Skip this indented part if you’re in a hurry and you already know how the term P2P came to be:
Though I am sure that someone thought of it long before I did, I coined the term P2P in 2008 in response to a question someone asked me about the evolution of business. The individual was asking about differences between B2B and B2C (business-to-business vs. business-to-consumer for the uninitiated) and it occurred to me that the context of the question required that I remove those two categories from his line of thinking. I suggested that he might want to look at the way businesses communicate more in terms of P2P (People to People). Thus, the idea of P2P was born – at least in my world.
Fast forward to today: Dozens of presentations, trainings and speaking engagements later (and well into writing the book on this ), I thought it would be interesting to start outlining some of the characteristics of the type of business that thinks of itself more as being P2P than B2B or B2C. I was thinking about it so much this week that I actually had a dream that I was writing this post last night, which prompted me to write this in the real (awake) world this morning. So here we are.
By the way, what we are talking about here isn’t an evolution from B2B and B2C to P2P, but rather a cultural shift that allows businesses to – while still falling into a B2B or B2C category when it comes to their relationship to their markets – see themselves primarily as P2P organizations from a cultural and operational perspective. Does that make sense? In other words, businesses don’t cease to be B2B or B2C when they adopt a P2P “lifestyle”. They just get better at doing business, basically. MUCH better.
If you skipped ahead, welcome back. Start reading now.
What might a P2P business look like? Well, that may be too long a topic to cover in a blog post – hence the book, but what I can share today is a short list of characteristics you might find when encountering (or looking for) such a business culture. Here are the first few that jumped to mind:
1. The P2P business doesn’t hire though job sites or advertising. It hires by inviting candidates already connected to the company through social networks, both online and offline. New hires rarely have more than two degrees of separation from their new boss and team, meaning they are either connected directly to at least one of them via a social network or came personally recommended by someone connected to a member of the team. In other words, the P2P business hires people it knows, respects, trusts, and has a relationship with instead of relying on a “human resources” bureaucrat to pluck complete strangers out of a resume pool.
2. The P2P business no longer has a Director of Social Media, just like traditional B2B and B2C businesses no longer have a Director of Telephones: Social Media is completely embedded in the organization from an operational standpoint. What does that mean? It means that every department, from HR to Marketing to Product Development to Customer Service to Community Management uses Social Media the way they use any other tools and channels to do their jobs. There is no longer a separation between “traditional” media, “digital” media, “telephonic” media, “Water Cooler” media, and “Social” media. The company uses Social Media fluently to communicate with people inside and outside the company. (Note that I did not utter the word “customer” once in this paragraph.
3. The P2P company doesn’t block FaceBook. The P2P company doesn’t block Twitter. The P2P company doesn’t block LinkedIn. It doesn’t frown on access to community platforms like Ning. As a matter of fact, the P2P company helps its employees participate in online and offline networks more effectively through training and development instead of trying to insulate them from those “dangerous” online community platforms. As a bonus, since HR is no longer tasked with recruiting complete strangers, its staff manages this function beautifully.
4. Within the P2P business, the I.T. department no longer plays the role of cranky gatekeeper when it comes to adopting and deploying digital tools. The I.T. department has morphed into the T.E. department: Technology Enablement. Former I.T. professionals with passive-aggressive tendencies who get in the way of employees using the latest and most effective digital tools no longer have a place in the P2P Business. (Buh-bye. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way back to the ’90s.)
5. P2P Brand Managers are among the most sophisticated business strategists on the planet. No longer do they mostly be concerned with push messaging, self-serving marketing communications, trade dress and the ever ubiquitous logo redesigns. Their skillset has now exploded to meet the needs of an increasingly complex organization and marketplace.
- They are now fluent in the four precepts of effective P2P program ownership: Development, integration, management (where monitoring lives) and measurement.
- They are personally involved and invested in the communities that support and align themselves with the brand(s) they manage.
