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Thoughts and things I care to shareStep Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Lately I’ve been thinking about being comfortable, and how it leads one into complacency, into believing that everything is fine. That the world is fine, it’s understandable and that we know our place within it. I’ve been thinking this for a number of reasons and one of them is leading me to realize how hard it is for organizations to change.
As individuals, we know change is hard – we struggle every year to improve ourselves. We go so far as to ask peers to give critical feedback in the desire to find something to improve on. Something to make us better than we are. Seldom do we seek another path.
Often, another path is the dangerous choice, at least that’s how it appears. Its something we’re not comfortable with. It’s filled with challenges that we believe we’re not equipped to deal with. The chance for failure is higher. Perceptions can change without realizing it’s happening – brand authenticity is challenged with little warning.
What does an organization do when they feel like they’ve lost control of the message? What if they don’t understand that control is an illusion? Can change occur without destroying some portion of the organization, the control structure, or at the very least perceptions of such things?
Of course these are simply questions of those in denial.
The reality is change. Knowing what to look for, and recognizing it’s occurring is the opportunity. Finding the courage to take the step forward and question if the message is still valid is not common in many organizations. Taking action on such a realization is even harder.
It’s easier for an outsider to critique. The ability to accept outside recommendations on direction accomplishes multiple things without everyone realizing what’s happening…at least not right away. The organization gets a small glimpse of what it needs to do. It feels better about change. Leadership doesn’t have to take a leadership role, and doesn’t have to discipline anyone for challenging or stepping outside the control structure.
The point in all of this is that it’s easy to see how we get caught up in how change can be bad, that it’s far easier to stay the course we think is right rather than taking a step away and looking at our goals from a fresh perspective. To stop, listen, learn something we didn’t know (maybe many somethings), and then try something new. Its not hard to try – and an entire organization doesn’t need to be involved at the start, but someone does need to take the initiative.
Will it be you? I hope so.
Photo courtesy of Dru!
Follow Friday – April 16, 2010 #FF
I’ve been a bit lax the last several weeks in participating in Follow Friday on Twitter. I always liked the concept and tried to do a couple good ones every Friday. Over the past year or so (I think it’s closer to two) I found that I kept sharing the same folks. While these tweeps are excellent to follow – great conversation, smart, helpful – I just felt I was repeating myself over & over again.
So last week Chris Brogan blogged about a different tactic to Follow Friday. Such an obvious one that a person hates to admit they never thought of it (I hadn’t), though I’m sure he’s not the first to think of it. Knowing Chris, he won’t mind if all of us borrow this one though.
Rather than try and cram as many twitter handles into that 140 characters, I’ll call out a handful of folks right here and tell you a little bit of why you should follow them. Here goes.
@MNHeadHunter – There was little doubt who was going to be my first #FF shout out. Friend, mentor, biz advisor, collaborator, critic, and cheerleader – Paul DeBettignies is a Minneapolis based independent IT Recruiter who’s helped more people than I can count in job search, career help, and more. He’s also the biggest U of M sports fan in existence.
@PhilGerb – If you don’t know Phil Gerbyshak, now is your chance to meet & follow him. Author of 10 Ways to Make It Great, Phil is a Milwaukee social media strategist, relationship geek, and lover of interesting things. His enthusiasm and fountain of ideas can help kick-start your business or blog, for either professional or personal interests. Ask him about Milwaukee!
@BryanPerson – Founder of Social Media Breakfast itself, Bryan Person is the guy I emailed back in 2007 about starting an SMB here in Minneapolis. Loved his advice of “why not you”. Originally from Boston, and now in Austin, Bryan is currently the “LiveWorld social media guy”.
@lulugrimm – Looking for smart, witty, and a great example of how digital public relations professionals are using social media? Follow Lisa Grimm to find out how someone at the nexus of GenX/GenY embodies the best of characteristics of both. It also turns out that she’s a great speaker and moderator of panels.
@donmball – Cofounder of CoCoMSP and Unsummit, Don Ball is a great resource in the St. Paul & Minneapolis are for freelance, independent contractors/consultants and startups in general. Supportive, idea rich and willing to share his enthusiasm for you to succeed is how I describe Don.
Okay, that’s a good start for today. I’ll work at doing a better job (read: more) next week, but it’s hard to pic a handful of really good, valuable people out of so many I know and write a short blurb about them. Or it could be that it’s late on Friday and I’m looking for a way to get this posted while it still is Friday.
😉
In any case, check out these great folks and let me know some of your suggestions below. I’m sure there’s many I haven’t met yet that I’d really like to talk with. Now go have a great weekend!
