Thank you for staying with me and accepting my desire to keep in touch each week through my ‘ponderings’.
This past week, I have had so many reasons to reflect on the changing world and the beautiful phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”, “The more things change; the more things remain the same.”
Like Thomas and I, many of you will have seen the emergence of the internet and the massive change this has created, the ever-increasing pressure to soak up the advancements in technology and digital applications. Along with the practical aspect of learning, comes the adaptations of our behaviour.
The internet created a place to be connected at speed; to people we don’t even know we want to know, to care about the opinions of people we don’t yet care about (yet). To be validated by likes, and to have shallow, fleeting moments that take up our time.
This all sounds so negative of me, and that is partly true, due to the fact I have always fought the ‘quantity over quality’ argument, I am a dinner party girl, not a cocktail party girl. Despite this, I have played the ‘broadcast game’, especially when the social networking world, that we believed so strongly in, was left behind and broadcast marketing took over. We all must be on the field to play the game.
I remain convinced by Seth Godin’s thoughts in his book, ‘Permission Marketing’. I read this in 1999, and it formed many of the ways that we built Ecademy, the social network we created in 1998. His mantra was “turn strangers into friends and friends into customers”, although I would add that not all friends become a transaction, many become suppliers or a fabulous connection for someone we know, or even a spark of genius.
So this week’s ‘Ponderings’ are on the subject of ‘conversations’. How many actual conversations are you having each week? 20 years ago, a wise man said to Thomas, “Conversations lead to transactions”, and he is so right. The only way to enrich your life, to see the common areas of interest and to know you share similar values, is though conversation.
Clients and suppliers are the rocket fuel for our business, and conversations are the spark, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. My wish is that this week you have some amazing conversations.
Have a great week, and thank you for reading my ‘ponderings’
With love