- They are now equally involved in every step of the product lifecycle process, from ideation, design, development, manufacturing, testing, launch, and management.
- They spend at least as much time in the world as they do inside the bubble of their corporate office, because they realize that is where their brand and products actually live.
- Brand Managers are now mobile. They are cultural anthropologists as much as they are business managers. They look to free themselves from the corporate cocoon as much as possible to keep their perspective fresh and their insights untainted.
- Brand Managers have become socio-cultural designers. Think about that for a minute and then think about it some more. This is key.
Why this change? Because the P2P business realizes that since everything touches the brand, the brand requires an advanced level of strategic, tactical and management sophistication not currently found in your average brand manager. These folks are highly connected, well traveled, intellectually curious, passionate leaders, not just mid-career marketing professionals with 3-5 years of product launch experience.
6. The P2P business understands how to smoothly blend campaigns with its daily mix of activities. Though it is naive to think that there is no longer a division between PR, Advertising, email marketing, web “marketing”, mobile marketing, customer support and community engagement, these roles and the deliverables they create work seamlessly together. Two reasons for this:
- A structure now exists that both requires and enables lateral communication through real time collaborative tools between all deliverable owners. (Nice corporate-speak, right? Gotta love it. See (7) below.) In other words, the left hand talks to the right hand a) because they can and b) because they must.
- Doing business any other way is just stupid and management at the P2P Business understands that all too well.
- See (5) above: The Brand Manager and his staff are actually capable of managing this level of complexity now.
The P2P business knows how to integrate project teams from outside firms and agencies. They are now embedded in the business rather than treated as an external element.
7. The P2P business only uses corporate speak to make fun of corporate speak – and out of a sense of responsibility: Keeping that dying linguistic tradition alive will serve as a lesson to future generations that the world of gray cubicles, and cretinous business language almost destroyed business in the early 21st century. Footnote: For whatever reason, Bullshit Bingo meetings usually happen on Mondays and Thursdays. Don’t ask me why.
8. Employees of P2P businesses don’t hate their jobs. Why? Because they are empowered by their management team to collaborate with employees and the communities they touch. As a result of being clearly aware of their operational boundaries and because they receive ongoing, multilateral support from their organization, they know how to act professionally when dealing with the public. While roles and org charts are still clearly defined for obvious reasons, employees enjoy a greater level of operational flexibility, working across silos/departments when their breadth of skills match the needs of a particular project or program.
For the organization, this interconnectivity helps break down silos, helps accelerate project completion time-lines, and reconnects the company organically with the outside world (their markets). From an employee perspective, it results in a dynamic ecosystem which fosters professional and personal development on a day-to-day basis. Empowered, engaged employees are usually happy employees. Happy employees usually create fantastic customer experiences and help make good companies great.
9. The P2P business no longer outsources its customer service. Period.
10. The P2P business partners with like-minds. Put simply, it understands that the partners it aligns itself with say at least as much about its brand(s) as it does on its own. Even when partnerships are meant to be purely strategic or tactical, they signal an alignment of values that the marketplace (the community) is quick to take note of and interpret. The P2P business understands that public opinion drives its brand. It no longer puts itself in a position of having to defend its choice of strategic partners. Cultural compatibility is now as important as strategic benefits. Call it a positive byproduct of transparency, and a welcome farewell to the corporate need for PR’s much maligned (and increasingly ineffective) spin function.
11. In case it wasn’t obvious: People would sell their grandmother to work there. Not just because the P2P company pays well (it might not) but because it is known to be a fantastic place to work, learn, and build lasting professional and personal relationships. People who work there are happier than most, professionally engaged and fulfilled, consider themselves successful (their definition may differ from yours), and wouldn’t dream of working anywhere else.
That ought to get the conversation started. 😉
Speaking of P2P implementation… Without revealing too much too soon, I would start planning to attend the February 2010 #Likeminds conference in Exeter, Devon, UK. Bring a thick notebook and a couple of extra pens. That’s all I can say for now.
