A friend sent me this link http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/pandora-marriage-proposal/ to look at how Pandora used micro-targeting to deliver a marriage proposal via their advertising. It’s a nice story, but to me it’s more about their ability to deliver such highly specific messages. While Pandora is using it to attack local radio, it points out a couple of important things:

1. Pandora lives in the new tech world, so they’re pushing out new boundaries to become more local. We live in the radio world, and are trying to find out how to use social media, another personalization tool, to get people to listen to radio. Which do you think will win the technology battle for personalization in their content?

2. We radio people are more creative than Pandora when it comes to relating to the target and being personal. Or at least some of us are. The question is, are we developing new distribution channels that will help us be more relevant and personal? Are we embracing technology toward the totality of media with the same effort Pandora is in finding ways to be relevant and personal?

I love radio, and believe in its long term sustainability, as long as we’re not blind to the innovation around us. But if we continue to be inwardly focused, looking for ways to use technology and social media to drive people to radio, without understanding that the model has been shifting to being outwardly focused, toward the listener/consumer, we’ll eventually lose. We know that, but we’re so used to doing things the radio way, and seem to believe we have all kinds of time before we need to change.

If we’re not careful we’re going to wind up being those old people complaining about the new fangled things the kids are doing, not understanding why they’re doing it. We’ll be reading old timers magazines about the good old days of radio, just like our parents and grandparents have now.

And that would’ve a shame.

There’s a lot of talk in the industry right now, but I’m not sure we’re all singing the same song. What I hear revolves around supporting radio, and that may be missing the
point. Let’s be clear: I love radio. It’s given me a career that I would have never had otherwise. But things actually do change, whether we like it or not. You can’t fight change – if you do you will fail. The future is about all media, not just radio. It matters less what you’re doing now than it does what you’ll be doing in the future.

As I look at today’s successful radio, and the changes and needs in real people (as opposed to radio people), it’s clear we can have a future if we want. We just can’t have yesterday’s future. That’s really a rough statement, because the people in charge of radio fight change. It messes with what we’re been familiar with, and what we’ve built our success on.

Here’s the deal. People will not stop consuming media. But the media they consume will change. If that’s not true AM radio and 8 track would still be king. Our conversation should be less about radio, and more about the future. Instead of clinging to a media that is popular now, but on the cusp of waning, let’s focus on what will be coming in the future. We all love the Wayne Gretzky quote skating to where the puck is going, until it relates to us.

Am I being redundant? If so, it’s just to help us understand that future media will be about the story, not the media. Do any of us say, ” I’m a move fan so I go to see all kinds of moves?” Or do we enjoy movies with a great story? When a great listener calls in, is it to make a point, or to tell a story? Are our best bits about facts, or are they about stories. When a radio listener tells you about something you did on-air, is it about a contests, or a story you told?

Do you think people talked about the theory behind electricity, or that they saw light? Does the story about you favorite car have to do with mpg or the story of how it made you feel?

Great media, be it the movie ET or the wreck at Daytona, has to do with the story. And if the story is the difference, the media is secondary. I’ll bet whatever narrative your station has is more important than the media, and that the story can be told on many different media. It’s the story that counts. not the medium.

If you look at media as the medium for the message, then the message becomes more important than the media, and you’ve made the leap from radio to media.

I thought you’d appreciate this picture I ran across. Sometimes as leaders and managers we’re so oblique in our feedback that the people we work with don’t get the message. Sometimes you’ve got to be this clear. “If you’re in the way, get out of the way, and if you don’t know where you’re going exit now!”

I’ve gotten used to seeing the cards for free downloads at Starbucks, so it got my attention when I noticed something different. Here is a card for a free download of “Dora’s Skywriting ABC’s.” It’s the “App pick of the week.” So what the heck is going on, Dora doesn’t have anything to do with coffee!

What’s going on is Starbucks understands that the consumer is the key player in the relationship “dance,” and that anything special that will cause engagement is what they do. We’ve probably all seen a time when a child wanted our iPhone’s to play with. Starbucks has teamed up with Apple to provide, at no cost, a way to he a hero to those children and help them learn at the same time. Starbucks has come up with another angle about what Raskin calls “the interface” for coffee drinkers with children…or even coffee drinkers who are around children.

If Starbucks were radio, it would have come up with a “my favorite coffee” app. Radio tends to look inwards as if the music coming out of the box were the entire product. Starbucks, and the people at Apple, understand that if you focus on the consumer, the real product is what and how they use you.

If we were to think of the “product” as two things, (1) engagement with the consumer, and (2) the interface, or experience we create, we can begin to make that transition from radio organization to media organization.

Marshall Ganz is a very smart guy who has helped many organizations create a compelling story. He gives a good reference for creating a story for shareathon and pledge drives, and it probably gives some perspective on what we do in on-air imaging too.

It may sound a little strange, but it starts with the story of self. No, it’s now all about you, it’s what your station is all about in relation to the listener, what it means to people, how they see it and relate to it. Following that comes the story of us, where you bring the audience in and talk about their role, how they add to what your station is doing. Finally is the story of now, the reason your situation is urgent. So you build one story sort of on top of the other, from you to the listener to why how, in a logical AND emotional way.

