Ethical marketing

Most of my clients are - and always have been - technical entrepreneurs. Yes, I've done a lot of work for Fortune 500 companies, and companies in the health, travel and retail industries.

But my passion is helping the technologist who has started a company, created a decent product, and now needs to get to the next stage in his growth - whatever that might be. He's gotten as far as he can using the methods he's been using.

Today, there is a sense of things changing so radically that nothing will ever be the same. People believe we are in the midst of a big change, to the point where some are even preparing for an "escape," should one be needed.

I'm not talking about fringe survivalists. I'm talking about the types of people I work with every day: CEOs and entrepreneurs. People who run successful companies, people with employees and families and mortgages.

They are, in a word, decidedly unpeaceful right now. They are concerned, fearful, hesitant. They're still running their businesses, but at the same time, constantly looking over their shoulders or out to the horizon, trying to figure out what is going to happen next.

"I know, I know," the child says, grabbing a tool from his father, who is partway through showing how it works and what to do with it. But something goes wrong as the child tries to use the tool. He stops and mumbles, "Must be broken." He is reluctant to admit that he really didn't "know," and that he really hadn't thought it all through, and he shouldn't have been so hasty. He doesn't want to admit that he could have learned something from his dad after all.

Fast forward thirty years. Now the child owns his own business. "I know, I know," he says, interrupting the customer. The customer, an expert in his field, is trying to explain his needs. But the business owner doesn't want to hear it, because he "knows."

My husband was watching an "instructional" video, online, showing a sales guy for a marine rope company. The sales guy was supposedly showing how to make a particular splice in one of the ropes that his company sells.

A splice, for those not familiar, is the joining of two pieces of rope by interweaving the strands from one rope with the strands of another, so the two ropes are joined. For example, you can create a loop at the end of a rope by splicing the end of the rope back into itself. Splices are important. If they fail, you can lose your boat. The splice has to be right. No BS allowed.

Labor Day weekend. A great time to ponder the bigger picture, to think about what really matters. All of this came home to me in a new way, watching a video. It's twenty minutes long, so you'll probably want to watch it at home.

The part we're going to focus on comes fifteen minutes into the video. But, if you fast forward, you will miss seeing an example of a great teacher. Since a big part of successful management is teaching, the 15 minutes are well-spent. But enough about the video...take a look.