Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Anniversaries. We all have them. Birthdays. Wedding days. First dates. First meetings. Happy days. Sad days. And, for most of the year, most of them sit in a darkened room in the back corner of our mind, pushed to the back by the craziness that is day-to-day life.
Except when something triggers the light. These lights of recollection offer an opportunity for reflection. Remembrance.
Today marks one year at my current job. And it has, overall, been a very good year. I can honestly say that I’ve gotten what I’ve wanted out of the experience so far. Through some personal growth, and a lot of self-evaluation, and new skills learned, I’m realizing the decision was very definitely the right one. I miss the people I used to work with, but most of them have left my old job anyway, and they’ll always be dear. But, one year, seems like a million years ago.
But, as always, at least with me, this anniversary started to make me reflect. And then it came to me - this part of November seems to have a strange significance. A weird, nebulous combination of personal, professional and historical significance. A mix of hope, tragedy, triumph and belief.
Thirty years ago, on November 18, 1978, the Jonestown massacre happened. 919 people died in a single day in Guyana, and whether it was a combination of mass suicide, member, or a failure of imagination, it ranks as one of the most tragic days in world history. MSNBC’s “Witness to Jonestown” chronicles the People’s Temple’s growth, it’s move to Guyana, and it’s untimely end.
Just a nine days later, the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk plunged San Francisco into further mourning.
Forty-five years ago, on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. One of the most pivotal events in American History, and still to this day debated by historians, conspiracy theorists and ordinary Americans, JFK’s assassination put a quick end to the idealism of the early 1960s, and plunged America into internal crisis. PBS’ American Experience explores the impact of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Ghost and how the assassination lives with us even today. (Preview the documentary).
Forty-five years later, the election of Barack Obama has drawn more than a fair share of comparisons to the better times of JFK’s term, including the aire of JFK’s Camelot, the idealism of the nation, the spirit of the leader who can change the world, and the hope that now exists for America again - that in fact real change just may be possible.
And then there’s sixty years ago. My mother was born 60 years ago, and thank goodness, given recent health issues, she’s still with us to celebrate. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to play witness to both of these events live.
Which leads to me. November 18 marks one month left in my twenties. And in this last year of my twenties, I think of all of the good times I’ve had and all of the great people I’ve met. And I think ahead. I’ve seen 9/11, I’ve seen Obama get elected, and I’m sure over the next 30 years, there will be more of events that shape history. But I like to think I’ll remember the ordinary days too. I’ll look back at the things that seem mundane now, the way I feel walking to your job, the lobby of the floor where I work, the people you interact with, most of whom will have disappeared in my life.
And I think, which of these days will seem this significant to me thirty years later?
What are some of your most significant days? What makes a day significant to you?
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Sunday, November 9th, 2008
At a wonderful day at BarCampPhilly yesterday, I was treated to a wonderful day of meeting amazing people in the Philadelphia tech scene, and a bunch of wide ranging sessions, covering the full gamut of technology - playing “Jedi Mind Tricks” to help aid cross-team/function communication,’ learning about the best practices in moving from a full-time job to a being a consultant (by the delightful, Whitney Hess, who is one of my best friends and helped NYC bring some thunder), and of course, an awesome hour spent with one of Social Media’s rising stars, the electric Walt Ribeiro.
But one of the sessions that’s always informative and refreshing speaking to maintaining your corporate brand, through the wilds of social media, was Beth Harte’s session on Brand Management. Having been part of a nascent social media “team” (if you could call two guys trying to find time to Twitter for JetBlue a team), the lessons that have been learned and the tools now available to do this sort of brand management (things like Radian6) are clearly better than anything we had a year and a half ago. Basically, the long and short of it is that, people are saying things about your brand, good and bad, and there’s no use in trying to control what people think, so you had best be listening.
So, after Beth’s session, and Walt’s before it, and based on some of the discussion after my BarCamp session on how JetBlue’s social media plan started with all out crisis, I started to think how this could this could apply to the “age of the personal brand”.
