"We Are All Born Mad..."

I hate politics! Not because it's fashionable to do so but because I live in Lebanon. An East-Mediterranean country with beautiful geography, exquisite cuisine and one of the worlds most dysfunctional socio-political systems.

When I think of Lebanon, I remember a fractal game I used to doodle when bored during my school years. I would draw a triangle, then draw a median line splitting it into two other triangles. Then I would repeat the same thing for each of the two triangles and so onward...
This can best illustrate the schisms that spread and infiltrate all the stratas of Religion, Politics, Business and Social behavior in our daily life.

When Joe Kodeih announced his next play would be be named "Michel & Samir", after two of the most well know political opponents on the local scene over the past 30 years or so, my initial knee-jerk reaction was rather dismissive. But for anyone who has known Joe for as long as I have or has had the chance to watch any of his previous plays, there could be no doubt that what he had up his sleeve extended beyond the cliches offered by the overabundant political satire shows and plays that plague our TV stations and theaters.

The setting and characters both imaginative (as offered by both written and verbal disclaimers) represent two patients, Rodrigue Sleiman and Hicham Haddad,  with identity crisis and an apparent aversion for one another being treated  by two healthcare providers: Tony Balabane and Maguy Badawi.

Over the duration of the play we are taken on a roller-coaster ride into the obsessions, fears and insecurities of the characters tempered by a series of comical jabs at our reality. Joe Kodeih's directing and script combines with the raw talent of the actors to take us into the realm of the absurd, only to jerk us out of it when we least expect it, making us both laugh then smirk at our daily grievances.

Tony Balaban's monumental performance glued the volatile characters portrayed by the oh-so-talented Rodrigue Sleiman and unexpectedly touching Hicham Haddad in a melting pot of angry male emotions tamed by the presence of Maguy Badaoui and her central character in the play.

Michel w Samir (or Samir w Michel, depending on your personal preference) explores absurdity and comedy in equal parts of touching and engaging, not far from our day-to-day reality.

After all like the great Samuel Beckett said: "We Are All Born Mad. Some Remain So"

I sometimes think those are the lucky ones!

Chocolate Wars: KitKat vs Toblerone

It's always a treat for us consumers when brands take jabs at each other while trying to sway us on one side or the other. A rare commodity in today's world where we feel we have become just tiny chunks of big data.
No matter how much people preach that businesses need to, have become and should remain customer-centric, we still feel too tiny in front of big brands. unless they pull off something like this on Twitter.

When I saw a glimpse of @KitKat's powerful reply to @Toblerone and @Mrugesh15, with a picture containing both chocolate bars in a surprising layout, I felt compelled to check out the entire conversation. Much to my delight, it was yet another duel of the giants. Both brands remained classy and gave it their best shot, but judging by the number of ReTweets and Favorites each reply received, it would be safe to say that KitKat walked away with this one.

In your opinion, who do you think deserved the win? Let me know in the comments section below. Personally, I think Toblerone would have won me over had they used the dark chocolate bar.

UPDATE

Shortly after I tweeted about my blog post mentioning these two amazing brands KitKat came back with a reply and I must say this has been pure enjoyment. Almost as good as having a chunk of each bar...

UPDATE 2 (2014-03-05)

The cherry on top of the beautiful social media exchange came today from the awesome people behind Toblerone. It seems that Cupid (pretty much like everybody else) is also hooked on Chocolate and thanks to these two great brands we are all love-stricken.

Tribal 2.0: The Great Digital Divide

We are Tribes, we always have been and we always will be. We gang up alongside those who look like us, talk like us, think like us but are not just quite us. We may call ourselves nations, states, societies and communities, but in fact, all we are is tribes unified around one or several common values and united by the motto: Members of the Tribe Come First (regardless of how idiotic, blind-sighted or annoying they are)

In today's connected world one would argue that the barriers maintaining tribal segregation would be eroded, blurred, gone. Perhaps in some measure they are.  Google translate brings down language barriers, Skype saves us the trouble of crossing borders, Facebook puts us in touch with long lost friends...yet we still manage to align ourselves in tribes. We pick sides even when there is no side to pick, we trash-talk the other side over a piece of technology which we don't even own but merely use.

Today's tribal feuds are digital, they live on the web, in virtual space, on the banks of social media channels.
Here's a brief look at some of those I run into most frequently:

• Mac vs PC:  In the beginning there was the mainframe but who cares about that. This is where the action took place as digital was unraveling itself. It still does in some way but this has been one of the oldest running digital feuds. Countless are the arguments breaking out in college cafeterias, dorm rooms and classrooms between supporters of each with a side dish of sarcasm by Linux lovers.
  This rivalry sparked a series of very successful ads by Apple.
  
  
• Microsoft vs Google: A software company hating on a search engine? what am I missing there? But we all know that Microsoft outgrew its software manufacturer a long time ago and that Google has spread its wings far beyond search. Google's Gmail, Chrome Browsers, Chrome OS and Apps were gaining ground on the supremacy of Microsoft's Hotmail, Internet Explorer, Windows and Office.
  The fans of each side are often arguing the merits of one or the other. My personal observation is that those who emerge from a corporate environment tend to support the more institutional Microsoft while Start-Ups, freelancers, hackers are pro Google. Left in the middle is the average computer user.
  This probably would explain an entire campaign entitled "Scroogled" aimed at taking jabs at Google's array of products in order to portray Microsoft's under a brighter light. Interestingly enough, Google have not reacted to this.
  
