Today’s interview is with Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image – one of the largest independent Digital Marketing agencies in North America – and hugely popular blogger and podcaster at Six Pixels of Separation. Back in 2009, he authored a book by the same name, Six Pixels of Separation, which went onto to become a business and marketing bestseller.

However, he joins us today to talk about his recently released book: Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It.

This interview follows on the back of my last interview: Improve your business, yourself and your team with rapid skill acquisition- Interview with Josh Kaufman and is number sixty-two in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things and helping businesses innovate, become more social and deliver better service.

Here’s the highlights from the interview I did with Mitch:

• Divided into two sections (Reboot: Business and Reboot: You), Mitch’s new book explores the convergence of five movements that are changing business forever and also identifies seven triggers that are helping individuals take advantage of those movements.
• (Apologies for a degree of background noise (?) at times during the podcast)
• Brands and businesses want to have more direct relationships with consumers but do consumers want the same type of relationship?
• The challenge is that everyone in the ‘supply chain’ wants to have a direct relationship with the end consumer. That is creating a lot of noise and confusion in the marketplace as everyone competes for the relationship and attention of the consumer.
• We are quickly moving out of the advertising era of marketing
• People often confuse and substitute the words advertising and marketing. They’re not the same. Advertising is a subset of marketing.
• Mitch believes that advertising will always have a critical role to play in the promotion of brands and products but that there are more options now open to firms to build their audience and customer base through the creation of utility, tools, functionality, engagement, connection etc
• The general sentiment of the book is that the world is changing and will continue to change at a rapid pace. Therefore, there is an attitudinal shift required. The brands that can make the shift to being the ‘perpetual entrepreneur’ are the ones that are likely to thrive.
• For example, shifting thinking to ‘How do we imagine our industry as it doesn’t exist’ as opposed to ‘How are we mitigating risks and minimising the stakes’.
• Mitch believes that we should be applying these principles to ourselves and our own careers too and that individuals should be thinking with an entrepreneurial mindset.
• This might seem hard for many people and a big change but this isn’t a book full of doom and gloom. It is a book more about the opportunity that exists for everyone if only we are willing to take it.
• Should we be talking about ‘work-life balance’ anymore? Should we now be thinking more about ‘work-life blend’? Can we really build distinct walls between work and the rest of our lives in this new world? This assumes that you are doing work that you believe matters or that you are committed to. If you’re not, then maybe that’s the sort of work that you should be looking for.
• I mentioned the Seth Godin ‘Why would you work 50 weeks of the year to ‘get-away’ for 2 weeks?’ story and Mitch mentions that he told the exact same story in an interview he did with Jonathan Fields, founder of the Good Life Project. You can check out the video interview here.

About Mitch

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image – one of the largest independent Digital Marketing agencies in North America. Joel has been a Blogger since September 2003 at Six Pixels of Separation – The Twist Image Blog. In May, 2006, Mitch launched the weekly Podcast, Six Pixels of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast. Both the Blog and Podcast focus on the intersection of Digital Marketing and Personal Branding. In 2009, he authored a book by the same name, Six Pixels of Separation, which went onto to become a business and marketing bestseller. In addition to the Twist Image blog and podcast, Mitch Joel hosts Foreword Thinking: The Business And Motivational Book Review Podcast. Mitch is also a regular columnist for the Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post and other magazines and newspapers.

• Check out his blog
• Listen to his podcast
• Connect with Mitch on Twitter @mitchjoel and LinkedIn here.
• Check out the Ctrl Alt Delete book website.
• Buy a copy of his new book: Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It

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