Challenge Yourself

If there’s one concept that keeps getting reinforced for me over and over again it’s that I do my best when I do things that are challenging.  It means exploring unknown territory.  It means doing things where there’s often a risk of failure.  It means also believing in yourself that anything is possible, and that you learn more by taking risks and failing than never having tried at all.

This weekend, I participated in Disney’s Princess Half-marathon.  Going into the race, I had not done as much distance work as I should have, and I was seriously concerned that I was going to be scooped up off the course for exceeding the time limits.  My attitude was less one of “I know I can do this” but more one of “Well, what choice do I have now?  I’ve backed myself into this corner and I have to do it.”  I could have opted out.  I could have complained about the cold, or feigned a pulled muscle, or any other reasonable sounding excuse- but I would have always known it was just that- an excuse, a rationalization for not taking the risks, for not facing the fear of failure.   And as I looked what I thought was a very realistic risk of failing in the face, I decided that even if I did fail, I certainly would learn something from the process, and then I would do better next time.

Much to my surprise, I finished the race and felt better afterwards, physically, than I did after the Philly Half-marathon.  I wish I had done a few things better, both in training and during the race itself, but I learned alot about myself during this process, including:

-Determination to get through will carry you farther than you think;

-The fear of humiliation is a very strong motivator;

-Preparation, even a little bit, is better than none at all;

-Experience matters, and the more experience you have, the smarter you get about things;

-Knowing yourself- your strengths and weaknesses- and being honest with yourself about them will help you come to terms with them, and help you move forward, whatever the task might be.

Having met my goal to finish the race, and to beat my Philly time leaves me feeling like I met my goal, but I want to do better next time- not skate by, but truly push the envelope towards not just passing, but excelling.  I’m not saying I’m looking to win a half marathon any time soon, but I know I need goals and expectations that are personally meaningful and go behind simple pass/fail metrics.  Pass/fail is okay, but somehow, the pass is less satisfying if you feel you got by by the skin of your teeth.

Translate all of this into the business world, and it means exploring new pathways and taking on challenges where success might not be guaranteed.  It means expecting and delivering more.  It means finding a balance between work and play, but maintaining a focus about the big picture as well.

While physical challenges are easy metrics to talk about, intellectual challenges are not always as easy to discuss.  When was the last time you attended a conference or meeting that was foreign to your field?  Unconferences are great for this- the synergy of people from different fiields and interests.  And there are professional conferences, like the famed South by Southwest Interactive and the upcoming Social Media Plus Summit in Philadelphia, where the power is not only in the information shared, but in the people you meet who are not necessarily just like you.  (Disclosure- I am speaking at the Summit)

As part of this past week’s trip, I attended the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) conference, to help present our pilot project producing educational podcasts for OB GYN residents.  Sitting in a room full of largely doctors and nurses involved in the training of new physicians gave me some insight not only into the challenges faced in health care, but how limiting vertical-only conferences can be.  (I’ll write more about this on another post.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the issues facing education of new doctors are the same ones facing educators in k-12 or college education.  There are issues of multitasking, of focus, of engaging the students, and even about what evaluation methods are most appropriate.  There are issues of what constitutes a pass and when should people be passed along with the equivalent of a gentleman’s C and when should there be a stricter pass/fail metric, especially when the lives of patients are ultimately at stake.

While this may seem more extreme than a kid flunking algebra, I’d argue that if a kid cannot pass, we need to take a look at why not and how to help that person become competent, assuming they want to reach that goal as well.  The life of that eighth or ninth grader, in terms of their self-view and whether or not they have the skills they need to be competent as an adult may be at stake every bit as the health of you or your mom or sister if your doctor is skating by with a “pass only” mentality through their training.

Motivating people to succeed means getting them to understand the concept of challenge and that failure and risk of failure is actually not something to fear, but is actually a learning opportunity- it provides you with more information about how you can do better the next time.  All A plusses all the time means you’re not being challenged enough.  There’s nowhere to go, to improve- and that means it’s time to move on.  And it means that there’s a real risk of getting intellectually lazy- if you never face failure, you never face any fear, and you never have a chance to grow.

