Weist Road Trip Ford Flex Style

This is a sponsored post. Thoroughbred Ford provided my family a Ford Flex over the weekend (no rental fees and no mileage limit.) Here's the story...

Some of you know our van got hit while it was parked at a local shopping center over my lunch hour a few weeks ago. I was meeting George O'Sullivan who runs the Thoroughbred Ford online initiatives including their Twitter presence, @ThoroughbredFRD. After lunch when I went back to my van, I saw a note on my windshield and thought I had gotten a parking ticket. It was a note from the women who hit my back bumper when trying to parallel park. I shouldn't be surprised that she left a note, but I was and I was very thankful.

I sent a tweet to @ThoroughbredFRD as I thought it was ironic I was having lunch with George and my van got hit...seemed a little surreal. George responded that Ford wanted to help however they could. Did I mention our van is a Nissan?

So after all the insurance stuff was finished. I took the van in last week to get repaired at Thoroughbred Ford. Because the back bumper needed replaced, the hitter's insurance covered the rental. George set me up with a comparable Ford replacement crossover wagon - the Ford Flex.

We needed to leave for a family Iowa/Nebraska road trip mid-week and the van wasn't going to be ready for pick up on Thursday so George told me to take the Flex on our road trip - gratis.

I really liked the idea of giving the Flex a go because I wasn't sure how our family would do on a long road trip in a vehicle smaller than a van. We have a 12, 10, 6 and 4 year old - so roomy is good on a long trip. I was thinking this road trip would be a good test to see if we could downsize. So we set off and the kids were loving all the electronic goodies of the Flex.

And now, we're driving back from Omaha. Well, my husband is driving and I'm typing. And we're going over the pluses and minuses of the Flex...
My husband and I loved the smooth ride more than anything else. There are a lot of wonderful, cool bells and whistle to the Flex - don't get me wrong - including SYNC In-Car Connectivity System, but what stood out for us was how quiet and "sedan-like" the ride has been for us. It handles amazingly, and as a mom used to driving a van...that's refreshing.

And the kids weren't on top of each other, they could easily get in and out of the back seats. The third row of seats is very roomy. Our youngest felt propped up and loved it and the older two kids didn't feel squashed in the back. There was no "shot gun" shout-outs this trip (for the second row.)

As far as the negatives, the only thing we can come up with is the gas mileage seems to be a little less than our Nissan Quest. I think the unique design might throw a few people as well, but not us. Most of the people we talked to about the Flex on our road trip commented on its unique outside design. Some loved it, some didn't. I liked the inside roominess and the outside "not so serious" look. Most people described the Flex look as a "Beach Boys, woodie" theme.

We're getting the feeling that our kids are going to be sad to return to our van come Monday. I know I will. Thank you for letting us test drive the Flex for a long Weist road trip, George and Thoroughbred Ford!

A "Beyond Words" Sincere Thank You

Be Social - I Am One of You

Take 1: April 2008 - I Am One of You

So we're munching on our salads and I'm tell Chris what a "true north" moment I'm experiencing: I'm eating lunch with my social media mentor; later that day, I planned to meet some amazing social media rock stars at NewComm - Erin Kotecki Vest, Joe Jaffe, Shel Holtz, Shel Israel, Cathryn Hrudicka (yep, her cat and I share names), Jim Long, etc.; and, how all of this was very surreal for me to take in.

Chris stopped me mid-sentence and said, "You represent a brand doing social media...you are practicing the preach. You bring just as much to the table as everyone you just mentioned...including me. Remember that."


Take 2: May 2010 - I Am One of You
Fast forward to last week, I'm having lunch with my new boss, Jenny Love, VP of Communications at H&R Block. The social media team was shifted under Communications from Marketing with the new re-alignment. Anyway, we're munching on our salads, enjoying eating outdoors on the first nice weather day in Kansas City in a long while, and talking shop.

A woman comes up to us asking if we can spare some cash as she and her family have fallen on hard times and she needs to buy groceries. I only have my debit card was my response. Jenny reaches for her wallet, talking kindly to the woman, making eye contact the whole time and hands the woman some cash. The woman was very thankful. I had skepticism written all over my face.

Jenny says, "Ok, I have no idea what is going to happen with the cash, but when she and I made eye contact...I think she really needed to buy food for her family." She shrugs. "Any regardless, it's a good karma moment."

Later, as we were heading back to our building, we saw the woman heading out of the local grocery store with bags of food. She was telling a passer-by that she had food for her family because of the kindness of a stranger.

I leaned over to Jenny and said, "Thanks for letting me be a part of your good karma moment."

Yep, I know you can't make these "I Am One of You" moments up. They are opportunities to raise each other up and to remind ourselves we are all connected.

I'd love to hear one of your "I Am One of You" moments...

How Can I Help?

I know, I know...I'm a circle girl living in a square peg world. I'm an entreprenuerial spirit with a corporate job. The boxes don't speak much to me when it comes to defining what leadership means. The boxes do mean something to the industry so I get the box rules. At the end of the day, my reputation is what matters and it's based on my performance, my authenticity and my capabilities. To me, leadership is defined by action and action is simply defined by how I can be of help. My personal leadership filter is bouncing projects, objectives, ideas off my friends who are industry peers (regardless if they are in a box or not.) They are my trust tree. And they trust me because of my reputation. They also keep me focused on my path of being helpful. I continually push myself to return the favor.

