Maurilio Amorim

Month: September 2010

  • Is IT Killing Your Organization?

    There I sat hearing the same lame excuses I’ve heard for the past 12 months from the staff of a very large not for profit: “we can’t do it because IT told us it would take 5 years before we can have online registration and payments.”  Are you kidding me!? It’s been over 8 hours since our meeting and I’m still outraged at the ridiculous notion that a multi-million dollar organization cannot, let me rephrase, will not figure out how to make something as common as an online sign up forms work system wide. Sadly, in this case,  IT is killing the organization.

    IT is killing your business

    I sound like a broken record on this issue, but marketing should drive your web strategy and not IT. Really.  Your online presence lives or dies on the end-user experience. If people can find what they’re looking for, if they can intuitive navigate the site and complete their transaction quickly, then everyone wins. If they don’t, then you lose. Users don’t care if you’re on a Linux, .NET, or whatever platform much less about what you’re redundant backup systems are. They want their experience to be intuitive, well designed and fast. If you website doesn’t deliver on these expectations than you lose. Yes, you need security, redundancy and a stable platform, but unless you have the front end right, nothing else matters.

    When I run into such situations usually there’s an individual, a CIO, head of IT or even a Webmaster who’s responsible for such online debacle. Organizations get on such predicament because of:

    1. Laziness. I’m not willing to learn new things and “start over” with a new development language, program or operating system. Let’s just maintain the status quo.

    2. Ignorance. Technology moved past me, and I’m stuck doing what I know well which happens to be old, obsolete technology that can’t do what the market demands and the competitors are doing.

    3. Fear. I spent  a ton of money on a system that’s now ineffective and to admit it and make a change now might cost me the job. And besides I’m afraid I might not understand the new technology anyway.

    4. Any combination of the above.

    Unfortunately, these IT professionals work for non-tech savvy COO’s or CEO’s or Executive Directors and all they need to say is “It’s very costly to make a change now, and there are several security issues with this plan. This could be a big liability for us.”  This phrase alone is enough to instill fear and trepidation on any executive. After all, who wants to be responsible for a costly, unsecured liability? So the evil you know is better than the evil you don’t know.

    Meanwhile the organization misses opportunities, sales and credibility with consumers and members.

    In my experience, these  situations point to a leader’s inability to put the organization’s best interest before an employee or team who’s holding everyone hostage with their rhetoric.

    What’s your take? Am I being too harsh?

  • You Will Regret It If You Don’t Engage: A Social Media Foundation

    My friend didn’t know why his social media strategy was not as successful as that of one of his peers who, in his words, “is just killing it!” I didn’t have to think at all to answer that question. The answer was simple and obvious: it’s because he’s engaged and you’re not.

    If you have a public presence online whether you are an author, speaker, actor, politician, reporter, pastor, CEO or housewife, I’m convinced that’s virtually impossible to have an impact-full social media presence if you delegate your message solely to an assistant or to a marketing company.

    In full disclosure, my company, The A Group, often designs, implements and manages social media campaigns, but we’re very careful not to do what only our clients can do: be themselves. And when they abdicate that privilege, results are never what they could be.

    If all your posts are about your product, your book, or your latest gig than you’re missing out on the best part of what social media offers us: to emotionally connect with a large audience by letting them see a glimpse behind the curtains of our professional lives, and to be gracious when people we don’t know extend kindness our way, or expose us to their network thus broadening our reach.

    I’m a firm believer that if people really understood the transformational potential that social media has for their brand, they would stop doing a lot of non-productive busy work and devote part of their schedule towards their online presence.

    How do you manage your online presence?

  • Vanity Sizing and the Need for Truth

    Truth is not always pleasant, fun or convenient, but it’s always necessary in life. Without the truth of a working compass, we would be desperately lost. Without the truth of a mirror, we wouldn’t know we have spinach stuck between our teeth or an embarrassing case of bed hair. And yet, our culture continues to find ways to make us feel better about ourselves even at the cost of the truth.

    Last week I learned about “vanity sizing.” It’s been a known practice in women’s fashion, but it’s now part of men’s as well. In order to make consumers feel better about themselves, and potentially buy more merchandise, designers are selling items that are purposely mislabeled to seem smaller than they actually are. And I’m not just talking about half or a size difference. Old Navy, for example sells pants labeled 36 inch waist that are actually 41 inches.

