Fast Company magazine cover: June 2010 (Photo credit: karen horton)

A lot of publications have been trying to understand the changing nature of today’s job market and the impact it has on the younger generations. Most paint a fairly dim picture – degrees that mean nothing, skills left untaught, high unemployment – essentially a generation wandering around, looking at the sky for an answer.

When I saw the chosen topic for Fast Company’s January issue of this year – ‘Generation Flux‘ – I put off reading the issue for a while. Even though it is my favorite magazine, I just didn’t want another reminder of the insecurity and fear that creeps into nearly every day.

Of course, I never should have doubted Fast Company’s ability to find the unique and innovative. The issue focused on leaders under 40 who were changing their industries. What surprised me was they were not all entrepreneurs. Many were staff of larger corporations (Microsoft, Greylock Partners, etc). The thread tying them all together were the strange paths they took to get there.

And their message – ‘Be not afraid’.

The ones who are optimistic and embrace change are the ones that will survive and forge new realities. I want to get there, but I’m finding ‘the Flux’ gets to me more and more these days. Blind leaps of faith are hard and the payoff is unknown. How can we support one another?

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• Generation Flux: What Entrepreneurs Should Remember in Wake of the Fiscal Cliff

Generation Flux is a post from: Not so subtle...

As a woman in the tech/startup world, I’m constantly being told it’s a man’s game. Watch out little lady! Your breasts and lack of an Adam’s apple are going to make it impossible to succeed!

Recently, Fast Company (my favorite publication) published an article titled ‘Practical Advice From Female Who Stand Out In A Sea of Dudes‘, providing guidance to combat this very problem. To summarize, female entrepreneurs should:

• Speak up. As stated in the article, this means doing your homework, reading a lot and coming prepared with an ‘arsenal of information’.
• Participate in pitch events so you can get practice and feedback. Concerned about tough questions? Practice ‘fielding zingers’.
• Stand out. Leverage being in the minority.
• Use your network.

Okay…clearly I’m missing something. Isn’t that what EVERY entrepreneur should be doing, regardless of their sex? With the exception of leveraging a minority position, all of this advice could just as easily be applied to an all male startup. Perhaps I’ve been sheltered, but no investor or Startup Weekend judge I’ve ever come across has let a male startup get away without knowing their stuff in a pitch just because they share the same chromosomes.

via http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/

It isn’t just the ridiculously common sense advice that gets me. It’s that somehow women need more hand holding then men when it comes to succeeding in the tech and startup spheres. I see so many female-centric learning environments claiming they’ll solve the lack of female programmers, scientists, CEO’s, etc, simply by keeping men out of the picture. What happens AFTER we learn all these skills from women and then have to work with men? A female-only environment simply isn’t reality.

I’ve worked in all-female environments. I’ve attend female-only meetups. What I’ve come to find is it isn’t the men discriminating against me as a woman in tech…it’s my fellow females. I get much more discouragement, odd glances, judging comments when I talk to women about what I do then men. I’m criticized for my choice, yes…CHOICE, of a career over children by other women who have chosen otherwise.

Don’t take my comments as denial of the problem. I absolutely want more women entrepreneurs, programmers, scientists, CEOs, etc. I want more woman leaders I can look up to. I just don’t think we should have to exclude men or make them the enemy to get there. Put simply ladies, JFDI.

Watch Out Little Lady is a post from: Not so subtle...

Swapping

I know kids grow like crazy, so wearing the same clothes year-after-year is impossible. And I know there’s a fashion point of pride for kids not relegated to school uniforms.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

But what if the kids could trade with others their age? And what if by doing so, they were better able to understand the value of items, entrepreneurship and the impact of their waste?

Solution – a clothing swap for kids, planned by kids. Clothing swaps have seen a surge in the last few years, become high class events drawing hundreds of people. Unlike a rummage sale or swap meet, participants don’t pay for goods with cash. Instead, the clothes brought in are evaluated and the individual receives credit (tokens, tickets, etc) to use towards “purchasing” other items at the swap. By empowering kids to host their own booths and shop for their own clothes, they are more likely to take pride in their “purchases”. Less waste, less cost and the kids learn about the value of an item. It could even become a lesson in entrepreneurship, as kids can decorate their booths and learn how to advertise their goods.

Pinterest to the Rescue

Old doesn’t mean out of style. Thanks to sites like Pinterest, parents and kids have a resource to share ideas on reusing school supplies.

