This naturally must change but in fact the great limitation, or at-least the first challenge, is not providing information but urging the public to improve their technological systems so they can be a part of this new frontier.

We live in a remarkable era and while some fret over the future the horizon is a vast one filled with hope and opportunity. However to turn the wheel of hope, to spin the set from the darkest of clouds to opportunity, our society must nurture the spirit of education and the thirst for knowledge whilst finding a level where classic values are embraced but within improved technology.

While dressed up in a bold new horizon, this is in-fact a revision of fellowship, life’s grand table of an honest global village that we all have a place.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

It has become painfully aware to me that many corners of the business of social media, with its either a ever so dowdy approach or simply a “pose” has little to do with connecting to the market but rather convincing others that they are connected.

However they are not connecting and like the dancing dad at the wedding who proclaims he’s “hip”, while the eyes he cannot see are rolled back, the lack of connection in social media is not simply resulting in lowering numbers but a backing off by much of the audience that brought it to this level.

The frontier days of Facebook, now so white-washed away have been replaced by the proverbial tip of the cap, predictable efforts by social media, a further watchdog of sorts where many are concerned of career backlash and rarely a sense of heartbeat, sex appeal and anything that got it there.

That will likely shock some, annoy others but the online storm of social media networks did not grow because we suddenly could share an article online, tick a “like” or log-roll a “+” and go merrily on our way. It came from honest energy, right, wrong and whatever lay between including a whole lot of hips forward emotion.

In many ways, the growth of social media was the evolution of punk but like the genre, it was raped of its soul when big business stuck its greedy paws into our world. The genre, once ruled with Richard Hell youth filled passion turned into pretty boy bands with mascara, well-thought of sleeves and latte swilling publicists ready to stamp another into the market when the public tired of the last. That isn’t punk and just like how it died or at last shuttled to rare confines, realms of social media and marketing efforts will feel the same brunt if they don’t stop posing.

Finally this does mean I suggest a return to those frontier days even if they were possible but instead true engagement with social media teams or decisions that are part of the “core”. Merely reading trend reports to sound “oh-so hip” and connect with a group that they otherwise have no interaction with will not last long and it is very clear the mainstream recognizes the “pose”. This applies to every age group and for that matter all aspects of “building relationships” as the real frontier of networking in the horizon expands into an honest global village much like the old where there the pose was quickly squashed.

Honest, open relationships where you speak with your clients with pride in what you provide but with a further understanding as consumer with similar interests. It’s simple; it’s the importance of being earnest.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

Yet this Global Village in all its McLuhan grandeur has a sticking point, a link in the chain that seems to have rusted over as it is falling victim to the sins of a society trapped in fear, overwhelmed by arrogance and unready to welcome technological change as well as expanding investment in education.

There is little debate that the financial purse strings to a never ending supply of debt are being cut. Yesterday’s promise means little when the marker comes with another re-upping of debt and the only way to break the cycle is through education, which includes shifting with technological tides.

Dyed in wool contrarians can see this opportunity and like an apple blossom on tree it needs time to mature and ripen. It’s there, you can see it and just need to nurture it properly and the harvest will prove to be a bountiful but you must be willing to invest.

Yet seeing against the grain and nurturing are foreign to many who have been subjected to poor leadership that has laid blame anywhere other than pointing directly towards the mirror and acknowledging errors of the past. The future or at-least the present-day is the fault of collective society that has run amuck with nonsensical spending habits of a stream of widgets but carefully avoiding education or this not-so little thing called a “savings function”.

It is a hard and fast error to reduce funding in education as it only guarantees lowered job opportunities and an endless array of societal problems. The sins of the modern leader is not being truthful and informing the public that without a solid investment in education, the future will be bleak. For regions that do not invest in education or for matter allows budgets to be reduced in the area it is highly likely the only investment your area will see in the future is with low paying jobs, further brought on by a devalued currency. This should not give rise to the idea that education is purely related to job creation as its benefit runs deeps throughout all of society.

