The Geo-loco panelists

Wednesday evening I attended the sold out Geo-loco panel event put on by Bancroft Research Group at Stage Two Consulting. There was a waiting list of over 80 people indicating a significant level of interest in the topic of geo-loco services in the Bay Area.

The panel was composed of Kevin Marks of BT as the moderator, with Robert Scoble of Rackspace, Tom Coates of Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, Matt Galligan of SimpleGeo, Jeremy Toeman of Stage Two Consulting, and MG Siegler of Techcrunch as the panelists. Sponsors included Rackspace, Traveling Geeks, We Blog The World, Stage Two Consulting, and Gordon Biersch.

Based on who I recognized in the audience, I would say it was largely composed of geeks and early adopters.

As one would expect, the first thirty minutes revolved around privacy before moving into monetization, place vs. space, and how companies are trying to use it. Here are a few of the more interesting quotes and points that were made (more or less in the order they came up in the discussion):

• Tom Coates pointed out that as an industry we now have a history of legal precedence and experience. He shared that privacy was a primary concern when building Fire Eagle and that large companies routinely factor in privacy when building these apps.
• Jeremy Toeman started out by reminding us that our address information has been public since the first phone books. If someone wants your address, they can find it on the web.
• Robert Scoble said that when he shared Twitter a year ago, people said “That’s lame.” Now, when he shares Foursquare, they say “That’s lame and scary.” Geo-loco services have a much higher bar to adoption than did Twitter.
• MG Siegler: “The business application of this is what is interesting. The question is the privacy issue; why should I tell you where I am?”
• Kevin Marks: (speaking for the consumer) “I’ll tell you where you I am if it is valuable for me, otherwise, I lie.” For an example, he pointed out that if you believe the addresses people give on the web, more people claim to live in Bev Hills and Schenectady, NY than actually live there.
• They have the two most easily remembered zip codes: 90210 and 12345
  Matt Galligan: “Location is going to be in everything soon – it’s all about making the apps smarter and more useful.”
• Jeremy, the self-proclaimed naysayer opined that the existing services are not here to stay. “Something will be here, but this is not it. People don’t want the deluge of coupons.”
• Robert: “Plancast is the new Doppler.”
• Robert also noted the philosophical differences between services. Gowalla requires you to check in at your location where as Foursquare allows you to lie.

You can see video clips of much of the event courtesy of Renee Blogget.

That I would have liked to have heard before we ran out of time was the panelists’ predictions of what is coming next. It would have been a neat trick if someone could have predicted Apples move the following day to ban geo loco ads on iPhone and the iPad.

6. Bring your resume. Take a moment to look at the interview from the interviewer’s point of view. If the agency is hiring that means that there is enough extra work to justify a new position (or to refill an existing one). It’s likely that one or more of your interviewers are carrying that load. That means more meetings, and more work on top of the interview process. You want to present your best, so have your resume ready in case it’s needed. You are only cutting into your own interview time if someone has to step out and reprint your resume. And as a project manager or interactive producer, I recommend that you have one or two more copies than you think you’ll need.
7. Take notes. Many experts recommend that you ask if you can take notes before the interview starts. That’s fine, but I personally care a lot less about whether you ask. You are a project manager. Please convince me that you aren’t going to rely on your flawless memory to run projects.
8. Do your research. Sometime in the interview process, the interviewer is going to offer you the opportunity to ask some questions. This is really an opportunity for you to show off your knowledge of the space, your skill set, and your interest level. So, check out the company website. See who their clients are. Think about the challenges they may be having. If you haven’t done your research it’s going to show. And if you’ve been taking notes, you should easily have several questions that don’t involve compensation and benefits.
9. Ask for the job. Someone took a lot of time to set up a series of interviews. Perhaps it was a recruiter, or maybe the hiring manager. Do not walk out the door without a follow-up plan. You might be the lead contender for the position, but if you don’t follow-up, say thank you, and ask for the job, then you are off the radar in days. Maybe even hours. So, show some enthusiasm. Why do you want to work there? What about the agency is appealing to you? Remember, they’ve interviewed three other candidates that day, so remind them of the skills you bring to the table.
10. Once you’ve accepted the job – show up. Cold feet. I get it. Sometimes after the interview process is over and you get briefed about the project, you have that hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach and your mind starts asking questions: “Is this project to big for me? Do I really have the experience required?” Those questions are fine and even answering them in the negative is fine. But please do it before you have negotiated compensation and accepted the job. Do not wait until 10 AM the day you are supposed to start to Facebook message someone in another department that you used to work with to say you are having second thoughts and won’t be coming in. Not only do you look bad, but it reflects on the people that recommended you and served as references.

