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Everywhere we look, we see people trying to scale the ladder of success. Many of those individuals look to a position of leadership. Be it a manager, director, president, CEO, or senior sales associate, we strive to climb the ranks of authority and power. To some, this means taking a position by any means necessary while others do very little at all. In this article, I will discuss a life lesson on obtaining a position or rank in an organization. The lesson is applicable not only in business, but also in ones personal life.

Since I was a child, I have always sought a position of power. I remember moments of extreme bossiness amongst my friends and family, but also recall attempts at formal positions like president of student government. Some times I was successful and other times I was not, but the drive to lead has always been there.


After college, I learned a very real lesson about leadership and the drive for authoritative positions. The lesson was summed up quite simply, "Man does not seek the position, the position seeks the man."

What does that mean? To me, it means putting away the focus on a title and strive to be the best at whatever you do. As a result, people, positions, and opportunity tend to find their way to you.

How To Apply This Lesson In Your Life

Be Humble
I am reminded of something Jesus said in the Bible.

When you are invited to a wedding feast, don't sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited. Then the one who invited you will come and say, "Give your place to this other guest!" You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place. When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, "My friend, take a better seat!" You will then be honored in front of all the other guests. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

While Jesus is talking about guest etiquette, I believe there is truth here regarding the rise to power. Instead of fighting at all costs to secure a position, allow those in power to choose you. This means being humble and not buying into the hype of self-importance.

Be Prepared
The call to action can come at anytime. Based on my experiences, it usually happens when least expected. Therefore, it is important to be ready for the opportunity. This means your focus should be on self-improvement. Self-improvement can come in many different fashions, but it may include getting an education, learning to control your temper, or doing what you can with what you have. Do not wait until the door opens to prepare, do whats right before anyone even notices you.

Be Yourself
Each one of us is unique. From the sound of our voice to the print on our fingers, we all have the opportunity to bring something new to the table. Often, when people are looking for the next best thing, it typically involves something, or someone, fresh and innovative. To achieve this step, simply allow yourself to shine. Forget what everyone else is doing and "do you!"

Be Visible
The decision to put people into positions is not always a planned event. In an emergency, people turn to those things and people they trust. The key is to make yourself known. This means introduce yourself to people and stay connected with them. With Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging, it is really easy to say "hi" or comment on someone's post. In person, make an effort to recognize both people you know and people you do not.

Be Interested
Take a lesson from my friend Mary Nations and seek to care about others first. Ask someone to lunch and listen to them talk about their lives. Engage them with genuine questions and seek to understand them. As I learned from Dale Carnegie, people care more about their own interests and can talk at great lengths about themselves. Be interested in others and you be remembered.

Be Accessible
As Chris Brogan points out, the overnight success is not really overnight. The path is long and built on small achievements. Therefore, be accessible for the little things, not just the big. If helping people means doing behind-the-scene type work, do it and do it well. When someone asks for help, be the first to raise your hand. Remember, those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much.

I hope this information helps you achieve your personal and career goals. In addition, I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.

Until next time...

"Social Media is not about technology". Those words were spoken during a session at the Social Media Business Forum last week. As one who makes a living playing with technology, I was curious to find out the true definition.

According to many of the speakers, social media is really about PEOPLE. Yes, you read that correctly. Social media is about connecting with others. Technology is not the end, but rather a tool used to connect people with one another.

Think about it. Email, Twitter, Facebook, and IM are simply applications used to share thoughts, ideas, experiences, and stories with someone else. Without a receiver, an email would be pointless.

While eating lunch today, a friend and I took time to update each other on our latest endeavors. We spoke about our jobs, Twitter, food, family, and friends. The hour or so together allowed the two of us to grow closer and explore our deeper connections. Instead of spending an hour on small talk, we began to look under the hood to find something meaningful.

This friendship began online but continues to blossom offline. As a result, we are able to use technology to keep in touch when meeting in person is not an option. To me, that is one example of value found through the use of social media.

In business, social media can be used to strengthen ties between a company and its customers. Similar to friendships between people, technology can empower organizations to better understand the needs and wants of its clients. In addition, technology can help display a softer side for many companies.

Therefore, remember that we are all people with feelings, wants, and needs. While this is hard to say, worry less about the latest technology buzz and focus on the people in your life. When practiced, your online experience will be much more fulfilling.

Until next time...

This morning I found out that the web site Foursquare.com finally supports Raleigh-Durham as one of its 38 cities. Like a kid opening a new gift under the Christmas Tree, I zoomed over to the site to see what I could do.

What is Foursquare?
As I understand it, it is a game built around connecting friends while exploring popular cities. The web site provides the following explanation, "We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things and challenges you to explore cities in different ways."

How Does It Work?
Using a mobile phone, users check-in to different places within the city. As of this post, the iPhone and Android have apps, where the rest of us can use a mobile web site or SMS (50500) to interact with the site.