Cheers. 😉
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You nailed it.
Funnily enough, you nailed it just as I was writing ‘How To Become P2P’. Now *that* is a case of like mindedness like no other.
So yeah, the conversation is started 🙂
Likeminds and all. 😉
I’m an IT professional – I love this:
“Former I.T. professionals with passive-aggressive tendencies who get in the way of employees using the latest and most effective digital tools no longer have a place in the P2P Business. (Buh-bye. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way back to the ’90s.)”
In large organizations it’s difficult to determine whether this attitude actually originates in the IT dept or in the rest of the business, but it certainly is prevalent.
Really good blog post: looking forward to hearing you at #LikeMinds in February!
Hey, if you’re an IT guy and liked that part, you and I will get along famously. The IT world needs more pros like you. 🙂
See you in February.
Thank you for the post. Good stuff.
Wow this sounds awesome….what is the heavy lifting to completely revolutizes the way we do business across the board, because you know you are suggesting that the people that have built careers on the current way are gunna kick and scream and they currently hold purse strings how do you borrow money to burry them? Because that is essitentially you are doing if they resist…..
Would love to make the trek across the pond!
The people who are willing and able to adapt won’t get left behind. Their experience working for their organizations is invaluable, so I don’t suggest a thorough house-cleaning. That would be unrealistic and ill-advised.
However, I wouldn’t be opposed to a re-interviewing of existing employees coupled with an assessment of their skills, goals and motivations. If they want to be part of the new culture, then the organization should do what it can to help them adapt. If on the other hand, they decide to resist the change or are just not adaptable, then they probably need to go.
Organizational change is a process. Part of that process involves a sorting of resources. Some will make the cut and others won’s. What’s key here is that hierarchy has nothing to do with these decisions. I would much rather eliminate or move a bad manager with a trainable team than keep her on the payroll and replace a team of good people.
What I look for in exercises like these are the weak links. Whether they’re a lowly intern or a Senior VP is irrelevant to me. Whatever your pay scale, either adapt or find a new job. I don’t have time for politics. 😉
So all of this to say that an org committed to change needs to be committed to change. There’s no 50% here. It has to be 100%.
Incredible. Just incredible.
Since we’re all going to be responsible in our own ways for representing the company, we’re all going to be responsible for customer service. And since we’re all responsible for customer service, the only “off shore” customer service rep is the one who is so passionate about the company/product/service that he’s calling a customer on Skype from his netbook on the beach somewhere.
It’s a shame the obtuse and power hungry are so well entrenched. It’s gonna take an almost militant P2P movement to bring down those cold, deaf walls.
Love this post. If only I could use Firefox here at work (instead of IE6), I could be sharing this link via TwitterFox. 😉
*I am, however, going to tinyurl, handwriting the new link down, and tweeting this from my blackberry. Vive l’revolution!
LOL. Isn’t it nuts that you can’t even use your browser of choice at work?
I spent years bypassing protocols and “approved” tools to get things done. It’s completely stupid that we find ourselves in this kind of position.
True story: My last corporate job. I wanted to start a blog for my department. Pitched it and got the okay from the President. Went to the Marketing dept’s web team to get it set up. Item 1: What’s a blog? Item 2: What platform do we need to use? (We have Typepad approved, I think.) Item 3: Sorry, but it will have to look like this (insert horrendous UI design from 1984 here.)
A week goes by. A month. Then two. Then three. Still no blog.
I whip out my laptop. Call the digital marketing manager to my desk. Proceed to create a blog on WordPress in ten minutes, including custom banners and backgrounds in front of her. Email her the url. Thank her for her time. Her reaction: How did you do that?!?!?
For real. At what point do we stand up and say “enough with the stupidity. Let’s just do things the way they ought to be done.” Know what I mean?
These people live in a time capsule. Either they wake the hell up or we leave them behind. That’s about the extent of our options. 😉
A RAY OF HOPE!
