About CMC

Markets represent consumption. If “consumption” changes then it is logical to assume that the marketplace is changing.

According to Wikipedia:  A marketplace is the space, actual or metaphorical, in which a  market operates. The term is also used in a  trademark  law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the ‘real world‘ in which products and services are provided and consumed.

Is The Marketplace Changing?

The consumption of products and services from the “commons” is what fuels an economy. Without consumption the economy slows down and subsequently the activity of the  “marketplace” is impacted. Umair Haque, from Harvard, writes “The commons can be managed from the bottom-up for a shared prosperity — given the right institutions. That conclusion challenges orthodox economics from both left and right leaning perspectives; it suggests that, yes, markets can organize production and consumption efficiently — but only when supported and nurtured by networks and communities.”

Notice  Umair’s last statement: markets can organize production and consumption efficiently — but only when supported and nurtured by networks and communities.” The old marketplace has been supported and nurtured by “closed networks and communities” which are influenced by the few. However there is a “new marketplace” that is supported and nurtured by “open networks and communities” now influenced by the many.

A New Marketplace?

In case you haven’t noticed nearly every market globally has been disrupted by a “shift” in economic realities. The behavior of every  market segment has changed. Again Umar Haque writes: The Zombieconomy isn’t a buzzword. It’s not an event. It’s not (really) about banks. It is the state of our economy today.

20th Century business is unable to grapple with the challenges of the 21st Century. Vast swathes of the economy are paralyzed and crippled: inhabited only by zombie companies. They are the economic living dead: unable to create authentic value.

Despite trillions in investment:

1) Wages are deflating.
2) Unemployment continues to grow.
3) Underemployment is growing faster than unemployment.

Zombie corporations are why the numbers above are happening. Those numbers mean: our so-called economy was a house of cards built on McMansions, Hummers, and $5 lattes. Now that the bill for them is coming due, we’re discovering just how radically unnovative they were.

Sounds to me like the old marketplace isn’t working very well. However there is indeed a new marketplace forming amongst the commons which is fueled by a new kind of economic influence, conversations.  The new marketplace is being built by “uncommon thinking” rather than common thinking of the old marketplace.

How does it operate? Is it better than the old marketplace? Watch the video below and you decide.

People and business are influenced by numbers. For the years 2008 – 2009 the overall numbers haven’t been very encouraging. Entire industries have been disrupted, the global economy is in transition and everyone and all media is discussing the meaning of these changes.

As we prepare for a new year the media is reporting numbers and using numbers to suggest that “things may be getting better in 2010“. What if they are looking at the wrong numbers?

The Numbers Behind The Numbers

Mike Mandel writes in Business Week: The GDP Mirage: (I strong suggest you read this entire article) “R&D isn’t the only type of intangible investment that seems to be declining. U.S. companies spend an enormous amount on worker training—$134 billion worldwide—but they have been cutting back. The drop started in 2008, when employers reduced their per-worker “learning expenditures” by 3.8%, according to the American Society for Training & Development. No data are available for 2009, but “from anecdotal evidence, obviously there’s a lot of cutback,” says Pat Galagan, executive editor of publications.”

“Ideally, a big burst of training would occur during a period of creative destruction such as this so that people can acquire the skills needed for the jobs of the future. The problem is how to pay for that training, since unemployed people don’t dare spend money on long-term training when they’re worried about short-term survival.”

W. Edwards Deming once said ” In order to truly understand current condition one must look at the numbers behind the numbers and put them into context of systemic performance. Systemic performance is not indicative of measuring  results rather measuring processes behind the results”

What Deming was saying is that measuring results doesn’t tell you what is or isn’t creating the results. Behind every result there are processes, people, markets and related interactions. If you don’t understand the interactions and how well they are performing than you can’t effectively improve the pieces aimed at influencing end results.

What Are The Influences?

Today markets, people, businesses, governments and society at large are influenced most by communications. Media represents a form of communications and media surrounds us, influences us and leads us to conclusions (results). If we are being led to the wrong conclusion (results) then we make poor decisions aimed at creating more results.  Poor decision create bad results and the process repeats itself due to a lack of relevant and relative data from which we should be learning to make more informed and educated decisions.

Social media is an influence on markets. The market of conversations can be used to increase our knowledge, our understanding and the quality of our thinking. That is of course if we are listening to the right conversations and learning from these conversations.

