• the first one, from McKinsey Quarterly, titled We’re all marketers now.
• the second one, an excellent piece from Susan Wojcicki, Google employee #16, titled The Eight Pillars of Innovation.

When I read the first article, I felt that I was called in. Not because I am in marketing nor because I am part of any of these new approaches and committees.The McKinsey article makes some clear examples of what I call “formal engagement” (an engagement driven and pushed by the organization). But what is in for me?

I work for a company (IBM) and I am, obviously, attached to the success of my company in the market. But is it “enough” ? I mean, doing my job, trying to do it in the better way I can.. these are all good things. I am paid for this, after all!

But the article made me thinking as if I am on “the other side”. I am a customer now. (Well, I am a customer many times during my week!). What motivates me to be attentive to what other people try to sell me? What drives my choice in being more open to listening the message from Company_A instead than Company_B?

This is where I felt “called in”. Regardless from my place in the organization or the tasks I am asked to execute as part of my job…. am I able to deliver the right attention to customers and prospects and ease their life when interacting with me?

And here comes the second article.

Work can be more than a job when it stands for something you care about.

‘I’m feeling lucky.’ That’s certainly how I feel coming to work every day, and something I never want to take for granted

Again, Innovation and the experience Susan shared in the article, are great things. But, once again, the personal engagement in what I do, the passion I am doing it, is imho fundamental for both Innovation and for addressing the new market challenges.

I am lucky so far because I am given the opportunity to present, explain, share what I experiment each day. I am lucky because “I am living what I work”, meaning that I can really share what I think is a great way of working. The opportunity I have to talk and explain and share experiences about “Living Social” in the enterprise (and outside of it), reflects the experience I am doing each day. It is not something “I have to do because it is a good thing and because this brings me money in my pocket”. It is something that permeates my work life.

I am reading that all the big thinking heads of Sun are now leaving Oracle. I have two kind of reactions facing this news:

1. to describe my first reaction, I take a quote from the movie Ghostbusters: 
   “They gave us money and facilities, we didn’t have to produce anything! You’ve never been out of college! You don’t know what it’s like out there!” 

   

 

2. to describe the second, I refer to the image of rats leaving the sinking ship…

 

I have still many people I know who are working for Sun. And I think that it is actually so easy for someone to engage lives of others.

Where are all the blog posts from Jonathan Schwartz?

Where are the lessons that Scott Mcnealy was teaching to his troops for so many years?

 

 

A colleague shared with us these drops of wisdom. I would like to take them as part of my commitments for this new year:

• Commitment
• Honesty
• Accountability
• Respect
• Courage

We will all need to give the best of ourselves in this difficult period. Not losing sight of what is important and lasting, is something that needs to be constantly present in my mind.