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Way back in my college days, as part of my BA in Communications, there was a required class that we all found a bit silly at first. This class was called IPCO 305 or Interpersonal Communications. Basically, this was a class on how people talked to one another. Surely, we all knew how to talk to each other. We had been doing it for years. Still, we did as we were asked and engaged in “dyadic encounters” which were basically conversations — usually over food or beer — and then studied these conversations in a somewhat scientific way. It all seemed a bit silly at the time, but I find this experience and education more useful every day.

The fact is, we often communicate poorly, if at all. Whether talking or listening, the ideas, thoughts, or tasks we are trying to communicate get lost in the surrounding noise, are misunderstood or simply go unheard. We spend a great deal of time “talking at” people without ever really communicating. Is it any wonder that so little gets accomplished for all the talking that goes on?

One of the most insidious communication problems, in your work and professional life, is assuming that others will just understand. Instead of asking a person to do something, we merely act as if we want something done and they are supposed to pick up on these, often, non-verbal clues and do what we want them to do. We see this in families all the time. If I pick up a broom and start sweeping the floor, I might assume that you will also figure out it is time to clean and join me in the task. This is flawed thinking for a variety of reasons. First, we might not have the same understanding of what is an appropriate time for a particular task. You might think it is time to clean, but I know I have a column due on deadline and must complete that first. You might think that since I am already doing the task, you don’t have to do it and can continue doing whatever you are doing. You may even find my cleaning activities to be annoying as you are trying to finish a different project or simply get some rest. It’s odd how something as simple as picking up a broom can mean so many things to different people.

As you can see, left to our non-verbal, non-communicating devices, it is no wonder why we get frustrated with others and they with us. In many cases, we have competing desires, but we never communicate that to others. We simply grow more and more frustrated and even angry that the other person doesn’t understand us, or worse still, is ignoring us or acting out of spite. Yet, we still avoid communicating clearly when we should see how much it facilitates our lives and our work. Perhaps we do this in a wrong-headed attempt to avoid conflict or confrontation. Maybe we don’t understand how to effectively communicate our wants, needs and desires. Perhaps we are shy, quiet or simply scared of causing a stir. Whichever it is, though, we all need to break away from our uncommunicative ways and forge a new path for our careers.

Great careers grow out of great communications. We might label it drive, leadership, being a people person or a good talker, but it is a simple fact that nearly every great leader is first a great communicator and you can be, too. You simply need to start communicating. Look back in the recent past and re-imagine an opportunity you had to communicate an idea, but failed to do so. How would things be different today had you taken that opportunity to speak up? How much trouble would have been saved? How much money? How many jobs? How much better would you feel about yourself and your work? I believe that you will easily find many situations that would have been improved, or avoided altogether, had you only communicated more clearly.

Your task for the coming weeks is to look for opportunities to communicate, both good and bad news, solutions and problems, wild ideas and concrete thoughts. Look to head problems off “at the pass” by communicating more frequently, more clearly and with more people. Free up time in your busy career by communicating so clearly that extra meetings, teleconferences and follow-up emails simply aren’t necessary. Never again assume that people know what you want simply by looking at your actions. Explain to them, in both large and small ways, exactly what you want, need and desire from them. Clear communication has the ability to make everyone’s life a bit easier and a bit more productive.

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Communication

During LaidOffCampLA back on May 1, 2009, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer sent a crew to record the sights and sounds for an upcoming report. I just found out that that story has now appeared.

Jobless Find a Creative Voice in Southern California is an overview of the issues with layoffs and downsizing and LaidOffCampLA plays a small part. I have 2 nice quotes in the video, so I wanted to pass it along to you. You will see me briefly starting around 6:50 in the video.

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Douglas appears in “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” Segment

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With the continuing growth of services like Facebook, Twitter and others, questions often gets asked, “Why do we share all this information? Who does it benefit? Is it too much? Is it simply a fad…or troubling…or even dangerous?” The fact is, sharing is a deep part of our basic human nature. As humans, we constantly gather together for safety, for productivity and yes, socialization. The fact that we embrace services like Facebook and Twitter should be a surprise to no one. For me, it is simply an online extension of tribe members gathering around the fire to share stories of adventures real and imagined. We have an immense need to share our lives, our knowledge, our sadness, our joys with others. The Internet simply gives us a way to share more easily and more widely. If we take sharing as a common part of human nature, though, then it pays to ask, “Why do we share? How does it complete us? What purpose, beyond basic social interaction, does it serve?”

