How about, “What I want conversational good human beings to know”

Okay, this pointer goes under a few categories here: being a coach, better conversations, business strategy, coaching essays, communication, words and language, web/tech, and Let's talk story. And that's without adding in any of the Hawaiian values it covers.

Chris Brogan has a great posting up at his place today that I really like. It's an open letter of sorts: He calls it What I Want PR and Marketing Professionals To Know, and it shares some pretty universal communication messages. I think he could've called it What I want conversational good human beings to know.

He shares his tips in a list of 13, but before I'd even gotten that far I tumbled his opening paragraph:

"Since quite a number of people who swing by my blog are either in marketing or public relations, I wanted to address you specifically for a moment. I’m writing to you as part of this new version of media, one blogger not paid to blog, not working for a newspaper or magazine outlet, not especially beholden to the traditions that have come before. I’m writing to you as a human being who likes people, community, innovation, and business, not to mention art, creativity, play, and many other things. I want to tell you a few things for you to consider."

~ Chris Brogan, What I Want PR and Marketing Professionals To Know

What a great way to start a conversation: Cut to the chase, preview what is to come, and openly, with full vulnerability, lay your motivations on the line.

Photo from Chris’s Flickr account:
Couldn’t resist this one because he titled it “Am I Human.”

Chris got me to

a) stop for a moment and think about my own approach with different conversations,

b) He got me to wonder about the kind of job I do (translation; effectiveness I am having or not having) with the messages that are in my circle of influence to give, and

c) He got me to go back, and read every single line of his post and all 51 comments he got (as of this writing). Pretty easy to separate the excuses and justifications from those willing to understand, be open to change, and learn.

In encouraging us to choose our friends wisely (traditionally a common, and probably a well-advised parental topic) my dad would often tell us kids that whether we agree with the people we listen to is actually not as important as how much they make us think for ourselves. In this case (and often) I agree with what Chris has to say, but I read his blog because he has this frequently deployed skill with making me think.

Is that what your conversational partners (or reading of choice) can do for you?

What do you think of the 13 tips that Chris shares? If you read them as, “What I want conversational good human beings to know” are there any others come to mind for you?

Some other archived connections which come to mind:

1. My parents were a big influence on me (as I just shared with Thadeus earlier). Recently wrote about my dad for JJL: The best boss I ever had, wasn’t mine.
2. This was another time Chris got me thinking out loud: I still refer back to it often ~ Sense of Place on the Internet: A Brand New Community Ecosystem.
3. And about thinking, with this month as a great time to play with makawalu g8ways: Counting Fish, Taro, and Thinking.

Comments

[Saravanan Sahadevan]

Chris is some guy with some serious sense of the social web ethics.
I never felt worthless since I subscribed to him!
And now I have to say.. Im loving your ideas too.. Very informative !

[Rosa Say]

Thank you Saravanan! Welcome to Talking Story and mahalo for your comment. "Social web ethics" hmmm... I can imagine the riff that Chris might spin off that phrase!