ARTICULATED

This week Kinkennon Communications, Inc. (KC) was featured on MO.com, a news site for entrepreneurs. It turned out to be a pretty cool little feature story. Check it out.

Last summer, Kinkennon Communications was hired to develop and run marketing communications for four nonprofit organizations that were in the final stages of merging into one. I had to help them figure out the merged organization’s new name, logo, tagline, what to tell clients and funders, what to say to the news media, when and how, etc. It was three months of intensive, roll-up-the-sleeves work.

This week I received this lovely thank you note from the delightful woman who’s the organization’s CEO. How lucky am I that I get to work with people like this?

Now that Kinkennon Communications (KC) has been in Colorado for five years, and does an increasing amount of work for Colorado-based clients, I sometimes tell people that I’ve gotten away from the DC-style advocacy and public affairs work that has dominated a large portion of my career.

But then last month, when I looked at the “Top 10 lobbying victories of 2011” as published by a major Capitol Hill newspaper, I realized I was involved in three of them (in a media relations capacity) – including being on the winning side of the top one on the list.

So there’s my belief that the business is trending westward. And then there’s the facts, which sure seem to suggest KC is “Washington” as ever.

I saw this little sign in the home décor section of a Wal-Mart recently. (I shop big, I know.)  On a shelf in a big-box retail store, a surprising little reminder of what I think is the number one rule of communications:

If honesty is the best image, and I’m certain it is, it requires us to avoid doing things that we might not want to talk about. And it compels us to do things that bring proof to the things we want said about us.

What does that mean in English? If we’re a nonprofit engaged in some important philanthropic endeavor, for instance, it might mean generating measurable results in our chosen field of work while avoiding embarrassing little stumbles along the way (think lapses in financial stewardship). If I’m a celebrity who wants people to think I’m a stand-up family man, it might mean I’ve got to keep my pants on unless my spouse is in the room. Boring, but true.

Of course, we’re all human — and all humans goof up on occasion. Thankfully, Americans are a forgiving lot when mistakes are owned fully and forthrightly. But you can’t fess up to only half of what you did. And no matter what, you can’t then make the same mistake twice.

One of the beauties of running your own one-person consulting shop is that you have lots of control over your schedule. You don’t have to map to a boss’s idea of where you should be and when. If you want to take a break, or walk the dog, or draft a quick blog post, you do it.

But one of the downsides of running your own shop is that when you get really, really busy, you feel as though you lose all control of your schedule. There are no staffers to punt tasks to, do you are responsible for them all. That means you work all day, and then into the night, and then on weekends. You don’t take breaks, you don’t walk the dog as much or as long, and you certainly don’t draft quick blog posts.

Mid-July through the end of October was like that for Kinkennon Communications (KC). It was great in that I was involved with really cool projects, and it was great for revenue numbers. But this blog sat entirely dormant during that time.

Well I’m back. And with some of the things coming down the pike, both for KC and personally, it could be a pretty neat time to be blogging.

Occasionally I indulge in a conversation with myself about where Kinkennon Communications might go next. Are there industry areas in which KC might enjoy and be able to bring some particular value?  Are there some other kinds of clients I might find even more exciting to work for than my current and traditional great ones? The answers often come back to me something like this:

• High-impact philanthropy. I love this stuff and would do it all the time if I could.  Of course, I’ve known that for a while and committed a few years ago to making it happen. It’s going really well.

• Sports and outdoors. There’s a whole outdoors and sports industry out there I’d love to be involved with. A few things that come to mind: advocacy for mountain-bike trail access, recruitment for Outward Bound or NOLS, PR for Vail Skiing Company, or just about anything that gets more desk jockeys outside and dirty on the weekends, having their eyes opened like mine were about what’s possible when we challenge ourselves physically. I spend tons of my personal / volunteer time in amateur sports leadership. It’d be great to turn some of that into paying work.

• Animals. I’ve done some of this, like issue framing for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. But I want to do more, like maybe public education on the need for spaying and neutering, or marketing for the Denver Zoo or Baltimore Aquarium.

A new year is coming up soon. It may be time recommit to making these growth areas happen.

Years ago, I signed up a four-day bicycle ride to raise money for charity. At the new-rider orientation, I sat terrified as the organizers spelled out basic rules to minimize my chances of being splatted by a tractor-trailer before I made the first pit stop.

