<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/atom10full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">
    <title>Polly Pearson's Blog</title>
    
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/" />
    <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1615380</id>
    <updated>2009-07-10T17:13:24-04:00</updated>
    <subtitle>Let's explore cultures, employment brands, what makes a great place to work and what's happening at EMC -- a place filled with smart people making things happen.  Join us on our journey as we work to transform working at EMC into the Ultimate Red Velvet Rope Experience. -- Polly</subtitle>
    <generator uri="http://www.typepad.com/">TypePad</generator>
    <link rel="self" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/PollyPearson" type="application/atom+xml" /><entry>
        <title>We Run EMC.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/07/we-run-emc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/07/we-run-emc.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e5519367618834011571ef8b6e970b</id>
        <published>2009-07-10T17:13:24-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-07-10T17:29:52-04:00</updated>
        <summary>We Run EMC. That's the name of a community of runners inside of EMC's social network. I thought that was so funny. What a great title, on many levels. I joined the group -- hoping for a little inspiration as my training has been lagging for a Triathlon I signed up for, and which is about to bite me in the behind if I don't get going! How Did I Miss This? This afternoon, when checking out some new employee story videos added to the EMC Careers section on EMC.com, I noticed a very special new one I've managed to miss up until now -- View it here. What a great story! EMC runners from Peru, Italy, Oregon, and more, can be seen sharing their views on a very untold part of EMC ... and at the very end, you see the reason they worked to raise money, train, and then fly themselves into Hopkinton for a 26+ mile run into Boston. Here it is again. It will lift your spirits, and show you something a little unexpected. I promise. You can see why we let people like this run EMC. PS: Glad to say I had a GREAT run...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://one.emc.com/clearspace/groups/we-run-emc">We Run EMC.</a>  That's the name of a community of runners inside of EMC's social network. I thought that was so funny. What a great title, <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/working-at-emc-if-you-can-see-it-do-it.html">on many levels</a>. I joined the group -- hoping for a little inspiration as my training has been lagging for a Triathlon I signed up for, and which is about to bite me in the behind if I don't get going!  </p><h3>How Did I Miss This?</h3><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ef9b5b970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="TeamEMCatMarathon" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571ef9b5b970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ef9b5b970b-800wi" title="TeamEMCatMarathon" /></a> </p><p><br />This afternoon, when checking out some new employee story videos added to the <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/jobs/index.htm">EMC Careers section on EMC.com</a>, I noticed a very special new one I've managed to miss up until now -- <a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/mediaplayer-video/boston-marathon.htm">View it here</a>. </p><p>What a great story! EMC runners from Peru, Italy, Oregon, and more, can be seen sharing their views on a very untold part of EMC ... and at the very end, you see the reason they worked to raise money, train, and then fly themselves into Hopkinton for a <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/how-i-got-hired-at-emc-and-the-boston-marathon.html">26+ mile run into Boston</a>.   </p><p>  </p><p><a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/mediaplayer-video/boston-marathon.htm" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ef9bb0970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Respite Center" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571ef9bb0970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ef9bb0970b-800wi" title="Respite Center" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/mediaplayer-video/boston-marathon.htm"><br /></a></p><p><a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/mediaplayer-video/boston-marathon.htm">Here it is again. </a>It will lift your spirits, and show you something a little unexpected. I promise.<a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/demos/microsites/mediaplayer-video/boston-marathon.htm"><br /></a></p><p>You can see why we let people like this run EMC.</p><p>PS: Glad to say I had a GREAT run today!  <br /><strong><br />-------------------- Talk Back -----------------------</strong></p><p>Have you pushed yourself lately -- or supported making positive impact in addition to profit?</p><p>Some times we all just need a little inspiration to get the motivation. Right? </p><p /><p> - Polly Pearson</p><p>http://twitter.com/pollypearson<br />http://twitter.com/emccareers</p><p>http://www.pollypearson.com</p><p /><p /><p><br /> </p><br /><p /><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Initiative, Passion and Cultural Evolution: Day in the Life.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/07/initiative-passion-and-cultural-evolution-day-in-the-life.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/07/initiative-passion-and-cultural-evolution-day-in-the-life.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e5519367618834011570e8dc80970c</id>
        <published>2009-07-08T19:00:07-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-07-08T22:26:03-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Some stand outs from my day at EMC: C-level blogging and transparent communication Meeting with our Vice Chairman and head of Global Sales, Bill Teuber, who wants to blaze new communication ground and is ready to personally share -- via blog, vlog and more -- the stories he encounters as EMC stakes its sights on a new level of success. [Pictured: Bill Teuber on my flipcam.] Moonwalks &amp; SpongeBob StorageMan Meeting with two EMC women who took initiative to bring back EMC HQ's "bring your child to work day." They proposed it, creatively figured out how to fund it, designed the event and are now going through the final details to make it great. Included will be the first ever Jumpy House/Moonwalk in the courtyard at EMC's headquarter building and a Sponge Bob Square Pants-like character depicting our CLARiiON product. [Pictured: Moonwalk, SpongeStorageMan, EMC Courtyard at HQ (in a storm.)] Art Showing &amp; Sale outside the Board Room Spending ten minutes at a Gallery Showing of art for sale by local artists -- located right outside my office in a hallway leading to the Board Room. (I want to buy 3 of them!) This excellent showing, the second of its...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><br />Some stand outs from my day at EMC:</p>
<p><strong>C-level blogging and transparent communication</strong><br />Meeting with our Vice Chairman and head of Global Sales, Bill Teuber, who wants to blaze new communication ground and is ready to personally share -- via blog, vlog and more -- the stories he encounters as EMC stakes its sights on a new level of success.</p>
<p><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">[Pictured: Bill Teuber on my flipcam.]</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ddb13f970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Billvlog" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571ddb13f970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571ddb13f970b-800wi" title="Billvlog" /></a> </p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Moonwalks &amp; SpongeBob StorageMan</strong><br />Meeting with two EMC women who took initiative to bring back EMC HQ's "bring your child to work day." They proposed it, creatively figured out how to fund it, designed the event and are now going through the final details to make it great.  Included will be the first ever Jumpy House/Moonwalk in the courtyard at EMC's headquarter building and a Sponge Bob Square Pants-like character depicting our CLARiiON product.</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">[Pictured: Moonwalk, SpongeStorageMan, EMC Courtyard at HQ (in a storm.)]</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e8a3f9970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Moonwalk" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570e8a3f9970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e8a3f9970c-800wi" style="WIDTH: 180px; HEIGHT: 168px" title="Moonwalk" /></a> <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd8e3f970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Storageman" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571dd8e3f970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd8e3f970b-800wi" style="WIDTH: 216px; HEIGHT: 167px" title="Storageman" /></a><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd9605970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="CourtyardHQ" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571dd9605970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd9605970b-800wi" style="WIDTH: 199px; HEIGHT: 149px" title="CourtyardHQ" /></a> </p>
<p><br /><strong>Art Showing &amp; Sale outside the Board Room</strong><br />Spending ten minutes at a Gallery Showing of art for sale by local artists -- located right outside my office in a hallway leading to the Board Room.  (I want to buy 3 of them!) This excellent showing, the second of its kind, came from a man who creates graphics for our execs by day. He had the idea for such a showing by local artists, and made it happen. (Kudos Chuck!). 
<p />
<p><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><font color="#000000" />[Pictured: The Gallery Guide &amp; The Gallery]</span></p>
<p />
<p><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e87314970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Gallery guide comp" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570e87314970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e87314970c-800wi" style="WIDTH: 297px; HEIGHT: 222px" title="Gallery guide comp" /></a> </span> <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd30fa970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Gallery" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571dd30fa970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd30fa970b-800wi" style="WIDTH: 293px; HEIGHT: 219px" title="Gallery" /></a> </p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Achieving victory in a Roadblock-filled Deal</strong><br />Seeing the agreement for a certain hot asset to join EMC. There were many moments in this deal's history where a company could have thrown in the towel. Not this place.</p>
<p />
<p><img alt="" src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/pearsp/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e88ad4970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Roadblock" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570e88ad4970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570e88ad4970c-800wi" style="WIDTH: 315px; HEIGHT: 208px" title="Roadblock" /></a> </p>
<p><br /><strong>Oh, yeah, and a Tornado!</strong></p>
<p>Excerpt from WBZ: <span id="blurb_body">At 3:10 pm, the National Weather Service Doppler Radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado near <strong>Hopkinton</strong> or 7 miles northwest of Milford moving southeast at 15 mph some locations in the warning include Holliston and Hopkinton.<br /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd54f7970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Tornado in hopk." border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571dd54f7970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571dd54f7970b-800wi" title="Tornado in hopk." /></a> </span></p>
<p><br /><span id="blurb_body" /></p>
<p style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span id="blurb_body">----------------- Talk Back ---------------</span></p>
<p><br /><span id="blurb_body" /></p>
<p><span id="blurb_body">How was your day? <br /></span></p>
<p><span id="blurb_body">How is your culture?</span></p>
<p><span id="blurb_body">What I find enjoyable about EMC's is that it is consistently full of passion and initiative -- yet is also always evolving. It is not the same company from year-to-year -- and yet it is.</span></p>
<p><span id="blurb_body" /> </p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Culture Contrast: Harnessing the Power of People</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/culture-contrast-harnessing-the-power-of-people.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/culture-contrast-harnessing-the-power-of-people.html" thr:count="1" thr:updated="2009-06-25T02:41:13-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68450541</id>
        <published>2009-06-24T13:59:29-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-25T12:06:50-04:00</updated>
        <summary>A colleague emailed me this NYT article titled, "Apple's Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger." It reeked of old world thinking to me. I truly hope it isn't true ... because up until reading this I've had a secret professional crush on Steve Jobs. Let's face it, he's charming and the products his vision and his team create either make you smile, or woo you with their beauty. But wow. Contrast the "lock it down, speak nothing, tweet nothing" culture, as depicted in this article, with what EMC has going on. While we take confidentiality seriously, we're also moving at warp speed to the model that leverages more connections, more collaboration, more sharing, and everything else 2.0. (Kudos to EMC leaders like Board Member, Jack Egan; Division President, Mark Lewis; HR EVP, Jack Mollen; and CTO, Jeff Nick; Marketing VP &amp; CTO Chuck Hollis; and the influence of folks who joined us from RSA Security like Dr. Burt Kaliski, for "getting this" early on and encouraging EMC to learn new skills to unlock the business magic within 2.0 management and behavior models.) The evolved EMC culture is a mecca for empowered Intrapreneurs, for people who like to be treated like adults,...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;A colleague emailed me this NYT article titled,&lt;a href="Apple%E2%80%99s%20Obsession%20With%20Secrecy%20Grows%20Stronger%20%20The%20New%20York%20Times%20http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/technology/23apple.html?_r=1&amp;amp;ref=business"&gt; &amp;quot;Apple&amp;#39;s Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger.&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It reeked of old world thinking to me. I truly hope it isn&amp;#39;t true ... because up until reading this I&amp;#39;ve had a secret professional crush on Steve Jobs. Let&amp;#39;s face it, he&amp;#39;s charming and the products his vision and his team create either make you smile, or woo you with their beauty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But wow. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Contrast the &amp;quot;lock it down, speak nothing, tweet nothing&amp;quot; culture, as depicted in this article, with what EMC has going on.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While we take confidentiality seriously, we&amp;#39;re also moving at &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/coolness-new-way-to-engage-employees-in-strategy-execution-.html"&gt;warp speed&lt;/a&gt; to the model that leverages more connections, more collaboration, more sharing, and everything else 2.0.&amp;#0160; (Kudos to EMC leaders like Board Member, Jack Egan; Division President, Mark Lewis; HR EVP, Jack Mollen; and CTO, Jeff Nick; Marketing VP &amp;amp; CTO Chuck Hollis; and the influence of folks who joined us from RSA Security like Dr. Burt Kaliski, for &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/new-fortune-500-rankings-and-other-cool-recognition.html"&gt;&amp;quot;getting this&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; early on and encouraging EMC to learn new skills to unlock the business magic within 2.0 management and behavior models.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The evolved EMC culture is a &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2008/09/energized-innovation-the-2008-class-of-really-smart-emcers-are-announced.html"&gt;mecca &lt;/a&gt;for empowered &lt;a href="http://stevetodd.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/innovation-field-trip-to-nyc.html"&gt;Intrapreneurs&lt;/a&gt;, for people who like to be &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-folks-add-to-the-discussion-why-do-i-work-at-emc.html"&gt;treated like adults&lt;/a&gt;, who enjoy the riches of &lt;a href="http://lensblog.typepad.com/ebiz/2009/06/welcome-new-emc-bloggers.html"&gt;connections and collaboration&lt;/a&gt;, and who have an abundance of &lt;a href="http://thestorageanarchist.typepad.com/"&gt;gifts to share &lt;/a&gt;which, when &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/working-at-emc-if-you-can-see-it-do-it.html"&gt;harnessed&lt;/a&gt;, can fast-forward growth of &lt;a href="http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00e551936761883400e5519367628834/post/6a00e5519367618834011168c45709970c/edit"&gt;nifty things&lt;/a&gt; like &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/new-fortune-500-rankings-and-other-cool-recognition.html"&gt;revenue, profit, markets, market share,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/branding-employee-engagement-employees-as-authors-speaks-volumes.html"&gt;brands&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/pride-and-people-great-news.html"&gt;life-saving efforts,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2008/09/best-tech-stock-of-the-double-decade.html"&gt;market value,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-best-place-to-work-video.html"&gt;awards,&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://community.emc.com/index.jspa"&gt;customer appreciation&lt;/a&gt; of &lt;a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/"&gt;game-changing strategies.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Earlier today, I wrote &lt;a href="http://www.emergingwebmemo.com/2009/06/enterprise-20-thinking-about-enterprise.html"&gt;a comment on another blog&lt;/a&gt; which discussed how one might position the &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/how-to-do-social-media-in-the-enterprise-case-study-in-action.html"&gt;value of a 2.0 model&lt;/a&gt; to companies looking for &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2008/10/innovation-fest.html"&gt;ROI.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;#0160; My reply is intimately related to this discussion of &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/the-startup-within-.html"&gt;workplace cultures&lt;/a&gt; -- and the &lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/employee-engagement-case-study-in-action-social-media.html"&gt;business value of that culture model decision&lt;/a&gt;. It follows.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;*********************************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571522d93970b-pi" style="display: inline;"&gt;&lt;img alt="Triangle" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011571522d93970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011571522d93970b-800wi" title="Triangle" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;*********************************&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Yesterday I presented my thoughts on the next wave of social
media to an audience of business leaders for the TARA Exchange. I found myself using the analogy of a
Triangle to show the value.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Imagine the top of the triangle as the &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot;
top down driven way of getting information out and engaging audiences.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;This is the typical command-and-control
world.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Now look at the relative size of the bottom of the
triangle.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Consider the backdrop of
today&amp;#39;s global business world where things change in a flash, and companies are
looking for &amp;quot;strategic agility&amp;quot; to get growth, growth and more
growth.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Would you like to have just the precious few engaging the
world with your mission -- the top?&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Or
everybody? Will “just the top” get you there fast enough? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;
&lt;li style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Entrust your people. (99% will do the right thing; they
really do want to help your business rather than hurt it.) &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;
&lt;li style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Allow them to practice these new skills. &lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/span&gt;(Try an internal social network first. Ensure
that the environment is supportive, and people understand that mistakes will
happen – this is good. This is the place to learn. Encourage peer mentors in
these new skills.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;
&lt;li style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Provide them with some guidelines. (Be genuine yet positive;
Connect &amp;amp; Engage as well as promote; Be careful to share only &amp;#39;public&amp;#39;
information; Mentor your peers with external tools as well and look out for one
another; invest your time wisely; etc.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;And watch them become the most powerful and engaged organic
brand managers you&amp;#39;ve ever seen! They&amp;#39;ll do it for free, willingly, on their
own time even ... and have a blast as they see the needle moving as a result of
their efforts! They are a new type of leader in the 2.0 world. Here, leaders
emerge at every level and pay-grade … and they come with faithful followers.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;By leveraging the other side of the triangle, everyone is
working with you to achieve growth, growth and more growth.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Look again at your triangle.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: center; color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115705cf99f970c-pi" style="display: inline;"&gt;&lt;img alt="Triangle" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115705cf99f970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115705cf99f970c-800wi" title="Triangle" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;You know what else it represents?&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160;