Based upon the time of day and where you go, one can earn points and badges. Badges are visual rewards for completing specific tasks and challenges. As an example, I received a newbie badge this morning for a successful check-in within the Raleigh-Durham area.

Earning Points
To earn points, Foursquare offers three ways:

1. Discoverer Bonus: Check into a place you have never been before (5 points)
   
2. Travel Bonus: Hitting more than one place in a night (1 point for each place after the first)
   
3. Combo Bonus: Going out multiple nights in a row (1 point for each night)
   

Challenges & Tips
At first glance, this site feels like a place to rate restaurants and other establishments, but its not. In fact, I see no rating system at all. What makes this site fun and useful is the number of challenges and tips users can share.

With the Tips and To-do sections, users can introduce fun activities and good food at particular hot spots. An example of a challenge would be, "Get a hole in one on the putt-putt course at Frankie's." As you visit new places, use Foursquare to challenge or advise others on what to do and see.

Final Thoughts
The site is still growing and I imagine more cities will be added shortly. However, if you are in the Raleigh-Durham area and want to befriend me, feel free. In fact, if you're using Foursquare and just want to explore its functionality, feel free to invite me as a connection.

In the comment section below, drop me a line and let me know what you think about it or challenge me to a game in your area.

Until next time...

Yesterday, Mashable announced that Twitter Lists Are Live! Not long after, they updated their article to write, "It appears this feature is only available to a “small group” of users right now (though Twitter’s expanding it)." Thankfully, we now know that lists are right around the corner for the rest of us.

What is Twitter Lists?
Nick Kallen, the lead developer on the project, explains that the feature is a new way to organize information on Twitter. Once completely rolled out to the masses, users will be able to organize contacts into groups. Possible uses include listing coworkers, teammates, friends, industry leaders, favorite bloggers, comedians, actors, musicians, news agencies, and the like. Once created, people can then subscribe to the list.



Final Thoughts
Based on my own observations and interpretations, I see this feature as a way to help you manage a growing list of contacts. Like TweetDeck, Friendfeed, and Facebook, users can be placed into groups for ease of use. If users want to see what your friends are doing, they can simply click on the list and voila!



For web developers, Twitter will also release, at the same time, the API with list modifications. This should be quite exciting and a badly needed enhancement.

Let me know your thoughts about Twitter Lists in the comment section below.

Until next time...

Image via Bubblefriends

Earlier today, Google announced the release of its 3D building maker application. Designed for the very popular Google Earth, users can now develop model images of buildings within their city. This exciting opportunity reminds me of the Sims, a computer game where you can build entire cities and watch people interact with one another.

While I doubt you will see actual people in Google Earth, the addictive pass time helps fill our need for creation but also help populate a well-known tool.

As one who works in higher education, I see possibilities with this tool. During our campus map project last year, I openly wished the team had a 3D version of our buildings. Unfortunately, the tools were not available, so we settled with drawing colored lines around them, instead.

Today, with the release of the building maker, we are growing close to the possibility of developing a 3D rendering of college/university campuses. This upgrade would allow parents, students, employees, and visitors the opportunity to explore campus from the comforts of their chair. Further use of the Google Map would allow schools to share interesting points of interest and create interactive campus tours.

As of this writing, there are only 50 cities open for development. In time, Google will open more. For now, here are a few tips for working with Google's Building Maker:

• Building Maker is an online tool, and it runs entirely in your web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.)
• Before you can add a building to Google Earth, you need to sign in to your Google Account (so you get credit for what you contribute).
• Models you create with Building Maker "live" in the Google 3D Warehouse (a giant, online repository of 3D models).
• You can use Google SketchUp (our free, general-purpose 3D modeling tool) to edit or otherwise modify anything you make with Building Maker.
• Make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth installed on your computer.
• If you're on a Mac, you need to download the Google Earth plug-in directly.

Until next time...

In an article written by Allen Stern, the author asked the question, "Anyone Still Using Friendfeed?" Through web statistics we find that Friendfeed's unique visitors and visits have dropped by 28% and 27%, respectively.

What is the cause of this drop? You ask. Jeremiah Owyang, Customer Strategist with the Altimeter Group posted the following on Twitter, "To be honest, Friendfeed doesn't have the same appeal it used to post-FB acquisition. I'll just cut my losses and use Facebook instead."



If you can recall, Facebook acquired Friendfeed back in August of this year. Since that time, there have been discussions about the fate of Friendfeed. As a result, we see industry leaders leaning more on other solutions. Stern writes, "Robert Scoble, the most popular Friendfeed user, is now using Twitter’s favorites feature to share content. Consultant Louis Gray appears to be using Google Reader to share content he finds interesting."

For me, not much has changed. The greatest benefit I sought from Friendfeed was found in its ability to aggregate all that I do online and forward my activity to Twitter. This is still the case.

When it comes to interaction, I find that most of my friends, colleagues, and family are located in other places (Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, and Gmail).

