Looking Good.

We arrived in nearly total darkness, which didn't really matter because we didn't know where we were anyway. I had heard rumors of the Army training crags on Mount Yonah and Richard and I decided to check it out for ourselves. And so, with a thin rack of climbing gear and sub-standard camping supplies, we hopped in his pickup truck and drove to the desolate gravel road outside of Helen, Georgia.

The mountain campsite looked like BarterTown from "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome". Drunken country kids lit moonshine as they spit it out of their mouths. There was a loud Charlie Daniels Band sing-along. I'm pretty sure at least two fights broke out.

The next morning we got directions and started the walk up to the climbing routes. After a brief period of getting lost, we walked out onto a small rock shelf that served as the base of the face. I looked up the chunky routes and realized that these were far easier than the scant faces of California featured in all the rock climbing books we had been reading. We roped in, shuffled up the routes and were bored in no time.

I complained about my boredom to one of the regulars who informed me of a few more challenging routes just at the end of the face. "Foxy Lady" had a difficulty of about 5.8 and was a tiptoe up some acorn-like protrusions until you reached a narrow crack that walked you up the finish. It was harder than I expected, but it was nice to complete. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, I set my sights on the adjacent climb, "Afternoon Delight," for the next day.

"Afternoon Delight" was an awkward climb pretty much the whole way up. I started by shimmying up a massive plate of disjoined granite to where I could stand on top. "I don't see where I'm supposed to go," I yelled down to Richard, who was belaying my line.

"Go up," he responded.

I have never seen a better belayer than Richard. His knowledge of the technical aspects of the climb combines perfectly with an ability to instill confidence. He also has a cunning ability to know the proper moment to yell, "Quit being such a bitch".

He was right. I was being a bitch. I was bitching about the fact that I could not see where the next move was.

All I could see was the slightest banana shaped indentation about collarbone high. And this situation only called for one move and I didn't want to do it. A mantel is where you pull up and over a hold and then quickly shift your arm to palm down over the hold. Think about getting out of the pool, without the stairs or the ladder.

The cherry on top of this maneuver was that the next hold, a body's length above the banana, was a little dime-sized extrusion. "Put your face into it," Richard yelled. He was right. Unless I could get my body weight directly over the banana, I would slip out and down. I pulled up and stuck my face right against the rock. In the same movement I shifted my arm and hauled my feet up into the banana. Without using any handholds, I stood up. Before I peeled away from the ledge and sailed down, I reached up and dug my fingernails into the tiny little hold. I was stable.

I looked up for the next move. Again, nothing. I thought I might sit a while and ponder but the hot sun made my hands and climbing shoes greasy. I was sliding off my holds.

"Those cracks to your right, start traversing straight right," he said.

I looked and saw what he was talking about. Three rungs of thin cracks made their way like a ladder just off to my right. I tiptoed over and did three pull-mantel-no-handed stand ups to the top. I should have been ready to celebrate. I felt like vomiting.

Had I been there by myself like Stallone in "Cliffhanger", I would have failed. Had I a belayer who didn't give me direction and encouragement, I may have quit at the banana.

Good belaying is about communication, understanding and mutual success. When you are the lead climber, your belayer tells you where the route goes and helps beef up your confidence. If you are the following climber, the lead climber belays you up the same route and tells you where most of the issues are in a closer sense.

Plenty of companies sure could use someone belaying them like Richard. They need a better view of the path ahead rather than just what lies directly in front of them. They need that safety line of someone who is at least tied into their same fate. They need someone to tell them to quit being such a bitch. Yet many companies try to go it alone without a rope and we see their bloodied corpses on the rocks below.

After a few trips up and down the mountain, I have seen what makes a good company belayer. So spit in your hands, pull up your tights and chalk up. Let's go climbing.


First, start with a good rope.

Or maybe a good thread, to be exact. The lifeline that customers often offer and so many companies refuse is the line of communication. Customers want to be involved or, at the very least, acknowledged. With today's technology, it's easier to get in, and stay in, touch with customers.

And there's something else to consider. The relationship between belayer and climber is not one of formal register. Consumers want to have a brand as a friend and, therefore, should be treated like friends. The more corporate hogwash you throw at them the less they'll want to hold the line for you.


Make sure you have a bonfire at the summit.

