Shaquille O’Neal has transcended social media by bridging the gap between his larger-than-life persona and his captivated audience. O’Neal’s engaging smile has endeared fans from his collegiate days at LSU, to the glitz of Los Angeles. Now, a savvy hoops  veteran, Shaq lends his talents to the Boston Celtics.

Welcome to Shaqachusetts

In his 18th year and surrounded by fellow all-stars, you could make a case that O’Neal is at the twilight of his playing career. However, Shaq’s personal brand is hotter than ever. O’Neal has fortified his likability in Boston by openly embracing the city, making numerous public appearances  and tracking it all on social media.  O’Neal’s twitter account , @THE_REAL_SHAQ has over 3.5 million followers. New England loves Shaquille O’Neal.

What Can Businesses Learn From Shaq

While Shaq’s audience grows, many businesses struggle to capture even a fraction of his social media audience. As a person, athlete and celebrity, Shaq certainly has an advantage. Unless, you are Apple, few companies can replicate O’Neil’s mass appeal and following. However, Shaq’s  social media strategy follows 3 critical steps than many companies can embrace.

Genuine Shaq personifies “take what you do seriously, not yourself”.  Off the court, he is leading the Boston Pops or impersonating a statue in Harvard Square. On the court, O’Neal is all business, fighting for rebounds and helping his team. Shaq’s Twitter feed brings both worlds to light for everyone to see.

This is where the corporate task forces and steering committees can get wayward. Social media is changing the face of corporate America because it forces conversations that previously went unlooked, avoided or simply unknown. Companies (especially as they scale in size) thrive when they get over themselves and get real. The faster organizations embrace the idea of learning their identity, the better they’ll be able to articulate their brand. Shaq’s brand resonates with is audience because he knows exactly who he is.

Timely Social media has a very low barrier to entry with a significant requirement to be timely in the conversation. This is a basic concept, but it’s often neglected. Given the NBA’s social media restrictions, Shaq gives excellent behind-the-scenes/real-time access for his audience. Businesses my resist turning social efforts into an editorial calendar. This is an ongoing dialogue and a conversation with your audience. Mapping trends and establishing cadence helps your social media strategy, but make sure it is nimble enough to adapt to changing landscapes.

Value Organizations’ fundamental goal is to provide value. The value of your social media strategy is no different.  Shaq’s social media approach provides value because his demeanor and genuine approach makes it very easy to step into the world of Shaquille O’Neil.

By providing a consistent and approachable voice, you can create real-time engagement with your  audience that provides value and builds trust.

I would like to officially announce the first healthcare experience design conference! It will be held in Boston at the Fairmont Copley Hotel on April 11th.

Mad*Pow and Claricode have partnered to put together this conference. Why? There are so many of us in the field trying to make the world a better place through design. Where these efforts have the most potential to affect the human condition is the healthcare space.

Every day, we consider the fact that our products and designs could bring someone to tears, cause them to be overjoyed, cause them to face the reality of death, help them support a loved one, or help them change their lives.

We aren't just building spaceships here. What we are doing is harder. We are building vessels that have the capacity to encourage, motivate and educate thousands.

Needless to say, this job is certainly not one for the meager. We need to be extraordinary.

Designers, strategists, and technologists working in healthcare are grappling with old technology, small budgets, ever changing needs, and highly politicized environments. Yet they care. They consider the patient. They are trying to achieve better outcomes, help people become healthier, and reduce the cost of healthcare delivery. They are excellent communicators. They are invested in making a difference, pushing the envelope and doing things right.

The speakers we are selecting are folks that share their perspective, insights, and ideas around what's important, what they have seen work, what they have seen fail, and what the future may hold. They will inspire us and provide meaningful knowledge that we can take back and use to fuel the work we do every day, and educate our own organizations.

We will be announcing speakers over the next few weeks. The first keynote that we are announcing is Jamie Heywood, CEO of PatientsLikeMe. His company is doing some incredible things and he has spoken at TED. At our conference he will be keying in on how the power is in the hands of designers to help change the industry.

The purpose of this conference is to get all of us together, to learn, to share, to collaborate and to be inspired. The ultimate goal is to set an agenda that we can collectively work toward. There is power in numbers and we believe we can create a movement that propels us all forward.

I hope that you'll join us.

We will be announcing speakers over the coming weeks and you can sign up for updates at: www.hxdconf.com

Welcome to 2011. The gym is packed. A new year brings new opportunity. Change is a good topic and everyone’s talking about resolutions. The idea of New Year’s Resolutions is good for individuals and organizations. With that in mind, I’ve pulled together some thoughts on making your resolutions stick this year.

• Be SMART about your resolutions. Kind of cliché, however it’s a sound approach people often neglect. Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time-bound. (SMART) I’ve also used strategic for the “S”, meaning there is good context or purpose being met with the resolution.
• Quality not quantity. This is true for organizations or teams, but especially for you as an individual. Too many goals are tough to manage, making it harder to achieve them.
• Track it. You need to measure progress against your target to demonstrate movement and achieve a sense of accomplishment. The more diligent your tracking is, the more successful your behavior change.
• Write it down. On paper. Don’t just fill out a spreadsheet or type a reminder in Outlook, write the resolution down on paper with a pen or pencil. Writing it down will help you be more likely to remember it. Jot resolutions down in different places from notebooks to post-it notes in drawers or your gym bag as you start off with the resolution.
• Tell a friend. There’s strength in numbers. If you get an opportunity, tell a friend about your resolution. Talking about it will help you remember it and if you’ve get a friendly nudge from your network of friends about it, use it as motivation.