My responsibility as Chairman of the Digital Analytics Association is Industry Cheerleader. While other, more capable people have shouldered the tasks of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Board Members at Large, I've been the flag waver, the parade leader and the Champion of the Cause.
It's a role I cherish.
But I haven't done any cheering yet in 2014 and it's time. So let me lead you in a rousing reprise of that high-school classic, as an instruction manual to start the New Year:
Lean to the Left
Lean to the Right
Stand Up
Sit Down
Fight, Fight, Fight!
Lean to the Left
Given the people, process, technology trinity, start 2014 with a hard look at the tech and the processes you have in place. What are you not using that can be discontinued? What are you underutilizing that can be put to better use? What are you missing as an organization that is really holding you back?
What can you tighten up on a day-to-day, block-and-tackle basis to make it all run a little more smoothly? Where does the ball seem to get dropped over and over? What keeps falling through the cracks and how can those cracks be mended?
This is an effort to get your ducks in a row so set aside a little time to clean off your desk. Get rid of all that stuff you put in piles "for later". You are really not going to get to that stuff so cut yourself some slack and get it out of your mental way. Those articles you were going to read? Those brainstorm ideas you were going to follow up on? Those people you were going to connect with? Free your mind.
Lean to the Right
Get creative. Exercise your intuition. Reconsider the problems you are addressing and whether there might be better questions you can ask of your data.
Take ten minutes each day this week to stare at the wall and Think Deep Thoughts. Preposterous? Not at all.
It takes one, full minute to convince yourself that this is a good idea. It takes two minutes to get over how silly it feels. It takes another two minutes to think of things you'll tell people if they catch you at it... I mean, interrupt you.
It will take another two minutes to stop that voice in your head that lists all the things you should be doing including the grocery store, the laundry, the weekly reports and that think your Boss asked you for at the end of last year.
One minute will be spent with white noise in your head followed by another minute of feeling really silly for staring at the wall.
What does that leave? You now have ONE minute each day where your mind is prepared to Think Deep Thoughts. Think about the biggest, toughest problem you have and ask a lot of lateral questions:
Is there a pattern?
Is there an anomaly?
What can be omitted?
What if we did it backwards?
Can we look at it from the other side?
What if this is the wrong problem?
What if we changed the time scale?
What additional data would be dispositive?
What if it had wheels?
What would Chuck Norris do?
Stand Up
And be counted.
Become visible as one of the 5400 members of the Digital Analytics Association.
Wear your lapel pin to business meetings and tell people about the DAA. (Don't have a lapel pin? Get in touch with the Membership Office <info@digitalanalyticsassociation.org> immediately!
Make sure your Linked In profile includes your membership. Letting people know you're a member of a professional association says you are serious about improving your career and your industry.
Update your DAA community profile online, and connect it to your LinkedIn profile. It’s easy! Just click the link in your community profile that says "Bring in your information from LinkedIn."
Participate in the DAA Member Forum. Don't be afraid to ask questions - the only dumb questions are the ones you do not ask. Don't be afraid to answer questions. You know different things than the rest of us and we will all benefit from your insights.
Get Local. Join - or start - a local Chapter. Besides creating the amazingly popular DAA Symposiums, local Chapters are a great way to meet people you can really get to know well and who are the digital analytics industry in your city.
Tell your friends. We have become a successful association because people continue to bring more people into the fold. We're counting on you to stand up, be counted and add to the count.
Sit Down
This might be the hardest part. Sit down and take a good look at your company, your job and your prospects. Are you in a place where you look forward to getting to work every day? If not, you have the power to make it a better place, make it a better job or make it to a new opportunity.
The power of an association is the connections you make with all the other members. When it's your time to be a change agent or change your agency, there are thousands (thousands!) of people who know what you do for a living and are ready, willing and able to help you be the best possible you.
Sit down and do a serious self-evaluation - and then reach out to the rest of us. We can help.
Fight, Fight, Fight!
Fight for more face time with the people who are running the company so you will know how you can help them accomplish their goals with insights from data.
Fight for the hearts and minds of those who don't quite see the value of data yet; who don't understand how it can help them accomplish their goals.
Fight for the right to spend more time on professional development. Fight for the time to go to a DAA Symposium and an eMetrics Summit, to participate in DAA Committee work, and to join me in a rousing reprise of:
Lean to the Left
Lean to the Right
Stand Up
Sit Down
Fight, Fight, Fight!
Make 2014 all about you by joining in with the rest of us.
Jim Sterne
Chairman, Digital Analytics Association
P.S.