Like Minds Scott Gould interview

It’s only a matter of weeks since I first became aware of Scott Gould, thanks to a Tweet from my online buddy, Barry Furby suggesting we might have some common ground and that it would be good for us to connect. It was the best piece of advice I’ve had in a long time.

Scott and and his fellow Like Minds (which we learn more about in this interview) hasve already – in a very short space of time – become a rich resource of information and inspiration for me in a number of disciplines.

I recently put together a few questions, which Scott has answered with typical clarity and foresight.

The dialog is shared here for you:

Q: Scott, can you tell us a little about you – what makes you the person you are, and what has brought you to the place you are in now?

Jesus. Everything about me spills over from a love for Jesus, and in turn, a genuine love for people. More specifically, it is His Church that has really shaped me and informs who I am.

When I was 16 I was out drinking like every other 16 year old but I remember one Sunday feeling like such a hypocrite, so I stopped drinking. Shortly after, I really felt a draw to be more deeply involved in church, and the message that was not just preached on Sunday but constantly shared from the church leaders was one of empowerment and being relevant and agent of change in this world.

So from 16 till now – 10 years – I have been pushing towards growing spiritually and making that something that affects the world around me for good.
Q:  We’ve learned a little about Scott Gould the man; can you share something about the initiatives you are involved in – from your professional life with your Aaron+Gould Company, to Like Minds, and even your role in your faith community?

Not sure where heard about ‘Scott Gould the man!’ (Jonny Rose I guess?)

I’m involved in 4 main things really. The first is church, where I’m on the pastoral team and oversee our media, comms and executive produce a lot of our events and such. One of the new parts of this is an initiative to raise awareness about Human Trafficking, an issue that is really beginning to tug at my heart.

The second is Aaron+Gould , which is a consultancy providing a somewhat premium level of consultancy to companies in Social Media. What we really do is train and given advice. The luxury of it is that I’ve had the privilege to work with some great thinkers, but more so, use the company to train interns, which is a major passion of mine. I have about 10-15 interns a year who work with me for various time periods and I input into, in the hope that the experience they get can be changer for their career and future.

The third is Like Minds , which is again, all about people – hence ‘like minds’. We have a bi-annual flagship Conference in Exeter and then a range of other activities, most recently being the addition of our co-working club in London. I co-founded Like Minds with Drew Ellis almost a year ago, and it’s amazing to see where we’ve come in that short time. We now have a Twitter reach of our #likeminds hashtag to over 500,000 people.

Then finally there’s my blog and my thought leadership , where I discuss many of the ideas and things that become what I do at the other three.

Recently I was on a list of top 10 thought leaders in Word Of Mouth, so that kind of summarises a lot about me in that I guess!

Q: From my perspective, Like Minds may be the venture that has the broadest reach for you. Is that a fair assessment, and how do you see its potential developing?

Like Minds definitely has the furthest reach – and it’s not a shallow reach at all. We have a deep relationship with so many people in our community which is constantly growing, and we’re developing some really quality long term relationships with our partners.

The idea of Like Minds is to be an ecosystem for the ‘like minds’. This started out as an event, but with our partners we’ve created ways to extend the platform both online and offline. As I said above, most recently this is the co-working club where people can have a year’s membership at the Like Minds venue, complete with gym, free tea and espresso coffee, free bottled water, preferential hotel and meeting room rates, free wifi – all for £300. It’s our way of saying to the people out there innovating but with not much cash out there, “hey, you don’t have to break the bank to get the right space to make your ideas happen.”

For the Like Minds Conference in October this year (28/29/30), we’re also pulling out some new things that will really wow people. Two of those are the introduction of “#LikeMovies” and “#LikeMusic” festivals, which are a social redefining of what have become broadcast events.

Q: You have a number of things to keep in some sort of balance there. How do you manage that, and do you have any advice for others who are living in a state of multiplicity?

Ha! Hard work, a strong team, and using the Getting Things Done system.

To be honest, I’m always looking to cut things out and focus more. Robin Dickinson taught me that you have to have a strong ‘NO’ in order to have a powerful ‘YES’. Too many of us say ‘yes’ to so much that our ‘yes’ looses power. So the trick is to start saying ‘no’ to a lot more.

I don’t mean saying ‘no’ to people, as in, “I won’t help you, I won’t advise you, I won’t be there for you” – I mean it as saying ‘no’ to all the little things that distract us, the internet whims and fads, and pouring out time into unproductive ventures or “I could do this” projects that don’t have real bottom-line purpose behind them.

If you’re not balanced, then you’re not in harmony. It also takes having good mentors and peers who can hold the mirror up to you so you can see what things are unharmonious.