With corporations cutting R&D, training and education just maybe they ought to look at innovative ways to use social media to accomplish the same. But how would they know unless they had the right data?

What does your data tell you? Look behind it.

We hear and read  about “shifts” created by technology and examples of the influence on markets propagate daily.

Marketers jump on these shift vying for our attention aimed at ultimately “tricking us into a transaction”. The irony of this behavior is that technology will eventually turn the trick onto the markets. That will happen when we, the consumers, gain more control over how we interact with the markets.

Advertising In Reverse?

Doc Searls writes: Here in the VRM development community we’ve been talking (and in some cases working) for several years on the Personal RFP. Technically an RFP is a “buyer-initiated procurement protocol” for businesses doing business with businesses: B2B as they say. With VRM the buyer is an individual. Hence, Personal RFP. Not a great label, but one that businesses understand.

Every retailer and intermediary should be interested because the promise of the Net for buyers is not an infinite variety of closed silos, but a truly open marketplace where any buyer can do business with any seller — and on the buyer’s terms and not just the seller’s.

Like everything else we will come to depend on utterly while remaining absent in the present, VRM is thoroughly disruptive idea. It’s always smart to get ahead of the curve by getting behind what will bend it.

Doc’s writings help me bend my mind around what can be rather than what is. What is represents existing thinking and behavior. What can be represents how technology will “bend” both thinking and behavior because intentions will change based on innovation fueled by new knowledge.

Innovation Bends Intentions

Intentions are threaded in conversations. Intentions motivate behavior and crowds form around conversations that have an affinity to interest.  Today the marketplace looks at all this interest as a “forum” to insert advertisements aimed at catching transactions. It is an old method and is in conflict with the intentions of the “marketplace of conversations.

The landscape of social technology is evolving. The evolutions demonstrates people’s intents and the data clearly shows that the “peoples” intent is not relevant to ads. Rather the intent demonstrates a “shift” in consumer behavior as it relates to learning, relating and subsequently conversing around an affinity of interest.

People’s interest in products and services will remain relevant. Finding said products and services is no longer relevant to traditional advertising and marketing methods.  What is becoming relevant is buyers doing business with sellers but on buyers terms. The terms are changing to findability, utility, reference and time sensitivity. Terms are like rules and what was once the rules of the market will become the rules of a different market.  The different market is one which is continually being empowered by the buyer rather than the seller.

When Rules Change, Markets Have To Change

Doc’s says it well “the promise of the Net for buyers is not an infinite variety of closed silos, but a truly open marketplace where any buyer can do business with any seller — and on the buyer’s terms and not just the seller’s.” Buyers are getting smarter, more connected and influenced by other buyers. Technology will continue to advance and Doc’s vision of VRM will become a reality sooner than later. Sooner when leaders of current markets recognize the power of becoming leaders of tomorrows marketplace.

Tomorrow is framed by what can’t be done today but what should be done tomorrow. Doc sees what should be done and we’ll see what leaders will help him bend the rules so it can be done.

The question of why about anything indicates an interest in understanding why. Young children ask a lot of “why” questions because they are curious about everything. Adults then ask their children “why did you do that?” and when others ask us why we want to know “why do you ask?”. In organizations success is influenced by a common understanding between people as to “why” things are done the way they are and why do we continue to do things that simply don’t work or matter to anyone.

Learning the answers to “why” about everything is a life long journey of experience and study. Unless people know the answers to why they cannot apply the right knowledge to the right circumstance and subsequently responses and actions  may not yield the right result. Ever wonder why you don’t get the right answers? Just maybe it is because you are not asking the right questions.

The Right Questions About Social Media

In an earlier post we discussed “5 Things You Must Ask About Social Media” in which we addressed some fundamental issues to consider before using social media.  Additionally we’ve created a “How” series which begins to address what,when,where,how, who and why questions which we should never stop asking. The relevant questions are proposed collectively in a white paper titled “Social Media Directions” available here.

