Writing Worth Reading: 1/2010 Edition
It’s still early enough in the year to tack on some goals for 2010, and a great one is to cut the fluff–learn how with these great tips from The 99 Percent, an awesome blog of thought and ideas by the Behance folks.
Where are the Natural Born Managers?
World's Best Boss, Michael Scott
Everybody wants to be the boss, but nobody wants to be bossy. We’ve all dealt with the dictatorial committee chair, the micromanaging department head, or the clueless director, and walked away thinking, “when I’M in charge, I’ll never act that way!” And while its great to have both good and bad examples to guide a growing leadership style in the right direction, you can’t have it both ways–being in charge means just that. So take charge!
Recently I’ve seen a spate of people refusing to take control of their own teams, or to make decisions on even simple issues like meeting times. In every instance, it was fear of conflict that lead to the hesitation. Leadership that involves managing projects and people doesn’t have to equal confrontation, but if you aren’t confident in your leadership skills and management style, it’s a real possibility.
It’s a major simplification, but at its heart Leadership=Delegation+Follow Up. Unfortunately I’m guilty of both failing to delegate because I don’t trust other people to execute, and being too polite to follow-up as needed because I don’t want to offend. What I’ve learned however that none of these successful attitudes, for me or the other people involved. Rather than focusing on attitudes and feelings, focus on actions. Set deadlines. Arrange meetings and follow ups with those who can’t attend (or arrive late) as needed. Then stick to them.
This goes against the grain for a lot of us. It’s a shame that many in management positions have never received any formal training. Many people are actually proud of that fact, oblivious to the fact while there are lots of natural-born leaders, natural-born managers are much more rare. There’s no excuse for not learning some effective management techniques–employers offer them, bookstores are full of great resources, and the web has tons of tools. One of my favorites is Manager-Tools.com, (@managertools on Twitter) including their detailed podcasts. Listen to it on the way to work and apply the techniques. Your team and peers will thank you.
The Late Bus
The story of 94-year-old painter Carmen Herrera:
From the New York Times: “After six decades of very private painting, Ms. Herrera sold her first artwork five years ago, at 89. Now, at a small ceremony in her honor, she was basking in the realization that her career had finally, undeniably, taken off. As cameras flashed, she extended long, Giacomettiesque fingers to accept an art foundation’s lifetime achievement award from the director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Her good friend, the painter Tony Bechara, raised a glass. “We have a saying in Puerto Rico,” he said. “The bus — la guagua — always comes for those who wait.”
And the Cuban-born Ms. Herrera, laughing gustily, responded, “Well, Tony, I’ve been at the bus stop for 94 years!” “
Gift to Myself: A Clean Inbox
Inbox: 12345
Originally uploaded by eszter
This has been such an insane year, especially where tech is concerned, that my gift to myself is getting my electronic house in order before 2010.
My first stop is email. Yeah, I’m on Google Wave, but until that means something email remains critical for me and most folks I know. But that doesn’t mean we like it. So my cleaning tip is a heavy reliance on unsubscribing.
A few weeks ago I was in California for a while with spotty web access, and my email was insane when I got home. More that 900 emails, most of them marketing drivel from some of the many online stores I’ve shopped at over the years. Travel sites. Restaurants. Craft stores. Even with an extra email address to capture the junk, I still couldn’t manage. And seriously, if I need a second email for junk, that might be the start of the problem! When my husband went off about how much he hates his email a few nights ago I was so glad to hear I’m not alone! He’s on a delete/unsubscribe kick too.
All this email is really about getting real with myself. I always think I’m going to get back to that one newsletter or message, and I never, EVER do. Luckily I have a backup for some-my Google Reader. I finally realized I don’t want emails to connect me with other websites for longer articles. I want it for party invites, school info, and links
to random celebrity crap. The Harvard Business review works much better in my Reader because I go there when I have time to dally, and then it disappears automatically.
