Pam Slim, Building Communities One Tour Stop at a Time

Pam Slim is a well-known author, dynamic speaker, business expert, and social influencer. Her best-selling book, Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur could not have been published at a better time. It was released in 2009 just as the global financial crisis exploded and unemployment lines brought back memories of the Great Depression. Suddenly that “escape from cubicle nation” was no longer a warm and fuzzy fantasy, but a harsh reality for millions. Pam Slim’s book offered a lifeline for anyone wanting to control their own destiny and launch an entrepreneurial career.

Pam’s next book Body of Work: Finding the Thread that Ties Your Story Together is a guide to connecting the dots between your professional career and your personal experiences to help define your future. The book is a combination of individual stories and practical tools that help you discover the common thread of your life’s work.

These days, Pam has put down her writing pen to go on a 23-city tour across North America on her Indispensible Community Tour. She’s already visited 12 cities where she’s made it her mission to introduce people to one another and talk about building communities. Recently, I sat down with Pam and asked her a few questions about the tour.

What was the common thread in your career that led you to want to leave your cozy home outside Phoenix and travel around the country by plane, train and automobile to talk community?

Building communities has always been my favorite part of all the work I’ve ever done, inside organizations, running non-profits or working with entrepreneurs. Truth? Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur, your success is based upon who is in your network. I see how critically important community is for anyone’s career or business to be successful. I guess you can say, my common thread is helping people construct amazing networks.

On your tour, you offer lessons from the some of the best community building brands. Who’s doing it right and why?

Freshbooks does a great job at with their community. They both support their existing customers and respond to questions from prospects. They have a very integrated way, a very human way in their interaction that makes people feel part of a bigger community. Citrix is another great example of a brand that does an amazingly good job at community building. They did a lot of work to identify the kind of thought leaders who resonate with their customer base. They’ve created free events (webinars, ebooks, and conference experiences) where their customers can connect with the top thought leaders. In Citrix’s case, they really got to know their community, embraced what they needed and provided that for them.

What one piece of advice do you offer to anyone who is thinking of building a community?

Well, there’s more than one piece of advice, but I’ll try to give a few tips. First, know yourself and know your strengths. Understand where you can make the biggest contribution in your community. The people who are the most respected in a community are those who contribute value to the community. Choose a community who appreciates what you have to offer and can be positively impacted by that. My second tip is to identify the skills and strengths you need to get the work done. This essentially means identifying people who have a different skill set than you do. Finally, when you know what you’re trying to achieve, then go out, find people who can add great value to your community. “Doing it alone is never as much fun.”

Do you measure a community’s success by the number of members?

Absolutely not. I measure a community’s success by its ability to deliver on its mission. That has no relationship to the size of community, but has everything to do with its ability to solve problems. I’ve seen communities as small as 10 people work on a significant issue in their community and have a huge impact.

Why do some communities fail to thrive?

Some communities fail to thrive because there isn’t clear engagement from all members. So for example, maybe there’s one leader who is very directive and comes in and tries to tell everyone one to do. Communities thrive when the leader listens to different perspectives from its members and creates a shared mission and strategy.

Why is it important for individuals to build community?

Having access to opportunities, securing clients, and doing great work is much easier and more effective when you surround yourself with people who can be supportive in your mission, complement your skills and help you learn more quickly. Having a group of peer-mentors will really help you build your business. Now this group does not have to be huge, but it does have to be strategic.

Is it important to name your community?

I think so, yes. What you want to think about is creating a name that has meaning for your community. When you have a great name for your community it gives everyone a sense of identity and a sense of shared affiliation with a group.

How can we learn more about your tour?

I’ve still got nearly a dozen cities to visit and people keep asking me to add new ones. Head over to my site for the rest of my tour dates. The next stop is Austin where I promise to introduce you to an amazing group of local people who will help you create your best work!