Conspiracy or Collaboration

There are times when conspiracy is a necessary evil. Most of the time though, conspiracy is a detriment to our relationships. It limits us and pits us against one another.

Which do you use in your business?

… in your church?

… with your friends and family?

Just got out of Kem Meyer’s session Got Blog?

It was a great session. Yes, some of the material was basic, but that’s what the session description stated. Still, she shared some great advice to bloggers – novice and veteran alike. Also, I met some other bloggers and we shared ideas with each other.

Another benefit was discovering Kem and her blog. With all of our shared interests, I was surprised we hadn’t crossed paths before. Goes to show sometimes analog still trumps digital.
It has been a great experience here at Willow. I haven’t enjoyed everything, but everything isn’t about me. I’ll probably begin unpacking some of the lessons learned from people like Dewitt Jones, Nancy Beach, Dan Kimball and Donald Miller later.

It’s fascinating stuff and dovetails so tightly with what is occurring in marketing today concerning authenticity, creativity, stories and relevance.

More to come.

This will be my third time to attend one of their Arts Conferences.  It’s always refreshing and energizing.  I can’t wait to come back with stories about my heart and mind were opened to something bigger than I anticipated.

Faith and art have always been central to my identity.  I have long considered myself both a Christian and an artist.  So, this conference strikes the sweet spot.

I’m not sure what my time and Internet connection situation will be next Friday.  If I have the opportunity to blog from Chicago, I will.

After being tagged by both John Grant and Spike (who both have GREAT blogs – check ‘em out), I’m way late in getting this done. We’re going through some exciting changes at our fledgling agency. Since I merged my consulting practice with Sandy’s agency, I have been very reactive. Getting on top of stuff now (thank goodness) and will probably be blogging a bit more.

John and Spike tagged me to continue a blog meme discussing 5 things you don’t know about me. Here we go.

1. I grew up in a grocery store.

I wasn’t raised by a pack of wolves, I was raised by a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper. Actually, my grandparents owned the local grocery store in Kellyville, OK. The store was sort of a local mercantile. You could go to Staiger’s Grocery and buy food, hardware, automotive parts, plumbing supplies, and even feed for your cattle.

My father was the store manager and my mom was the produce manager. The store was about 3 blocks from school. Sometimes I would walk to school from the grocery store when my dad took me to work in the morning, and I usually walked to the grocery store after school – waiting for my mom to get off work at 5 PM. I spent many hours reading comic books in front of the magazine rack or playing tape-ball in the store warehouse.

2. I began my career as an illustrator.

Maybe it was all those years of reading comic books. I have drawn every since I can remember using a pencil or crayon. I remember being 4 years old, drawing a picture and asking my mom how to spell my name so I could sign my masterpiece.

I won some art show awards in high school. I was elated to take Best of Show my senior year. Mr. Chinoweth, the high school art instructor, was a huge encouragement to me. He’s one of the reasons I stuck with art.

While at Oklahoma State University, I majored in graphic design with an emphasis in illustration (they didn’t have an illustration degree). Carey Hissey was my illustration instructor and my favorite by far.

After graduation, I began illustrating for magazines and book publishers. After a few years, I found the isolation of freelance illustration (and the tiny paychecks) losing it’s luster and began to work for some agencies in Tulsa, OK.

3. I auditioned for The Apprentice.

The Apprentice held auditions in Oklahoma City a few years ago. I felt confident in my creativity and business sense, so I figured it was worth a shot. I felt like I did pretty well.

They do group “auditions” where they give a controversial topic and let everyone debate chaotically. I decided to let both sides be presented, point out both sides’ flaws, and give a third perspective as a solution. Each time, the room became quiet and I seemed to give the final answer.

I was voted project manager by our group in the end. But I never got a call for the next round. I’m guessing I was too diplomatic. “Diplomatic” isn’t good for TV.

4. My solo song has been released.

Actually, it was released 8 years ago. Our church recorded an album as a tribute to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. My solo is a song called “We Are United.” It’s not bad, but don’t expect to see me on American Idol.

