“I particularly remember walking across the school yard and seeing our school captain Paul Davis—a tough, charismatic footballer—sitting with younger kids and singing to them while playing a guitar. I saw the kids mesmerized. I was amazed that this school celebrity was just hanging out and enjoying himself. And as I got closer, I realized he was singing songs by the UK band, The Clash.”

That’s Gavin Heaton, whose posts appear regularly at MyVenturepad, recalling a moment from high school, when living in a seaside town on the coast of New South Wales, about five hours north of Sydney. “This changed the way I looked at the world—and made me see that we all have different perspectives and prejudices. It showed me also how inwardly focused cities can be.”

Gavin, who has lived most of his life in Sydney, pursued theatre studies at UNSW. “I was actually planning on becoming a theatre director or a writer. However, it is almost impossible to make this a career in Australia,” he says.

Changing the world with stories
“But the skills in writing, research—and in understanding performance—have proven invaluable when it comes to all facets of marketing. So whether I am working on a project for SAP or as part of my personal blog, I always aim to infuse my work with the type of energy and level of storytelling that I would like to hear if I was in the audience,” he explains. “I believe that stories can change the way that we think about the world and about the way we act—and this as important in the corporate world as it is anywhere.”

Gavin’s awareness of the social media revolution can be traced to reading Seth Godin’s blog back in 2002. Initially, he considered blogging “a fad,” but then decided to give it a try—with the aim of rebuilding the habit of regular writing.

“My focus was, and remains, largely personal—to push myself to understand and learn and to participate on a deep level,” he says. “But it wasn't until we had a family crisis that I realized that there was something transformational about social media,” he says. “My father-in-law was involved in an almost-fatal cycling accident—and while I was dealing with that, my blogging colleagues got together online and rallied to our support. It wasn't until a few days later that I knew what was happening.”

Reflecting on his commitment to social media, Gavin believes a curious disposition helps—as does a certain amount of tenacity. “But I have always found that success has only come to me through hard work and through collaboration,” he says.

Building a team around a vision
“When I was writing and directing plays, I realized that talk is cheap—and only the results matter; the real difference is whether you can build a team around a vision and then deliver results that astound people. It is the same in the corporate world. By helping others be successful—sharing or realizing ideas, turning a story into something more tangible—I have found my own success. And this sort of approach is very much at the heart of social media.”

Gavin has “a particular love of complexity—especially people-based complexity.” When working at IBM “I was given great opportunities—to start new business units and to commercialize innovation. I worked hard and I learned a great deal. I surrounded myself with talented people and helped them become successful,” he says.

“When you look closely, it is easy to find creativity in almost any field—from marketing to accounting, and from programming and enterprise architecture to advertising. The challenge is keeping the ever-encroaching corporate boundaries at bay so that this creativity can be fostered. And then, of course, you need to drive or direct this creativity toward a business outcome. This means understanding strategy, measurement and even politics,” he says.

“I'd like to think I have been successful in doing this. I have been working on global projects from an Australian base for over 10 years now. I have worked for some of the world's premier companies (and brands). But the real measure of success, for me, is seeing members of my teams go on to bigger and better things. It makes me smile when I see them succeed.”

1,300 posts and counting
For those who brag when their blog tops 100 posts, Gavin reckons he’s passed the 1,300 mark—“and it doesn’t feel like slowing down,” he says. “I started Servant of Chaos in October 2005. The first post was called “The Servant of Chaos” and was really a personal manifesto that rings true to this very day. 

“For me, the blog is very much part of my daily life—in effect, my plan to become more disciplined with my writing and thinking has succeeded. I write for about an hour or more per day, usually in the evening. If I am organized or have a lot of ideas, then I may schedule posts in advance—writing them over the weekend for the following days,” he says.

“When I worked in an agency I was responsible for the strategy and implementation of HappyMeal.com—and part of this was staying abreast of new ideas and digital innovations,” he says. “But the online space moves very quickly, and I found it difficult to remember the context of a particular bookmark or idea that I jotted down in a notepad. My blog then became a way to track and contextualize innovative ideas—a scrapbook that I could draw upon for future projects. I still use it in this way.”
 
Many will have heard of Gavin through “The Age of Conversation,” which he produced with Drew McLellan. “We went from initial idea to having a published book in our hands (via Lulu.com) in three months,” he says. “We have produced two editions: the first with 103 authors, the second with 237 authors. We have raised almost $20,000 for Variety, the children’s charity (they receive all proceeds); and downloads account for around one third of all sales (while contributing the most profit). We have done this with no marketing expense and with limited promotional effort,” he says.

“I think we would like to do another edition, but we would want it to be unique. Much has changed and matured in social media in the last couple of years. Any new edition would need to provide useful insight—and not simply restate what we already know or have covered in the earlier editions,” he says.

Morning coffee in Sydney
“It is certainly interesting here in Australia,” he says. “We have yet to see the concerted and widespread adoption of social media that has started to take place in the US, but there is a passionate and committed marketing and social media community that continues to grow.” And it’s not all online—Gavin cites the regular "creative networking" coffee meetings that now take place in Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne. 

For Gavin, social media isn’t new. “It's funny, I have effectively been ‘doing’ social media for years. It’s just been called different things along the way. The real difference now is that it is easier. You don't need the technology skills. You can just think it and do it,” he says.

And the best part? “Through social media I have come in contact with people like Amy Jussel, Drew McLellan and Jasmin Tragas,” he says. “I am amazed by people who do ‘good things’ in the world.”

Oh, if you're ever at a social media gathering and reckon Gavin is somewhere in attendance, he shouldn't be too hard to find. Just listen for his raucous laugh.

Our thanks to Gavin Heaton for being part of our community.