We, as individuals are always our own brand. In this world of open communication, through Facebook and the always-on lifestyle I’ve written about before, we’re always “on”, subject to the falliability of human nature, to express opinions, under emotion or duress, indeed, under less than ideal circumstances. The same filters that brands use to limit the amount of information they choose to say, and the arguments and they choose to engage in, often set by governmental, legal or corporate standards, are not always as easy to control for individuals living in an always-on world. In fact, human emotion (love, pain, suffering, emotion, frustration, exhaustion) combined with external factors (peer pressure, work pressure, excessive drinking, irrational behavior), often take down these filters, lower inhibitions, and loosens lips.
The words people choose to say (or not to say), are the hallmark of this personal brand, clearly. And the words people choose to communicate about themselves publicly often help you to understand a person well before you’ve ever met them “in real life”. Laura Fitton likes to say, “the best thing about Twitter happens off of Twitter”, after all.
But, what is also clear that, in the same way, you can’t control what people say about your company, product or brand, you can’t really control what people think or say about you either. Trying to manipulate this sort of thinking through channels (public, private or covert) just doesn’t help the situation.
So, what to do. Well, allow me to wax poetic about what I’ll dub “Matt’s Golden Rules for Personal Brand”. This, are of course, just one man’s opinion, based on my personal experience, but hopefully they are helpful to someone, somewhere!
1. Remember everyone has the right to their own opinion. Even you. People aren’t always going to agree with you, but they have the right to say what they wish. And, it sometimes will not be something you like.
2. You can always choose who you engage with. This is why Twitter has unfollow and block tools. You don’t have to engage with everyone. And, in many cases, things are better just left alone. Karma has a way of working these things out. But also, remember, you ever even attempt to change people’s opinions without engaging them. So, consider this when thinking about it. But, it shouldn’t be viewed as a personal thing if people just aren’t interested. They can “opt-out” of you as well.
3. Watch the fine line between opinion, attack and slander. Just because someone expresses an opinion based on their own personal experience, don’t assume it’s an attack. The written word is horrible for context and tone, and anyone who thinks can understand tone through the written word is kidding themselves. There’s a large amount of misunderstanding possible. Opinions are rarely attacks and even more rarely slanderous.
4. Doubt on the side of the “good thing”. The vast majority of people I’ve met over the last year or so in tech spaces, and Twitterscenes and Facebook have been good, upstanding people who have been welcoming and open to the idea of making friendships and networking happen. Always do “the right thing” by everyone you meet, because you just never know what can happen. I’ve seen incredible things ilike sm4sc come out of this openness and willingness to come together. Embrace it. Good things will come most of the time.
5. Worry most about the people you care about. There’s a finite number of hours in the day. Focus them on building yourself, your friends, your family up to do great things. No sense in wasting time on people who don’t know you, try to attack you, or worse of all, express open disdain for you. They obviously don’t like you, so why bother?
6. If external factors rule the day, turn off the channel. If you’re feeling extremely emotional or are out of control of yourself and your thoughts, don’t start Tweeting. It’s one thing to be in control and expressive, quite another to communicate when your filters are down. Don’t send e-mails. Don’t IM. Just turn the cellphone, Blackberry or iPhone off. You’ll be glad you did. These sort of communication often reaches “epic fail” status before you know it, and does more to destroy your personal brand. Twitter search doesn’t forget. Neither does Google.
7. Be true to yourself. There’s a reason authenticity, truth and honesty rule the social media world. Have principles. Stick to them. Review them. Fix them if you feel like you need to. Communicate the same way publicly and privately, and exercise extreme tact at all times. Private communications are rarely private anymore. Do the wrong thing by someone, and they will inevitably find out. Everyday, we’re faced with situations that challenge us. The lifelong battle to define who we are continues daily. But always be true to that. Fight for whatever you believe is right.
Hopefully these have been helpful. I wanted to again thank the BarCampPhilly team for helping me to synthesize some great thinking yesterday, and thank you all for allowing me to share these with you.
What do you think?
Posted in Random Randomness | 6 Comments »