This is an over-simplification of course, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a proven format laid out for the story of our stations. Wonder what would happen if someone tried it?

You can learn more about the idea behind the three stories here,

There’s a great case to be made that we aren’t in the media business at all, but rather in the people business. The success or failure of any enterprise centers on how good the staff is, and how well they work together. There’s a direct relationship to teamwork and high achievement. That’s why I love Goethe’s idea of attracting the best people, and then holding them together. I’ve seen organizations who are good at keeping turnover low by holding a mediocre team together, and I’ve seen others who attract the best, only to lose them to poor leadership or constant micro-managing. Only on occasion do you see an organization like Apple that both attracts and holds extraordinary people.

Another case in point is how Steve Jobs created an amazing team by establishing the concept of only hiring “A” players, and then pushing them to become “A+” players. People seemed to be willing to take a lot of abuse to be a part of the Apple team, because they knew it would make them better. Southwest Airlines underscores the value of the best people being motivated as a team.

But too many managers treat their people as adversaries inside of teammates. They talk down to them like they were children, watch over their efforts like they don’t trust them, and continually micro-manage them just to make sure work gets done “the right way,” which means doing it their way. No wonder so many organizations have unhappy, demotivated employees.

If you want supercharged success, hire people better than yourself. Be able to write down how this person you’re hiring will be able to outgrow you one day. Hire the smartest, most motivated people you can find, and give them goals and objectives rather than minute-by-minute directions. Then give away all the credit and take all the blame. Understand everyone you fire has the mark of your failure on them. Find out what turns them on and find a way to use it to motivate them.

The combination of having the best people, who are on fire with self-motivation is unbeatable.

People are always talking about excellence. Everyone wants things done with excellence…who wouldn’t? However, what I hear most often is a definition of what we want from others, and rarely a definition for ourselves. I guess we want excellence more than we give excellence.

I had opportunity to to look at what excellence means last week, as my grandson graduated from Air Force boot camp. It turns out “Excellence in all we do” is one part of the Air Forces’ core values. But rather than a great slogan, they really define what it means…for themselves as individuals and as a team. When I read about it I don’t have any questions about what excellence is, or what’s expected of me. And it’s not just informational, it’s inspiring!

Our industry needs a lot of excellence in leadership right now. We have to realize that, much like respect, we get excellence by showing excellence. So how about we put up or shut up? How about if we expect excellence we be ready to give it? What if excellence were defined in terms of what we expect from ourselves?

Here’s an excerpt from the Air Force core value.

Excellence in All We Do

This core value demands Airmen constantly strive to perform at their best. They should always strive to exceed standards objectively based on mission needs. This demands a continuous search for new and innovative ways of accomplishing the mission. There are several aspects of excellence: personal, organizational, resource, and operational.

Personal Excellence. Airmen seek out and complete developmental education, stay in top physical, mental, and moral shape, and continue to refresh their professional competencies. Airmen must ensure their job skills, knowledge, and personal readiness are always at their peak.

Organizational Excellence. Organizational excellence is achieved when its members work together to successfully reach a common goal in an atmosphere that preserves individual self-worth. No Airman wins the fight alone—even the single-seat fighter pilot relies upon scores of maintenance and support personnel to accomplish every sortie. Leaders foster a culture that emphasizes a team mentality while maintaining high standards and accomplishing the mission.

Resource Excellence. Understanding that budgets are not limitless, Air Force leaders aggressively protect and manage both human and material resources. The most precious resource is people, and an effective leader does everything to ensure all personnel are trained, fit, focused, and ready to accomplish their missions. Leaders effectively use their resources to perform assigned tasks and understand they should only obtain resources necessary to accomplish their missions.

As I sit in my hotel room in Mexico,watching the waves come in I find myself pondering radios future…because it’s my future too. But as Buffalo Springfield says, it ain’t exactly clear. My friend Mark Ramsey blogged about that every thing recently, and thinks there are two stories running in radio broadcasters heads.

The first story is “one where radio reacts reflexively to claims that “nobody cares about radio anymore” with evidence to the contrary. It’s one where broadcasters illustrate radio usage as being as great or greater than ever despite the huge number of distractions consumers have today that never existed before. It’s a story where we attack the new competitors as being “outside” our category or being “less than” radio in one way or another. As the attention and interest surrounding radio alternatives rises, we go for the jugular. We recognize that advertisers are attracted by these shiny baubles and fear the notion that they will take their dollars, previously earmarked for us, and devote them to these new ideas.”

This is a story of “if I close my eyes no one will see me.”. That worked when we were kids worried about monsters in the room at night, but it’s pretty delusional for adults of today. Even if it’s not exactly clear, there is something happening here.

The second story is one where radio welcomes new competitors because in the cold, harsh light of day those competitors may earn a seat at the table, but it’s still the kids’ table. And smart broadcasters know that these competitors will simply make their industry better, because that’s what competitors do.

