Thursday Buzz: Give Your Heroes Some Breathing Room

In 1999, alternative rock band the Flaming Lips wrote a simple statement on the challenges that come with being a hero. “Waitin’ for a Superman  (opens in a new tab),” one of many Superman-themed  (opens in a new tab) songs from the era  (opens in a new tab), describes the pressure a hero feels when everyone is waiting for him or her to show up.

“Tell everybody waitin’ for Superman that they should try to hold on best they can,” the lyrics say.

In a business context, organizations are always looking for heroes—examples of people who succeed against difficult odds. They make for great stories, but these stories have to happen on their own. Sometimes, this means everyone else needs to get out of the way so the heroes can do their job.

“[F]inding a hero in your business story isn’t always the easiest challenge to overcome,” Jen Cohen Crompton of Business 2 Community writes  (opens in a new tab). “To do it, you have to be creative and think outside the box and below the surface of what appears to be the story. You also might have to push your brand into the backseat.”

Sometimes, finding a hero means relieving the pressure to save the day.

A Step Toward 2016

We just got through the 2014 midterms, but it appears some politicians are already thinking long and hard about 2016. On Wednesday, former one-term senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who served from 2007 to 2013, posted a video to his website  (opens in a new tab) announcing that he was launching an exploratory campaign for 2016  (opens in a new tab), becoming the first big-name politician to take that step. Webb has the bona fides to warm hearts in both parties: A former Reagan administration official, Webb won a tough Senate campaign as a Democrat in 2006, knocking out incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen.

Expect the horse race to get more interesting from here.

Other good reads

Time for a different holiday approach for your members? In her “Dear Betty” persona, Spark Consulting’s Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE, suggests a few ideas  (opens in a new tab).

According to the National Fluid Power Association’s Eric Lanke, the power of blogging as a communication tool  (opens in a new tab) should not be ignored.

A lot of buzz-phrases getting thrown around these days—”digital strategy,” “content strategy,” “content marketing”—seem to mean the same thing. Delcor’s David Coriale clears up the confusion  (opens in a new tab).

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