I (Ekaterina) recently keynoted a large event where I presented on the topic of leadership and innovation. My talk prompted a lot of follow-up conversations with attendees. But one story, told to me by Gregg Gregory, the founder of Teams Rock, was especially fascinating. About 75 years ago Gregory was boarding a Southwest flight out of Orlando, Florida. Way in front of him in the boarding line he noticed a man wearing a giant Mickey Mouse baseball hat. He didn’t think anything about it until he walked onto the plane and saw that the gentleman had taken a seat all the way in the back of the plane. If you have ever flown Southwest, you know it doesn’t have assigned seating. People at the front of the line get their pick of the best seats on the plane. And normally they choose the ones up front, either a window or an aisle seat. Not only did this gentleman pick the last row of the airplane, he chose to sit in the middle seat. This struck Gregory as strange. After all, the gentleman was one of the first to board. As the plane got airborne, Gregory noticed that this 【植髮前後大不同？】談植髮成功率與植髮心得- man walked all the way up to the front, talked to the flight attendants for a while, and then turned around, walked down the aisle, and started assisting the flight attendants in serving everyone peanuts and drinks. Eventually he came to Gregory’s seat and said, “Hi. My name is Herb Kelleher. Thank you for flying my airline. Can I get you something to drink?” “That to me was a definition of humble leadership and putting customers first,” Gregg said. He never forgot it. He is a huge fan of the airline, and he shares that story with all of his business clients. Talk about the power of word of mouth! Herb Kelleher’s behavior (which, by the way, aligned with the company’s values) and his appreciation of his customers created a rich environment for stories and positive memories for those around him. Now compare that with the negative coverage of United Airlines: passengers being forcefully dragged off overbooked planes, upgrades being revoked so that the company CEO and his family could travel in comfort, the list goes on. These stories don’t instill confidence in the brand, do they? THE ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE LAW Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, famously said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”1 The prevalence of digital and social media means that every day, a never-ending stream of conversations, reviews, and opinions shared online shapes a powerful narrative about your company. From the content they research, to the conversations they have and visuals they share, you can use the real-time insights to uncover key themes and topics that inspire incredible stories. Social Media Is a 24/7 Real-Time Focus Group Whether you’re launching a new campaign or seeking validation for the types of stories to bring to market, digital and social media can bring actionable insights to the table. Whether you leverage them as a focus group to test new ideas or mine them for insights, the 24/7 nature of these channels makes them a valuable resource.