Turns out I was only under the IMPRESSION that IE6 was required. When I pointed it out to my boss (who interviewed me socially prior to mentioning the opportunity even existed, by the way), she said, “Welcome to corporate America.”
I started scouring the intranet for loopholes. I found nothing stating that IE6 was the only approved browser and then found Sharepoint sites where members of IS were providing instructions on how to get Firefox to work with the various applications we use. When IT came to my desk to install some software I needed, I asked if Firefox was allowed. They said it sure was.
Today, I’m running Firefox and life is good. I told my boss that IS approved ‘Fox, but there are times when IE is required (fortunately there’s IEtab, right?). My boss was very excited, appreciated my sharing the news, and asked that I offer to help anyone else on the team switch to Firefox if they would like to use it.
Word.
Word. That’s awesome news.
[…] Tweets about this great post on TwittLink.com […]
Brian, I’m with you!! Although I *can* use Firefox at work, I’ll support your handwriting and blackberry tweeting!
Heck, I didn’t even have to read this whole post to know that it’s inspired. We are the choir. Olivier does a fabulous job of dealing with the people that frustrate me on a daily basis.
Olivier, as usual, keep it up.
You guys please do me a favor: Print this and leave it on the desks of people who aren’t in the choir yet. They need to read it too. 😉
“Print this” Indeed!!!! They still print all their email!!!
Not a bad idea… 😉
As a BtoB marketer, it was great to run across your thoughts on PtoP. Makes a whole lot more sense to approach the world this way! Thanks. I look forward to reading more of you blog posts. – Mike Kolbrener
Thanks, Mike. I’m glad you liked the post. 🙂
Just a heads up
P2P has been around as a network term, for 20 years, as in peer to peer,– peering being a “networked node”….It then morphed in the 90’s , as a term referencing a “colleague”, a few years thereafter…
good cogent article.
Thanks Dax. I know. We might have to share the nomenclature with the Peer-to-peer crowd for a bit. Same term, different meaning. 😉
Great post Olivier, these are important points for all companies to start to reflect on. Organizations that do not implement these practices will be left in the dust.
I believe there is a role for all managers and such to start to create new system/business policies which include these practices, so they start. Nothing will change unless there is a plan to do so, that is where interesting task comes in.
We need be able to define and have the policies created in a modular fashion, so certain parts can be updated, plug and play as the organization grows.
Hi Kayam. Right on. I am helping companies do just that. 😉
Magnifique mon ami!!!! Absolutley brilliant. 😀
It’s all about the people. I love this bit:
“Brand Managers have become socio-cultural designers. Think about that for a minute and then think about it some more. This is key.”
And this bit:
“They spend at least as much time in the world as they do inside the bubble of their corporate office, because they realize that is where their brand and products actually live.”
And finally I agree the “resume pool” is dead:
“…the P2P business hires people it knows, respects, trusts, and has a relationship with instead of relying on a “human resources” bureaucrat to pluck complete strangers out of a resume pool.”
I refer the current excitement around social media and P2P as like being on a train, or even better in this analogy, a boat full of excited passengers of early adopters and the buzz is incredible. We’re all on a journey and we know we’re heading somewhere amazing but we’re not exactly sure of the final destination.
We’re all making this up as we go and there is no doubt that there are some real movers and shakers on the boat. You’re definitely one of them Olivier. 😉
We’re all floating on the “C”‘s of change:
Conversation
Commonality
Contribution
Community
Connection
Communication
Cultural Compatibility
Challenge
CHANGE!
We have to change and embrace P2P: the New Social Media Culture. Yes, it’s gonna be tough at times but there’s still plenty room for some more movers and shakers.
Thanks for a fantastic, thought provoking blog.
You de man!
This is a great post, Olivier, but I am a bit stymied about where to start – definitely something to think about breaking up for the book. 😉
You have hit on so many things near and dear to me, where I sit as a definite user experience advocate, opinionated customer service evangelist, pseudo-marketer and sometime social media consultant.