As more and more individuals and organization continue to use social media effective results will be realized by those who know “how” to ask the right questions and subsequently never stop seeking the answers. What is today’s answer to market needs can change at the click of a mouse as consumers find more relevant and relative answers from their “friends” on a daily basis compared the ones you provided yesterday. The science of social technology accelerates consumption of answers to questions the market has relevant to anything and anyone.  Your answers can become irrelevant unless you are monitoring the relative questions that consumers are asking. Worse yet is that if you are not engaged in “the market of conversations” then you are not likely to even “know” what,where, when, who, how and why the market is conversing.

Back To “Do You Know Why?”

Not knowing why social media is so powerful means you won’t know how to use it effectively. Not knowing “how” means you are likely to use it out of alignment with “what” your market wants. If you are communicating out of alignment with your market then your market isn’t likely to know “who” you are “when” you communicate. If you don’t know “where” your market is then you are not likely going to reach them. If social media isn’t working for you then you must ask the question “why“. The answer to this question may not have anything to do with social media rather it has everything to do with “how” well your people relate to the organization, your processes, products and technology.

Fixing your organizations “connectivity” to your internal and external market requires you to ask the same questions but in a different context than social media. The answers to those questions will lead to why social media doesn’t work and why it does. Having the right social media directions is always a good thing. Get it?

What say you?

My six year old ask a lot of questions. Most questions start with “Why?”. The reason children ask why a lot is because their minds are geared to learn why things are the way they are and why people do the things they do.

A lesson we can all  learn from the minds of children is that asking why is a good question to ask about anything and eveything. However the older we get, the more educated and the higher position we have in a company we assume we know the “why’s” about a lot of things and in reality we really don’t know why but we pretend we do.

When I look at how brands and people use social media it becomes obvious that they never have asked them selves why before they started using social media.  How can I tell this? Because what they use it for and how they use it isn’t connected to why people use it.

We must understand why people use social media so we can better define why we, as individuals and organization, should be using it.

Why Do We Communicate?

In an earlier post titled “Again, What Is Social Media?” we said that fundamentally social media is a system of communications. The process of social media involves:

1. Use Of Technology
2. Identifying and providing valuable conversations
3. Distribution of conversations to appropriate and relevant markets
4. Methods and messages that create pull an engagement
5. Building and sustaining an audience (relationships) of listeners
6. Continually feeding the audience with conversational currency; value they can use

Now if you agree with our definition of what social media is and the process of use then the answer to “why” is relevant to thinking about why and what you communicate to the market of conversations. However to determine why you or your organization should use social media it is best to understand why others do first.

So Why Do Others Use Social Media?

I am a consummate student of social media. I call myself a student because my primary motivation for using social media is to learn how “the market” is using it and what methods create what results and why.

The word study means : a state of contemplation : application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge : a careful examination or analysis of a phenomenon, development, or question. Notice the last word in the definition, question. If you haven’t noticed 99% of my post start out with a question and the reason is I am seeking to know why. I learn why based on what others do and what the system is meant or enable us to do.

People and organizations are producing varied results from use of social media. As you can imagine there are numerous methods being used and because most view social media as just another marketing channel they are getting the same results as other marketing methods, terrible.

When you study why, what and how the crowd of sincere “people”, not institutions, are using social media you’ll find different methods and different results.  What I’ve noticed about this group is that the primary reason why they use social media is centric to learning or in other words the acquisition of knowledge. Whether it is learning about new tools and the application of use or simply answering questions about anything, everything and anyone people find utility in learning from others.

The results from learning are much different than marketing. Learning pulls people which enables and enhances relationships. Marketing pushes people and is not centric to relationship building.

Learning has always been and will always be a powerful force that draws people.  Whether an individual or organization the answer to why leads to another question. What can you communicate that enables people to learn something of value they can use and share with others how they used it? In order to find out why you must listen to the markets needs and wants. Your response to the wants and needs may not have anything to do with your own product or service but it has everything to do with building market relations. The results of doing so will surprise you. Get it?

What say you?

Your boss says”Our competitors are stealing our customers using this social media stuff. We need to use this stuff and do it better than our competitors and we need to do it NOW!”

You are then tasked with “doing it” but you have no experience or knowledge of what to do. So you look for help and find an outside resource whom supposedly has the experience and knowledge to know what to do. You bring the option of hiring this person to your boss and they ask about the cost and what will they get from using this resource.  You tell your boss the cost but aren’t sure exactly what it is you’re going to get. Then your boss says “I know we need to do this but I don’t know what it is or what we’ll get from it”.

