This post is part of a digital book club of summer camp directors and recreation professionals reading Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin. To see all the posts in the series go to our linchpin start page. You are welcome to join in at any time.

Week 2: Thinking About Your Choice & Indoctrination: How We Got Here
Pages 28 – 48

What role can camp serve in teaching campers and staff to be remarkable?

I started my tenure as a camp director and was a bit too involved in every decision. As the camp I ran got bigger, necessity forced me to learn to delegate. I discovered that made for a better camp and a stronger staff. I often fight the tendency to have things run perfectly rather than have them run in a way that provides the most growth. In Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Seth Godin says that when encouraging people to take initiative, someone might get upset in the process. I was immediately reminded of one of my staff members who had great initiative. Martin (not pictured on left) was young but took the lead. He was running one of the camps that had extra room and a parent inquired on registering her camper but since it was half-way through a session the parent wanted the price pro-rated. Martin said no problem, since his camp had room, and he arranged the registration. As any camp director knows, each camp has their own policy on prorating registration and late registration. Ours was not to pro-rate camp. For logistical and safety reasons, we just can’t manage it. Martin didn’t know because he worked in the leadership camp. His camp was small and he felt he could handle the extra camper. At that moment I knew his long term growth was more important than me getting upset about some policy. His willingness to take initiative in the future at camp was dependent on how I handled his first try at it. I thanked him for working with the parent to get it all taken care of and at a later meeting that week, I explained to him that typically we don’t pro-rate and why that policy came to be. Timing is everything. I can’t commend him in one breath and correct him in another. It was important to me that he knew how much I appreciated him taking the initiative. It was in fact a new skill for him to be working in an admin capacity and he was so proud that he brought in another camper.

How I Encourage Initiative at Camp

1. Set up the goals for the task and let the staff determine the best ways to meet the goals. This works a lot better than setting the goals and micromanaging the way they get there.
2. Give people opportunities to make decisions and plans. Let them work the plans and make corrections along the way. Those plans are often related to the goals and standards we all have agreed upon. Don’t jump in when they are mid plan unless they ask for help. Of course if safety or customer service is in jeopardy, I would offer support.
3. Help staff determine what their strengths are. I think we are often the most remarkable in the area of our strengths – that which invigorates us, not that which we do well. This is based on much of the work by Marcus Buckingham.

Despite doing this, staff are always in a state of development. I recall one morning when a staff member came to tell me there was some vomit on the floor in the hallway by the building. He had coned it off but a bio-hazard kit was needed to clean it up. He had kids waiting for him for class so either needed his class covered or someone to clean it. I would guess over 25 staff had walked passed that spill and this first year staff member was the only one to report it. There was even a building clerk about 20 feet away. We all know the studies of people being less likely to report or call for help when there are more bystanders. I am sure most people who passed it thought someone had already handled it. It goes back to Seth’s illustration on page 34 asking, “Who has the job of installing the second can in the restroom?” We need to empower the staff to speak up, notice problems, and apply solutions. When staff feel like what they say matters, when they see the results of their suggestions in action, they are more likely to speak up in the future. I try to let staff carry out their ideas when they feel passionate about something, even if I think it won’t work. It is far more important for them to get the experience taking initiative and problem solving than it is for me to be right or remind then that we tried it that way 5 yrs ago. This could be the time their fix works.

Do You Really Want Indispensable Employees?
At camp we all know people come and go. I remember the first time I lost a linchpin. I wondered how camp would run without them. As I saw the cycle repeated year after year, I realized that if I got better creating linchpins, when one left I could train-up a new one. It was not so scary to lose key players. The show goes on. It is the Win-Win as Seth describes it. Sure, camp is different than in most workplaces. Other workplaces train linchpins to stay, we train linchpins to leave. It starts with hiring. “Letting people in the organization use their best judgments turns out to be faster and cheaper – but only if you hire the right people and reward them for having the right attitude.” page 37

What did these two chapters bring up for you?

With this being interview season for many camps, what questions do you ask that helps you assess linchpin qualities?

Like me, do you have behaviors that can squelch linchpin development if left unchecked?

Featured Book Club Member

This week we feature Michael Staires. Michael has been reading Linchpin and has a fabulous blog.  A few highlights that relate to our topic are : The Clock is Ticking and I want to give you my art.

