• Have Power? Wield It Wisely.

  Filed under Foo
  Oct 28

  A wise man once said that if you are really successful in an industry, it is your responsibility to promote not just yourself, but if you are given the chance, the industry as a whole.

  Now before you disagree, follow my logic. At some point, if you are considered a frontrunner in the field, it won’t matter if you do promote others; in fact, by doing so, it’ll just make you look better. Danny Sullivan is a good example of this.

  Danny Sullivan is seen by many as a leader in the Search Engine Marketing field. He has a lot of clout in the industry and he does a lot to promote the industry as a whole; he is gracious when he can be without sacrificing himself or his business. Danny comes off as a very straight forward kind of guy who is comfortable with himself and is not afraid to give back when he can. I believe that makes him even more successful. Even if Danny Sullivan does not admit to it, he really is a marketing genius: he wields his power with benevolence.

  This week, I saw another leader in the industry, Brett Tabke, take credit for his own business when he could have promoted the Search Engine Marketing Industry as a whole.

  Yesterday on his front page was the title “WebmasterWorld SEM Contestant Lost on Martha Stewart’s Apprentice Last Night.” Instead of stating this person was just a member of the industry, he titled it such it appeared the contestant was only part of WebmasterWorld.

  The thing is, WebmasterWorld is considered an 800 pound gorilla in the industry, and considered a major news source for it. Tabke, himself, makes millions from conferences. The fact of the matter is, Brett doesn’t need extra publicity, he can afford to give some of it away to others: he chose not to be gracious, but instead to be greedy. It really made WebmasterWorld and Tabke look bad.

  I have to say I was disappointed. Brett should know by now what power he wields in this field, particularly as a news source, and realize that with power comes responsibility.

  Today, the headline was changed to “WebmasterWorld Member SEM Contestant Lost on Martha Stewart’s Apprentice Last Night.” A small change for the better, however, Brett could have removed the WebmasterWorld reference altogether: that there was someone on a very popular television show giving light to search engine marketing is a win for us all, not just WebmasterWorld.

  God knows we all make mistakes. Maybe that’s all this was. However, if you are in a position of leadership, you really need to think before doing things, and realize that you need to wield your power wisely.

  1 Comment

One Response to “Have Power? Wield It Wisely.”

1. 

   mivox said on October 28th, 2005 at 6:25 pm

   The sheer randomness of it is really the only point of interest for me. I’m not sure what the point/subtext of posting the headline might actually be in the first place…

   “WebmasterWorld Members Are Losers” — No, surely *that’s* not it…

   “We’ll Do Anything for Publicity (including trying to attach ourselves to the dubious accomplishment of an occassional contributor)” — That couldn’t be it…

   It’s not relevant to the SEM industry at all, is it? So I don’t see that there would have been much benefit to much of anyone if he’d made it a ‘generic’ headline like “SEM Contestant Misses the Bar for Ms. Stewart.”

   I’m voting for “random and oddly-desperate-looking space-filler on a slow news day,” myself.

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