How can a company put value on something they don’t understand?  How can they understand if they have no reference to “think about it”?.

What Is Required To Think?

Thinking about social media cannot increase understanding without the appropriate knowledge. Anything new or innovative takes time to understand and determine how to use it effectively.  In order to think effectively one must first acquire the knowledge necessary to think about using social media strategically, tactically and with specific purpose. Without the knowledge thinking will only produce the wrong outcomes because your thoughts are limited to what you know, not what you don’t know.

The reality is that learning to leverage social media requires people and organizations to reThink everything. This thing everyone calls social media has serious strategic implications and to just “do it” without gaining the knowledge to think about what needs to be done is a sure disaster.

Think About This

A business runs on communications. Without being able to effectively and efficiently communicate you end up wasting time and money. Money represents time and cost in rework, fixing misunderstandings, setting the wrong customer expectations and  not effectively and efficiently communicating to your employees, customers and your market.

The cost of not thinking about these issues is increased cost. However being able to “think” about these issues may require the infusion of new knowledge which may not exist in your organization. W. Edwards Deming once said “knowledge required to change the existing system to a better system must come from outside the existing system”. Why? Because the existing system is blinded by its own thinking. Get it?

Thinking About Social Media?

Who isn’t? The Corporate Executive Board said “Most companies are embracing social media—but too many are wasting their efforts through sloppy management”

More than 70% of companies are already using social media; many are planning to increase their spending on social media across the coming years. Whether for learning from customers, building their brands or a range of other hoped-for outcomes, companies are clearly diving in.

If you dive into the social media water without knowing its depth or where the rocks are you are likely to break your neck.  To avoid breaking your neck you should first get the knowledge about that which your about to dive into.  Without knowledge people, and entire organizations, perish.  Think before you jump. But before you can think effectively you must first get new knowledge.  Social media knowledge doesn’t come from self appointed gurus or experts who know how to get you followers and traffic.  The cost of thinking increases when you don't think. Get it?

What say you?

Industry,government and every institution runs on a “system” established by theminds and hearts of the “people” within the system.

The system is based on past experience and usually copies the“system” of others in similar markets.  However, every “system” isbeing pushed to change in order to adapt to the disruptive nature ofchanges happening globally.

A system cannot change itself.  Any changes made toa system, are by definition, part of that system.  The drive to changemay come from outside but the resistance to change always comes frominside.

Everyone who wants to move the system to improve.  However a majordisruption is needed to break it from its current cycle, tearing itaway from the attraction of its old state until it is captured by a newstate.  This usually occurs because of an outside force.  A systemcannot change itself and if the eco-system is being disrupted by theactivity of outside forces that don’t fit the mindsets and hearts ofthe internal forces then the disruption is rejected and discounted.  Tobreak away from an old system and adopt a new system requiresrecognition of the need to change, knowledge to make the change andleaders to lead the change.

New knowledge comes from outside the system.  Knowledge required tomake drastic changes comes from those who are not part of the oldsystem.    If new knowledge can only come from out side the system thento acquire the needed knowledge means you have to go to those who thinkand reside outside your system.

Where And What Is Outside Your “System of Thinking”?

New knowledge can be seen as an act of creativity, complexitysuggests that creativity is an emergent  property of a complex adaptivesystem. Creativity flourishes in what is called the “shadow system“.Shadow systems occur outside the exiting system and is essentiallycentered around the fringes of conversational exchanges from other thanthose within the center of an “existing system“.  

Shadow systems act in a dynamic state flipping from stability to chaos and back – complexity.  Sound familiar?No, then just take sometime and examine the emerging market ofconversations fueled by “social media”.  It doesn’t make sense to manybecause it is a “shadow system” emerging and pushing against all oldsystems of beliefs.

Most existing knowledge has come from within an old system SO anynew knowledge outside of the “system”  is rejected because it doesn’tfit the mental models that the old system believes is true. Theimportance of “shadow systems” is that it breeds innovation. Innovation is the exploitation of creativity.  Creativity drives newknowledge.  New knowledge comes from outside the legitimate system and is more likely found within the “shadow system”.