My personal favorite postings on Pinterest  are those related to clothes hacking. Even if you’re a sewing n00b (like myself), many of the projects are simple with clear directions. Take a look at my T-Shirt Projects board to see what I mean.

A quick search on Pinterest also provided some great links for bringing a new life to old school supplies.

From  wikihow – Reusing old school supplies

Mile Hi Mama – How to wash a backpack

School Lunch Waste

Photo credit: Wikipedia

This one is a bit tougher. I don’t know the reasons why food waste is more prevalent in schools, but I can take a guess based on my schooling.

Buffet lines — I remember reading in The Omnivore’s Dilemma about portion size change over the years. Research has shown that over the past 100 years, the average plate size has gone from 9-12 inches. Additionally, there have been studies proving cafeteria-style serving trays also make us load up with more food than we need. These factors have shown to cause increased food intake in adults, so I’d imagine the same would go for students, who are exposed to this type of food environment nearly every day.

I know it’s got to be damn near impossible to change school cafeterias. What if again we empowered kids? Encourage them to make their own lunches, therefore keeping costs down and waste. If their choosing to pack a favorite food wouldn’t they eat more of it?

There’s lots of opportunities out there to make back-to-school preparation just as fun and teach students a valuable lesson in sustainability at the same time. Based on the article, it seems parents may be ready for the change.

Related articles

• 10 Ways to Get Rid of Old Clothes (Swap Parties & Other Simple, Easy Ways to Clean Out Your Closet!)
• Reports says 40% of food wasted in U.S.
• Parents spend £2bn getting children ready for new term

Combating Back-to-School Waste is a post from: Not so subtle...

Immediately I wanted to lash out. How could our one mid-level camera and wrinkled green screen be perceived as competition? Why couldn’t he see our training program as an opportunity to educate new talent, creating future employees and patrons for his business?

Then, a few weeks later, I found myself on the other side. When provided with a good idea by a volunteer, I shot down the suggestion with weak explanations because I felt anger at not doing a good enough job to recognize the solution myself. It was petty, small and came from a primal part of my brain instead of the reasonable one.

Study Group at UBC Library (Photo credit: UBC Library)

Far too often, we leap to fear and frustration as opposed to finding the opportunity in a situation. Competition is embedded in our DNA and pervasive in society. We competed for food and resources. Now we compete for the best grades as a means of survival. It’s only natural when we finally do enter the working world, we act the same.

Did you ever participate in a study group or partner up with the smart kid in class for tutoring? In school, we all knew the best way to make it through to graduation was to help each other. So while competition kept us going, collaboration got us to the finish line.

I’ve had to pull myself back in during conversations to recognize when I’m letting competition overwhelm  and blind me to the opportunities. It’s really hard – I mean I’m reworking the pathways in my primal brain here. Approaching EVERY conversation like an opportunity has certainly helped and also made meetings a lot more fun.

No one says you’ll have to give up striving to be the best – but letting a few people help you get there and learn something too raises the tide for all ships.

Collaboration over Competition is a post from: Not so subtle...

But here I am on 29…on the brink.

And that’s how I imagine 29 is going to feel.

When I reflect on my life, I always feel proud and fulfilled. I’m constantly using the phrases “at my age” and “by my age”, because I know I’ve been given many experiences and opportunities not typical to my age range. Perhaps they are things most people don’t think of as momentous – getting a graduate degree, studying abroad, living in four states, getting married, helping build a nonprofit – but to me, I feel like I’ve achieved a lot.

Despite these achievements and milestones, I often feel my age – not in my bones, but in my juvenile actions. When will I have the wisdom? How many experiences do I need to gain the insight others demand of me?

When will I finally feel older?

Something tells me 29 is it. There’s been a lot of changes in year 28 and I think it’s all starting to sink in. 29 is the year I grow up =)

Turning 29 is a post from: Not so subtle...

Sandbox event planning sketch (Photo credit: edmittance)

Unfortunately, this quality which can make event planners great, can also be our downfall. The larger the event, the more help needed. While we yearn for dependable, self-motivated staff, we secretly revel in the lack of suitable players. We can’t bear to think that someone else would be needed.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a credit thing. I would strongly doubt any event planner is out for the attention. If we were, we’d be planning events centered on ourselves. We just simply don’t know what to do if we’re not needed.

This weekend I came face-to-face with this very conundrum. Injuring my back, I was unable to fulfill my volunteer coordinator duties for a large conference. Three hours before curtain, I scrambled to contact my key volunteers and the event directors, hoping I could clean up my mess. But then, all I could do was sit and wait.

