Square pegs fit round holes

Square pegs fit round holes.

Please take the time to read all of this blog. I humbly, not brashly, submit it could be the most important blog you or your business ever read. I'd so love to believe that as it's written with heart :-)

The world is changing. No, I don't mean there's an end to racism and other injustice, nations haven't shifted from austerity to prosperity in a seamless shift overnight.

What is changing though is the mindset of some people in business. Teams of 'round peg for round hole people' have started to recognise the value of the odd square peg person.

I've worked with businesses where I've seen square pegs around the business. It's exciting and so heartening. I know that square pegs can make some people uncomfortable even there but relax people. If you trust them they will remain the most loyal. Don't pull the rug from under their feet just because they see things differently. That's more priceless than any mastercard advert strap-line could come up with.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a square peg but that doesn't stop me being a huge team player. I've been very, very lucky so far. I've always worked, albeit by luck rather than judgement, for companies that knew how to how to harness my square peg-ness and get the best out of me and my ideas for their business. Because of this I feel confident enough to write this blog.

There was a time, and let's be honest it still exists in introspective businesses, that the 'square peg' person would have been vilified - accused of not being a team member or not with the program. The truly smart teams though, now recognise the worth of the square peg man or woman. It's the people that recognise this that are the true leaders.

So smart industry is shifting its attitude to square pegs - are you? This shift is possibly due to the late, great Steve Jobs from Apple. A man who is spoken of with admiration and awe now, was once vilified as being too much of a square peg, not a team member, seen as not being an 'Apple person' and even thrown out of his company - Apple.

Of course, he ended up back at Apple and history now speaks on his behalf. From an ostracised, even loathed square peg to a square peg that people realised cared more about Apple and changing lives than they ever dared to believe the day they threw him out.  So my second doff of cap goes to Steve Jobs and Apple for daring to let his square peg fit their round hole. For eventually recognising that althought it would be a nightmare if everyone was a square peg, it is vital to welcome one or two into the team.

So square pegs really do fit round holes. Who would have realised they care the most? Who would have thought? Who would have dared to have thought? Go on - I dare you.

Note: Be bold and change lives no matter what your industry - make a difference.

Online Piracy Act

If the Online Piracy Act is not, at the very least, re-shaped then many of my favourite news sites could in future be saying the following:

































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"I wonder if...."

Anyone that knows me knows I love ideas. Grand, small, ambitious or simple ideas, they all float my boat. To me they're like air. I need them and when they're as fresh as a chilly morning they excite and inspire me. Here’s my quick guide to ideas about ideas.

1) Never be afraid to have an idea. Every great idea starts with a “I wonder if….” moment.

2) Don't worry about having bad ideas, they're the route to great ideas - nobody just has great ideas. The trick is applying a filter to ascertain what's good and what isn't. Just don't implement an idea until you are sure as can be that every particle has been filtered.

3) Be prepared to fail. The greatest ideas are fraught with the greatest challenges, some of which will be out of your control. That is not a reason not to pursue them though.

4) Never sit on a good idea. By all means schedule the idea for the most opportune time but doing nothing shouldn't be an option

5) It's fine to copy ideas (just don't breach copyright). Someone once said to me “Why shouldn’t I copy an idea. After all, that way I know it works” – Fair comment, though always apply number 10 of these points.

6) Find your own angle to ideas other people have. Look outside your industry/business and see if their ideas that you can tailor.

7) Trade ideas with other ideas people. This can be incredibly productive and more often than not inspires extra ideas for all concerned. I speak to my contacts constantly running ideas I have past them, testing the water.

8) It's good to be an ideas square peg for a banality round hole as long as you remember what you need to achieve from being so.

9) Always credit the people whose ideas you use or who inspire ideas from you. You may be the one implementing them but you should still doff your cap to the original ideas person and/or idea inspiration. Failing to do so is tantamount to stealing the idea, which leads me nicely to…….

10) Never try to, or accept, credit for ideas that are not your own. Anyone who has ideas will have experienced this and found it to be royally frustrating.

