Communication is our Killer App

Last post I told you about a new Twitter account I’d be setting up for Say “Alaka‘i.” As popular as Twitter has become, I knew that it might be a stretch for many managers and leaders, but I decided to try anyway. If there is one thing I will not allow myself to do, it’s underestimate you and what you are capable of.

When they first heard about it, there were a few managers already in my personal Twitter community who also wondered what in the world I was thinking, for I already had one account where they were engaging with me; why another? —and this, from people who are Twitter evangelists!

The answer is that most of you who read this blog aren’t there, and the Rosa Say floodgates of Twitter enthusiasm have been fully flung open at @rosasay: I didn’t want you to get overwhelmed by some of the rabbit trails I will joyfully bound down in my learning there, especially if you were new to Twitter. I wanted to streamline and Alaka‘i-focus on @sayalakai, creating another digital, web-based management/ leadership place you could more comfortably jump into and learn about. In the process, I hope to develop another way that we can quickly and easily communicate.

Here’s the thing: I believe that we can always converse with each other more than we are, sharing the incredible amount of knowledge stored up in our amazing brains. You know how I feel about ‘talking story.’ You can expect that I will continue to stubbornly work on communication as my killer app in promoting Alaka‘i leadership, and managing with Aloha.

“Technology has revolutionized our landscape.”

Let me share an excerpt from one of my all-time favorite business books:

“Until recently, bizpeople could survive for years without advice, without connection skills, perhaps even without new ideas. But now that the bizworld is moving at a velocity once unheard of, many of us can’t keep up. We’ve made some bad decisions, we’ve received some bad advice, we didn’t get connected to the right opportunities, we’re feeling left behind or left out.”

“Technology has revolutionized our landscape. Before the information revolution, business changed gradually and business models became antiquated even more slowly. The value progression evolved over decades and double decades. You could go to college, get an MBA and work for forty years, and your pure on-the-job knowledge stayed relevant. Relationships were for the most part geo-bound, and only a handful of people comprised your entire business network.”

“That was yesterday. Forget about today, because tomorrow is upon us. And to succeed in tomorrow’s workplace, you need a killer application [a killer app].”
—Tim Sanders, author of Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends

In his book, Sanders goes on to explain that love is his killer app, saying that “those of us who use love as a point of differentiation in business will separate ourselves from our competitors just as world-class distance runners separate themselves from the rest of the pack trailing behind them.” His book is exceptional (he has a great blog too), and I highly recommend you read more of what he has to say in regard to his definition of ‘love business;’ “the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles [of our knowledge, our network, and our compassion] with your bizpartners.”

We need each other, and we need to realize we do

I believe that Tim Sanders is right: Love IS the killer app. Sanders wrote Love is the Killer App in 2002, and it is still highly relevant for our times. There is no way I will ever give up on love —that would be like giving up on Aloha!

However today, my ‘killer app’ is conversation. I can write quite a bit, and about all kinds of things related to management and leadership and business, but the writing doesn’t amount to much without the conversation which brings it to life in every day application for you.

“Build a community of those you love and who love you.”

—Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven

To love people, to share your Aloha with them as a community, you have to continually create ways that you can communicate with them. You have to make it easy for those people to communicate with each other too. I don’t believe that most of you are already engaging with me, and with each other, so I am hoping that Twitter will be another avenue to help us make that happen. We have gotten off to a great start there, and I am excited to see just how dynamic our engagement can still become.

Ultimately, we learn most from each other

“The process of connection is highly proactive. So are most successful people” your network is your net worth.”

—Tim Sanders

@sayalakai is an experiment; a pilot project for Say “Alaka‘i.” Pilot projects are great: We play with them in the process of committing to a decision about them one way or the other, but we play full out, so that if they don’t work we’ll know we gave it our best shot. If Twitter doesn’t work, I will try something else, but it will still be about improving the way we communicate.

If you are a manager or a leader, not communicating is not an option.

So, we play full out, giving this pilot a shot: Let’s talk story. Make conversation your killer app too. You now have three Alaka‘i ways to do so:

1. Comment right here on the blog —I encourage you to introduce yourself so we can get to know you.
2. Twitter with us @sayalakai —mahalo nui loa to those who have already jumped in there!
3. Email me your questions for Sunday Koa Kākou —it’s no surprise to me that Sundays now capture some of the best postings here, for you make this happen.

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~ Originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” ~
Communication is our Killer App

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A Talking Story Extra: If you do not yet have it, Love is the Killer App is a must for the personal library of managers and leaders. I wrote more about the book in this posting in our archives: 7 More Ways to get the most from Books.

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