Posts Tagged ‘humans’

If You Had Only a Few Months

I attended the calling hours of my good friend’s father this week. He’d tragically lost a two-year battle with Cancer. I couldn’t help but be reminded of how lucky Nick and I are to still have mom here after over 14 years since her diagnosis. I’ll never forget the morning I was stopped in my tracks after reading Derek’s last blog post on my smartphone. While I never met Derek, he was a devoted dad and husband just like me. If You Only Had a Few Months What if you knew your end was near? What would you do? How would you spend the time you had left? What priorities that you have today that would be displaced by things in life that suddenly seemed more important? Would you spend time wondering why those were not as important all along? Would you blog your last days or spend more time on Facebook reconnecting, sharing your thoughts and aspirations for those in hopes that some digital legacy of your own existence might be left to comfort those who would morn your passing? Or, would you shut off the internet all together, hoping to remove distractions and devote more attention to the immediate and real? What would you do if you suddenly learned you only had a few months left? photo by: donebythehandsofabrokenartist nateriggsLike what you just read and want to get my posts delivered to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HEREMore Posts Follow Me:

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7 Practices to Help You Warm Up Before Making an Ask

One of the great things about living in a world where the web (potentially) connects just about everyone is that we can make things happen by simply being good stewards of relationships. PR professionals know this well, and have for years. Part of getting clients placed in news publications and editorial stories is maintaining good relationships with editors and reporters. Savvy business developers and sales pros abide by the same mantra. Every happy client is a potential source of valuable referrals. Things move so fast now, and that same speed can cause us to let relationships chill … until, that is, we need to make an ask. The temptations of mass accessibility and instant gratification produced by tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus can make it easy to forget about relationship maintenance. Behind each avatar (or most of them anyway) lies a human being with human feelings. The 7 ideas below are meant to be a starting point. If you have your own ideas, please by all means, add them in the comments so that we can all benefit. Ready? 1.  Keep tabs on your social capital withdraws. You’ve most likely heard of the bank of ‘social capital’ before. In short, the nice things that you do for people are stored up until the time you make an ask of those people. Then the capital is withdrawn. It’s a good idea to keep notes on the withdraws you make. Making too many, too close together from the same person can damage a relationship and make someone feel like they are being used. To begin keeping tabs, you can use any number of low cost CRM systems. I still use Batchbook for instance, but spreadsheets can work too. Start by creating a list of all of your contacts and note each time you ask for their help. Keep watch on this list [...]

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When Does Reciprocity Kill the Gift Economy?

  In his books and blog, author Seth Godin often discusses an idea he’s coined as the gift economy. Because of the vastness of the internet and the connectivity it creates, it’s now easier and less costly to simply give gifts of support, sharing, thought leadership than ever before. Seth argues that giving of yourself with no expectations of a return is what strengthens the connections between members of the online community, thus leading to more productive environment for all involved In counterpoint to that idea, another acclaimed author named Dr. Robert Cialdini shares his viewpoints on the act of reciprocity, it’s effect on our culture as well as our ability to influence outcomes to our benefit. Cialdini argues that we as professionals should approach situations, first asking how we can add value to others. In doing so, we create an obligation in the minds of others to return the favor. When Does Reciprocity Kill the Gift Economy? While similar, there are definitly two sides to this discussion, and both positions seem to have firm roots. Today, Sarah and I are asking for your brains. The question you see in the title of this post came up during our drive to North Canton this morning. The video will give you a more detailed explaination on our question. Would you let us know what you think in the comments? nateriggsLike what you just read and want to get my posts delivered to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HEREMore Posts Follow Me:

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