By Michael Port

The following is a transcript of a compelling conversation I had with author, David Meerman Scott.

You can also listen to the audio recording with this player.

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MICHAEL:

Hi everybody. This is Michael Port and I am here today with David Meerman Scott. Say hi David.

DAVID:

Hey, how are you Michael?  Good to be here.

MICHAEL:

Good, good, good.  So, I’m sure you guys know David but, if you don’t, he is an author who has written seven books.  A few of his books you probably know, Real-Time marketing and PR, a huge, huge success.  Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, love that book.  World Wide Rave, I have trouble saying that one.

DAVID:

As do I.

MICHAEL:

And The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

I really like David a lot.  I don’t know David as well as I’d like to, I think that we don’t talk enough.  I really like him because I like what he stands for.  I like the style that he uses in his work and I like his philosophy. So, in a world of charlatans and false idols, I think David is the real deal so I’m happy to be here.

We are going to talk for about twenty minutes and the first thing I would like to know, David, is why you got into this work in the first place?

DAVID:

Wow, it’s really great to be here, Michael.  We’ve spoken a number of times.  We have yet to meet in person, which I hope we can accomplish.

MICHAEL:

It’s probably going to happen in an airport one day.

DAVID:

Exactly.  Or else it will be on Twitter that we will find out that we are in the same place.

MICHAEL:

Exactly.

DAVID:

I got fired, as a matter of fact, which is what brought me into this world.

I was Vice President of Marketing for a company called NewsEdge Corporation in the late 1990’s and early into 2000.  In 2001 Thompson Corporation acquired NewsEdge and my bosses brought me into a room and sat me down and said, “Explain to us this new-fangled marketing you’re doing here David.  What is the stuff you are doing?”

I said, “Oh, it’s great! We are ranking really high in the search engines and we are creating all of this really great content on the website that people are finding.  We are doing press releases in order to get indexed by Google.  It’s fantastic stuff.”

They basically said that they don’t do this new-fangled marketing here and they sacked me for it.

Actually it ended up being really great because I got sacked at one of the most difficult times to find a job that has happened in decades, which was immediately after 9/11.

Nobody was hiring after 9/11 so I said to my wife, “Geez, I don’t think I’m going to be a Vice President of Marketing for a publicly traded technology company anytime soon,” which is what I had been doing before that.  “Maybe I should strike out on my own.”

Fortunately my wife was very encouraging so, I started doing a little bit of consulting. I started my blog in 2005, I had a couple of books come out in the early 2000’s and then The New Rules of marketing and PR, one of the ones that you mentioned, that one came out in early 2007.  So, I was off and running when that book came out and that sort of launched the speaking career.

MICHAEL:

One of the things I think is very important when we choose our teachers is to choose our teachers based on what they stand for and the philosophy that supports the work that they produce because when you are choosing “how-to” teachers, there’s a lot of different people that could offer the “how-to’s.”  “How-to’s” are not difficult to produce.

I’d love for you to explain to the folks what your philosophy is behind the work that you do and what you stand for in the work.  What really sets it apart?

Click to continue…

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By Michael Port

I started my professional career as an actor. When I left acting and went into business, I often felt compelled to prove how smart I was and to demonstrate how much I knew.

The same thing was true when I first started speaking publicly about 10 years ago. My public speaking 101 attempt was to pack my presentations with as much content as possible so as to protect myself from hearing, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

I also tried to make sure that I wasn’t thought of as a “motivational speaker.”  Don’t get me wrong—I love a great motivational speaker as much as the next guy. But, again, I was afraid of being accused of being a banal, redundant, and anti-intellectual motivational speaker.

Over the years, as I’ve progressed as a professional speaker on marketing, sales and business development topics, I have come to realize that public speaking 303 is not just about what you say and how you say it but also about how you make your audience feel.

People will rarely, if ever, remember everything you taught them in a 45-minute presentation. Hopefully, however, they’ll remember one important message along with how you made them feel.

I know that I’ve done my job well when I’m told, “I feel so much more energized or you helped validate my ideas or I feel like I can play a bigger game.”

The same holds true for all relationships. Whether you’re speaking to an audience, a friend, a client, a business partner, or a stranger on the street, long after they forget what you said, they’ll remember how you made them feel.

I hope I make you feel GREAT.

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By Michael Port

Almost every morning, I make a killer omelet for breakfast. It’s a thing of beauty, really.