There you go – ideas about ideas. I look forward to hearing yours soon.

Will you be GREAT in 2012? (What counts and how will you survive?)

Adverts for newspapers are encouraging us to be "Great, Britain" in 2012. Such an important comma between those two words but how do we become 'Great' in the world of PR and Communications? What are the new challenges that we as PR professionals and the businesses we communicate on behalf of, must overcome to be 'Great' in 2012.

Is it time to throw away the comms text books? Perhaps not but it is time to tear out whole chapters and insert new ones. Social media isn't a new idea in PR but its place is ever evolving and presents new challenges to businesses and PR professionals alike.

PR used to be judged by how many column inches were secured. There have always been flaws with that such as the value people present are always based on 'rate card' advertising prices. The Advertising Equivalent Value is £XYZ the PR Manager/Director would bellow executives as a justification of their worth. 2011 was the year that such measures of judging comms/PR finally became ineffectual and, worse than that, wholly misleading.

It could be argued that the best PR professionals are now the hardest to gauge. A dilemma for a business - for these professionals can make one Tweet, one Facebook post and make things happen for your business. They can set a ball rolling that you will never fully realise but will certainly feel the effects of either directly or indirectly.

I recently made a simple video filmed mostly on my iPhone. It gained masses of tv, radio, online a physical press as well as over 3000 YouTube hits. It would have been a incredible figure based on old school advertising value equivalent figures. So much of that exposure would not have been picked up though. Not one of those YouTube views would have been calculated by any "cuttings service" though, not one of my tweets would have been attributed any particular worth. How useless a service then that cannot gauge the effect every tweet has every day, hour, minute, second? Furthermore, not one relationship building tweet that led to other opportunities would have been recognised by these methods.

These are different times and PRs need to morph quickly, if they haven't already, or leave the arena. Some will advocate new roles (for themselves to fill of course) but it won't be the same. The "old school" may accuse you of being self-serving, self-promoting but pay no attention. Those that cannot keep up have always sought to "have concerns" over how the innovators do things - the once vilified Steve Jobs at Apple anyone?

The other day a comms person in my industry, that should know better, accused another of being self-serving - I was gobsmacked. I really rate the person they were referring to. It's a shame the person that made the comment so obviously doesn't "get it." It's essential we all do.

Great comms people today will still use all the traditional tools of their trade though. No comms professional should ever arrive at your business unable to hit the PR ground running. The best PR have always come with a host of contacts that are either relevant, or can put them in touch with people who are. If they don't have that the smart businesses always smell a rat.

These days businesses can buy in contact information. It costs thousands, though has some uses, but it will never be a replacement for actually knowing your contacts. There's also a case to say that such purchases are unnecessary for those that can be bothered to build their own. After all, you are already speaking to the media aren't you? You know where to look don't you?

The savvy PR will engage directly with the media, customers and other key stakeholders via social media, picking up a phone, going to see them. The less savvy turn themselves into professional administration managers and comms of a bygone age. Sure, still professional - but more admin rather than comms focussed.

Comms teams can still use alternatives like email newsletters, for now, but be smarter. Embed video links, use 'one liners' to encourage click through. The click through should then land on your website or socmed portal and so drive up hits to your website and YouTube channel alike. This will increase consumption of your messages and your improve your search engine optimisation.

Do all of the above though and soon enough you'll see others in your team get results, perhaps even bigger results than you, if they care enough about what they are doing even if they've been unable to previously. After all, PR does not mean posting an article yourself on the website belonging to someone else and those that just employ this or traditional methods will find it hard to exist in modern PR.

The modern day PR needs the trust of their CEO and company if they are to be 'Great.' They need to be allowed to innovate, shoulder criticism from others that do not really understand or fully use social media, cope with others stealing the credit for their ideas and be part of a 24/7 business. Businesses, embrace those in your teams that do this. Don't ostracise them as you can bet they are the ones that want the best for your business if they are going to these efforts and they are the ones that can deliver too. PR professionals, it is our job to "Get it" then "Get on with it."

Be brave in 2012 everyone. Be 'GREAT.'



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