My grandmother reached up and wiped a bit of lint from his shoulder. She adjusted the medals on his chest and ran her hand down his lapel. And she looked up at my dad with a smile as big as Texas. She was extremely proud of her son, my dad. The only one of 7 sons to be an officer in the military. She would look at him in his uniform and sing…”there’s something about a soldier that’s so fine, fine, fine. There’s something about his buttons how they shine, shine, shine.”
But that’s not the most important part of this story.
When the 2-star General came up and stood next to my Lt. Colonel dad and extended his hand to my grandmother, she looked at my dad and said “Mack, is he a real general?”
Every time I think about that story it makes me chuckle, knowing my grandmother like I did, God rest her soul. She always had a way of putting things in perspective. It also makes me think, believe it or not, about the mistakes that people make when it comes to social media.
I don’t know why, but too many people don’t get it that it isn’t about them… It is about the other person. Social media isn’t about selling stuff, or distributing messages, or friends and followers. Social media isn’t about the media, it’s about the social. And social means ‘conversation’. Social means people.
My dad could have been a Buck Private standing there, and my grandmother couldn’t have cared less. Because standing next to a whole herd of generals, my dad was still the most important person in the room.
I wish you could have known my grandmother. She knew what was important. And If you want to be successful with social media, then every person has to be the most important person in the room.
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