Two eggs with a touch of milk, so much spinach that you’d think you’ve ruined it, a massive medley of grape and cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, if it’s in season, dry, if out of season, cracked pepper, and mozzarella cheese; all on top of one piece of whole grain toast.

I know, how cliché—men and their eggs. Sometimes, I even have it for dinner. But, here’s the thing—it turns out much better in the morning.

Producing a masterpiece for breakfast, every morning no less, requires unshakable focus, perfect timing and a desire to do my best work (because I’m hungry). However, if I make the omelet in the evening, it’s less than perfect.

In the morning, I do my best work—not just when fixing breakfast. It’s when I write, think, plan, organize, strategize, and more. In the evening, my work is not as productive or creative because my attention is also focused on my son, my girlfriend, the day’s events and more.

So, if I attempt to prepare the “Omelette de Port” for dinner, my timing is off and I make mistakes. I forget to add the cheese or I burn the toast or, worse yet, cut my finger while slicing the tomatoes.

The same thing happens when I try to do focused, detailed, and creative work in the evening. It’s often a mess. My timing is off. I miss important details and my thinking is cloudy.

Some of us are more productive in the morning, some in the evening, and then there are those (annoying) people who are perfect all the time—I’m not one of them.

The point is—yes, there is a point—to choose what you work on and when you work on it—very carefully. If you write, what time of the day will you do your best work? If you need to do detailed work, say on a process for a promo event that includes emails, conference call set up, landing pages, and more, what time of the day will you get the most done while making the fewest errors?

To beat (pun intended) this metaphor to death… scrambled brains don’t do big things in the world.

And, finally, no matter what time of day I write, I will always make gramatical errors and typos that drive the Word Police mad.

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By Michael Port

I, Michael Port, hereby declare, that I will refrain from putting down or disparaging the work of others. I will only speak about what I stand for.

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By Michael Port

Promises. Promises. Does the very word make you uncomfortable? Conjure up images of promises forgotten, broken, or never fulfilled? If promises don’t make you uncomfortable, then you haven’t been trying hard enough. Or you haven’t been taking your promises seriously. Promises are, to some extent, uncomfortable because you have to keep them.

A successful business is made up of the completion of one successful project after another. If you don’t know how to do projects you won’t be successful. Project progress (or any kind of professional progress, for that matter) depends on the successful fulfillment of promises.

Promises bring people together.

When working on projects, create a routine that is appropriate for the project, which requires the team to come together to undertake promises to one another. The work that I promise to complete today allows you to start your task tomorrow.

The downfall of not fulfilling my obligation is one breakdown after another. In fact, our reputations are built on our ability, or lack thereof, to make commitments and fulfill them, as is the future of our business. There are people who are great at making commitments but not great at fulfilling them. When that happens, not much gets done and they aren’t chosen to participate on a project team again.

Diminished expectations; I can’t but I’ll try.

Others don’t make commitments fearing the accountability, preferring to hide under a cloak of diminished expectations. How often have you heard (or said) the words, “I can’t promise you that I’ll do it, but I’ll try.” Certainly, that’s ok on small things that are not important to your plans, goals and dreams. If someone asks me to promote something that I’m not highly invested in I might say, “I’ll try, but I can’t promise.” But, for the big stuff that is important to you, why would you want to live in the half-light of such a soft engagement with others and the world? Yet, without commitments in the first place not much gets done. Moreover, the non-committer doesn’t get picked again.

Develop habits of commitment making and fulfilling.

The good news is that projects are a perfect venue to develop and improve habits of commitment making and fulfilling.

I should note that commitments can, and sometimes should, be renegotiated. That’s perfectly natural. Things change. But if renegotiating promises becomes the norm, then not much gets done, at least not in a timely fashion. And, you guessed it, we don’t get asked to participate again.

Coordinating commitments.

When working with others, nothing works better than a ten to fifteen minute daily coordination and commitment management conversation; each team member assesses how they are doing fulfilling promises. They report “complete” when done or make revised promises when needed. They also make new promises at the appropriate time. They finish the meeting by asking for help or offering help to others. A four- to seven-person team can have this conversation in less than fifteen minutes—and should.

Be the doer of deeds rather than the critic.

To promise and fulfill is to be the doer of deeds, not the critic. Of course, destroy, blow up, tear town what is mean, exploitative, abusive, and criminal. But, when it comes to doing big things, be fully engaged in the world, not standing apart or hovering above. Get in the ring, on the stage, make things that matter, build stuff that lasts.

