The Robert Scoble Interview:
How Honesty and Rule-breaking Built a Massive Audience and Released Shame
When you hear the phrase “tech blogger,” you naturally think of Robert Scoble who began his rise to fame while pushing boundaries at Microsoft. He’s envied for being the first to get sneak-peek access to upcoming, world-changing product launches. Robert is the go-to consultant for companies wanting to understand how to prepare for the wearable technology revolution, and he recently co-authored “The Fourth Transformation: How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything.”
In this inspirational and often funny interview, Robert shares the secrets to how he’s built a massive fan base (503,000 Twitter followers!), hasn’t asked for permission from committees, maintained his personal integrity and honest communication style, and taken risks while knowing he’s one tweet away from losing his job.
Then he dives even deeper by uncovering intimate struggles he’s overcome — from abuse and alcoholism to the financial burdens of raising a child with autism — all while maintaining a career in the spotlight. You’ll be amazed by how breaking down stigmas has strengthened his network, generated new income and sharpened his focus.
“I built trust with my audience because I was honest, gave insights into what was really going on at Microsoft, and I treated them the way I wanted to be treated. If I had asked a committee for permission, the committee would have said no. So I didn’t ask!”
r
Notable Revelations in the Interview
“Opening up about my struggles has unlocked a whole bunch of new doors. It's showed me that shame is just a prison of our own minds.”
the reveal © 2017
design by let's panda
The Robert Scoble Interview:
How Honesty and Rule-breaking Built a Massive Audience and Released Shame
When you hear the phrase “tech blogger,” you naturally think of Robert Scoble who began his rise to fame while pushing boundaries at Microsoft. He’s envied for being the first to get sneak-peek access to upcoming, world-changing product launches. Robert is the go-to consultant for companies wanting to understand how to prepare for the wearable technology revolution, and he recently co-authored “The Fourth Transformation: How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything.”
In this inspirational and often funny interview, Robert shares the secrets to how he’s built a massive fan base (503,000 Twitter followers!), hasn’t asked for permission from committees, maintained his personal integrity and honest communication style, and taken risks while knowing he’s one tweet away from losing his job.
Then he dives even deeper by uncovering intimate struggles he’s overcome — from abuse and alcoholism to the financial burdens of raising a child with autism — all while maintaining a career in the spotlight. You’ll be amazed by how breaking down stigmas has strengthened his network, generated new income and sharpened his focus.
Notable Revelations in the Interview
“I decided to share more about my personal struggles, like being sexually abused as a teenager and the emotional swings it caused in my life. After that blog post, in the first three days I received 1,000 emails, many from people who had never told anyone that they had been abused. I’ve had people come up to me at conferences to say, “I told my wife about being abused after reading your post and it changed my life. My life is so much better now.’”
“Shame is a prison of your own mind. You’re ashamed of what you participated in.”
“Right before I joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), there was no one specific day that was a rock bottom. It was more so that there was a trend line that life wasn’t working anymore and it was getting worse. If you’re smart you figure out that trend line isn’t working and you change it. If you’re not smart, then you do something that blows up your life. And with many people in AA, that’s the case. ”
“I’m pretty good at reading trend lines; that’s my job.”
“With any taboo or stigma, talking about it helps. Once I admitted to the world I was bisexual, it unlocked a whole bunch of doors because now I don’t care how people view me and I don’t see it as a bad thing anymore. The stigma changed and that helped the shame of it.”
“Businesses need to make it more okay for people to ask for help. There should be ways in your company to access counseling.”
“Being sober helped my productivity because it joined me into a club you didn’t realize was there. The real networking is going on in the corner where the sober people are watching the drunk people act silly.”
“I haven’t accepted a corporate job at a big tech firm because I still like my front row seat to the multi-hundred billion dollar virtual reality and augmented reality war between Google, Snap, Microsoft and Facebook.”
“We broke a lot of rules while I was at Microsoft because new media was coming along and the old establishment, like PR groups, didn’t see it coming.”
“I came out of the blogging world where you wrote to your audience directly, and you didn’t go through a committee. When you have to go through committees, it causes your media to be thought-out, scripted and inauthentic. And people can see that.”
“The world started switching toward blogging and new media types (Facebook, Youtube) which opened up new ways of talking with the world. I was early.”
“I was able to take risks that other employees weren’t able to take: I was telling my bosses they were wrong in public, I was sharing about my personal life, I was giving insights into what was really going on at Microsoft, and I was praising competitors. None of this would’ve been accepted by old school PR. If you had asked the committee, the committee would have said no. So I didn’t ask!”
“I built trust with my audience because I treated them the way I wanted to be treated. A lot of CEOs and business leaders struggle with that, and they don’t realize the power of social media. It’s the ability to talk with customers. But it’s dangerous. My boss used to say, ‘You’re just one tweet away from being fired.’”
“The addiction to our phones, and soon our headsets, is going to get even worse.”