I’m embracing challenge and taking risks both intellectually and physically, because I need to know my limits and how I can do better every day.  What about you?

Tags: APGO, challenges, disney, learning, preparation, princess half marathon, training

Privacy- Do We Have Any Anymore?

I listened to the most recent Media Hacks episode of Mitch Joel’s excellent Six Pixels of Separation podcast, where the guys were discussing everything from the Please Rob Me website, geo-location apps like Gowalla and Four Square, and even Blippy, my favorite example of a channel for overshare that was even highlighted at this year’s TED conference.

Couple this with the recent issues about kids being “monitored” by the Lower Merion School District, which is now being investigated by  the FBI, and you quickly can come to the impression that privacy is over.  The school district case is a mess, but it raises lots of interesting questions about where school and governmental authority begins and ends.

I have been online for longer than I care to admit, and I know that when I put something up on this blog, or Facebook, Twitter or any other channel, it’s open for anyone and everyone to see.  I will be accountable for anything I put up here forever, thanks to Google and the miraculous Internet Wayback Machine.  I know that, and I take that into account before I post things, knowing that clients, future clients, friends and relatives and anyone else out there have access to everything.  But where does the concept of privacy start and stop?

Everyone seems to have a different line they draw for themselves.  Some people don’t post anything having to do with family- no pictures of them or their kids online.  But then this rule is subject to violation when kids appear in someone else’s photos that get posted, when you’re in a group shot at a party, or other ways where your carefully scripted version of public and private is violated by well meaning friends.  Since it’s almost difficult to go buy a traditional film camera these days, and the actual supply of film at the local camera store yesterday was sad compared to the wall of film they used to stock, the majority of photos are digital, which obviously enhances the ability to share and exchange them, which people then do, meaning any photo- innocent or compromising- can become public domain with a few keystrokes.

This is not meant to freak anyone out, but it’s simply a fact that the old rules of privacy are being eroded away, bit by bit, byte by byte, over time.  If I were practicing family law, for example, I would definitely try to monitor both what my client and their soon-to-be-former spouse were doing and saying online- in a public forum, that information should be admissible as evidence, although I’ll be frank that Facebook was not created when I took evidence in law school in the early ’90’s.   On the other hand, the fact that there is this openness and discoverability might just work to keep people together, because they can’t hide that information from each other, either.  Transparency keeps everyone a bit more honest and accountable, but when does this constant stage pressure become too much?

We leave a digital paper trail behind us that should not be alarming so much as causing us to think a little bit, at least, about what we’re doing, what choices we’re making and why.  We can create incredibly rich and important relationships with others online.  I keep in touch with friends all over the globe now, that I otherwise would lose that sense of relationship and of being current in each other’s lives without these tools.  I learn new things every day, share information, and have fostered business relationships through these tools, and the fact that people can find out almost anything they want about me before we ever meet.  This “pre-vetting” is like a fast track towards trust, friendship and sometimes, business that works far faster and far more efficiently than ever before.

For all these tremendous positives, it also means that people know when I am cranky with my offspring, when I’m available, when I’m out of town, and just about everything I’m doing.  My trainer knows where I’m out to dinner and potentially doing something I shouldn’t if I check in with foursquare, but my clients also know when I’m in the office for the same reason.  I’ve agreed to make this information accessible, and I bear the fallout, good, bad and indifferent from this connection.

And my kids are growing up in a world where that line between private and public is fuzzier than ever.  It’s taken me years to become comfortable with all of this- will this be the new normal for them?  Will future politicians always have to see pictures of themselves as a child, ranging from food on the face to those first girlfriends, just by a few quick searches online?  How will anyone be able to be perfect all the time?  Will our standards finally change and we’ll have to allow for people to make mistakes and change their mind, rather than be somehow wedded to an opinion they had back a decade ago?