    Marketers are betting on the goodwill that smaller-than-anticipated sizes will have on consumers, hopefully propelling them to buy more goods: “Hey, I can fit on a size 31 skinny jeans. Oh, I need two pairs.”  But vanity sizing is a lie and those skinny jeans won’t make you look small. As a matter of fact a size 41 skinny jeans on a man will make him look like a denim ice cream cone. Sorry about the visual.

    So marketers are liars. That’s nothing new. But we have been playing vanity games for a long time. We tell our children they’re great singers when they’re tone deaf. We tell people we believe in them, but we secretly we don’t. We give praise in public only to tear it down privately. We hate the Simon Cowells’ of the world, but often they’re the only voices of reason.

    How can we grow if we are not willing to find out the truth, no matter how difficult?

    Honestly, vanity sizing works on me. I just bought 2 pairs of 32 size pants. I wouldn’t have bought any if they were sized 36 or even 34. But I also know that with every picture and every mirror reflection the truth is staring back at me. There are not enough skinny mirrors out there to distort the truth.

    When was the last time you were honest with someone? How did it turn out?

  • Renewing Creativity

    Regardless what we do for a living, creativity is part of our lives on a daily basis. From problem solving, to bringing a vision to reality, to navigating through a busy street, we use creativity to make our existence  fresh everyday.

    Last night I watched the Addams Family musical on Broadway. It was a fun and extremely well produced show, but beyond the entertainment value, these types of events renew my creative reservoir. They allow me to see something beautiful that lived in the minds of people before it became something I was able to experience.

    I’m thankful to be able to able to visit museums, shows and experience art in order to keep my creative juices flowing.

    How do you refill your creative reservoir?

  • I Knew a Lot More About Life When I Graduated From College Than I Do Today

    I’m sure I was smarter back at my college graduation days. Certainty was not a problem and I was prepared to take on the world. So I thought. But time has a way of teaching you lessons no one else can. So I’m a bit older and perhaps somewhat wiser, I hope. Here’s some of my certainties at age 22:

    Life is black or white. You’re either on the side of truth or not.  At 22 I saw a world with very few shades of gray. It was either right or wrong and ambiguity was the playground of the weak.

    God was precise and predicable. Somehow the God of my early twenties was more like a German engineer than an artist. He was like a machine with a defined pathway to action and subsequent reactions rather than a mysterious and yet gracious being who eludes being imprisoned by human intellect.

    By the time I graduated from college I had succeeded despite my parents’ attempts to ruin my life.

    I couldn’t wait to meet the lucky girl who would get me for a husband. A blessing like me doesn’t come along very often.

    I knew more about running a church than my boss who had been in ministry for more than 30 years.

    Americans would never pay more than $2 for a cup of coffee.

    I was holding on to my Members Only jacket because it would never go out of style. (Well, they’re back!)

    It’s your turn. What did you know for certain at 22 that life has since shown you differently?

  • The Pastor Said What? Pulpit Blunders

    Public speaking is a difficult skill. You have to engage an audience that’s easily bored. Pastors have some of the most difficult jobs for any communicators out there. They have to produce fresh and relevant content every week, sometimes two or three times a week and present to critics, uh, members who expect their pastor to be on par with world-class communicators. While most every week my pastor friends do an amazing job, they’re also human. Here’s a list of things I wish I had never heard a Pastor say. No names here, you know who you are:

    Let’s bring the whole tithe in the whorehouse of the Lord, uh, storehouse that is.

    Lot pinched his tits. No, he pitched his tent. Did I just say that?

    I’ve upped my pledge to the building campaign, now up yours.

    I get paid to be good. You’re good for nothing.

    Let everything that has breasts, praise ye the Lord. (Ok, confession: I said that in my first church while reading Psalm 150)

    How many deacons does it take to change a light bulb? I don’t know because the deacons in this church don’t do jack.

    Often small group study is the equivalent of a spiritual quickie.

    What have you heard a preacher say, or even said it yourself, in a church service that you know the speaker wished he or she could have taken it back?

