The Credit

February 1, 2010 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

The Impact of Giving and Getting The Credit on Increasing the Probability of Change Success or Failure

My granddaughters recently gave me a painting embedded with sea glass that we’d collected together. They know I love to get things they created and this was really nice since they’d made it together.

Emily, who is younger was especially intent on pointing out that she was the one who found the light purple piece in the center and that it was “very rare, Nano”. I remember the day we were on the beach searching and collecting. She wasn’t finding as many as me and Sam, her older sister, and she was getting frustrated. Just before we left she found the purple glass and I made a big deal about it. I was so proud of her for remembering and being sure she got the credit a whole year later.

And Samantha was equally impressive. She didn’t try to upstage Emily. As anyone with kids knows, that’s not how it always plays out. She could have just as likely said “you got the purple but look at all the dark blue I got so I’m even better, ha ha weirdo!” But Sam gave, and Emily accepted the credit naturally and with grace.

Since then I think a lot about credit which I’ve concluded is a greatly underrated factor in the probability of personal or cultural change success or failure. Last week, for example, I concluded that the issue of credit was the singly largest block to any kind of political change progress. Thanks to the girls I now accept that credit is part of a complex system of beliefs with which I’d completely, but unconsciously identified..for most of my life! That lack of awareness, of course, drove many of my responses and reactions to challenging job, sport, school, family and team experiences.

I wanted to share what I’d learned. A new model and accompanying presentation that I was developing for solo professionals and content creators interested in WordPress and innovative business models provided the venue.

Art and Idea Credit: Samantha Wynne & Emily Wynne, Artists / Entrepreneurs

Solo Professional Service Providers and Content Creators | An Integral Model: Identity – Content – WordPress
View more presentations from mwyn.

Filed under: Belief, Natural influence, WordPress, alignment, communications leadership, content-marketing, differentiation, innovation, integral, multi-dimensional, self-awareness, solo psf
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You Don’t Need to Botox Your Blog

March 9, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

Recently, a female celebrity remarked that she’s against Botox because it takes the “warmth” out of a person’s face. I think the result is a blandness and sameness. I see a lot of that in blogs,too.

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Sometimes they’re too long. The subject may be interesting and the post well written, but it could’ve delivered the same value in 1/4 the length. They have a “sucking up all the air space” and boring quality that we dread in presenters.

Sometimes they try too hard to retrofit the content to some idealized blog format and the main points get lost. They use too many sub-headings and popular keywords that unnecessarily break up the flow or try to hide that there is no flow. They have a “that’s nice but I don’t really get what you’re trying to say” quality.

Sometimes they’re too reductionist. They over-simplify and strip the rigor and critical thinking out of every strategic and creative topic (including creativity!), reducing it to some version of 10 tips or 7 steps. They have an “I’ve heard it all before – please tell me something I don’t already know” quality.

I’m sure there’s many tactical reasons for the above: wider appeal, standardization, SEO/SEM, less risk. And like a Botox face, they can be very attractive and successful. But they just don’t inspire.

Filed under: Creativity, WordPress, authenticity, creative habit, differentiation, self-expression, writing
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