Someone told me about a humorous exchange between a British ship in distress and the German coast guard.  I doubt its true, but it went something like this:

British ship: ‚ÄúMayday…Mayday…We are sinking‚Äù

German Coast Guard: ‚ÄúHalo.  This is the German coast guard, what are you sinking about?‚Äù

Miscommunications can happen.  But the important thing is that the coast guard was listening.  Many companies aren‚Äôt even listening to customers that are trying to talk to them.

Do a twitter search for @bose and you‚Äôll see customers trying to engage the company on twitter.  And what do they get in response.  Silence.

Twitter and facebook are the new dial tone. Your customers expect you to be there.

Saying you weren’t listening is not an acceptable excuse.

Update: Turns out there's a really funny video version of the joke here. (Thanks @jgrubbs)

Many of you know that I've spent the last six
months participating in Seth Godin's Alternative MBA Program.
 It's been an incredible experience; one that has changed the way I think
and the course of my life – I have met fantastic people, worked on fascinating
projects, contributed to a great blog, and most of all, learned from a master.
 I'm incredibly grateful to Seth for the opportunity.

For me, this picture epitomizes the SAMBA experience.  Seth, soaking wet after a brief swim in the
Hudson, doesn’t miss a beat, and continues, paddle in hand, teaching us life and
business lessons.  Not reading to us from
a textbook, but rather sharing from his own experiences while creating
experiences for us.

Nothing about SAMBA has been conventional. From the interview
process to the limited edition MacLeod diplomas, Seth made sure this was nothing
like a traditional MBA.  For starters, we
spent as much time working on actual businesses as we did talking about
business. We learned that the ability to execute on an idea is much more valuable
than just coming up with an idea.  We
learned how to fight the resistance and how to be brave.

And, Seth showed us by his actions what it means to live a truly
generous life.

So, Clay, Susan, Al, Rebecca, Alex, Ishita, Allan, Emily and of
course Seth, thank you!  This has been
amazing. Each of you have a special place in my heart and a place to stay in Colorado
if you ever want to come skiing.

Thank you, Seth, for turning the MBA experience on its head. I,
along with the rest of SAMBA 2009, am eternally grateful.

Illic est haud refragatio – SAMBA 2009

Traditionally, what a book publisher brings to the table is two sets of relationships.

1. Relationships with the people who buy books…the middle men (not the readers).
2. Relationships with the people who review books…the editor of the Times book review section.

There's a problem with this. Books are now being bought
directly by the readers, increasingly online from sites like Amazon.
The readers are increasingly being influenced by a different type of
reviewer. This reviewer doesn't write for the Times, she writes for
herself, and her blog audience.

There's a huge opportunity here. The question is who will figure it out first? The authors or the publishers.

We all agree, that successful authors have nascent tribes. The opportunity lies in connecting authors with their audience.

Authors make the bulk of their income from their advance.  If a publisher wants a successful author they offer them a larger advance than their current publisher and there's a decent chance the author will walk.

But, what if the publishers
actively helped their authors build tribes online? They'd be doing the authors a huge service and no
author could afford to leave their publisher, because they'd be walking away from their tribe.

If the publishers don't help the authors do this, the
authors will start doing it themselves.  And once they've developed their own tribe, what do they need the publisher for? I believe that publishers are in the
perfect position to do this, because authors are used to the publisher
brokering these relationships and most authors have no idea where to
start.

At this point, the publishers by and large don't get this (with the notable exception of Hachette). A couple of
months ago I received a referral from a publicist at a large NY publishing house who wanted
me to help one of her authors build his tribe (on the author's dime). What most publishers still haven't
thought through is that they should be the ones building the communities (so they own the tribe).

If publishers helped their authors build and serve their
tribes they just
might save the publishing industry.

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, in their book The Starfish and the Spider, make a
compelling argument for the power of leaderless organizations. They
point to examples like Al Quieda and Alcoholics Anonymous to
illustrate how much can be accomplished when a network is left to its
own devices without a centralized command structure.

Today I had the opportunity to sit in an orchestra. It was
an incredible experience. At one point the conductor left the stage and
asked the orchestra to play a piece without him. Each group of
musicians responded to those around them and the result was beautiful.
Was it better with a conductor. Perhaps. But I was amazed at how well
the orchestra played without one. The point is they didn't need him up
there to make great music, but he was able to bring out the best in
them.

That's what a great leader is like.