It is called the “shadow system” because it isn’t evident to most rather only to a few.Believers in the old system can’t comprehend the values of the “shadowsystem” because the complexity doesn’t neatly fit into theunderstandings, values and metrics created by the existing system.  Themarket of conversations fueled by social media simply do not fit intounderstandings, values and metrics of traditional mindsets and models.Traditional mindsets and models want to measure social media in termsof revenue. The “shadow system” understands the values and metrics ofconversational currency fueled by the rate of interest and change. Themore interest in the “shadow system” the greater the rate of change. Have you noticed how fast all markets are adopting social media?

What used to take decades or even centuries to create “systemic change”is now being perpetuated by the increased rate of interest. The rate ofinterest is an indicator of just how attractive the “shadow system” isto those wishing to replace the old system. Interest fuels rates ofchange and the rate of change is overtaking the existing system.  Don’tbelieve it? Stop and think about the things that have changed withinthe last six months and the speed (rate) at which these things havechanged.

The “shadow system” will eventually replace the old system. History shows that “shadow systems” end up replacing old system and become the new system.

What say you?

The word “real time” brings a connotation of instantly, NOW. The web is a “real time” environment.

Anything published 60 seconds ago is old. Any new conversation quickly become old.  Real time is at the click of a mouse and it does not wait for anyone nor does it wait for your business models to catch up.

The problem with business is most leaders are stuck in past “mindsets and models“.  Mindsets and models are changing moment by moment and the changes are fueled by the conversations, NOW.

How Do You Plan for “Real Time Business”?

Tim Leberecht writes: It used to be that there’s nothing more boring that yesterday’s newspaper. Now there’s nothing more boring than today’s. When you relaunch your business model, product, brand identity, web site – it’s already too late. Real-time beats planning to the punch.

Real-time businesses therefore must get rid of long-term strategy plans, product road maps, goals and objectives, and all the other superfluous documents that distract organizations from focusing on their true mission – the here and now.

Real-time business is inherently social – there is no real-time without social. The more businesses open up their organizations and invite external voices into their inner sanctum, the more real-time they will become. Getting social will help companies gather customer intelligence in real-time and use it to move faster. In the future, real-time businesses may deliver before their customers even articulate their needs. And they will provide immediate value without immediate return, in other words they will over-deliver – free for now but with a material or immaterial return later.

“The process is the product,” as Trendwatching writes in its latest report, in which it also claims that the real-time the web is breeding a new quest for longevity or “Foreverism”: “the new popularity of technology that allows consumers to find, follow, interact and collaborate forever with anyone & anything.” It’s not as paradoxical as it may sound. Living real-time means living in the ongoing – forever. If everything happens in real-time, nothing is ever final and always in permanent beta.

Conversely, if everything lasts forever on the Google web (your emails, networks, conversations) and your digital presence is only as good as your latest search results and Twitter updates, you better utter some digital impressions NOW.

How Fast Can You Get To Now?

My brother used to always tell me “The past is over and you have to learn to live in the now. Just remember the now you were just in is now over!“

The irony of doing business NOW is NOW is  for a moment. The rate of change is relative to the rate of interest.  The rate of interest changes with the conversations. Now do you understand why Twitter, at 140 characters, creates rapid changes in conversational  interest? That is why it’s called conversational currency, the rate of interest is in a constant state of “change” NOW.

How do you plan for NOW? It’s to late!  Get it?

What say you?

Business managers  focus  on things they can measure. Income, expenses, worker productivity and process variation consume peoples attention. Everyone seems to be consumed with numbers. Many people fail to consider some of the most important issues that truly drive a business besides the numbers.

Now the “numbers” are attracting attention to social media. Subsequently everyone wants BIG numbers. Followers, tweets, retweets, blog post, rankings, Google juice, traffic and the obsession for numbers continues. While numbers are important they do not always reveal the true value being created or destroyed. All the major industries have seen their numbers go down consistently for years. Did the numbers lead them to change their course? No, it only reflected to the effect of a cause they failed to recognize.

W. Edwards Deming used to say “The most important things in business are those things you can’t measure, you can see but such things can make or break your business.” When asked “What are such things which you cannot measure? His response was “How do you measure the value of relationships, conversations and the intangible benefit such things produce? It is the intangible things that create success but management wants to focus on results at the cost of the intangible things. Doing so destroys relationships, manipulates conversations and encourages the production of false results because that is what management wants, results even when they are false“

What we learn from conversations, relationships and the intangible value we all gain from being connected with people is the perplexing paradox that many business leaders simply don’t get. The related activities of a networked world are driven by communications and influenced by information.  The “result” is what we the people do with the information to benefit ourselves our businesses and our relations.