Q: Has your faith – which you are very upfront about without with being preachy – given you any particular challenges as you navigate all of the projects you are involved in?

Not that I can think of. There’s no ‘questionable’ work that I’m faced with, and everything I do all day is about serving people. Jesus said the greatest among us is the one that serves, so I find myself in a great position!

The challenge that I do face with my faith is that I constantly have people privately saying to me “you know, I’m a Christian too”, and me wondering why they can’t say that on their profile and on their blog and actually talk about it? It seems that there’s a lot of talk about brands being transparent and authentic, but many of the people saying it not actually being it themselves, or they are oppressing those who are open and transparent about their faith. It’s a funny world we live in.

I must also say that I consider it is my faith that has put me in front of the opportunities that I have.

Q: Can I ask who you consider to be your peers, and the major influencers in this fast shifting world we’re exploring?

My peers and influencers? They are everyone who has commented on my blog – seriously. Every single person who I consider a partner and peer who is labouring with me, or a influencer who is profoundly affecting me has at one time or another commented on my blog. That’s why I love social media.

Social Media means I know Joe Pine who co-authored Experience Economy and Authenticity – and he comments on my frameworks! His books show you the future – you won’t be the same after reading them

My blog is where I met Robin Dickinson who has been one of the greatest forces in my life this last year. Robin has the best business development blog there is, period.

It means Chris Brogan stops by every now and then and pitches his thoughts. His blog has great content, especially if you can capture the concepts that he shares. He also taught me to value the person in front of me.

As far as event management goes, Jeff Hurt and Dave Lutz have helped me put understanding to my gut instinct about how events should be run in the first place – as participatory events, not events that you just attend. They continually comment and encourage me.

On my blog Olivier Blanchard, Trey Pennington, Rosa Garriga, Sy Taylor, Molly Flatt, Sam Ford, Joanne Jacobs, Jonny Rose, Andrew Davies, Ed Barrow, Kris Colvin, James Poulter, Amber Naslund, Annie Syed, Stephanie Rudat, Michael Meyers, and of course Drew Ellis – they all comment regularly. (And there’s more I haven’t mentioned who’ll no doubt kill me for my crimes! Sorry!)
Q: Are there any companies coming over the horizon whose work you admire?

I’m a big fan of 1000heads who’ve just celebrated their 10th year in the Word Of Mouth business. With regards to newer companies and startups, I like the work that Cofaccio are doing, which is a goodwill search engine where you can find people to help. Then there’s Childs i Foundation in Uganda that are redefining, in my opinion, how social giving will be understood in years to come.

Also the work that Idio are doing is amazing. They understand the core of curation and semantics and have a platform that is the best in the world at delivering content accordingly. They work with some Unilever brands and the broadsheet newspapers. They are building the deploying the technology that will define tomorrow.

Q: What are your most important tools in your work life?

The Getting Thing Done (GTD) system helps me manage my tasks, projects and teams on a daily basis. Practically the two tools I use are Evernote and Remember the Milk, as well as my calendar, email, etc. They are all such a part of my life that I don’t’ really notice them.

Then there’s my blog. There’s so much interaction that goes on in the comments, that it is where I meet people and form ideas. Many people wouldn’t see it as a tool, but to me it most certainly is.

Things like Dropbox, Google Docs, Google Wave, Post Rank and so on make up the other things that I’m using all day everyday. They especially help because they take away friction. Dropbox means anyone can access a shared folder (so no more ‘email a file across’)

Q: How does do you see the future panning out for Scott Gould?

As far as my plans go, I’m focussing on building up the 4 areas and seeing them grow in width, breadth and depth. The aim for me is to take on more executive roles as my various teams grow, so that I am doing less admin and spending more time fostering connections with people and making things happen that way.

I’m also booking up my speaker engagements for next year already too. I really distain the whole ’solopreneur social media consultant with a personal brand and weird title’ thing, so speaking for me isn’t just another rung on a ladder. I’ve been public speaking (mostly in church) for 10 years, and anyone doing it that long understands it’s not about impressing people; it’s about investing in people. Getting the chance to lead a group of people for however long it is means you need to impart real value that they can use, not just say things that stroke your ego because you want everyone to know how smart you think you are.

The next year will see me saying things like that with more confidence, leading bigger teams and innovating new ways to help people. And at the centre of it all is a drive for people to make peace with Jesus – and providing all that other help and value adding along the way.
Q: OK. Free space…anything else to say?

So Johnny – tell me about you

My response:

…..That….(pause to remove shades a la CSI Miami’s Horatio Caine)…will have to be another post entirely.

A good place to start, though is “Who Am I?”

HT to Scott for the pic

• Scott’s blog
• Scott on Twitter
• Like Minds