Yesterday on the bike, as I felt the windy wake of a passing 18-wheeler, I reflected back on those rules. It occurred to me that ever since that orientation, three of those rules have been shaping not only how I maneuver the open road on two wheels, but how I maneuver the roads and paths of work life:

1. When an 18-wheeler is about to pass, it can shove you aside without even touching you. Have you ever had someone do a maneuver around you at the office to get that cool project you wanted? Or earn that kudo? Or even secure that promotion? You may have felt like you were caught flat-footed, or even never saw them coming. But it’s possible you felt their maneuverings without knowing it. It’s even possible they blew you right out of the way. On a bicycle, when an 18-wheeler approaches from behind, you can detect the rush of wind preceding the truck long before it arrives. That rush of wind can push you off the road if you’re not alert. The learning? Someone is always approaching from behind. It’s up to us to detect it and make our own decisions about whether or not to let it move us.
2. When an 18-wheeler passes you, it’ll suck you into its wake. As air rushes to fill the vacuum created by a rapidly passing 18-wheeler, it will suck your bicycle from the shoulder out into the middle of the road unless you really hold your line. The learning? At the office, when someone blows past us, it’s easy to be drawn into their wake, whether or not that’s part of our plan. There’s lots to be learned from fast-trackers and their maneuverings. But we probably should do it without losing our own line.
3. Pass with courtesy, always. On a bicycle, sometimes you’re the passer, and sometimes you’re the person being passed. No one on a bicycle likes being surprised by another cyclist zooming past them without warning. A simple, courteous “On your left!” will do.  The learning? If you’re the fast mover at your office, you’re probably overtaking people. But you could be working with (or riding with!) them next year, or next month, or tomorrow. So be sure you’re treating them with courtesy along the way.

What other rules of the road for cyclists also apply in work environs?

(Photo courtesy of humbert15 via Flickr Creative Commons.)

As if Facebook and Twitter weren’t enough, should you be dabbling in Foursquare? In this blog post on SocialMediaToday, Rachel Strella makes the best case I’ve read to date for why “normal” people should dabble in the location-based social media service.

Foursquare is something of a darling among social media junkies. So I tried it a couple of years ago but deleted it from my phone almost immediately. At the time, there weren’t many users. I subconsciously feared being a hypocrite because I had long argued that I should never have to tell a boss or client where I am — I should only have to demonstrate that I’m delivering. And I generally didn’t get it and didn’t have the energy to try that hard because I was already approaching social-media overload.

Strella explains why Foursquare is a good marketing tool for local businesses. Indeed, If I ran a little stand that sold burritos as big as your head to drunk people in the wee hours, I’d be marketing via Foursquare like it was my job. Strella also makes a great case for why using Foursquare can be really good for finding good deals and good eats. Her simple argument is so compelling, in fact, that I’m considering trying it again.

But she doesn’t address my perpetual BIG QUESTION, one that I find so rarely addressed, because there really is no good answer. It applies not only to Foursquare, of course, but to Facebook mobile, Twitter apps, texting, work email, and our general obsession with our smartphones. What do you say when your friend, your colleague, your other half, or even your kid, asks, “Why are you playing with that phone again? I’m right here in front of you.”

As anyone who’s paid attention to this blog will know, I have opinions on resumes. The most read post ever on this blog ever is “Hey, smart P.R. pro, your resume stinks. Here’s 3 tips to fix it.” It’s not like I have any sort of human resources or other substantive hiring experience. It’s just the communications guy in me. I know what putting one’s best foot forward looks like, and there’s no better place to do that well (or, unfortunately, poorly) than a resume.

So check out this great infographic from big social-media news site Mashable on crafting the “perfect modern resume.” It must really be striking a chord – it’s been retweeted more than 2,500 times.

Check out this great piece on NetWitsThinkTank from @Blackbaud.  Nonprofit software company Idealware surveyed more than 500 nonprofit staff about their Facebook usage. The results give some guidance to nonprofit leaders about the areas in which spending time engaging with Facebook fans actually reaps dividends (such as generating event turnout and building stronger relationships with existing constituents). And the areas in which it does not (such as donor acquisition). It’s worth a read.