Speaking of Compelling Writing

Zero Boss laments about being perceived as a blog sell-out. His angst is hurled at those "who droan on and on about how blogging is supposed to be a 'pure' expression of one's self and not a marketing tool. No doubt I'll be branded a sell-out as well as a blog whore."

I'm puzzled. The purer and clearer any blog is - personal or busines - a passionate expression of what you are the more it's an effective marketing tool regardless if that's your intention. It's not either/or choice - but both/and. I've written:

This is how I look at it: I'm not developing a brand, I'm developing my Self. The clearer I am about who I am, the more that's reflected clearly. And that's where I focus. What you think you see as quote branding unquote is simply a side-effect.

In a sense, that's what Cluetrain is about. There's no reason to believe being authentic and real and expressive with people in business is going to send you to the poor house. In fact, the opposite might be closer to the truth.

It’s quite sad, actually; so much money will be spent on professional copywriters, consultants and focus group facilitators, and they won’t earn a penny back for their efforts. - Jory Des Jardins

Jory Des Jardins' spot-on writing demonstrates The Cluetrain Manifesto's both/and thinking perfectly in her More Space proposal:

The New Killer App: Authenticity by Jory Des Jardins

Calvin is a soft, technologically oriented man in his 50s whom I befriended at a personal development conference, and whom I consequently worked with at a media company that catered to the news and views of Silicon Valley. I’d gotten to know Calvin on a personal level and was quite surprised, the first time I visited his corporate office, at the bells and whistles he liked to use, or just collect. There must have been three Blackberries on his desk, four cell phones, two servers (one for his personal use, he later explained), two desktops and a laptop.

Like a lot of techie dweebs Calvin had something that, unlike his gadgets, he couldn’t acquire on eBay. He had a blog and maintained it every day, typically in the middle of meetings, from his laptop, or Blackberry; any way that he could.

Everyone knew Calvin had checked out of his job a long time ago—that the only reason he woke up every morning was to surf on eBay for bargains or post to “his little Web site.” But Calvin was a hot commodity, the guy you would go to when you wanted to score a meeting with some poobah at Apple or Adobe. These mucky mucks blew off us sales types, but when Calvin called they cut out of meetings, or if they couldn’t talk, they always called back.

I often had to broker sales through Calvin, even though he wasn’t in sales, because the contact refused to talk to anyone but him. I would often write notes to him during teleconferences with potential customers, listing instructions to help move along the conversations. He never followed my instructions, but he did close deals. It didn’t matter what Calvin was requesting of them; it seemed that as long as the words came from him, they were gold. Once, when I’d asked Calvin to accompany me to an offsite pitch meeting, our general manager quipped, half-joking, “Make sure he’s wearing a clean shirt.” Still, there was no question that Calvin should attend.

There was something powerful about this man who eschewed appearances. Calvin had a secret IN, and no one thought to question where it came from. He seemed to know more than where a person worked or his position in a company. He knew that some VP I wanted to get a meeting with had a longstanding feud with our company for an article we produced touting a competitor’s new product release.

“How did you know this?” I told Calvin, thinking he’d read it somewhere in Information Week.

“He told me,” Calvin said.

Calvin also knew who was disappointed with the events we put on, which speakers tanked, what the word on the street was about our newly launching event in Amsterdam. Yet he never polled, surveyed or hired a marketing team to find this out. Nor did he ask. They simply told him. And in return, he told them things that he knew about hot products, open jobs, must-see demos. Despite all that he was told, it seemed the debt of information owed him was always greater. Not like he was keeping track; that was my observation.

Continue reading The New Killer App: Authenticity, by Jory Des Jardins

Comments

[The Zero Boss]

Excellent points, Evelyn.

The sell-out mentality is largely an anti-capitalist mentality. If you've a Randian streak in your thinking (which I do), you can see Platonic dualism at its root: the idea that there is both the pure expression of an idea as well as its corruption. For many in our society, commercialization is the ultimate corrosive force. It's a sad lens through which to view the world. How many people are limiting their potential because they subscribe to this view?

I'm reading GUERRILLA PUBLICITY at the moment, and it hammers home the need for authenticity. The press is savvy; they can spot a BS artist from a mile off. If you're not authentic, chances are you won't even get your foot in the door.

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Thanks Zero Boss. What you've said just reminded me of Peter Block's archetypes (from an older post):

The dominant archetypes [in business] are the Engineer and the Economist. They represent the "how" way of doing things... On the other side of the fence is the Artist archetype. The Artist is about being creative and emotional, being on the "outside" and viewing commerce and power with suspicion... Block sees a middle path between these two sides, represented in the archetype of the Architect... This archetype integrates the previous three, thus resolving their unending battle. - The Answer to How is Yes, by Peter Block

Yup, many artists reject money and all it represents when it's merely just a tool, and not inherently evil or good in and of itself.

[The Zero Boss]

"Yup, many artists reject money and all it represents when it's merely just a tool, and not inherently evil or good in and of itself."

Sad irony, that. Being independently wealthy would enable most artists to finance their own works, giving them more power to do things "their way". Gibson's PASSION OF THE CHRIST is a great example: he made the movie the way he wanted it made, with his own capital - and earned a mint in the process. Further proof that commercial success and steadiness of vision are not as orthogonal as others want to paint them.

[Christopher Bailey]

Evelyn, you've touched on something that's been on my mind lately, as well. a few days ago, I posted an entry called We Are Not A Product that expresses many of the ideas you put forth here. (You'll notice that I too have been influenced by Block's archetype of the architect.)
link: http://imaginactive.blogspot.com/2005/01/we-are-not-product.html

Basically, we are not PRODUCTS. We have allowed the commercial and the economic to infiltrate even how we view ourselves. We might think we control the identity of our brand, but that's unrealistic. When viewed in this light, the true valuators of our brand lie outside of us.

One comment I received suggested that rather than a brand, we're a story...or even better, an anthology. It offers a much richer and deeper metaphor for developing an authentic presence.

Stay Playful...

[hugh macleod]

Eh. The purists are an impossible crowd to keep happy. That's why they're purists ;-)

[Troy Worman]

Why are we calling 'them' the purists???

[The Zero Boss]

True, Troy - we should call them "the Platonists" and us "the Integrals". ;-)

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