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By Michael Port

I’m an advisor to a fitness and lifestyle start up company that is looking to hire a full time Marketing Manger. The team includes a multiple Grammy Award winner and some of the most decorated fitness professionals in the industry. The company was a massive success in Spain and is now launching in North America.

I’ve included a boring (but accurate) job description below. However, since I’m involved in the selection process, and I know a thing or two about marketing, I’m going to be looking for a quirky-cool, hipster on the way up, who can do (a lot) more than market research and ad buys. You can tell stories – stories that connect with the people you serve. Pencil pushing, buttoned up marketer types need not apply.

Bottom line: If I get you this job, is the CEO going to come back to me in a year and say, “[insert your name here] was the best hire I’ve ever made.”? Anything less, would be complete and utter failure.

To apply: send anything you want to this email address. Sure, CV and cover letter makes sense. But, you’re a marketer. You know how to make people want you. So, make me want you in your own special quirky-cool way. But required in your application is a list of the 10 books that have most influenced how you think about marketing and business development.

DO NOT, under any circumstances, send applications or requests to me personally or my help desk. This opportunity is not a Michael Port Companies opportunity. It’s for a company that I advise. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments below.

Think big about who you are and what you offer and go for it!

OK, here is the boring, but detailed general purpose job description below.

Marketing Manager

Develop, establish and maintain marketing strategies to meet organizational objectives. Provide effective management of the marketing, advertising and promotional activities of the organization.

Main Job Tasks and Responsibilities

• Manage and coordinate all marketing, advertising and promotional activities.
• Conduct market research to determine market requirements for existing and future products.
• Analysis of customer research, current market conditions and competitor information.
• Develop and implement marketing plans and projects for new and existing products.
• Monitor, review and report on all marketing activity and results based on tracking metrics.
• Determine and manage the marketing budget.
• Develop pricing strategy
• Liaison with creative and education team on media and publicity.
• Develop and execute press campaign in major media markets.
• Develop, execute all social media campaigns as well as day-to-day social media platforms.

Education and Experience

• Where you went to school, or what you studied in school, is not relevant – what’s relevant is whether you can get the job done.
• Experience in all aspects of developing and maintaining marketing strategies.
• Technical marketing skills.
• Proven experience in customer and market research.
• Relevant product and industry knowledge helpful but not required.
• Experience with relevant software applications (CRM, e-commerce, lead capture and follow up, etc).

Key Competencies

• You can rock the written word.
• You speak and people listen.
• You’re an organizer and planner.
• You think critically and can problem solve.
• You see yourself as a leader.
• You’re self-starter.
• You enjoy breaking rules (seriously).
• You get pumped up for a presentation.
• You’re adaptable and flexible.
• You’re innovative and creative.
• You’re a learner
• You love working with others.
• You do not bring drama to work.

Location

• Southern Cali is ideal but not necessary. Anywhere in US is fine.

Salary

• Min 50K. More is possible based on experience. Bonuses will be offered as company grows.

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By Michael Port

When you start a business, you’re exposed to a seemingly endless stream of diverging themes and complicated processes. I attempt to reorganize them into simple systems.

That’s my job as an educator—to take ideas that have become complicated and noisy and disentangle and harmonize them so that the entrepreneur can work quietly.

What’s your job?

(Note: The share buttons below are woking, they’re just still not showing any numbers. Feel free to use them.)

UPDATE: I love when you participate in the discussion with your comments. Think of what I’m going to say as a suggestion from a loving teacher only concerned with your success…

Some of the comments below are mini-elevator speeches, I’ve suggested that you stay away from elevator speeches.

In this post, however, I was attempting to ask you how you thought about your job, not necessarily the result that you help your clients achieve. There’s a big difference. I believe that the way you think about your “job” influences how you help your clients get what they want – the “result.”

For example, I help small business owners get more clients. More clients, is the result. What I wrote about my “job” is how I do it. Of course, it’s essential to consider who you help and what you help them get (the result). Just as important, however, is how you do it – that’s what allows you to do remarkable work or the people you’re meant to serve.

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By Michael Port

My friend, Terry Starbucker, a leadership expert, wrote a compelling post entitled, The Trouble With Undercover Boss (If Your’e a Boss), where he makes the case that the CBS show is bad for bosses because a great CEO would be “known to EVERY employee; that is, there would be no way that the CEO could go on [the show]. He or she would be recognized immediately.” Indeed.