For the individual — especially someone developing a career — sharing what you do and how well you do it is an important part of establishing your visibility in the world. As I have written and spoken about in the past, you must make your work, both personal and professional, visible to those around you. You do not build a great career by “hiding your light under a bushel.” Jesus may have been talking about faith, but I think the phrase equally applies to your gifts, your knowledge, your skills. Of course, I am not talking about arrogance, inflating your accomplishments or otherwise presenting a false picture of yourself. You share to give people a better understanding of your work and, you as a person.

Which leads us to the next reason for sharing — giving others a better, fuller, understanding of who you are as a person. If you follow me on twitter (@douglaswelch), you will see that I have many more interests than just technology or just careers. I often say, “a geek in one thing, a geek in all things.” This certainly applies to me. I geek out on coffee, wine, architecture, performing music, technology, the outdoors, gardening and a host of other things. If you only monitor one aspect of my sharing, you might think of me as only one thing or another. Those who follow me on Twitter see, what I hope, is a more complete whole.

I believe that the more information others have about you, the better chance that you will find a deeper bond, a deeper synergy, a deeper relationship, whether that relationship is personal or professional. In hiring, for example, I would be much more secure in my choice to fill a particular job if I knew more about a person than what can be discovered in a resume and through a short interview. I was asked during my talk to Tuesdays with Transitioners a few weeks ago, whether it would be useful to include links to Twitter or Facebook in a resume or cover letter. My answer was that, yes, if those sites gave a clear, positive picture of who you are, I would definitely include them. I think that doing so could help to cement a job offer that might be wavering in the middle. I also think it would make the hiring person much more secure in their choice and lead to a better work relationship the moment you walk in the door. It is like giving a jump start to your relationship.

Finally, we often share in hopes that it will improve the lives of those around us. If I can save someone hours of troubleshooting by blogging a solution I discovered, I have made the world a better place. If I can share my favorite restaurants, stores, parks — and most importantly, people — I may make someone’s life better, or at least a little easier. I may help to keep one of those family businesses viable. If I share my life with others, they may share their life with me and expose me to new ideas, new thoughts and new challenges. When we share everyone wins. When we “hide our light under a bushel” we deny ourselves and others the opportunity to connect and understand.

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Why we share

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If you are like me, one day can seem much like another. If we allow it, our daily rut can become so deep that we can’t even see a way out. We wander from bed to shower to coffee to work to dinner to home to bed without so much as a single thought that there might be a better, or at least different, way. You don’t have to live in that rut, of course, but if you want to get out, you will have to expend some energy. You will have to look for some new alternatives to the same old, same old. You just might have to do something crazy.

Now, when I say crazy, I don’t necessarily mean anything life threatening. Sure, some of my friends have found excitement in skydiving, white water rafting and jungle treks, but I think there are much simpler ways of putting some energy back into your life. In my case, one walked right into my life. A friend recently called with an interesting request. Over the last several years, he has been producing a horror musical he had adapted from a film. He had put on this show in his down of Bakersfield, California and elsewhere in the state. This time, though, he was bringing it to the big city of LA and was asking me personally to take on a small role.

For those who might not know, my degree is actually in theater and I quite enjoy working there. That said, I don’t find much opportunity here in LA due the professional nature of even the smallest productions. I haven’t acted in nearly 25 years, although I have performed music in public every so often. Still, I had to think long and hard about deciding to accept a role again. It seemed so far outside my normal daily life, but that is exactly what made me decide to do it. I saw this as life offering me an opportunity to get a little crazy, to get out of my rut. I think I would have been a fool to ignore it. It is rare when such opportunities come looking for you.

What has this bit of craziness done for me? First, if has introduced me to a score of young, talented people who have not lost that youthful optimism and energy for life and their work. Life can be tough and we all get beaten down a little over the years, but surrounding yourself with young people can be a great way to break out of your older mindset and perhaps find a new interest to pursue or new energy for your existing career. This is the same reason I recommend that you attend BarCamp events and other un-conferences. You gain the energy of youth and also, in many cases, the young want to know what you have to say. Finding an audience for your knowledge and experience can be one of the most rewarding aspects of these events.

Second, acting is a new challenge that is entirely different than my daily work. Putting myself into a different character and a different mindset is not only fun, but it gives me new insight to my daily work. I often find myself thinking new thoughts, having new ideas, applying theater experiences to my presentations and generally being more aware of what I am doing and how I am doing it. This is the power of rut-busting activities. They break not only the rut of our daily schedule but also the rut of our daily thinking. When you are faced with new opportunities and new activities you can’t help but think new thoughts. You mind has to deal with new inputs and, in many cases, creates new outputs to make use of them.

For your own sake, go out today and do something crazy,. Again, you don’t have to jump out of a plane, but something as simple as visiting a new restaurant or a new part of town, signing up for piano lessons, performing for your child’s school or even being in a play like me can open new doors in your mind, your life and your career.