&lt;/span&gt;Think &amp;#39;Delta,&amp;#39; the symbol of &amp;#39;Change.&amp;#39;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;------------------------- Talk Back ----------------------&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I like to think that when the triangle is turned upside down, it really makes music ... for your shareholders, your business results, and the happiness of your really engaged people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115715234e1970b-pi" style="display: inline;"&gt;&lt;img alt="Pic" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115715234e1970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115715234e1970b-800wi" title="Pic" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.pollypearson.com&lt;br /&gt;http://twitter.com/pollypearson&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>EMC: Best Place to Work, New Video</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-best-place-to-work-video.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-best-place-to-work-video.html" thr:count="2" thr:updated="2009-06-23T15:19:33-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68385469</id>
        <published>2009-06-22T20:22:20-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-23T15:05:56-04:00</updated>
        <summary>It is crunch time for every company working on big Best Places to Work submissions, such as the one for FORTUNE. Kudos to Taline Badrikian in EMC's Executive and Internal Communication Group who volunteered to put a little video together to share EMC's recent slew of recognition in this regard! I especially LOVE the Austin Powers-esque sound track! Dig it baby. ----------- Talk Back ----------- Talk back all right. For EMC, the FORTUNE survey is currently taking place in America. Next week the Boston Globe Best Place to Work survey happens in Massachusetts. And the week after that, every EMCer can add his or her voice in the global Employee Satisfaction and Motivation Survey. What? It's end of Quarter? Didn't anyone tell the survey hungry people that?! Well, at least someone is asking. I just saw a research report by an HR consultant firm that listed everything companies are cutting back on given the cost environment. Seems a ton of companies cut the employee survey. http://www.pollypearson.com http://twitter.com/pollypearson &lt;</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>It is crunch time for every company working on big Best Places to Work submissions, such as the one for FORTUNE.</p><p>Kudos to Taline Badrikian in EMC's Executive and Internal Communication Group who volunteered to put a little video together to share EMC's recent slew of recognition in this regard!</p><p>I especially LOVE the Austin Powers-esque sound track! Dig it baby.</p><br /><p /><p><object height="295" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sqTVm5glW8g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sqTVm5glW8g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" /></object></p><p /><p /><p /><p style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>----------- Talk Back -----------</strong></p><p>Talk back all right. For EMC, the FORTUNE survey is currently taking place in America. Next week the Boston Globe Best Place to Work survey happens in Massachusetts. And the week after that, every EMCer can add his or her voice in the global Employee Satisfaction and Motivation Survey.</p><p>What? It's end of Quarter?  Didn't anyone tell the survey hungry people that?!</p><p>Well, at least someone is asking. I just saw a <a href="http://www.gattihr.com/New-WebSite/Pages/Survey/Survey.html">research report</a> by an HR consultant firm that listed everything companies are cutting back on given the cost environment.  Seems a ton of companies cut the employee survey.  </p><p /><p>http://www.pollypearson.com<br />http://twitter.com/pollypearson</p><p>&lt;


</p><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Pride and People:  Great News</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/pride-and-people-great-news.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/pride-and-people-great-news.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68262021</id>
        <published>2009-06-18T19:43:13-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-19T14:55:19-04:00</updated>
        <summary>A Story about Wonders Years ago, when I was running Investor Relations for EMC, a little voice in my head said, "This is fun and all, and gee, a lot of people are making a lot of money thanks to these efforts ... but one day, it would be nice if I could really and truly feel as though I was also working toward making the world a better place." ... and now I see our folks in IR, Marketing (including me!), Human Resources, and every where else here, making differences in ways well beyond commerce. Yes, our technology inventions and services keep the world of on-line everything humming every day ... and we're also helping families. We're helping to save a life. Not in a slogan sort of way. Truly. [About the illustration: This artwork is hung on the walls of our Mothers Rooms. These rooms are set up to be Oasis' for our nursing mothers, so that they can continue to keep their focus on their family, while knowing that the EMC family supports them doing just that.] Enter the story of Nick Glasgow. Exactly 30 days ago, EMC's EVP, Jack Mollen, heard that Nick, a 28 year-old...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>A Story about Wonders<br /></strong></div><p><br />Years ago, when I was running Investor Relations for EMC, a little voice in my head said, "This is fun and all, and gee, a lot of people are making a lot of money thanks to these efforts ... but one day, it would be nice if I could really and truly feel as though I was also working toward making the world a better place."</p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">... </span><em>and </em>now I see our folks in IR, Marketing (including me!), Human Resources, and every where else here, making differences in ways well beyond commerce. Yes, our technology inventions and services keep the world of on-line everything humming every day ... and we're also helping families. We're helping to save a life. Not in a slogan sort of way. Truly.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115712a7942970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Csg2263_mother_loung_poster-sm" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115712a7942970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115712a7942970b-800wi" title="Csg2263_mother_loung_poster-sm" /></a> </p><p>[<strong>About the illustration</strong>:  This artwork is hung on the walls of our Mothers
Rooms.
These rooms are set up to be Oasis' for our nursing mothers, so that
they can continue to keep their focus on their family, while knowing
that the EMC family supports them doing just that.]</p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><h3>Enter the story of Nick Glasgow.</h3>  <br /></div><p><br /><em>Exactly </em>30 days ago, EMC's EVP, Jack Mollen, heard that Nick, a 28 year-old EMC employee needed a bone marrow donor in order to save his life. His doctors told him there was zero chance of a match due to his Asian/Caucasian mix. In minutes, Mark Fredrickson, VP of EMC in Marketing, was engaged and asked to see what we could do to help. Within an hour, our PR and Marketing Communication/Social Media abilities and practitioners worked to help get the word out to see if we could help Nick find a bone marrow donor that could match his needs ... F-A-S-T!  (I think most <em>every </em>EMC blogger, micro-blogger and Facebook user <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/those-of-asian-and-caucasian-background-please-read.html">put out the word</a> to their network as soon as they got the news.)</p><p>The full, and still unfolding, story of this journey is documented on a blog, <a href="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/" title="EMC's race to save nick glasgow blog">"The Race to Save Nick Glasgow,"</a> Mark and Dave Farmer, our head of Corporate PR, set up to help rally more interest and help while keeping everyone informed of the progress.</p><p>The most recent chapter can be found here, in an email Mark sent to all 42,000 EMCers tonight. (Shared with permission from Mark.)</p><p /><p><strong><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Hope has been Found: Two Matching Donors Located.</span></strong></p><p><font face="Tahoma" size="1">_____________________________________________ 
</font><br /><strong><span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">From:  </span></strong> <span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">Fredrickson, Mark  </span><br /><strong><span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">Sent:  </span></strong> <font face="Tahoma" size="1">Thursday, June 18, 2009 4:55 
PM</font> <br /><strong><span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">To:    </span></strong> <span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">EMC ALL-Employees</span><br /><strong><span size="1" style="font-family: Tahoma;">Subject:       </span></strong> <font face="Tahoma" size="1">Nick Glasgow: Great 
news on an employee in need</font> </p><br />
<p><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">In the weeks since we first shared Nick 
Glasgow's desperate situation with the EMC community, thousands of you have 
responded with action, support and kindness in ways that have provided 
tremendous hope and encouragement to Nick and his Mom, Carole -- both EMC 
colleagues in our Content Management &amp; Archiving business based in 
Pleasanton, California.  </font></p>
<p><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">This week, Nick and Carole received the 
best news they have heard since his ordeal with Leukemia first began -- the hope 
of two potential bone marrow donors who appear to be extremely well-matched and 
willing. I am forwarding Carole's message about her son's encouraging news, as 
so many of you have asked to be kept informed. </font></p>
<p><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Nick still has a challenging road ahead 
of him. What is clear is that the heart of EMC people, which quickly spread 
beyond our company and into many other communities and businesses through the 
speed and efficiency of social networking, really can make a difference in ways 
beyond the work we all have in common. </font></p>
<p><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Nick's story has brought unprecedented 
attention to the need for more people to register as potential donors, and the 
volume of new registrations has skyrocketed. We truly hope that Nick's life is 
the first of many to be saved by this compassionate response -- and that anyone 
considering joining the registry will do so. </font></p>
<p><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">For those who wish to follow Nick's 
progress, this blog will continue to be updated:</font> <br /><a href="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/" title="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;" title="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/"><span color="#0000ff" style="font-family: Times New Roman;" title="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/">The Race to Save Nick Glasgow</span></span></a> </p>
<p><span color="#0000ff" size="2" style="font-family: Arial;">Best, </span><br /><span color="#0000ff" size="2" style="font-family: Arial;">Mark </span></p><p /><p style="font-size: 20px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Nick, we're with you.</p><h3>----------------- Talk Back ------------------</h3><br /><p>What are you thinking right now?</p><p /><p>A big "thank you" for the efforts to find a match goes to EMC customers, partners, employees, bloggers, Tweeters, and most of the entire tech industry for contributing in ways such as: getting tested personally, setting up and funding testing centers,and getting the word out to others via Facebook,Twitter, phone calls, emails, and personal pleas. </p><p /><p>http://www.pollypearson.com<br />http://twitter.com/pollypearson</p><p />

<script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>The Other Kind of "Culture" Alive and Well at EMC</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/the-other-kind-of-culture-alive-and-well-at-emc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/the-other-kind-of-culture-alive-and-well-at-emc.html" thr:count="3" thr:updated="2009-06-15T12:13:22-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68002079</id>
        <published>2009-06-11T17:38:30-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-15T12:15:10-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Artists. This gorgeous, living photography show is a Flickr stream populated by EMC photographers, globally. It greets me every time I log into our internal social network, EMC|ONE. ----------------------------------------------- Another art-oriented group really seems to be taking off at EMC as well. This one is known as the "Creators, Artists and Art Lovers" group. In this group, they encourage and celebrate one another's work via monthly "art challenges." Lately, they started a monthly personal challenge by posting an illustration for inspiration (that evolution of the idea came from an employee in India). The work created, as a result, is posted in the community for all to appreciate. Creators, Artists, Art-Lovers Group A place to share creative efforts or discuss them. Painting, Photography, Dance, Sculpture, Poetry, Music, Literature, Pottery/Ceramics, Fabric, etc. Featured work within this group has included watercolors, poetry, quilts, Persian rugs, and oil painting portraits like this employee-created wonder by Ian Kabat: ------ Talk back ----------- Suprising? Cool? I think so. Polly Pearson http://www.pollypearson.com @pollypearson</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p style="text-align: center;" />
<h3>Artists.<br /></h3><br />
<center><iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="500" scrolling="no" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=780705@N21&amp;tags=emcone&amp;" width="500" /></center><br />
<p><br />This gorgeous, living photography show is a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/780705@N21/pool/show/">Flickr stream populated by EMC photographers, globally</a>. It greets me every time I log into our internal social network, EMC|ONE.</p><br />
<p />
<p style="text-align: center;">-----------------------------------------------</p>
<p>Another art-oriented group really seems to be taking off at EMC as well.  This one is known as the "Creators, Artists and Art Lovers" group.  In this group, they encourage and celebrate one another's work via monthly "art challenges." Lately, they started a monthly personal challenge by posting an illustration for inspiration (that evolution of the idea came from an employee in India). The work created, as a result, is posted in the community for all to appreciate.</p><br />
<p />
<p style="text-align: center; color: #0000bf; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Creators, Artists, Art-Lovers Group</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570200de0970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Artists" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570200de0970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570200de0970c-800wi" title="Artists" /></a></span>
</p>
<div class="jive-widget-body" id="jive-widgetframe-body_188595">
<div class="jive-sgroup-overview">
<div style="text-align: center;" />
<div class="jive-sgroup-image" style="text-align: center;"><br /> </div>
<div class="jive-sgroup-desc">
<div style="text-align: center;" />
<div class="jive-sgroup-description"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center; color: #0000bf; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><em>A place to share creative efforts or discuss them. Painting, Photography, Dance, Sculpture, Poetry, Music, Literature, Pottery/Ceramics, Fabric, etc.</em></strong></span><br /><span style="text-align: center; color: #0000bf; font-family: Trebuchet MS;" /></div><br /><br />Featured work within this group has included watercolors, poetry, quilts, Persian rugs, and oil painting portraits like this employee-created wonder by <a href="http://www.iankabat.com" title="oil portrait by EMC's Ian Kabat.">Ian Kabat:</a> <br /><br /></div><br /></div></div></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570029b3f970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Captain_ik" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570029b3f970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570029b3f970c-800wi" title="Captain_ik" /></a> <br /></div><br /><br /><br />
<h3>------ Talk back -----------</h3><br />
<p><br />Suprising? Cool? </p>
<p>I think so.</p><br />
<p>Polly Pearson<br />http://www.pollypearson.com<br />@pollypearson</p>
<p />
<p />
<script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>EMC folks add to the discussion: "Why Do I Work at EMC?"</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-folks-add-to-the-discussion-why-do-i-work-at-emc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/emc-folks-add-to-the-discussion-why-do-i-work-at-emc.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67941617</id>
        <published>2009-06-10T14:29:44-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-15T12:11:53-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Joe Tucci started this bit of sharing. He wrote an open letter to Data Domain employees telling them a bit about what it is like here and how they would be treated if they decided to join the EMC family. Now lots of folks are weighing in on why they work at EMC. These are Real Live Folks Working here in THIS age of EMC. Here's what some of the folks are saying THIS WEEK: Scott Waterhouse "Why would you want to be an EMC employee?" Dave Spencer "Why work at EMC?" Chuck Hollis "Why Do I Work For EMC?" Steve Todd "What a Difference a Decade Makes" Natalie Corridan-Gregg "I work for EMC because EMC works for Me." Mark Twomey "Why do I work at EMC? For the 1%." Chad Sakac (Virtual Geek): "Why I work for EMC..." Kathrin Winkler, "Have I mentioned that I love my job?" @MichelleLavoie, via Twitter: "Why work at EMC? Challenging, busy, learning, contributing, adding value, fun, people, even the occasional hug" @csiswim, via Twitter: "Why work at EMC? An expanding smorgasboard of diverse personal, business,and technical opportunities to whet any appetite for success." @phatphoto, via Twitter: I agree 100% with Scott W's blog...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Joe Tucci started this bit of sharing.  </p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9a80b970c-pi" style="display: inline;" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee86ca970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Joe6" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570ee86ca970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee86ca970b-800wi" style="width: 72px; height: 109px;" title="Joe6" /></a> <br /> </p><p>He wrote an <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/announcements/0509-data-domain.htm">open letter to Data Domain employees</a> telling them a bit about what it is like here and how they would be treated if they decided to join the EMC family. </p><p>Now lots of folks are weighing in on why they work at EMC. These are</p><p style="text-align: center; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Real </strong></p><p style="text-align: center; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Live </strong></p><p style="text-align: center; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Folks</strong></p><p style="text-align: center; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong>Working here in </strong></p><p style="text-align: center;" /><p style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; text-align: center;"><strong>THIS age of EMC. </strong></p> <p /><p /><p>Here's what some of the folks are saying THIS WEEK: </p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9adcb970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Scott-waterhouse" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9adcb970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9adcb970c-800wi" title="Scott-waterhouse" /></a> Scott Waterhouse <a href="http://thebackupblog.typepad.com/thebackupblog/2009/06/why-would-you-want-to-be-an-emc-employee.html">"Why would you want to be an EMC employee?"</a></p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9a9db970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="David-spencer" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9a9db970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9a9db970c-800wi" title="David-spencer" /></a> Dave Spencer <a href="http://www.davidkspencer.com/2009/06/10/why-work-at-emc/">"Why work at EMC?"</a> </p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9aa05970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Chuck-hollis" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9aa05970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9aa05970c-800wi" title="Chuck-hollis" /></a> Chuck Hollis <a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2009/06/why-do-i-work-for-emc.html">"Why Do I Work For EMC?"</a></p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee73fa970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Steve-todd" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570ee73fa970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee73fa970b-800wi" title="Steve-todd" /></a> Steve Todd<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> <a href="http://stevetodd.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/what-a-difference-a-decade-makes.html">"What a Difference a Decade Makes"</a></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> </span></p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f56245970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Nataliecorridangregg" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570f56245970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f56245970b-800wi" style="width: 54px; height: 56px;" title="Nataliecorridangregg" /></a> </p>



