Categories: Articles

A Blog Is Like Lemmy From Motorhead

My past is coming back to haunt me. I spent many years as a music writer. In fact, my first professional journalism gig was interviewing Tommy Lee from Motley Crue in 1989 as The Crue was about to release Dr. Feelgood. It was a sweet ride. I got the chance to really learn, understand and take part in the music business.
During that time, I had the opportunity to interview Lemmy from Motorhead. Within the rock circle, Lemmy is the equivalent of Jesus. A true pioneer. But, unlike most rock stars, Lemmy has a couple of really big warts on his face, very greasy hair and truly lives the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll lifestyle.” Basically, he says and does what he wants and never answers to anyone but himself.
A Blog can’t be Bon Jovi. A Blog is much more like Lemmy.
You can get away with mis-spelled words, non-precise grammar and it’s supposed to have more of a stream-of-consciousness flow to it. A Blog is the glory of a personal voice – warts and all. That is why people are gravitating toward them. Deep down, we want companies to speak our language. We’re tired of jargon. We’re zoning out when we hear phrases like “best of breed” or “end to end solution.” We want to know that business cares about us and treasures our loyalty. We want more… and we’re starting with a conversation that has a human voice behind it.
A Blog is Lemmy. It’s become brand democratization letting corporations know that the chase is better than the catch.
Blogs – loud, fast and rude – warts and all.
Like Lemmy.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.