Pierre’s logs

Amber Naslund was asked if she had to replace herself in her role as Director of Community at Radian6, what would she look for in a candidate

So if I was going to replace me I would probably look for a grassroots nonprofit type person who is really plugged into the people and not so much plugged in to their MBA textbook that’s collecting dust on the shelf. And I’d look for somebody that has a bunch of unrefined skills that is eager to get out there and do really good, hard work . This is not a 9-5 job, so I need somebody with the work ethic that can dedicate themselves to it but I want somebody with kind of a fresh slate because I don’t want somebody whose ideas I have to undo.

Filed under  //   corporate   grassroot   nonprofit  

Some principles and dynamics to think about:

• Opening up & loss of control
• The collaborative & organic nature of the medium
• The power and dynamics of network effects
• The importance of constancy and participation vs big grand gestures
• The personal intimate nature of the medium
• The importance of trust and relationship
• The always on - 24/7 nature of the web

Here are some of my quick learning take aways:

• Many of the P&G folks' thought the first task was to figure out the messaging of the campaign, where as the external folks just dived right in in plain English.
• The social web folks jumped on their networks first without necessary realizing the impact and focused on a long tail one-to-one approach figuring that network effects would take over.
• The P&G folks understood the need to identify where to get the biggest bang for their buck.
• The speed nature of the exercise brought out some incredible creativity. I had a sense that this freedom was very liberating for the P&G folks once they got into it. Some of my teammates quickly brainstormed a quick rap [yeah-it's dorky, but they did it without planning or thinking about it too much. We even got the team at Pandora to write a catchy little ditty. [Thanks Tim. It arrived a bit late, but kudos to them for jumping in. Compare that to the month long planning cycles most companies go through.
• The P&G folks were often very process oriented and the invitees where comfortable with more chaos - meeting somewhere in the middle brought out the best.
• Even the "digerati" who understand the principles of the social web stepped over the line a bit in the exuberance of the moment - to me this is a cautionary tale about the future of "influencers" and everyone's personal understanding of their relationships, networks and personal brand. Just as in the real world you are judged by your actions - so too are you judged online. Remember - Google is now the long tail of reputation.
• The need for a different set of skills and expertise - teams needed a human connector to bring it all together and a catalyst to kick it off. I see this as a growing skill set in business as a result of the social web. Think Community Manager meets Senior Executive.
via deborahschultz.com

Filed under  //   change   collaborative   collective intelligence   corporate   innovation   organic   organization   organization 2.0   participation   process   take aways   trust