<p>  Natalie Corridan-Gregg <a href="http://natalie.corridan-gregg.com/?p=43">"I work for EMC because EMC works for Me."</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9ab69970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Mark-twomey" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9ab69970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9ab69970c-800wi" title="Mark-twomey" /></a> Mark Twomey <a href="http://storagezilla.typepad.com/storagezilla/2009/06/why-do-i-work-at-emc-for-the-1.html?CMP=">"Why do I work at EMC? For the 1%."</a></p><p /><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157008b7d3970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Chad-sakac" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157008b7d3970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157008b7d3970c-800wi" title="Chad-sakac" /></a>   Chad Sakac (Virtual Geek):  <a href="http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2009/06/why-i-work-for-emc.html">"Why I work for EMC..."</a></p><p /><p>   <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115701f73de970c-pi"><img alt="Kathrinw.jpg" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115701f73de970c selected " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115701f73de970c-120pi" style="width: 78px; height: 66px;" title="Kathrinw.jpg" /></a> </p><p>   Kathrin Winkler, <a href="http://interconnectedworld.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/have-i-mentioned-that-i-love-my-job.html">"Have I mentioned that I love my job?"</a></p><p>  <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee770f970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Michell l" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570ee770f970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee770f970b-800wi" title="Michell l" /></a>
@<a href="http://twitter.com/MichelleLavoie">MichelleLavoie</a>, via Twitter: "Why work at EMC? Challenging, busy,
learning, contributing, adding value, fun, people, even the occasional
hug"</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9b957970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Candi imming" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9b957970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9b957970c-800wi" title="Candi imming" /></a>   @<a href="http://twitter.com/csiswim">csiswim</a>, via Twitter: "Why work at EMC? An expanding smorgasboard of diverse personal, business,and technical opportunities to whet any appetite for success."</p><p><br />  <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee948d970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Phatphoto" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570ee948d970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ee948d970b-800wi" title="Phatphoto" /></a>   @<a href="http://twitter.com/phatphoto">phatphoto</a>, via Twitter: I agree 100% with Scott W's blog post! EMC is a great place to work!</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ffabdf0970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Nuzhat" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ffabdf0970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ffabdf0970c-800wi" title="Nuzhat" /></a> @<a href="http://twitter.com/NuzhatMKarim">NuzhatMkarim</a>, via Twitter: "Why work at #EMC?" Cause I can b myself. I have a voice &amp; am never just a number. I own what I do. Love the super smart down 2 earth ppl!</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9b732970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Gminks" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9b732970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9b732970c-800wi" title="Gminks" /></a>   @<a href="http://twitter.com/gminks">GMinks</a>, via Twitter:  "Work w smart people, good place to find a partner too!! (Its how I met @brianrosenthal) :)</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9cf38970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Kellylavin" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9cf38970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9cf38970c-800wi" title="Kellylavin" /></a> @<a href="http://twitter.com/KellyLavin">kellylavin</a>, via Twitter:  "Why work at #EMC ?" Employee Showcase, Visual Talk Radio show, @C2Cboston volunteer initiative, Campus Hires community, EMC Square/Store</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9e499970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Dyoung" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156ff9e499970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156ff9e499970c-800wi" title="Dyoung" /></a>  <a href="http://twitter.com/dyoung322"> @dyoung322</a>, via Twitter: "Why work at #EMC ?" Challenging, Endless Opportunities, Initiative is Commended, Involved w/ Community, Passionate People, Fun</p><p /><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5b6cc970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Mike_Fishman_head_shot_2007_normal" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570f5b6cc970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5b6cc970b-800wi" style="width: 47px; height: 48px;" title="Mike_Fishman_head_shot_2007_normal" /></a>   <a href="http://twitter.com/Mike_Fishman">@mike_fishman</a>, via Twitter: "Work at #EMC offers Opportunity, innovation, diversity both cultural and technical, reward, recognition, leadership, challenge, excitement"</p><p>  @mike_fishman "Why I work at #EMC" - And did I mention that working for EMC is wicked good fun! - It's nice to actually love your job and I do.</p><p /><p>++++++++++++++++</p><p>Care to see body language in these sentiments?  Visit <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EMCCareers">this site</a> on YouTube.  Hear many more personal stories that were shared over the past few quarters about EMC:</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570010b61970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Toms" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570010b61970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570010b61970c-800wi" style="width: 86px; height: 64px;" title="Toms" /></a> <br /> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svdoUmqArdk&amp;feature=channel_page">Tom </a>about his experience with his career development in Sales.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e0b5970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Renee" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570f5e0b5970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e0b5970b-800wi" style="width: 93px; height: 69px;" title="Renee" /></a> </p><p><strong /></p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Sd9AxbRh8&amp;feature=channel_page">Renee </a>about her career opportunities in HR.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570010e3c970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Marisol" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570010e3c970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570010e3c970c-800wi" style="width: 101px; height: 76px;" title="Marisol" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ge4-HRop8Y&amp;feature=channel_page">Marisol </a>about defining her life on a small island, in the Navy, at Harvard, and at EMC.</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115700a41dc970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Glenn" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115700a41dc970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115700a41dc970c-800wi" style="width: 107px; height: 80px;" title="Glenn" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uw2gP6HQfY&amp;feature=channel_page">Glenn</a>, a Stanford Grad, on empowerment and how EMC gives you the tools to create your personal  success.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e386970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Tom" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570f5e386970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e386970b-800wi" style="width: 102px; height: 76px;" title="Tom" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fj-kzIP4FA&amp;feature=channel_page">Tom</a>, about his experience at the front door of EMC. </p><p /><p><strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong>Many of the stories can be heard in </strong><strong>languages other than English. Such as:</strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115700111be970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Brittany" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115700111be970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115700111be970c-800wi" style="width: 104px; height: 78px;" title="Brittany" /></a> <br /></strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4kO8kVciVY&amp;feature=channel_page">Brittany's story, spoken in Mandarin</a></p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4kO8kVciVY&amp;feature=channel_page" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001126c970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Stephan" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157001126c970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001126c970c-800wi" style="width: 108px; height: 82px;" title="Stephan" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGjyaduSJ0&amp;feature=channel_page">Stephan's story </a>, spoken in <strong>German</strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001134b970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Jose" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157001134b970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001134b970c-800wi" style="width: 108px; height: 81px;" title="Jose" /></a> <br /></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-ZNkQt-kjc&amp;feature=channel_page">Jose's story </a>spoken in <strong>Spanish</strong>.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e8ee970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Dan" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570f5e8ee970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570f5e8ee970b-800wi" style="width: 106px; height: 79px;" title="Dan" /></a> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMQei3l-Jpw&amp;feature=channel_page">Dan's story</a>, in <strong>Hebrew</strong>.</p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001166f970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Nuzhatv" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157001166f970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157001166f970c-800wi" style="width: 107px; height: 80px;" title="Nuzhatv" /></a> <br /> </p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTdgoXjdwxA&amp;feature=channel_page">Nuzhat</a>, in <strong>Bangla</strong></p><p>+++++++++++++++++</p><p /><p>I tend to think, at the end of the day, that work is personal. </p><p /><h3>Not everyone wants to think, play and grow in the land of Big opportunity.</h3><p> That's cool. Keeping it small is just not our speed.</p><p><br />---------- Talk Back --------------</p><p>Why do you work where you are? Does the opportunity it presents match the size of your aspirations?</p><p />
<p /><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /> 
<p><br />Polly Pearson<br />http://www.pollypearson<br />@pollypearson</p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>"The Start-up Within ..."</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/the-startup-within-.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/the-startup-within-.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67901079</id>
        <published>2009-06-09T15:14:53-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-09T17:10:50-04:00</updated>
        <summary>What is the value of being part of EMC? Soon after EMC added several software companies on the West Coast to its family earlier this decade, EMC's recruiting organization was tasked with attracting and hiring over 300 top-notch software developers into a newly formed software division (now known as the Content Management and Archiving Division). DATELINE: March, 2006: The head of recruiting gave me a call asked for my help in shaping the conversation the recruiters had when presenting the EMC opportunity to the talent market. To tackle the best way to convey EMC as a place to work, we decided to interview software developers to get their view. We interviewed developers who recently accepted a position with EMC's software division; who refused a position with EMC's software division; and who have worked at EMC in software development for some time. We asked them questions such as: - What aspects of EMC did you find appealing? - What aspects of EMC did you find unappealing? - How would you describe the ideal situation/job for a software developer? - How would you describe EMC as a place to work to a peer who worked elsewhere? This ended up being one of...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Branding" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Advice" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><h3 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><h2><strong>What is the value of being part of EMC?</strong></h2>  <br /></div><p><br />Soon after EMC added several software companies on the West Coast to its family earlier this decade, EMC's recruiting organization was tasked with attracting and hiring over 300 top-notch software developers into a newly formed software division (now known as the Content Management and Archiving Division).</p><p>DATELINE: March, 2006: The head of recruiting gave me a call asked for my help in shaping the conversation the recruiters had when presenting the EMC opportunity to the talent market.</p><p>To tackle the best way to convey EMC as a place to work, we decided to interview software developers to get <em>their </em>view.  We interviewed developers who recently accepted a position with EMC's software division; who refused a position with EMC's software division; and who have worked at EMC in software development for some time.  We asked them questions such as:</p><div class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;">- What aspects of EMC did you find <strong>appealing</strong>?<br />- What aspects of EMC did you find <strong>unappealing</strong>?<br />- How would you describe the<strong> ideal situation/job</strong> for a software developer?<br />- How would you <strong>describe EMC as a place to work </strong>to a peer who worked elsewhere?<br /><br /></div><p><br />This ended up being one of my favorite projects.  I've worked in high-tech nearly my entire career and still, this little research project taught me so much. I won't say that the research was industrial-grade quality or that
every element stands the test of time. But it did serve to validate
some assumptions and cast new light on a true, compelling value of EMC
as a place to work. </p><p>So what were the findings? Let me jump to the "unappealing" perceptions before I go to the appealing and the ultimate discussion point when seeking to engage people in the value of being part of EMC.</p><p><strong>The Unappealing attribute perceptions</strong>:  There was a fear of the unknown. They were concerned about process at such a big company and the work challenge, in particular.</p><p><strong>The Appealing attribute perceptions</strong>: EMC's company strength, inclusive of management, strategy, finances, viability, benefits, resources, market leadership and people.</p><p><strong>The Ideal situation:</strong>  Technical challenge and an environment with technical management, freedom and flexibility, honesty, friendly, high-energy teams, technical resources, celebrations &amp; rewards, visibility for work and a variety of challenges from which to learn and grow.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Many <strong>described EMC </strong>in quotes similar to this:  "EMC is a place where
multiple, cutting edge projects are taking place -- all fueling growth and a differentiated strategy," and this: "EMC offers the challenge, career advancement, energy and freedom of a start-up."</p><h2 style="text-align: center;">Netting it all out: </h2><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>"The Start-Up within ... a $10B+ Global Leader."</strong><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>"At EMC, you experience the flexibility, freedom, and energy of a start up, <br />but with the resources and opportunities that a global leader brings."</strong><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In the subsequent years, we explored more deeply what EMC brings to the table as a place to work -- such as the ability to innovate every day -- you can find out more about that at <a href="http://www.emc.com/hr/">EMC.com/careers</a> and you can listen to folks, many of whom come from companies once acquired by EMC, on EMC's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EMCCareers">Career site on YouTube</a>. There, you'll also hear words that get reflected across every product group and organization within the company -- like "passion," "energy" and "drive" in a "dynamic" environment. As one person said, no two days here are ever alike!<br /><br /><h3>-------------- Talk Back ---------------</h3><br /><br />What's your ideal situation in a place to work?<br /><br />  <script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript" /> <br /><br /><strong>Polly Pearson</strong><br />18 years with EMC<br /><em>"I signed on intending to stay for one year. It has never stopped being interesting or inspiring. My role here has changed as often as I've wanted. For me, that's fun."</em><br />http://www.pollypearson.com<br />http://twitter.com/pollypearson<br /></div></div></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Coolness and the Cash Register: New Way to Engage Employees in Strategy Execution </title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/coolness-new-way-to-engage-employees-in-strategy-execution-.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/06/coolness-new-way-to-engage-employees-in-strategy-execution-.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67544201</id>
        <published>2009-06-02T12:05:45-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-02T12:40:45-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Yesterday I visited EMC's internal social network (EMC|ONE), and I noticed a lot of activity around a new group known as VCE -- standing for the VmWare, Cisco and EMC strategic vision involving Cloud Computing. The VCE vision is new, and compelling, and interest in it is spreading like wild fire throughout the community of information technology buyers and beyond. Let me stress the word "new," from the vantage point of sales reps that would be engaged in this discussion -- and the word,"compelling" from the vantage point of IT customers. That is the Wonderful Problem. Customers are eager to hear more. Sales reps are being asked to discuss the strategy so customers can start planning for this new paradigm in their shops. Time is money to everyone involved ... but how do you ready your field organization and beyond to lead such new strategic discussions ... NOW!? ENTER: The Internal Social Network. Within this platform the experts on the strategy, in the field and in HQ, are sharing real-time updates. They're sharing tips for how a rep can engage in the discussion. Reps are offering play-by-plays for how discussions went during recent Executive Briefings between customers, VMware, Cisco, and...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Technology &amp; Communication" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fc36b57970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Cash register" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fc36b57970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fc36b57970c-800wi" title="Cash register" /></a></div><p> </p><p>Yesterday I visited EMC's internal social network (EMC|ONE), and I noticed a lot of activity around a new group known as VCE -- standing for the <a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2009/05/press-and-analysts-react-to-private-cloud.html">VmWare, Cisco and EMC</a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> </span>strategic vision involving <a href="http://www.emc.com/leadership/tech-view/emergence-private-clouds.htm?cmp=ILC-carHP&amp;panel=the+emergence+of+private+clouds">Cloud Computing.</a> </p>
<p>The VCE vision is new, and compelling, and interest in it is spreading like wild fire throughout the community of information technology buyers and beyond.  Let me stress the word "new," from the vantage point of sales reps that would be engaged in this discussion -- and the word,"compelling" from the vantage point of IT customers. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>
<h3 align="center">That is the Wonderful Problem.</h3></strong>
</p><p />
<p />
<p>Customers are eager to hear more. Sales reps are being asked to discuss the strategy so customers can start planning for this new paradigm in their shops. Time is money to everyone involved ... but how do you ready your field organization and beyond to lead such new strategic discussions ... <strong><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">NOW</span></strong>!?</p>
<p><strong>
<h3 align="center">ENTER: The Internal Social Network.</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;" /></strong>
</p><p />
<p>Within this platform the experts on the strategy, in the field and in HQ, are sharing real-time updates. They're sharing tips for how a rep can engage in the discussion. Reps are offering play-by-plays for how discussions went during recent Executive Briefings between customers, VMware, Cisco, and EMC. Everyone is acknowledging concerns a rep might have to a degree you wouldn't see in a "normal" piece of communication from HQ to the field forces. (Example: no one wants to mess up.) It is all very personal feeling, very real-time, very two-way, and very helpful. It is serving to build knowledge, confidence, and lessons learned. It is genuine and honest. It is motivating!</p><p /><p style="text-align: center;" /><h3 style="text-align: center;">Reality TV and Warp Speed</h3><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570b8a461970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Voyager_warp" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570b8a461970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570b8a461970b-800wi" title="Voyager_warp" /></a> </p>
<p>It is also oddly exciting (even to me, as a person who has lived in this world for years). Like watching Reality TV right before your eyes on how a company of our size and scale (3 companies, actually) charts new territory -- only now, it is at <strong>2.0 warp speed </strong>and everyone at EMC gets a voice and a seat at the table!</p><br />
<p>
</p><h3>------------  Talk Back ---------------</h3>
<p />
<p>If you're inside of EMC, check it out and share your impressions on this new model.  </p>
<p>Outside of EMC, has your company experienced this shift?</p>
<p>To me, I've seen great value and benefits from the happenings inside of EMC|ONE -- but this one is special. It feels really big. It represents mega engagement from the field forces to a new degree with obvious $$$$ value.</p>
<p>Kudos to the EMC folks who moved to leverage this platform and share your real-time info. Wild-fire away!!</p><br />
<p>Polly Pearson  <br /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com">http://www.pollypearson.com; <br />http://twitter.com/pollypearson</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Workplace Culture: You want "Passion?" Here's 6 Times the Passion.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/workplace-culture-you-want-passion-ill-show-you-6-times-the-passion.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/workplace-culture-you-want-passion-ill-show-you-6-times-the-passion.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67386401</id>
