AbleBrains

Steve Mann 2.0: Open for Business

Well... its been quite a long while since I've written anything in ye ol blog o mine. So what better way to dust off this thing than to to talk about what I've done and what I plan on doing. First things first. I am pretty damn happy these days. The Trips are great and there are super special people in my life supporting me thru the big transitions I'm making these days.

I've been doing a lot of noodling... about me, what I want for myself yada yada yada... I came really close to leaving tech all together... you see, I've always had a passion for the brain, neuroscience and clinical psychology (the book sitting next to me right now is titled, "Welcome To Your Brain" ... so I was thinking seriously about going back to school and getting my PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psych and hanging a shingle.... and one day I may yet do that... but now... as the 2.0 extension implies, my love of and passion for tech is still strong in me and I want to play that out.

What I'm attracted to... I've been thinking about the large company experiences I've had... CA, SAP, [ Insert Large Company Name here] ... and while they've been mostly good (like anything) -- the capital resources, the people, the opportunities to work in global organizations with global cultures, I am finding myself attracted to smaller, agile organizations... I like to build young companies... to grow things... to make them successful... that's what turns me on.  Of course if Eric Schmidt asked me to run Google, I wouldn't turn him down (I do expect that call at any moment).

What am I doing now?  Well, I'm having a great time imparting what I know to other companies...in other words,  I'm consulting... what a shock eh? 

Consulting you say Steve?  What type?  Well here's what Steve Mann 2.0  is offering:

Social Stuff

• Social Media Strategy
• Social communications and buzz monitoring
• Go-to-market refinement and execution

Marketing & Business Stuff

• Market Segmentation including Attitudinal Segmentation.
• Category Development and Management -- marketing organizations are too often brought in late in the game for a corporate push.   Whether a product launch or a new go-to-market effort, typically these teams are the last to know. But in this economy that doesn’t work. So rather than focus on fighting for a market toehold or the arts and crafts aspects of sales and marketing, we  help companies define, deploy and build fundamentally new categories for your products and services. We’ll teach your sales and marketing teams intrinsically unique go-to-market approaches. And if we’re successful, we expect your organization will spend upwards of 70% of its time building and managing those categories rather than fighting for market toeholds. We're helping companies remove the wedge between Sales and Marketing and put the same lens on specific opportunities so you can work as a team.
• Unhooking from the machine - Success.  Companies go numb from it.  As they grow they develop corporate machines to manage the processes and operations that make the company hum.  But these machines constrain further dramatic growth and foster cultures of incrementalism.  Companies can't drive large innovations and market stance advances because of this incrementalist approach to business.  We help companies unhook by developing an Blueprint. It provides  organizations with new methods for bringing sales, marketing, services and product development together in ways they’ve never done before. It also recommends new tools and tactics for driving collaboration, communication and co-innovation through vibrant and non-traditional channels.

Innovation Stuff

• Innovation platforms and sparking
• Getting your Juice back - we take teams through a series of custom-designed exercises to rediscover their juice -- what made them great to begin with -- and once found, we show them how to tap that juice for projects and efforts.
• Developing and following an honest Growth Strategy -- To take you from where your company is now to where it wants to be, Steve Mann 2.0 develops growth strategies and maps out a plan for executing it.

Customer Experience Stuff

• Customer Experience Strategy & Design
  
• Customer Experience Management - analysis, software and services
• Net Promoter consulting
  

Client Stuff

We've recently signed Verisign as a client (thank you Karen Snyder) and we're developing a number of things for them.  We're working on a social strategy for them. Following that strategy development we'll be doing some category go-to-market and communications work for them.   We're super excited about what we're doing and will post regular updates per Verisign's permission.

So there ya have it.... look I don't want to be just another consultant... they're a dime a dozen. Most consultants, feed those corporate machines with information and plans to drive further incrementalist thinking and efficiencies. I don't know how do that.  What I do know is what I've done for other organizations.  Put in place the plan and execution path to drive fundamental change... to drive some real growth... and to retrieve greatness if it was lost.

