Next up in the series of Three Question Interviews is Stowe Boyd, President and COO of Corante, as well as a regular blogger at Corante's Get Real. Stowe and Hylton Jolliffe, the CEO and Founder of Corante, were recently named to the AO/Technorati Open Media 100. (I'm a little skeptical of lists like this, but Stowe, Hylton and their colleagues at Corante deserve the honor--there's something worth reading there every day, and they're launching new blogs all the time.)
1) Corante is described
as "the world's first blog media company." As everyone else in the
media world is rushing into the blogosphere, is this a sustainable
means of differentiation for you, or will your corporate identity have
to evolve?
I guess I have
already shifted my description of Corante -- 'a social media company
focused on thought leadership in high tech and science and their impact
on business and society -- so, yes, we will have to push onto other differentiation.
2) In addition to your work managing and writing for Corante, you also
consult to organizations interested in starting blogs. What's the
biggest mistake you see organizations making in this process?
Starting the writing without first reading. We need to start on 'the good foot'
-- connection to a community of interested participants in the ongoing
conversation about whatever topic. It could take months to get fully
'read in' on that discussion, and most companies aren't willing to
wait, to get into the mix. So, they start writing, and are amazed that
they have no readers, no connection.
3) You've maintained the personal blog that used to serve as home base
for your consulting work. What role does that blog fulfill for you now?
A Working Model is my personal blog, now, where i write about stuff that doesn't fit at Get Real, like politics, popular culture, and karate.
Bonus Personal Question: You just earned your provisional black belt in
Shito Ryu Karate. What got you involved in karate in the first place?
I decided that it was dumb to bring my kids to the class and sit there
reading a book, so I signed up. My kids dropped out (although my older
son, Keenan, is back, now) but I kept with it. Its a great physical
discipline, and good for the head: very different from what I do for a
living. Its also very social, since you are learning with and through
the actions of many folks in the class. I recently won a push up
contest with some teenagers, and I am 52 in September, so the benefits
are really obvious.
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