Split Personality

“The true profession of a man is to find his way to himself.” [Herman Hesse]

As you can see in this image, it looks like I have two blogs: they are actually one, with two URLs pointing to it.

The one with the higher number of links is the URL of my domain name, the other one is my Typepad URL. I have opened a ticket with Technorati. This is not what this post is about.

The point of this post is more meaningful to the conversation around vocation and passion as they manifest in our brand. As Herman Hesse sagely wrote in Siddhartha, we spend our lives finding ourselves. That is true of individuals and businesses. We begin on a certain profession because we are good at something.

If we're really lucky, we gravitate towards what we can do better than anyone else -- what we were engineered to do. And that is also what we're extremely passionate about. And we win the proverbial lottery when those two circles intersect with a third one: what people will pay us to do.

Jim Collins spoke about this concept with Alan Webber in front of a live audience at Fast Company Real Time Phoenix in his famed Good to Great talk, the precursor to his popular book. My biggest take away from that conversation was the idea of observing and recording the work situations and people who light me up as a starting point.

The discovery of where my three circles intersect is no trivial matter. If this is the way you've also felt, you are not alone. Many of us blog for that reason: there is a slight disconnect between how far we can take our growth and personal insights at work and our desire to bring to bear the passion for what we were engineered to do.

Alas, often enough that disconnect is making a livelihood out of the things that make a life for us. That is where our split personalities come in. Most enterprising individuals can and do find ways to unleash the power of their thinking in side activities that fuel that desire to contribute at more levels.

Sometimes those activities become a full time job and a dream come true. Other times we are just as happy maintaining two or more separate activities. We may not reach our potential with good enough, and we may be considered replaceable as good enough. But it may work nonetheless.

What happens when businesses stop at good enough? When companies lose their way to what is core to them to chase next quarter's results? Maybe they have been forced to develop a series of offerings and incremental improvements to make the numbers -- I call this, counting beans vs. making beans. Maybe the pressure is on from a management team that is approaching retirement age -- I call this "do not rock the boat."

What is good to great today? Are we confusing sustainable and scalable business with short term financial gain? Do businesses have split personalities? Should businesses spend more time finding their true north?

Those businesses exist, and they are better at riding economic cycles. They often create their opportunities by listening to their passion and developing what they were engineered to do. And people will pay to be part of that conversation because they are and have strong brands as a result.

Comments

[Chris Baskind]

You know, when you add the links and sites from both your URLs (which is fair, since they're unduplicated), it's obvious that Conversation Agent is already well within the Top 25 marketing blogs. Nicely done!

[Drew McLellan]

Valeria,

As you know, helping clients find their true north and then showing them how to make it relevant and memorable to their market place is what MMG is all about. So this is a topic that is near and dear to me.

In today's crowded space -- I think to not understand how your passion can make you different from your competitors is business suicide. To build off your analogy -- most coffee shops are counting beans. Starbucks figured out how and why it wanted to make beans. Look at the difference.

On a more personal note -- you're right, figuring out where your circles intersect (mine is in creating "a ha" moments) is a very powerful and potentially life-changing insight. It is well worth anyone's time to search for it.

How did you uncover yours?

Drew

[Valeria Maltoni]

Chris -- I'm not sure what you are saying there, but thank you for the vote of confidence.

Drew -- there are so many discussions about Starbucks and their greatness... I guess I was spoiled by intimate and personal coffee experience in Italy. I just don't see it. You did not say how you found yours. I think it's easier to say what than pinpoint exactly when/how. I know it starts with feeling centered and comfortable with what you're doing. As for me: I've always known. Sometimes we just need to translate what it means and looks like in different business settings and cultures.

[Roger von Oech]

You sure have a lot of links. Congratulations! (The same dual listing thing happened to me as well: blog.creativethink.com vs. blog.creativethink/weblog; I was able to get Typepad to drop the latter one in December).

But your Technorati link number raises a bigger question. What do they mean? Sure, everyone has pride and a bit of vanity, and I think we'd all rather have 300+ or 700+ links more than 50+ or 100+. But what do they do for you after that? Will they help you get a book deal? Get invited to be a TED speaker? Be a guest on the David Letterman show? Have Bono answer your phone call? Because once you step outside the blogosphere, not a lot of people know or care about Technorati.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Roger:

I'm glad you asked the question, thank you. They mean that what I write resonates with a lot of people. Aside from that, they change little about who I am and what my potential and gusto for life are.

One of the little known things said about networking is that it too does little for you. The fact that you know a lot of people or that a lot of people know you is good -- especially if they speak highly of your skills. It's really up to you to do the work and deliver on your promises.

Now where did I put that phone number for Bono?

[Joe Raasch]

It is all about designing the right experience. I have such a Six Sigma hangover from working through metrics and dashboards and scorecards - only to see that guess what...the internal user of that system just doesn't like where the 'submit' button is, so why don't we move it?

I read in a 'Be Remarkable' Manifesto from Guardian Unlimited via Seth Godin, item #9:

"If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don't care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far, far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?"

Right? Or is it important the more people that experience our work the better? Or that we only do what will resonate with the most interested people?

[Toby]

Valeria - if you find what ranking you get by combining multiple links picked up by Technorati would you please let us know? I have 3 unique urls that T-rati tracking; sent them an email and never heard back. I'm sure lots of other people would appreciate the information too. Thanks!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Joe -- if you ask enough people about their opinions, everyone will "add value" and tell you something slightly different. That's why resonance is important. You are making precisely my point: sometimes good enough works because what's important to us is not so to others. I don't think the answer is as easy as boiled down what one would wear on a t-shirt. There are lots of brands I enjoy; yet I would not be caught wearing their T-shirt.

Toby -- The links are all unique so you just add them up, there is no duplication. Links to my domain URL are captured on that list and links to the Typepad address are captured on the other one. My ticket with Technorati explained the duality for tracking purposes only... obviously a ranking is lower that is split between two, or in your case 3, URLs.

[David Armano]

Valeria,

Really nice way to look at the split. I had the same thing happen to me.

That aside, your posts have been excellent lately. I'm behind on my reading and I'll need to carve out some time this weekend to catch up. One thing about your writing is that it cannot be skimmed, it needs to be savored.