I can’t believe it is taken so long to include Ann Handley in the 7 Habits Series! When Ann’s not speaking at national events or hosting one of her own, she keeps her reader’s hanging on her every word over at annhandley.com.

Aspiring bloggers or writers, PLEASE read just one of her blog posts-I’ll think you’ll be hooked.   Conventional wisdom says you should keep your content somewhat focused, but she writes about everything, and does it really well. When you’ve come back from reading one of her posts, read below….

About Ann
Lead typist in the steno pool. Also, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs. Meaning, I like words and what they can do, when combined with intention.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Willingness to work hard. (There are no shortcuts.)

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
Mainline caffeine, open email. (Pretty much in one fluid motion.)

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Getting enough sleep. I am useless without 7 hours, at least, and better with 8. Downside: I’m the first to leave a party.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
“The Elements of Style” by EB White. Not a business book, per se, but there’s no better text for understanding the value of clear communication/writing and honing your skills, which directly relates both to your career and to business generally. Plus, it’s a small, thin volume (so it’s easy to digest) and surprisingly funny. I’ve noticed that if you write well, others will forgive many perceived shortcomings and mistakes.

5. 3 things on your desk right now
My iPhone, Twitter, MacBook Pro. Also, a photograph of my kids. Which reminds me not to take the iPhone, Twitter, MacBook Pro quite so seriously.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
My tendency to not walk away. A little breathing room adds a lot of necessary perspective, in any situation.

7. Habit you’d like to form  for 2010
Greater focus on What Matters. For me personally, as well as the company.

Bill and I finally met face to face at this year’s SXSW AllHat Party (thanks to Armano and the good people at Dell). Bill is one of those lucky social media/community evangelists that get to call Sonoma, California home. Imagine that. While he’s not managing communities, building social media strategies for clients, and running great conferences, he’s basking in wine country.

So, on to interview #28 in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers Series.

About Bill
He’s JUST about to join the Dell Social Media/Community team down in Austin, TX. (I’ll let him fill you in with more details)

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?

Confronting and working through fear. I found that the scariest option is often the right one. As an example, I remember almost blowing off my interview TechRepublic back in 1999. I was really intimidated by the prospect of working for a startup, and I had no idea what I would be getting myself into. About 10 minutes before the interview, I sat in the parking lot with my car in drive and debating just driving off. If I had blown that interview I would very likely have never “broken in” to tech and certainly wouldn’t have the online community building experience I have today.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?

Coffee first (of course) then I skim email from the last 12 hours to see if there are any fires… then check twitter replies and skim my “a list” sources.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?

Having a weekly to do list.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?

A tie between “Good to Great” by Collins and “The Effective Executive” by Drucker. I am a recovering art student, so I have had to supplement my business and management training :)

A few other books that will always have a place on my office bookshelf include:

Bit Literacy - Mark Hurst / A fantastic productivity guide I describe as GTD “lite”.

Universal Traveler – Koberg and Bagnall / A guide for design and creativity that includes process, tips and techniques.

Community Building on the Web – Amy Jo Kim / The online community bible. Examples are somewhat dated, but concepts are still relevant.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web – Wodtke / The IA bible. I keep bugging Christine to write a new edition that includes design for the social web.

5. 3 things on your desk right now

Iphone

Coffee

Graph paper pad & post its – I’m a paper freak, which I attribute to the recovering art student thing.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009

Trying to manage projects and tasks in multiple formats. I’ve used paper, a template I developed in Word, OmniFocus, Things and have attempted to adopt GTD methodologies. What *really* works for me? Taking time at the end of the day on Friday, or 30 minutes over the weekend to develop a simple task list that breaks down tasks by project, and has a simple priority assigned to each task.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Becoming a better (and smarter) information consumer, curator and producer. Specifically, this means being more discerning about the content streams I pay attention to, being more systematic about how I save and share “the good stuff” and become more disciplined about producing content (specifically: blogging).

BONUS pictures of Bill’s office!

As we all take our collective breaths from  an eventful SXSW, let’s get back into the “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” Series.

Next up is CC Chapman.