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Do something crazy!

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Video: Douglas speaks to Tuesdays with Transitioners

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Over the last several decades, the age at which someone needs to have cemented their career has been steadily dropping. Where, in the past, it would not have been surprising to see workers in the 50’s and 60’s, now many of these people have been “aged out” of the work place. In fact, in the course of my own career, I have come to see that 40 is the new career danger zone. If you haven’t moved into management, or into your own company, the chances are very high that you will be fired or laid off in the coming 5 years. In some cases, if you can make it through this danger zone, you might continue with your current company in your current position, but for many of us, 40 is a career milestone that we will have to face head on.

I normally don’t like to use hard, age-related, milestones when discussing life and career, but my own experience has shown that many people are more than willing to use age as a deciding factor in job decisions. We all learn and grow at different rates and we all have different goals at different times, but much like the now mostly abandoned concept of “middle age,” those around us will apply certain stereotypes to us once we reach a certain age. Once we reach the age of 40, people will start to look at us differently — treat us differently. This is especially true in work environments where management can be younger than those they manage.

I have seen this in direct action over the last 20 years as my wife worked in television. The entertainment industry thrives on youth and has always been quick to abandon those “of a certain age.” My observations about television and movies are what opened my eyes to this same trend as it began to make stronger inroads into business as a whole. This century-long youth obsession has started to effect even the most staid of companies as younger people have been indoctrinated into it much more than the youth of the past. In the worst cases, younger managers can see 40 year olds as being at the end of the line in their careers, regardless of what these workers might have achieved or currently be producing.

It might seem hopeless at first glance. Obviously, we can’t change our physical age. We might get away with shaving a year off here and there, but time eventually catches up with all of us. That said, we can all seek to improve our careers by pursuing 2 avenues that can help to protect us from this youth bias by essentially making it irrelevant. You can never be sure of your job, but you can take actions that improve your position.

In my mind, today there are 2 possible paths for any worker as they age. First, you need to insure that by age 40 your position in your company or industry is strongly cemented. This typically means that you must be in management and not out on the “shop floor”, whether that be in a manufacturing company, a financial institution or on a movie set. People over 40 who are still working “in the trenches” will soon find themselves facing questions about why they are still there. Is it fair? Of course, not. Sometimes this is the most effective place for a person to be working, but those around them will come to see it as a sign of failure. They will wonder, both silently and out loud, what is holding you back. If you find yourself in that position today, you need to start thinking seriously about your career options. Regardless of your skill, you could be on the next layoff list.

Second, do everything in your power to start your own company. This might be a small consultancy like my own, a small business or even something larger, but whatever the form, you must do it. Placing yourself in the position of power is one of the few ways to insure that your career won’t be interrupted by age bias. As my wife is fond of saying, “when you work for yourself, there will never be a day when someone comes to tell you you no longer have a job.” Sure, businesses can falter and fail, but placing yourself in your own business is one way of protecting your career as you grow older.

Whether you are approaching the age of 40, are already well beyond, or are young enough to find it difficult to imagine, you need to start planning and working for the day when you face this critical career milestone. Today, the age of 40 is taking on the stigma once reserved for 65. While you aren’t expected to retire, you will be expected to have achieved some stability in your career. Otherwise, those in power may decide that you need to look elsewhere for the next step in your career.

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The New Career Danger Zone

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In good times or bad, opportunities that come knocking should never be ignored. Certainly, every opportunity will not be right for you, but too often we reject, or simply ignore opportunities. There are many reasons why this might happen — inattention, lack of confidence and even fear — but if you want to keep your career moving forward, you must tackle each opportunity as it is presented. You never know which one will be the next, important step in your career.

Opportunities can be found anywhere and sometimes present themselves at the oddest moments. Perhaps you are having a discussion with the owner of your local coffee shop, who mentions off-hand that their computer is crashing or that they know another customer with a similar problem. You might find opportunities at a friend’s party, picking up your dry cleaning or hanging out with friends at the local pub. The ubiquitous nature of opportunity means that you must constantly be on the watch for it as it appears. This almost guarantees that you will find more opportunities, but then you need to work on the next step — taking advantage of them when and where they appear.

It may seem odd, but I regularly see situations where people have opportunities practically walk up and kiss them on the mouth and then they do nothing about them. They simply walk away as if nothing has happened. There is no exchange of phone numbers, no promise to call later, no attempt to continue the connection. Nothing. To be fair, I think we can all look back on moments when we did the same thing, but that doesn’t excuse the problem. I am sure you do much the same as I do and firmly plant your palm to your forehead when you realize what you have done. Unfortunately, opportunity is fleeting and, when missed, is often gone forever. While you can’t beat yourself up over every missed connection, hopefully you can learn from your mistakes and be more aware in the future.

