CEO Tweets Resignation
February 4, 2010
@OpenJonathan Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more
That’s the last Tweet from Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s former CEO. It was preceeded by his final blog just 1 week earlier. http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/where_life_takes_me_next
In the time of Social Media, how we get the news is not nearly as riveting as how FAST we get news. Via Facebook you get birth announcements, wedding invitations, divorce annoucements…via LinkedIn yo usee job changes and now via Twitter – resignations. All real time. Faster than you can spill the announcement to your immediate family, you can notify hundreds/thousands (or in Jonathan Schwartz’s 9107 people).
If you are a company, how do you manage this flow of communication? More importantly how do you exploit this communication and how do you track the effectiveness? I think that the next generation of BI will track social media impact to financial results and/or to customer satisfaction. Imagine if you could track the ROI of your marketing efforts! If a Marketer’s MBO could include # of tweets per day and % increase of profit and truly be tied together!! Ah…dreamy
CEO Dashboard of the future
Good luck Jonathan!
- Jodie
- Writers note: when I started writing this at 4:51PM, @openJonathan had 9107 followers. 22 minutes later (5:13PM, he now has 9,151). A quirky, unexpected message gets a following…quickly!
LUCRUM Radio – Episode 11, Daniel Johnson Jr.
September 25, 2008
Daniel Johnson Jr. is one of the most prolific users of social media in the Cincinnati region. Daniel is the founder of New Media Cincinnati, an avid blogger, podcaster, Facebook member, Twitter user, and participant in numerous other web platforms.
Daniel is successfully utilizing social media to make human connections – using the web to amplify his traditional networking activities. In doing so, Daniel has built a loyal and large following of friends and colleagues both locally and nationally.
In this episode of LUCRUM radio, Daniel shares his thoughts on the value of social media. He discusses how he got started blogging, and why he has continued to stay engaged in the process of creating and participating in conversations on the web. Daniel also offers some great tips for managing time and creating content on the web, as well as his strategy for maintaining multiple sites and platforms. (He has multiple blogs and 5 Twitter accounts and keeps them all on track)
Thanks to Daniel for taking the time to share his thoughts with us. It was great fun and very enlightening.
Listen in on this episode of LUCRUM Radio…
[display_podcast]
LUCRUM Radio, Episode 2: Joel Suggs
July 3, 2008
Christy Rollyson, one of our Account Executives recently wrote about her first experiences on the golf course and how golf relates to business. I asked PGA member Joel Suggs to join me and Christy in a discussion about conducting business on the golf course, how to approach the game as a novice, and how to ensure a lifetime of continued improvement.
Joel is Southern Ohio’s only PGA Master Teaching professional. Golf Range Magazine has rated Joel one of the Top 50 Instructors in America, US Kids Golf recognized Joel as one of america’s Top 50 Kids Instructors, and Golf Digest ranks Joel as one of the Top 5 instructors in Ohio. Joes teaches at the Meadow Links & Golf Academy and can be reached at JoelSuggsGolfSuccess.com.
Listen in and let us know what you think.
[display_podcast]
When Life Gets in the Way of A Great Blog Post
May 15, 2008
If you’ve read any of my previous postings, you know that I put a lot of thought and detail into each of my blogs. I have to say sorry that I’ve missed you all lately, but life has started to get in the way. I have several partially complete. But then…
This week – Urgent priorities with my new client, Ipsos, and other major client needs are driving my time. I also have a member of my team in town from Newfoundland.
Last week – I started to come up to speed with Ipsos and had meetings all day each day.
Prior week – I was finishing my Data Strategy/Architecture role with Kroger which required me to max out each day.
But, at night… Had lots of family things going on…you know what it’s like trying to balance work/home life. 
!
I’ve got one finishing high school, one just finished her first year of college. Two proms. One 8th grade formal. One child going to Orlando for two weeks, another going to Destin for a week. Three awards ceremonies. One child with recent medical issues and blah blah blah and so on….
So, I am trying to get back in to balance and expect to reach a proper rhythm again soon. Or my head will explode! I miss you all and hope to post some great content soon.
Marketing in the Recommendation Age
May 15, 2008
“Why on Earth would your company want a blog?” “Aren’t you afraid of what people might say?” “What about your brand?” As the guy who championed the idea of the blog at LUCRUM, and regular blogging evangelist, I am asked this question almost daily. My answer is simple. “I trust our people to do the right thing.”
My coworkers at LUCRUM are smart – much smarter than I am. I know that when they talk about technology, they are passionate about it. They speak from experience and they speak from the heart. They are sincere, and that is different. They are interesting. They are real. They are the essence of “The Brand.”
I also trust the readers of the site. They can smell disingenuous corporate speak from a mile away. Yeah, I could hire professional writers to put together a brand strategy for our blog. We could toil endlessly on the exact wording of every phrase – but why? It would not be real. It would not be different. It would invisible.
Thankfully, it is real. And… it is really fun to be involved with.