Related posts:

1. Summer Camp Directors’ Book Club: Linchpin by Seth Godin
2. Preparing for the Linchpin Summer Camp Director Book Club

After running a number of social media sessions at the American Camp Association National Conference, I realized a trend in the session programming.  There were quite a few broad based sessions on social media rather than sessions focused on specifics. Those attending my sessions often felt the hour went by too quickly because our topic was very broad.  Speaking with people who came to my sessions and those at tweet-ups in the lobby, I met a camp community eager for more advanced technology programming. I feel fortunate to be able to attend some of the top technology conferences each year. Camp directors count on their annual camp or recreation conference to provide professional development in all areas – a huge programming task. One of the best sessions I went to at the ACA National Conference was a round table with EPIC.  We had a powerhouse group at our table and talked Static Facebook Markup Language (Static FBML) and utilizing email marketing services more effectively. I do remember the day when camp directors didn’t really use email and every year all they wanted to hear about was myspace even though facebook and twitter were what everyeone else was using. That day has passes as new young professionals and those not so young like myself embrace technology are eager for more learning.

This is an open call to ACA National, Tri-State, EPIC, National Recreation and Parks Association Conferences, LERN, and other recreation programming webinars, etc. to program more specific sessions rather than general social media marketing sessions.  ACA has asked me for my ideas for sessions so I thought I would bring it to the readers since most of you are in the advanced category of social media users. I need your help to propose titles and ideas for sessions. My goal is then to reach out to people I know in the tech and social media space to get them to some of these conferences.

Please submit YOUR ideas for sessions and comments about this new way of thinking about tech programming at conferences.

Here are ones I’ve come up with – what are yours? Would You Want to Come to These?

Using Online Video to Market Programs
Understanding video as a marketing tool, various types of video, streaming live on sites like ustream and qik, etc.

Getting the Most of YouTube
Many camp directors have not set up their YouTube site to mazimize search and marketing. Come learn the ins and outs of YouTube to maximize your marketing goals.

Facebook & Twitter for Beginners
(for people who still don’t get it all)

Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool
(advanced – Pages vs Groups, FBML, Facebook Ads, Business Application to load on your page, running campaigns, etc)

Going Local – Web Based Local Marketing
Google local, Google Business Pages, Yahoo local, Bing for businesses, Insider Pages, Yelp,  Foursquare, Gowalla, Angie’s List, etc

Getting More From Twitter (Advanced skills)

Adding Social Media to Your Daily Work flow
learning a daily, weekly, monthly task plan

Investing in Google Adsense to Advertise Camps

Using Google Analytics to Bring in More Campers

Web Site Usability
Bring your web site and have the group of fresh eyes offer suggestions to improve the user experience.

Becoming an Email Marketing Ninja
Learn what tools to use and how to use them. Chris Penn from Blue Sky Factory would be great for this session.  Check out the blog from Blue Sky Factory.

Free or Near Free Web Based Applications for Camp Marketing and Productivity

Beyond Facebook: Online Community Tools to Engage

Starting a Blog and Keeping it Up

The Tools to Listen Online and Rules of Engagement in New Media

Photo Credit: Brian Solis The Conversation Prism.

What am I missing? What do you want to see covered?

No related posts.

This post is part of a digital book club of summer camp directors and recreation professionals reading Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin. To see all the posts in the series go to our linchpin start page. You are welcome to join in at any time.

Week 1: Introduction & The New World of Work
Pages 1 – 27
I have never thought of myself as an artist. After reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin, I’m beginning to think otherwise. He has defined art more broadly to now include ME, even though I don’t like to sing, draw, dance, or sculpt. I love working at a large summer camp for a few reasons, I am invigorated by solving logistical challenges, and helping people discover their unique talents and life’s work.

“Artists are the people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.”
page 8 (Linchpin)

Seth Godin defines art on this blog post Making Art, as having three elements.

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work.

How are you an artist and how does your current role at camp or work allow you to express your artistry? Or is your art silenced? Have you “traded your genius and artistry for stability?”

What Business Are You In?
A number of years back I heard a corporate talk about making sure your employees know what your mission is. Too many companies have mission, vision, and goal statements no one can recite. As a camp team we decided to come up with our own. Now, all the staff can tell you, “We are in the life skills business.” It serves as a reminder that we are always growing and learning and with each mistake comes a potential new life skill. Learning to show up for work on time while also getting enough sleep to function properly is a life skill. If I can help an individual learn more effective systems for getting where they need to be on time and with the proper supplies, I will have made a difference for a lifetime. Of course, those who are not ready for that life skill may need to work elsewhere until they become more proficient.