  

• Apple Fanboys vs Fandroids: So we've had Microsoft and Apple fans going at it for starters, closely followed Microsoft and Google supporters having their own little thing happening, so it would not be right if we didn't have Apple and Google fans at each others' throats. While I have been an Android user for as long as I remember I cannot deny the merits of either platform. The issue is that of relevance. If the fruit makes you happy bite into that by all means. Both are here to stay, both borrow from each other and the only one to profit is us the consumers. Of course if you ever hoped to work for either company and got turned down, we won't hold it against you if you spent your day bashing their product. After all we are all humans and we can't all handle rejection well.
  
  
   
• Facebook vs Google+: This might be the mildest of all the controversies you can see. Facebookers argue that Google+ is a ghost-town and that Google is pushing it down the throat of everybody who uses any Google product. The latter simply shrug their shoulders and poke fun at all the privacy concerns that have infected Facebook and the type of users and content that is being generated there.
  It's worth noticing that these two giants are probably going to end up doing the same thing. Facebook is spinning off new products (messenger, paper...) from its main platform while Google is connecting all is products (YouTube, Blogger, Android...) via its social platform. I guess it's a wait and see game.
  
  

There are certainly other examples to draw on from the House of Tech and the Clan of McSocial (Canon vs Nikon, Xbox vs PlayStation...) but I am sure you can dig-up more on those on your own or even better, give first hand example on your participation in one or the other. What matters at the end of the day is not what technology are you using but rather what are you using the technology for and is it the most appropriate one to achieve the goals you initially set-off to achieve.

I would love to hear your contributions below in the comments on these and other topics so don't hesitate to share your Tribal 2.0 experience.

Employee Retention & Other Myths

Over the past few months, I have come across this  business quote over and over again, on various social media channels.
While I was among those who applauded the apparent wit behind it and found myself relating to it, both as a business owner and as someone who spent 13 years in the corporate environment, I must admit I have grown tired of seeing it over and over. The reason is perhaps related to the fact that it oversimplifies the issue of employee retention while falling into abstract stereotypes of corporate roles. It is just too simplistic, too shallow as an assumption; so bear with me a bit here and allow me to dive more into what employees I would not want to retain and why.

Employees and managers come in all shapes and sizes and they walk into the corporate environment pre-molded by their education, their cultural background, their family upbringing, their past experiences in life and work and their own expectations for the future. For any setup, retaining an employee is a delicate balance between all these factors along with the mandatory needs of the business itself.
It is for this very reason that we can sometimes discover employees who stick around with the same employer for years without any getting human development benefits while others would walk away in spite of huge perks. So how to tell if your employee is a match for your leadership style and whether they are in it for the long run?
Here is my own personal list of things to watch for. I am not an HR expert and this list is based on my experience, my gut feeling and years of being disappointed by both employers and employees alike. Here are the people I would not want around me in my business environment:

• The Acute Politeness: Exaggerated politeness is for me an immediate red flag. Email signatures with expressions like "Respectfully yours" and other sugar coatings are just someone who is trying to make themselves seem small and vulnerable enough so they get away with something way bigger, like stealing your client's website for example and reselling it to someone after a quick make-up job.
    
• Buddy Buddy:
  Pretty much like the acute polite person, this one has no boundaries, they think that by cozying up to management folk, they can gain some sort of immunity to actually having to do the job they were hired for. It's an equal opportunity cross-gender syndrome, and those who fall for this tactic are way too many, unfortunately.
     
• The Collector:
  If you ask to take on every project that passes under your nose or if you make a purpose of not missing a training and you act always like you are racing the clock to do as many things as possible, this will make me think you are just passing by the company and looking to gather as much momentum as you can before you leap onto your next stop.
     
• The Office Decoration:
  If I can't tell you apart from the Dieffenbachia that's sitting next to your desk you might as well go find another place to work. People who succeed in staying that inconspicuous are in my book either not skilled enough and prefer to keep this under wraps or sneakily planning to do something you would never see coming.
     
• Little Miss Precious:
  My use of the word "Miss" here is not directed towards women. This title is unisex. If you are too precious to move your sorry a..arm, arm...yes that's the word I was looking for, then you probably belong on a shelf, in a closet, in your parents' living room with all the rest of the kitsch collectibles they probably have lined up in there.
     
• George Costanza: if you don't know who's that, google him. If you want to know why, watch this:
  
  

However, subordinates aren't always the ones to blame, even for managers and high level executives misconceptions rule and appearances can be deceiving:
The Marketing Manager is not always a show off , the CTO isn't always right, the HR Manager is not always nice, the CFO is not always stingy and the CEO is not always the champion.

Bottom line, no one is irreplaceable! Not the employee, not the manager and not the business, we all go our separate ways in life and try to find the perfect angle where our view of the world aligns with how we have grown comfortable seeing it. Go ahead, Instagram that!

TV interview on Seven with Serge Zarka on MTV Lebanon

I recently had the privilege of being invited by the distinguished Serge Zarka to appear on his show "Seven" on MTV Lebanon to discuss various topics related to my work in Social Media. I had been a big fan of the show for a long time and, more specifically, of Serge's professional and courteous approach to various subjects. The show always allowed guests to offer the best they had, while keeping the entire conversation dynamic and interesting. This was exactly what I got during my interview and the professionalism in every aspect leading up to the filming and throughout the interview was felt. I must infinitely thank Serge along with all his staff from MTV for for the invitation, the gracious welcome and reception; An experience I will cherish dearly.