For the past month or more, the things we’ve been discussing all point in one direction for me, and that is what you describe here – the needs of socially interacting with brand fans, consumers and customers far transcend what any one department is capable of handling alone (in a large company, at least.) As we have looked at defining job duties, job titles and appropriate guidelines, it’s become beyond obvious to me that this is a corporate cultural shift that companies can simply no longer ignore. One way or another, people will interact with them via online channels. If they don’t show up to the party, that doesn’t stop people from posting blog articles, videos, images and comments about the company with others who want to discuss them. So if people want to stick their head in the sand and pray this madness will cease, they can, but that’s not going to stop people from continuing to shape their brand image FOR them via all of this online sharing and chatting.
So I’m very glad to see you bring this up, with such a clear vision of what we are looking at in the present and the future. 🙂
So, about some of the specific things you mention:
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS
From #2: “The P2P business no longer has a Director of Social Media”… that’s a point I can appreciate in spirit, but don’t have a problem with as job role. I could see someone being in the position to work with the CMO, Customer Service personnel, product marketing, Marcom director etc. to help organize efforts across a plethora of social channels. I see this person as having the most detailed understanding of how the various pieces work together and the benefits that can be gained – maybe I’m thinking of the equivalent of a “social media evangelist” but in a large corporation these programs, principles and policies aren’t going to happen overnight, and I would much rather see that role in the hands of an empowered, passionate person, than on the shoulders of an already overwhelmed marketing or human resources department. This is not a marketing role – organizationally I think it needs to act as a bridge between departments even if paid out of Marketing’s budget. The authority and influence has to extend beyond marketing to produce changes across the enterprise.
HIRING GREAT EMPLOYEES
I love how you tied in the non-blocking of any website into the not-hiring perfect strangers in points 1 & 3. This is why your program thoughts are what companies need to hear. 😉
ENABLING TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS
The Technology Enablement department concept SINGS. I don’t know if you came up with that but if so seek the trademark immediately. LOL! Write a paper for the analysts or something… absolutely NOTHING can change within a very large corporation if employees basic permissions don’t allow them flexibility online or access to certain sites. Make the HR rules about using sites for business instead of personal recreation while on the clock – what’s so hard about that??? This is SUCH a hard concept for companies to get, when they are not in the trenches everyday and asking a question on Twitter, just to get back usually A) an answer, B) resource links and validation the answer is correct and C) offers of help. I have worked in a large company before – I get answers to solve work problems in a fraction of the time it took sometimes to get another employee’s attention (or the IT dept.) to help me!
BRAND MANAGERS NEED TO EVOLVE
I agree 100% with “P2P Brand Managers are among the most sophisticated business strategists on the planet.” To me, they do everything you’ve mentioned as well as possibly manage the Social Media Director or work hand-in-hand with them to ensure the integrity of the brand is maintained, evolved, contributed to, problems are addressed as needed and customers, stakeholders and staff are happily moving the brand FORWARD.
However, I can tell, because of your background and history, and knowing my background and history, that we may have had more to do with product development than some of the people with the Brand Manager title today. I know of very sophisticated computer programs that sort and organize assets with approvals by a brand manager for different channels, and that is NOT really the type of person we are talking about in this role, so the new Brand Manager, to me, could come from outside that given title if that’s the case somewhere. You and I are brand-centric so I get totally what you’re saying and agree…. just wanted to put a thought in your head regarding even more clarity on that perhaps.
CUSTOMER SERVICE RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS
You said something I loved so much I had to tweet it.
“9. The P2P business no longer outsources its customer service. Period.”
So many companies, in these economic times, are making the severe mistake of taking customer service for granted. It has become tragic to see customer service blunders these days, when so many folks here are willing to work and they could adopt a new model of service that includes social networks and distributes call center, on-site or in-person customer service loads. This area should be HUGE in the next couple of years (gosh I hope) as ordinary ways of doing business morph into the beautiful people-to-people model you’ve outlined. Crossing my fingers we get to both help companies do that and watch a lot of major brands adopt new methods in the coming months.
