Please join me for the 2012 Pride Leadership Cycle 5 Recruitment Reception. As a previous graduate, I highly recommend any interested parties to attend this informal Recruitment Reception on January 19th.

Pride Leadership, a program of the United Way of Central Ohio, is one of central Ohio’s premier leadership development programs for people in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) communities. Its eight-month training program is designed to prepare leaders who are dedicated to paying forward to our community to serve on the volunteer boards and committees of nonprofit organizations.

We will be hosting an informal Recruitment Reception for interested candidates on January 19, 2012 from 5:30-7:00 pm. The reception will be held at:

Sidebar 122 Restaurant
122 E. Main Street
Downtown Columbus
43215

It is encouraged for those attending to pre-register at www.liveunitedcentralohio.org/pride-leadership-event. To read more about my experience with the Pride Leadership program; click on the pride leadership link in the tag cloud.

I’ve begun to wonder what would happen if these companies took  these internal systems and opened them up for external collaboration with the public or, gasp, other companies. But with this premise are a host of questions that are likely be answered in the coming year.

Could companies, who once saw inovation as a secret process benefit from open crowdsourcing, much like what wikipedia has done for information sourcing? What legal hurdles would surely be in there way? How would companies still successfully compete in this model? Instead of seeking a uniquely qualified mind to solve their problem, can companies instead tap a world of knowledge from workers at a diverse variety of organizations? Much like how scientists have been able to accelerate research by open-sourcing their data and methods, can companies offer the chance for budding innovators throughout the world an opportunity to participate? How can companies benefit rather than being harmed?

Have answers or ideas? Leave them in the comments section below :)

When your brand is engaged in social media, it’s important to listen to and understand the nature of the conversation. This way you can accurately judge what communications are getting the best results. In fact, I always suggest to clients that they start with measuring the results of their brand’s social conversation first. A common method is to post two messages daily on your Facebook fan page, and then listen to the fans’ reactions. Using tools from Facebook (and other third party platforms) you can measure how many times a message is viewed, how many times it is shared with other Facebook users and what fan responses say.

From there you can mine the data to understand what is appreciated, and what is not. For example, do your Facebook fans like edgy one-liners or messages that focus on prices and special offers? What messages are relevant to your fan’s passion about your brand? Once you know what types of messages your fans respond to the most you can drive deeper levels of engagement, persuading fans to pass on messages about your brand to their own Facebook friends—winning free word-of-mouth marketing buzz. The data can also help you adjust your brand messaging for traditional marketing channels like print.

Interested in building an awesome Facebook business page geared toward engagement? Check out my course on udemy:   http://www.udemy.com/create-a-custom-facebook-page-for-your-business-or-brand/

Fellow Graduates,

Over 100 years ago, when Queen Victoria pressed Lord Salisbury to change he replied, “Change. Why Change? Things are bad enough already.”

This sentiment couldn’t be any more accurate in today’s challenging times. Yet, thirteen individuals made the commitment to explore what it is possible, to meet the challenge, to change our communities, and to change ourselves. The Pride Leadership program provided each of us with this opportunity. Today these thirteen individuals have completed that journey.

Ryan Bauer speaking at Pride Leadership Graduation

When I asked my colleagues to reflect on this program each one of them highlighted the program’s opportunity to learn. The workshops in Pride Leadership gave us the opportunity to actively participate, learn and share. There is also the opportunity for personal growth as participants are challenged to move beyond their thought position to accepting each other’s perspectives. Workshops cover topics ranging from financial management to diversity in the workplace. It’s not just the workshops that provided the opportunity for learning, Mackenzie told me that he came to Pride Leadership to learn about fundraising and non-profit management but he also discovered our group, our community, and our city.

Throughout the program there have been challenges, but we faced these hurdles with our commitment to the program and our commitment to each other. We utilized teamwork to arrive at success through workshops and our service project. This process was not always easy. We had to trust ourselves and each other. When I asked Sean about his experience in the program he said that although one community unites us, the gay community, Pride Leadership made him realize how different our opinions and views can be, which in turn, can be very beneficial for our local community here in Central Ohio. Every one of today’s graduates is in agreement that this program has raised the bar in our leadership skills and has set a path for us to do great things for non-profits in our community.

With the program drawing to a close each one of my colleague’s shared with me that the greatest outcome of the program has been the new friendships that we formed. Kelvin put best when he said, “Words cannot express my newfound friendships. I look forward to doing great things with my pride leadership family in the near future.”

And now it’s time for us to move on to our next journey. It’s time to summon our desire for change and find our next opportunity. I urge you to not spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Know that you can create a positive impact in our community, and while it’s not about you, it begins with you. We all know that while we can’t fix every problem that plagues our community there are problems we can solve. We CAN take what we have learned in the last eight months and use this knowledge to help make a difference, an impact and yes, we can continue our commitment to change ourselves, to change our world.

Thank you.

Certificate Presentation with UWCO President Janet Jackson

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To read more about my experience with the Pride Leadership program; click on the pride leadership link in the tag cloud.

The current and last title from The Domino Project is End Malaria. End Malaria brings together leading thinkers in organizational and personal change and the power of social media to help raise funds for tens of thousands of anti-malaria mosquito nets. The theme of End Malaria is how people in organizations can think and act differently about how and why they work. It is now available to purchase on Amazon, and when you buy it $20 from the sale of every copy goes to Malaria No More, an international advocacy organization working to end malaria in 2015.  Buy End Malaria at Amazon.

I first heard about about.me with my role as a BzzAgent. You can view my profile at: http://about.me/ryanomics

To find out more about how about.me works watch this video:

The second part is concentrated on community management that tilts away from marketing and towards customer service. It has often been said that “Customer service is the new marketing.” and that phrase couldn’t be more true when it comes to community management. If you are making your existing customers happy, in a public way, then that can be the best kind of marketing for your business.

Every successful online community has a caretaker, or Community Manager. A great Community Manager can enagage the fans, keep conversations flowing, and to act as the peacemaker when tough situations arise. Community Managers need to rely on the community itself to ultimately take ownership and drive progress, because ultimately more successful online communities want to be taken care of, not managed . In Essential Skills of a Community Manager, Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) says, “the best community managers are like a good party host mixed with a fine restaurant host.” An effective community manager has to have the long-term vision to foster the type of community that will be the brand’s voice for you.

What best practices for Community Management do you recommend?

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Amazon Testimonials for The Ultimate Guide to Startup Success

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Your eBook will be delivered via email shortly after receiving payment from Paypal. I guarantee that you will be 100% satisfied with the content of this book or I will issue you a full refund (*doesn’t apply to Amazon.com orders, just orders placed at RYANOMICS.com). Thank you, Ryan.

In the first official workshop session of the Pride Leadership program we heard from Dr. Patricia Larkins Hicks, Ph.D. We learned the meaning and function of (non-profit) board governance, how to relate governance to board roles, how to identify good governance practices and how to assess performance.

The conversation got started on the composition (representatives) of a board and what responsibilities a board has to its organization. We also learned the four types of boards and their differences: advisory, strategic, managing and administrative.

To read more about my experience with the Pride Leadership program; click on the pride leadership link in the tag cloud.