As I was informed later, the intern I had hired at Gangplank to help with events and promotion had stopped by and taken over the volunteers. After the event ended, everyone told me what a blessing she had been and how smoothly everything had ran.

Of course I was happy. I wanted the event to be a roaring success and I was even more proud my intern had been a key player. But in the back of my mind, I could hear a whimper. I wasn’t needed.

Rather than allow myself to entertain this whisper of pity, I pondered on what being a great event planner really means. Sure, we should be able to take control when necessary. That’s what a good event planner would do. But a great event planner sets others up for success. Since I had done my part organizing, contacting and scheduling volunteers, the event directors were able to assign volunteers without having to scramble to figure out who went where. I (hopefully) saved a few valuable minutes, and allowed others to focus on their tasks. And if the event directors hadn’t empowered me, the volunteers may have not been assigned correctly.

Though having my back thrown out has been a pain in the ass (literally and figuratively), I’m glad it happened. Hopefully I’ll be able to step back from more of my events and empower others to take the lead.

Related articles

• Our Role as Event Planners: How to Raise the Bar on Your New Client’s Events (lizkingevents.com)
• Choosing the Right Event Planner (mileagotchacovered.wordpress.com)

Event Planner Paradox is a post from: Not so subtle...

However, despite these varied interpretations, the majority will automatically interpret ‘bilingual’ to mean speaking more than one language.

I’ve never been bilingual, though I’ve strived most of my life to be so. Not in Spanish or French, but the language of humor, optimism and, more recently, change.

It’s no secret I have an odd sense of humor. My blog is named for my inability to make a joke without then explaining its meaning, or pointing out something obvious everyone has already recognized. I’m almost completely incapable of interpreting sarcasm, again unless blatantly obvious. To cope with my inability to speak the language, I’ve become very good at taking cues from others – laughing when others laugh – or pretending I couldn’t hear and asking them to repeat the statement, hoping I catch it the second time. I’m completely comfortable with these techniques, until someone point blank asks, “Did you get it?”

I doubt most people would consider sarcasm or subtlety a language, nor not being fluent would hurt someone’s chances at success. But I’ve noticed in my work and home life, my inability to “speak the language” creates frustration or a sense of doubt as to my powers of comprehension.

Similarly others find my serious nature to be irksome. In a playful, frivolous environment, I am often the one to beg seriousness and returning to the problem at hand. I don’t know how to make a complicated subject light hearted, nor ease the tension of a room with an off hand remark. My language dictates directness and sober discussion.

Through observing others and learning from misunderstandings, I’m able to create sarcastic statements of my own, but still not quite able to understand most everyone else. In language terms, I’m pretty sure I’ve got the verbs and nouns down, but I’m struggling with the conjugation and local dialects.

So how does one become humor bilingual? Do I have to give up my native language entirely?

Becoming Bilingual is a post from: Not so subtle...

I really can’t remember how I came to volunteer with Wordcamp Phoenix 2011, but knowing Amanda as I do, I most likely got recommended to her and then she sucked me into being involved in a such a way I didn’t even know it was happening. This is the beauty of Amanda. She eliminates fear and empowers others without them ever knowing they had anything to be fearful of. Well that, and you can’t say no to her.

Which is why six months later when she asked me to be her number two when running the first ever TwilioCon, I didn’t hesitate.

Amanda is a fantastic mentor because she doesn’t realize she’s doing it. All throughout this incredible conference, for which I’m making decisions and calling out orders I pulled out of my ass, she’s supportive and instructive. It’s common for conference organizers to take all the glory and shut everyone else out, but Amanda wanted me in on every meeting and every phone call. She didn’t hide the bad stuff, nor did she sluff it all off onto me or someone else. It was Amanda that taught me there’s no point in freaking out because we can always figure out something.

Of course, I’m still working on this last part.

And while much of her empowerment is subtle, she’s knows when to get in your face and push you too. Most people coddle me – either because I’m cute or they feel sorry for me for some reason. Amanda shoves my mistakes in my face and says, ‘You screwed up. Now we fix it.’

Amanda has given me the confidence to believe I could actually plan a huge conference and survive – though I do hope she’ll be around to help =)

The Red Haired Madam is a post from: Not so subtle...

Typically I’ve relied on work and events to keep me busy, but over time I realized I needed projects that challenge other parts of my brain. I needed something to do on weekends not filled with work.