How do you help your staff understand that what they are learning at camp will apply to any job or career field so they don’t think they need to take that “internship” somewhere else?

Teach Campers To Be Artists
In addition to the basic life skills, we are also teaching campers and staff to be artists. Our campers are in training for jobs that are not even thought of yet. Working in a public middle school and public university, I am not confident that our educational system will be able to adjust. Sure there is a lot of great things going on in schools across the country, I am afraid a lot of it is shiny technology without the creative reasoning and thinking skills that should come before it. Teachers are hampered by the system they have to work in. Summer camps and recreation programs are uniquely positioned to teach kids creativity and artistry, and it doesn’t take a shiny computer to do it. “We are training laborers to be part of this new workforce where remarkable and indispensable are rewarded.” page 14 (Linchpin)

What unique features do you have in your program that are teaching campers and staff to be artists?  Do you think you can you teach people to be indispensable and remarkable or is it a talent you expose? How to you teach it?

Featured Book Club Member
Last week David Betz from CampTV sent us unboxing photos of his Linchpin book.  It started a trend and so I will feature photos each week from book club members reading their book. You do need to get yourself in a picture with your book. Mike D’Avria sent in this picture of reading his book on his iphone using the Amazon Kindle app.  Mike is Executive Editor of CampLeadership.org, a fantastic site with resources for the camp and recreation professional.  I especially like the site’s song videos since I work at a camp that doesn’t sing much (long story). Do check out Mike singing “Wishy-Washy Woman.”  Well done!

No related posts.

We have had a great response to the Summer Camp Director digital book club’s reading of Linchpin by Seth Godin. Be sure to sign-up online so we know who is participating. You can see the list of who is on board at the Eventbrite sign-up page. Also register in advance for a free Disqus account. It is the comment system I use on the blog. Also be sure to put in your avatar.

If you want some pre-book club material, check out Seth’s audio interview with Merlin Mann on Merlin’s blog 43 folders. It was one of the best interviews and discussions I have heard about the new book. I do love Merlin so I am biased.

David Betz from CampTV, took some great shots of the unboxing of his book.  Check out the series on flickr here.  Not only are the pictures great but he has tagged them and put in a link to his company web site.  Not enough people are taking advantage of the SEO features that flickr can give you.  David has a heart for camp and has been shooting and pr6ducing camp videos since 1993.  Very excited to have him in the club!

Do you have a picture of you with your book? Upload it to flickr or email it to me jennselke at gmail.  I would love to include it with a link back to your site.

On a side note, I told a friend of mine, Scott Porad, about the book club.  He is someone I have gotten to know at tech events and was one of the few tech people that didn’t look at me like I had two heads when I told him I was a summer camp director.  He is a long time summer camp guy but is now the CTO of the Cheezburger Network, the company behind the hugely popular I Can Has Cheezburger? and Failblog.org.  When hearing about the book club he asked if I knew Seth Godin and if not, did I want to meet him.  Of course I nearly jumped out of my skin and could only think, “Heck ya I want to meet Seth Godin!”  Scott sent Seth a glowing note about our book club and introduced me.  You can imagine my excitement when Seth wrote back.  I doubt he’ll have time to join our club but Seth did say he did his MBA at Stanford on running summer camps.

Scott wrote a very interesting post, Thoughts About When Startups Grow Bigger than One Team, and the discussion we had in the comment section gave me the courage to start the book club on a blog. I have never been one that liked online teaching or learning. Oddly, I have been teaching an online class on social media and getting such positive reactions. Encouragement from my online students and a great comment discussion with Scott was all I needed to take a risk and make a place for all of us to talk about this great book, Linchpin. So subscribe to Scott’s blog and follow @scottporad on twitter – especially to thank him for his part in our club.

Related posts:

1. Summer Camp Directors’ Book Club: Linchpin by Seth Godin
2. Where Do Indispensable Summer Camp Staff Come From?

YouTube launched YouTube 101: Educational Series - a series that explains basic features to new users. The videos are instructional and entertaining. What people new to web video may not realize is that they were developed by YouTube web stars like: Kent Nichols and Doug Sarine from Ask a Ninja fame. Their video happens to be my favorite but I am biased. I would love to see a video by Steve Garfield, especially since his new book Get Seen is a true asset to anyone working with video. As I mention in many of my sessions at camp conferences, Justine Ezarik, also known as iJustine on YouTube, is a creative talent. Her YouTube page and endless production of video is an example of hard work, creativity, and maximizing her brand and distribution channels. Whether you like her videos or not, pay attention to how she publicizes and stays true to her brand. Where is her YouTube 101 video? Did I miss it? I also wish there were a Tim Street video represented.

