How Gritty Are You?

by | May 7, 2016 | Change, Corporate Communications, Learning, Social Media

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Did you catch two great books that came out this month? Grit by Angela Duckworth and TED Talks by Chris Anderson were both released on May 3.

More to come on TED in a future post, and for the 6-minute version of Grit, watch the TED talk. Dive into Grit the book for more on the science behind the concept. This answered 3 key questions for me.

First, what is grit? Duckworth defines it as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” More than talent and intelligence, grit is what ultimately makes people successful in achieving their goals.

She said in her TED talk that “Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Are you curious to see how gritty you are? Test yourself on the Grit Scale.

Second, what can be life-changing about grit? You don’t have to possess natural talent or off-the-charts intelligence in order to do great things. In fact, “natural talent” may simply be the outcome of a lot of hard work behind the scenes that ultimately comes to appear effortless.

If you have passion for something and decide to persevere no matter what, you have an excellent chance of achieving your goal. So says the science in Duckworth’s studies.

Third, what does this mean for your life? It means you don’t have any excuses. You can no longer say you don’t have what it takes to accomplish a goal in your area of passion. You have to own up to the fact that you didn’t work hard enough.

Does that mean you should never throw in the towel on something? Of course not. There are times when you need to cut your losses and move on. Just don’t do it too soon. Give yourself time to move beyond the inevitable period of being bad at something new, with thanks here to Erika Andersen.

How has grit made a difference? A few years ago, my daughter was struggling in her first AP class in high school. She missed the deadline to level down to a regular class. A few academic advisors later told her they could move her to a lower class and suggested that she avoid future AP courses.

To my surprise (and delight), my daughter said no. She wanted to finish the course. And finish she did. She eked by with a passing, but not great, grade in the course. But she got a qualifying score on the exam, one that will give her college credit. And she went on to take other AP courses, with better grades and better scores. All because she chose to persevere.

You’ve probably faced times like those in your life and your career. I can think of more than a few. When launching a new way to work with social collaboration a few years ago, I had moments of terror. How would we do it? How would we manage through the inevitable mistakes? How would we make it successful?

The day our beta test launched, I decided I would start a blog. The purpose? To create a safe learning environment for others. To role model the use of the new platform. And to learn by doing so I could advise other leaders on starting their own blogs.

It wasn’t easy, admitting what I didn’t know. Making mistakes. Asking the community for help in how to perform seemingly simple functions, like creating hyperlinks. Or launching a project on Social Media for Innovation in partnership with Gerry Ledford of USC’s Center for Effective Organizations. But that’s how I learned.

A fierce level of tenacity existed among the people on my team at the time who were leading the project – Michael Ambrozewicz and Thyda Nhek Vanhook. And we had tremendous colleagues in our I.T. organization, starting from Frank Palase to Brian Ulm and many, many others.

How did we do? I knew we’d achieved success when people started talking about the platform in meetings. When I’d walk by a conference room and see a platform screen displayed on a monitor. When I worked with our CEO to launch his leadership blog. And when nearly 90% of our employees were using the platform to do their daily work more efficiently.

In those moments when you want to shut down and walk away from a seemingly unsolvable problem, what works best is to do the opposite. Take some kind of action. Any action. Get feedback from others. Adjust your path. And keep moving forward.

How do you persevere on your most important goals?

Great Blogs About Marketing Analytics and Big Data

by | Apr 11, 2016 | Learning, Marketing & Analytics

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Since small steps add up to big change, what are some blogs that accelerate learning about marketing analytics and big data?

A great place to start is with this post: Want to Learn Marketing Analytics? Start With These 9 Great Resources.

From that and other searches, these are 3 to check out regularly.

  • The KISSmetrics Blog. Here there’s daily content about marketing analytics, marketing and testing.
  • Alexandra Samuel’s blog. Here this “technology researcher, writer and strategist” covers how the social web is changing every aspect of our lives.

Is this last one strictly about marketing analytics and big data? No, it’s bigger than that. It’s about life.

And isn’t the point of analytics and big data to enable better decisions and therefore better lives?

 

My post 6 Brilliant Blogs for Marketers covers more general marketing blogs, including FiveThirtyEight on “using statistical analysis to tell compelling stories.”

4 Key Questions About Data

by | Apr 5, 2016 | Learning, Marketing & Analytics

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When I started my learning project, the plan was to alternate posts between learning how to learn and learning more about data science.

A data review would show I’ve focused too much on the former and not enough on the latter. The data-driven conclusion? It’s time to shift the balance.

As I’ve worked in a new role the last 6 months focusing on marketing analytics, I’ve drawn heavily on my academic background. There’s  economics with its emphasis on statistics and communications management with its reliance on research.

My professional experience is key, too. Leading an employee engagement survey strategy for several years and conducting corporate communications surveys has helped tremendously.

It’s fascinating how many parallels exist between seemingly disparate areas. And problem solving and team leadership are often similar from function to function.

One of the skills I’ve needed to sharpen is thinking critically about data measurements. I’m learning to ask better questions. And I’m learning to anticipate questions from colleagues on how data was collected and analyzed.

Harvard Business Review is a valuable resource in generating good questions – from branding to market insights and from big data to the customer experience.

A March 2016 article by Thomas C. Redman – 4 Steps to Thinking Critically About Data Measurements – gives great tips on asking good questions about data. Here’s a short summary:

  • How does the actual measurement line up with what you want to know? Ask yourself if the measures are good surrogates for what you really want to know.  Redman advises to “distinguish ‘pretty close’ from ‘a good-enough indicator’ to ‘not what I had in mind.'” If you’re settling for something less than perfect, you should be aware of it.
  • What do you want to know? Clarify what you want to know. This is similar to asking, “what problem are we trying to solve?” It’s also important to make sure all stakeholders are aligned on the exact nature and outcomes of the measurement process.
  • What are weaknesses in the measurement process? Here Redman advises a thorough understanding of the entire data collection process. He suggests listening to customer calls if you’re measuring customer complaints or going to a factory if you’re measuring factory productivity. This helps to “develop a feel for the weak links.”
  • Have you subjected results to the “smell test”? If results don’t seem right to you, based on other knowledge you have, dig into them. If results come in much better or worse than expected, consider the possibility of bad measurement and investigate further.

Thank you, Thomas Redman, for a few simple litmus tests to think more critically about data.