Dan Pink: Finding New Ways to Connect to Community
I'm a big fan of Daniel Pink's work and discovered him when I read his book, A Whole New Mind, several years ago. Since then, I've been following what he's been up to via his blog. You might even say that I'm part of his tribe. I'm an evangelist for his wisdom–using the creative right brain alongside the analytical left brain–and have interviewed him in person and over the phone.
Now, Pink has ventured into online video, with his short (1-2 minutes) travel tips. It's completely different content from what I normally look for. Nevertheless, I took the time to watch all six travel tip videos. Why? Because it gives me another view of him that I don't get in his writing. Take a look:
Pink's Travel Tips — Tip #1 from DHP on Vimeo.
The lesson for wisdom entrepreneurs and community-building is simple: Use multiple ways to connect to your community, even when the content may seem peripheral to your cause.
People want to see different facets of the same person. Video is a great way to start to show those facets. I've been playing with a Flip camcorder for about a month. With easy-to-use and reasonably-priced tools like the Flip (I got mine for $120 on Amazon, and uploaded my first video to YouTube within the hour of receiving it in the mail), there are no more excuses.Stay tuned.
Eww! (Just watched Dan’s first video) I agree that it shows a different, thus far unseen view of Dan. I do wonder, though, if it dilutes Dan’s “personal brand” when he’s known as a career/whole brain guy, and not a travel guy?
I guess not. The saying’s always true, people buy from people they like and trust. And that’s no matter what that person is selling. Relationships rock!
Thanks, Simon, for bringing up the question of diluting your personal brand. I think Dan’s brand is strong enough at this point that talking about something “off-topic” isn’t detrimental. Actually, the travel series reinforces his claim that he’s at heart, a left-brain guy, who happened to see enough data about the importance of the right-brain stuff to write a book about it. If you look at the rest of the travel tips, they are very much practical and pragmatic.
To your second point, bringing in another topic provides another way to connect to his community, who already like and trust him. In one of his videos, he even brings in his daughter to help him explain the tip.
A sidenote: in an email exchange, Dan confirmed that this series is a way for him to get his feet wet in online video, rather than a foray into becoming a travel expert.