        <published>2009-05-28T18:58:32-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-28T18:59:14-04:00</updated>
        <summary>A colleague of mine just wrote a blog post that shows the mood flowing through a lot of this place. I had to chuckle, then I had to stop and count the amount of times certain words were used: "Passion" 6 Times "Cool" 4 Times "Amazing," "Wonderful," "Engaging," and "Success" 2(+) Times. All in a normal-sized blog post! Makes me recall this recent quote from another EMCer's blog: [photo: NBC] "Optimism Returns To The IT Professional?" We seem to have moved beyond the doom-and-gloom life-really-sucks outlook of just a few months ago and firmly towards the newer opportunities that lie ahead for all of us. I'm just glad so many of these IT optimists are associated with EMC -- our employees, our partners and our valued customers. Makes working here more fun, it does. ------------------- Talk Back -------------------- Are you feeling it? If you're not, connect with someone who is. And, consider reading this short wonder of a book: Shellana Henderson over at Gallup Consulting made my day last week when she sent me the book "How Full is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life." It is filled with proof that moods are contagious -- and -- the...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>A colleague of mine just wrote a <a href="http://lensblog.typepad.com/ebiz/2009/05/emc-world-2009-recap-thank-you.html">blog post</a> that shows the mood flowing through a lot of this place. </p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8a821970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Len devanna" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fb8a821970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8a821970c-800wi" title="Len devanna" /></a> <br /></div> <p><br />I had to chuckle, then I had to stop and count the amount of times certain words were used:</p><div class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"Passion"</span> 6 Times<br /><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"Cool"</span> 4 Times<br /><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"Amazing," "Wonderful," "Engaging," <span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">and </span>"Success"</span>  2(+) Times.<br /></div><p><br />All in a normal-sized blog post! </p><p>Makes me recall this recent quote from another E<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">MCer's<a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2009/05/emc-world-wrap-up.html"> blog:</a></span></p><p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570ade1fc970b-pi" style="display: inline;" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8b3d2970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Chuck nbc" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fb8b3d2970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8b3d2970c-800wi" title="Chuck nbc" /></a> [photo: NBC]<br /> </p><p class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;"><em><strong>"Optimism Returns To The IT Professional?"</strong></em></p>

<p class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>We seem to have moved beyond the doom-and-gloom life-really-sucks outlook of 
just a few months ago and firmly towards the newer opportunities that lie ahead 
for all of us.</em></p>
<p class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>I'm just glad so many of these IT optimists are associated with EMC -- our 
employees, our partners and our valued customers.  </em></p>
<p class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;"><em><em>Makes working here more fun, it does.</em></em></p><br /><h3>------------------- Talk Back --------------------</h3><br /><p><br />Are you feeling it? </p><p>If you're not, connect with someone who is.   And, consider reading this short wonder of a book:</p><p>Shellana Henderson over at Gallup Consulting made my day last week when she sent me the book<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Full-Your-Bucket-Positive-Strategies/dp/1595620036"> "How Full is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life."</a>   It is filled with proof that moods are  contagious -- and -- the destruction that comes from lack of engagement (either positive or negative).</p><p>Actually, she sent me TWO books.  The other was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Full-Your-Bucket-Kids/dp/1595620273">"How Full is Your Bucket? <span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">For Kids</span>."</a>  The latter is a gorgeous and powerful children's book -- that potentially does as well, or better, than the adult book at conveying the concept. </p><p>My daughter Margo was so excited with the kids book that she brought it to school and had the teacher read it to her first grade class.  The teacher was so excited, she wrote to me and asked where she could get a copy of her own.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8af77970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Margo at Book Launch" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fb8af77970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fb8af77970c-800wi" title="Margo at Book Launch" /></a> </span> </p><p>Margo's passion for the concepts in the book continue. She has sound effects she uses for when people are adding to the environment, or subtracting from the environment. She suggests time outs when someone is operating in the wrong direction.</p><p>The economy is lousy. We can get sucked in by it, or look to the opportunity within it.  </p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Brand Promises: Google and EMC Compared.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/respect-brands-and-your-idiot-savant.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/respect-brands-and-your-idiot-savant.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67149899</id>
        <published>2009-05-27T07:51:00-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-27T09:15:58-04:00</updated>
        <summary>We usually take for granted what we're good at. Rob Enderle's recent article in Datamation, "EMC, Google and the Enterprise Market," spoke to me. In this article, and a second with the same theme, this long-term tech analyst compares EMC's strengths as a company managing truly critical information with Google's. What these articles made me think about: So much of what EMC's brand stands for to customers, and what we're really good at generally doesn't get headlines. Inside of EMC, it is sort of taken for granted. We don't promote it and we don't revel in it. We just "are" it. (On reflection, isn't that a near-perfect illustration of "brand?") What are the necessary strengths required by the organizations that the world depends upon? As Rob sees it (and I agree): You have to be trustworthy. You have to maintain relationships and protect the buyer. You have to deliver consistently what you promise. You don't get those things overnight, or without millions upon millions invested in what makes things work like oxygen. (See Rob's articles for his recap of Microsoft's journey in this space.) On-line Information and Oxygen. Are they Sexy? Not really. But the world doesn't run without them....</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Branding" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p />
<h3 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">We usually take for granted what we're good at.  <br /></h3>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570a846c5970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="RobEnderle" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570a846c5970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570a846c5970b-800wi" title="RobEnderle" /></a> </p>
<p />
<div><a href="http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/article.php/3821486/EMC-Google-and-the-Enterprise-Market.htm">Rob Enderle's recent article in Datamation</a>, <strong>"<a href="http://www.emc.com">EMC</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/services/">Google </a>and the Enterprise Market,"</strong> spoke to me.  In this article, and a <a href="http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/enderle/why-google-cant-even-spell-enterprise/?cs=32767">second </a>with the same theme, this long-term tech analyst compares EMC's strengths as a company managing truly critical information with Google's.  <br /><br /><strong>What these articles made me think about:</strong><br /><br />So much of what EMC's brand stands for to customers, and what we're really good at generally doesn't get headlines.  Inside of EMC, it is sort of taken for granted.  We don't promote it and we don't revel in it. We just "are" it.  (On reflection, isn't that a near-perfect illustration of "brand?")</div>
<div><br />What are the necessary strengths required by the organizations that the world <strong>depends</strong> upon? As Rob sees it (and I agree):<br />
<ul>
<li>You have to be <span style="FONT-SIZE: 19px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">trustworthy</span>. 
<li>You have to maintain <span style="FONT-SIZE: 19px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">relationships </span>and <span style="FONT-SIZE: 19px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">protect </span>the buyer. 
<li>You have to deliver consistently what you <span style="FONT-SIZE: 19px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">promise</span>. </li>
</li></li></ul>
</div>
<ul>
</ul>
<br />
<p>You don't get those things overnight, or without millions upon millions invested in what makes things work like oxygen. (See Rob's articles for his recap of <a href="http://www.interbrand.com/">Microsoft</a>'s journey in this space.)</p>
<p><br /></p>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">
<h3>On-line Information and Oxygen.</h3>  <br /></div>
<p>Are they Sexy? Not really. <strong> But the world doesn't run without them.</strong> As an <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/090428e.html">executive </a>affiliated with <a href="http://www.hp.com/#Product">HP</a> recently said to a large audience:<br /><br /></p>
<p />
<p />
<h3 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">"When EMC is not present, really bad things happen."</h3>
<p><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br />    </span></span></p>
<div>EMC is present where all information deemed important is present -- from critical surgeries to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/21/barack-obama-blackberry-national-security">President Obama's blackberry. </a> <br /><br />In research into EMC's brand conducted by <a href="http://www.interbrand.com/">Interbrand</a>, the number one one take away from our customers was this:<strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 17px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><br /><br /></span></strong>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 17px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">
<h3>"EMC is seen as a Promise Keeper."</h3></span></strong></div></div>
<div><span style="FONT-SIZE: 18px; COLOR: #ff0000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS'"><br /><span style="COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">So is Google or EMC in a better position? Read Rob's <a href="http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/article.p">article</a><a href="http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/enderle/why-google-cant-even-spell-enterprise/?cs=32767"> (s)</a> to see his views, and then share what you think.</span><br /></span></div><br />
<div>
<h3>--------------- Talk Back ----------------</h3></div><br />
<div><strong>What do you think?</strong><br /><br />Personally, I can't imagine not having the great search product that Google developed. I also can't imagine my life without the many applications and activities that depend on EMC to operate.  <br /><br />Like what? <br /><br />My Visa card, ATMs, Fast Lanes through toll booths, Check-free banking, my blackberry, on-time airplanes, on-time package delivery, and EMC's <a href="http://mozy.com/home">Mozy </a>back up for my home PC, for example.<br /><br />You can find Rob on Twitter at @enderle. You can find me at @pollypearson<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Polly</strong><br /><em>http://www.pollypearson.com</em><br /><br /></div></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Workplace Culture: "If you can see it, do it."</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/working-at-emc-if-you-can-see-it-do-it.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/working-at-emc-if-you-can-see-it-do-it.html" thr:count="3" thr:updated="2009-05-26T21:20:12-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67281965</id>
        <published>2009-05-26T12:12:20-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-26T12:25:19-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Culture at EMC About eighteen years ago, in my first week working at EMC, I asked the head of my department this question, "How do I become successful at EMC?" I love that the answer he gave that day is still so appropriate. He said, "If you see an opportunity to do something, ask if you can do it and chances are they'll say 'Yes.'" An even more up-to-date version of this, thanks in large part to social media tools and EMC's 2.0 management philosophy: "If you can see it, do it."* There is ALWAYS opportunity to jump in and work on something here, regardless of how it fits into your official day job. My colleague Dave Spencer, wrote a post on this today sharing a bit of his story and other observations he had while at EMCWorld. Below is an excerpt: "A while back I told Polly one of the things I’d tell a new (or potential) employee about EMC is that there’s always something that needs doing that isn’t being done, and that if you can find a way to do that, you’ll always have a place here. It’s never been more true, or more easy, than it...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Advice" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Development" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Meet An EMC'er" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><h3 style="text-align: center;">Culture at EMC<br /></h3><p><br />About eighteen years ago, in my first week working at EMC, I asked the head of my department this question,<a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2008/04/they-want-caree.html"> "How do I become successful at EMC?"</a></p><p>I love that the answer he gave that day is still so appropriate.</p><p>He said, <strong>"If you see an opportunity to do something, ask if you can do it and chances are they'll say 'Yes.'"</strong></p><p>An even more up-to-date version of this, thanks in large part to social media tools and EMC's 2.0 management philosophy:<br /> </p><h3 style="text-align: center;">"If you can see it, do it."*</h3><p>There is ALWAYS opportunity to jump in and work on something here, regardless of how it fits into your official day job.  </p><p>My colleague <a href="http://www.davidkspencer.com/2009/05/26/what-hat-are-you-wearing/">Dave Spencer, wrote a post</a> on this today sharing a bit of his story and other observations he had while at <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/news/emcworld/2009/index.htm">EMCWorld</a>. Below is an excerpt:</p><p />
<p class="blockquote" style="margin-left: 40px;">"A while back I told <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/">Polly</a>
one of the things I’d tell a new (or potential) employee about EMC is
that there’s always something that needs doing that isn’t being done,
and that if you can find a way to do that, you’ll always have a place
here.  It’s never been more true, or more easy, than it is today.  I
can’t imagine this is unique to EMC, but I certainly admire the way
which EMC has allowed and encouraged us to explore those opportunities."</p><p>Dave was kind enough to sit down with me a couple quarters ago to answer the question, "What inspires you about EMC?" This is one of two clips we posted to the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EMCCareers">EMC Careers channel on YouTube</a> with his answers.You can get to know Dave a bit better and hear more on this in the
short clip below. (At 1:19 he talks directly to this subject of this
post.) </p><p><br /> </p><p><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lWP7pTx67uY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lWP7pTx67uY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" /></object></p><p>* The only caveat, deep in the code of the EMC Culture, is that you continue to execute your official job inclusive of meeting all your goals. Anything you wish to do on top of that is essentially an open door.</p><p style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">--------------------- Talk Back -----------------------</p><p /><p>What's your story? Are you doing things at work because you saw an opportunity and jumped in?<br /><object height="344" width="425" /></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Brands.  "What comes to mind when you hear 'EMC?'"</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/brands-what-comes-to-mind-when-you-hear-emc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/brands-what-comes-to-mind-when-you-hear-emc.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67060095</id>
        <published>2009-05-20T14:12:22-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-28T13:32:57-04:00</updated>
        <summary>I like this quote on Brands, "Brand identity either leads or lags reality." With that in mind, I always love to hear what people most associate with my bread-and-butter brand. A lot of people have long equated EMC with storage. This is goodness! We're the category leader in this IT space. We're also a lot more than this today. In the following fun video clip, you will hear storage a few times as well as some other long-standing and cherished attributes such as "Reliability, Quality, Service, Excellent" and, what the heck, "Money!" There are many new attributes, as well, in these one-word associations. Attributes which speak volumes to the newer dimensions of EMC and our value to the market. It is exciting to see these being heard and appreciated to this degree! I also find it awesome as a brand-centric person that the "new" list is even longer than the "enduring" list. The speed of such a brand identity additions is remarkable. There is a big word missing though, can you catch it? It might just be that with this audience it is assumed -- though I suspect it really means EMC has some brand work to do! Here's what...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Branding" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://markfredrickson.wordpress.com/" style="display: inline;"><img src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fa7990b970c-pi%22" /><img alt="Savenick" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fa7990b970c image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fa7990b970c-800wi" title="Savenick" /></a> </p><br />
<p>I like this quote on Brands, </p>
<h3 align="center">"Brand identity either leads or lags reality."</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">With that in mind, I always love to hear what people most associate with my bread-and-butter brand.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">A lot of people have long equated EMC with <strong>storage</strong>. This is goodness! We're the category leader in this IT space. We're also a lot more than this today. In the following fun video clip, you will hear storage a few times as well as some other long-standing and cherished attributes such as "<strong>Reliability, Quality, Service, Excellent"</strong> and, what the heck, "<strong>Money</strong>!"</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">There are many new attributes, as well, in these one-word associations. Attributes which speak volumes to the newer dimensions of EMC and our value to the market.  It is exciting to see these being heard and appreciated to this degree!  I also find it awesome as a brand-centric person that the "new" list is even longer than the "enduring" list. The speed of such a brand identity additions is <strong>remarkable</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">There is a big word missing though, can you catch it? It might just be that with this audience it is assumed -- though I suspect it really means EMC has some brand work to do!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Here's what was said at EMCWorld this week in this up-beat, man-on-the-street type of vid.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p>
<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GedLA4Nnu2Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GedLA4Nnu2Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" /></object></p><br />
<p style="text-align: center;">
</p><h3 align="center">The words I captured:</h3>
<p />
<p style="text-align: center;">Infrastructure</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Unified Storage</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Virtualization</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Security</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">DR (disaster recovery)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Celera</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Reliable </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Storage</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Documentum</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Money!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Services</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Back Ups</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Quality</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Enterprise Suite</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Global Player</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">My Goodness!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Storage Innovation</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Excellent</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Reliable Player</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">
</p><h3>----------------- Talk Back ----------------</h3>
<p />
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>What word is missing?!</strong>  </p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Hint</em>: While a few major product names are missing, I'm looking to a word that speaks to a higher, and increasingly vital level of brand association.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">My answer will come in a future post. </p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>How is your brand doing?</strong>  Have you done this lately? We could all likely use a touch-base, and a tune up on our bread-and-butter brands ... and well as our own <em>enduring brand</em>: <strong>ourselves</strong>.  </p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>"How to do Social Media for Business" Case Study in Action</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/how-to-do-social-media-in-the-enterprise-case-study-in-action.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/how-to-do-social-media-in-the-enterprise-case-study-in-action.html" thr:count="7" thr:updated="2009-05-20T15:56:06-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66995143</id>
