My Year of Hopefulness - Island Life

Seth Godin wrote a post this morning about island living as it relates to marketing. With the increasing number of new technologies that keep us ever-connected to one another, we are all closer than ever. There's truly nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Customers are only a tweet away.

This principle relates to many areas beyond marketing as well, especially for those of us who live our lives online. What we say, do, think, and feel is well-documented and there is an unintended consequence to that documentation: integrity become paramount. With a well-documented life comes the responsibility to walk the walk and talk the talk. Contradictions are noticed instantly now, and questioned, loudly. Authenticity is demanded. In a sense we are now always on stage.

And I'm happy about this. I'm glad to live on an island. It keeps me honest, and it gives me the assurance that everyone else is being kept honest also. I enjoy the fact that people who want to find me can find me, and I like being able to learn and grow from the many people and companies who are living their lives and brands online, too. It's a treasure actually, to be let into someone's life, to be allowed to share in the ups and downs of their lives. And it makes our own ups and downs a bit easier to bear. We're all in this together.

The picture above is by Curtis Dean and can be found at: http://thecartoonsite.com/cartoons/0002.gif