I have no idea where the concept of privacy will be in five years or ten.  Where courts will decide the constitutional rights to some sort of privacy exist, at least as far as the State is involved, is going to be difficult, especially when people are so willing to share (and overshare) with no thought at all.   Hopefully, we’ll decide much of our right to privacy still exists within our home, but we’ll have to see how the case in Lower Merion Township turns out, and whether inviting a governmentally owned computer into our house gives up some of these rights or not.  There’s tons of litigation like this ahead, you can bet, so all you law students out there- make sure you’re paying attention during Con Law and Evidence.  Your career could depend on it.

Tags: Blippy, foursquare, gowalla, internet, lower merion school district, Mitch Joel, privacy, six pixels of separation

Bringing Local to the Web

When you put up a website,it’s easy to take for granted that you are creating a platform that lives without traditional boundaries. Instead of being limited to contacting people in your local community or neighborhood, you can reach people all across the globe.  That’s incredibly powerful, but for many businesses, they are less concerned about reaching people in Dubai, but more interested in reaching their friends and neighbors.  Maybe not just within one State, perhaps, but people in a drivable geographic distance, especially if you deal with personal services.

Get Found, Become Engaged

There are some basic tools that can help.  Using Google Local to make sure our business shows up in local search results is a good first step.  Checking out what people are saying about you online through Vanity Searches and by using Google Alerts is another great idea.  This pair of resources makes sure your business can be found on google, even if you don’t have a formal website, and that you know what people are saying about you online, so you can get a sense of your reputation and perhaps even enhance your customer service or offerings in response to that feedback.

Reviews and Recommendations

With the rise of many location-aware applications and websites, ranging from Yelp, to Gowalla to Foursquare, not to mention newer, augmented reality applications, people are leaving messages and recommendations  (pro and con) to their friends about your business, whether you know it or not.  More and more of these review sites are being added all the time, which is enough to make any business owner crazy.  If you run a restaurant, making sure you can participate in something like Open Table, might help get you new business as well.

Asking people to give you recommendations on LinkedIn after a job well done will help you build your reputation for excellent work, and asking clients to connect with you on social media sites, like a Facebook Fan Page might help you increase engagement with your existing customers as well as helping them spread the news of our business to friends and colleagues.

While Twitter can be a very noisy and very global place, you can increase its value for you by looking for people in your local area who use the platform.  Hubspot has a great tool that will let you find the twitter elite- the noisiest people in your area
, who might be great people to contact about special offers or news about your business, as they are likely to pass it on to their audience.  Finding and driving your local audience on big social platforms, whether it’s geo-targeted ads on Facebook or focusing on local folks on twitter may even be worth more to you than traditional ads, assuming you know how to measure these efforts.

The Delaware Social Media Initiative

Ken Grant has started a plan to help put Delaware on the map as a social media hub.  While it certainly isn’t as early to the game as Boston or San Francisco or even Philadelphia, Delaware has some surprising advantages that are making this a realistic and very doable goal.  First, as a small state, we have the advantage of local connections that are easy to transfer online.  The distance between Main Street and the State House was never all that far here, but social media is making it easier than ever for local people to have meaningful interactions with local and statewide politicians, as well as our representatives in Washington.  While we don’t see Joe Biden as often at the Greenville Brew Ha Ha, we still can run into Mike Castle at Purebread Deli when he’s in town.

By helping the small and local businesses develop an online presence, we’re making it easier for people to find the great local resources we have here by essentially amplifying the word of mouth that already exists.  It makes it easier for people from surrounding areas to find out what’s available, and what they can do after they finish touring Nemours, or Hagley or Winterthur.  And what’s great, is more and more people are coming out to social events ranging from Ignite Wilmington to DelTweet- the Delaware Tweetups, nad finding out that social media can have really positive effects- especially when matched up with the ability to come together, and shake hands in the real world.  Web folks and social media geeks are now helping local businesses figure this stuff out and what might work for them- and we can have a state-wide impact quickly, becaause of the size and close knit nature of our community.