        <published>2009-05-19T19:20:17-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-20T16:19:11-04:00</updated>
        <summary>How EMC is leveraging Social Media at its conference, EMC World, is a great case study to observe. It must be far from perfect -- and at the same time I'll say I've never seen anything as comprehensive and engaging on this scale. There are global followers of the thousands of tweets, blogs, news clips, and videos coming from the attendees originating from 96 countries -- interacting with the attendees as if they were there, too. And that is from the "target audience!" The "official" content from EMC and mainstream journalists is on top of that. What's been happening? - ENGAGING COVERAGE: Our customers and other attendees have been doing the reporting on what they find noteworthy in real-time on Twitter, with a hashtag (#EMCWorld) for everyone to keep track of one another's "coverage," and in their blogs and news reports. (One remote observer compared it to the relative silence that comes from Live Webcasts. Twitter engages; it is 2-way communication. Webcasts inform, but don't engage.) - ENGAGING COVERAGE CONTENT: Our customers, bloggers, employees and traditional journalists are sharing the photos and video clips -- you're seeing the event in the eye of the attendee. See this cool composite of...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Technology &amp; Communication" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>How EMC is leveraging Social Media at its conference, EMC World, is a great case study to observe. It must be far from perfect -- and at the same time I'll say I've never seen anything as comprehensive and engaging on this scale. There are global followers of the thousands of tweets, blogs, news clips, and videos coming from the attendees originating from 96 countries  -- interacting with the attendees as if they were there, too. And that is from the "target audience!"  The "official" content from EMC  and mainstream journalists is on top of that.  </p>
<p><strong>What's been happening?</strong></p>
<p>- <strong>ENGAGING <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">COVERAGE</span></strong>: Our customers and other attendees have been doing the reporting on what they find noteworthy in real-time on Twitter, with a hashtag <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=emcworld#search?q=emcworld">(#EMCWorld)</a> for everyone to keep track of one another's "coverage," and in their <a href="http://renegade.tweakblogs.net/blog/1870/emc-world-2009-day-1-recap-day-2-starting-soon.html">blogs</a> and news <a href="http://breathingdata.com/">reports</a>.  (One  remote observer compared it to the relative silence that comes from Live Webcasts.  Twitter engages; it is 2-way communication.  Webcasts inform, but don't engage.) </p>
<p>- <strong>ENGAGING <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">COVERAGE CONTENT</span></strong>: Our customers, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MieKqIysR5Q&amp;feature=related">bloggers</a>,  <a href="http://www.davidkspencer.com/2009/05/19/emc-world-2009-day-two-srm-futures/">employees</a> and traditional <a href="http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=53236">journalists</a> are sharing the <a href="http://twitpic.com/5icg2">photos</a> and <a href="http://storagezilla.typepad.com/storagezilla/2009/05/emc-world-iomegas-ego-.html">video clips</a> -- you're seeing the event in the eye of the attendee.  See this cool composite of photos they're taking over on my colleague's <a href="http://lensblog.typepad.com/ebiz/2009/05/the-images-of-emc-world.html">Len's blog</a>. He did a search on Flickr, embedded it in his blog, and it shows up as a living photostream. In another example, an attendee turned on his flip cam during a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpBLLt1GkI">Q&amp;A</a>with CEO Joe Tucci and had it loaded into his Tweetstream moments later for everyone to see.</p>
<p><strong>- ENGAGING <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">RELATIONSHIPS</span>:</strong>  See the blogs by my colleagues <a href="http://nohype.tumblr.com/post/109935066/emcworld-opt">Stu</a>, <a href="http://web2.sys-con.com/node/967824">Dave </a>and <a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2009/05/emc-world-initial-impressions.html#more">Chuck</a>. They all remark on the sea change they're feeling and experiencing in the quality of relationships with the attendees -- due to the fact that we've been engaging all year long via our blogs and Tweets  (on top the more typical "remembering people from last year's event.")</p>
<p>- ENGAGED <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><strong>AUDIENCES</strong>:</span>  See what this <a href="http://www.itpro.co.uk/610932/emc-world-2009-twitter-for-business-that-works">"cynical" journalist</a> had to say about EMC's use of social media and how EMC actually listened and responded in real time to what attendees needed and wanted during the conference, thanks to microblogging over Twitter and EMC's attentiveness to it. She also mentions how following the conference on Twitter made it that much easier for her to know what was going on where. In short, it added clear value and service to her.</p>
<p><strong>- COOL and ENGAGING <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">OFFICIAL COMPANY CONTENT</span></strong>:  Frankly, seeing this site is what put me over the edge to write this blog.  Check out <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/news/emcworld/2009/index.htm">EMC's social media site</a> for this event containing video, blogs, presentations, event news updates via <a href="http://twitter.com/emcworld">@EMCWorld on Twitter</a> and more  -- most having  a 2.0 feel -- from the official company channels. See the 1min, in-the-hallway video of Frank Hauck, EVP of most of EMC, giving you the take aways from the conference. That's cool. See also the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/EMCWorld2009">EMCWorld 2009 site on YouTube</a> -- filled with customer videos, EMC brand videos, and an even an EMC employee/exec rock band, RunEMC playing a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM7SvQSD84s&amp;feature=channel_page">tribute song</a> to our 30th anniversary as a company (look for my cameo!).</p>
<p>- <span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><strong>Infotainment!</strong></span>  Attendees and observers alike seem to love it! <a href="http://lensblog.typepad.com/ebiz/2009/05/friends-of-emc-world-chuck-hollis.html">This buzz is rounding the globe</a>.</p>
<p>So with my marketing and branding leverage hat on, what this engagement communication model has done is to multiply (100x?) the value of the event itself.  This is one tree that didn't fall in the forest where no one could hear it.</p><br />
<h3 align="center">So what about the <span style="FONT-SIZE: 25px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">substance</span>?! </h3>
<h3 align="center">Is this just a pretty bowl of marketing whipped cream?</h3>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"> </p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fa297c3970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Whippedcream" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156fa297c3970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156fa297c3970c-800wi" title="Whippedcream" /></a> </p><br />
<p>[photo: @ferne Arfin]</p>
<p>I'll point you to my colleague's <a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2009/05/emc-world-initial-impressions.html#more">Chuck's blog</a> on that one.  There Chuck reminds us that this is no marketing event. Aside from the keynotes, this conference is all about engineers presenting technology to audiences of engineers. There are over 500 EMC Engineer presenters. I don't make a habit of going to this event because frankly it isn't meant for me. It would make my head explode. They're talking in techie speak that hurts even the minds of advanced Phd's. Its like a Mensa-convention-meets-MIT on steroids.</p>
<p> -- The audience for this event spans 96 countries and numbers about 7,000. After JUST 1.5 days of the show, it was reported that over 1500 tweets were sent by attendees with the hashtag #EMCWorld. As over 200 attendees joined Twitter just today at the conference, I imagine this is growing exponentially as well. -- </p>
<p>Kudos to everyone at EMC who put together what is clearly such a fine, well-received, and valued event.</p>
<p />
<h3>----------------- Talk Back ------------------</h3>
<p />
<p>What else did you notice in this case study?</p>
<p>This is one where new examples and value statements will continue to occur to me and everyone else who watched this study evolve for months to come.</p>
<p>And heck, the show isn't even half over yet.</p><br />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>eGo: See Jay's million dollar drive.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/as_kissing-storage.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/as_kissing-storage.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66940331</id>
        <published>2009-05-18T17:28:44-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-21T07:54:32-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Remember the Dell ad with a laptop that fits into an InterOffice Envelope? I couldn't help but think of that when Jay Krone, EMC Product Marketing Director and Iomega enthusiast, came bounding into my office last week with the newest from Iomega which seems to one-up the Dell ad. Check it out for a chuckle. According to Jay, what just a couple of years ago would cost you $1 Million dollars (insert Austin Powers expression here), you can now have for $135.00 and it slides into your back pocket with less lift (unfortunately for Jay) than a wallet. Great job EMC Iomega folks on the latest, very cool eGo drive! -------------- Talk Back ----------- I can't wait to see it in our HQ's coffee shop -- the only place in town where you can pick up a half terabyte and a nice cup of coffee.</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Meet An EMC'er" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Remember the Dell ad with a laptop that fits into an InterOffice Envelope?</p>
<p>I couldn't help but think of that when Jay Krone, EMC Product Marketing Director and Iomega enthusiast, came bounding into my office last week with the <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2009/20090518-03.htm">newest </a>from <a href="http://go.iomega.com/en-us/?partner=4760">Iomega</a> which seems to one-up the Dell ad.</p>
<p>Check it out for a chuckle.</p>
<p>According to Jay, what just a couple of years ago would cost you $1 Million dollars (insert Austin Powers expression here), you can now have for $135.00 and it slides into your back pocket with less lift (unfortunately for Jay) than a wallet.</p>
<p><br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/un9_gtBJUGU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/un9_gtBJUGU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" /></object></p>
<p>
</p><h3>Great job EMC Iomega folks on the latest, very cool eGo drive!</h3>
<h3>-------------- Talk Back -----------</h3><h3><br /></h3>
<p>I can't wait to see it in our HQ's coffee shop -- the only place in town where you can pick up a half terabyte and a nice cup of coffee.</p><br />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /><p /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Those of Asian and Caucasian Background, Please Read, Share</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/those-of-asian-and-caucasian-background-please-read.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/those-of-asian-and-caucasian-background-please-read.html" thr:count="7" thr:updated="2009-05-28T11:43:44-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66930305</id>
        <published>2009-05-18T13:41:39-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-18T13:13:22-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Let's Prove The Odds Wrong! On May 13th, doctors at Stanford Hospital told Nick Glasgow that he has a 0% chance of finding a donor, given his unique ethnic make-up of ¼ Japanese and ¾ Caucasian. Nick, 28 years old and an EMC employee, is in the race for his life. The need to find a qualified bone marrow doner is at a critical stage. In mid March, Nick was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. There was a 70% chance that Nick would go into remission after one chemo treatment, however, Nick’s fate lies in the other 30%. He went through two treatments, and he is still not in remission. Nick’s only hope is to find a bone marrow donor. The National Bone Marrow Registry only has a handful of such potential donors, and the likelihood of them being a match is slim to none. Please see the following, an email just distributed to all 40,000 EMC employees ... the race is on to save a friend and a great guy: ******************************* On Friday we circulated word through the global EMC community and beyond about Nick Glasgow, a 28-year-old EMC employee in California who, in the span of just weeks, has...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Let's Prove The Odds Wrong!</p>
<p><strong>On May 13th, doctors at Stanford Hospital told <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=187327345176">Nick Glasgow</a> that he has a 0% chance of finding a donor, given his unique ethnic make-up of ¼ Japanese and ¾ Caucasian.</strong></p>
<p>Nick, 28 years old and an EMC employee, is in the race for his life. The need to find a qualified bone marrow doner is at a critical stage. </p>
<p>In mid March, Nick was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. There was a 70% chance that Nick would go into remission after one chemo treatment, however, Nick’s fate lies in the other 30%. He went through two treatments, and he is still not in remission. Nick’s only hope is to find a bone marrow donor.  The National Bone Marrow Registry only has a handful of such potential donors, and the likelihood of them being a match is slim to none.<br /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570912a65970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Nick Glasgow" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570912a65970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570912a65970b-800wi" title="Nick Glasgow" /></a> </p>
<p><strong>Please see the following, an email just distributed to all 40,000 EMC employees ... the race is on to save a friend and a great guy:</strong></p>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">*******************************</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">On Friday we circulated word through the global EMC community and beyond about Nick Glasgow, a 28-year-old EMC employee in California who, in the span of just weeks, has been diagnosed with Leukemia and now is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Over the weekend, the compassion of the EMC family was abundant as hundreds of EMCers responded to this plea -- either by getting tested as potential donors, passing the information along to friends and family members, or just offering their prayers, personal experiences, and asking what they could do. When word reached Cisco, a company larger than EMC that has been a strong partner in the marketplace for years, Cisco people also sprang into action.  </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">Nick's mother, Carole Wiegand, also an EMC employee, has expressed her and Nick's deepest gratitude at the outpouring of help and support. <strong>But the race to find a qualified donor is at a critical stage,</strong> so I am sending this update with more specifics on how a potential donor can expedite a possible match. Please feel free to circulate this message beyond EMC (social media vehicles were used to rapidly spread word about Nick throughout the weekend). </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">Here are the essential facts: </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">-- Any person whose ethnic background is a mix of Asian and Caucasian, and is in good health with no history of cancer or major illness, and is between the ages of 18 and 60, is a potential donor for Nick. Expanding on the initial information, one does<strong> not</strong> need to be 75% Caucasian and 25% Asian -- any potential mix could work. While the most likely match would be from a person who is 75% Caucasian and 25% Japanese, it is absolutely possible that other combinations of Caucasian-Asian background in different proportions could work. The Asian background should be Sino-Asian, rather than Indo-Asian. Finding an ideal match with all of Nick's markers is very difficult, and we do not want to exclude any potential donors. </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">-- Go to the "Be The Match" National Marrow Donor Program at <font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009"><a href="http://www.marrow.org/" title="http://www.marrow.org/">http://www.marrow.org/</a>. Rather than ordering a test kit (time is too critical for that), read the facts about donating and then you can register yourself and enter your zip code at </span></font></span></font><font size="+0"><span class="707545811-18052009"><span class="174200004-18052009"><a href="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_in_Person/index.html" title="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_in_Person/index.html"><font face="Arial" size="2" title="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_in_Person/index.html">http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_in_Person/index.html</font></a><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"> <span class="707545811-18052009">to find drives in your area in the next few days. If there is not a local drive in your area within the next few days, please call one of the labs listed and request a time to drop in for urgent testing. </span></font></span><span class="174200004-18052009"><span class="707545811-18052009"><font face="Arial" size="2">(These instructions apply to people in the US. Other countries have similar programs.) People who join the registry can help any person, not just Nick. </font></span></span></span></font></div>
<div>
<div><span class="174200004-18052009"><font face="Arial" size="2" /></span> </div>
<div><span class="174200004-18052009"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">-- The test is a simple cheek swab. The actual donation can be a blood draw or a more complex procedure, which would have some side-affects from which people bounce back quickly. This link has facts about the procedural aspects of bone marrow donation:  </span></font></span></div>
<div><span class="174200004-18052009"><a href="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Myths_%26_Facts_about_Marrow_Don/index.html" title="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Myths_&amp;_Facts_about_Marrow_Don/index.html"><font face="Arial" size="2" title="http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Myths_&amp;_Facts_about_Marrow_Don/index.html">http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Myths_%26_Facts_about_Marrow_Don/index.html</font></a><font face="Arial" /><font size="2">.<span class="707545811-18052009"> <span class="254040914-18052009"><font face="Arial" size="2">If a qualified donor is identified and medical or travel costs are an issue, this will be taken care of.</font></span></span></font></span></div></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2" /> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">-- Special drives for Nick are also being arranged for the next few days. We are looking at possible locations where a drive could facilitate good numbers of potential donors (San Francisco/San Jose area, the Boston/Hopkinton area, and Orlando, where EMC World is taking place this week). Carol Gillespie at the Asian American Donor Program (AADP) is providing testing if you are located in the Bay Area in California (all ethnic minorities and Caucasians wishing to join will be asked to pay a portion of their testing costs, $25).  Please contact AADP directly at 1-800-593-6667 and speak to anyone on the staff if you are local, to have your testing done more quickly . </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2" /> </div>
<div>
<div><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">-- </span>I<span class="707545811-18052009">f you get tested, it is important that you expedite the process by sending an </span><span class="707545811-18052009">e</span>mail<span class="707545811-18052009"> to all three people in the cc line on this message:</span></font></div></div>
<div>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><strong>Carole Wiegand<span class="707545811-18052009"> (<a href="mailto:wiegand_carole@emc.com" title="mailto:wiegand_carole@emc.com">wiegand_carole@emc.com</a>), </span></strong>Nick's mom and fellow EMC employee</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009"><strong>Stacy Morales</strong></span> <span class="707545811-18052009"><strong>(</strong><a href="mailto:morales_stacy@emc.com" title="mailto:morales_stacy@emc.com"><strong title="mailto:morales_stacy@emc.com">morales_stacy@emc.com</strong></a><strong>)</strong>, a friend and EMC colleague of Nick and Carole who is helping to coordinate all this</span></font></p>
<p><font size="+0"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009"><strong>Carol Gillespie (</strong><a href="mailto:carol@aadp.org" title="mailto:carol@aadp.org"><strong title="mailto:carol@aadp.org">carol@aadp.org</strong></a><strong>) </strong>at the Asian American Donor Program</span></font><font size="+0" /><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009"> </span></font></p>
<p><font size="+0" /><font size="+0"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font> </p>
<p><font size="+0" /><font size="+0" /><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">In the email, include your </span><strong><font color="#ff0000">registr<span class="707545811-18052009">ation ID</span> number, the location where you were tested, and testing date</font></strong>.  The reason for this is that the national database usually takes a few weeks <span class="707545811-18052009">to </span>be updated with <span class="707545811-18052009">a </span>new <span class="707545811-18052009">potential donor</span>'s test results.  <span class="707545811-18052009">For Nick, t</span>ime is of the essence<span class="707545811-18052009">. They will </span>be <span class="707545811-18052009">expediting these samples for Nick </span><span class="707545811-18052009">so </span>his doctors <span class="707545811-18052009">will </span>be able to <span class="707545811-18052009">urgently retrieve</span><span class="707545811-18052009"> possible matches</span>.  </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">Thank you to all who have tried to help and expressed concern. I would like to close with this message from Stacy Morales: </span></font></p>