I'm always surprised how rarely companies engage their customers in any formal discussion about products and brands. The common attitude is that the company is somehow above the customer and, therefore, whatever the company dictates, the customer should do.

This is a lot like thinking the lead climber is somehow in charge just because he or she goes first. In truth, the lead climber and belayer both play essential roles. Having a dismissive attitude as the lead climber may prevent the belayer from telling you about the falcon's nest you're about to stick your hand in.

I suggest all companies use a customer council to ask questions, get insight and charge up your biggest fans. Considering how much money gets spent trying to build a stronger connection with clients, this should be a no-brainer.


Share the beta.

In climbing terms, beta is advance information concerning the climb. Even a beginning climber learns early on the benefits of sharing the beta. For starters, sharing beta with the other climbers you like means they will also share beta with you and you will all know more.

But perhaps the most important part about sharing beta is that each time you convey it, it begins to resonate more with you. Think about it. Every time you recite some directions or retell a story, you get better at it. Sing your company's beta to your coworkers and colleagues and you might actually start remembering it on the climb.


Looking good. Just ignore those bees.

Having the right partners and treating them like partners can keep you from falling in this business. A good belayer can really help you see beyond just your site. A great belayer can give you the needed information and confidence that you're going where the route is intended.

And let's not forget, at times we all need someone to tell us to quit being such a bitch

Now with Live, Active Cultures.

I was into live, active cultures before live, active cultures were cool. Back then, nobody even heard of Bifidus Regularus (and isn't that name a little ridiculous? It's one step beneath "poopest nowest"). Whatever, I knew all about the bowel healing power of yogurt far before people in spandex started talking about it on TV.

It was Easter and I headed to my Dad's house for dinner. One thing you should probably know about my family is that we are food centric. My step-mom likes to celebrate God's most wonderful gift by cooking many of his other gifts and serving them with horseradish or mint jelly. She's also from Pittsburg, which means she even fries the butter. The meal is big enough and greasy enough to make you want to funnel Maalox.

This particular year, my beloved nephew got sick in a way not to be discussed around food. He had the Norwalk virus (which was a hip illness back then, like Hypoglycemia) and the result required a bath. After his bath we assumed he was clean and so, like with most babies, we all played with the little bio terror. About 11 p.m. that night I threw up from the toilet into the tub. Even in such discomfort I had to pause and laud this achievement because I am male. It was impressive.

If you are not familiar with the Norwalk virus (now officially known as norovirus), go rent that terrible movie Dream Catcher. That part where the guy poops out the alien that looks like a three foot long barracuda? It's a lot like that. Plus you vomit and your head might spin around.

My Cirque dus O'toilet exercise was enough to give my roommates the virus (three guys in a 1950s house. Lysol? Yeah right.). The next two days we all sat in bathrobes chasing chicken soup with orange juice watching that movie with Clint Eastwood and the sassy monkey that wears a T-shirt. (Editor's note: the two films are 1978's Every Which Way But Loose and its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can, starring Clint Eastwood and an orangutan named Clyde.)

In time, the virus passed and I began to feel a little bit more normal. But a problem loomed. My appetite waned and I still got nauseous when I ate. I called mom, who knows all about viruses and puking since she raised four boys. Mom said the key to getting your stomach back to normal is to eat yogurt. And not that whipped chocolate moose junk. Real yogurt with live cultures. Now, when I hear someone complain about their stomach, I interrupt them and say, "Oh, you need yogurt. And not that whipped moose junk. You need active cultures. Give me five dollars".

Your stomach has to have some bacteria to break down all that junk food you eat. Doritos and Ding Dongs don't digest themselves. Well, most of the time, anyway. Live cultures help build the right environment for your digestive tract.

Richard probably knows better than most about cultures and the often resulting poop. He worked for a cheesy dot com that never had an actual useable product and touted their success in how much venture capital money they could obtain and spend. It was the nineties and the "look how cool we are" culture craze was in full effect. I visited Richard at work and he gave me the tour. "Here is our pool table that nobody uses. One guy used it once but the VP of Development of something glared at him. Now the only time it gets used is when we give tours to investors and prospective employees to show them how hip we are". How sad.

But it was not rare. All round the ATL and in every tech city, mountains of ping-pong tables, bean bag chairs, razor scooters, hacky sacks and hockey sticks just sat around for show. The old, stiff investors were so impressed with this youthful thing we call the Internet that they encouraged everyone to pretend to be wacky.