There are times when you need to be even more sensitive to opportunities — when they are presented by friends, co-workers or clients. Failing to follow up on an opportunity presented by this group reflects badly not only on you, but also on the person who is connecting you with the opportunity. While I don’t have the world’s largest network, I regularly try to share opportunities with my friends.

I hope that they can find some good in each opportunity, but also understand that only a handful of connections will ever work out entirely. I typically present the opportunity to my friend first to see if they are interested before passing off their name to the potential client. In this way, they can decide whether the project or job is interesting to them before taking the next step. You don’t have to accept every opportunity, but being open to the opportunities is very important.

One frustrating aspect of opportunities, though, is when I offer an opportunity only to be met with indifference and inaction. Sometimes it seems that I see more in people than they can see in themselves. I can understand the reluctance to pursue an opportunity in some ways. I know I have faced these same fears myself. You start to “futuretrip” and the “What ifs?” begin to pile up until to you are too afraid to do anything. Still, I am sure you have felt this same frustration when your friends fail to grab onto the opportunities you present. This doesn’t mean you stop trying, of course, but it can make you less inclined to share future opportunities. Remember this, too, when you are on the receiving end of an opportunity. Ignore them enough times and they might stop appearing.

Sharing your opportunities with those around you, and accepting them when they are presented, is one important way the career world turns. Whether you decide to accept an opportunity or not is much less important than simply being open to them when they arrive. Ignoring the equation on either side can limit your career opportunities and leave you wondering why the next step in your career is so hard to find.

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Opportunity Lost

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Video: Visibility and Your Career from LaidOffCamp LA

Douglas speaks to LaidOffCamp LA on May 1, 2009 on Visibility and Your Career.

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Photo: Morgantis on Flickr.com

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LaidOffCamp LA – Visibility and Your Career

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we can lose track of our goals in the midst of the chaos of daily life. We work and work on our projects without ever getting them done. No matter how much work you do, if you don’t complete your projects, what have you really accomplished? Your career depends on providing solutions. Don’t build a career that saddles you with never-ending project after never-ending project. Get on with it. Get over it. Get it done!

A Good Experience

The importance of being able to complete a project was brought home to me again this week, when I was working on a project with my podcasting group, Friends in Tech (http://friendsintech.com). We were producing a special production for only the second time in our short history and yet it was a great experience. Despite being scattered across the country, we wrote, edited, recorded and audio edited a 40 minute show, using all our voices and those of our family and yet still completed it 2 days before our scheduled deadline. This was a major feat, but even with all the work, we still followed our #1 Charter Guideline, “Have Fun!”

Why was this such a good experience? As you may have discovered in past or present jobs, completing projects makes everyone happy. The client is happy. Your company is happy and you are happy. Just when you start to get tired of the project, it’s over. Compare this to one of your previous projects that seemed to go on and on until everyone involved was sick of it. Never-ending projects make everyone unhappy and usually end with someone being fired.

One of the biggest assets of our group, and any good project group, is the ability to complete projects and complete them on time. If you can do that, you can do almost anything. But how do you find or build a group that can make it happen? There are a couple of key elements that can show you whether your project group is on the right track.

Get It Done Checklist

First, and most importantly, do you and your fellow team members have clear goals and deadlines? Are you all in agreement on what needs to be done and when? If not, prepare for a long, long project. You can’t possibly know when a project is over, if you don’t have a clear and concise picture of the end result. Lack of goals, or poorly defined goals, lead you astray from the very start. Plans change, features change, jobs change and even the entire project can change. A perfect scenario for a never-ending story. In a project like this, you are destined for months of “just one more feature” or “just one more change.”

Next, does everyone on the project team have multiple skills? Can they take on whatever role is required of them, even if it isn’t their primary talent? This is one of the great strengths of our group. Sure, we all have our specialties, but each of us can “jump in” when needed, to move the project forward. Even more, everyone is ready to jump in whenever they see an issue or need. No one waits for someone to cry for help. They are usually aware of the problem from the start and are already helping out even before their co-workers reach a breaking point.

Finally, any issue that isn’t directly related to the project at hand is ignored. Bureaucracy, paper-shuffling, unnecessary meetings are forgotten, and, if everyone is thinking clearly, no one cares. Great projects take on their own momentum and can, for a time, shunt aside the typical office politics and constraints. Build the momentum of your project and fewer people can distract you from its completion. Any project that slows too much begins to be picked apart by turf wars, bureaucracy and critics who never wanted it to happen in the first place.