We’re finding out that local and global can come together nicely, step by step.  We can grow business and awareness and not break the bank doing it.  We can share tools and teach people to do this, to be more effective at what they already do to attract customers and new business and retain the old, without costing them a fortune in the process.

The Delaware Lab, as I like to call it, has an amazing group of people involved, and all are entering this online world with a sense of wonder but also a sense of what is realistically possible.  I know I’m trying to make sure everyone knows how to make real measurement of the before and after of their efforts, because for every business, the implementation and the success rate will vary.

Most importantly, I know we’re helping a community that like many, has been hit by the recession.  People are stressed and looking for new ways to do business, and this helps open a door to trying something different.  Our local media and government officials are being incredibly supportive, including the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce and the State Chamber of Commerce.  We have Fortune 500 companies in our midst, small businesses, and everything in between, and people are starting to work together towards common goals.

It’s exciting to think the year is just beginning, but we have a real chance to move our whole state forward in a short period of time.

Sharing Ideas

How would you move your local community forward on the web?  How do make something that creates a world wide platform and turn it into an affective local business generator?  How do you bring everyone together in a community?  We have the advantage of small- but how would this work in California or Texas for example?

I think this is the next big thing for communities- bringing their stories and resources online and making other people, regardless of the distance, sit up and take notice.  What can you do to help your local community today?

We’re dreaming big here in Delaware.

Tags: Deltweet, foursquare, google alerts, google local, gowalla, hagley, ignite wilmington, internet, Joe Biden, local, local web\, mike castle, nemours, web, winterthur, yelp

Financial Heads Up

There are new changes afoot regarding credit cards and fees.

Those of us who have been careful with our credit have often opted for no-fee cards- but nothing in the service agreement requires that the card be no fee forever- the bank can change the terms with appropriate notification.  The banks are sending out notices, but they are far from obvious, often looking like junk mail.    There was a great show on NPR this weekend, Marketplace, by American Public Media that everyone should listen to- the link will take you to their site and you can listen or download the show as a podcast, discussing the loopholes in the new legislation.

This was verified for me when I was talking to a friend of mine who works for a bank, and they were having meetings about the recent legislation in DC regarding the new rules, and how the bank was planning to work around the new requirements.  She said to me:

I know that most of us are counting every penny during these tough economic times.  I wanted to alert you to some new charges that you can avoid.  If you were not aware, the new laws governing banks and the fees, etc. that they can bill you go into effect this week.  The laws are very good for the consumer.  However, the credit card companies are angry that they are in effect and have brought back annual fees (some of them are very high fees) on no annual fee credit cards that you might already have.

Be sure to open all mail in the next few months even if it looks totally like junk mail.  I opened 3 pieces this morning that did not look at all like official business.  In each envelope was a “notice” that I would start to get $60 annual fees beginning in a few weeks on 3 different credit cards that have been paid off for many years.  I honestly had forgotten that I had ever opened them.  If I had not opened the junk mail, I would have been billed $180.  The old accounts that were opened without annual fees are not “grandfathered” into no fee cards.  It is up to each company which cards they want to exclude from fees.

This will probably not be a unique occurrence.  Make sure you open and actually read the junk mail, and make sure you know about fees being added on no fee cards, that you know what the terms of service are, and that you are very careful with your credit and use of credit.  The banks need not make these changes obvious, they just have to let you know, and if you are like me, you might often throw out these notices without giving them a careful reading about the change in terms.

Please make sure you are aware of what’s occurring and manage your finances accordingly.  Please listen to the Marketplace show and keep yourself informed. Informed is way better than surprised.

