Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

Several weeks ago I was in New York at BlogOn hanging out with the who’s who of blogging – you know all the “A” listers like Seth Godin, David Weinberger, Jeff Jarvis, Steve Rubel, etc.

Sometimes these conferences offer little more than grandstanding. However, as noted in an earlier, post, BlogOn provided me some excellent insight on how businesses can innovate and create conversations with customers.

I have been meaning to write about what I thought was definitely one of the highlights of the conference. At lunch on the first day, Peter Hirschberg, Executive Vice President of Sales and
Marketing for Technorati provided an entertaining and informative snapshot of the state of the blogosphere.

He made a compelling case that blogs and social media are growing at a rate that demands the attention of business leaders. More importantly, it was an emergency call to traditional media. Change is afoot. Publishing, advertising, social networking, customer service, marketing all are undergoing transformation.

He unveiled Technorati's quarterly report about the blogosphere which can also be found on Dave Sifrey’s Alerts.


Peter represented this tremendous growth with a very cool graphic. It showed the names of tags on Technorati flowing across the screen as they were added over time. The flow grew bigger and faster and formed a literal wave of tags. It was compelling.

Living in southern California, I enjoy getting out in the water and riding the waves. A key to surfing is seeing the wave and paddling to a spot where you can “catch the wave.” Catch the wave and you will accelerate powerfully across the water propelled by an energy that initially appeared as a mere bump on the horizon. On the other hand, if you miss the wave you are left dead in the water looking for the next opportunity and you may spend substantial time and strength paddling to another spot. Worse yet, if you aren’t paying attention and don’t see the swell, you may get “hit by the wave” and find yourself coughing up sea water and pulling sand out of your hair.

I would say the same for what seems to be the wave of the blogosphere and the change in media. Catch it , don’t get hit.