The messages I am saving are getting labeled as well. Much love to Gina Trapani and all the other super-organized who encourage minimal labeling and use of folders, but now that I know how to really label (thanks to Gmail) my life will never be the same. It makes it so much easier to track information for
my different PR clients or freelance projects, and with archiving I can keep my inbox cleared out so much better. Now if I can just stop checking it constantly…
Recent Writings
Originally uploaded by leefly
Things here have been quieter than I had planned, but I devoted myself to completing my master’s thesis with more gusto than I anticipated. It’s amazing how much time Turabian formatting can take, but luckily I made it through and got great reviews from my department. The paper, titled, Common Sense, Social Networks, and the Workplace: The Generational Divide Explored, is currently undergoing whatever happens to a thesis or dissertation before its published, but when its ready I will definitely share! And with that I’ve successfully completed all the requirements of my master’s program at Georgetown with a degree in Ethics. If flew by and took forever (only two years as planned), and I loved every minute of it!
I’ve also been writing again for Black Web 2.0 on all sorts of random digital issues, including a lot of broadband access issues. Check out the links below for some of my most recent posts…
New Survey Looks for Internet Adoption Solutions
The Timing of Success
A winner 27 years in the making, by Robert Bealle
Today there is such pressure to be perfect in an instant. I know everyone feels it–we must know everything about everything to be worth anything. The feeling is self-imposed and reinforced by society at every turn, creating a cycle of unrealistic expectations no reasonable person can meet.
I always feel this pressure. My constant complaint about myself is that I’m not working hard enough, so I stress myself out thinking about how I can work harder in between work, grad school, and the rest of my life. So I felt especially lucky to run across three seemingly random items that all whispered “relax” in my ear.
First I randomly grabbed an old O-The Oprah Magazine from December 2007 and found myself reading the contributors pages, where I ran across a blurb about photographer Joshua Jordan. He became a full time photographer in 1992, and there he was, doing his first shoot for O Mag, a short 15 years later.
Then on Facebook, I read Peter Shankman’s status update that today was the 11th anniversary of him incorporating The Geek Factory, his communications firm. Everyone knows him for HARO, which has blown up over the past few years, but he’s been at it for a long time.
Then I stumbled across a story in today’s Washington Post about Robert Bealle, a wildlife artist who entered the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest for 27 YEARS,before winning this year. His work is gorgeous, and yet it took him nearly 30 years to get past second place.
My inspiration moment came when I realized what all these three things were telling me–success takes time. When what we hear is that you need to be a superstar today, that can so easily be forgotten. Our culture is obviously one of instant gratification, so seeing people toil over a dream and reach a certain level of success more than 10, or 15, or nearly 30 years later, is actually exciting! It gives me something to look forward to, and work toward, and grow in to.
So I’m taking some time to step out of the stress and into the enjoyment of my craft, taking a cue from these guys–the practice can only pay off down the road, and I hope it doesn’t take 30 years, but if it does I’ll be patient.
Awesome Move or Bad Idea? Guest Hosting WWE’s RAW
![Al Sharpton, Newt Gingrich and Arne Duncan on their education reform tour at a school in Philadelphia. [Photo courtesy US Dept. of Education]](http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/09-118-AD-at-Sharpton-Gingrich-Tour-Philadelphia-PA-72.jpg "Sharpton, Gingrich, Duncan")
Al Sharpton, Newt Gingrich and Arne Duncan on their education reform tour at a school in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy US Dept. of Education
Sharpton’s reason for going on the show was to increase awareness of the education achievement gap–turns out he is on a nationwide tour with Newt Gingrich and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to promote the education reform movement. Great cause, and WWE is just the venue to reach those most needing to hear this message. I didn’t see the episode, but I did watch this video on the WWE site to learn more. From what I read though, the subject of education only came up once, and the rest of the time Rev. Sharpton was the target of misidentification (someone called him Don King) and gentle character barbs.
Out of the three names on the tour, Sharpton was clearly the best of the bunch to go on RAW. He’s the most controversial, and as he said in the video, he’s even an old school wrestling fan! Unfortunately, his personal history was probably enough to keep his message from having much credibility, even though his cause is an honorable one. And when the issue only comes up briefly, who knows if the crowd got anything out of it at all.
That is always an issue with “celebrity” spokespeople. Its hard to know how a message will be received until its out there. You can prepare people to the ends of the earth, but in the end you just have to pray that a spokesperson a) knows that they’re talking about when speaking for a cause or organization, and b) doesn’t commit any past, present or future sin that will take the focus off the words and put it on the individual. Since no one is perfect though, this is hard to do. There are so few spotless celebs and they are always in demand to lend their name to a cause.
