“I wanna be Connected…”

I have recently been doing some research into the true nature of website optimisation for search engines on behalf of a client.  I knew a little bit about it but certainly wasn’t a guru at the start of the research.  What I was sure of was that a modern company needs a presence on the internet and the evil that is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a very ncessary one.

This posting isnt really about the business of SEO, its more an insight to how “connected” information and the systems that carry information have become.  Google’s technology for interrogating and ranking sites on importance, relevance and frequency.  The multiplying effect of chaining certain activities together has real impact with Google’s search technology but how many companies that really grasp that I’m not sure.

A tweet is just a tweet.  140 characters that occupy a space in time on a certain subject.  A tweet with a link – a little more important.  A tweet with a link to a document thats re-tweeted is now symbolising something to Google in terms of importance – even though it might just be about knitting (apologies to knitters across the world).  When a tweet with a link has been referenced and re-tweeted multiple times it gains an almost biblical ranking  within Google’s systems and if its re-tweeted a massive number of times its the word of god! (or any of his many incarnations).

Did we really set out to be so connected?  Did we really see that 140 characters of utter randomness could cause a revolution in another country.  The Arab Spring of 2011 showed that being this connected could bring people out onto the streets to create political change on an epic scale.   There is clearly a lot of synagy with the overused “butterfly effect” analogy; a small starting point causing a massive storm.

That analogy sits well for businesses.  A small amount of activity in the right kind of chain or sequence can cause a commercial storm for that company.  Multiple streams of tweeting, posting and blogging will speed the process up but speed is sometimes not the defining factor.  Organically growing the activity in certain relevant and key areas will create that groundswell that the business is looking for.  Time spent investigating the right use of SEO seems like time well spent for businesses.

On with the research …

The meaning of No

I’ve recently been working with a new client, helping them refine their workflow internally and structuring the company in an organisational sense to allow them to grow and accelerate.  Its an exciting time in a companies growth – expectations are high and there is a ‘we can run through walls’ thing going on with the management.  All this bodes well, staff morale is key to the growth of any new business and maintaining that high level of expectation and delivering on it will be the thing that makes a good company great.

Language is often misused or misunderstood.  The ‘yes’ culture as I call it plagues many small businesses without them really understanding the issues it causes.  Winning new business becomes winning new business at any cost – this is where the salesman just says yes to everything thats asked in an attempt to bring the work in and the consequences of that are for someone else to worry about.  Bathing in the glory of the recent contract won is far more attractive than the headaches delivery might cause.

What about saying no?  There is always a fear that a no somewhere in the discussion will end the conversation (and possibly the relationship) when in reality the use of the word no in client discussions can often generate the feeling of truth and reliability rather than being a barrier or rejection.

In my experience the word ‘no’ is rarely an outright statement of finality.  Typically its one of two slight variations:

‘No, not now’ – this means that the question is not the issue, its the timing.  Its likely that the person using this variation of no has no problem with the question and has more of an issue with the timing.  This should lead the person asking the question to then focus on the timing element to see what can be resolved.

‘No, not like that’ – I see this as being another example of where the reason for the question is not the issue but the method to deliver is something that should be the subject of the continuing discussion.

When dealing with a ‘no, either externally with a client or internally with the team – there is a vital business skill in being able to listen and understand what is actually being said and being able to continue the discussion along a productive and positive path event when the initial exchange of words seems to be negative to the untrained ear.

Rage against the Cash Machine

The innovation that is the cash machine is not as recent an innovation as many people would believe.  Its original conception goes back as far as 1960 – being of a certain age, I remember when these machines appeared on the high street at every high street bank, it was significant at the time.  The ability to withdraw cash morning,  noon and night was considered hi-tech and innovative in the public’s eyes but how has this now changed society in a bigger sense?

From my point of view (I’m not a parent by the way) I think its changed the whole notion of where money comes from for the generations of kids born in the 90′s and onward. My parents used all the stock phrases – “money doesn’t grow on trees” etc. and I took that the way they meant it.  I understood that money was earned and that there wasn’t an infinite supply of wealth generated by my parents.

As time has gone by, two generations of children have seen their parents use cash machines to withdraw money.  The idea that a machine just produces money on demand seems engrained in the psyche of children – the reason that money comes out seemingly is just that the person is asking, the connection to work and money being earned is severed in the childs mind.  I have wondered on a couple of occasions if a child stood watching while a parent uses a cash machine is thinking that the machine is printing the money as it goes.  This would take the child even further from the truth of what a cash machine is for and what it represents.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has encountered this scenario but I recently overheard a conversation between a parent and a child who were discussing the possibility of buying a new CD.  The parent had clearly just been to the cash point but the child used the phrase  ’Its not a problem, when you don’t have any money left you can just go to the hole in the wall and get some more ….’   I think there is something inherently wrong with this train of thought, but to me, this issue was then compounded by the parent using weak and accommodating language to try and placate the child rather than tackle the issue head on.

Ultimately its in the realm of the parents to try and get their children to understand the nature of money, where it comes from, how you earn it, that it doesn’t just grow, that machines just don’t hand it out and that understanding money and all its nuances is a valuable life skill.   Society in general will be better off if kids are educated on the fine balance that’s required to manage money and how it effects them - whether they have it or not.