<p><font size="+0"><span class="707545811-18052009" /></font><font face="Arial" /><font size="2"><span class="707545811-18052009">"</span>Thank you does not begin to express the gratitude that Carole and Nick have for you all right now.  You have given this family hope, and quite possibly, the gift of life.<span class="707545811-18052009">"</span></font></p></div>
<p><br /> </p>
<h3>--------------- TWEET IT! BLOG IT! STATUS IT! --------------</h3>
<p><br /><strong>Nick is fighting for his life and time is limited. Please help raise awareness among the Asian/American community and encourage them to register their marrow through www.marrow.org. If you or ANYONE you know is ¼ Asian and ¾ Caucasian, PLEASE register today. <br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Please publicize this cause by posting it as your status and spreading it. Nick's time is limited, so please act NOW. Together, we can help save Nick!</strong></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Do Women Leadership Conferences Add Value? How?</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/are-women-leadership-conferences-necessary-do-they-add-value-how.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/are-women-leadership-conferences-necessary-do-they-add-value-how.html" thr:count="3" thr:updated="2009-05-24T14:51:52-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66745443</id>
        <published>2009-05-14T17:11:14-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-15T09:23:39-04:00</updated>
        <summary>EMC was recently the big deal sponsor of the Simmons Women's Leadership Conference. I wrote a bit about it here. Today, I happened upon a blog by a colleague, Jamie Pappas, which covered her take aways on the conference. In good blogging practice, she ended her blog with a question which sucked me right in and made me want to reply. In doing so, I was reminded of how moved I was at the conference – and how surprised I was to be so moved. I'm interested about what you think about these curious conferences... ... where women have to wake up and get going at o’dark-thirty, deal with taking heat from husband and kids for leaving them to fend for themselves all day, only to talk business, sit in  conference ballrooms, eat conference food, for 10 hours, on a Saturday – on top of having to plot to find a way to beg for, or cough up 4-5x the price of a concert ticket to gain entry. I could have thought of such events like this as follows: • It cost how much?! • The fact that women can be successful in business today should not be remarkable...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Current Affairs" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 17px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">EMC was recently the big deal sponsor of the <a href="http://www.simmons.edu/leadership/">Simmons Women's Leadership Conference</a>. I wrote a bit about it <a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/employment-branding-and-culture-building-ripple-effect.html">here</a>.  Today, I happened upon a blog by a colleague, <a href="http://jamiepappas.typepad.com/">Jamie Pappas</a>, which covered her take aways on the conference. In good blogging practice, she ended her blog with a question which sucked me right in and made me want to reply.</span></h3>
<p>In doing so,  I was reminded of how moved I was at the conference – and how surprised I was to be so moved.</p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">I'm interested about what you think about these curious conferences...</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>...</strong> where women have to wake up and get going at o’dark-thirty, deal with taking heat from husband and kids for leaving them to fend for themselves all day, only to talk business, sit in &lt;sigh&gt; conference ballrooms, eat conference food, for 10 hours, on a Saturday – on top of having to plot to find a way to beg for, or cough up 4-5x the price of a concert ticket to gain entry.</p>
<p>I could have thought of such events like this as follows:</p>
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p><br />• It cost how much?! <br />• The fact that women can be successful in business today should not be remarkable to the point it needs to be celebrated and have a conference dedicated to the topic.<br />• Are men and women leaders all that different? Don't we get all the role modeling, motivation or inspiration we need right where we work? Or in books, classes, etc.? <br />• Why don't we have Men Leadership Conferences? ... which brings me back to, "Is this really necessary? ... especially in times like this?" </p></blockquote>
<p><strong>A little voice inside my head still says all those things, frankly.</strong> </p>
<p><br />As a result of going to the conference -- and being conditioned a bit more than normal perhaps with the recent launch and ripple from EMC's  <a href="http://www.workingmotherexperience.com/">The Working Mother Experience</a> book, here is an excerpt of what I found myself sharing on Jamie's blog:</p>
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><br /><em>At EMC "we’re surrounded by confident, successful people who conduct business in a global playground. Seeing people like that doesn’t impress me so much.  What has become profound, for me, is that I now have a mental, visual quilt of powerful, yet gentle, intelligent, confident, moving people who cherish womanhood, talk like a girlfriend, and yet also manage to move or lead  major organizations and communities. As they talk about their audiences of Presidents and Kings, they also talk about kids, wine, strength, weakness, hope and compassion. They sing. They’re playful. They’re funny.  They’re human. More human than we’re used to seeing from our daily business interactions. And you know what else? They mean business, and they deliver."</em><br />  </p></blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">To me, seeing  successful women act like "Women!," hearing the benefits women distinctly bring to the business, sharing professional knowledge that doesn't generally get covered during the course of a normal business day, and discuss things I'm used to minimizing on the job -- like degrees of emotion, compassion, mothering, and the need for vision and personal meaning -- was as refreshing as an ocean sail on a hot and windy summer day.</p><p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f941281970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Sophie's pics 4-08 085" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156f941281970c image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f941281970c-800wi" title="Sophie's pics 4-08 085" /></a> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">[PHOTO: My daughter, Margo, taken by her sister, Sophie]</p><p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><br /><strong>How might this add value to back to the business?</strong> I don’t know for sure, <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">and</span> here is my impression:   It unleashes leverage. It adds knowledge and affirmation. It builds our connections and convictions – which we know in business adds to results. It brings the osmosis which came from being enveloped in a blanket of female success back into the business. For most of us, there are no other times in our entire lives where we are in an intellectual achievement environment with <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">all</span> women. </p>
<p><strong>For the men</strong> reading this, can you even imagine a day where you were not surrounded by men, free to be, well, men?</p>
<p><strong>Maybe conferences like this are like all forms of solid education and nutrition.  They’re just good for you.</strong>   </p>
<h3>------------------- Talk Back ------------------</h3>
<p><br /><strong>What do you think?<br />Why have women's conferences?<br />What do you get out of them?<br /></strong></p>
<p /></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Employment Branding and Culture Building: How to Double the Effect</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/employment-branding-and-culture-building-ripple-effect.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/employment-branding-and-culture-building-ripple-effect.html" thr:count="5" thr:updated="2009-05-16T19:16:43-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66641739</id>
        <published>2009-05-11T15:00:43-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-11T16:42:57-04:00</updated>
        <summary>"Emotions are Contagious. Your Mood Matters." At the Simmons Leadership Conference a week or so ago I heard Annie McKee, author of "Becoming a Resonant Leader" speak. Wow. (See her, and read her books, if you ever get a chance.) In her presentation, she mentioned that it was recently discovered that we have in our brains, "Mirror Neurons." (According to Wikipedia, "Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important findings of neuroscience in the last decade.") These neurons offer evidence that we're physiologically tuned to pick up others emotions. Further, she said, certain emotions will shut down idea generation and creativity, and others will attract it. An angry boss stomping toward your office will put you on high alert, for example. When this happens, you will get in "lock down," or safety mode. Idea generation and creativity shut down. (An animal survival mechanism.) On the flip side, when emotions such as hope, joy, compassion and excitement are exhibited, you are in an environment ripe for idea generation and innovation. So how does this relate to Employment Branding and Culture Building? Ask yourself what others might be mirroring in your environment. Are you creating environments where you could get...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Management Models" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">
<h3>"Emotions are Contagious. Your Mood Matters."</h3>
<p />
<p>At the Simmons Leadership Conference a week or so ago I heard <a href="http://podcast.amanet.org/edgewise/loyalty/66/annie-mckee-on-becoming-a-resonant-leader/">Annie McKee, author of <em>"Becoming a Resonant Leader"</em></a> speak. Wow. (See her, and read her books, if you ever get a chance.)  </p>
<p>In her presentation, she mentioned that it was recently discovered that we have in our brains, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons">"Mirror Neurons."</a>  (According to Wikipedia, "Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important findings of neuroscience in the last decade.") These neurons offer evidence that we're physiologically tuned to pick up others emotions. Further, she said, certain emotions will shut down idea generation and creativity, and others will attract it.</p>
<p>An angry boss stomping toward your office will put you on high alert, for example. When this happens, you will get in "lock down," or safety mode. Idea generation and creativity shut down.  (An animal survival mechanism.)</p>
<p>On the flip side, when emotions such as hope, joy, compassion and excitement are exhibited, you are in an environment ripe for idea generation and innovation.</p>
<p><strong>So how does this relate to Employment Branding and Culture Building?</strong></p>
<p><strong /><br />Ask yourself what others might be mirroring in your environment. Are you creating environments where you could get two-times the goodness? Or two-times the bad?</p>
<p>See this post written by EMC's <a href="http://www.davidkspencer.com/2009/05/11/a-yes-man-feeling-the-energy/" title="Dave Talks Shop">Dave Spencer today</a> to get a real-time case study on a positive mirror effect and how this relates to building culture.  -- There is a ripple effect when a person says "yes," and when s/he experiences positive energy. --</p>
<p>Mirror Neurons bring the Gandhi quote to life, "Be the Change You Wish to See."</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">*************************************</p>
<p>Following is my tweet stream capturing take aways from this Annie McKee presentation if you're in the mood for more.<br /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f8926b4970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115707f3d1a970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Mckeesimmons" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115707f3d1a970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115707f3d1a970b-800wi" title="Mckeesimmons" /></a>  </p><br />
<p>
<h3>---------------------- Talk Back ------------------------</h3>
<p />
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Can you see how a positive culture, tone, program, or person could be contagious? </p>
<p>Can you see how it doesn't have to cost any money?</p>
<p>I was at an event over the weekend with a family friend in the banking industry. He shared how poorly his company handled the tough subjects of pay cuts and layoffs. Clearly, these are terrible subjects.  Then, I considered how well EMC handled the same subjects a couple weeks ago. Sure no one liked the news of sacrifices, but we understood it. The company started with listening and when the time came to share the bad news, it led with empathy and the desire to save jobs and keep the family in-tact.   The employee response? Applause.</p>
<p>Here are other case study blogs on the power of these mirror neurons on culture building -- and how anyone and everyone in a company can add to the culture by taking the time to share the positive: <a href="http://stevetodd.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/im-engaged.html">Information Playground, "I'm Engaged!,"</a>  <a href="http://lensblog.typepad.com/ebiz/2008/08/culture-is-cool.html">"Confessions of an eBiz Junkie: Culture is Cool at EMC."</a></p>
<p>Other *free* options for culture building are listed in Annie's comments: "listening, caring and helping."  </p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Happy Mother's Day! My State-of-the-State.</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/happy-mothers-day-my-stateofthestate.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/happy-mothers-day-my-stateofthestate.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66558873</id>
        <published>2009-05-08T18:45:08-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-08T18:48:52-04:00</updated>
        <summary>I have a very rare statement to make ... one that will certainly change ... one that, on this occasion of Mother's Day 2009, I thought appropriate to call out as the best possible gift to this particular mother. The Statement/Gift: "My Kids are 100% Great and the cause of Zero Pain or Strain." This is the fist time in a long time, if ever, I've said this. Let's face it, diapers are a pain. Whining kids are a pain. Kids with hormones, I imagine, are a pain. Kids asking for money are a pain. Right now, at this very small moment in time, my husband and I are free from parenting pain! (Our family, on April 25th, on the Boston Common. Seen here, Oscar, Margo, Kurt, Sophie and a wonderful street performer named Steve.) Our Oldest, Sophie turns 14 on Monday. She just brought home a report card with high honors. She's sweet, makes her own lunch, does her own laundry, helps watch over the kids. We love hanging out together on the weekends. She plays the oboe in an award-winning wind ensemble.She plays Lacrosse. She is confident enough, suddenly, to apply, interview, and go to Australia for three...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Who Is Polly?" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>I have a very rare statement to make ... one that will certainly change ... one that, on this occasion of Mother's Day 2009, I thought appropriate to call out as the best possible gift to this particular mother.</p>
<p>The Statement/Gift:</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><br /></p>
<h4 align="center">"My Kids are 100% Great and the cause of Zero Pain or Strain."</h4>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"> </p>
<p>This is the fist time in a long time, if ever, I've said this. Let's face it, diapers are a pain. Whining kids are a pain. Kids with hormones, I imagine, are a pain. Kids asking for money are a pain. Right now, at this very small moment in time, my husband and I are free from parenting pain! </p>
<p><br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DvAGn4yEJg8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DvAGn4yEJg8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" /></object></p>
<p><strong>(Our family, on April 25th, on the Boston Common. Seen here, Oscar, Margo, Kurt, Sophie and a wonderful street performer named Steve.)</strong></p>
<p><strong /> </p>
<p><strong>Our Oldest, Sophie turns 14 on Monday</strong>. </p>
<p>She just brought home a report card with high honors.  She's sweet, makes her own lunch, does her own laundry, helps watch over the kids.  We love hanging out together on the weekends. She plays the oboe in an award-winning wind ensemble.She plays Lacrosse. She is confident enough, suddenly, to apply, interview, and go to Australia for three weeks this summer as part of the People-to-People Ambassador program.</p>
<p><strong>Our Middle, Margo-a-Go-Go, just turned 7.</strong></p>
<p>She's spirited and spunky. Recently, she has dialed back her at-home frequent state of "dominant-assertiveness" into a type of maturity that is great to see. Her brain is a bon-fire of activity. She has just learned to read. Her artwork is amazing. She is patient and playful with her little brother. She listens and is respectful. She does sneak stuff she shouldn't -- like Reeses's Peanut butter Cups bought for her sister's birthday, but come on, who doesn't love a peanut butter cup?</p>
<p><strong>Our "Little Man," Oscar, just turned 4.</strong></p>
<p>He lives for super heros, dirt, cars, cartoons, and sports. He loves his mommy (and his daddy, but this is about Mother's Day!). When no one is looking, I get the sweetest hugs -- and sometimes a kiss -- than anyone could ever ask for.  Our hearts melt for Oscar. He's kind, determined, curious, easy to be with, and just fun to watch. We also learned recently that he is comfortable on stage. He inserted himself and broke dance for a crowd of about 100 people in Boston a couple weekends ago -- only to one-up that by respectfully inserting himself into the center of the Big Apple Circus and a crowd of about 1,000 to direct the orchestra with the head-clown.</p>
<p><br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c1zwQ_z4LbY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c1zwQ_z4LbY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" /></object></p>
<p><strong>So hold the cards and the jewelry. I'm good. No, I'm down right great.</strong></p>
<p>
<h3>------------ Talk Back -----------</h3>
<p />
<p>Share how you and your family are doing.  </p>
<p>One request, avoid telling me my state of kid bliss is about to change.  I suspect as much and am working to celebrate the moment!</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Branding &amp; Employee Engagement: Employees as Authors</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/branding-employee-engagement-employees-as-authors-speaks-volumes.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/branding-employee-engagement-employees-as-authors-speaks-volumes.html" thr:count="2" thr:updated="2009-05-08T10:55:32-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66504281</id>
        <published>2009-05-07T14:49:14-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-07T15:02:30-04:00</updated>
        <summary>An Environment That Enables Employees to Become Authors "Speaks Volumes." A few days ago I was on the phone with an editor from BusinessWeek about the book published by EMC and written by 96 employees named, "The Working Mother Experience." She made a quick but assertive remark, "You'll have to update your profiles now to include the word, "author!" Author? Humm. How cool is that? 96 employees just became "Authors." Today, it happened again. 40 EMC employees wrote a "definitive reference book" which was published with EMC's logo and blessing called "Information Storage and Management." This one is structured to be a college text book and reference guide for industry professionals. Both books have accompanying web 2.0 properties. The books -- both quite different -- occurred serendipitously, with no orchestration between them. They also have many strategic and similar attributes. They: Elevate EMC's brand. By merely existing, they speak to our values and culture as a company. Enhance the relationships we can have as a company with current and potentially new connections such as employees, customers, partners, professors, and informal influencers. Act as a sign of respect and recognition on behalf of the company to the Authors. Elevate the Personal...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Books" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Personal Branding" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong /> </p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong>An Environment </strong></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong>That Enables </strong></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong>Employees to Become Authors </strong></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong>"Speaks Volumes."</strong></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"> </p>
<p>A few days ago I was on the phone with an <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Lauren_Young.htm"><a href="http://"><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Lauren_Young.htm">editor </a> from <em><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">BusinessWeek</span> </em>about the book published by EMC and written by 96 employees named, <a href="http://www.emc.com/collateral/about/jobs/pdf/h4470-working-mother-bk2.pdf">"The Working Mother Experience."</a>  </a></a></p>
<p>She made a quick but assertive remark, "You'll have to update your profiles now to include the word, "author!"</p>
<p>Author?  Humm.  </p>
<p>
<h3>How cool is that?  96 employees just became "Authors."</h3>
<p>Today, it happened again. 40 EMC employees wrote a "definitive reference book<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">" </span>which was published with EMC's logo and blessing called <a href="http://education.emc.com/ismbook/">"Information Storage and Management."</a> This one is structured to be a college text book and reference guide for industry professionals.</p>
<p />
<p>Both books have accompanying web <a href="http://www.workingmotherexperience.com/">2.0 properties</a>.</p>
<p>The books -- both quite different -- occurred serendipitously, with no orchestration between them.  </p>
<p>They also have many strategic and similar attributes. They:</p>
<ul>
<li>Elevate EMC's brand. By merely existing, they speak to our values and culture as a company. 