I honestly can’t think of a friendlier, more approachable guy in the business of social media. When he’s not creating terrific content online, he’s probably snapping a photo of you and popping it up on Flickr…. (NOTE- a few of my favorite collections are here and here)

About CC
C.C. Chapman is a Boston based family first entrepreneur, freelance photographer and digital storyteller. He is a Creative Director at Campfire and the Founder of Digital Dads.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I was raised with a strong work ethic and while it frustrated me more then once growing up, I’m very thankful that my parents instilled it in me. Growing up in a blue collar family I think grounded me in the reality of the world and constantly pushes me to do the work rather then just talking about it.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
Pour a cup of coffee and sit down on the couch with the laptop. It is the first thing I do every morning before the kids go to school to do my morning surf of Twitter, E-mail and Google Wave.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I’ve never found a single productivity methodology that worked for me. What I know I couldn’t live without and keeps me on task is Spaces on the Mac. It allows me to have multiple desktops with different programs opened in each. I recently moved from 9 to 12 and it has made all the difference. I don’t know how I got so much done before this.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
Just one? Wow, that is a tough one. There are three that have made huge impacts on my career directly and those would be:

First, Break All the Rules
Made to Stick
The Dip

Each of them has caused a seismic shift in the way I thought and approached business.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
Those are two VERY different questions, so I’ll answer both.

On my desk:
My Canon S90 camera
A signed copy of Freedom by Daniel Suarez
Navy blue Nalgene water bottle (that I should refill)

Can’t live without:
Notebooks to jot down ideas (I go back and forth between Field Notes & Moleskines)
a camera (can be any of the many I own)
a device to connect to the internet.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Being highly distractible. With so much going on it is very easy for me to jump from one screen to the next and suddenly find myself deep in a rabbit hole and not being productive. I hate this, so I deemed 2010 the year of FOCUS for me and so far it is working pretty good but it is a constant struggle. Sometimes I feel like Doug the Dog in the movie Up! Squirrel!

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Becoming a disciplined writer. I’ve got a goal to write at least a real book proposal, if not the full book this year and in order to do that I’ve got to learn to set aside time and make it a priority.

BONUS: Picture of CC’s Office!

It’s people like Diane Hessan who make me look forward to opening up my computer, firing up Twitter, and listening to her stream of of consciousness. She’s the best of the best when you think of CEO’s on Twitter. I’m honored to call her a friend, a mentor and one of my favorites in the  ongoing “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” Series. Thanks Diane!

About Diane
I am CEO of Communispace. We help many of the world’s most admired companies listen to, and get insights from, their customers — by building and managing online communities. We have about 100 clients and over 250 employees.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I love to laugh.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I hang out at the coffee machine with employees and find out what they are working on that excites them – because it inspires me.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I have the best executive assistant in Boston. He is patient and super smart, and he anticipates every possible thing that could go wrong with my day.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
First, my 12th grade physics book Concepts like momentum, critical mass, vectors, energy, and force are key to building a growing and profitable company.

Secondly, Customer-Centered Growth, which I co-authored in 1995, because it was an enormous intellectual challenge for an extrovert like me.

Thirdly, In Search of Excellence, written by one of my mentors, Tom Peters, which first raised the notion that some companies are intentionally more amazing than the rest of the pack.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
My blackberry
my laptop,
and my Red Sox Trivia Calendar (The record for the most strikeouts in a single season is Pedro Martinez in 1999).

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
When I start our 8:30 a.m. bimonthly all-staff meetings, I say “Good Morning Everyone!”, which really bothers our employees in Europe and Australia.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010.
I want to pick up the phone at least 3 times a week, call a client, and tell them how much we value their confidence in us. I also need to take more vitamins.

As the Dialogue team ramps up for SXSW (the Super Bowl of Social Media Conferences) we’re still interviewing some great marketers out there. Mike Volpe is our featured Social Marketer today. If you haven’t already, take 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon to watch Mike and Karen Rubin talk Inbound Marketing on their weekly television show/podcast/live-streaming event, Hubspot TV

About Mike
I’m Mike Volpe, and I love Marketing! I work as VP Inbound Marketing at HubSpot, where I get to lead a team of marketers as well as create a lot of content on our blog, for our TV show, and by speaking a lot too.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Passion! You need to find a job that allows you to leverage your passion. I mean it’s late at night right now, but I’m having fun writing about marketing because I love it. Focusing on your passion makes everything else a lot easier.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
Read. I read my email. I read blogs and news in my RSS reader. I read Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. I read my reports in HubSpot analytics. You need to know what is going on before you can do something productive.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Seclusion time. I need at least 1 hour a day where I have zero interruptions and I just crank through all my inboxes and tasks. If not, it starts to back up and the problem gets worse. I tend to really focus in on things, and if I get distracted, I have a lot of trouble refocusing, so I need to comepletely uninterrupted time to be super productive. I actually book this time in my calendar, and if I am in the office, I will go hide someplace so no one can bother me.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. He recently rewrote a lot of it to update it for a new addition. The month that book came out, I sent him and email with the subject line “Our company (HubSpot) was based on your book”. While HubSpot was founded before the book came out, it was a true statement. We had lunch the next week and David and I are friends now, and he’s been a great advisor. I should also mention that “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah (the foreword is by David Meerman Scott) is another take ont he same subject, with probably more “how to” examples.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without

