Likeable Business; Owning a Word; Listening for Leads; Smarter Hearts

"…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Likeable Business — this is the title of Dave Kerpen's latest book released last Friday. Gazelles 200 and book club members will receive their copy next week. He outlines the 11 principles of likeable businesses: listening, storytelling, authenticity, transparency, team playing, responsiveness, adaptability, passion, surprise & delight, simplicity, and gratefulness – and then goes into detail about how to executive on each one. Dave will also keynote the Leadership Summit next May 9 – 10, Orlando.

Listening At Scale — when you get the book, go right to the section entitled "Listening at Scale Through Social Media" (middle of Chapter 1). He suggests going to twitter.com and enter the name of a product or what you do i.e. if you're a dentist, enter the words "dentist" and "looking for" and see what people are saying. If you're a big enough company, also enter the name of your company and the words "I wish." It's amazing what you'll learn – I know I did.

Listening for Leads — …then continue in that same section and read about IBM's Listening for Leads program. These are the kinds of detailed specifics I appreciate Dave sharing throughout his book. It's time for all of us to up our game in the social media space.

Fast Growth Company — FYI, Dave's firm Likeable Media, started in 2007, made the Inc 500 list of the fastest growing firms in 2011 (#118) and 2012 (#149) with triple digit revenue growth for four consecutive years, so he's one of us – and practices what he preaches as he helps thousands of small businesses become "likable" to their customers.

Owning a Word — the side lesson to learn from Dave is the power of jumping out and owning a word – Likeable — and then taking to heart David Meerman Scott's admonishment that "we are what we publish." This is why his firm is growing so rapidly. Dave has latched onto a concept and has written extensively on the topic – books, blogs, articles, etc. What is the word(s) you need to own in the mind of your best target customers (the first strategic decision you need to make) – and then hire a journalist or videographer to help you start "owning the ink and images" around those words.

US Air Listening? — Seems they are. I have noticed a change in the airline many of us enjoy affectionately calling US Scare – and that's because Doug Parker, the CEO of US Air, is listening. Taking a page from the Rockefeller Habits (Checklist item #5), Doug is taking one hour each week to meet with 40 pilots and flight attendants – he talks for 10 minutes and listens for 50 minutes. This is the kind of qualitative data leaders must gather WEEKLY and use to adjust course. Take 30 seconds to read the Fortune "Best Advice" segment on Doug's weekly routine.

The Heart Grows Smarter — loved this this NY Times Op-Ed piece and this line "In case after case, the magic formula (success and happiness) is capacity for intimacy combined with persistence, discipline, order and dependability. The men who could be affectionate about people and organized about things had very enjoyable lives." Worth the 3 minutes to read.