Our friend and client Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer of Just Coach It wrote a wonderful piece about Ed Mirvish. It is worth sharing.  

Following In the Footsteps of Giants

This week, a beloved figure in Toronto, a business mogul, philanthropist, and a forward thinker who changed the landscape of retail business, the urban core, and the entertainment and culture in Canada’s largest city, died at the age of 92.

Ed Mirvish leaves a legacy that is the footstep of a giant.  A legacy we can all be proud of because Mr. Mirvish not only achieved great success and prosperity, innovated positive change, infused Toronto with economic, social and cultural vitality; he also retained that powerful spark of humility, humanity, and a love for his fellow man that is clearly the footstep of a giant.

Maybe it is time for those of us who have achieved the prosperity that creates financial freedom, and those who have not, to ask ourselves what kind of foot print we want to leave behind. 

The footprint of a giant is not measured by the size of his bank account, nor by the trophies, awards or material accoutrements of success.  The footprint of a giant is measured by his or her ability to leave a legacy that continues to touch the hearts and minds of others.

A legacy that speaks of servant leadership, a legacy that reflects the ability to make a positive difference in the world in which we live, and in the lives of the people we lead, love and serve.  Building the footprint of a giant is the work of a life time, it cannot be built solely upon our unprecedented access to knowledge, information, technology, or the skills and competencies we have developed.  The footprint of a giant is born of the faith, hope, courage, humility and relentless moral strength and timeless values that create the passionate purpose, desire and ability to make a positive different in the lives of others.

Faith gives one the spiritual power that guides our best thoughts and actions. Hope allows us to embrace gratitude and to build resiliency.  Courage gives us the ability to live in alignment with our highest values.  Humility allows us to realize that life is a gift, and that minimizing the human dignity or potential of another human being does not give us power, rather it makes us powerless to realize the true purpose of our creed.

In a world of increasing chaos, discord, violence and upheaval it is the men and women from the C suite to the warehouse, from the most revered professions to the humblest of occupations who can decide that they want to make their foot print, the foot print of a giant, or to support the giants among us.  Both are equally important, both are critical.

We cannot all become the change we seek, but we can be inspired and motivated by the footprints of giants like Ed Mirvish.  We can be inspired to help build and sustain the footprints of the visible and less visible giants whose faith, courage, hope, humility, leadership can help us embrace an evolution of self that will take us past what is, so that we can create what can be in our lives, our communities, our workplaces, our society and our world. 

By: Irene Becker, Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It, www.justcoachit.com,

Irene is an amazingly talented executive coach who specialized in crisis management for senior management. She is the person to call if you have fives wolves at five doors all of whom are  ready to ready to destroy your senior career.

You should read the following article in  Advertising Age: 

What's Plaguing Viral Marketing

Published: July 16, 2007

By: Matthew Creamer

Since the term "viral marketing" snuck into vogue in the mid-1990s, the ad business has been sold on sickness as the way to describe how information, ideas and influence spread through populations of consumers. But now a long-taken-for-granted central principle of viral marketing -- that large-scale changes in behavior can begin like disease epidemics, with just a few highly connected people -- is facing its toughest challenge yet. At the center of a growing fray is an unlikely figure: an Australian-born sociology professor at Columbia University named Duncan Watts, who comes armed with mathematical models that, he believes, unsettle much of what you think you know about viral marketing.

I left the following comment:

To gain some clarity, I would like to limit the discussion to PR for technology and industrial products. Let us differentiate between viruses and pandemics. A virus is spread at the office. One person sneezes and the whole company becomes infected. Pandemics, like the Black Plague, spread across the world. I think the author was really saying that pandemics are not so easy to start.  Nasty imagery but it gets to the truth of the matter

For the markets we address, we believe in the power of targeted, viral events or micro-pandemics. Our universes are smaller and mostly, well defined. You can influence specific networks of people virally in order to add economic value. 

Our firm uses integrated campaigns that have elements of mass and viral marketing. We define key message points that reflect the brand and push strategic imperatives. We use a variety of business and trade media, both traditional and online, to get the message out. Experts and customers are engaged to prove claims. Case histories are written. Social networks are built using a variety of Web 2.0 tools. We go to the correct shows and work to gain good media coverage and help attract and land trophy accounts.  

What do you think? Please leave a comment below.

Howard