YouTube 101: Private Sharing link to video

Regarding private sharing, which is what this video is about, I have found a Blip.tv pro account for about $8 per month gives me a range of private sharing options that are more versatile than YouTube.

Related posts:

1. Turn Summer Camp Videos into Marketing Gold with the book Get Seen by Steve Garfield

Beginning March 1st, 2010 I will be starting an online book club. We will be reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. It has so many fantastic applications to camp in how we train and support our staff, to how we teach kids to be productive members of society as an adult worker.  By reading this book and discussing it on this blog with fellow camp and recreation professionals, I hope to get a better understanding of how to incorporate the principles into camp this summer.

How to Participate?

Buy the book: available wherever books are sold and on audible.com if you prefer to listen to it. Follow the reading schedule and join the discussion on the blog. Don’t worry if you don’t start at the same time. You can still follow your own reading schedule and comment as you complete each segment. Sign-up online so we know who is on board. This will help us stay connected. Also register for a free Disqus account. It is the comment system I use on the blog.

Want a Free Book?

If you are at ACA National, I have a some free copies of the book to give away if you want to join in the book club. Track me down at the conference and ask me for a book.

Sign-up – Make a Public Commitment

We all know publicly committing to a group event helps us all stay accountable.  Sign-up so we all know who is joining us!

View Book Club Members http://linchpinbookclub.eventbrite.com/

Reading Schedule

I have divided the reading into about 25 pages a week.  I’ll post my thoughts on that section sometime during that week.  If you are reading along it would be great if you posted your ideas too. You can easily keep notes or write your ideas in a text editor and paste them into the comment area.

Week 1: March 1st – March 7th
Introduction & The New World of Work
Pages 1 – 27

Week 2: March 8th – 14th
Thinking About Your Choice & Indoctrination: How We Got Here
Pages 28-48

Week 3: March 15th – 21st
Becoming the Linchpin
Pages 49-79

Week 4: March 22nd – 28th
Is It Possible to Do Hard Work in a Cubicle?
Pages 80-100

Week 5: March 29th – April 4th
The Resistance – part 1
Pages 101-123

Week 6: April 5th – 11th
The Resistance – part 2
Pages 123-149

Week 7: April 12th – 18th
The Powerful Culture of Gifts
Pages 150-173

Week 8: April 19th – 25th
There Is No Map
Pages 174-188

Week 9: April 26th – May 2nd
Making the Choice
Pages 189-209

Week 10: May 3rd – May 9th
The Culture of Connection, The Seven Abilities of the Linchpin,
When It Doesn’t Work, & Summary
Pages 210-236

Related posts:

1. Preparing for the Linchpin Summer Camp Director Book Club
2. Where Do Indispensable Summer Camp Staff Come From?

Here are a couple of videos I took using Qik.com live video streaming.  The kids did a great job teaching us some new camp songs. These may be songs you can use at camp.  If you find the lyrics – post them in the comments. Do you have links to any summer camp song videos?

link to Video Part 1
http://qik.com/video/4966036

Video Part 2
http://qik.com/video/4966320

No related posts.

These are the iphone apps that I simply cannot live without as a camp director.  While I have quite a few applications on my iphone, I tried to pick out the ones that I use most for camp.  Some of these may be available for the blackberry or android.  I don’t have either of those devices so I am counting on the readers to tell us what they use on those platforms. They are separated out by categories.  The summer camp I run is a day camp in the San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley).  Iphones are prevalent among the staff and campers.  I remember the day the iphone was first released. I had two staff members take the morning off to wait in line for the phone.  We have fairly good internet but no campus wifi at our location.  Some of the applications need access to the internet. This could be a conversation about allowing or banning campers and staff from using their phones at camp.  I prefer to teach kids and staff how to moderate the use of technology at work and at camp so I do not have a blanket ban on devises. Rather we have expectations for work and play, how technology and phones can be used and when they should be put away, when to know if you should have expensive items at camp and when to leave them at home, etc.  This policy is not for everyone, it works for us.

