The Assignment

This quarter at BGI, we have been asked to maintain a blog on a specific topic. At first, I thought, “I’ll just write about marketing or personal branding. After all, I write about these topics all the time, I’m putting together workshops about them, I’m working on a book, and I hope to convert these efforts into revenue generating activities sooner rather than later.” However, after thinking a little more deeply, I found two major flaws in that thinking:

The Flaws In My Thinking

  1. First, I used the term just to describe something I’d be writing about. Although I am passionate about real marketing and personal branding, and will continue writing, blogging, and speaking about them, I found that I was looking at this as task—as an exercise—instead of it as an opportunity to play and experiment in other areas.

  2. Secondly, I need to expand the scope of my abilities and knowledge. It’s great to have intimate knowledge in specific areas, but it’s also good to be able to converse around a wide range of topics. One of the things I like doing most is learning from other people’s experiences. Broadening that scope of topics of which I’m aware is prerequisite to being able to continue growing from others.

My New Blogging Topic

So, what am I going to be blogging about? I’ve landed on change creation/management. When people ask me what I do, I typically say something along the lines of business, marketing, and communications strategy. Sounds good…but what does it mean? I think change creation/management more completely captures my essence and what I do. When I worked with Albagli Zaliasnik & Cia in Santiago, Chile, I did more than develop their marketing strategy. I worked with partners, administrative assistants, attorneys, and clients to develop organizational goals and plans to realize those goals. Together we created a cultural shift: communication became more transparent, business grew internationally, and employees became more involved.

It’s What I Do

I’ve been thinking about how to describe what I’d like to do when I exit this MBA program. Working with people as individuals and as part of an organization both appeal to me. When it comes down to it, I want to work with people to empower them to be the change they want to see—in themselves, in their organizations, in their communities. Whatever you label that work, whether it be life coaching, executive coaching, or whatever, it’s about creating and managing change.

What’s Next?

Now that I know what I want to blog about it’s time to learn about the topic so I can share information we find valuable. Thank you for taking interest and following. Expect book reviews, videos, infographics, how-to’s, personal experiences, and the experience of others. I hope you engage along the way. Until next time…peace.

Other Stuff On The Web

If you want to read blog posts only related to change creation/management (the posts required for class), this is the URL for that. http://michaelbmaine.com/home/category/bgi

If you are interested in knowing what’s going on with Menrva Labs, upcoming events, and everything else I’m blogging about, just come to the homepage at http://michaelbmaine.com.