Lunch with Durham Chamber President, Casey Steinbacher
Not too long ago I had lunch with an awesome Durham progress maker, Durham Chamber President, Casey Steinbacher.
She is fairly new to the city but is bringing with her a whole lot of passion, energy, enthusiasm and practical experience. She also has a plan, a pretty damn good one, to help Durham be more effective by creating stronger, higher quality connections within the community itself. It’s about using the amazing talent we already have, just more efficiently, through the facilitation of smart, needs based collaboration. Their new approach to helping Durham business actively and on a one to one basis is precisely what Durham needs.
We need connectors. Not the old school, show up to the thing and talk to everyone until you find something, kind of networking. We need someone to come find us, pull us away from our zone for 5 minutes, ask what we need, then connect us to each other where needs match on a node to node basis. It’s specific, thoughtful, direct, and very valuable.
You need security, these guys over here have it, I’ll introduce you. You need more space, talk to them, they are expecting your call. You need to grow your business online, talk to Bold. 
That’s what they are up to over there and I love it. I was apparently their first in what I’m sure will be a long line of out reach efforts on a member by member basis. I am already seeing the benefits of their connections on a number of fronts.
Casey even gave us some great press when she used our lunch conversation to illustrate her new approach. Our lunch meeting wasn’t that long but it was apparently enough because she absolutely hit the nail on the head. Here is the article:
Making Connections…
I had a lunch meeting with Adam Schultz, CEO and “chief thinker” of Bold Interactive and Durham Chamber member last month. Adam is part of Durham’s young creative class. He has built his online marketing company into one of Durham’s most noted. Adam is 30 years old, employs a bunch of young creative types like him and has an intricate network of partner entrepreneur companies that he aligns himself with as projects and clients require.
His sweet spot is helping you construct your online presence around your core values, with tactics that include measurable goals and an ongoing evaluation and monitoring process that nimbly allows you to adjust to stay on target. The company’s mantra – we’re not happy unless we’ve 10-xed your online results.
At Adam’s request, we met and it was one of the first meetings of the Direct Connection program I wrote about in last month’s President’s Message. He wanted to learn more about the Chamber…how he could help us…and how we could help him. I went fully expecting to listen to his business pitch and then give him some advice on what businesses he might connect with.
Much to my surprise, he shared with me his business history, his multiple business goals, and his insight on why our new operating model was the right model and what we should be doing to implement an online presence to support it. He picked my brain as part of an exercise to understand both the Chamber world better, and the Durham world better. Learning, he told me, was paramount to determining goals and tactics. And no tactic was worth implementing if you couldn’t measure it against a goal that defined its success. He needed to learn more.
In the end, I had to interrupt him to ask how I could help him. We were running out of time before my next meeting so I quickly asked a few more questions to better understand his multiple goals and told him we’d get back together. He shared this with me: “My business is dependent not just on my knowledge and expertise, but on my passion for helping people. It took me awhile to figure that out, and I’m now building my business plan around the premise that I can make a healthy living helping people and organizations whose mission it is to help other people and organizations.”
I have since referenced our conversations on many occasions as I now view online marketing from a whole new perspective and new insight to how we all are dependent upon each other to have a healthy business environment. I have twice referred him to members after we engaged in our lively discussion of the power of 10-Xing.
Durham has received two top 10 ratings regarding its location as a hub for the creative class worker. I am just now beginning to understand what that really means. The intellectual capital that exists right here in Durham continues to amaze me – young and old alike.
I am convinced that the creative class culture fits Durham like a warm sock; because what truly defines them is not just that they are smart and creative in their thought process, but that they are passionate in their need to have their work mean something. I have come to learn that creativity is a key character trait of Durham. I am hopeful that we find a way to help Durham welcome and nurture this next generation of smart, caring residents.
Adam…more proof that you’re a real mover and a shaker.
Enjoyed reading.
We’ll talk soon.
Matthew
Thanks Matthew,
I do like to move and shake.
Thanks for stopping by.