A friend of mine recently asked me for some advice on writing a mission statement for her company. I think she was a little surprised when I told her I don’t think mission statements necessarily work anymore. Why? Well honestly most of the time managers think that by printing the mission statement or having a big meeting with t-shirts and other schwag that they are creating a shared vision (yes I have been guilty of this). The truth is that while the vision has been shared it may not be shared. If the team doesn’t commit to or more importantly - understand how it relates directly to their role in the company it won’t work. Personally I think Guy Kawasaki’s prescription for a corporate mantra or short phrase works best. In a very classic sense a mantra is believed to be the sound form of reality, having the power to bring into being the reality it represents. Basically it gives things meaning and brings them to life. A corporate mantra can help clarify for an employee why their job exists on the deepest level, regardless of what they do. The video below is Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start presentation. His thoughts on missions and mantra is about 6:25 into the video. If you have time to watch the whole thing, it’s a great presentation. (more…)

When we were planning the new Pop Labs web site we thought a lot about the resources that we needed to include. As you might imagine, publishing our own blog was right at the top of the list. As an experienced blogger I naturally thought about all the wildcards of a corporate blog from sharing too much to the potential liabilities of an employee posting something before they think it through. In the long run the risks are worth it.

Pop Labs is all about helping leaders and businesses realize their full potential through online marketing. We live in a new world driven by social media and collaboration and the only way for people (including new employees, customers and partners) to really know what we are good at is to share our thoughts, ideas and yes even an occasional rant.

Semple Ideas is designed to not only help business and people leverage marketing ideas, but also to provide insight in design, social media, usability, technology and all the other areas that help drive a great web site or marketing campaign.

We hope you enjoy Semple Ideas.

P.S. Yes I will still be writing on The Moleskin…I am redesigning.