About the f&t

Hello, my name is Kim Young. and the forest & the trees is my business and my mission. “Connect. Converse. Partner. Grow.” is the twitter-friendly description of  what I help companies, organizations and communities do, and as I strongly believe it is the essential framework for sustainability in today’s world, it also is the vision I have for my community, country and planet.

For more than 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to help craft connections, enhance understanding, nurture relationships and grow partnerships between businesses, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, communities and their respective customers, supporters, citizens and members.

Before I planted the first seed for the forest & the trees, I held senior local, regional and statewide and national marketing and communications positions in the financial services, commercial airline, economic development, real estate and not-for profit sectors. Before that, I was a reporter and editor for local, statewide and national newspapers and magazines, where I was honored to also won a few awards.

My fingers first touched a computer keyboard back in the late 70s, and Technology had me at “click”.  And what an incredible ride it is – every day! I can tell you that the more I learn, the less I realize I know! Mercy! I keep plugging and discovering because in an increasingly complex world, where everything is in flux, it is more important than ever to understand what makes things tick, so that one can better understand how to connect, build partnerships, craft solutions and innovate. But by far, the most important thing to know and understand is that everything starts and ends with P-E-O-P-L-E, individuals, not bits, bytes, pixels, or apps.

When I open my eyes, I see The Big Picture, with all kinds of nonlinear, disparate bits of information gathered from diverse sources – offline, online and human! – that actually align, connect and turn into insight. Then some kind of impulse jumps across a synapse or two and outlines a considered pathway from What If to Here’s How, and I roll up my shirt sleeves ready to work with others on the first iteration in a real-time World Gone Social (much more than tools like twitter and facebook!).

See the forest and the trees – that’s what friends and family told me for years that I do, so it just seemed like the right name for my business/mission. I also like what it signifies about the need for understanding of the inescapable interconnectedness and the networked composition of this living, breathing sphere we ride along on daily.

It is a richly diverse and energizing journey along a constantly evolving path that encompasses so many different elements that it makes it difficult at times to share with folks what it is that I do exactly in 140 characters/25 words/an elevator ride or less. So, I have this:

Connecting + Communications = Connectications

Connectications. That’s what I’ve boiled it down to for now (I don’t like the connotation of and the old school ways of “marketing”, much prefer Peter Drucker’s spot-on take).  And what Connectications really breaks down to is this:

Connect + Converse + Partner = Grow!

The Back Story.

In fourth grade, thanks to Mrs. Duncan and her bulletin board newspaper, I decided I wanted to be a reporter and save the world. After paying dues in the grind-it-out world of various journalism posts in my K-12 years, a college professor helped me get my first Big Break as a reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

I worked to hone my craft covering the police beat and writing feature stories about county-fair-winning zucchini recipes. I left Lubbock in my rear-view mirror and got the opportunity to work with some amazing pros who coached me on how to craft award-winning general news, business stories and investigative reporting pieces while a staff reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, Dallas-Fort Worth Business Journal, Adweek and Advertising Age, among others.

I’ve worked for corporations ranging from Deloitte & Touche to Bank of America to General Tire, and businesses such as SourceCorp Tax and Blue Mesa Grill. I’ve also worked for organizations ranging from PBS and the BBC, to the Texas Credit Union League, the Texas Commission for the Arts, the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the Texas chapter of the National Television Academy (think Emmy Awards). Also put me down for as doing research for the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards’ campaign, and serving as social media adviser for former Houston Mayor Bill White’s gubernatorial campaign.

Still trying to save the world, or at least pick up a starfish.

I have been an instructor for the Center for Nonprofit Management in Dallas for nine years, and I was one of the inaugural instructors for the Center’s Certificate for Nonprofit Management Certificate Program (and I’m proud to still be part of this highly successful program).  It was very humbling to be one of the first to receive the CNM’s Center Stage Spotlight recognition for outstanding faculty in 2011, and I want to thank the CNM for what it does every day!