I also think Undercover Boss is bad for America’s, so called, “working class” and that ABC’s The Secret Millionaire is bad for society.

Shut the front door! Did he just say that The Secret Millionaire is bad for society? Isn’t that a bit over the top?

I did say it. And, yes, maybe it is a bit hyperbolic. But, to my mind, both shows exploit America’s working class for entertainment purposes. I think of it as Poorsploitation. Just like Blacksploitation films of the 70′s created an entire genre of film, Poorsploitation in the 2000′s has created an entire genre of TV programming.

Sure, some posit that the Blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, but many civil rights leaders and activists, alike, felt the genre perpetuated common white stereotypes about black people and, as a result, many called for the end of the Blaxploitation genre. I’d like to call an end to these Poorsploitation programs because they too suggest some sort of empowerment and recognition for the working class but instead, insidiously perpetuate the stereotype of the working class as lost and helpless without the benevolent boss or the millionaire to make their life better and worthwhile.

Not only are Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire “Poorsploitation” programs but I’d even include Extreme Home Makeover in the category. Much of the programming that is produced in the “reality TV” genre exploits individuals or groups for the entertainment of others. Think of The Biggest Loser (even the name is exploitative) and Intervention, which exploits people with the disease of addiction so we, the audience, can invade the most personal aspect of a someone’s life to marvel at the destruction these addicts have caused and the pathetic life they live.

Of course, you’ll argue that Intervention helps these addicts get into recovery and that is important and meaningful; that Undercover Boss helps the CEO have an awakening and that’s good for his employees; that The Secret Millionaire recognizes how fortunate they are and gives money to people doing important, charitable work; that the families in Extreme Home Makeover get treated to the most amazing new home and so much love from so many people. You might even argue, and you’d have a good point, that The Biggest Loser saves lives by helping morbidly obese people shed hundred of pounds. And, yes, participants choose to be on these shows, even vie for the opportunity to be on these shows.

We must consider, however, that exploitation is often insidious. It starts small and then creeps up on you day by day until its virus takes hold and sickens your entire system. In my book, the idea of a boss tricking their underlings, or a millionaire bamboozling poor people, into thinking they are someone other than who they say they are, is unethical.

Moreover, if a “millionaire” selling aspirational products to folks that can barely scrape two nickels together doesn’t know how “real” people live, she’s completely out of touch with reality and consumed by a blindly ego-centric point of view. How can she not know that the average working person in America earns about $50,000 over the course of one year and that the working poor might earn $17,000, not $500,000 in 5-minutes at the back of the room after a sales pitch from the stage.

Just as insidious is the idea that some big shot CEO comes down to the level of his peasants and realizes that he (usually seems to be a man) can’t do the job he asks his employees to do. Well, Praise Be! He has an epiphany and realizes that his decisions effect the people who work for him, that they’re human beings with aspirations and dreams, and that he should change a few things about the way he does business? Are you serious?

You run a multi-million dollar, often multi-hundred million dollar company and you need to go on a TV show where you trick your employees into thinking you’re someone else to have this realization? If I was on the board of one of these companies and was witness to this travesty, I’d fire the CEO before the first commercial break. Oh, and, to add insult to injury, the CEO gives the employee a tiny promotion with a tiny increase in salary or maybe $5000 to go to school to learn how to become a chef, as was the case on one episode. Again, are you kidding? What’s $5000 to a company with tens of millions or 100′s of millions of dollars in sales? And, let’s not forget the tens of millions of dollars in publicity and advertising these companies and individuals get for going on these shows.

These programs feed on the disease of small thinking and I, for one, stand against them. Call me a bleeding heart. Call me a tree hugger. Call me too sensitive. Call me self-righteous. Call me whatever you want, I just think we should expect more from our “millionaires,” our “bosses,” and ourselves, by working for more transparency, more equality, more empathy, and more respect.

Let’s (always) think bigger about who we are and what we offer the world.

UPDATE: Andy just pointed me to a segment that Bill Maher did on his show about this very topic about these specific programs. (If you watch the segment, please do your best to not make this post about Bill Maher. The discussion in the comments is sophisticated and diverse in opinions and all commenters have done a great job focussing on the questions raised in the post.)

Oh, and the share buttons finally started working again so you can use them, if you like.