iPhone – Not because I am in love with Apple (I don’t like them much) but because it makes me a lot more productive, I’ll replace it the second something better is available (please Google… help!)

Google Apps - I used Outlook for years, but once I converted and got used to Gmail/Gcal, I am faster and more efficient

DropBox – Having all my important files available anywhere, and collaborating with my team more easily is great

With the combination of these 3 things, I have stopped carrying a laptop and a bag except when I travel on planes. I just walk out of the office. I have a laptop that mostly stays in the office, a desktop in my house, and also a netbook for around the house and sometimes travel.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Checking Twitter too much! It is usually pretty distracting, and can be addictive. And to be honest, most of the super important stuff there ends up getting to me through other channels. But, I do need to make time for it, just in a few 10 minutes chunks during the day (TweetDeck on the iPhone helps a lot with this).

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Inbox Zero. I have been getting better… around 100 messages in my inbox on average the past few months, rather than 300-ish – but I want to really try to keep it under 10-20, and maybe even hit zero. We’ll see… I mean, I just got rid of this message!

Back to the continuing “7 Habits” series with Connie Bensen. I first “met” Connie Christmas Day (or thereabouts) about two years ago when testing out Skype. Social Media waits for no-one, right? We struck up a conversation online, and have since stayed connected, (or have tried to!) through Twitter. Without further ado, Ms. Connie Bensen.

About Connie
I’m the Director of Social Media & Community Strategy at Alterian. I work under corporate marketing and have two focus areas: the social media strategy at Alterian & also providing marketing support for SM2 our social media monitoring tool.

1. What one trait or *habit* got you to where you are today?
Investing many hours in learning and giving back to others.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
My first item is to read email because I need to get centered for the day. Now that our parent office is in the UK their day is half over when I start mine, so I frequently start my week on Sunday evening.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I couldn’t live without Evernote. It’s amazing (and free!). It synchs across the cloud & my lists and information is always available no matter what computer I’m working on.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz rates very high.

5. 3 things on your desk right now /3 things you can’t live without
a mouse (I can’t use a laptop without one)
pen & paper
on my desktop I NEED evernote, skype, Thunderbird, Firefox, Digsby

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009
One habit I need to change is working too much. And I’m starting to figure out how to not work on weekends, but it’s really hard (seriously!). I have an upcoming move & look forward to socializing more with friends.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
I plan to get more exercise on a regular basis. Although January is over & I’ve managed to avoid it so far! :)

Many of you may not recognize this photo of Mike Schneider because he spent the better half of the fall growing a moustache for “Movember“. Now that he’s clean shaven, he is setting his sites on bigger aspirations, like being one of the Top 20 Karaoke singers at SXSW’s “Cog’aoke 2“. While he’s not mastering the art of social marketing and more, he’s QUITE the entertainer, and likes to “sing in the shower and in the car and on stage and at the mall and in meetings and on the phone”. If any of you are reading this and heading to SXSW, please vote for him.

On to interview # 17 of the “7 Habits Series“…

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Fearlessness. I am just not smart enough to understand that there are things that cannot be done and that I should not be able to do them. I rarely shy away from a challenge and do not accept “no” or “can’t”. I heard those a lot growing up in the Midwest. I wanted to learn Chinese as a kid and I remember people telling me “that’s impossible”. One day I just decided that that line of reasoning was something that I could not tolerate and that if I wanted something, it would be better to take a risk and make it happen.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
I think. I start in the shower. I also think in the car, preferably with some new modern rock blaring. I let my schedule whirl around in my head a little bit and usually a few good ideas fall out from between the dates and times.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Efficiency. The bar is set very high for me. My efficiency role model is my best friend, Gregory Ng I’ve never seen anyone ideate, create and deliver like that guy. Assuming I’m somewhat efficient: devices, gadgets and software help me attain efficiency. I love the shiny. Evernote, a tool that syncs thoughts, notes and audio clips between devices is one of my favorites. I am using it now because I suspect I won’t finish this task before I have to move on to the next. If I cannot, maybe I will bang out a few questions from my iPhone later. DropBox is brilliant for sharing. Heaven forbid I ever forget my machine at work (power cord is another story), but if I do, the most important files are accessible via DropBox from any machine. As a look-ahead guy, I am aching for a tablet. I can imagine a bunch of ways that will make me more productive, particularly in sharing concepts in groups and in content consumption.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
That’s like asking my favorite song of all time. I will not be able to answer with just one.