  • What Not to Wear at the Gym

    For the Fashion Friday edition of my blog, I’m hitting the gym hard. Whether you work out at a private club, the Y, or a community center, your gym is a place where health, fitness and personal well being should rule the day. But it also can be a scary place where the lack of a published dress code can blur the line between appropriate sport’s attire and inappropriate and often objectionable wear.  Since we communicate a lot non-verbally with our appearance, I’m compelled to help a growing number of people who need a gym fashion intervention. The rules are always changing along with the times, but today, here’s my list of what not to wear at the gym:

    bad fashion gym Maurilio Amorim blog

    • No shades in the gym. Even if you had eye surgery, stay home until you can walk around without looking like a goober.
    • Wear white shorts only if—nah, just don’t do it. No white shorts. Period. It’s safer that way.
    • If it is wider than it is tall, don’t wear it (think about it for a minute. You’ll figure it out).
    • No flip flops. No one wants to see your big toe getting smashed by a dropped dumb bell.
    • No work boots with shorts, no Uggs with Daisy Duke cutoffs or any combination thereof.
    • Wear underwear at all times. Just say no to crack.
    • No large radio headsets that resemble Princess Leah’s big hair curls. It makes you look like you’re a recently released convict who’s been in prison since 1985.
    • No wigs. Women or men.
    • No skull caps unless you’re covered in tattoos wearing leather chaps. And if you are, no one will bother you, including me.
    • No exposed nipple ring. If you’re a guy.
    • No blue-tooth headset. As a matter of fact, it applies for out of the gym as well.
    • No jammers without shorts over them unless you’re Brazilian wearing Speedo jammers in Brazil.
    • No power lifting gloves unless you’re a power lifter.
    • Always remember: Spandex is a privilege not a right

    It’s your turn. What’s your on your list?

  • You’re Stuck. Now What?

    There’s nothing worst than being stuck. That’s a place where you’ve tried everything you know, every trick in the book and nothing has worked. And now you find yourself not able to move forward, upward, sideways or even backwards. The odds are you’re stuck right now trying to figure out what to do next. Some part, or facet of your life is paralyzed, literally stuck. You can’t make a move because, from where you are, there are no moves to make. And now what?

    stuck now what Maurilio Amorim Blog

    Maybe it’s your career. After all the years of school, work or both, you should be further ahead, but you’re not. You’re stuck.

    Maybe you’re caught in a relational nightmare. You’re tried everything you know to move out of this bad place but nothing has worked. What once promised so much happiness is now a source of pain and regret. You’re stuck.

    Finances are always getting people in trouble, but you never thought it would be a problem for you because you have always managed to make it work. That is until now.  You’re stuck.

    Spiritually you want to live out the epic story you believe God has for you, but your heart is dry, your faith is low and God no more speaks to you than does the man in the moon. You’ve even stopped wondering through the wilderness. You’re just stuck.

    Today I was reminded of the Old Testament story of Joseph. Remember him? He was sold in slavery by his jealous brothers, was falsely accused of attempted rape by his boss’s lusty wife, then sent to prison and left there for years stuck in one bad situation after another. And yet, later in life, Joseph was the one who devised and implemented a plan that saved an entire nation, including his own clan. At the end of Genesis, he delivers the most poignant line of his story: “What people meant for evil, God used it for good.”

    There’s so much we can learn from Joseph. However,  even before he knew God was going to use his circumstances for the good of nations, even while he was stuck in bad situation after bad situation he couldn’t predict or control, Joseph always remained faithful. He did the right things and kept doing them until his destiny was fulfilled.

    I’m stuck right now. There are important relationships is my life I don’t know what else to do to restore them. I’ve exhausted all my resources, and quite frankly, all my patience as well. The last thing I want to do is to be faithful and continue to pursue them. After all, I feel I’ve done more than my fair share.  But I know that if I quit, I will be stuck here forever. If I chose not to be faithful in pursuing them, there will be no redemption, no restitution and God’s best for me will go unrealized. So, I’ll keep being faithful, sometimes unwillingly, but always hopeful.

    Where are you stuck right now?  Where do you need to continue to be faithful?