The excitement is oozing from your pores since your trip to Europe and your association with #likeminds. I’m glad you’ve taken this path and are bringing those of us with like minds along for the journey.
Yes, I think you are identifying the way forward in several interesting respects.
And now that you describe it, I even blogged recently about the leader of an organisation which seems to be adopting this P2P stance with customers and staff.
In one sense, you have identified what people have been doing for time immemorial, largely because it is the most effective approach. The strength of individual-oriented relationships has always been important. Professional salespeople have been saying for ages that “people buy from people”. Whatever area you are in, for a long time, there have been “old boy networks”, including those arising simply from having collaborated in the same organisations, teams and projects; this is due to the perceived trust in the shared values that arise.
So what is new? It seems that you have identified the novelty that this can be represented explicitly through social media and other elements of developing infrastructure that will be at our disposal. Wherever we look, there are examples of the emergence of externalised representations of formerly internal mechanisms. This can be seen as the technology-enabled “automation” aspect of the “Whole New Mind” (Daniel Pink) thesis which leaves us to concentrate on value derived from synthesis; and there are parallels even with the GTDesque technology-agnostic “external mind” representation allowing the release of creative potential.
So what? Previously interactions were limited to being either comprehensive but local or long-range but simple. More sophisticated representation of personal interaction and relationships dramatically enhances their reach and, therefore, the scale of their application.
You are identifying that much wider consequences and opportunities flow from this.
Thanks very much for showing us the way!
John W Lewis
Right. Social technologies and the cultural push that drives their use provide a whole new platform for this type of business culture. And for the first time since the start of the digital age, companies can reconnect with their customers without having to trade relationships for scale. (Companies who choose to can now actually have their cake and eat it too.) This wasn’t possible 5 years ago. It’s pretty exciting.
[…] anything else, spoiler alert: the answer is People2People (P2P) thinking, what proceeds is just how to get there. So best go and read Olivier Blanchard’s manifesto […]
– Professional salespeople have been saying for ages that “people buy from people” –
Actually John,
Us old pros have used the phrase every so slightly differently than you quote: It’s “People buy people”. I first heard that saying as a very junior IBM salesman in 1970!
The removal of the word ‘from’ makes a huge difference.
I don’t want to rain on Olivier’s parade but, to my mind, there is nothing new about the concept P2P – people to people. Not knocking the new and iconic way of describing it – P2P – by the way. A label for our times.
But, to my mind, what has happened over the last 60 years is that a people-service orientated way of business, as it was before the last war, got hijacked by the smart young things coming out of Uni with lots of great economic, marketing and efficiency ideas. The God was productivity and efficiency and out with the old and in with the new.
Trouble was that people evolve much more slowly – I mean very much more slowly.
The bright new ways have shown themselves to be no more than what we see on November 5th!
Fundamentally, people want Service – Integrity – Trust and that’s very difficult if I am made to feel like a inert, opinionless consumer.
Prof. Frederick Reichheld in his fabulous book, The Loyalty Effect, shows how the old ways are, in practice, the most profitable. Isn’t that strange!! Loyal customers really are the best ones!
What social media, on the back of web technology, is really doing is allowing each of us to revert to what we really wanted to do all the time – have decent relationships with all of our customers and prospects.
Thank goodness the last 40 years or so are disappearing!
Funny thing though – top down organisations such as Governments and large enterprises will find that the new ‘lateral’ communications that society is embracing will have them struggling to control information in the way that they want.
There’s a shame!
Regards to all,
Paul Handover
http://learningfromdogs.com
You’re right, Paul. P2P isn’t new. You aren’t raining on my parade.
But P2P vanished a few decades ago and it’s had a very tough time making a comeback. As businesses scaled and globalized, P2P went away with “the customer is always right,” and locally owned businesses.
