Categories: Articles

Build A Platform

There is one true, defendable thing you can do to avoid unemployment.

What do you think it is? Take a guess. A better education? Work for a secure company? Start your own business? Move to a more prosperous area? I would argue that an individual with a powerful platform is someone who will never be unemployed. Platforms used to be something that someone else had to bestow upon you. If you had a large audience that cared about you, it was because you were frequently published in the local newspaper, or if you were lucky enough to be a regular on a radio program. That was the traditional platform. But that platform wasn’t your own (it still isn’t). The platform was owned by the media company that published the newspaper or put the radio station on the air. It should come as no surprise that now -thanks to blogging, podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, tumblr and more – you can own the platform.

Back in the day.

Back in 2007, when I was first introduced to my literary agent, and we were working on the book proposal for what would become Six Pixels of Separation, he re-enforced that the author’s platform was critical. Meaning: what kind of audience will the author leverage to sell books? The major book publishers were interested in everything from this blog, to my podcast to how many speaking events I do a year (and to whom), along with the types of corporate clients that Twist Image has engagements with. The platform was everything. It still is.

What’s your platform like?

We have quickly entered into the age of the platform. This is a good thing, because we’re (finally) putting to rest the hyperbole of social media and moving towards something a little bit more real and substantive than pageviews, likes, followers and more. No one knows this better than Michael Hyatt. Hyatt is the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers (one of the largest book publishing companies in the U.S.), and he’s also the author of the bestselling business book, Platform – Get Noticed in a Noisy World. He’s taken his impressive knowledge of how to build a serious platform and turned it into something called, Platform University. To promote this new initiative, he has launched a series of online videos talking about the power of the platform and his thoughts on how he built his own. The first episode in the series was recently released. It’s about twenty minutes long and worth every minute.

Watch this…

What I believe…

I believe that Hyatt is perfectly accurate. When you have a platform… and you own the platform, you are always employable. You are always someone that has information, knowledge and experience that others want… and expect.

What could be more powerful?

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.