The job of the innovator is to create a new culture. But the job of the communicator is to speak the language of the culture, or create a new language in order to communicate effectively. Recently, I heard David Kinamman, president of Barna Research, talk about visualcy. I immediately understood it and it gave name to a trend I have been aware of for quite some time. Content is moving from passive to interactive from literacy to visualcy The average American teenage consumes 34 gigs of information a day, mostly video games and television Printed words account for less than 0.1% of today’s total communication The average teen spends more than 10 hours a day looking at media What are the implication for communicators? How is this shift impacting how you communicate?

If you’re going to lead anything you need to learn to communicate across generations. Most of us have no problem communication with those are older than we are, but we often stumble when dealing with the younger generations. I have studied, worked with and watch e generation that prefers learning in a non-sequential, mosaic way–no doubt influenced by the a culture saturated with endless sound and video bytes. I have experienced that first hand in the lives of my own children whose world is one large media bucket where they both learn and interact with information in a much more informal and yet dynamic way than I did at their age. We no longer search for information, but information seeks and finds us whenever we are. Between my Twitter and Facebook feeds I’m constantly aware of news, trivia, the important and the ridiculous searching for me every second of the…

Every good communicator has to be a student of human nature. After all you cannot connect a message with an audience you don’t understand. Some of us, myself included, have decided not to age gracefully. Heck, to some have waged full blown war on aging. But even our best attempts of staying young sometimes backfires. You might be holding on to your youth a bit too tight if: 1. You buy your clothes at the same store as your teenage children 2. You have a punch card for your Bottox treatments (13th is free!) 3. Your “maintenance plan” includes a team consisting of a cosmetic dentist, a dermatologist and homeopathic Chinese Lady with exotic herbs. 4. You crave protein bars. 5. Instead of buying hair color, you’re now buying hair. 6. You run for treats. 7. You have considered having a “six-pack abs” spray painted on your belly, several times.…

I have the best job in the world because I love what I do. I have the privilege to working with people whom I believe in, helping them make a difference in our world. A few months ago I got a call from an old friend who sold his business to start a not-for-profit organization. While watching the heart wrenching footage of the devastating tsunami a couple of years back, Wayne saw a pair of shoes wash ashore. Being in the shoe business, he decided to do something about it and began to put shoes in people’s feet that needed them. In a little over two years, Soles 4 Souls, his ministry, has already given over 2 million pair of shoes worldwide. That’s amazing to me. Wayne Elsey challenged me to help Soles 4 Souls to develop a product that would impact people all over the world even more and…