The Art of War.
Groundswell has a few good points.
Wisdom of Crowds and Black Swan are also highly worthwhile for any measurement / experiment junkie. Empirical thinking for the win!
And of course I enjoyed #Crushit by Gary VAY NER CHUK.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/ 3 things you can’t live without
Flip/Zi8
iPhone
moleskine

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
If I can do something, one of my tendencies is to go ahead and assign the task to me. That’s not always good.

7. Habit you’d like to form for 2010
Balance. A little less work. A little more family, friends, beer and modern rock. Oh. Flossing. I need to floss regularly.

Colin Browning- Photo Credit Jim Storer

He’s # 15 in your scorecards, and number one in your hearts, ladies and gentleman, THE Colin Browning…..

About Colin
Colin had recently left New Marketing Labs to join IDG. He now designs marketing programs for leading technology brands as a part of IDG’s Strategic Marketing Services team.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I started as a photographer. I learned from the beginning that to stand out, I needed to see things differently and to make others see things differently.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
My work day starts when my eyes first open in the morning. I do some of my best creative thinking as I make my cup of coffee and take those first sips as I am thinking about the day ahead. My morning coffee ritual and day mapping is a critical part of my successful days.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Getting a solid 8 hours of sleep the night before, followed by a morning workout – then no matter what the day throws at me – I am can take it head on!

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
I have to say, I have been much more inspired by reading the bios of great artists lately like Arthur Danto’s bio of Robert Mapplethorpe or a biography of Andrew Wyeth (can’t recall the author). These have inspired me with their singularity of focus, dedication, and talent.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
I am going to cheat and write things in multiples (I hate rules):

Photos of my family & friends (iRoadtrip!)
iPhone
notepad & pen

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Evening TV – like many, I do tend to get sucked in.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Spending more of my evenings playing with the kids and then reading a wider range of material: fiction, non-fiction (not just the social media stuff) and biographies.

I’ve already forgotten what interview number this is, so let’s just move on and introduce Paula! There’s a reason you’ve all heard of Southwest Airlines, and it’s probably because of the outstanding efforts of Paula Berg, who used to run Southwest’s new media. Paula’s a terrific, energetic speaker, and will get you hooked on Southwest Airlines (or social media) before you know it. She has finally returned home to place she loves in Colorado, and answers the 7 Habits questions as she stares at the Rocky Mountains out her window…

About Paula
I’m the Digital Media Lead at Linhart PR, a national public relations and corporate communications counseling firm based in Denver, CO.  (NOTE- interesting name of their corporate blog….) I earned my social media stripes at Southwest Airlines, where I served as the company’s first Manager of Emerging Media, responsible for the development of the airlines’ social media strategy and the leadership of the airline’s emerging media team.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Great question. I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately and looking back on all of the things that have influenced me over the years – everything from the people I’ve known to the jobs I didn’t get. I could list a hundred things, but if I had to boil it down to one, I’d say it has been being an independent thinker, a trait I attribute to my father. I can be a bit scrappy at times, a trait I attribute to my mother. I never accept ideas just because “it’s the way it has always been.” I prefer figuring things out for myself. I love a challenge and a hearty debate. And, of course, I love being right (wink). But if I’m going to be wrong, I want it to be because someone else was right and not because I was too lazy to find a better solution.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I roll over, pick up my phone and check my online channels – email, text, Twitter, Facebook and news. Then I try to go back to sleep for 10 -30 minutes, but that never works. Scanning everything as soon as I wake up allows me to visualize my day and start thinking about what I need to accomplish so I can hit the ground running when I get to the office.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I’m not sure if I am efficient with my day…honestly, I’m all over the place. I’m extremely organized, but I often say that my work style is a bit like George Washington’s teeth – you don’t want to see it. Any tool that allows me to be online and connected 24 hours a day so I can obtain information, reach colleagues, document ideas when they come together, or figure out where I need to be helps.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
I’m going to give a shout out to my former employer and say Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Success. The airline’s unorthodox approach to business and customer relations fits my style and illustrates how a little bit of independent thinking can overcome challenges, revolutionize an industry, and even change the world.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
Water bottle, iphone, and a small pad of paper that goes with me everywhere (for those times I can’t be online). And, chapstick. I’m never without chapstick.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
I recently kicked several bad habits and then decided that life is a lot more fun when you’re naughty. So, I’ve taken them up again. But I still feel guilty about them sometimes, so I guess I’m trying to kick the desire to kick bad habits and just roll with it.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
I spend so much time online these days, I was thinking I’d like to try writing some letters – old school style with pen, paper and stamps.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce interview #13 of the “7 Habits” Series. Carissa Caramanis O’Brien is a communications, content marketing and social media luminary in Boston. While she’s not running her own company, she also happens to be an EMT-B- and some of us had a chance to see here in action (Jan. ‘10) during a bit of medical emergency at Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conference in Boston