The Serendipity Engine

It’s hard sometimes to convince folks that one of the amazing things about the internet and social media has been meeting people you might never know otherwise, and how these friendships, over time, become incredibly useful and amazing. Some of us talk about the importance of these seemingly random interactions as serendipity, or happy, lucky accidents, but they become fortunate and opportune in the same way farming is lucky- you plant seeds, and over time, they can germinate into something miraculous and delicious.

Last year, in January, I spoke at AGS, a graphic design and print company, looking to expand its interactive offerings for clients. They have a series of classes, free and open to their customers and potential customers, mostly marketing managers for businesses and non-profits of all size in the area. I did two sessions on “Social Media 101″, introducing the folks in the room to many of the online tools we take for granted.

Within a week, one of the folks contacted me, Ken Grant, to report he took what I showed him as a to-do list, and was seeing immediate results for his company in terms of the number of hits they were getting from all over the world, and he got invited to sit on the board of their big industry trade show group- tangible results within days, not months. Ken Grant really took to social media like a fish to water, and he has become a true force in Delaware.  Shortly, there were tweetups in the works. Information on social media was showing up in local papers, radio stations were calling for interviews, and politicians started to take notice.  Business groups, like NEWS4Women, Technology Forum of Delaware, and the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, as well as local community groups like Community Matters, were all engaging and learning about how these tools could work for them.

Wilmington started coming alive.  People were coming out for social events like Ignite, which will have its third version in April.  At Ignite, people hear from folks from all walks of life, in short 5 minute presentations, talking about what matter to them- talks have ranged from Unconferences to the new children’s museum, to how to make your own beer, to self-publishing a book and everything in between.  That alone has been a fantastic and fun way  to cross-pollinate information across the community.

Diana Milburn, from the DuPont Theater has been incredibly instrumental in letting the community have the Ignite event at the Theater, but also offering tickets as prizes, and that’s helped get us out to events as a family more often as well.  The Delaware Symphony has gotten involved as well- the groups one might think of as “traditional” or even “stodgy” are actively embracing everything that building community- local community- through internet tools- can be about.

Yesterday, there was a great Network Delaware event, where Ken Anderson and Congressman Mike Castle spoke, as well as local social media folks including Rodney Jordan, Laurie Bick,  Maya the Twitter Queen, Ken Grant, 2Fish, Wil and Steve who are starting a Wilmington based co-working space called the CoIn Loft, among others, all spoke to a packed room of people about what social media could do to help bring the community together and help their own businesses and efforts move forward.  I was touched and moved when the representative from the local Food Bank said she had also attended my social media 101 session, and afterward started using twitter and other tools to reach out, forming relationships and partnerships that had increased money and food item donations to the food bank.

This is when I realized that so often, we can think that the little things we do- speak to a group, or attend an event or talk to a few people- in the moment, it can seem insignificant, or like a good thing to do, but we underplay what can come from it.    Yet, if you follow the chain of events, AGS asked me to speak, and because I showed people how to use tools I regularly take for granted, those folks have taken the tools and put them to work, and it’s helped all of us, together, to bring our community closer together, to help businesses connect with customers, to generate more business, and to even feed people who are feeling the brunt of the recession through the Food Bank.

It’s so easy to decide to stay home, and not attend an event.  Yet I am finding a year after I spent a morning talking to a group of folks, my community as a whole is tangibly better off and moving forward.  That is the true power of the serendipity engine- of deciding to engage, to help, and before long, exciting things are happening through ripple effects.   I am by no means trying to take credit for all of this, let me make that clear.  I am just amazed at how when you start spreading ideas, they can take on a life of their own, propagate and turn into something much bigger and more wonderful than if you decided to stay home instead.  You can effect change through the smallest of acts, and if you are lucky, sometimes you get to see a small part of the effect you can have.  I got that yesterday, and I feel incredibly humbled by the people I’ve met and the power of teaching someone to fish, as the metaphor goes, being so much more powerful than just handing someone a fish can be.

Tags: AGS, Delaware, Deltweet, dupont theater, Ken grant, podcamp, serendipity