And if it weren’t for social technologies, it might have taken a few decades longer to finally make a comeback. Luckily, we may not have to wait that long.
Thanks for the comment.
[…] Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new Social Business « The BrandBuilder Blog (tags: socialmedia marketing socialnetworking branding) […]
I couldn’t complete the bullship bingo neither vertically nor horizontally while reading this? 😉
Thanks Olivier. Respect.
I’ll write one that will score for you on April 1. 😉
[…] on behaviours and organizations – which includes discussion on Olivier Blanchard’s post on Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new Social Business – in today’s episode 497 of the FIR podcast that will be published tonight […]
[…] 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment I came across a post by Olivier Blanchard on how “smart” organizations can/should embrace the new business communication […]
[…] Olivier Blanchard wrote a piece describing the principal characteristics of a social business. You should read that one […]
I stumbled upon this post this morning and had an experience of complete synchronicity. In one way or another I am trying to help all of my clients understand these truths. And to your suggestion, I AM forwarding these thoughts to each and every one of my clients.
I’ve just become one of your biggest fans. And I’ve told the readers of my blog so:
http://www.element22.com/site/post.php?id=520&cat=2
Thank you.
I’m honored. Thank you. 🙂
Absolutely loved this, Olivier. Company/organizational culture is something I love getting into and am still learning a lot about.
One point of interest that intrigues me, and what you mentioned in no. 8, is empowering your employees. Giving them not only the tools and structure to succeed, but empowerment and reinforcement from internal leaders – the attitude that not only spreads throughout the company but outside of the office also (as we all know, work/life intermingle so much). I say it’s intriguing because it’s such an integral part in making this culture change and a P2P business a success.
The biggest thing that companies will be asking though when reading this post, let alone your upcoming book, is ‘how the hell do we accomplish this?’ It sounds/is great, as how businesses function – internally and externally – is evolving, quick. But there’s definitely got to be a huge buy-in and sense of what a P2P culture looks and feels like. (All I’m sure you’ll be touching upon in your book 😉 )
Exciting to hear about the book and as usual, thanks for getting me thinking. Keep rockin’, O 🙂
Hi Sonny!
As always, the old adage about leading horses to water stands firm. Companies are illusions. What you’re really dealing with are people. In other words, companies don’t make decisions. People make decisions. Particularly, leaders in this instance. If the leadership within a company refuses to commit to the type of change that will yield greater success for their business in the future (and starting immediately), I can’t help them. Even Tony Robbins can’t help them.
What’s important here isn’t to sell change. Nobody likes change. It’s scary, it’s risky, it’s unpredictable. You’ll never get very far selling fear, risk and uncertainty. Especially to that crowd. 😀 So you have to approach change from a very different angle: From the end result. You want to uncover the leaders’ specific objectives (or wishes, even) and then create a picture of what the company (as an organization) will look like in this “fantasy” version of the future. Understanding changes in cultural dynamics and the evolution of technology, you can then zoom in from the portrait/snapshot of the company to its structure, then to its processes, then to the skills of its members. From there, you can reverse-engineer the adaptive phases that the company needs to go through. Anyway… Long story short: The most important thing when trying to get buy-in is to help clarify exactly where the company wants to be in 5, 10, 20 years. Not pie-in-the-sky bullshit, but specifics. Once you have that, you can paint a clear picture of what the future of the company NEEDS to look like. Now you’ve flipped change on its head. Instead of selling uncertainty, you’re selling clarity. Knowing where you’re going is 90% of getting there. Most company execs are so focused on meeting numbers this month and this quarter that they just can’t figure look beyond the here and now long enough to actually drive their businesses anywhere. By helping them see 1 year into the future, then 2, then 5, than 10, you can help them impact their numbers now. This quarter. This half. This fiscal year. That’s what I do.