 

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Be Social - What's Your Sawubona Moment?

Last month, Ben Smith (@benasmith) and Whitney Mathews (@whitneymathews from The World Company, successfully hosted the first Free State Social Conference with a bevy of amazing speakers; a local discussion panel (that I was lucky to be a part of); great old school, in real life conversations; and, an interesting mix of local/regional/national attendees made up of online newbies, powerhouse techheads, marketing/PR SMEs, and publishing whizkids.

My next few posts will not be recaps or reviews of the conference. Lots of local bloggers have provided excellent Free State recaps and review posts, Whitney captured most of them here. Remember the "here" link, we'll come back to it in my next post...promise.

Missed the conference? You can take it in via video archive. So no recap for me, I'm going to tap into a vein of thinking that lots of us have discussed before. It was the underlying theme of the conference. It's something that started with Chris Brogan's opening remarks and continued through out the day...to GET social media you need to DO social media, in order to REALLY do social media, you need to BE social.


I See You and I Am One of You

Since I'm talking about what getting, doing and being social mean to me - and I'm chatty - it's going to take a series of posts. I can't wait for you to share what it means to you. With all of us contributing, this series could go on a while. Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) kicked off the Free State Social Conference keynote using his iPad. No talking just words on the screen. The first screen said "I See You" and the second is pictured with Chris above, "I'm One of You." Thanks to Simon Kuo (@simonkuo) of The Westside Studio for the use of the photo.




You Matter To Me, You Are Worth My Time
The first time I met Chris in person was in early 2008, we were both at the SNCR NewComm conference looking (via Twitter) for a late lunch buddy. I had been reading Chris' blog since early 2007, we conversed via email and Facebook. He had helped me develop Embarq's social media road map, got me going on my blog, we talked kid stuff and shared telcom shop talk so when we met in person, we had history. But knowing Chris, he would have had lunch with me whether he knew me online or not. That's just his M.O. He breathes the essence of what makes social media um...well, what makes social media social.

Though Chris shares content freely (some 2500 words of advice a day) via his blog, see Chris really excels as an in-the-moment, get out from behind the (insert whatever face-to-face barrier you use here) ie keyboard, screen, etc. sharer. He knows the secret sauce is in the big share and he knows sharing it will not only help others, but will ultimately propel Chris.

Back to our first in-person meet up, Chris and I sit down for lunch. I take my phone out of my purse-mom-bag-laptop tote and put it on the table in front of me. It's my barrier, well actually for me, it was my crutch. I'm thinking of it as my "cool kid" badge because I'm all smart phone hip, right? Yeah, well no.

Leave it to Chris to school me within 15 seconds of sitting down. At the same time, Chris takes his phone from his trouser pocket, hits a button (I'm thinking mute) and sits it on the table. But no...He says, "This is a distraction, so I'm turning it off."

The dude was not pulling a "this is what I need to do" lame "look at me, I have big ears" pulpit play. No posturing going here. This was early 2008, this is just part of Chris' DNA and it's something we all need reminded of:

Let the person (yep, the one right in front of you) know I see you and you matter to me.

Chris uses the Zulu term Sawubona to describe this common courtesy which is rare in practice and he has written many a post on it. The first post I remember is The Community Ecosystem.

That one gesture of shutting his phone off with the four words after "This is a distraction" is my best Sawubona moment to date. Can't wait to hear your Sawubona moment.

Next post will continue with me getting a lesson on "I am one of you" over salads. Yep, about five minutes into lunch.

The Hub is the Hub is the Hub

As brands evaluate budget spend on online marketing initiatives including our social network presences, our own websites are the common sense place for us to focus a majority of on our resources. Though industry buzz might have the focus leaning toward social networking sites, most brands have kept their online marcom compass pointing to their hub.

From Reuters...

Below the surface, another structural change has been taking place, which predates the recession: organizations have been spending an increasing proportion of their marketing budgets on their own websites instead of on external media.

 

Technology is enabling companies to communicate in ever more sophisticated ways directly with their customers, while social networks like Facebook and Twitter offer ways for users to multiply the effect of corporate messages.

 

Chuck Richard, lead analyst at information advisory and research firm Outsell, says companies now spend more than half their online marketing budgets on their own sites. "It's been 50 percent or more for the last three years," he says.

 

 

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Sprint's Social Story: Customer Care

So I've been off the blog posting grid for awhile...I started with H&R Block in mid-January. My first tax season consumed most of my time and if I wasn't thinking work, I was busy with my family. I'm betting that next year you won't hear from me much from January-April either. Now that it's post April 15th, I have time to dust off my home laptop and share again.

I left off talking about Kansas City's IABC's Business Communicator's Summit. Another social media shining star that I was lucky enough to present with, Jason Gretzen (@jginkc), leads Sprint's social media efforts. In his presentation, Jason shared his team's 2009 focus on: 1) Executive buy-in; 2) Meeting customers where they are online through Twitter (@sprintcare), Facebook, etc.; and, 3) Building internal brand advocates to help share the Sprint story everywhere.

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_3852743"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px">Sprint Social Media Story: Customer Care</strong><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from Zena Weist.</div></div>

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