About Carissa
I’m Carissa Caramanis O’Brien, or @carissao. I’m the president of Red Box Communications, a consulting firm specializing in strategic communications counsel for healthcare, non-profits and technology organizations. I help people tell their stories and connect them to the audiences that matter most.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Determination. Even when work or life has dealt me a challenging hand, I’ve always found an even keel and a steady hand. Add that to a healthy dose of personal faith, a heck of a lot of hard work, continuous flexibility and just a dash of madness, and I’ve got the recipe for creating something great…it’s gotten me this far, and I’m counting on it to fuel my next successes.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I check my email and Twitter (via Tweetdeck, unless I’m on the road, in which case I do a quick check of UberTwitter first). Unless something urgent welcomes me there, I’ll quickly move to Firefox to pull up Google Reader and simultaneously start my daily content assault to see just how many open tabs my system can really handle.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
First and foremost, a recognition that I’m still not as efficient as I want to be. I am a work in progress. In my quest for efficiency, I rely mostly on simple, low-tech tools…daily to-do lists (one professional and one personal) and a common kitchen timer. Each night, I draft my to-do lists for the next day, ensuring at least the top priorities are captured. I recognize, of course, I’ll add to these or adjust them the next morning, but it helps me set the stage for the day ahead and plan accordingly. I owe good friend Tim Walker (@TWalk) for the timer idea. He suggested it for better time management while writing. I’ve found it to be an incredibly simple, yet disciplined means for budgeting my time and keeping me honest.

4. Your favorite business book of all time?
I always hesitate to pick a favorite because I’m incapable of choosing any ONE of virtually anything, and my favorites tend to fluctuate over time. I’m sure others will mention the likely suspects like Godin, Carnegie, Covey and the newer hits of Brogan and Vaynerchuk, all greats. A few I’d include are “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, “Making it All Work” by David Allen (better known for “Getting Things Done,” another winner) and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. While I’m not a huge Seuss gal, that book was gifted to me by my first employer out of college, ironically the week I was planning to give notice. While I was naively struggling with the idea of the impending breakup, that book’s message was timely…“So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s a great balancing act…You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.”

5. Three things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without?
My 17” HP laptop, which I love for many reasons, but will likely get replaced by a Macbook by the end of the year (especially now that I also have my Acer netbook);

My Blackberry Storm, which has served me well and keeps me connected, but will also be replaced as soon as Nexus One is available on Verizon (Spring 2010);

The very first photo taken of my daughter…my joy, my inspiration, my constant reminder of the woman I want to be.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010?
I will find a way to ditch the guilt. Building a business, managing a household and raising a child are all tough jobs. Balance is something I’ve learned to concede. Instead, I want to be successful at flexibility, bending and shifting to match my diverse priorities and meet the needs of each. With that, I’ll find a way to let go of the guilt, of the professional that’s not with her kid, and of the mom that should be working on that blog post. I need to be a master of more than one thing, but that requires a healthy perspective of what success really looks like.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010?
Putting first things first. I’m easily drawn to the next exciting thing, but I mustn’t allow myself to be distracted from the priorities on my plate. A primary goal here is to refocus on a life-long habit by honoring my roots as a writer. After spending much of this year building a business, and helping clients craft their stories, I will get back to a regular schedule of my own content creation.