are at the beginning of an evolution. I have long said that what I do for a living is “discover stories that build communities.” This is directly in contrast to a marketing and advertising mentality that “creates advertisements that sell products.”

The stories that build true Community (think Harley Davidson or Dave Matthews Band) are not created. They are discovered or revealed or uncovered. They already exist – even if they have been layered over by decades of advertisements, marketing campaigns and poor choices. It requires deep respect and true listening and you can’t do that if your only focus is a television advertising or billboard or ROI.

We want to sit at your kitchen tables, on your production line or in your retail store and help you rediscover the passions and stories of your organization. Then we can begin the process of building Community that will be a gift to you, your company and your customers.

‘We discover stories (that build communities)’ will touch on topics from new books to inspirational individuals to marketing efforts that transcend advertising and truly build Community. Feel free to share. Point us in the right direction. Criticize, but make it constructive. Perhaps this collective of information may, at some point, become a Community of its own.