5. Mo’ drama, mo’ drama, mo’ drama.

I’ve been involved in drama since junior high school. Back then, my best friend and I were awarded the “Steven Spielberg” award for creativity in drama.

In high school, I won local and district competitions with a dramatic duet (a scene from The Rainmaker). We went on to state competition with it.

In college, I performed works of Shakespeare as Hamlet and Henry V. I also performed with a drama and music group that ministered to prisons and youth shelters.

I have led drama ministry at our church (Liberty Church in Broken Arrow, OK), but left that role recently. I still write scripts and direct occasionally for dramas at our church.

Of course this experience has helped me as I write TV and radio scripts for Hahn Promotions. A little drama background doesn’t hurt a creative director.

Keeping the meme alive, I will tag Steve, Cord, and Ernie.

Bill Kinnon has written (and recorded) an excellent book addressing this topic, A Networked Conspiracy: Social Networks, the Church, and the Power of Collective Intelligence. Bill was kind enough to send me an early draft of the book, but I’m ordering a copy of the finished product today.

At $9.95 for the audio recording AND booklet, it seems like a great bargain. I already know which two church leaders I’m loaning out to first.

Visit Bill’s blog Achievable Ends, where he offers the first six minutes of audio as a free download.

Update
Bill has created a Networked Conspiracy blog.  Check out his latest “conspiracy theories.”

…maybe that’s why I love the concept so much (sorry my CPA friends):
Asset-Based Thinking (non-flash version)

Within their material, I see the phrase:

Small Shifts
_____________

Make Seismic Differences

It seems uncanny that I happen to be reading Seismic Shifts by Kevin Harney. The theme of this book? The little changes that make a BIG difference in your life.

I’d like to make two points:

1. This is not just “think positive” teachings. See Kathryn Cramer’s interview on Tom Peters’ website for proof of that.

2. I’m really trying to digest the idea of small shifts leading to big change.

I think that is a great subject for discussion. Thoughts?

Get ready for the long, hard road ahead.

I’m not saying that it won’t work, I’m not even saying it won’t be worth it. It is just a very difficult, yet strangely widely accepted, road to take.

“Turn or burn!” the man yells from the street corner. What is he selling? Salvation or fear (or fire protection for that matter)? I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to see anyone ‘turn’, no matter how loud he yells.
His goal is conversion.

Is that your goal? ‘Converting’ your prospects into customers? What does that tell you?

People have to change in order to become your customer.

They have to change in order to come to your church. They have to change in order to buy your product. They have to change in order to be in your club.

It takes a lot to convince someone that they should change. Even more to convince them that you’re the one that can change them.

But what if you could awaken them to a need that is already there? What if you could awaken them to their need that you meet? What if you could show them that they’re really already searching for what you have?

The trick isn’t in convincing them of their need, it is in finding the people who truly are searching for what you have, who have a need you meet.

Because of the difficulty and cost in finding these people, we had to convince people to buy our products. Now, thanks to the internet, permission marketing, and ever-advancing search capabilities, we merely need to awaken people to the need they already have and which we meet. In fact, it makes it much easier to find the ones who are already awake.

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Bonus Thought
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A more effective strategy is to position your product as an agent of change, not to expect your customer to be one.

My wife and I are currently going through a small group study by Crown Financial Ministries. The study is intended to help families apply biblical principals to their money management. One of the points they make is that the more TV you watch, the more catalogs you peruse, then the more money you spend. Often needlessly. Honestly, that’s a hard pill for someone in marketing to swallow. How do I reconcile that? Partly in my choice of clientele and partly with honesty. Still, it seems like a fine line to walk.

Additionally, I recently read a bbc.com article detailing how more churches and ministries are using advertising to draw attendance. I have no problem with this in practice. And some of the ads are actually pretty good. What I am concerned about is churches and ministries RELYING on advertising as many businesses do. What if churches become more concerned with making sure their advertising is incredible than seeing that their ministry is effective? I also worry that while attempting to be clever, ministries may not be authentic in their advertising.

Advertising and faith. It’s like having dinner with Steve Jobs and Billy Graham. I respect both, but don’t know how they’d relate with each other… or how I’d fit in the middle.