Today, my friend Steve Mouzon is releasing his latest book and I am honored to have had the opportunity to write the foreword.
If the book I wrote with Holly Berkley, Social Media in Action: Comprehensive Guide for Architecture, Engineering, Planning, and Environmental Consulting Firms, gave you an understanding of how social media can be a useful resource in meeting your firm's business and communications goals through our experiences and case studies of your peers, New Media for Designers + Builders written by Steve Mouzon picks up where our book left off.
Patience, generosity and connectedness. These are the new virtues that Steve describes in his new ebook. True to form, when I was doing research for Social Media in Action, Steve generously shared with me his experiences growing his career and building his networks through social and other digital media. He shared his approach to building vibrant communities with highly engaged members in the pre-digital age, and how his methods evolved as new media emerged. And he told me about his dedication to teaching designers and builders his formula for embracing new media to help them maintain their relevance in our changing world. Steve has always offered his support universally.
It was an easy decision for Holly and I to profile Steve's path navigating and connecting the various elements of his social media presence to amplify his effectiveness as a leader. His story offers lessons for anyone looking to shape a reputation as an expert. However, we barely scratched the surface of Steve's new media methodology. New Media for Designers +Builders details his specific, step-by-step approach that will undoubtedly guide any person working in the built environment – developer, architect, landscape architect, urban designer, planner, engineer, builder or craftsperson – in growing their own network, supporting their own cause, and fulfilling their ambitions online and off. No prior social media experience is required.
Steve’s recipe for using new media effectively is just for designers and builders, and has been tested and deemed effective by him personally and refined through feedback from his many generous readers. He understands the resource and time constraints on practitioners and prescribes a scenario that is intended to take only 10% of your time—this week and every week that follows.
Reputations are not built overnight. Patience, another one of the new values, is so important. Get started today with Steve’s two-week regimen for establishing your new media presence, and be mindful that a consistent effort put in over time is necessary and will pay off. It won’t be long before you realize that new media, like your website and your phone, is an essential tool for doing business.
I wish Steve the very best with his new book and look forward to more opportunities to collaborate with him.