What’s Next?
The Journey Continues
What’s next? That’s been a question I have constantly asked myself. Not just in my professional life, but in my personal and spiritual life as well.
If I am not continually growing, learning and improving, I feel a bit lost. I think God built everyone this way. I believe that if we don’t continually ask questions and improve, we aren’t doing what we were created to do.
When I started 47Harmonic, I felt I was being called to do it. Not that I was going to be extremely successful or that 47Harmonic would even make it six months, but that it was the next step I was supposed to take. And boy was the first year a great experience. I don’t say that because it was successful or that we did some great work, both of which I would say are true. Instead, I would say the first year of 47Harmonic was a success because I grew more in that one year of running 47Harmonic than I had in years.
Over the first year of 47Harmonic, I got to do some great stuff with amazing clients such as HTC, Reliant Beverage, Bartell Drugs, Hydropeptide, Microsoft and others. Plus, I got to work with some of the best people in the biz from the different agencies I partnered with. Huge thanks go out to Jason Ryan Creative, Project Bionic, SilverBirch, Zion Eye Media, United Creation, Voxus, Richmond PR, Belief Agency, Create Impulse, Olive Tree and Fujisan. Not to mention the people who supported me, including my amazing wife and family.
What I learned over this first year wasn’t about business or marketing, however. I learned the most about myself. The main thing I discovered will probably come as no surprise to my family and friends, but it was something I personally hadn’t thought through entirely. The truth I discovered about myself is that I need to be surrounded by people on a constant basis, and that what I am doing is less important than who I am doing it with. I enjoy being challenged and pushed on a daily basis by smart people who are much different than me. Otherwise, I get bored and lonely. And no matter how proud I am of the Harmonic Cycle and the cool work we were doing, I worked alone too much, and I had set it up so that it would probably never grow to more than five people.
The cool thing is how something truly amazing has opened up for me from the unlikeliest of sources. For the past few months, 47Harmonic has been doing some consulting work for Microsoft. This work is in the marketing technology space with the goal of figuring out how Microsoft’s technology can help marketers do their job better. This may sound boring to a lot of you, but this space is red hot and growing extremely fast. Marketers are projected to spend more money in technology over the next few years than IT departments are. Just check out this marketing tech landscape map from MarketingLand.com, and you will see the challenge in front of us.
In the few months since I took on this project, I’ve found myself enjoying my time working in Redmond more and more. Not only was the problem set before me complex and ever changing, I was surrounded by some amazing people that pushed and challenged me. I found myself captivated by marketing tech, and, having already gone from direct mail to traditional media to digital and then social, this seemed like the next step in my marketing journey. For me, this latest evolution of marketing is more exciting and challenging than all the others combined. Plus, I admire Microsoft’s stance on privacy and their goal to do what is right for their customers, especially considering the current value of personal marketing data.
By now you already know what I am going to say. Over this time and because I feel this is the next step in my journey of growth, I have decided to work for Microsoft full time. Yes, it’s in Redmond, I will be a “Blue Badge,” and I am still multi-platform as I always have been. I know my decision may come as a shock to those of you. Especially those who have heard me say in the past that while Microsoft has some of the smartest people around, the problem is they are all working on the same thing in different silos. Well, that problem appears to be on Satya’s mind, and I can see it changing first hand with the One Microsoft initiative, among other things. I am fortunate that in this role, I will get to work with all of the Microsoft groups and can look for ways we can come together — which happens to be another thing I love doing.
So, I am off to start a new journey, but the professional mission remains the same: to change advertising so that it’s focused on relationships, and so that companies talk with people, not at them. The customer must be at the heart of marketing, and the Harmonic Cycle will remain a building block for how I think. The only difference is that now I am working with an amazing team at a leading-edge company, and hopefully that means more people hopping on board The Cluetrain faster than ever before.
Here’s to everyone’s next step.
Cheers!
P.S. (See? I did work in direct mail.) If you are in Redmond and want to connect for coffee or lunch, let me know. If you work for Microsoft and have a similar mission or goal, please reach out, as I am all about building a coalition of passionate people to push things forward. And lastly, if you are in marketing technology and have a cool tool that uses some Microsoft tech, please ping me.