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By Michael Port

Yesterday I wrote about being intimidated by your own ides. It sparked such an intense and meaningful conversation about innovation and change that I thought I’d continue the discussion today.

So, what is innovation? Innovation is a simple act. All it entails is producing something new that others can ask for. Becoming innovative requires a commitment to mastery.

As a student of business and, of course, life, I’ve found only a few things that are more important than the pursuit of mastery. Innovation is sure to energize you.

But having the willingness to try new things is not enough. You must also be willing to let go of an idea that isn’t working. That’s the flip side of curiosity. It includes curiosity in our own ideas. Will they work? Are they viable? If not, what’s your next idea?

I’m not saying you should give up on ideas. I’m saying you should move on from ideas that aren’t working. It’s not the same thing at all. Moving on is its own form of curiosity. When we are most creative, we are coming up with tons of new ideas at a time. They can’t all be good. We will never know what’s good and what’s not if we don’t test them out.

Curiosity is the willingness to test our ideas, discard the weakest, and build on the strongest. That’s how you will maintain your creative energy. That’s how you innovate.

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By Michael Port

We all have a tendency toward creativity. Sadly, that tendency may have been trampled down, starting in childhood, so that we are intimidated by our own creative drives.

Remember that Harry Chapin song about the child whose teacher criticized him for drawing trees blue and the sky green, because that’s not how it is? Many of us have had childhood experiences just like that, experiences that made us fearful of our own creativity. Our reaction is to undermine our own energy before someone else does—although, beware, that’s going to happen, too.

We are susceptible not only to mental or attitudinal self-sabotage, but also to sabotage from immediate external factors (different from the ones that influenced our early development) that can interrupt our balance, throw us off course, or blindside us. Scott Berkun, author of The Myths of Innovation, points out that the toughest challenge faced by innovators is how bored the rest of the world is by their ideas, at least at first.

It turns out that nothing changes when we’re adults—many other people don’t want us to draw blue trees and green skies

The destructive need for approval.

Over the years, I’ve heard varying statistics about the way our creativity gets killed as we age. Some say that 97 percent of children in kindergarten are creative but that by second grade only 5 percent are. Others say that children in kindergarten use 80 percent of their creative potential on a regular basis and that by the age of 12 the average person is using only 2 percent of his or her creative potential. Suffice to say that in general people aren’t getting more creative as they grow up. What happens? Grades happen. The need to have the approval of others happens.

This would be terrible news, except that the disease is reversible! The practice of creativity produces more creativity. The practice of innovation produces more innovativeness.

Having emotional endurance.

Having the emotional endurance to withstand the early period of any innovation process is the difference between whether a big, new idea survives or withers. Remind yourself that when others are negative or reject your idea, they are often just demonstrating their own aversion to change.

We humans are fearful of the new. It’s in our nature. Like the ancient fable of the scorpion and the frog—the scorpion just had to sting the frog in the end—it was in the scorpion’s nature, even though it meant they both drowned as the frog was carrying the scorpion to the other side of the river.

Self-sabotage and other people’s censure is not all you face. There are market factors, too, that can sabotage our creativity: unexpected competitors who might appear on the horizon, new technologies that might render your service obsolete, or changes in consumer tastes. Suddenly your great idea—isn’t.

Supporting your continued growth.

With all these potential sources of breakdown (self, others, and the market), what do you need to support your continued growth, improvement, creativity, and innovation? Do you need external systems, like mastermind groups, a coach, or continuing education? Do you need to take art or acting classes to feel creative and open-minded?

Changing your ideas.

The quality of your questions, influence your creativity and ability to innovate. Do you ever change your ideas? Do you listen, really listen, to people who disagree with you? (You might learn something.) Have you changed any of your own treasured opinions or assumptions about the world lately?  Have you ever imagined what the world might be like if it were the exact opposite of how you think it is? Do you tend to try to help people find solutions to obstacles they are facing, or do you prefer to criticize? Are you threatened by a problem you can’t solve right away?

Standing by your ideas.

A lot less is sacred and more is changeable than you think. As you develop a practice of creativity, you will be surprised (and delighted) by the doors it will open in your business—and your life. Go toward the future with a big sense of curiosity and a willingness and a desire to be creative in how you view your business and its potential. That’s the attitude you need to do big things in the world.

Finally, sometimes, the most important act of innovation is standing by the ideas you believe in, even if other people think they are silly.

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