Categories: Articles

Hunting For Success

What is it that drives people to create a compelling Blog, to be active (and genius) on Twitter of Facebook? What makes some businesses so successful at Social Media?

Sometimes the answers to the most modern questions come from the most traditional of places. On tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes, they did a feature on Don Hewitt (via Wikipedia: "Donald Shepard Hewitt [December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009] was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS television news magazine in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television. Under Hewitt’s leadership, 60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated the nation’s top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times."), and if there was one aspect of Hewitt’s character that came ringing through, it would be his tenacity in hunting down a great story to tell.

In essence, 60 Minutes’ success is because of Hewitt (and his team) and his passion to hunt.

If you think about it, the best Blogs, the people who are the most interesting on Twitter, the profiles you’re most attracted to on Facebook are usually created and nurtured by people who are constantly (and consistently) hunting down the best stories, anecdotes and information to share. The ones that get little to no traction usually lack that hunger to hunt. And, like all good things, it’s easy enough to identify this "hunting" characteristic, but it’s nearly impossible to replicate if it’s not authentic.

What are you hungry about? What are you hunting after?

It’s so true, but so few people are able to verbalize this as "the thing" that truly drives them (whether it be professional, personal or in their community efforts). When I think about the Blogs that really move me, it’s clear that the Bloggers who are pulling them together do what they do at their day jobs, act as great community people when they can, and have strong family ties/bonds as well, but they’re constantly hunting. They’re hunting for new things to inspire them (and others), they’re hunting for new ways of doing business more effectively, and they’re hunting for a new perspective and story to tell (in a different way). They’re not hunting on occasion, or when they have time, or after they get through whatever it is they’re working on… they’re constantly hunting… always, because it is who they are.

You know who the hunters are. You know how hungry they are. You know how that hunger is never really satisfied, and you know that these types of people just keep on hunting.

How’s your hunting going?

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.