MHTA 2010 Spring Conference
As things happen every now and again, I recently got the opportunity to join a panel at the MHTA (Minnesota High Tech Association) Spring Conference “A New Way Forward” on April 22nd. Of course I jumped at the chance to talk with so many great geeks technical professionals from some of the top companies here in the Twin Cities!
Here’s an overview of the spring conference:
As we enter the second decade of the 21st Century it is time to examine the assumptions and approaches that are fundamental to our success. The New Deal of the last century was about getting the basics right – productivity and efficiency, providing people with meaningful work, getting the economy on its feet – using production lines and automation tools.
Today, the New Way Forward is about achieving these same goals while using distinctly different tools and approaches, retractable banner stands have served us well but the future holds much more for the savvy marketer. As Minnesota business leaders look at a greatly changed global economy, they know their companies not only measure up – they frequently outperform global competitors.
Join us April 22, 2010 at the Minneapolis Convention Center for another outstanding program filled with immediately applicable strategies and practices to help you do the same. Collectively, these ideas will do more than just get us back on track – they will propel us forward faster than ever before!
The agenda and list of speakers is here and here. In case you’re interested, I believe there are still tickets available, which you can register for here.
Perspectives
One of the many things I’ve been working on lately is perspectives. Both mine and others (I hope). When you’re working on introducing ideas and concepts into an an environment that hasn’t had a lot of change, you get a lot of resistance.
That’s nothing groundbreaking, but I think it goes without saying that there are many perspectives and perceptions that people view their world and the things that make up their work. Introducing new ideas is a challenge not because people are resistant to learning, but because the change that it brings is disruptive.
Social media is disruptive, of course, that way. It’s not necessarily that there’s something new, but that it requires attention, time that many folks and businesses don’t feel they have. Running the day to day of businesses, putting out “fires”, planning for the future, launching new product, finishing a tight-deadline project, these are the things that people are dealing with in businesses of all sizes.
So, it’s kind of hard to expect management and staff stuck in the middle layers of an organization to jump up and down and get all excited about having to deal with something new. Yet, this layer of any organization needs to be included in change, they are the ones who can make the most of change. They’re the ones who understand their area of the business. Consider them hundreds or thousands of SMEs that understand how that part of the business works and what it needs.
Understanding their perspectives on the organization, change, and the job at hand is another part of the puzzle needed to implement social media behind the firewall.
Behind The Firewall is an ongoing series of blog posts, Twitter chats and more. Created and lead by Arik Hanson and Rick Mahn, these discussions explore the world of the social web inside companies & organizations, “Behind The Firewall” if you will.
Phil Gerbyshak Makes It Great
Last Friday I had a great opportunity to sit down with Phil Gerbyshak and talk about all sorts of things. Mainly social media and current themes or ideas that are going on, but also about what he’s doing in Milwaukee.
You see, Phil figured out awhile ago what a lot of this means, and has been moving ever closer to going freelance and helping companies do what he does best: Make It Great. It’s more than a catch phrase, it’s really about perspective and choices we make.
A couple years back, Phil wrote the book Make It Great. From that inspiration and work, he’s developed a philosophy around doing things right, listening, and helping others do the same. That’s what he’s out to do in about a month.
About two months ago (or so), Phil decided to break away from corporate America and do what he’s best at – sharing his knowledge on social media with organizations who want to do things the right way, by listening to employees and customers, and letting them help guide the way an organization should work.
Here’s an interview I did with Phil on the topic of going independent and about his Make It Great philosophy. (Don’t worry, my camera work should get better in the future – I hope 😉
Here’s some links to Phil Gerbyshak & his work.
So, thank you Phil for the chance to have time to talk the invitation to visit you in Milwaukee soon, and the insight into how to make what I do even better. I truly appreciate it.
Social Media in Minneapolis (or your town)
Here’s another learning from my recent travels across the country. It has to do with community, and regional participation.
I happen to live near and work in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area, and we have a very good, active social media community. Because of this, its been easy for me to focus locally and (kind of) forget how many other large and small urban centers also have great communities. That’s been the biggest learning as I’ve meet folks from all corners of the U.S. and around the world.
We all have vibrant social media communities, but they’re all different. Some areas seem to be better at marketing, some better at technology or funding. Regardless of the size of the city, the interest and enthusiasm always seems to be bigger than you’d think… and that’s the really fun part.
So my question to you this afternoon is what you’ve been doing to support that community and help it flourish. The benefits of understanding what social media can do for individuals, businesses and your physical communities is growing at an impressive rate. Its more than simply mainstream usage, it’s about people (society) adapting to new ideas and tools that support those ideas. It’s cultural change which can be challenging for some organizations and individuals, and this is where you can help your community.
