Reiterating a theme - a few words to live by

Relationships take work. We all know this and yet we take shortcuts, in our personal and professional lives. There are no quick SUSTAINABLE hits in the always one world of the Relationship Economy. It *IS* hard to keep up. The amount of data available to follow, manage, read, mash together etc is indeed overwhelming. Here are a few points I like to bear in mind when I get a bit overwhelmed myself.

1. Do not ignore your customers, it WILL come back to haunt you

2. Constant iteration is NECESSARY - build in flexibility so you can respond quickly

3. Don't LIE - you can't HIDE the truth anymore

4. Build LISTENING into your DNA (Put it in customer service, marketing, product management - just PUT IT SOMEWHERE)

5. Learn to BALANCE the listening with PERSPECTIVE so you are not constantly in REACTIVE mode.

6. DESIGN matters - Make it EASY (iPhone anyone?)

7. Be CLEAR & CONCISE - who has time for long winded-ness

8. Be EMOTIONAL - tell a story <read=">read" this="this" to="</a>to" learn="learn" the="the" basics="basics">

9. Be HUMAN - talk like one, act like one. Sounds like a big DUH but it is amazing how easy it is to get lost in complexities when we forget this one.

10. Take a BREAK - and step back to think BIG thoughts

Bonus Links must reads from Umair and Brian, two guys I really respect whose blogs are always are in my top ten feed list:

You can't fake the funk - Compromise kills. Amen brother! Stop playing king of the mountain: everything is not a competition, win or lose, black or white, cool or uncool, sell or IPO