But with all of that, if a CEO or a COO just doesn’t want to change their ways, if they are more committed to their game of golf and corner office and third house at the Cliffs, there isn’t much I can do. I can’t fix stupid, and I sure as hell can’t fix lazy. People have to want to be successful, and it can be hard to convince a late career exec making seven figures that success is about more than the wealth they’ve already amassed. Success is a frame of mind they either want to have or not. A guy who just wants to enjoy the trappings of success but isn’t willing to work his ass off to actually perpetuate that success is a guy who’s given up. Unless the rest of the management team and I can appeal to their sense of pride and self worth, and tap into the ambition that fueled them in their youth, they’re basically in the way. Folks like that either have to get back in the game or move on if you want the organization to evolve.
So, all this to say that you won’t win them all. Execs who have grown complacent, live in denial and refuse to accept that their companies are headed straight to the crapper in ten years are beyond being reasoned with. I’ll only get so far with them and move on. In the end, I can’t help a guy who doesn’t want to help himself. And since organizations are really collectives of people, you either find leadership teams of people who are willing to do whatever it takes to save and/or make their businesses kick ass even more, or leadership teams who are happy to pretend that everything is fine even though their business is either stalled or in the tank.
In other words, I’m not a miracle worker. I help people who are serious about being successful. The rest, I try not to waste my time with. It’s far too precious as it is. 😉
Thank you for sharing this!!
[…] block what could be a friendship made in heaven. Why? From a recent post on The BrandBuilder Blog, Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new Social Business: Employees of P2P (People to People) businesses don’t hate their jobs. Why? Because they are […]
Hey nice article ! Really interesting have a look at: http://www.survey.nu ! It is also a portal for b2c survey where people can get paid ! Regards
I like your ideas on P2P. They are really fresh and innovative.
Having been in business for over 25 years and a background in some old traditional organizations, I can see how you might have some problems getting companies to implement.
For example, I.T. departments have always been the gate keepers of ANY technology. Many of these departments are the ones restricting use of Facebook, Twitter and Lindekin. Sometimes there is a very real fear that a virus could inadvertantly be downloaded by an unsusupecting employee.
On your point #10 that the business would partner with “like-minded” companies, I’m not sure this is realistic. Some business partner with companies because the have little choice due to competitive factors, supply chain issues , or even price concerns. I’m not entirely sure whether you are referring to a specific set of businesses releated to marketing or SMM, however, in the larger world, it is difficult for a business to restrict itself in this way (See ISO 9001 for many examples.)
I could go on, but the concept itself it s a good one and I’d like to stay positive.
Regards
John
Think of these criteria as ideals. Are most companies ready to become this type of business? Of course not. Are they capable of becoming this type of business? Absolutely. So, in light of the fact that they are capable but not ready, we have to consider baby steps.
I’ve already seen examples of companies choosing to partner with like-minded organizations, and outright rejecting organizations whose values weren’t aligned with their own. At the enterprise level,that would be the rare bird. Marriages in that space are 100% about convenience, not love. But in the SMB space, marriages of love AND convenience occur much more frequently. Why? More opportunities for them. Think about the endless ocean of SMBs out there vs. the small sea of enterprise-sized businesses.
That said, there’s probably a reason I stuck that one at #10. 😉
Thanks for the comment, John. Much appreciated.
[…] Here’s an astute question from Sonny Gill: in regards to characteristic n.8 in my post about “Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new social business“: […]
[…] approach that’s emerging, why do we need a marketing department at all? In his blog post https://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/becoming-p2p-principal-characteristics-of-the-new-so… Olivier Blanchard sets out that a P2P business (people to people) doesn’t even need a Social […]
Great post Olivier…thanks. My response is below:
http://annholman.co.uk/marketing/will-marketing-departments-go/
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[…] Here’s an astute question from Sonny Gill: in regards to characteristic n.8 in my post about “Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new social business”: […]
[…] block what could be a friendship made in heaven. Why? From a recent post on The BrandBuilder Blog, Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new Social Business: Employees of P2P (People to People) businesses don’t hate their jobs. Why? Because they are […]
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