Getting involved in your local community is the best way to make things happen. Find out what the need is and work on filling it. It may be getting people together at meetups, answering questions, or maybe training. In any case, participating with your local community is as important as keeping up with the new ideas and tools that come out every day.
Picture courtesy Sri Dhanush
Changes & Opportunities
It’s been a long time coming, but there are significant changes taking place here this week. The first change being a new look* and updated layout here on the site. The current design was done almost two years ago by Mykl Roventine, a great designer & creator of things ;-), and has served this blog well during that time.Why IT Gets It Wrong
I was amazed a couple weeks ago when a younger coworker engaged in a conversation (um… debate) about whether Facebook was a viable business tool. Now, somehow I got baited into this discussion, probably on a quest to figure out why a Gen Y type would think Facebook didn’t belong behind the firewall.
During the conversation, I started to identify what was really going on. The problem wasn’t the tool (I knew this going into it), but again was perception. You see, the corporate information technology industry has done the same thing as every other professional industry. They’ve put blinders on and have had years and healthy budgets to define what “professional” conduct looks like. Moreover, because they can point to years of supposed successes in fighting (gasp!) antivirus, malware, and (more realistically) external facing security vulnerabilities, they have the gravitas within organizations to make (dictate) business policies in the boardroom.
Through all of this, the real needs of the business get molded and formed into highly structured processes that can more easily be measured or manipulated. Of course, I have to admit these methods allow businesses to conform to compliance and regulatory requirements more easily – an unfortunate reality. Because everything is so structured, the perception is that everything in business needs to be as organized and controlled. The problem is that communication is not the same thing as information.
Communication needs to happen quickly, getting to the right person at the right time to make a difference. This need is impeded by too much structure, too much process. You can see that already on the marketing & PR side of social media. The traditional release isn’t as powerful as it once was (though it hasn’t been negated either) because of the nimble adaptability of online sharing tools. This is one of many places where IT simply gets it wrong. The idea that communication and the sharing of ideas needs to be managed is a sure sign that the organization is fighting itself.
So what was the outcome of that conversation with my coworker? He still thinks Facebook isn’t a viable business tool. What it really boils down to is that he didn’t like the idea that his “professional” life could so easily collide with his “personal” life, that people could actually discover he had fun in college. Heck, who didn’t?
Photo courtesy ant.photos
Learn From The Truth
Sometimes its hard to listen to someone telling you the truth. Deep down you know they’re right, and that’s why you don’t stop them in their tracks. You know you need to hear it even though you don’t want to. It’s good for you.
The reality is that we often need to have our perceptions reset, and that means we need to listen. It also means that we need a network of closely trusted peers that can tell us we’re full of it, and be able to remain close because of it. If you don’t have that kind of network, then you haven’t been working hard enough in your personal social networking efforts.
Learning that the great idea you have is crap, or simply needs a few easy tweaks is as important as the ideas themselves. The ability to listen to people who care about your success and take that knowledge forward to make what you do better is a learned skill that true professionals embrace at every opportunity.
One of the things I learned from SXSW this past week was that I had been neglecting a portion of my network. Many of the people I had connected with years ago, I hadn’t kept up with and my future has been impacted because of it. That was my realization of truth, pointed out by a friend while in Austin. It’s not a mistake I’ll make a second time.
Now, what have you learned this week from a friend?
What have you done to help a peer succeed?
Picture courtesy of slowdevil.
Content Creation
![wordjam #2 [read and create] by the|G|](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossy,ret_img,w_240,h_180/https://rickmahn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/3709881283_05229464f33.jpg "wordjam #2 [read and create] by the|G|")
The amount of time I’ve wasted of the last several months not creating content for this blog is simply silly. When we all have so much to share and so much to say, why do we find it so hard these days to create content for our blogs?
We’re so connected to nearly instantaneous interactions on Twitter and Facebook, or IM & Skype that we forget how groundbreaking a blog actually is. Our nuggets of wisdom have been shortened to 140 characters or less and thrown into the rushing stream of status update consciousness.
Yes, this knowledge is out there, shared, and searchable, but how does it track back to what we represent to other folks?
I keep thinking about these things as I miss the opportunity every week to write content for this blog and share things I’ve learned or that I think would be useful to other people. That’s the frustration I’ve had with Twitter and other status update services or tools.
I know I’m not alone in this, many I talked to at SXSW this past week had similar comments, and we’ve read this online from many others. What I want to do is to get back to a regular blogging schedule where I’m sharing things I’ve learned through the week. There’s so much going on all the time, and it’s a shame not to be able to create content around that knowledge.
At least, this is one of many things that SXSW woke me up to. The rest I’ll save for more posts.
Picture courtesy of the|G|
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.
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