Over the next few months, I am going to be writing and reflecting on a wonderful book I have read numerous times, “Hardwiring Excellence” by Quint Studer. I have read it numerous times, even listen to the audio book on long road trips. Here is a book that is the beacon for those who lead hospitals, work in hospitals, and care about patients and employees. Quint Studer is a pioneer in patient satisfaction and laid the groundwork for all the benchmarking in patient satisfaction scores. The goal for me is to relate his teachings and methodology into a digital communication paradigm, one that is leveraging social media everyday to build relationships not only with the consumers but those inside operating hospitals.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the business behind content and how it has become more important everyday to truly tell our story. We are finding more and more every day, content is your communications’ most equitable position; the more you tell, the more you share, the more you have in the content cue, the larger the brand bucket for your organization.
Sometimes capturing moments does not necessarily mean we disregard other perspectives. Do you ask your self…which images do you choose to share and which images do you choose to disregard? Do you save the disregarded images to revisit at a later time? Do you spend time reviewing the images that were not made public? Are the images you share those that paint a perception of your reality that necessarily disregard an untold truth, bringing a larger texture to broader narrative?
Telling 25 Years of Stories…that sounds like a lot! It was a bit overwhelming, but a huge opportunity to embrace a powerful narrative right here in Anderson, SC. I was hired to help find, tell, and share 25 stories for 25 years…and what I found were passionate stories told by passionate people!
It is hard to completely wrap our heads around what it means to operationalize a digital content strategy. There are so many barriers to execution, ranging from the operational portion of generating content, finding unique stories that are consumer friendly, training people to share unique narratives, and even just getting the written word on digital paper.
I have always been caught in this dilemma…when it comes to managing a brand’s community or community within a brand, what is best for the community? Who should be really managing the community? One with experience with the Message? Community Management? Social Media Management? Brand Management? The actual brand employee(s)?
Yes…I said it…give them the middle finger and prove them wrong!
What is your passion?
Many times, I am asked to speak to college students and they always want to know my path. They want to know what I do and how I was able to get where I am today. I always ask them, what is their dream job? I ask them to tell me, what would they do if money did not matter!
Many students struggle with that question, having a hard time to frame the wisdom of what tomorrow might hold, given the frankness and reality of their upcoming graduation. I ask them…what is you passion?
You see these hands…they have scars from years and years of cameras, cold shoots, 1k and 2K light burns, cuts, bruises, broken fingers, years of typing with carpel tunnel and consistent camera movements…they represent the battlefield.
It is our battlefield and it is something we hold dear to our hearts. The mere process of finding, telling, curating, sharing, and engaging interactive narratives is more than just an experience…it is years in the making.
Many of us storytellers have learned from our personal experience, failures, and experiments. We have learned from numerous mentors as we have spent years in the apprenticeship process. We have cobbled together lots of job descriptions, career tracks, educational experiences to get to where we are…and we protect our knowledge base(s), we hold it close.
What is your ministry? What do I mean?
I met a very cool person this past weekend, his name is James Morrison. James has a simple mission, chopping firewood for those in need this winter. He has been volunteering his time to AIM in Anderson, SC for the past 25 years. Yes…for 25 years he has chopping firewood.
James has a simple passion, simple ministry…to use his God given natural talent to help others. This passion has led him to find others with similar passion. Now he has attracted a group of men to help him every year. He has volunteers in the community donation wood, logs, and limbs; wood he transforms into firewood for many individuals that depend on this resource to keep their homes warm during the winter.