Steve Mann 2.0  Open for Business.

Seven Years...

On Friday of this week. I sent three emails to SAP. The first note went to Leo Apotheker. I thanked Leo for allowing me to contribute to SAP’s success and his guidance and told him I’d miss my times “sweating [while presenting] to him and the rest of the FLT [Field Leadership Team].”  I received a great note back from Leo.  Marty Homlish received the second email in which I also thanked him not only for the opportunity to contribute to Marketing's success at SAP but for his mentorship and the many personal  learnings I experienced while working for him. The final note went to my fellow colleagues: 

Colleagues… Seven years is a long time. I remember my first day at SAP though like it was yesterday -- I actually wore a tie on that first day, and looked so eager and ready to begin… And of course, I had much more hair. Each year has been completely different -- with new challenges and amazing opportunities. I've had my share of failures as well as some spectacular successes….Executive Offline Demos, Rapid Prototyping Tool, The CMI MegaModel and Custom Research Agendas, Risk Management, Competitive Monitoring programs, Services marketing, build out of the Apollo team and great successes with Safe Passage programs, driving design thinking into our experience design methodologies and helping to get SAP on the road with Web 2.0.

But the greatest success and thing that has given me the most pleasure has been the opportunity to work with such a talented and driven group of people. I want to thank you all for allowing me to be part of your professional and in some cases personal lives. Its been fun and its been an honor.

I wish I had some great pearl of wisdom that will leave you saying "wow" but nothing particularly insightful or groundbreaking comes to mind, so I'll just say, stay the course, get outside the box as often as possible, and if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

So what am I going to be doing? Well, the road has a number of very interesting paths in front of me right now… I am weighing some fascinating opportunities. Each of them exciting for different reasons. I'm not sure which path I'll be taking but I'm sure our paths will cross again. As a matter of fact, you won't be getting rid of me that quickly. For the next few months, I will be working with Marketing and other organizations within SAP to move the ball on some of the Social Media efforts that we've already kicked off.

Oh, and I'm sure I've neglected to send this to folks. If you wouldn't mind passing along to your teams, I'd really appreciate that.

My coordinates:

steve.mann@sap.com for the next two months plus:

steve.mann60@gmail.com

+1 917-573-2692 (cell)

+1 646-441-0309 (cell)

Follow Me On Twitter:

http://twitter.com/stevemann

Best of luck and Great Success!!

Steve

The outpouring from my colleagues has been overwhelming. I’ve received hundred of emails… here’s a taste:

I am just in complete shock. You are one of the most valuable people I met at SAP, taking us into the 21st century.

I have learned SO MUCH from you. SO MUCH.

Well, let me know if I can be of any assistance in the future. Would love to work together again some time.

Hi Steve,

Gosh, this is a shock!  I’m sorry to hear you’re leaving SAP.  We’ve been doing some great work together and you’ve been THE leading voice in the marketing team for all things social media. 

Stunned.  Only word I can think of.

WHAAAAAAT?  Wow Steve, I'm gobsmacked.  What just happened?  :-)

So sorry to see you go, but also excited about what the future may hold for you.  I'll look forward to working with you over the next two months, and who knows, maybe we'll have the chance to keep up the communication after that.

I don't know what to say. Or there are so many things I want to say. We've done so much together that I am finding this really hard to comprehend.

Can we please go out, so we can get a chance to really discuss? Drinks, lunch, breakfast -- you choose. But let's just get it on the calendar soon.
Let me know when.
See you next week?

I think my favorite term was "gobsmacked." You get the idea.  I have hundreds of these.  So thank you SAP.  I have to say, I’m on the giddy side this weekend.  For a number of reasons. First I’m glad to be parting ways with SAP.  I like the company and I have great respect for its employees and leadership but there is so much more that I want to do, that I can’t do at SAP.  Secondly, we’re parting on very good terms – terms that reflect the benefits and contributions I’ve made to the company over the last seven years. Finally, SAP is retaining my services to continue to help them formulate, articulate and execute on their Web 2.0 strategy, which I am happy to do.

