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And that’s a wrap of the week ending Jan. 31, 2020
This week I remember the disruptive influence of Clayton Christensen. I give my take on a World Economic Forum report that names content and marketing as the jobs of tomorrow. I talk with Rebecca Geier about taking risks and the importance of “just doing it” in content marketing. And I share an article about an alternative way to think about audience personas.
Listen to the Weekly Wrap
Our theme this week is disruptive change. It’s like gravity, to paraphrase Clayton Christensen. You may hate it, but it doesn’t care. Let’s wrap it up.
One deep thought: The disruptive power of inspiration (2:30)
Who shapes your ideas? We all have muses – people inspire our creations. In Greek mythology, nine muses gave artists and philosophers the necessary inspiration. Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, is said to have inspired Homer to write the Iliad and the Odyssey. I like to think of Calliope as the muse of big ideas.
This week, the poets and philosophers of business art and science lost their Calliope: Clayton Christensen. The Harvard Business School professor was best known for his 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. But his ideas on innovation, product development, and life in the modern world span so much more than business thinking.
Poets of business art and science lost their Calliope this week – Clayton Christensen, says @Robert_Rose via @cmicontent. #WeeklyWrap Click To TweetI explore the ways his thinking inspired me to pursue disruptive changes over the past 20 years and share my thoughts on the most important ideas from this inspiring man.
Once you’ve listened to this segment, explore Clayton’s thinking in these important works:
- Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change
- Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure
- How Will You Measure Your Life?
- The Prosperity Paradox
A fresh take on content marketing as a job of tomorrow (9:51)
An interesting report came out last week from the World Economic Forum (supported by data from LinkedIn) and it fits nicely with our theme this week: Jobs of Tomorrow: Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy.
These jobs are in “urgent demand” worldwide. Over the next three years, the report says, 37% of projected opportunities will be in the care economy. That makes sense as the population ages. Interestingly, the next ones are:
- Sales, marketing, and content (17%)
- Data and AI (16%)
- Engineering and cloud computing (12%)
- People and culture (8%)
I share my take on the roles with the fastest growth and the news that content marketing strategy is one of the “most desired further learning” opportunities in the marketing and sales category.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
This week’s person making a difference in content: Rebecca Geier (13:38)
I’m a huge fan of Rebecca Geier’s work. She’s got nearly 30 years of business leadership experience with engineering companies large and small and was named one of the 10 most innovative entrepreneurs in America by The Wall Street Journal editors. Rebecca’s passion is advising engineering executives to realize their vision. She’s also a talented speaker on the topic of B2B content marketing and is writing a university-level textbook on the topic.
Rebecca and I talked a little about the Kansas City Chiefs’ upcoming Superbowl LIV appearance – and a lot about content marketing as a disruptor in B2B marketing.
Here’s a peek at a bit of our conversation, in which Rebecca talks about the state of content and communications today:
Companies don’t think through what, how, and with whom they’re communicating, says @rebeccag via @cmicontent. #WeeklyWrap Click To TweetCommunication – work and personal – is mostly disappointing. It’s not done well. It requires an enormous amount of effort and thought. One-to-one communication requires a lot of humility, and I think all of those things are uncomfortable for a lot of people. Companies are just not thinking through how they’re communicating, and what they’re communicating, and who they’re communicating with.
Listen in to our discussion, then learn more about Rebecca:
- Visit her website rivevisor.com
- Find her on LinkedIn
One content marketing idea you can use (32:43)
This week, I highlight another post I wrote because it ties so nicely to this week’s theme: An Alternative Approach to Developing Content Marketing Personas.
What’s different about this approach to personas? Well, it’s based on the jobs-to-be-done framework, which I learned about thanks to Clayton Christensen.
Love for this week’s sponsor: ContentTECH Summit
I have something you can muse on. I’m talking about ContentTECH Summit, happening August 10 to 12 in San Diego.
We’ve got amazing speakers like Cleve Gibbon, chief technology officer at Wunderman Thompson, and Wendy Richardson, senior vice president of global technical services for MasterCard.
These brand-level folks are ready to teach you the effective use of technology and better processes that can help your strategic efforts to create, manage, deliver, and scale your enterprise content and provide your customers with better digital experiences.
The wrap-up
Tune in next week for more inspirational nutrition. I’ll noodle on one thought that reminds you nothing is impastable. I’ll talk about a one-in-a-melon news item that – let’s be frank – will have you saying, “hot dog!” And I’ll finish up with one fresh content marketing tip that gives you the encourgemint you need. And it’s all delivered in a little less time than it takes to cringe at another of your friends taking the Dolly Parton challenge.
If you have ideas for what you’d like to hear more of on our weekly play on words, let us know in the comments. And if you love the show, we’d sure love for you to review it or share it. Hashtag us up on Twitter: #WeeklyWrap.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