So What Really Matters?

Our new networked world has everyone chasing results, numbers. Everyone appears to be rushing to engage their markets using social technology. Advertising dollars are moving from print to digital. Attention is rapidly moving to the intangibles and engagement is free but the cost of trying to force results can be very high. Consider what results and the subsequent cost are to these actions.

1. You can use automated technology to gain followers on Twitter. What results do you get? The need to spend more time “vetting through the useless chatter”.
2. You can push the wrong message out to large audiences. What results do you get?  A rejection by the audience.
3. You can “play” with conversations and try and trick the market. What results do you get? Your brand equity destroyed
4. You can push out a lot of messages. What results do you get? Labeled as a spammer.
5. You push out fake message. What results to you get? Fake relations.
6. You chase BIG numbers. What do you get? A lack of understanding the root cause of what will improve the numbers

Business leaders, marketers and advertisers, must learn how to enhance the relationship with their markets rather than trying to produce results through numbers. The goal is a conversation which begets a relationship that can produce results. However, focusing on the results does not produce relationships. Numbers do matter but what causes the numbers to produce the right results matters most. Don’t be misled by fake results. Get it?

What say you?

A good example of  today’s enterprise web integration and scalability prowess can be seen in Jahia’s deployment of the WCMS technology for Garmin International Inc., a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation. By using Jahia, Garmin has been able to create 9 intuitive interactive websites, including the all new location-based phone Garmin-Asus nüvifone™ site, as well as Garmin’s international sites for the USA, China, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, the UK and Singapore. These sites provide invigorating user experience and the opportunity to delve deep within the Garmin International product lineup.  The Jahia-based home page of Garmin International features an interactive flash application and three separate feeds that import information directly to the home page. Garmin back-office account users have the ability to modify the site layout and add content via blog style entries and RSS feeds. Additionally, Jahia allows for the easy creation of drop down navigation with the simple click of a button. The language setting in the Garmin International site is easily switched using a drop-down menu with variable choices and allows for the easy integration of variable language preferences.

Garmin International’s sites also allow for the easy integration of variable products, including those for road, trail, water, or fitness. Users can select a product to get detailed specs, view pictures, find accessories, and buy updates. Users can also locate area retailers.

The Garmin International sites fully retain RSS reader functionality; host a blog with full interactivity, offers career opportunities with personal login capabilities, and current press releases updated through feeders. Other capabilities allow Garmin Site Administrators to import relevant information, track followers, and utilize growing features in web technologies.

Garmin International showcases seamless interaction, smooth layout and transition, and complete integration of Jahia’s intuitive WCMS solutions.

“In order to showcase their rich product offering online, Garmin needed a robust and fully interoperable Web Content Integration Software solution featuring portal, multi-language, multisite management and globalization capabilities. In addition, Garmin wanted to be able to roll out new websites quickly. For example, the new site dedicated to the revolutionary nüvifone™. With Jahia, Garmin was able to effectively deliver rich online messages, while realizing dramatic savings on implementation costs - on average three times cheaper than traditional vendors were. Additionally, Garmin  obtained both tangible and intangible benefits by accelerating time to market - measured as twice as fast as compared to prior rollouts- and empowering their non-technical marketing resources to take control of web content,” Explained Emmanuel Garcin, Vice President & General Manager, Jahia North America.

Jahia is the leader of the emerging category of enterprise web content integration software, meeting the demands for new tools that enable contextual, agile and simplified information exchange and collaboration on the internet. Facing a variety of third party content, often coming from global teams, working on a series of different levels and types of operating systems, standards and software,  today’s enterprises are in urgent need of one all-including simplifying integration tool that makes the increasing diversity of heterogeneous infrastructures manageable within their web projects. Jahia solves the problem, delivering the competitive advantage with Enterprise Web Content Integration software that neatly integrates DMS and portal features, allowing enterprises to deliver "mashups" and a variety of value added applications such as CRM, ERP, online shops or product information to one single level.

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Check out the Job Board and let us know how we are doing.

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