You only need to experience one bad project before you see the wisdom of focusing on completion. Bad projects are like chains around your ankles. Everything is more difficult than it should be and you find yourself moving slower and slower with each passing day. In the worst cases, you might find yourself trapped within the project forever, toiling away on something that no one finds interesting or even useful, but which no one can seem to stop.

Great careers are built on great projects, so do everything in your power to find or make projects that improve your high-tech career instead of trapping it in a never-ending cycle of going nowhere.

Question of the Week: In what ways can you keep your projects on track and moving towards completion?

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Archive: Get it done

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How does it happen? We look up from our work one day to notice that there simply isn’t enough time left to get everything done. This project has pushed out that project. Rehearsals went late and crept into the time we set aside for finishing that article. A family crisis erupted and took up whole swathes of our day. The stress level starts to rise and the walls seem like they are about tumble down. In case you haven’t guessed already, this has been my life over the last week or so. Too much to do in too short a time, but like most crises, I only have myself to blame. You might find the same thing happens to you on occasion. As they say, though, the only way out is through.

The need to say “No!”

Since my career goes in so many directions at once, I usually have more requests for my time than actual available hours. In any given week I could be involved in computer consulting, New Media speaking, teaching podcasting classes, performing for my son’s school fundraisers and much more. Like any good careerist, I want to take on as much of this work as possible, to move ahead each facet of my life. Of course, conflicts often arise. With such a variety of projects, they can often step on each other and even defy any logical scheduling. Still, I am loathe to say “No” to any of them, lest I miss some important opportunity. In many ways, this is exactly the wrong thing to do.

All of us have to practice the fine art of saying “No”, even when we would love to do the thing we are being asked to do. We have to be honest with ourselves when certain projects simply don’t fit into our already crowded schedules. We may truly “want” to do something, but if it only adds stress to our lives we will not enjoy it and, even worse, not do our best. In these cases, saying “No” might be the best thing we can do.

You might be thinking, “Well, unload some of your previous commitments so you can take on this one.” While that is an option, I am loathe to renege on a promise I have already made without a very good reason. Backing out of a commitment to others, even in favor of a better project, can be very damaging to your career. Trust is fragile and if those around you don’t think they can rely on you, you might find them unwilling to work with you in the future. Be very careful in renegotiating commitments. You might find that you hurt both yourself and those around you. We can only live life forward and accept commitments as we are offered them. It is important to remember that some opportunities must be missed if we have already committed to something else.

Watch your calendar

If you feel you are running out of time, it can often be because you are too focused on the short term. Many of us manage our lives on a daily or weekly schedule when a monthly or yearly focus would be more appropriate. I do everything I can to place items on my calendar as soon as they are known. For example, I already know of 2 large commitments in November of this year. By placing them in my calendar today, I will be less likely to let other projects encroach on that time. When I am presented with new commitments, I already know what time I have available and will be able to say, “No” with full knowledge of my schedule.

The truth is, many projects “sneak up on us” even though we know about them months in advance. They are not really sneaking, of course, we have simply chosen to forget about them in lieu of other work. You can’t fool time, though, and those projects will quickly come galloping down upon you. Wouldn’t it be better to be secure in the knowledge of your complete schedule instead of living your life stress-filled day-to-stress-filled day?

While running out of time can certainly happen, too often we are the creators of our own stress. We take on too many commitments in too short a time and then ignore future commitments until they force our attention. Learn to say “No” when needed and manage your calendar with a longer focus and much of your stress can be alleviated. This will then allow you to focus more on the task at hand, secure in the knowledge that you have your work, your life and your career under control.

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Out of time

Complete information on the group, and their regular, weekly meeting follow.

Douglas

Have you been laid-off or downsized?

Is the economic meltdown making you uneasy in your current position?

Are you looking to transition to a different career?

Then Tuesdays with Transitioners is the place for you!

We meet every Tuesday for lunch, support and encouragement, and to discuss ideas, share stories and resources, and garner tools that can lead us to new work, and unlock the potential for a hopeful future and career.

This week, we are going to talk about how to transition from one career to another, so come join us!

When: Every Tuesday, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.

Where: Congregational Church of Northridge, Fellowship Hall
9659 Balboa Blvd., Northridge
(818) 349-2400
www.northridgechurch.net

Contact: Jennifer O’Connell at joliveroconnell@gmail.com.

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Event: Douglas speaks to Tuesdays with Transitioners, May 12, 2009

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Recently in the Career-Op Community

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During the toughest times in our history, there always seems to be a contingent of people who want to believe that nothing is changing — that everything is going to be just fine — that all this turmoil is just going to pass and life will continue just as it always has. They don’t want to hear what you have to say. They don’t want to see the facts and figures and charts and graphs. What they are often saying is, “Please, lie to me!”