I have traveled nationally as an instructor for the Center for Nonprofit Success, and I also am a guest speaker and instructor for the Center for Law Enforcement Administration division of the American Center for American and International Law. In addition, I have had the opportunity to be a guest speaker for webinars and regional and national conferences, meetings for groups ranging from Texas Instruments to the  Association of Partners for Public Lands and from SourceCorp Tax to the Texas Volunteer Management Conference.

I am president of Net Impact DFW, part of the start-up leadership team for Slow Money DFW, and a new member of the Distinguished Advisory Council for the Department of Engineering Management, Information and Systems in the School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. I also am a member of the marketing committee for the Texas Discovery Gardens, and it was an honor to be interviewed for and included in “Connected Causes: Online Marketing Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations”,

It is especially gratifying to be a founder of the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has awarded almost 190 scholarships to talented eighth-grade students at W.E. Greiner Middle School and Exploratory Arts Academy in Oak Cliff  (the Dallas community where SRV was born) since its was established in 1993. Pride and Joy, definitely! And it was wonderful to be part of the team to launch Mobileyes Against Hunger, an iPhone photo contest to raise money for the North Texas Food Bank. So much more to do!

To sum things up, I am a what-if, imagine-the-possibilities-and-then-make-them-happen, life-long learning Geekette Connecticator, who also would like to turn my organic garden into an urban farm – a small one – and learn to play my guitar much better. I have one of my favorite gurus, Peter Drucker, to thank for this mantra:  Born to see. Meant to look!

People first. Then objectives and strategy. Then tools – one can never have too many tools in today’s world.

Along the way, I’ve used various combinations of traditional tools: advertising — print and broadcast — collateral, direct mail, media relations, public affairs, public relations and special events.

And oh how I love to help clients use and benefit from the ever-evolving selection of digital, online and social media tools that enable and empower you to connect, converse, partner and grow! I work with folks who also are passionate about the power and potential of these evolving tools and together, some of the things we do include: The Web. Blogs. E-mail. Social Media. Search Optimization. Search Marketing. Online fundraising, etc..

the forest & the trees thrives loves diversity and thrives on helping to plan, craft, implement and sustain rich, well-connected, multi-channel relationship-building platforms. For example, the f&t has helped create an education platform to improve women’s health and quality of life,  educate and inform a community about what it could do to protect itself from continued lead contamination and open an online pub for fans of British comedy and programs. In addition to traditional channels such as newspapers, TV and radio, f&t clients have been Boing Boing! ‘ed, facebooked, twittered, YouTubed, podcasted, Googled and Yahooed! and  even ripped on Bit Torrent (hey, no snickering, I did this promotion blog for PBS/BBC waaaaay back in 2005 and it stills gets thousands of visitors monthly!)

It seems as if almost daily there are new tools that help take interactivity and collaboration to a whole new level. It doesn’t matter how bright and shiny the latest app/widget/tool is, as it still is about People, People, People! With that in mind, we’re committed to monitoring and assessing how these new tools will help you improve how you connect, converse, engage, partner and grow with your customers and stakeholders.

Hang on! The sands are definitely shifting, and it’s an incredibly exciting time if you’re ready to start the conversations, and learn how to Live in Beta!

The bottom line (It’s now a triple one)

Loyal customers and community supporters are the most enduring, sustainable and valuable assets you have. And that’s LOYAL, not satisfied, as there is a huge difference!

A chest full of tools is no good unless you are engaged in ongoing conversations with your customers so that you know their interests, likes, dislikes, wants and preferred channels of communication. You also must understand the strengths and weaknesses of each tool and know which ones to weave together when, to create timely, tailored and relevant interactions that will gain attention and earn ongoing engagement.

In addition, if all of your touch points are out of tune and not in sync with your brand’s promise and your customers’ expectations, then you weaken relationships and lose trust. Which means you will have to work harder next time to get anything more than a passing glance.

the forest & the trees will work to understand where you want to go, audit your internal wiring to ensure you can align with the customers and stakeholders you will need to get there, and help you build and implement a system to successfully earn the social currency that will let you connect, converse, partner and grow.

Thank you very much for visiting the f&t! Now how about starting a conversation?