This is the story where radio acknowledges that while reach is still awesome, folks are not listening to radio as much as they used to and that’s okay. Why? Because it’s not radio’s fault – it’s not because radio’s “bad.” It’s the “fault” of the zillions of alternative ways people spend their time nowadays and it’s why NO mass medium has the same intensity of usage it had 20 years ago. So get over that. The listenership is not going to iPods or Pandora or wherever. In fact, it may not be listenership that’s going anywhere. It’s time that’s going places. And time will follow whatever fun and entertaining things can fill that time, whether those things are audio-only or not.

Being a change agent, I chose the second story. In the 70′s it was pretty much radio only…if fact AM radio only. We were in control and could do what we want. Then came FM, and later on Al Gore invented the internet. Oh yes, then Steve Jobs put music on the telephone. A whole new playground. There are now hundreds times more attention grabbers than there were in the 70′s. And…wait for it…things aren’t going to get any less distracting. People aren’t going to drop other media to return to their one true love, radio.

Let’s forget about radio for a minute and think about people instead. We all know there are people who only want the music, and nothing else. Focusing intently on the music and paying scant attention to everything else will only hasten our demise. Others, like Pandora, have an on ramp for those people because it is only music… we don’t. Those people are going to go to any media that gives them their music without talk. We aren’t going to change that. Then we have the attention deficit disorder generation who actually are going to chase after the newest thing. We can’t change that either.

So what can we do to continue success? Forget the past and focus on a future rooted in the reality of today. Stay focused on people, the listeners who are loyal, and what they want. No, really, what they want. The reasons they listen to you beyond the music. The actual essence of the brand. You need to figure out how to be magnetic enough to draw listeners away from other sources, to you.

One answer goes to people, and by that I mean your people, the ones at the station. If listeners can get your music elsewhere, the number two success element of the station is who is on-air and who backs them up. That’s another blog for another time, but the answer to writing your future starts with forgetting the good old days and paying attention to the realities of today. Music is the foundation, the stage everyone else performs on, the start of your brand. But it’s not the only part of your brand.

Newt Gingrich may have just handed himself a self-inflicted wound. No, this isn’t a political rant, it’s about a type of person we’ve all met at one time or another, the smartest guy in the room.

You’re probably familiar with one. They believe they can do anything they know a little about, always have the first, definitive answer, and, of course, think they’re smarter than anyone they’re talking too. They think that flying in First Class makes them able to fly the plane. Unfortunately, most of the other people in the room can feel the slight. The smart guy doesn’t really understand how he’s ultimately undermining his own success, because he or she is blind to how others really see them. They’re dreaming a dream alone, as Lennon put it.

Truth is, we all have a touch of the smartest guy in the room syndrome, and we have to fight it. Having been a consultant for over 20 years, I know how easy it is to slip into the role. Often the learning was painful. Arrogance usually is…the smartest guy in the room is almost always arrogant.

Unless you’re completely self-employed and never have to deal with others, there’s something you should know: even if you actually are the smartest person in the room, you can’t be the smartest about everything. Somewhere there are people smarter than you about something. And they’re going to think you’re an idiot because of what you say and do.

Actually, I’ve found it more appealing, and a lot more successful to be the quietest person in the room, and only try to be brilliant when it counts. Further, I’ve learned to give credit to others when they’re smarter than me. It’s in my best interest to acknowledge great ideas and insights from others, and that it makes them pay more attention to what I say.

As with all things, it depends on your goal. Do you want to dream alone, but be the smartest, or dream together as part of a team.

I was standing in the lobby of a Doubletree hotel recently and saw a poster. “Yes, we’ve changed our logo” it shouted at me, as if I should be impressed. The truth was, I couldn’t remember the old logo, and it wasn’t what keeps me coming back to that chain anyway. Until I saw the announcement of the change I wasn’t aware of the need for a new logo. Now I wonder what dictated it – and I feel I missed a problem. Bottom line, though, is that the new logo won’t alter my use of that hotel at all. Bad service and bed bugs will, but not the logo.

I’m probably sensitive because of the 18 years I spent with a radio & TV company, where I learned the answer to low TV news ratings was to change the set. That’s right, change the desks and people ill watch more. And I’ve heard otherwise smart radio people tout the need to change the logo because it was “dated.” A new font, a stylized circle instead of a square, and people will listen more. I can’t remember a listener saying they didn’t like or listen to a station because of their logo. I wonder how many millions of dollars have been spent in the industry because to creative design and associated costs with the logo. And don’t even get me started with the reasoning behind “freshening” the jingles or updating the slogan!

You know what? Chances your listeners aren’t that aware of your logo. If you’re having real challenges the cosmetics aren’t going to matter much – the content is.

Cosmetics aren’t going to solve the problem if your station has been stripped of compelling content to “make the numbers.” Cosmetics aren’t going to help if your station has no “position” or mental place in the audiences mind. Cosmetics aren’t going to help if your station is devoid of creativity. Certainly cosmetics aren’t going to help if your strategy is wrong or non-existent.

If your having challenges you need to be able to look at your content first. It’s hard to be objective about your own creation, but it’s time we take a realistic look at our content, and honestly assess it’s “magnetism,” rather than something superficial.