A theme for 2008.

Great idea what I read a few days ago in “Make it great! With Phil Gerbyshak” and in “Walking my own walk” from Pam Thomas who challenges us with a very interesting proposal for 2008: Don’t do any resolutions, instead define a theme for the whole year. One concept under which you can align all of your efforts, throughout the year.
Pam, a professional coach, talks about how she, for the second year in a row, will adopt a theme that will help her align all of her activities during the year and what this means to her. In the same manner, Phil accepted the challenge and shares with us the theme that will be his insignia for 2008 and what this will imply for him on his day to day activities.

Great idea, I’ll say it again! As an advertising professional, I am used to working under an umbrella concept. This means that, typically, when you launch a new communication or advertising campaign, first and foremost you develop a communication strategy which in turn gives way to a creative concept. Under these strategy and concept you create a series of actions or communication tactics that reach consumers, through different media channels and diverse touch points, with different messages in time, form and tone but always (if the work is done the right way) under only one concept.

So when I read these two ingenious blogs, I thought: “What a great idea to align my activities and priorities for the year under one concept. Great!” Although I do have to say that it might no be as innovating, since I remember an old friend say, 8 years ago: “ This is the year of the NABO (his nickname) 2000” (Nabo: I think you were onto something).

Well, say no more. My theme for 2008 is: (Drum roll: trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr pzzzzzzzz!)

Connecting with people.

To me this means:

• Getting rid of prejudice and preconceptions and opening my mind and my heart.
• Transforming myself into a great listener. Nothing says “I care about you” better than giving your complete attention to the person who is in front of you.
• Aiming to understand others dreams, fears, objectives, motivations and trying to be emphatic with them.
• Writing more and sharing more of my thoughts with those who read my blog and a new one that is in the works and coming soon.
• Participating in more conferences, workshops and events, not only as a speaker or trainer, but as an attendee as well.
• Helping others connect with more people. I’ve have done this in the past and I have to say that I’ve not only had great results but it has left me with a great fulfilling sense of contribution. And it is really easy too. All you have to do is be willing to really understand the other party’s needs and share with them your knowledge (if you have any on their specific subject) and your contacts. Maybe someone has a great new service but doesn’t know the right people who can benefit from it, so why not put them in touch, even if you don’t get anything out of it? And it’s not only about recommending people, but about referring books, websites, sources of knowledge and information, products and services too.
• And the mother of them all: Build and strengthen the connection between my wife our baby daughter (who is due next month) and me. Now that is a GREAT CONNECTION to build!

So there you have it, my theme for 2008. Anyone wants to share their’s?