β

This post was triggered off by David Armano’s share on Life in Beta. I like living life in beta. I like working in beta too. Mosoci has a beta sign against it, for that reason. So does our Brand 2.0 bootcamp. Many people at the Women’s Forum asked me why my visiting cards have the ‘beta’ sign …. my response to them:

• it sets the culture of our organization and community early on, and that presents the structural and philosophical blueprints of how we work
• it is how we learn better by doing - you do, you learn, you do more, you learn some more …..
• it embraces a strategy that involves learning immersions, research and prototyping early and often
• it keeps us young, agile and flexible and helps us navigate through chaos
• it promotes a DIY culture and allows us to shape things as they go along, from the ground up
• it encourages your community of users of your product or service, to become co-developers with you, and to stand up for you when you make mistakes, because they believe you are listening to them and that they matter to you

This is how we are helping our Clients who want to adopt New Media or Social Media learn. We cannot tell people to change culture, we cannot impose these values – we will need people to actually experience them by ‘doing’. There are risks, and one of the biggest barriers I sense from Clients is the feeling that they will not be in control anymore. I tell them, to the contrary, being in beta enables us to be more in control as we learn first how to listen better, and consequently, engage with our customers or community more effectively, in their spaces and ours.

Am curious … do you live your life in ‘beta’? What does ‘beta’ mean to you, as you work and play?

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