Mark Drapeau Interview: Director of Innovative Social Engagement at Microsoft
Posted on March 17, 2011, by JD Kathuria, under Featured Interview.
Renaissance man Mark Drapeau explains how he balances his personal and professional brands and the best stratgies for using social media. This former scientist turned innovative technology expert brings to-the-point insight regarding meaningful networking.
What lead to you becoming the Director of Innovative Social Engagement at Microsoft?
I have a diverse background working in the areas of government, education, healthcare, and nonprofits & civic good. I also became fairly adept at using new forms of media to communicate and build experiences for audiences. Through all that work I met people at a lot of technology companies working in the public and volunteer sectors, including big ones like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Cisco, HP, and so on. Microsoft recruited me and created a unique role in their U.S. Public Sector division around my skill set.
I just recently talked about the new position here
Frankly, I think that’s what audiences want – they don’t want one feed for when I talk about Microsoft and another when I talk about happy hour. Everything just has to be done in balance to tell a 360-degree story about who I am.
How do you distinguish between and grow your personal brand and your professional brand?
I am careful with the Mark Drapeau brand, and everything I do in real life, print, and online is calculated. But I don’t really make artificial distinctions between my “personal” and “professional” brands. I am always a person, and I am always representing my work-related interests too. That’s why I keep a personal blog, a personal Twitter account, and so forth, yet use it for professional reasons intermingled with personal ones. Frankly, I think that’s what audiences want – they don’t want one feed for when I talk about Microsoft and another when I talk about happy hour. Everything just has to be done in balance to tell a 360-degree story about who I am. As a professional acquaintance recently told me, Everything I tweet is done with my past, present, and future employers in mind. I think that’s a good strategy.
How do you use online social media?
I use it in a lot of ways. Most of the time, it’s to share a 360-degree view of who I am, what I’m thinking and doing, where I’m going, and so on, whether that’s in long online articles or in short tweets or even in photos and videos. I also use it to read and learn what’s happening through word-of-mouth in my social networks. Finally, I sometimes use it for promotion of or interaction with work-related or civic-related activities, tying together the real and digital worlds into a deeper experience for the people involved.
What do YOU think is the best way to network?
Listening to other people, having empathy for them, and trying to add value to their lives without expecting anything immediate in return. It’s also good to be memorable for some reason, in a good way. As I am fond of saying, “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”
What is the best piece of advice that you have ever received?
My parents always told me that I could be anything I wanted, and I think that kind of early encouragement to achieve things can lead to a massively positive outcome in children’s lives.
