When I was heading out to the office this morning, I glanced at the 12for12k Twitter stream and saw a response from Danny Brown to a blog post that had been written by someone called Barbara Talisman.
Knowing that there is nothing like a good fight to start the day, I felt compelled to read the posts by both parties – Ms. Talisman first.
To say I was surprised was an understatement. You can read her contribution to American literature here. I had no idea at all who this person is, but there was a rather rude person on the weekend 12for12k conference call and I believe it was her. Check out Danny Brown’s much more dignified response on his blog here.
My first assumption was that she must have been drinking when she typed the post – I can imagine anything more bizarre. As a supporter of 12for12k and Danny Brown I was also somewhat offended by what she said.
Anyone that has connected with Danny knows that her accusations are a long way from the truth. Yes, there are quite a lot of social media “experts” that take every opportunity to promote themselves and their businesses, but Danny Brown isn’t one of them. I don’t ever recall him even mentioning his marketing business at the same time as 12for12k, I don’t see him trying to flog his latest book and I don’t see his blog full of affiliate links (well, other than the Headway theme one, but I have a Studiopress theme link so I can’t complain about that).
I often can almost feel the embarrassment of Danny when he responds to those “oooh you are soooo great @DannyBrown” Tweets and he always makes a point of highlighting the fact that 12for12k isn’t Danny Brown, it is a team of dedicated people.
Is 12for12k perfect? Heck no! I don’t believe Danny had any non-profit experience when he came up with the idea and the whole thing is a work in progress – albeit with some expert guidance from people such as Jon Aston, Rich Marti, John Haydon, Mickey Gomez, Sarah Robinson and the unique (but totally crazy) Henie Reisinger.
So why to I love Barbara Talisman?
For a couple of reasons.
First, while she timed her attack for her own reasons, she has done nothing but make Danny Brown and 12for12k look good. A lot of very influential people have come to Danny’s defence and pointed out the gaping holes in her argument.
Second, with the launch of the big Go Global 24 hour event to support Doctors Without Border, 12for12k needed every possible bit of attention on the blogs and social media sites. Barbara made sure we got it.
Thirdly, Ms. Talisman had the good sense to apologize. See this later post on her blog. She is even offering to help – we’ll see if it happens.
Finally, there is one point she made that I do agree with. Where were all these supporters of Danny Brown when they were needed to support the charities? There should have been more raised than there has been and I’m hoping that the 12for12k team (including Barbara, if she is serious about helping) can get to grips with this. The great ideas being put forward for next year are going to make a huge difference so the future looks good!
Oh, one more thing – I was reminded of the huge value there is in thinking before clicking on the Publish button – thanks Barbara, no wonder I love you!
Anyway, what is much more important right now is Go Global 24 hours. Please check the 12for12k Events page for info of how you can help!
Would you like to leverage your social media experience to help others? Support 12for12k!!
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I wish I was as articulate as you David. I struggle with separating my feelings and communicating them as clearly as you do. I feel terrible that feelings were hurt and that motivations were questions, but and this is a big but, I think through the process, clearer understanding can come to light. I hope that we can all learn some lessons( like waiting to hit post) and learn to build some bridges ( forgiveness is hard). Together we can accomplish even greater things.
Be well by friend.
Thanks for the nice comment Rich.
I thought the whole episode was rather bizarre and I still don't understand the motive. These were clearly not views she seriously held since she backed down as soon as there were some rebuttals.
No, if all these Danny Brown defenders become 12for12k supporters and contributors…
I'll go with Rich, fella. You have a unique way of making things come together, and you do it with typical UK humour.
It's an evolving process, and one that is always looked at – here's to continued learning from all sides, and to making a real difference as we go on.
Cheers bud!
Thanks Danny; I thought you handled this whole (rather odd) situation very well. What makes it even more strange is that any ideas she has that would make 12for12k more effective would have been welcomed.
In any case, I didn't have much time to contribute much because I was on the road most of the day, but the 12for12k stream was a happening place today!
Thanks Barbara!!
Great post David!
Agreed with you on many points (including the “what was she drinking?”) .. that anyone could attack Danny or his intentions or anyone else associated with 12for12K struck me as very odd. And yes, I too think there was some self serving on her part.. and yes, to see so many rise to the defence is awesome.
Thanks Beth. You know though, although she might not have intended to, I really believe Barbara helped us out.
She brought the 12for12k community closer together, a good thing when we are embarking on this #GG24 adventure.
She allowed a lot of our supporters to highlight all that is good about what we are trying to do here.
Because of her, 12for12k had a really high profile on Twitter and the blogs today. I bet a lot of people learned of us for the first time and I hope some will stick around and become active supporters.
There is a chance that Barbara might end up taking a constructive approach to 12for12k and it looks as though she has the background to really help us. It shows what a guy Danny is because I think he would be happy for this to happen (even if he was was a miserable git today, using his tooth as some kind of excuse!)
Never a dull moment eh?
Cheers!
David
Remind me to holler and ask how chipper you are if you have tooth issues, mate
I dunno – taking the piss out of me and you still make me chuckle.
I feel it's my job to help keep you grounded with a bit of piss taking from time to time.
David:
If I had half of your wit… well we'd both be halfwits.
Great post, excepting one tiny little omission: You! I understand you are a humble man, but your readers deserve to know that you give oodles of your time and expertise to #12for12K and that the rest of us are very grayeful for it!
Why thanks Jon. To be honest hanging out with you guys is a pleasure. I hope we all get the chance to have a beer together one day.
Grateful! We're grateful!
I agree. Won't happen if we don't make a point of it. So let's make a point of it. Somewhere central(ish), to all of us perhaps, or at some event we might all want to attend.
XOJA