While I Value Christmas Letter Business Blogs, Here's Another Angle

You've got to take what I said the other day with a grain of salt.

Taking a page out of the Agile Manifesto styleguide: While I value talking, I value listening more. From my comments on Hugh's post:

Another take (I was in a snarky mood when I wrote that piece): Have you ever gone a follow-up coffee date after a networking meeting and had that person blather on and on and on about themselves (think Christmas letters, blind dates too). After an hour they realize and exclaim: "Oh, my God, I've just been doing all the talking. So, tell me, what do you think about me so far?"

Try this exercise: Imagine now if you will a diesel lube corporate weblog. Imagine now what the diesel lube manufacturer would say on the CEO blog. Or the product marketing manager on his employee weblog. Close your eyes and really brainstorm: What kind of posts would you likely see on a daily basis? What's the conversation like?

Now imagine another scenario entirely that's been quite neglected IMHO. Here's a big, big hint:

I was working in radio production just a few years ago. I was asked by an advertising agency to go out on the road and interview truck drivers, to put together some ads for some sort of diesel lube or some such nonsense. I sat at truck stops in Reno, Nevada and Memphis, Tennessee and conducted interviews. One after the other. In a Winnebago. I suppose the men and women entering the portable studio cum confessional had some sort of expectation that they were there to deliver the goods, you know, talk about lubes, the product. But, no. I just wanted them to speak about their lives, life on the road. - Brian Moffet, (read the post especially preceding anecdote about his Dad's memoir)

There's a lot more than just advertising that the lube manufacturer got from this. A lot more than insightful ethnographic market research into what makes truck drivers really tick. Oh, yes, they got all that...and more.

They also gave a space for the voices of their customers to be heard - a priceless gift.

It was quite an experience. Here I had grown American men and women spilling their guts, crying, laughing, telling tales, above all speaking freely. Speaking into a microphone - being recorded, amplified, broadcast, archived, listened to - is power...

Voice. It’s the airing of the soul. - Brian Moffet

Comments

[TonyD]

Deisel lube (whatever that is), isn't inherently interesting. It's people that are inherently interesting. Kudos to the people who can find the soul under all that deisel lube!

[Lisa Stone]

One of the things I like so much about this post is the juxtaposition of the Christmas letter (the ultimate in "push" media) with sitting down with someone and listening to them -- in their element, in their way, at their pace. Thanks for helping remind me of that.

Since you value the art of listening, I have to recommend any/all books by one of my old professors, Gerald Zaltmann, who has built a huge career out of his preternatural listening skills. You've got a great match with his thoughts here -- by collecting data on truck drivers in the same place they experience and think about their work, authenticity's built in.