There are many more I could add to this list, but these 10 are the highlighted mistakes of the last two months. Please add your own favorite “what not to do in an interview” stories below!

Part I

1. Focus on the end game. You may have been out of work for awhile, it happens to all of us. And sometimes the temptation to take any job that comes along is high. Resist playing that game. If you are senior enough for the position, you are senior enough to be thinking about your career, not just paying your bills. You have just as great a stake in making the right decision as the company does. Relax and focus on making sure this is going to be a good fit. This means being honest in your skills, expectations, and desires. It does not mean changing your story in mid-interview or between interviews.
2. Be on time. Now, generally I wouldn’t expect to have to include this one―it’s usually covered by parents or even in a class, but based on results, being on time isn’t particularly a quality that some candidates feel obligated to meet. Yes, parking is difficult. Yes, our office isn’t the easiest to find. You are a Project Manager. You are supposed to anticipate and mitigate risk―so be on time. In fact, I’d recommend you change your definition of “on-time” to “15 mins early.” It shows you anticipated everything and left enough margin in your planning. Showing up 40 minutes late without a phone call is going to get your interview canceled.
3. If you are sick, reschedule. No matter how great a fit you might be for the position, if the interviewer leaves the room thinking more about finding a dose of Airborne than about hiring you, you’ve already lost. Call early and reschedule. The interview team will appreciate and respect you for it.
4. Do not come in stoned, hung-over, or strung out. Enough said.
5. Dress up. Yes it’s an agency. Yes there are people walking by in tee-shirts and jeans. Yes you can wear the same if you are hired. I’m not saying that guys need to wear ties and girls need to wear heels, but a good rule of thumb is “dress as if you were going to an off-site client meeting.” If in doubt, ask the recruiter or hiring manager – they’ll appreciate the question and be happy to give you some advice.

Part II …including how to blow it after you’ve been offered the job!

“I put in a lot of passion, and read and blog nearly every morning (It’s 3:51am right now) before I check any email (which is paying someone else), have an editorial calendar, and am slowly writing drafts (there are 413 of them right now) each day as I collect little bits of information, or get ideas.”

My notice here is that his definition of paying himself first–blogging, is how I define his biggest contribution to the community. I don’t think it’s any accident that Jeremiah has risen to the blogger A-list over the last three years. To paraphrase something that Brian Klemmer said to me last week, “We define success as position, acquisition, and consumption and then wonder why well paid people don’t contribute and take responsibility.”

Congratulations Jeremiah on all you’ve accomplished and will continue to. Thanks for demonstrating a spirit of contribution!

Note: Jeremiah, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, & Mark Silva are participating in an SFAMA panel discussion on small business, tech bloggers, and social media next Thursday night. Come join us!

Bluetrain 55/85

I’m very excited - this week I received my Bluetrain print from Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com fame. Here is close up of the work from Hugh’s gallery site, gapingvoidgallery.com:

If you don’t know Hugh, I suggest that you take a few minutes and peruse his blog -  paying particular attention to his original How to be Creative post that is coming out soon as a book titled Ignore Everybody, The Global Microbrand, and the Hughtrain.  [Warning: The language in the accompanying cartoons may be offensive to some.]

The Hughtrain, is of course, the inspiration behind Bluetrain and itself was inspired by the Cluetrain Manifesto.

Here’s Hugh’s description of it:

In 2004, I wrote a manifesto, which was derivative of the Cluetrain. I called it the Hughtrain. Around that time, the idea that products were not just functional things to be mass produced and foisted upon consumers, really began to take on meaning for me. We human beings are here to find meaning, not just to consume stuff. and that has informed my philosophy ever since.
This “bluetrain” is a reworking of the cover of that manifesto, and an ideal that anyone who gets up in the morning, with fire in their belly will understand.

I first heard about the Hughtrain from Mark Silva, one of the co-founders of Real Branding, through a Twitter post around the fall of 07 and it immediately struck a cord. I’ve followed Hugh’s blog ever sense and was delighted to see that he was taking his idea of the Global Microbrand to the next step by making prints available. (And lucky me, I got in on some of his early pricing!)