What are your favorite applications?

How do you use the apps below?

Productivity

Toodledo ($2.99)
[Toodledo itunes link] [Toodledo web site]
Both a web based app and an iphone app, Toodledo is the productivity tool that has worked for me. I have tried quite a few but I keep coming back to this one. I can email my list with an attachment and with a pro account I can collaborate task lists with co-workers.

Google Mobile (free)
[Google itunes link] [Google Apps web site]
We use a number of google apps at camp. All our training and events are posted on a google calendar so staff can subscribe to it and get any updates directly on their phone or computer. I use a program called Spanning Sync to sync my ical and contacts to my google accounts. We also use google docs at camp. The Google app makes accessing all the services so much simpler.

Storage

DropBox (free)
[DropBox itunes link] [DropBox web site]
This is an application that allows you to access your dropbox account. Dropbox is the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. I collaborate with various team members and find that this is the easiest way to share files without having to mail them back and forth. It has a great photo viewer and plays mp3 from within my drop box account.

Evernote (free)
[Evernote itunes link] [Evernote web site]
This iphone app connects with your Evernote web based account which can serve as a place to save digital assets. It is immensely powerful and versatile being able to save and search through everything from voice memos to web links to screen shots to pictures and PDFs.  At training staff work with chart paper to record their ideas. Now I can take a picture of the charts and send them to Evernote which turns them into searchable text.  It works great at conferences and meetings with whiteboards too. The value to me is the ability to search these assets and access them from any computer or my iphone.

Social Connection

Facebook (free)
[Facebook itunes link] [Facebook web site]
I find staff tend to message me more on facebook than via email.  I do make it a point to tell them they may get a quicker response on email since a facebook message requires me to open the app or website.  Since my facebook messages get delivered to my email account, if a facebook messager can at least put an email address in their message, I will reply more quickly.  Of course as facebook improves their messaging system, it may make replying to facebook message easier. Right now it is just way to clunky.

Tweetie 2 (2.99)
[Tweetie 2 itunes link] [Tweetie 2 web site]
There are many different twitter applications, Tweetie 2 has worked the best for me. Twitteriffic is a great free app. I use TweetDeck on my computer and a lot of people like TweetDeck for the iphone.

Purchasing

Amazon (free)
[Amazon itunes link] [Amazon Prime]
I have an amazon prime account so this app is used quite a bit for my personal life.  For camp I use it more to compare prices or to order items that I don’t submit for reimbursement.  Being at a large university, all my purchases go through a big processing system. No app for that ; (

Red Laser ($1.99)
[Red Laser itunes link] [Red Laser]
As any good summer camp director knows, we are always looking for a deal. This is a great app to compare prices when you see something you need for camp. I have found fabulous books at Costco, deals on buckets of chalk or construction paper, etc. This app can help you locate great prices or save items you have found for a later purchase run through your budget office.

Media

Photogene ($1.99)
[Photogene itunes link]
While there are a number of photo editing apps available, this is the one I used first and it just works. I use it when I want to edit a photo before I post it on a blog or twitter.  Photoshop.com  Mobile is also a great app and it is free!

TweetMicPro ($1.99)
[TweetMicPro itunes link] [TweetMic web site]
This is a fantastic way to capture and publish audio from your phone to your twitter account. There are so many great moments at camp like songs, stories, kids testimonials about their favorite activity at camp, etc. The free version (TweetMic Lite) has less functionality such as not being able to save recordings, tweet to multiple accounts, include photos, etc.

Qik Live and Ustream Live Broadcaster (free)
[Qik Live itunes link] [Qik Live web site]
[Ustream Live Broadcaster itunes link] [Ustream Live Web Site]
In addition to recording audio, recording live video is even better. Of course you want to make sure you have all the proper releases for your campers and staff before you put their images online. Even if you don’t record close-ups of kids, live images from the camp facility give your campers and their families a way to be connected to you during the summer and the off season.

Tweet Reel ($2.99)
[Tweet Reel itunes link] [Tweet Reel web site]
This is the only application that will let you edit video on the iphone.  Imagine recording video and letting a camper edit it for you so you can upload it later.  So many camp directors want to be able to get more great content at camp. That can he achieved by making everyone at camp a content producer.  Of course you will want to set some standards and approve videos before they get posted.  You can get some great videos on camp with a title and you camp web site with this application.  Here is a video my friend Steve Garfield, author of Get Seen, recorded and edited with TweetReel of @LeVarBurton jumping off the stage during David @Pogue’s Musical at MacWorld 2010.

