I just got the latest ChangeThis newsletter and immediately read Patricia Martin’s peice on what she’s calling the Renaissance Generation (or RenGen). She has a whole book on the subject but this quick read perfectly encapsulates a lot of the social media trends we’ve been seeing or feeling around us over the last couple of years. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a catchy word like RenGen to add to the “cool” factor.

Some of the points that resonated with me dealt with the central character of the RenGen: the Cultural Consumer. The CultCon (sorry, I couldn’t resist) isn’t satisfied with the old guard uni-directional flow of information, entertainment or opinions. Rather they relish (and seek out) avenues of creative self-expression. Engaging in more of a dialogue with their media… a conversation, if you will…. sound familiar?

Part of the beauty of a collaborative-rich environment is that phonies are eventually found out. One of Martin’s lessons of the RenGen: “The RenGen prefers products that are imperfect but authentic, over perfect products that pollute.” You see this a lot at professional networking events. You can always tell when the person you’re talking to has checked out of the conversation, and all they’re doing is doing the obligatory nodding and smiling. They don’t care about what you’re saying but they know they need to look like it. Likewise, there’s a tendency now for marketing and PR types to use blogs and social networking sites to appear to be in conversation with their customers. Sure they might be able to pour money into Interruptive marketing campaigns to convincingly appear concerned, but in the RenGEn the currency isn’t dollars but genuine attention; yours in exchange for your customers. And they’ll know when you’re not really listening. Genuine trumps polished.

I definitely recommend investing the 10 minutes it takes to read it for yourself here as well as subscribing to the ChangeThis newsletter. You get to read things like Build Your Brand in Bits and Bites: Building Your Personal Brand Online

Alpha Dogs by Donna Fenn.

The thought (or maybe fantasy) of opening your own studio has probably crossed your mind a time or two. Maybe you’ve even bitten the bullet like my friends and I actually followed through on that fantasy. If so then you’ve probably experienced what I call “artists’ brain freeze” when you try to wrap your head around some of those business advice books. This book, however, has the benefit of being both informative and inspirational. It doesn’t scrimp on the fact based bullet points about what it takes to dominate in your field as a small business. But through honest case studies it shows that even though it’s hard work to elevate your practice above the rest, it’s very possible.

So even though it doesn’t specifically cover any design-related businesses in it’s case studies, the fact that I was actually able to read it , digest it and leave it feeling smarter than I did when I first cracked it open says volumes for Mrs. Fenn’s writing skills.

Why a Designer should read it:

1. Obviously this book has more relevance to Designers who own/run their own firms or freelancers. However, I believe that any strategy for business success is a vital addition to the arsenal of value-added services any good designer can offer their clients.

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It’s disappointing how many examples of corrupt corporate culture appear to be in the world. I know nothing can be perfect, and god knows I certainly don’t claim to be the perfect at what I do, but it means a lot to me that my 2 business partners are the same folks that I love to spend my time off with. Not because we talk about work (which we don’t…OK sometimes), but because we have such a good time working together and truly care for and respect each other. We’re family. Sappy I know…but it’s the truth. And I’ve discovered more and more that this is not as common as it should be.

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