The “Use” of Art

All that background to get to the real reason for this post: the Use of Art. Or rather, my use of this particular art. Why buy a print of something that Hugh offers freely on his website?

Here is why I did it: I needed it.

I needed a touchstone that I could look at and be reminded that human beings don’t scale. That in this economy when clients, colleagues, and vendors are stressed out and upset all around me, that I can’t afford to get caught up in the chaos again – and I know what it’s like to be caught up in the chaos. That the end game isn’t about how much money I make or ‘success” I achieve, but that is about how much of a difference I make in the lives of others.

I bought Bluetrain to remind me that despite how good or poor a job I am doing of it at any particular time, that it is my privilege and responsibility to become a better leader; to point the way and demonstrate the higher values of trust, responsibility, risk, hard work, and commitment. It’s not enough for me to just “get the job done” and meet the revenue goals.

Life requires more.

It requires that I honor others by investing in the people around me, that I call them up to a higher standard so they can both see and develop the confidence to reach for their higher potential. And it requires that I honor myself by taking care of me physically, mentally, and spiritually. It requires that I be willing to accept feedback and criticism and that I embrace the fact that while I can’t control the circumstances that I am still responsible for my experience. Or, in Hugh’s words:

The soul cannot be outsourced. Either get with the program or hire a consultant in Extinction Management. No vision, no business. Your life from now on pivots squarely on your vision of human potential.

That’s why I bought Bluetrain – and I know of no higher “use” for art.

A Tale of Two Neighbors

Last week, my girlfriend had to go out in the rain and get her dog, Pearl out of the back yard because Pearl was barking at the neighbor on the other side of the back fence. Pearl is a rescue dog and has a highly developed sense of “her” territory. It apparently extends to anything she can hear.

This neighbor, upon moving in several years ago got tired of Pearl’s barking at him every time he was in his own back yard. His solution was to throw rocks at Pearl. It was witnessed, and after being challenged,  he stopped throwing rocks. But Pearl never forgave him. As a result, he has no peace in his own back yard unless my girlfriend is home to call Pearl into the house.

When a new neighbor moved into the house next door, Pearl of course began barking at him. His response? He came over, met Pearl and brought her a cookie. There after, anytime Pearl would bark, he would talk to her over the fence using her name and occasionally throw over a cookie. This neighbor is now Pearl’s new best friend of course, so she doesn’t bark at him anymore.

Which neighbor are you?

We are in a tough economy and when people feel threatened it tends to bring out their more primitive, protective nature. You are working with and around “Pearls” every day. Any client, customer, or co-worker can fall into that role.

Yes, Pearl “shouldn’t” feel threatened. Yes, you should expect to have some peace in your own back yard. Yes, the vendor should have sent you the price list. Yes, the customer shouldn’t expect an extra round of revisions for free. Yes, your coworker should have kept his deadline.

So what?

Which are you more interested in, being “right”, or getting the results? Are you throwing rocks or cookies?

The significance and excitement of Tuesday (1/20/09) has been almost more than I can fully realize. Yes, there is great work to be done and immense problems to be solved, however; this is a rare time for me when the emotional bests the pragmatic in my own heart. I hear the calls not only from my own practical self but others to throw off the pageantry and simply get to work with the business of turning the country around, but my heart asks a basic defiant question.

Why shouldn’t we allow ourselves and our nation to celebrate the good for the same duration as we require ourselves to mourn the bad? Certainly we elected Barack Obama to lead the nation, we expect him to hit the ground running and by all indications this is exactly what he will do but I am compelled to stop and savor this moment by allowing it to sweep me up in feelings that I would typically brush aside as having little practical merit.  I feel a sense of hope and optimism and I am resolved to allow myself to experience these emotions without regret, cynicism, guilt or embarrassment.

What follows is beyond my control, but what is fully within my control is my ability to enjoy the now without hesitation, knowing full well the call to “get to work” will eventually supplant these less than pragmatic feelings. Everything we are told is important indicates that we should always look past today and into the future for inspiration or hope. If you work hard you will be promoted in the future, if you study hard you will get a better job in the future, if you are faithful you will be rewarded in the afterlife, but what these things miss is the happiness that can be experienced today.

If you are moved by Tuesday’s events I encourage you to allow yourself to get emotional and fight the urge to shake off the excitement as something which makes practical progress on the real problems facing our country impossible. Enthusiasm, optimism and hope are the fuels of change and without them the fundamental ideals of our country are impossible to achieve.