This notion of the live, active culture persists today. Marketing service firms not only encourage their employees to be fun and vivacious, they whore them out for it. On more then a few websites of marketing firms have I seen pictures of some staff person kayaking or running a marathon or playing guitar at a local Earth Day celebration.

Listen, I'm not trying to Norwalk all over fun cultures. I mean, Richard has a collection of different canned and packaged meats on a shelf in his office. When it comes to being zany, we run with the best. But why should companies care about the culture of their marketing people? Like with so many other things, we feel we should care, but don't really know why or how we even started caring in the first place.

You shouldn't have to catch Norwalk to learn about active cultures. I've had it a few times and you can learn from my disgusting experience.


Fun is creativity, right?

Nope. Fun is a bottle of whisky, a minigun and a chandelier store. Of course, that's just my opinion. You can substitute whatever you might find fun in that section. But fun is often mistaken for creativity. You walk into your ad agency and you see a group of people sitting on the floor yelling about headlines or photos or whatever. Later you see them throwing pumpkins off the parking garage roof and you say, "What fun, creative people!" But what you are mistaking for creativity is what people will do when the rules are relaxed and creative's trying to blow off steam so they can stop your tagline about "single source solutions" from ringing in their heads.

Fun, right? But does it increase creativity? Our gut says maybe, but I think that's just indigestion. Honestly, people may have an active brainstorming session and still be terrible at brainstorming. And creative people will blow off steam even if the concepts are a joke. What's worse is that agencies have been trained to appear fun and zany even if their work is sub-par. Clients delight in the off-the-wall approach and mistake it for something innovative.


Diverse interests means that you bring a broad perspective?

I love seeing firms pitch how vivacious and interesting their people are. I'm always amazed to see so many people into running and scuba. Here's the problem: most of this country does not compete in triathlons or cook gourmet food. Have you ever noticed how much media and advertising seem obsessed with a lifestyle that the rest of the country does not live or even want to live? When 95% of the people who work on your marketing are into emo rock and sushi, how representative of the do-it-yourself mechanic market do you think that will be?

I have an easy recommendation. Instead of getting people who are supposedly interesting, get people who are interested to handle the marketing of your product. When you are working on marketing a product or service the most important thing in the room should be that offering and not the account executive's surfboard collection. I like interesting people, but when it comes to working on a marketing issue I like interested people more.


Yogurt. Now with new made-up cultures!

What's the difference between real, active cultures and cultures that are invented for marketing purposes? Well, a few things, first of which is respect. Strong cultures foster real, mutual respect. They respect and have empathy for each other. They respect the client. Respect that can only cite the chain of command is not a strong culture.

Next is confidence. Strong cultures empower their teams. They do not need constant oversight. Conversely, lack of confidence in people leads to a firm throwing its own people under the bus. And if an agency will throw its people, their careers, their ideas, their reputations all under the bus for a check, you better think twice about believing what's written beneath their logo in the lobby.

Put simply, they have a house of cards based on a fake culture. They play creative company, but you'll get your hand slapped if you actually ride the razor scooter. It is a culture celebrating the illusion of creativity rather than celebrating and encouraging actual creativity. The problem is many clients cannot discern between the two.

Third is diversity, but maybe not in the way you think. Some cultures look like they picked through the box of crayons on purpose. The result looks like a college brochure. This is neither empowering nor productive. There is a humongous difference in empowering/engaging diversity and the more common promotion of diversity. I believe diversity should be embraced because of the value it brings to solving a problem fully rather than using it for promotional use only. If we use diversity as a way to broaden the scope of how we see an issue, that's a good thing. Otherwise, it's an pool table that no one ever uses.


Feeling a bit irregular.

I realize I may be irritating the colon of the organizations who believe in leveraging their culture. Please don't misunderstand me, I believe in strong, active cultures. I just believe in real ones rather than fake ones. I believe in actually living out those statements of "what we believe" that so many marketing services tattoo on their websites. I believe in real, active cultures and not that whipped chocolate moose junk.

A great culture can be the perfect environment for creativity and problem solving. A great culture can reduce the stress in the normally high stakes part of business. And perhaps the best thing about a great culture is that it is infectious and when you catch it, you can't help but spread it so everyone has it.