Entertainment

Coin Toss (free)
[Coin Toss itunes link]
Does this really need an explanation? I have seen my staff get very creative in the absence of a coin. The craziest thing flipped was an unopened box of peanut brittle: The staff called out “Logo” or “Nutritional Facts” rather than “Heads” or “Tales” and then the box was tossed in the air.

iBluff Trivia : True or False App & Knock Knock App (free)
[iBluff Trivia True False itunes link] [Knock Knock itunes link]
This is a fun true or false app and Knock Knock app. Great way to entertain a few kids during downtime. As the director I don’t frequently need to supervise kids but when I get a few and need to stall, this can be a great short term game.

Knowledge/Education

SkyVoyager (9.99)
[SkyVoyager itunes link] [SkyVoyager web site]
Awarded Best in Show at MacWorld 2010, SkyVoyager is a powerful planetarium program. You can identify stars and planets by holding your phone next to them, and you can find any object in the sky by following an arrow that SkyVoyager points in its direction. Also works with a computer-controlled telescope. There are less expensive apps in this category you may want to try.

The Weather Channel (free)
[The Weather Channel itunes link]
Even in Berkeley, where it never rains in the summer, we still like to keep track of the weather. I like the forecasting on this app much more than the one that comes with the iphone.

Brain Quest Blastoff ($0.99)
These paper trivia books are a staple at camp.  During down times kids love trivia questions.  Sure, the great camp staff member can make up trivia all day, but once and a while they need a break. Having this on your phone is a lifesaver.  Brain Quest Blastoff iphone apps by grade level – links go to itunes store [second grade] [third grade] [fourth grade] [fifth grade] [sixth grade] [seventh grade]

Where to go for more apps

Revision3 AppJudgement – a couple of my friends are on this great show reviewing mobile apps.  It include android apps for those of you without iphones or ipod touches.

What are your favorite applications?

How do you use the apps below?

No related posts.

Summer camp directors take a lot of video. Some use a professional service like CampTV for their promotion videos but also have more candid videos that they shoot throughout the summer. Speaking at camp and recreation conferences around the country, I am frequently asked how summer camps can take advantage of the marketing opportunities online video can bring. I proudly recommend Steve Garfield’s book Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business (The New Rules of Social Media). Disclosure: I was given a free copy of the book for being on the editing team. I also bought my own copy.

Just like everything Steve does, he speaks about technological issues in a manner most anyone can understand. The book is designed for a range of skill levels from the beginner who wants to get into online video but doesn’t even know where to start to the more advanced individual who wants to take video online. Unlink most technical books that only give you technical information, Steve’s book is filled with stories from his experiences as well as advice from the most successful online video creators. That makes for a well balanced read. It is a book you can go through for the rich stories and to also have on the shelf to look up technical questions like: different ways to share video online, compression settings, shooting live video, video blogging, lighting, mics, etc.

Link to Youtube video.

I also recommend joining his online video community where people gather to ask questions and share ideas. Get Seen: Online Video Secrets: Sharing knowledge about online video.

Related posts:

1. Learn How to Use YouTube Video Private Sharing for Your Summer Camp with YouTube 101: Educational Series

Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, is dealing with an issue today on his blog that highlighted how we rely on interns and young people, often forgetting they are still at an age where their reasoning is not firing with 100% accuracy. This is an area summer camp directors and recreation professionals hold special expertise. I am speaking at SXSW Interactive this year on the topic: Mobilizing the Power of Interns and Managing GenY and felt this kerfuffle deserved a post.
TechCrunch is a popular and widely read blog covering the technology field. With reportedly over 7.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views per month, it is among the top blogs on the internet. Michael Arrington publicly apologized to his readers for an egregious act by a teenage intern, that he has had to terminate.  According to the post, An Apology To Our Readers, Feburary 4, 2010, this intern “had requested, and in one case taken, compensation for a post.”  Daniel Brusilovsky, the intern at Tech Crunch, was one of the blog’s writers. You may not think this is a big deal but when it comes to a blog, readers expect transparent coverage. In October 2009, the FTC released disclosure guidelines governing endorsements, testimonials for bloggers, and celebrity endorsements, etc. To find out someone has been paid or compensated to post without disclosing is a major incident.