Reading FriendFeed tonight and a particular comment stood out and got me to thinking more about disillusionment.

If 2008 goes down in history as nothing else, it will go down as a year when many realized that they were laboring under some very large illusions. The shock of those illusions falling away is evidenced daily in our headlines: the housing market, the stock market, and even personal tragedy as a result of the Madoff scandal.

We all have our illusions. And if you’re reading this, odds are that you’ve had a few of them shattered recently. I’ve certainly had my share of disillusionment and disappointment this year and frankly I don’t expect that 2009 is going to be much different.

Further more, I really don’t want it to be. By definition, to be disillusioned means to no longer be under an illusion. And how is that not a good thing?

As Stephen Covey put it so eloquently in Seven Habits, “The map is not the territory.” So, if the map isn’t the territory, the difference between the map (how we view the world) and the territory (reality – the way things really are) must be the illusion. And I think there is still a lot of gap left to be exposed.

So, what do you think is it going to be? “Back to Reality” or “More of the Same”? Which will be more difficult in the long run? How disillusioned do you want to be?

I’m currently working my way through the following four:

Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki
Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
Buying In by Rob Walker
Welcome to the Creative Age by Mark Earls

I’m of the opinion that it’s not so much what a book says that’s so important, but what it makes you think. Each one of these is making me think differently about my industry, the economy, and my opportunities. And frankly in trying to synthesize what I’m seeing, reading, and experiencing right now I’m coming up with more questions than answers. Here are a few of the excerpts that I’m wrestling with…

From the end of Chapter One of Reality Check:

“Instead of pursuing professional entrepreneurs, we should figure out how and why ordinary people can do heroic things. Dr. Phillip Zimbardo of Stanford University and Zeno Franco of the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology wrote an article called ‘The Banality of Heroism‘…about this very subject.

The short explanation is that heroism requires the presence of a ‘heroic imagination,’ which the authors describe as ‘the capacity to imagine facing physically or socially risky situations, to struggle with the hypothetical problems these situations generate, and to consider one’s actions and the consequences.’”

From p-69 of Here Comes Everybody:

“Professional self-conception and self-defense, so valuable in ordinary times, becomes a disadvantage in revolutionary ones, because professionals are always concerned with threats to the profession. In most cases, those threats are also threats to society; we do not want to see a relaxing of standards for becoming a surgeon or a pilot. But in some cases the change that threatens the profession benefits society, as did the spread of the printing press; even in these situations the professionals can be relied on to care more about self-defense than about progress. …evidence that the ecosystem is changing in ways they can’t control usually creates considerable anxiety, even if the change is good for society as a whole.”

From Walker’s introduction to Buying In:

“When marketing experts in particular talked about the birth of a new consumer, what they were really talking about was the re invention of their own business. Many popular business gurus have become fond of declaring that the advertising business is, as one announced not long ago, ‘on its way to extinction.’ What these people mean is the end of “traditional” advertising…”

And finally from p-76 of Welcome To The Creative Age:

“Everything has changed; all of the condition of the world which spawned the ‘Marketing Revolution’ and on which the current order was built have been demolished. Marketing is a product of its time and that time has gone. All swept away. All flotsam and jetsam.

Out goes the idea of a grateful attentive consumer. Out, the idea of a pliant punter, ignorant of our trickery. Out, too, the idea of the proud and powerful organization. And out the idea that we own our employees. Hey, like our customers, have a choice and know it.”

Four different authors. Four very different viewpoints. And yet the same themes of revolutionary change, the impending death of our existing models, the need for action, and new ways of thinking are peppered throughout.

Charlene Li of Forrester and Groundswell fame said something last week that bears repeating. Paraphrasing: “Pay attention to the relationships, not the technology.”

So I ask, who are you reading? What are you thinking? What are you doing differently than you were six months ago, three months ago?

Wish no more.  Carter Rabasa has a solution for you at “Twitter-to-FriendFeed Contact Sync (v 0.62). Hat Tip to @markobon for passing this along.

Here is a quick review of how it works:

1. Go to Contact Sync: https://twitter2ff.appspot.com/

2. Type in your Twitter username and password

Sync - Step 1

3. Type in your FriendFeed username and remotekey (there is a link to FF to retrieve the key)

4. Start following your friends in Twitter that you follow on FriendFeed.

Nice work Carter! We’ll be looking forward the ability to sync Twitter with FriendFeed next.