Too many people want to believe that this recent downturn is an oddity, an aberration, some short bit of madness that will quickly pass away. To believe that, though, they have to deny thousands of years of history — thousands of years of rise and fall — thousands of years of cyclical change ranging from one extreme to another. We have seen this all before, many times over, and denying it only makes it worse. It gives circumstance a power over us that it should never have. We are critically thinking animals with deep abilities to learn and reason. Surrendering ourselves to lies squanders our talents and makes us culpable in our failures. We have the intelligence to survive this downturn if we only remove the scales from our eyes and the fingers from our ears.

I always endeavor to speak the truth from these pages, even when it is unpopular. I will guess that nearly everyone reading or listening will find something to dislike here. The truth is sometimes hard to hear, but it is all important that we hear it, and more importantly, act on it. Power comes from a clear understanding of our circumstances and denial causes the waste of our time and talents. Let’s seek to access the “better angels of our nature” and start our recovery today.

First, it is almost certain that certain jobs, certain careers and certain industries will, and by all rights should, be discarded. As a child in the 70’s I witnessed the first death throes of the automotive industry where many family members, and families of my friends found work, careers and financial stability. For nearly 40 years we have propped up this ever weakening, ever stumbling, falling giant. Unable to see the future, we held on to the past until such a time when the future is being crammed down our throats. If you work in the automotive industry, or any manufacturing sector, you need to look elsewhere for succor. Like the last great herd of buffalo to roam the plains, the beasts of the automotive industry have fallen and will no longer provide us food, clothing and support. Will they return? One day. Maybe in time for our grandchildren or great grand-children to once again make manufacturing an important mainstay of America, but not in our lifetime. We must return to the days of the many and the small instead of the big and the few. Only then can we rebuild manufacturing in this country while, hopefully, remembering the lessons of this collapse.

Second, for years we have stretched the American Dream to ever more absurd limits. What began as a quest for home, land and family has been warped into greed, avarice and excess in almost every way. As a people, we have lost any concept of the difference between enough and all. Where a soldier returning from World War II wanted mainly a home for his family and a good, decent job in a safe community, today many of us want a huge house, ludicrous pay and power of life and death over those around us. Our love of prosperity left us without any understanding of the many levels of success. You were either a superstar or nothing, with no grey areas in between. This has led to many of the abuses we are seeing today, from Enron to the real estate crisis to our seeming inability to govern ourselves politically.

Today, I regularly talk with musicians and others in the entertainment industry who seem most infected by this superstar myth. Even they are beginning to see that being able to support your family, comfortably, while doing what you love is a far greater goal than any form of super stardom — and far more likely. While we may never stop reaching for the brass ring, we need to recognize the simple success of a life well lived and the benefits it brings to us as individuals and society as a whole.

Third, we need to stop looking for some external force, some outside factor, some knight in shining armor to fix our problems. We are the source of our own solutions, our own changes, our own imaginative creations, not our government, our corporations, our political parties, our God. If change is to happen, it must happen down deep in the psychological soil of our own being. We have to decide to change. We have to recognize reality. We have to seek the truth even when it is difficult, despairing and ugly. We can no longer abdicate our lives to someone else or we risk the very basis of our humanness. We can no longer depend on government, corporations, and other entities to look out for our best interests. Current events should show us the fallacy of that. Large entities will do what is best for them, not what is best for the people. Sometimes our interests converge, but at others they diverge at the detriment to both.

Despite what you may see and feel today, the future is bright. With the future comes hope, and time, to accomplish great things if we stop lying to ourselves and start doing the work that needs to be done. We have the power in our own hands to shape our future, even if we have denied, forsworn or simply forgotten it. The power does not reside in some mythical “out there.” It is held here, in our hands and only desires that we wield it. Like a new shovel in untouched soil, we simply need to take the tool, turn over the soil and create the future we desire.

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We must stop lying to ourselves

No, I am not speaking of layoffs, plant closures and terminations, but rather thinning your “herd” of out-dated projects, failed initiatives, worthless bureaucracy and old hardware and software. The New Year is a great time for taking a hard look at your work and getting rid of everything that no longer fits with your current vision, workload or budget.

Hangers-on

Every company, every department and every high-tech worker has some project, some task, some system that needs to be put out of their (and your) misery. I can practically see you nodding your heads from here. There is the ancient mainframe that continues to run the one application that everyone depends on — the desktop PCs that can barely run the corporate email application – last year’s quality initiative that survives as nothing more than a binder on the shelf. All these items slow you down, wear you out and otherwise hinder your ability to get on with other important work. Now is the time to thin the herd and get back to a more productive state of mind.