<li>Enhance the relationships we can have as a company with current and potentially new connections such as employees, customers, partners, professors, and informal influencers. 
<li>Act as a sign of respect and recognition on behalf of the company to the Authors. 
<li>Elevate the Personal Brands, as well as the sense of pride and accomplishment of everyone associated with writing and producing the books. 
<li>Stretch the skills of our people and our company (we've never published books before!). 
<li>and likely will ... meet the business case each advocate came up with when pitching the idea to his/her business unit or executive sponsor. </li>
</li></li></li></li></li></ul>
<p>
<h3>How cool is that?</h3>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570753c0b970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Information Storage book.jpg" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570753c0b970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570753c0b970b-800wi" title="Information Storage book.jpg" /></a> </p><br />
<p>This, to me, looks like the new face of branding. One that is experiential and participatory. One that has <strong>soul</strong> and is reflective of genuine people, passions and intellect. One that is not made on Madison Ave or in a PR person's office.</p>
<p>And unlike most ads or news releases produced by some very important and exclusive entity, you'll find regular folks who have a relationship with the company proudly telling and broadcasting the news about EMC's new books. They're telling their friends, neighbors, families and business associates. They're blogging about it, and tweeting about it.  The reach is far and wide and true.</p>
<p>
<h3>How Cool is That?</h3>
<p /><br />
<p>
<h3>------------------ Talk Back ------------------</h3>
<p>Do you see potential brand and employee engagement benefits by having a company publish books by employees?</p>
<p>What about the same idea, on a smaller scale -- having the company be okay with employee participation on social networks in a brand-supportive manner?</p>
<p /><br />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></p></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>What's Working For You?</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/whats-working-for-you.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/05/whats-working-for-you.html" thr:count="4" thr:updated="2009-05-07T12:43:18-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66247879</id>
        <published>2009-05-04T17:40:40-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-04T17:46:19-04:00</updated>
        <summary>(Me, in my then-office, about the time I started this blog.) Would you mind giving me a little perspective and feedback? This blog is now one year old and I'd like to get a feel for what's working and what isn't. This is my first blog, and I pretty much just jumped in with the hope to personally connect with others regarding employment brands, careers, culture and cool. I saw this blog as helping to add value and connect with: Job seekers. I imagine seekers to be evaluating careers and companies similar to how you would go to "TripAdvisor.com" before booking your travel plans for a more genuine and testimonial-based review. This blog, in that context, provides a view on what it is like to work at a global, high-tech, innovation-oriented company which is EMC. Current EMC employees. EMC has grown massively, inclusive of over 50 acquisitions, multiple divisions, and operations in over 60 countries. I've long been in the business of communicating about EMC's culture, strategy, offerings, financials, and vision -- it seemed only right to find a way to share these stories with the people of EMC as well as the typical external audiences -- media, customers, investors,...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Technology &amp; Communication" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>
<h3><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115706d7e18970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Polly in office" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e55193676188340115706d7e18970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e55193676188340115706d7e18970b-800wi" title="Polly in office" /></a> </h3>
<p><span><em>(Me, in my then-office, about the time I started this blog.)</em></span></p>
<h3>Would you mind giving me a little perspective and feedback?</h3>
<p />
<p>This blog is now one year old and I'd like to get a feel for what's working and what isn't.</p>
<p>This is my first blog, and I pretty much just jumped in with the hope to personally connect with others regarding employment brands, careers, culture and cool. </p>
<p />
<p>I saw this blog as helping to add value and connect with: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p> <strong>Job seekers.</strong> I imagine seekers to be evaluating careers and companies similar to how you would go to "TripAdvisor.com" before booking your travel plans for a more genuine and testimonial-based review. This blog, in that context, provides a view on what it is like to work at a global, high-tech, innovation-oriented company which is EMC. </p>
<li>
<p><strong>Current EMC employees</strong>. EMC has grown massively, inclusive of over 50 acquisitions, multiple divisions, and operations in over 60 countries. I've long been in the business of communicating about EMC's culture, strategy, offerings, financials, and vision -- it seemed only right to find a way to share these stories with the people of EMC as well as the typical external audiences -- media, customers, investors, analysts -- companies spend so much effort on.</p>
<li>
<p><strong>People interested in the field of employment branding and forms of engagement, or relationship, marketing</strong>. I'm passionate about this subject and its value to people, and to running a successful business in the knowledge economy. In this blog, I offer a look to EMC's journey in this regard.  I share a bit of the strategy, approach, reception, and case studies on how we're doing in our evolution toward becoming the ultimate place to work, while providing some updates on how we're delivering business results for our customers and shareholders.</p>
<li>
<p><strong>The unknown</strong>. The reach of the Internet brings unexpected connections.  My commitment here is to be open, genuine, and unedited to the point that you get to know me, and EMC, at a deeper level. If you like what you see, maybe we can work together one day.</p></li>
</li></li></li></ul>
<p>The topics I've tended to focus on include:</p>
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p><em><strong>Culture, Employment Branding, Employee Engagement, Career Development &amp; Advice, Cool developments, Social Media for the Enterprise, Management Models, and my personal life &amp; career.</strong></em></p></blockquote>
<p>My stats tell me that this blog has been viewed this past year about 25,000 times with up to several hundred views per day. Roughly half of my visitors in April came directly to this site (subscribers primarily).  About 40% of my visitors come from referring sites -- such as Twitter, EMC.com, and other blogs.  The balance comes from search engines sending folks here. (I have not deployed any SEO strategies.)</p>
<p>Over the past year, I've written just shy of 90 blog posts and have had about 150 comments. </p>
<p>
<h3>------------ Talk Back ---------------</h3>
<p />
<p><strong>What, if anything, has connected with you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>What would you like to see less of?  More of?</strong></p>
<p><strong>What do you think would improve this blog?</strong></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>The Relevance of New Fortune 500 Rankings and other Cool Recognition</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/new-fortune-500-rankings-and-other-cool-recognition.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/new-fortune-500-rankings-and-other-cool-recognition.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66125147</id>
        <published>2009-04-28T17:11:32-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-04-28T17:28:33-04:00</updated>
        <summary>I like EMC's upgrade on the FORTUNE 500 list! By jumping from #201 to #172, EMC is now "A FORTUNE 200 Company." Nice ring! In related news ... Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran an article on FORTUNE 500 use of social media (inclusive of a snazzy quote by EMC's Chuck Hollis). Can you believe only 81 of the F500 have company sponsored blogs? Of those, only 23 have a company sponsored Twitter address linked to their blogs. EMC, gladly, is in that elite list of 23.* Are more than 4/5ths of largest companies in America not aware of the shift to social media and blogs as a primary means of on-line communication -- now more popular than email? [See this Nielson report.] Or are their lawyers &amp; leaders fearful of Web 2.0 to the point that they find it preferable to NOT engage the way customers and other business-generating communities wish to communicate today? Other recognition I liked includes this NY Post article from last week on Employee Engagement. It profiles EMC's use of social media as especially beneficial for employee engagement and business value during an economic downturn. Lastly, I don't think I ever called out Mashable ranking...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Advice" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Social Meda in the Enterprise" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>I like EMC's upgrade on the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/snapshots/5000.html">FORTUNE 500</a> list!  By jumping from #201 to  #172, EMC is now "A FORTUNE 200 Company." Nice ring!</p>
<p>In related news ...</p>
<p>Yesterday, the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124078135070257099.html">Wall Street Journal</a> ran an article on FORTUNE 500 use of social media (inclusive of a snazzy quote by EMC's <a href="http://chucksblog.emc.com/">Chuck Hollis</a>). Can you believe only 81 of the F500 have company sponsored blogs? Of those, only 23 have a company sponsored Twitter address linked to their blogs.  EMC, gladly, is in that elite list of 23.*  </p>
<p><strong>Are more than 4/5ths of largest companies in America not aware of the shift to social media and blogs as a primary means of on-line communication -- now more popular than email? </strong><a href="http://www.nielsen-online.com/pr/pr_090309.pdf"><strong>[See this Nielson report.] </strong></a><strong>Or are their lawyers &amp; leaders fearful of Web 2.0 to the point that they find it preferable to NOT engage the way customers and other business-generating communities wish to communicate today?</strong></p>
<p>Other recognition I liked includes this <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/04202009/jobs/tools_of_engagement_165308.htm">NY Post article</a> from last week on Employee Engagement. It profiles EMC's use of social media as especially beneficial for employee engagement and business value during an economic downturn.</p>
<p>Lastly, I don't think I ever called out Mashable ranking <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/">EMC as a Top 40 Brand on Twitter</a>. </p><br />
<p><strong>
<h3>What's the point beyond "Hurray for EMC?"</h3></strong>
<p><strong>Relevance. </strong></p>
<p>The business climate is tough. In times like this you want to partner with companies that feel "safe," right?  But what made a company "safe" won't keep it safe.  All companies need to adapt. A FORTUNE 500 company that shows it can embrace new communication and engagement models -- and turn them into business leverage is a good thing. And, just maybe, such a company is also worthy of getting cozy with.</p>
<p><strong>
<h3>--------------- Talk Back ---------------</h3></strong>
<p />
<p>Is it important to you that companies you depend upon (financially or otherwise) show an ability to lead, adapt, and in this case, embrace emerging communication models?</p>
<p>Why do you think so many FORTUNE 500s are hesitant to embrace social media as a means to engage with talent, customers, prospects, investors, and more?</p>
<p />
<p>*Many of our bloggers can be found on <a href="http://www.emc.com/community/index.htm">EMC.com/community</a> where you can also find EMC's <a href="http://friendfeed.com/emccorp">FriendFeed</a> inclusive of our Twitter accounts  such as <a href="http://twitter.com/EMCCareers">@EMCCareers</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/EMCworld">@EMCWorld</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/emccorp">@EMCCorp</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Tough Times, Tough Jobs, and Blooming Flowers</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/tough-times-and-tough-jobs.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/tough-times-and-tough-jobs.html" thr:count="2" thr:updated="2009-04-28T16:01:19-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65928923</id>
        <published>2009-04-23T12:34:15-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-04-23T12:38:22-04:00</updated>
        <summary>I was asked recently to think of the worst job I ever had. It came immediately to mind. Oddly, I then found myself smiling. When I look back, it ultimately was the best job I could have had. It made everything that came after (like the expectations and pace that comes with working at EMC!) seem like a pleasure trip in comparison. Okay, can't use that job to answer the question. I then thought of the next toughest job I ever had. A form of rage filled my head just thinking about it because it involved working for someone I didn't connect with. But again, I then found myself smiling. Looking back, working for that person benefited me more than most other positions I've held. In that role, I learned -- grudgingly at the time -- about work styles and the value to my work product that comes from someone who approaches problems differently. Okay, can't use that one either. This realization, I believe, carries over to the current tough time in the economy. Most of us are being impacted personally by this point. Those of us who lived through the last recession, however, are better prepared and less phased...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Advice" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Current Affairs" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Economy" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>I was asked recently to think of the <strong>worst</strong> job I ever had.  It came immediately to mind. Oddly, I then found myself <em>smiling</em>.  When I look back, it ultimately was the <strong>best </strong>job I could have had.  It made everything that came after (like the expectations and pace that comes with working at EMC!) seem like a pleasure trip in comparison.</p>
<p><strong><em>Okay, can't use <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">that job</span> to answer the question.</em></strong></p>
<p>I then thought of the next <em>toughest</em> job I ever had.  A form of rage filled my head just thinking about it because it involved working for someone I didn't connect with.  But again, I then found myself <em>smiling</em>.  Looking back, working for that person benefited me more than most other positions I've held.  In that role, I learned -- grudgingly at the time -- about work styles and the value to<em> my </em>work product that comes from someone who approaches problems differently.</p>
<p><strong><em>Okay, can't use</em> <em>that one either.</em></strong></p>
<p>This realization, I believe, carries over to the current tough time in the economy.  Most of us are being impacted personally by this point.  Those of us who lived through the last recession, however, are better prepared and less phased by the current unfolding.</p>
<p>That old saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," comes to mind.</p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">...As does the powerful observation that an <strong>"Unfolding Flower"</strong> could also be considered a <strong>"Blooming Flower."</strong></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br />
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157045a8ac970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Blooming flower" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157045a8ac970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157045a8ac970b-800wi" title="Blooming flower" /></a> </p>
<p><em>photo: sarah girard</em></p>
<p>Something to consider.</p><br />
<p>
<h3>----------------- Talk Back -------------</h3>
<p />
<p>Was there a tough time in your life that you now see as a growth period -- a blooming -- for your personal development?</p>
<p>My first tough time was in the 7th grade. I got "kicked out" out of my group. This was a group of girls who sat together every day for lunch, all other school activities, and hung out in general. On being "kicked out," I only had about 15 minutes to line up another group to sit with before the lunch bell, else risk total humiliation.</p>
<p>I saw that "girl" who kicked me out just recently. Of course she was really nice to me, and we didn't discuss the kicking out part.  Like the memory of my tough boss, my brain still fills with a bit of rage at the thought of this 7th grade pain. But again, I smiled when I saw her. Because of her, I ended up with the best friends of my life.  Many of the girls I ended up sitting with that day have been through every major life curve and thrill with me for the past 30 years. They were the friends I was meant to have.</p>
<p>Getting kicked out in the 7th grade also gave me an experience that shelters me from fear of ever getting unceremoniously "kicked out" again. It might happen to me one day. I won't like it, but at the same time I know I could handle it if it did. Been there -- and I'm stronger for it.</p><br />
<p><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157045a82f970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline" /> </p><br /><br />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>How I got hired  ... Brands ... and the Boston Marathon</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/how-i-got-hired-at-emc-and-the-boston-marathon.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/how-i-got-hired-at-emc-and-the-boston-marathon.html" thr:count="2" thr:updated="2009-04-22T09:43:00-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65823465</id>