This leads me to ask the question, is the recent drop in Friendfeed's unique visitors and visits the first real sign of its inevitable path to the forgotten? Is the writing on the wall? Should we follow the leaders and go elsewhere? If so, where should we go?

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

Until next time...

I am a big fan of ABC's television show "Shark Tank." Over the past few months I have learned how investors look at business opportunities. No, this does not make me an expert, but it got me thinking about this latest rumor concerning Twitter. According to an article on Mashable, Twitter was supposedly thinking about hosting video, similar to other services found online.

In other news, Twitter has plans to release a list (group) function to its web and API. When I first heard the news, I said, "It's about time." Truly, Twitter has got to get on the ball and own the retweet and group functions, but they ultimately hold control over it all.

Think about it. Every time Twitter releases a new feature, it has the potential to take market share away from other solutions. If, for example, company A has built its business on providing video hosting for Twitter, what do you think happens when Twitter makes its own solution? Unless company A has something else in its arsenal, that new Twitter upgrade can serve a devastating blow to its competition.

Returning to my Shark Tank lessons, I recall someone asking a business owner if the idea/product was trademarked. What happens if a major competitor decides to do the same thing, what happens to your company?

So, I ask the question, is it wise for companies to base so much of their business on the decisions of another? We have already seen how a change in Twitter's API can affect applications like Jesse Stay's SocialToo.com. Without an original product or control over future changes, are developers just creating Twitter tools for fun or future success?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time...

In my excitement over obtaining a preview invitation to Google Wave, I received a number of blank stares and the obvious question, "What is Google Wave?" In this article, I will introduce Google Wave, share its most obvious features, suggest ways to use Wave, and provide my first day observations. In the days and weeks to come, I plan to continue sharing what I know about this game changing application.

What is Google Wave?
The definition I found most helpful came from Mashable.com, where Ben Parr wrote, "Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to one elegant, in-browser communication client."

The definition meant very little to me until I had the opportunity to play with Wave. Today, I agree with Parr and recognize how the platform offers multiple functions in one product. I think you will agree, too.

To summarize, Google Wave is a web-based application that allows communication and collaboration between two or more people. It felt like e-mail on steroids.

What can Google Wave Do?
With a general understanding of Google Wave, the second question focuses on its features. What can it do?

• Edit Anything: Imagine yourself IM'ing a friend or working collaboratively on a research paper. With Wave, you can edit anything you write as well as the words of others. Everything within a wave is editable by everyone who has access.
  
  
• Extend Functionality: Similar to Facebook and iGoogle, applications and gadgets are available here as well. Interested in playing a game with a friend? There is an app for that. How about updating your Twitter status from within Wave. There is an app for that as well. The core application known as Google Wave is cool, but it only gets better when you extend it.
  
  
• Drag and Drop File Uploads: Share family pictures with friends by simply dragging images into a wave. People with access can also add their pictures to make a photo gallery in minutes.
  
  
• Share Waves: Waves seem to ooze collaboration, but what about people outside of the application? Easy, with the embed option, you can take the good stuff out and post it on a web site. Now, people can edit or read your stuff from anywhere.
  
  
• Playback: Every keystroke is recorded which allows people to follow the discussion in the order that it happened. Similar to music player control panels, users can progress forward or backwards through changes made in the wave.

How Might I Use Google Wave?
All of this brochure talk is great, right? But, how can you use it? The possibilities are endless and with the release of new extensions, we may find even more value. With that written, I do have some pretty simple ideas.

• Event planning
• Meeting notes
• Academic papers
• Brainstorming
• Photo gallery
• Online meeting room
• Project planning
• Grocery lists

Because Google Wave provides for collaboration, individuals and teams can create all kinds of waves on the fly. With real-time editing, teams can create documents right in front of your eyes. When I write real-time, I mean real-time. Users can literally watch others type keystroke by keystroke. It is one of the coolest features.

First Day Observations
I cannot speak for the handful of others that used Google Wave yesterday, but I have to admit it was frantic. Imagine opening the doors to Toys R Us with thousands of excited kids waiting outside. It was like the old wild west. We had individuals putting together waves on keyboard shortcuts, search features, and later etiquette. There were few rules and a whole lot of action.

Needless to say, the interaction with online contacts was fun. There is a lot to learn and, at times, a bit overwhelming. At one point, there was so much going on that my computer got bogged down and I had to exit Firefox. Based on my observation, too many extensions (gadgets and bots) within a wave can seriously slow a system to a grinding halt.

Final Thoughts
Google Wave is an innovative approach to centralize the many different functions we already use today. From wikis to instant messages to Facebook apps, the platform provides options for working and communicating effectively. I can see businesses, teams, social organizations, families, and friends using Wave to organize birthday parties and build billion dollar companies.

For those interested in Wave, please know that it will take some time before everyone can obtain access. My advice is to follow this link, submit your contact information, and wait patiently. According to Google, they have a lot of virtual stamps to lick.

Until next time...