Its also important for a celebrity to make sure their appearances don’t impact their own reputations. As a civil rights leader, it raised plenty of eyebrows when Sharpton agreed to go on RAW, considering WWE’s history of racial denigration. After the show his publicist released a statement: “In order to raise awareness and actually do something about the devastating achievement gap in education between kids of color and their white peers the viewership of WWE events is precisely the group of people who need to be reached and involved. Reverend Sharpton has stated repeatedly that all of us must take extraordinary steps to reverse the current trend in education and that unlikely alliances (like with Newt Gingrich) and forums like the WWE should be utilized if they help close the gap.”
I’m all for extraordinary measures–sometimes its those big moves that shake people into action. I’ll be interested to see what some of the other stops on this “tour” are. Maybe we can get Newt Gingrich on an episode of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” to spread the education gospel?
We Communicate The Same, Except When We Don’t
By HikingArtist via Flickr
Research published last week in the journal Communication Research has completely ungroundbreaking news–women and men communicate in different ways. Specifically, they are less articulate same when talking about things most familiar to the opposite sex: in this case it was changing a tire for women, and purchasing makeup for men. Duh was my first thought, and then I remembered an article I ran across earlier in the week written by a female journalist. (Fail on my part for not bookmarking it). The author, who works for a major publication, went through a media training exercise with several of her colleagues. While everyone was an expert in their beats, it was clear to her that the men were highly confident in their interviews, while the women didn’t speak with authority, even when they knew a subject cold.
Both pieces point to a sad idea–that women don’t speak with confidence, even when they know a lot about something. The fact that the reporter was in media training says a lot. A good trainer can help teach you to get rid of the “ums,” “ahs,” and other signs of low confidence, but it cannot fix the initial fear that leads women to start out at that level in the first place. Just like people prematurely described America as a “post-racial” society with the election of a Black president, I’m sure many others think we’re in a “post-gender” age in part because of Hillary Clinton’s great campaign and the ascendancy of other female leaders. But the world isn’t always a kind place to a lot of us (Hillary included). I wish I had an answer for this. But until I do, I’ll speak more confidently on the things I know well, and encourage others to do the same. That might be all it takes.
Celebs Diss LA Charities for Global Causes
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about donating to a charity? It is the people you’re helping, the community where the need is greatest, or maybe a cause you’ve heard the most about. This article from the New York Times touches on the criteria LA’s celebrities use to make their giving decisions, and it seems like the farther the problem is from home, the better. To some degree it makes perfect sense from a marketing standpoint–dropping off a check at a local charity just isn’t as exotic as building a school in Africa (Oprah), or traveling to Chad to meet refugees from Darfur (Angelina). It was just those kinds of acts that contributed to Ms. Jolie’s rise to #1 on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list this year.
With so many people in the world struggling at a much greater rate comparatively than in the United States, its easy to see why giving elsewhere is so popular. I’ve traveled with celebrities to visit poor villages in Africa on charitable missions, and their amazement at the cheer and sweetness of children who have nothing was outranked only by their disgust at the kids back home who have everything and seem ungrateful for it all. So its hard to see how families in rich countries like the US can compare to the suffering of the bottom billion.
The truth is its unfair to compare the two, and some of these celebrities may have lost sight of that in the race to find the biggest cause and generate attention for it (and themselves at the same time). There is a great degree of suffering in the US, and there are people here who could do a lot with a little–they just need that little to get started.
We must remember many of these stars are citizens of the world. They may have traveled to LA early on to get their start, but its not truly “home” for a lot of people. Still, in a city where so many of these stars receive their accolades, it would be nice to see them reaching out to the region just as they do the rest of the globe.
Writing Worth Reading Now
Photo from Rhett Maxwell via Flickr
Two great pieces, on focusing attention, and how to keep email, etc. from stealing your attention. First, Quit Managing Your Time, Start Managing Your Attention, by Lee J. Colan & David Cottrell, via ChangeThis.com. As a time management junkie, I liked this approach of thinking less about time and more about focus.
Then, from the Wall Street Journal: Not So Fast, A Manifesto for Slow Communications by John Freeman. This piece is an excerpt from his upcoming book, “The Tyranny of Email.” Can’t wait to read that (seriously!)
