The Lesson I Learned About Digital Influence From Ken Olson

At the time I didn’t know I was learning a life lesson about engagement, influence and relationships. Looking back on an encounter 20 some years ago, I find myself asking, what is the value of digital influence and online engagements?

There are some hard metrics that answer this question… Snoop Dogg (6.3 million followers) is in the top tier of payments for his thoughts at $8,000 apiece. Paula Abdul (2.2 million followers) falls in line a little lower in the $5,000-per range. Not too shabby.  Or is $50 a character or less than a tenth of cent to reach a self-qualified follower of some influential celebrity the epitome of undervaluing influence?

How I Messed Up My Opportunity With Ken Olson

So now I’ll date myself. When I was just starting my career a computer called the VAX was all the rage. It was a single, scalable architecture. That was radical. One version of software could run on anything from a personal computer to a huge “mainframe”. That was epic. We take it for granted today that software can run anywhere but then, this was the futuristic vision of a guy named Ken Olson, the CEO of the #2 computer maker in the world, Digital Equipment Corporation. This guy was one of the most influential geeky celebrities of the day.

The VP from the software company I worked for who was supposed to meet Ken Olson at a ribbon cutting ceremony fell ill, so early one morning I learned I would go in his place. I’d get one, perhaps two minutes, one-on-one with Ken Olson. Nobody got a chance like that 2 years out of college. What would we talk about? How great our software was running on the VAX? Perhaps I could get an endorsement of some kind? That would be amazing. Maybe he’d let me in on next great innovation in computer technology? Some insider thinking…

I’m sure my voice was shaky and my palms were clammy when Ken walked over to me and asked about my company and shook my hand. After I blurted out the obligatory marketing drivel about how our software was changing the world, I waited for Ken’s acknowledgement and praise. A flash went off, breaking the awkward silence. Ken must have known from the look on my face that the chance of me coming up with something else intelligent to say was slim to none, so he graciously asked, “what do you think about those automatic drip coffee makers?”,  and started to describe his fascination with the amount of technology in a $25 Mr. Coffee. 90 seconds later we shook hands again and it was over. I didn’t drink coffee… I never spoke to Ken Olson again.

What I Learned.

That picture of me standing there with one of the visionaries that shaped the computer industry, talking about Mr. Coffee, still sits on my desk as a reminder. It’s a reminder of the value of engagement and that authentic engagement doesn’t happen by chance encounters except in the movies. Authentic engagement is something that you seek out and nurture. It takes thought, time and energy.

In my case, the opportunity for engagement was the result of circumstance. Sometimes that happens but seeking out influential people and building rapport and then relationships with them is a much more predictable way of creating authentic engagements… the kind that lead to new career opportunities, breaking news insights, sales appointments, business partnerships, donor relationships and game-changing intellectual exchange. Social media provides the opportunity for people who would never otherwise have the opportunity for a direct exchange to do so. The question is… of the hundreds of millions of people on social networks, how do you know who to connect with? Who are the thought leaders and influencers in your area of interest? How do you engage?

How You Can Discover Influencers And Have Authentic Engagements

There are a lot of ways to use our service here at SocialEars, but some of my favorite use cases are when customers use our apps to find people to learn from or to share experience with. The faster you can find the strongest minds and influencers in your field, the faster you can dive deep into learning and the more you can get out of it. For creating content, for advising clients, for whatever kind of work that you do. There’s a great case study of one client creating engagement with a journalist at MSNBC, here.

How have you discovered influencers? Do you use social networks? Apps? How have you developed rapport online?  If all you are looking for in online relationships is $50 per character, you can buy that. But I think that way of looking at digital influence grossly undervalues the opportunity to share, impact, learn from and interact with others who have passion for the topics that interest you.