Happiness CLXXXV

May 16, 2008 | happiness

Breakfast with friends, new & old, looking to start something fresh in a field that doesn’t exist.

Letting Go

May 10, 2008 | blog, leadership

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of what we do.  What I mean is that it can be hard sharing everything that you know, and teach other people what your job entails.  The natural reaction is to hang on to that knowledge, be the expert, the guru that can do it all.

However, are you getting any real new chances, or does everyone believe that because you’re too valuable doing what you’re doing that they don’t send opportunities in your direction?  Holding on too tight to what you know can be detrimental to learning and growing.  Sometimes it’ll keep you from being able to try new things.

Hand it over

In order to gain real traction to take advantage of new opportunities, you need to start offloading what you’ve been doing.  It’s time to stretch yourself, challenge your skills with something outside your comfort zone.  To do that, you’re going to need to have more time to focus and learn.  You can’t do that holding onto what you do today.  It’s time to start mentoring those that want your job.

Create Change

To get started, you’ll need to create an environment for this change.  You have new habits to learn, and you should talk with your manager so they know what your plans are.  Odds are your company already has much of this in place, it’s your job to step in and let them know that you’re interested in something new.  By letting your managers know that you’re interested, and by doing things like sharing knowledge and cross training staff you show that your serious about it too.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of work, and it takes time to get it done.  However, it’s very rewarding to see people perk up at the opportunity to learn something new.  They’ll be more receptive to your ideas and you’ll find interactions with co-workers be less stressful if you’re sharing.

Sharing

This is true of nearly every successful person.  Sharing knowledge and enabling others to achieve their goals makes you a valuable person.  More so than if you hang onto that guru-level knowledge, keeping it for yourself in a vain attempt to make you indispensable.  Sharing makes you more valuable because it demonstrates your ability to learn new things and convey them to others – teaching.  Over time, you also learn the art of delegation, how to distribute workload to associates tasked with assisting you. This allows you to focus on more forward looking work – the fun stuff.

So letting go of the control over the knowledge you’ve accumulated for your job can be beneficial.  There are many variations and taking some leadership, organizational, interpersonal, and project management skills classes is a must to facilitate the change you’re looking for.  Just don’t be afraid of sharing that hard-won knowledge.  The rewards you reap for stepping out and taking the lead will be greater than staying where you were.

Photo credit: Radvixen

Do we realize how fortunate we are?

May 8, 2008 | blog

'THAT WAS EASY!' by spackletoe We live in age when anything is possible, at the touch of a button, or simply for the asking. The modern world is filled with tools and technologies that allow us to do amazing things. From communicating around the world in the blink of an eye, to reporting breaking news by the average person, to creating the perfect latte at home, our world makes things so easy.

It’s Easy

So if things are so easy, why are people not taking advantage of the tools and techniques available for networking themselves and building a better brand? Is the concept of reaching out to connect with like-minded or similarly skilled people that foreign to the average worker?  Or is it the tools?  Granted social networking and personal branding are not needed by everyone. Some people will, of course, simply shun the idea of publishing anything about themselves on the Internet, and they are welcome to that opinion.

However, if you’re at the foot of that corporate ladder looking up and wondering if it’s even worth it, you need to be thinking of how to position yourself properly. There are dozens if not hundreds of books on the topic that you can buy and use to build your brand. There is also a genuinely easy way to get started building the brand that is you. Be smart.

Beware the slip-up

With all the ways to interact and share your life online, sometimes it’s too easy to slip up. Whether you like using the pre-packaged social networks or you’re more of a DIY person and build your own. You need to make sure you are thinking about what people outside your social circle will see when they view your online presence. You’ve heard the stories of college beer parties being posted, or inside jokes traded with online buddies. These are some of the things that can be found months or years later.

So don’t let your reputation, your brand, be so easily tarnished by easy mistakes. Also, think about the tools you use to network. We are lucky to have so many tools at hand to build that brand and network. Choose the one(s) that best match your goals, message and style. Whatever you do, don’t hesitate to get started. Perversely, that is usually the most difficult step in the process.

Photo credit: spackletoe

Crossroads

May 5, 2008 | blog

Crossroads After a Night of Rain by Zeitspuren Life is the great adventure.  At times it can also be a bit perplexing, like how do you know when you’ve turned a corner in your career? Especially in these interesting times when social media is attracting so much attention, but has so little meaning in the “real world”.

Exploration of blogging and connecting people is a lot of hard, but rewarding work. It can sometimes be challenging to keep up with both the real work and the need to connect with people and learn new things as a human being. Where is the reward for all this work?

That’s where I’m at right now. I’m a technology geek that’s really good at big-picture problem solving – been doing that for 20 years.  However, I’ve spent the last two or three years learning that I like interacting with people and seeing them connect with peers to accomplish new things. I have no pretensions that I’m critical to any of this, only that I enjoy it.

So what’s the next step? I blogged about that awhile ago, and am becoming more convinced that, for me, a move towards blog consulting and working with corporate blogging efforts is needed. It’s one direction that I’ve been exploring and I see many possibilities of such a shift.  Especially as new discussions of blogging and it’s value have again started turning up in the blogosphere and the MSM again.  Of course it’s what we’ve always known about new media, it’s just people taking another look at a disrupting technology rather than dismissing it.

Most bloggers start blogging for many reasons, I happened to start because I needed an outlet.  (Blogging friend Steven Hodson has a great related post titled What do I owe my readers? that I recommend reading as well.)  I also started a couple other blogs because I thought (like many) that it was an easier way to make a living.  I’ve since figured it out that it’s really very hard work that requires a substantial time investment.  However instead of the monetary payoff I thought I’d find, it turned into something that I’m passionate about. 

After a few years of blogging and trying to find my path, I realized that I’d been following it fairly well but hesitant to commit to exploring it.  I’ve been holding back from what lies over the edge.  It’s something I now need to explore vigorously.

The biggest thing I’ve discovered that brings me to the crossroad I mention is that I like to teach, to share.  I really enjoy communicating technology and concepts to people to help solve a problem or  grow their opportunities.  It’s an incredible feeling to see the connection made, a concept take root and someone realizes something they didn’t the moment before.

It reminds me of a moment in art class back in 9th grade.  There was another student who was having problems getting the perspective “just right” on a drawing of his family’s farmstead that he was working on.  He said that it just didn’t “feel right” in his drawing and thought that the silo would look better on the other side of the drive leading up to the barn.  So our art teacher looked up from the picture at him and said “so…, move it”.  I saw it in my classmate’s face, he got it.  He suddenly looked around the room and proclaimed (loudly I may add) “I CAN MOVE BUILDINGS!”

I’m sure you’ve seen something similar, but it’s that moment of realization that is what I want more people to experience with technology.  To understand what I’ve known for years.  To see the usefulness of the technology, and not for the technology itself, but because it actually solves a need or problem. That is one of the things I want to do.

The work I’ve don to date has been fulfilling and rewarding.  It’s taught me many things outside the scope of technology.  It’s pushed me in all the typical, usual business-oriented things that any cube-dwelling, corporate ladder climbing individual might need.  It did not, however, bring the warmth and excitement to my heart of seeing just one person “get it”.

That is what I believe I need to do – help people have those moments, help them connect with peers to make that happen, and be there as a resource along the way.

Photo credit: Zeitspuren

Happiness CLXXI

May 2, 2008 | happiness

Prospects. Contemplating the possibilities of a few leads and how best to develop them.

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