Yet the future does not need to be bleak as it merely requires the classic notion of a “flight to quality” but instead of accumulating a blue-chip equity portfolio, invest in education and begin bringing the gaps of connectivity. The social media revolution has put the doorway of opportunity within the grasp of many but now you must turn the handle and awaken to the possibilities of a business frontier where the barriers to entry crumble.

Listen, learn and engage.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

The great problem that exists, despite the enormous capabilities of the Global Village, is the flight from creativity and evaporation of pride in your work. We, as a whole, have forgotten how to create and nurture thought but instead cut and paste and run off the market with pride of building and sold as many widgets as possible.

The solution set starts with building, not via sales but relationships. Relate to the marketplace with earnest and for that matter enter your profession not because of the financial bottom-line but your passion for what you do. Where possible repair previous problems, like the darning of socks from a bygone era, by listening to the marketplace and show them you care with a gleaming product you have pride in creating. Stop regurgitating sales pitches in every social media outlet and engage your clientele not because an expert claims it’s the route to a better profit margin but you truly care. Through your actions, the marketplace will be educated on your products and services, not because of sales pitches on the proverbial soap box but everyday commitment and always listening.

By building and creating honest relationships in your community the economy will not only rebound but flourish in time as the old principles of values and ethics in business become the new. Once that is grasped firmly and in conjunction with the super connectivity of our modern Global Village success will be imminent.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

Yet style, along with values and “thinking” are sputtering today, a daily death rattle is heard as  “tweets” and “status updates” serve as evidence as sheep follow along to what they are told. Thinking, conceptualizing thoughts have become a rare breed as soft lead pencil and tablet were replaced with cut and paste.

If I am too harsh on the epidemic of cut and pasting, then where pray tell are the opinions of many, the right, the wrong and all the in between? They are missing and in its place, the ever-present cut and paste of a quote and banal commentary where every corner is filled with someone doing sophomoric stand-up without realizing they already are the punch line.

This not so little thing of Social Media has and will continue to change the world. The opportunities of a super connected world defies words but it requires more than cut and pasting, more than a fascination of oh-so darling celebrities and more than a smarmy fascination with this years Lolita.

Style goes well beyond the cut of the cloth or for that matter, why she wore black but of the type of people we are, our walk through life and the not so little thing of joie de vivre. Stemming the erosion of style or that matter quality of life oddly starts with appreciation each another and our world right now is in the ultimate of turning points where the hand of fellowship reaches across the globe in a second.

Have style, engage and share your thoughts and remember, sheep are led to slaughter and later served with mint sauce.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

The sheer banality of what constitutes entertainment and please I cannot bring myself to call it “the arts” reflects the long-term spiral of education in our society as well as plummeting social skills and lack of appreciation of true art. With near pitchfork and burning torch fervour much of the mainstream turns its collective back on the arts and education, gleefully accepting drivel from the media and entertainment sector like the condemned chimp at the zoo barraged by peanuts from tourists. Yet this lost generation who laps up karaoke, gothic tales and anything else they are convinced to embrace via the endless layers of marketing, requite with paid paparazzi to feed the addiction to celebrity’s, are not products of their environment but victims of the lack of true leaders.

Education is far more than building a career and improves all of society and quality of life. While I do not wish to lower the importance of enhancing your career, when education is allowed to erode, hope for the future is merely a pastel coloured dream and another election-day promise that can never come to fruition.

Yet education is not simply fine libraries and galleries but social graces and of particular concern to note, the art of conversation. While the ability to converse as never been greater with the advent of social media on the contrary it seems to be on the verge of extinction. From every corner of the online world, comments and posts are more of street corner vendors announcing their daily offerings or the ever present insightful quotation, proof positive of the brilliant thinking process associated with “cut and paste”.

The route to prosperity, a far cry from those focused on gasping for air in recovery, comes through all approaches to education. Investing in education is the one investment that will always reap large dividends and the only item you cannot go over budget.

Written by John Davies
©John Davies Worldwide Productions, 2011
All rights reserved

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

While I know this goes against the common grain of the marketplace, each generation’s insistence of addressing problems with a short term approach only digs the hole a bit deeper. With each year the problem burrows deeper and wider and soon the escape route is merely a politician’s pep rally speech that will be unmet in office after garnering the votes.