        <published>2009-04-21T18:35:25-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-05-08T19:01:24-04:00</updated>
        <summary>When I first interviewed at EMC, there was a recession happening in the US; EMC was laying off employees, the concept of hiring recent college grads was far from in vogue; and I had no legitimate experience for the job I hoped to land. How did I get in? The Boston Marathon comes immediately to mind. To help convince the marketing department at EMC that they needed to hire me, I waged a PR campaign. Every couple of days something new would arrive at their offices which I hoped would get them buzzing, curious, and wanting more. One of the campaign elements was a giant map of the world with a pin point over Hopkinton, Mass. I wrote something that suggested that with me doing PR for EMC, Hopkinton would be on the global map for people due to EMC, as well as for the Boston Marathon. (That was a bold concept as EMC was fairly small and little known at the time. Today, if you Wikipedia Hopkinton, it appears, however, the prediction came true. Wink.) For the notion of brand-drafting and more, I love having EMC associated with the Boston Marathon. They are two enduring brands suggesting "the ultimate"...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Career Advice" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employment Brand" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Who Is Polly?" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>When I first interviewed at EMC, there was a recession happening in the US; EMC was laying off employees, the concept of hiring recent college grads was far from in vogue; and I had no legitimate experience for the job I hoped to land.</p>
<p>
<h3 align="center"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">How did I get in?</span></h3>
<p />
<p>The <strong><a href="http://www.bostonmarathon.org/">Boston Marathon</a></strong> comes immediately to mind.</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f416e49970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Hop marathon all starts here" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156f416e49970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f416e49970c-800wi" title="Hop marathon all starts here" /></a> </p>
<p>To help convince the marketing department at EMC that they needed to hire me, I waged a PR campaign. Every couple of days something new would arrive at their offices which I hoped would get them buzzing, curious, and wanting more.</p>
<p>One of the campaign elements was a giant map of the world with a pin point over Hopkinton, Mass.  I wrote something that suggested that with me doing PR for EMC, Hopkinton would be on the global map for people due to EMC, as well as for the Boston Marathon.  (That was a bold concept as EMC was fairly small and little known at the time. Today, if you Wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopkinton,_Massachusetts">Hopkinton</a>, it appears, however, the prediction came true. Wink.)</p>
<p>For the notion of brand-drafting and more, I love having EMC associated with the Boston Marathon. They are two enduring brands suggesting "the ultimate" in their space. They require passion, drive, mental determination, and the guts to do what many others would fear <a href="http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/CourseMaps.pdf">attempt</a>. They are not for everyone -- but for those who have what it takes, there is no equal.</p>
<p>This week marked the running of the <strong>Boston Marathon</strong>. People pack elbow to elbow, helicopters hover overhead, VIPs make speeches, and photographers work to capture the electric mood and the gigantic scale of the packed crowd. </p>
<p><span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1240352238497_435" /><span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1240352238499_685" /> </p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f41807f970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Marathon runner scale" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401156f41807f970c " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f41807f970c-800wi" title="Marathon runner scale" /></a></p>
<p />
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">EMC made the Marathon our own this year. We hosted in our homes, and celebrated in our headquarters, about 30 employees and customers who trained, and flew in from around the world to run this race. EMC athletes from Hong Kong to Brazil took part.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401156f41896d970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline" /><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570380940970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Run as one emc marathoners" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e5519367618834011570380940970b image-full " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e5519367618834011570380940970b-800wi" title="Run as one emc marathoners" /></a>  </p></blockquote>
<p dir="ltr">This week also marked a series of cool awards for EMC in the space of being a great place to work for the college-aged set -- <a href="http://http://www.collegegrad.com/topemployers/2009_entry_level.php">Collegegrad.com</a> named EMC a best employer for <a href="http://www.collegegrad.com/topemployers/2009_entry_level.php">new grads</a>, <a href="http://www.collegegrad.com/topemployers/2009_interns.php">interns,</a> and <a href="http://www.collegegrad.com/topemployers/2009_master.php">masters</a> grads alike. (If you want to apply to EMC or connect with others about working there, check out <a href="http://www.emc.com/careers">www.emc.com/careers</a> and the EMC page on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/EMC-Careers/43496892442">Facebook</a>.) </p>
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">EMC's college grads have long been making EMC their own. They're doing work other companies might say "falls beyond their years in the business."  They're helping to set the pace for the industry and the bar of what can be achieved. And they're also doing stuff that makes EMC just cooler to be part of. For example, a recent Marketing new college hire is behind a space at EMC HQ called "The Square." It has a Starbuck's-like coffee bar for lattes, hot soups, and healthy-foods to go. It has a large flat panel that broadcasts CNN, CNBC and happenings like the induction of a US President. It has a store where you can buy EMC gear, 500 gig home networked storage equipment, and candy bars. And it has a large gathering space with upbeat music where business meetings are a bit more personal, where the social media crew can hold Tweetups, and where we celebrate events such as a book launch dedicated to EMC Working Mothers and an Open House dedicated to our EMC Marathon Runners from around the world.</p></blockquote><br />
<h3 align="center"><span style="COLOR: #0000ff; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">Where You Have to Run to Keep Up</span></h3>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157037d617970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Runnners in bmara." border="0" class="at-xid-6a00e551936761883401157037d617970b " src="http://www.pollypearson.com/.a/6a00e551936761883401157037d617970b-800wi" title="Runnners in bmara." /></a></p>
<p />
<p>In the realm of happenstance brand affinity and an anecdote so perfect for this post you'd think it was scripted... </p>
<blockquote dir="ltr">
<p>A few weeks ago I asked a colleague who also joined EMC as a recent college grad about 20 years ago, "If you were a recent college grad evaluating all the top companies today, do you think you'd still choose EMC?"  His reply, "Absolutely. <strong>The culture of EMC is such that you have to run to keep up</strong>." The statement was finished with a wide smile and a head nod-- a gesture that said, "and man, that type of environment is exhilarating for folks who get into this type of pace and stimulation. </p><br /></blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<h3>--------- Talk Back ---------------</h3><br />
<p />
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Would you still pick your company as the place for you today?</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Think back to those days you were interviewing at your company. Were you lucky enough to have your vision come true?</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">If not, check out some of the amazing job search and career help blogs today. A few that I'm aware of, and visit often due to my day job at EMC, are:</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.brazencareerist.com/">http://www.brazencareerist.com/</a>* </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/">http://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/</a>*</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><font color="#0000ff"><a href="http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/">http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/</a></font></span><a href="http://www.personalbranding.com" /></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><font color="#0000ff"><a href="http://www.cheezhead.com/">http://www.cheezhead.com/</a></font></span><a href="http://www.cheezehead.com" /></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><font color="#0000ff"><a href="http://lindseypollak.com/blog/">http://lindseypollak.com/blog/</a></font></span><a href="http://www.lindsaypollack.com" /></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/">http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/</a></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://alltop.com/">http://alltop.com/</a>*</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.downtownwomensclub.com/dwc/index.php">http://www.downtownwomensclub.com/dwc/index.php</a></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">*Note: These blogs/sites  marked with an (*) syndicate my blog.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Photos from HopkintonMarathonCommitte.org and NuzhatMKarim.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><br /><br /> </p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Starstruck and Amazed at EMC</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/starstruck-and-amazed-at-emc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/2009/04/starstruck-and-amazed-at-emc.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65567063</id>
        <published>2009-04-16T18:32:08-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-04-16T18:52:23-04:00</updated>
        <summary>So I'm in the company cafeteria today and as I turn to head back to my office I see my friend Amnon -- a quiet, humble engineer with a giant smile, and a warm nature. Amnon waves "Hi" to me with that excited twinkle in his eye that I knew to be about the awesome launch from the Symmetrix labs this week, the Symmetrix V-Max. When I walk over to his lunch table to share a quick congrats I turned to my right to say hello to the man sitting with him. I learn that this man, Haim, with a face I recognize but have not seen in a long time, is among the five original engineers on the Symmetrix platform. I am Starstruck. How to I describe why? These men are major contributors to a platform that has become one of the most well-known, long standing technology platforms in the industry. You can't send a text, book a flight, visit an ATM, trade a stock, make a purchase with a credit card, have a medical procedure, take a pill, or do most anything else in the course of your day without their work touching your life. All that stuff...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>polly pearson</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Culture" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Employee Engagement" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://www.pollypearson.com/main/">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>So I'm in the company cafeteria today and as I turn to head back to my office I see my friend Amnon -- a quiet, humble engineer with a giant smile, and a warm nature.  </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Amnon waves "Hi" to me with that excited twinkle in his eye that I knew to be about the awesome launch from the Symmetrix labs this week, the Symmetrix V-Max.  </p>
<p>When I walk over to his lunch table to share a quick congrats I turned to my right to say hello to the man sitting with him.  I learn that this man, Haim, with a face I recognize but have not seen in a long time, is among the five original engineers on the Symmetrix platform. </p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><strong>
<h3>I am Starstruck.</h3></strong>
<p />
<p>How to I describe why? These men are major contributors to a platform that has become one of the most well-known, long standing technology platforms in the industry. You can't send a text, book a flight, visit an ATM, trade a stock, make a purchase with a credit card, have a medical procedure, take a pill, or do most anything else in the course of your day without their work touching your life. </p>
<p>All that stuff I knew, and am used to ... and yet looking into the sparkling, proud eyes of a Symmetrix Founder, and an industry tech guru* on this week, where Symmetrix again captured the industry by storm, I was moved to my core. At that moment, I realized so much of the life I have built is largely related to the work and sacrifices these men and their colleagues have made.  </p>
<h3 align="center">And then, call me Amazed.</h3>
<p>On returning to my office I check my email to find a bunch of the editorial reviews on this week's Symmetrix launch. One read unlike any tech review I am used to seeing. It was written by the editor-in-chief of <a href="http://www.infostor.com/index/blog-display0/s-blog_6485859219631902178/s-post_2088576919260044336/s-blgflg_blogger/s-qldnt_middlecolumn_45000/s-pg_:content:infostor-2:en-us:index.html">InfoStor</a>, Dave Simpson. Some excerpts follow:  </p>
<blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" size="2"><span class="081580820-16042009"><font color="#000000" size="3"><em>Even the analyst community couldn’t resist hyperbole in covering this announcement. For example, </em></font><a href="http://www.pund-it.com/" title="http://www.pund-it.com/"><font size="3" title="http://www.pund-it.com/"><em>Pund-IT Research’s </em></font></a><font color="#000000" size="3"><em>Charles King and the Mesabi Group’s David Hill wrote that the Virtual Matrix Architecture and V-Max systems “<strong>are likely to incite a tectonic shift in the enterprise storage market” </strong>and that the <strong>improvements</strong> (relative to DMX-4) “<strong>range from the simply impressive to the seriously jaw-dropping.”<br /></strong><br />And, sending me agoogling, King and Hill noted that the Symmetrix V-Max systems are “based on highly integrated ‘layers,’ <strong>resulting in a delectably enterprise-class equivalent of a </strong></em></font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte"><font color="#800080" size="3" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte"><em><strong>Sachertorte.”</strong></em></font></a><br /><br /><font color="#000000" size="3"><em><strong>In the past</strong>, every time EMC made a momentous move (say with the acquisitions of Documentum, RSA and VMware), <strong>I questioned their strategy and even predicted that some of their acquisition follies would end in failure. I was always wrong.<br /></strong><br /><strong>I quit nay-saying the Hopkinton honchos a long time ago. Sure, there are a few chinks in their armor, but they have more arrows in their quiver than a few of their competitors combined.</strong></em><br /><br /><br /></font></span></font></div></blockquote>
<p>Wow.  Thanks Dave Simpson!</p>
<p>This week has been exhilarating, and it is still only Thursday.</p>
<p>On <strong>Monday</strong>, I got a heart-felt and personal note inclusive of reflection on his life as a working parent from EMC founder <strong>Dick Egan </strong>on hearing of our Working Mother Experience Book.  He told me to "Pass onto all the EMC working Moms (and Dads) my admiration for their outstanding work at EMC "... and of "how I am very proud of them." (He also enclosed his own self-published book of lawyer jokes -- which made me smile even more.)</p>
<p>On <strong>Tuesday</strong>, I saw masses of the company get engaged and rally around this new Symmetrix announcement.  And that an unprecedented 13,000 customers took part via attending a virtual world launch. Cool.</p>
<p>On <strong>Wednesday</strong>, I had my mailbox flooded with emails from ecstatic people who have discovered the Working Mother Experience book -- like a former EMC woman sales rep/mom from the 1980s! -- and from ecstatic executives and employees involved in the successful Symmetrix launch. I even got a visit from an engineer who said, with an exasperated smile and shaking of his head, "I'm just having so much fun!"</p>
<p>On <strong>Thursday</strong>, I have a casual encounter with some humble stars and read some very remarkable reviews.  </p><br />
<p>[*Amnon is so remarkable, btw, the Storage Anarchist dedicated a post to him titled, <a href="http://thestorageanarchist.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/0069-i-work-wit.html">"I work with smart people</a>" upon Amnon's receipt of an award that put him on a peer level with such tech gurus as the "fathers of" the world wide web; Netscape; Java; and the subject of analysis of computer algorithms.]</p><br />
<p>
<h3>----------- Talk Back -------------</h3>
<p />
<p><strong>Don't you find it weird that a person who has been with a company for almost 18 years could possibly say she is starstruck and amazed at stuff happening within her company walls? I do. I kind of can't believe it myself. It truly is weird. And I like it.</strong> </p>
<br />
<br />
<p><em>If you enjoy stories like this on brands, careers, culture and cool, consider subscribing to this blog and getting bite sized morsels by following me on Twitter (twitter.com/pollypearson)</em></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p /></p></p></div>
</content>


    </entry>
 
</feed><!-- ph=1 --><!-- nhm:dynamic-ssi --><!-- ThriftClient: CommentSvc-2-count-error: 13; CommentSvc-2-count-success: 12 -->