First, you have to remember everything that is getting on your nerves. For the next 2 weeks you are going to make note of everything you encounter that needs to be replaced or retired. Take a notebook, maybe even one specifically for this task, with you wherever you go. Use it as your “outboard memory” capturing all those items that annoy you on a daily basis. If you work in an IT department, have everyone do this at the same time. Then, at the end of the week, gather all your notes into one central document that everyone can review and add to if necessary. Have one, 1 hour meeting and place some sort of priority on each item on the list. Keep the meeting as short as possible. Remember, this is designed to kill off time wasting problems, not waste more time. Now you have your game plan. Your task is to remove as many of these annoyances as possible.

Easy and Hard

Some of your annoyances will be easy to kill off. Move the data off that old server to a new one and then unplug the thing. Donate it to a worthy cause. Move some PCs around so that Mary in Accounting doesn’t feel she is working with a dinosaur of a computer, even if she doesn’t get a shiny new one. Stop using that 3 part form that requires the last, barely functioning, dot matrix printer in the company.

Other problems will be more difficult to solve, but merely taking action on them is a step in the right direction. You aren’t going to replace 40,000 lines of COBOL code overnight, but maybe now is the time to put a project team together and start moving forward. You can’t stop tracking purchase orders, but you can start investigating the process and how it might be better automated. For these more intractable problems, making any progress, no matter how small, is the goal.

In some cases, it is the extremely difficult problems that you want to attack first. Is there something that has been bothering you for months, or even years? Try to make some progress on it. You may not succeed this time, but you will feel better for trying and it is almost impossible to not have some small effect. Too often, these projects are considered so difficult that no one even tries to change them. Maybe your small push will create some momentum that might finally produce some change.

Finally, once you have gone through this process once, continue doing it, at least once per quarter. Even better, make it a constant on-going practice. It usually requires moments of re-dedication over the years, but making it part of your daily work will ensure a constant reduction in your most annoying problems. You will never solve everything, but you will feel better, and be much more productive, than had you not tried at all.

Every so often, you need to face those nagging, bothersome and, seemingly impossible problems in your work. You may be uncomfortable digging into old problems, but “thinning the herd” is the only way to insure the quality and productivity of your high-tech career.

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Archive: Thinning the Herd – January 27, 2006

All a-Twitter
By Douglas E. Welch

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All the world seems to be a-twitter about Twitter these days. (http://twitter.com) The mainstream press has discovered Twitter and it is leading to an explosion of new users, and new uses. I had been mulling over a column on Twitter for a while, but a question from a Career Opportunities listener moved me to action, because Twitter can be one way to build your career, especially during this economic downturn.

Twitter is a service which has been described as “micro-blogging” and a public form of instant messaging. Instead of speaking to just one other person, your messages go out to the world at large. Other Twitter users can then decide to “follow” you — meaning that they find what you say interesting and want to see each message you post.

Twitter ties in perfectly with the concept of “visibility” that I have written and spoken on in the past. (See A Year of Visibility – column – audio – video) This important way of building your career is designed around letting others know what you do and how well you do it. Posting 140 character updates on Twitter might seem a difficult way of spreading the word, except for the fact that these updates are quickly absorbed by your followers and others that stumble across your “tweets.” These small messages aggregate to paint a more complete picture of who you are and what you do.

One question I get almost every time I talk about Twitter is, “Is it useful?” In some ways, that is a very personal decision that each person needs to make for themselves. For me, though, I have booked billable hours based on Twitter conversations, so I definitely see value to be had there. There are other, less tangible benefits as well, such as raising your profile, engaging in enlightening and useful conversations, asking the advice and opinions of others and more.

At its most extreme, your Twitter message might even end up getting you a job. Your tweet about working on your latest (insert your own type of work here – iPhone application, new program, whatever) could lead to a conversation with someone who is interested in your work and might even need to hire you for a project or full-time job. Of course, direct and immediate results like this don’t happen every day, but your regular updates still have the power to educate, enlighten and entertain readers. Those are worthy goals, too. The fact is, you have no idea who might be reading your tweets or what benefit you might bring to them. You have no idea who your audience is, so your job is to put your information out there and let people find you.

I often tell my writer wife, “scripts, novels, articles don’t sell themselves in a drawer.” Your work has to be sent out to those that might purchase it. The same rule applies to Twitter and other forms of social networking. With each message, you are making your work visible to those who might be in a position to buy — or hire — you.