What is needed is what the mainstream does not want to hear or cast their vote for as to solve present-day economic, societal and environmental woes will require a long-term plan that includes some very challenging changes to lifestyle of the present.

The days of borrowing from the future for the present are gone but as the asset bubble continues to deflate over the balance of the decade many opportunities will be presented. Yet to harvest these profits you must be prepared with a long term vision.

For well more than thirty-years much of the world has forgotten the simple notion of nurturing and later reaping a rich harvest in the future. Economic success and the overall improvement in the quality of life does not occur via quick fix solutions but rather through investment in infrastructure, education and prudently showing patience during the growing season.

This is the ultimate twist of perception of present day woes, while many will use the term “recovery”, desperate to claw away from the extended economic slide, it is time of astute investment. Think not of “recovery” but of prosperity in the future that as time will prove out, will come to those who planted the seeds of success today.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

While the modern day market caravan is more the shape of social media efforts, clever marketing copy and the ever-present splash page, this instant connectivity heightens the need for responsible and experienced stewards of the ship. Social media, as the name implies is highly sociable and with “everything” on the tale for public consumption it is imperative that those guiding the ship represent the company, its mission statement and understand client needs and background.

Is there any difference to meeting potential clients at black tie affair or many other “meet and greet situations? In truth, trim off the digital graphic presentation and any other selling tool and it will return to classic notions of working the rooms, sans a fine champagne.

This becomes a turning point for social media platforms as whilst many thought the platform was open season for sales calls, to be successful you must be both learned and possess sturdy knowledge of the company in question but express in a professional manner

Yet social media is exposing the failing grounds of many in the public eye, from major sporting events whose child-like expert is only capable of prying comments of “cute guys” and other “genius” best left to drawings of unicorns and rainbows to companies who allow their products and services to be offered online like a second rate sale item. This becomes a massive hurdle to be bridged as with engagement, the need for a qualified business team to represent the companies at every turn becomes mandatory. The latter point must be clear because this cannot be the blind ambition of media and marketing consultant off in the ivory tower who casually understands the underpinnings of the company but an in the trenches executive.

Engage prospective clientele with earnest intent, representing the companies’ activities in a professional and accountable fashion.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

Along the golden route from go-go dot come world the internet was discovered as the vast frontier for business and quickly those based upon half-truths and log-rolled initiatives jumped on the opportunity. Sometime after the non event of Y2K occurred many of these ventures took flight and gained a level of financial success despite not grasping an older theory of providing value in services and products.

The frontier days are grinding quickly to a halt and off in the dusty horizon is opportunity but with it comes a number of riders. With the stream of money parched, the public is slowly teaching business the classic notion of building an asset base, seemingly forgotten for quarter-century that ultimately comes via providing a necessary product or service, of good quality and a reasonable price.

The pendulum has swung back but not merely in favour of consumer but businesses that respect the needs of their clientele and provide not just value but value-added service. Reaching out via social media, not to shout day specials like huckster calling over a mark but an earnest business owner, showing pride in work and ready to compete with their product.

Pride, value and service are each at the bedrock of business of the past and now the future as we look beyond recovery and towards prosperity.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.

With super connectivity, an ability to reach your client comes within an instant, yet with this ability there is a need to nurture these relationships with earnest intent. The minefield of various social media outlets, notably Facebook and Twitter, serve as evidence of those who treat said avenues as an opportunity to meet and greet the marketplace with others shouting out the moments’ sale offering.

As social media moves into the future the near Neanderthal approach of screaming sales, including the obvious log-rolled affiliate program, will slowly disintegrate and only those who foster open, earnest relationships with clients will prosper. As positive is the improvements ushered in with technological improvements, this retracing of building business relationship is extremely positive and will further bring about more creative solutions to marketplace needs.

This draws an interesting set of crossing business paths as while systems accelerated and bridge all communication barriers, they must be used to return traditional notions of adding value to your community.

The paradox of bridging the communication gap is that as connectivity accelerates those who slow down and get to know their clientele will prosper and additionally enjoy a more enriching career.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook and Twitter.