Just today, we were contacted by a talented IT Professional who was so moved by Andy Erickson’s LinkedIn profile and the honesty of the blog site that she sent in an amazing letter with her resume expressing her desire to join the LUCRUM team.
This is the result of conversation.
What we hope to achieve is not just conversation, but also recommendation. In this day and age reputation is so important. What you do is far more important than what you say you do. What you do IS the marketing. It is about customer service, employee relations, innovative thinking, and delivering real value for Clients each and every day.
We are working on building a tribe. A loyal group of eager participants, fully engaged in the experience of LUCRUM. We want to create evangelists. We aspire to deliver greatness. That aspiration lives in each of us, and thus the blog serves as the platform for sharing our honest hopes and dreams for the firm. It is a metaphor for the business as a whole. It is about being “recommendable” or perhaps more properly put “remarkable.”
Are we there yet? Nope. But we have taken the steps necessary to start the journey. Each and every day we learn. Each and every day we evolve. Hopefully, we listen, we grow, and we improve along the way.
Why blog? Well if what we do is to solve business problems by using technology, than why not embrace technology to identify those problems and uncover the solutions? Why not engage our people to drive innovation at every level of the organization? Why not give everyone, including our clients and the world at large, a voice in the conversation. Why not become recommendable?
Check out the link below for a great article about marketing in the recommendation age.
Marketing in the Recommendation Age | Small Business Solutions – TheStreet.com
LUCRUM: 15 Years and Counting…
February 16, 2008
Today’s the 15th anniversary of the founding of LUCRUM. Wow, that’s seems like a long time ago! At the same time, it also feels like yesterday! Our industry is a great industry because it never gets boring. The idea that we can problem solve in our customers’ business using some of the latest technology and techniques is still as rich in opportunity as the first day we were in business. I still remember that first day. I called about 20 different customer/prospects that I knew in the regional marketplace with the announcement that I had formed a new consulting company called, “Client Server Associates.” We were going to focus on the new paradigm of developing business software outside of the mainframe on PC’s and their network servers. It was a very “bleeding edge” concept at the time, and as you know, the rest is history.
It was also very “new” to think of business cycles lasting only a few years instead of the normal 7 year cycles. In fact, I was brash enough at the age of 33 to tell customers that the cycles were going to be “months-long” instead of years long. Boy, was I ever disruptive! In today’s economy, the switch from “build product and the market will come” to “mass customization of all products and services” has created such a huge market in business consulting and developing software solutions. I’ve skied out in Utah this season a few times and the ski “ticket” is now an RFID card that “swipes you” when you go through the turnstiles onto the ski lift! No more checking your ski tag! They also allow for you to go to their website and see how many ski runs you made and what the vertical feet added up to! Another benefit for the avid skier! Our whole world is going to change over the next five years in leveraging the RFID technology, mobile computing with Blackberries and other platforms, as well as the whole concept of “predicting” what the customer wants and suggestively selling or recommending your services in a way that you think they “really know you.” The fact is, they really do know you! “Predicting” needs and requirements is a big portion of the “data management” strategy of any company. They won’t be able to do this themselves in most situations since most companies don’t have an “inventive and build” culture. This is where LUCRUM is going to leverage our strengths and brain-power to provide these kind of services for the market. It’s going to be a very interesting “next 5 years!”
Happy Anniversary! JB
And We’re Off…TheFutureValueofBusiness.com
February 13, 2008
I am now mid way through my 3rd week here at LUCRUM, and it is amazing. I have spent the last 2 weeks getting to know my co-workers, developing an initial needs assessment, and working on putting my stamp on the company’s marketing efforts.
First and foremost has been the launch of this blog. Everyone I have spoken with is extremely excited about the project – though it represents a considerable shift in approach. It will be interesting to see this web log come to life. There should be no shortage of interesting content. I am just hoping that I can keep up.
One co-worker, Andy Erickson, got so excited about the project following a conversation we had on my first day, he launched his own blog to compliment this one. Already he has developed a following here in Cincinnati, and I look forward to having him contributing to the content of thefuturevalueofbusiness.com
It’s not just Andy. Seemingly everyone here at LUCRUM is excited about joining the blogosphere. From Sales to HR, Marketing to Finance, Developers, Coders, Project Managers, and more – people are really interested. My challenge will be turning that curiosity into action – i.e. content. I believe I am up to the challenge.
I am particularly interested in reading posts from the leader of LUCRUM, John Bostick. John is truly a renaissance man. He has started numerous successful companies, traveled the world, given lectures in China, and climbed Mt. Rainier. He even teaches classes in wine and gourmet cooking at Jungle Jim’s here in Cincinnati. He is extremely well read, very articulate, and a true man of vision. I am certain that he will author many interesting posts in the days ahead.
The best part is that it does not stop with John. There are so many people with so much to share. This is going to be fun. If you are interested in hearing our story, and telling us yours, I hope you will subscribe to the site either via RSS or email. Both are available on the home page and can be set up with just a few keystrokes.
My name is David, and I blog (among other things) for a living.