So. One door is closing and there are some new ones opening up directly in front of me.  I’m looking forward to having some news for you in the near future… stay  tuned.

Guess I should change my about page and LinkedIn profile eh?

We're moving to the country!

We live in a small three bedroom apartment.  We have four kids.  We can't afford private school in Manhattan for three at time. My wife has spent her ENTIRE life in NYC. I've lived in NYC for 15 years on and off... so what are we doing?  Moving to the country!  Yeah, we're moving a ways away from everything familiar.  (I've got the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies running thru my head). Buying a big house, lots of land, a place for the kids to crawl, walk run... I told Jeff Nolan today. He laughed.  He knows what a city family we are.  He immediately suggested I start blogging about our transition to rural/country folk (its actually horse country about 45 minutes from NYC).  I was planning on it.  But I think I'll do it on another blog.  I'm taking suggestions as to blogging platform and blog name.  Please comment them.

WiFi Detecting T-Shirt

I saw this T-shirt and thought of many of you, including myself!

Discovering My Fountain of Youth

As I move deeper into Middle Age I find myself doing the things people do to stay young. I try to eat right (if I have to look at another piece of Salmon, I’m going to grow gills), take lots of vitamins and supplements, exercise, try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night and I try to have a happy outlook on life. But in doing all this, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been largely treating the physical and that “staying young” results from also having a healthy emotional, intellectual and spiritual state of mind.

So it was with an “I just have to do this” type of feeling that I joined the reunion committee for my 25^th Annual Emory University Class of 1982 College Reunion. I did this for a number of reasons. I wanted to re-connect with Emory – my four years there as I’ve consistently said were four of the most wonderful years of my life – even though the last twenty-five years have been outstanding. I wanted to rekindle friendships and memories. Like so many of us, my memories of college lay dormant, waiting to be reawakened. I knew they were there and I wanted all of them back. And finally, I wanted to introduce my son Justin to Emory, because I felt if he could feel one iota of what I felt about Emory and my time there, he would want to apply as he approaches application season.

The reunion was all that I hoped for and more. Walking the campus and seeing Emory evolve made me feel part of something greater than myself – something that I want to be a part of in the years to come. Visiting with old friends and former Professors like Ken Stein was wonderful. Ken engendered in me a passion for intellectual curiosity which has been a foundation of my success to this very day. From every perspective, the physical, the intellectual, the emotional, the reunion stirred in me a primal passion to be part of this amazing “tribe” and to protect and nurture it – in much the same way I feel about my own family.

Now maybe I’m a sap. Maybe I’m a bit over-emotional and attached to my past. But I don’t think so. For those of you who decided not to come, I truly think you missed something wonderful, something that would have reawakened things deep inside of you and I strongly encourage you to attend our 30^th anniversary reunion.

Reconnecting with Emory I realize has provided me value that I never thought possible. For one thing it provides an immutable link to my own past which I have undervalued to this day. I also realize how valuable the institution is not only to me personally but also to my family, my community and the world at large. As a result, I’ve recommitted myself to helping it evolve and succeed.

Watching my son Justin go from being disinterested in anything having to do with college to saying to me, “Dad, I should apply Early Decision” was one of those Eureka moments. I couldn’t stop myself from pestering him asking how he felt about the school. I was ridiculous – such a father! But his simple statement tells me that wherever he goes to college, he’ll be ok… he’ll succeed… he will be happy.

But something totally unexpected also happened. In walking onto campus, smelling the pine needles and in seeing my fraternity brothers and old friends I found myself being transported back in time, not only rediscovering memories but feeling 18 years old again. I relived the day my parents took me to campus for the first time. I was back walking Fraternity Row to my first Rush Function at the AEPi house, and hearing Born to Run playing from the back hall, I said to myself, “this is for me!” Hey, once a Jersey boy, always a Jersey boy.  I had discovered my own personal fountain of youth. No matter how old I get, no matter what happens, I had discovered something that will keep me as Bob Dylan said, Forever Young.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to take my vitamins, eat my fish, and exercise but I’ve recaptured something I didn’t think possible, my inner youth.

