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I’ve had three themes repeatedly popping into my head in the past week while thinking about developing as a leader.

Everything rises and falls on leadership
I am currently reading the book by Howard Zinn, “A People’s History of the United States.” He claims that history is always told through the eyes of nation states and their leaders. Zinn argues that this leaves out the common man. He writes his book from the viewpoint of the people. Although I see where he is going with this, traditional accounts of history are told through the eyes of the people who had the greatest impact on history. They were the movers and shakers of their generation. They made it happen. They led the way.

Which brings me back to my first theme.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Build it before you need it social networking
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore hired a new president last month. He comes from a background in politics and banking and knows almost every major business leader in Baltimore. With one phone call to a business leader he is able to secure more funding for the Zoo – gain support of key initiatives – or find an executive to bring into the organization as a vice president.

I admire his style and approach. He truly understands that people are everything. It took him years to forge these relationships in the community that now benefit the Zoo. He basically built a network of professional associates before he ever needed them.

In my life I am making it a point to connect with people. Notice I didn’t just say meet. I want to connect the dots between people that have no direct benefit to me. This is crucial in building a valuable network of people who trust and respect me. I want to add value to the lives of the people with whom I connect. I would hope that I will be viewed as someone that brings value to their lives.

Which brings me back to my second theme.
Build it before you need it.

Everything is personal
I don’t believe in keeping your professional and personal lives separate. In the day and age of 24/7 mobile broadcasting, blogs, Flickr, Twitter, and Google your two worlds are going to mix anyway. So why not at least control how they mix. Some people worry about getting fired. That’s a legitimate concern. My answer is to be the same person both as a professional and as friend.

I recently had a conversation with a business associate about this. He likes to keep his personal and professional lives separate. For example He doesn’t want his boss to see photos of him wasted at a party. I suggested that he doesn’t get wasted at a party and live the way he wants to represent himself at all times. This didn’t fly well. He didn’t want to give up that aspect of his life. Instead he has tried to control the flow of information about his personal life. I am eager to see how this plays out in a world where his name can be Googled by anyone.

Which brings me back to my third theme.
Everything is personal.

So these are three themes that have been swirling around in my head lately. Do you agree with them? Let me know what you think.

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Joel Mark Witt

Scott Stead did a great video on the Pulver Social Media breakfast in Washington DC last week. Check it out here

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Joel Mark Witt

So tonight a bunch of social media types got together in Federal Hill (South Baltimore). I took some photos and a video posted below.

Link to photos

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Joel Mark Witt

I had the privilege to join Jeff Pulver and 28 other great people in Philadelphia for the Jeff Pulver Social Media Breakfast across America tour (or something like that) this past Thursday.

We did a new activity called “real time social tagging.” Don’t know what that is? Then get yourself to a Pulver breakfast.

Jeff Pulver was using a service called Qik to stream the event live from his cell phone! Amazing. You can see a sample video from his cell here. Also here are some photos and a blog post from the event.

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Joel Mark Witt

Great article on the music business from Wired Magazine. Could this be applied to Hollywood also?

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Joel Mark Witt

Robert J. Elisberg has an excellent post on the writer’s strike and new media. He points out two critical issues. First, with the internet media makers don’t need the Hollywood system to get projects financed or distributed anymore. Second, unlike the current Hollywood system, new media writers can control their own copyright. This is definitely worth a read.

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Joel Mark Witt

Here is a video we shot on Seesmic from the DC Media Makers meeting last night. I learned a lot from this group and made some great new friends. If you live in the DC area you need to check this group out. They meet monthly. Video Link

Google is taking over the world.

Do you like living in the world? Then you better get in with the new owner.

There was a lot of buzz recently about Google’s OpenSocial. I recently read a post by Chris Brogan talking about the Implications of a Google Social Network. We all know Google owns Orkut but no one is using this service. And I mean NO ONE.

Google adds networking to value.
The other social networks are trying to add value to networking. But as Brogan points out Google has taken online productivity apps (documents, email, chat, etc) and has added a layer of social networking to them. It is starting with the Google Reader.

I won’t go into all the details here (just read Chris’s post) – but they key take away is you need to sign up for a Google Account now. Please don’t waste your life away.

Author Michael Dean ($30 Film School) interviewed me for O’Reilly Media at the New Media Expo in California. Here are the links to his article and the audio podcast.