Part two in a four-part series on innovation and change as the new schools of business management…
Jack Dorsey is the co-founder of Twitter and Square. He has since rejoined Twitter as Executive Chairman and will focus on product development to further Twitter’s mainstream appeal. He also remains CEO of Square. What follows is my uncut interview with Dorsey for a recent Entrepreneur Magazine cover story.
If necessity is the mother of invention, then perhaps imagination is the source of innovation.
In December 2010, I was given the opportunity to write the cover story for Entrepreneur Magazine. The article, “Change: Lessons on What’s Next,” explored the innovation behind three (well four) companies — Foursquare, Square + Twitter, and Zappos. Throughout the years, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with Dennis Crowley, Jack Dorsey and Tony Hsieh. And over that time, I’ve observed inherent traits that I believe represent the future of business and how companies engage with customers to create a more adaptive and connected infrastructure to compete for the future.
First things first. Thank you, Brian. I am truly thrilled that I’m getting the honor of addressing your friends and I’m more thrilled even to be able to call you a friend.
B2B social media marketing is particularly well suited for business-to-business lead generation. Business purchasing decisions are made by stakeholder committees with diverse priorities and a voracious appetite for details. Social media is the most efficient channel for committees of engineers, product developers, purchasing managers and marketers to self-educate, and a way for marketers to abbreviate sales cycles.
Social media marketing is gaining in awareness and acceptance by businesses all over the world. According to a recent report published by Burson-Marsteller…
67% of Fortune Global 100 companies use Twitter to directly engage with consumers. This is a 78% increase over the previous year. And, 9 out of 10 companies are talked about on Twitter.
Today I have some very special news to share with you – I will be joining Altimeter Group. To help you understand why I decided to make this move, allow me to provide a bit of context.
Over the years, I’ve published my experiences, observations and insights primarily exploring the impact of social technology on marketing, advertising, media, business, communications, and culture.
Who owns social media? Is it marketing, customer service, public relations?
Looking at a recent study conducted by the Pivot Conference, the top four departments where social media is currently run are as follows:
1. Marketing
2. Public Relations
3. Sales
4. Customer Service
Perhaps, it’s the wrong question to ask however. It’s not unlike asking who owns email. But, here’s another question and as we think about it, let’s broaden our perspective as the answer may not appear immediately.
While I’m in the throes of writing thenext chapter, I wanted to share a recent interview I did with BroadVision‘s Andrew Gori. Andrew asked some profound and timely questions that are worthy sharing. Following this discussion, the interview was reenacted live at BroadVision’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA as part of its Clearvale SecondFloor speaker series hosted by CEO, Dr. Pehong Chen.
It’s not access to capital, though that is a real problem in that it inhibits growth in some places where it shouldn’t. No, it’s not command and control management hierarchies, despite the contribution they certainly make. It’s not the problem of “the other” that plagues broad swaths of our society, though that is a close second. I contend the biggest problem is that each business has too few people looking after the whole of the business. This is not only seen in the concentration of power in the hands of the C-Suite and the Board, but also in the org charts that map an often too real silo like operational structure.
Over the years, I’ve written extensively about the need to extend opportunities in social media beyond marketing and customer service to set the stage for the social business. I believe that the impact lies beyond the socialization of business; it introduces us to a genre of an adaptive business, an entity that can earn relevance now and over time by listening, engaging, and learning.
Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. His current book, Engage, is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web.
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