 Thank you Emory.

 

When good doctors go bad

One of the side effects of pregnancy is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Susan got it.. and bad. So bad in fact that she needed to see a hand specialist to get it treated.   She was referred to a hand surgeon at the hospital for special surgery here in NY.

Susan was prescribed cortisone shots which she took in both wrists to reduce the inflamation and save the use of her hands.  One of the side effects of this treatment are painful cysts which may develop.  They look like the wrist bone is growing out from the arm.  Needless to say, besides being pretty ugly, Susan is in a lot of pain and with having to care for three infants the strain on her hands and wrists are pretty intense - the cysts needed to be looked at.

She had an appointment the other day - of course on the East Side - and along with the hundred or so world leaders travelling on the East Side of Manhattan that day trying to get to the UN, Susan was also in a cab trying to get to the doctor's office.  She called as any polite New Yorker would, from the cab, saying she was stuck in traffic and running late. She got there 10 or so minutes late.  But on her last call to the doctor's office, she was told that the doctor already left and could not see her until next week. So what's wrong with this?

1. Susan updated the office on her arrival time consistently, why didnt the office tell her that the doctor had a hard stop though?
2. The office knew this was an important visit and this needed to be tended to immediately
3. In my personal opinion, the doctor saw fit to put her own obligations and career ahead of the health and welfare of her patient
4. When I called the office on Susan's behalf (irate as I was since she was in pain and needed help) I had to beg and even threaten to get the doctor on the phone. Which she eventually called. I should never have had to go  thru the gyrations to get this done.
5. Magically, the doctor could see her the next day, although they had told Susan that they couldnt see her until the folliwing week!!!
6. When Susan met with the doctor, the doctor told her that because of the ill will, she would not treat her!

So the doctor couldn't tell her this over the phone?  She not only had the gall to not be there when Susan showed up for her first appointment but also made her travel to the second appoint just to tell her that she wouldn't treat her... wasting her time yet again????? 

What type of person does this? What type of doctor does this?  I am not disparaging her skills or capabilities but the way she treated my wife leads me to question what type of individual this is!  She didn't even recommend another doctor for her to see.  So if you are considering seeing this individual, Dr. Michelle Gerwin-Carlson, I would recommend factoring our experience into your decision.

The Armageddon Flowchart

The Armageddon Flowchart (via kotte.org)

An Emory Alum Returns

This past week I returned home to Emory.  Since I was in Atlanta, I took the opportunity to head on out to the campus on a rainy Thursday afternoon.  I had the taxi drop me off by the administration building... which, thank god looked the same because so much else didn't.  The university is in the midst of large strategic build out and I counted at least 10 new or under construction buildings.  But what pained me the most was that my old dorm was gone in favor of a very cool student center as well as my fraternity house  (notable brothers here ) in favor of a sorority apartment building.

Other things I noticed:

• HVACs cooling the dorms...
• Buildings seem to be going up on top of one another with the anticipated less greenery which made the campus so beautiful. I counted 10 new buildings that weren't there 10 years ago
• Much more diversity on campus

But I'm excited to see how this master building plan plays out.  I know that the administration is working hard to maintain the integrity and beauty that makes Emory so attractive, not to mention the incredible intellectual opportunities it provides its students and faculty.

Walking along some of my former "beaten paths" I was reminded of a line that James Earl Jones spoke in the movie, Field of Dreams...

The memories will be so thick...they'll have to brush them away
from their faces

They memories were thick.. so thick that my I lost my bearing for a while... I felt transported back to 1981 when I was a junior there... it was some serious time travel. 

I miss it already and can't wait to go back to for our 25th Reunion.