I had already started to solve the problem without realizing it. My frustration with not having matching furniture led me to figure out how to sand, stain and spray paint various surfaces, as well as how to remove drawers, knobs, etc.

My love affair with Do-It-Yourself projects had begun.

DIY culture is about reusing and hacking. Instead of throwing an object away and buying a new one, DIY challenges you to find a new purpose. It’s recycling for everything you own, and a fight against irresponsible consumerism.

But more than reuse, DIY builds better innovators.

Photo courtesy Johnnie Walker

1. Objects are not what they appear

To be successful DIY-er, you train your brain to look at any object with multiple purpose. A bookcase isn’t a bookcase. It’s a wine cabinet, bed frame, desk, bar, child’s LEGO or changing table. Or maybe pieces of the bookcase can be combined with cabinets to create a closet for a startup designer.

This skill is very useful if you are creating a product or service. What else could your creation be used for? How can you market this quality? What could you tweak that would differentiate you from competitors?

2. Build more with less

Necessity is the mother of all invention. The NASA engineers during the Apollo 13 mission had to create a square filter that could fit into a round hole using nothing but what was on the space shuttle at the time. By using socks and pieces of a space suit, they were able to wrap the filter to fit. You create a fix because you don’t have another option.

Few know this better than DIY-ers. No budget for art? Glue some crayons you have lying around to a canvas and melt them with your old hairdryer. Voila.

Focusing on what you can do with what you have makes for better innovation. Limits and restrictions cause you to focus on the problem and less on the tools. More startups are choosing to bootstrap their business in the first few years in order to learn how to trouble-shoot without relying on money to solve the problem.

3. Share & Transform

Openness is the cornerstone of DIY culture. A new project is shared and followers quickly comment with tips, hacks and failures. Following directions isn’t what’s important. It’s sharing the changes you make.

This already exists within the open source community – LINUX being the prime example. Leaders shared their innovations with a community, leading to further innovation from which everyone benefits.

The most common advice you will see in any book on how to inspire creativity is to try something you’ve never done before. DIY, whether it’s crafting, construction or electronics, gets you out of your comfort zone and your brain working differently. You may tease your Pinterest loving friends, but I challenge you to choose a project from the site and give it a shot. You’ll find the experience incredibly frustrating to be sure, but incredibly rewarding as a creative.

Related articles

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• Make an Affordable, Good-Looking Charging Station for Less than $10 [DIY] (lifehacker.com)

DIY Projects Equal Better Innovation is a post from: Not so subtle...

Then came the first mention of me as Director of Global Operations. Pretty sure I’ve laughed it off the half-dozen times it’s been said. I knew in the back of my mind it was a fast approaching reality, but not one I really had time to digest.

Lately however, the concept has been hitting harder every day.

This is what I signed on for. When Derek and Jade asked me to come on staff more than a year-and-a-half ago, I knew I was becoming part of a misson larger than myself or Arizona. This is what I wanted – an opportunity to really challenge myself as a leader, to take ownership and help a local vision become an international game changer.

And it’s scary as all hell.

Image via Wikipedia

I was sitting in a visioning meeting today. The only part of the meeting I felt I could contribute to was creating a story board for what a Gangplank of the future looked like. I got excited about envisioning a day in the life of a collaborative worker, as they travel to neighborhood Gangplanks around the world. As we moved into writing a vision statement, I lost interest.

I couldn’t think of the right words, or contribute thoughts that would explain the ‘why’ of Gangplank. I got asked repeatedly why I was so quiet and I knew if I want to truly be a leader in this movement, this is what people expect of me.

Am I not able to think in terms of the bigger picture? This has always a great fear of mine. As a doer and not a visionary, I fear I’m stunted when thinking in terms of mission. Sure I can think long-term, but in regards to logistics, financial, staffing and viability. Does this mean I shouldn’t be a part of these conversations? Am I capable of developing this leadership trait?

This is the opportunity I’ve been working towards since I left teaching. Nothing you truly want is ever easily obtained and the path is paved with self-doubt. But where do I turn for guidance? How can I train my right-brained way of life to think in terms of global change? There is no standard for what we do. We are paving the way and I’m not sure how to use the shovel.

I’ve got a lot of growing ahead of me and I’m taking a big leap of faith in believing I can do this. But hell, I’ve made it this far. And I’ve got some pretty smart people that believe I can.

Related articles

• The Risk of Living Fully (joyofspa.com)
• Is there a right kind of volunteering? (katiecharland.com)

Leap of Faith is a post from: Not so subtle...