Of course, the everyday benefits of Twitter can be even more subtle. Your tweets allow readers to build up a deeper understanding of who you are, what you do and what you find interesting. People only need to follow me for a few days before they learn that I LOVE coffee, geek out on wine and food and run several groups here in Los Angeles. This isn’t because I am shouting these messages out, but rather because I mention them in my daily tweeting. We are in a world of global opportunities today and Twitter provides one method of cultivating these opportunities no matter where you — or your followers — are geographically located. I have Twitter conversations with people all over the globe and I find that simply amazing. It brings me a better understanding of the world.

Twitter, and other social networking services, provide many important functions. It raises your visibility in the world. It allows you to present a well-rounded picture of yourself, showing all facets and not just one specialty. This helps to keep you from being pigeonholed as one thing or another. It introduces you to new people, new ideas and new worlds. While face-to-face meetings are both fun and useful, the ability to create long distance, loose connections with people all over the world is a wonderful new tool in building your career and your life. Once you engage in this activity, whether via Twitter or other service, I think you will find new doors opening up to new worlds you might never have imagined.

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All a-Twitter

Time to take action
By Douglas E. Welch

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Over the last months I have been concentrating on what you need to be thinking about during the economic downturn. Today, though, I want to talk about what you should also be doing. Sometimes fear can cause us to seize up, like a deer in the headlights, instead of focusing on action. It is time to take action for the sake of you and your career. Whether you are recently laid off or still at work, here are some action items to focus on.

First, just because others are being laid off doesn’t mean that opportunities don’t exist for you. With less staff and cost-cutting, some companies may be looking to hire more freelancers to fill the holes in their organization. Freelancers carry less of a burden in benefits and bonuses, even though they might require slightly higher salaries. If you have been thinking of striking out on your own, this could be the time to do it. Sure, it might be a bit more frightening to try freelancing now, but if you can find a diverse collection of clients, it is certainly a possibility. Freelancing in a down period also puts you in place to be offered a full time position once the economy recovers, should you wish.

Despite all the layoffs, certain skills are still in great demand. Almost all the job listings that cross my desk go wanting. There is a great demand for programming talent, especially web-based programming. Project management skills also seem to be important in today’s market. You may find that this downturn has made your skills more valuable and you, more in demand at another company. Don’t think you are stuck with your current employer. You might have more opportunities than you think.

One good aspect of this current downturn is that there are more job search resources than ever before. When I was looking for a job 25 years ago, the Sunday edition of the classified ads was my only resource. I would scour through them, pen in hand, circling companies where I might apply. Then I would have to wait until next week to do it all again. Now, the job search world comes right to your computer and provides you easy ability to search, slice and dice job listings. Even more, these tools can be working for you 24/7 using automated and customized search tools, RSS feeds, email subscriptions and more. This is one area in which a job search is light years ahead of what it once was. Take advantage of it.

There are many more opportunities to network and socialize among your fellow job seekers and hiring businesses today, too. These groups, both online and face-to-face allow everyone to share information and advice and help each other find a job. That said, beware socializing only with other job seekers. This might sound harsh, but you want to avoid falling into the “unemployed” or “victim” mindset. There is always the possibility of this environment turning to complaining, anger and depression. If the mood of a particular group starts to turn dark, you need to remove yourself to avoid damaging your own attitude.

Remember, when you are unemployed, it is a perfect time to mix things up a bit. Change your schedule around. Attend evening events you might have avoided in the past due to an early commute. Work your job search when you are at your highest level of productivity. If you are most awake from 3-5 in the afternoon, focus your energy there. Use your mornings to get some exercise or answer email and phone calls. Schedule lunch meetings with friends who are still working so you have an excuse to clean up and get out during the day. Even follow your normal work schedule, if that is what works best for you.

You’ll find that nearly everyone, including me, say to treat your job search as if it is a job in itself. While your search is certainly important, you should also remember to enjoy the fact that, for this short period of time, you have greater control over your time. You are free from silly bureaucratic busy work. You don’t have to punch in/punch out. You don’t have to do things you don’t want to do. In some ways, this time and the control over it could be the most important resources in finding your next job. You have a chance to explore what you want out of a job and a career. You have a chance to think “what if” and put it into practice. Your future is in your hands, for better or worse. Now is the time to explore it.

Finally, remember that you are not looking for “the next job.” You are looking for the next, BEST job possible. Good career builders don’t just take what is given them. They evaluate what is best for them and their careers at each step. Careers do not happen, they are built. From this succession of BEST careers, comes the career you deserve.

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Time to take action

About this talk

Why do people succeed? Is it because they’re smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

About Richard St. John

A self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success — and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes.

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Noted: TedTalk: Richard St. John: Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes

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