From Geek to Cool: Me, Steve, & the Mac

Reflections on Growing Up Macintosh

My first experience with an Apple computer was using the original Macintosh in Journalism school in the late 1980s. It was a uniquely fun experience compared to using the IBM computers in the computer lab with their mind-numbing green CRT screens.

When you powered on the Mac it made this happy mantra-like sound of someone taking a deep breath and exhaling. The mouse made the experience interactive and visual instead of having to memorize DOS commands to get work done. There were games built into it. You could name your hard drive and your disks whatever you wanted them to be. What was not to like?

After college, I worked for a year in a grueling inside sales job selling Macintosh II computers to schools. It was a thankless job, but working with Macintosh computers made it bearable. It was a tool that was fun to use and aspirational and innovate for schools and kids.

Later, I worked in another sales job as the "demo guy" to show off what desktop video editing systems in the 1990's could do, and of course the Macintosh was the nerve center behind many of the early video editing systems on the market. Capturing video to a computer. Cutting and pasting it. Adding music and titles. It was fun and cool!

So you could say I was part of the "Macintosh Generation." I grew up with the Mac like a fond friend. We spent a lot of time together. Did some cool stuff. And grew and matured as time went on.

Today I'm a grown-up doing grown-up work on the Mac. I,m the proud owner of an iMac with a 27" plasma screen and a 64 bit Dual Core processor. These days when so much of our lives is about using computers and being connected to the Internet, the fun and ease of use of the Macintosh has never gone away. It's become a nurturing relationship for me.

Steve Jobs, through it all, was the icon behind the Macintosh's coolness. He represented the fun we all wanted to have with computers. He was the guy in the neighborhood with the all the gadgets that you wanted to hang out with. He made us feel good about the computer geek inside us all.

He made it cool to be a computer geek, instead of a nerd. He rebranded us all in a sense and liberated us from this old stereotype, and that felt good.

So thank you Steve Jobs for being you. Thank you for impacting me. And thank you for the Macintosh (and all it's recent siblings). God bless you!

Eight Keys to Successful Change Management Communications

THE SKINNY
The keys to successful change management communication boil down to having an engaging message, and leveraging leadership, sponsors, and data to keep your audience abreast of all activities - - before, during and after the change.

THE SCORE
Corporations like Navistar, The Boeing Company, and Kaplan, Inc. wrestle with change management issues every day. Here are eight of their best practices related to change management communication:

1. Get Good Data Upfront – Do baseline surveys and focus groups to get good a handle on the current state.

2. Engage Leadership - Engage leaders to help communicate and sell the change through key messages as ambassadors. Explain the business case and explain its impact relative to the larger marketplace and competitors.

3. Leverage Sponsors – Have the right sponsors in place, and leverage them to win over audiences, address objections, and knock down barriers.

4. Select Local Change Agents – Select influencers in the organization and brief them on the project during regular touch points. Don’t just rely on the push of traditional corporate communications but rely on local influencers (or champions) to drive success.

5. Manage the Customer’s Image – Acknowledge what your “current state” image is in your audience’s mind and define what the “desired state” image is that you want to project and achieve in their mind.

6. Manage Employee Communications – Write your internal corporate communications as if they will end up on the front page of the local or national newspaper - - because it very well may!

7. Be Flexible – Adapt your communications plan and tactics as required.

8. Capture Good Metrics – Define how you will measure success and follow through.

Source: Compiled from a panel discussion featuring Colleen Campbell from Navistar, Michele Mazur from Kaplan, Inc., and James Warda from The Boeing Company.

Philanthropic Giving in U.S. Up 3.8%

How generous are Americans in giving to charitable organizations today? Current stats show that 41% give to charity as compared to 20% of Europeans. Overall philanthropy in the U.S. is up 3.8% over 2009-2010, for a total of $290 billion dollars.

Where do most charitable gifts come from? Individuals account for 73-87% of all giving. So while state funding in Illinois is down 50%, individual giving has been relatively stable. Despite the bumps in the economy, most individual donors continue to give even as their income and assets decline. In particular, individuals with family or start-up businesses give the most to charity, more than double those with inherited wealth and assets.

To cultivate individual donors, non-profits should involve them in key volunteer roles in the organization so that they feel personally connected to the organization’s mission. Why? Nurturing that connection with your donors can pay dividends. Statistics show that board members typically give the most financially of organizational volunteers. Especially in these economically tumultuous times, cultivating individual donors should be the primary focus of a non-profit’s fundraising efforts.