The Teen Brain: a Maze of Incomplete Circuits

There is a lot of speculation as to the name of the intern. TechCrunch removed all the posts this intern had written. With google search it was not hard to figure out who it was. Daniel has come forward and ended the speculation by discussing the incident publicly on his blog. I had dinner with Danial and a group of people at WordCamp San Francisco earlier this year. I found him to be a fairly typical teenager who is smart and mature.   He is the sort of kid who will be wiser because of this – it’s all about the life skills.  These are the sort of kids I have working at camp all the time.  These sort of stars are able to cross over into the adult world so much so that we forget they were born in the 90’s.

As camp and youth recreation workers, we have all had this sort of teenager working for us in our programs. You know the one – everyone can’t believe he or she is only 16. They are usually in our training programs and everyone jokes how they seem more mature than some of our college staff.  As professionals who work with teens, we also know that sound judgment can be fleeting at this age. Recent research on brain development has taught us that the frontal lobe is still developing even past adolescence, teenagers and even young adults still need supervision. PBS ran an excellent series, Inside the Teen Brain, that you can watch online about these new findings. I have seen the most mature teen make very stupid decisions as their immature brain circuitry took over. When they are working with children, as they do at camp, this can have dangerous consequences.

When all is going well, teenagers reason quite well, often rivaling the most mature adult. Put temptation, risk, pressure, and stress in the mix and you have the recipe for inconsistency and poor decision making. Their frontal lobe is still developing causing teens not to reason well under all situations. The frontal lobes help halt the desire for thrills and taking risks — a building block of adolescence; but, new brain imaging research tells us the frontal lobe is also one of the last areas of the brain to fully develop. Again, a teenager is not “off the hook” for their own poor decisions. I just think adults need to be more involved in the supervision of teens they hire rather than assume they are fully capable to make responsible choices 100% of the time. I have no evidence that this intern was not supervised sufficiently, I am merely suggesting we give him a break and not pile on with such condemnation.

Blog Commenters Pile On

It is not a surprise at all that this young intern at TechCrunch made such a big mistake. What I am surprised by is how shocked the TechCrunch community is. The story is still fresh and has picked up over 100 comments since i started writing this post. I pulled a few that highlight my point. I strongly encourage you to head over to the TechCrunch comment section for this post and read for yourself.

“Shame that a 17 year old with much potential has already soiled his reputation in the tech community.” – Adam

“Come on it is obviously (name removed). All of his posts are mysteriously missing… I am really disappointed in him as, being his age, I really looked up to him. I also think it is unfair he is singlehandedly smearing the morality of teens.” – Cash R.

“What did you expect when you took on kids and gave them access to one of the most read blogs on the internets?” – Alex

“This makes a great case for never letting an intern get close to anything important.” – Johnny

“How can you just say don’t hire kids? The writers age has nothing to do with it, it’s purely the matter of the writer taking compensation to say good things. This has happened and will happen again.” – Nat

Of course there are a few sane voices in the crowd commenting on the mistakes teens make but that is not the norm. Granted, they don’t work with young people for a career. Do they recall their own lapses in judgment or stupid actions they took as a teenager? Fortunately I did not have to suffer mine on one of the most popular tech blogs. I am not absolving this intern from responsibility in any way, I am merely suggesting we stop expecting teenagers to have the judgment and reasoning skills of an adult 100% of the time. It is simply not biological for them to do so. We set them up to fail and then shame them for doing so.

Being Let Down by a Young Worker

Michael Arrington wrote:
“We are all shaken here at TechCrunch – this is someone who was our friend and who we trusted to be honest with our readers. Our hope is that the intern learns something from this experience and grows into the kind of person that will be more welcome in this community.”

How many of you have had experiences with your young staff where they have done something stupid that let you down? It happens all the time. As camp directors and youth program people, we minimize the risk by providing them with supervisor so when they make mistakes they are not a safety risk to the children in our program. We also screen those young staff to make sure this is the right opportunity for them at this time in their development. Not every 17 year old is ready to be in a leadership role around children nor are they ready to be talking with companies on behalf of one of the largest blogs on the internet.

Just as with camp, this incident was brought to attention by a trusted source. I have always been grateful for the many times a staff member has come to me to let me know a team member was behaving in a way that was not to our level of performance quality. We make it known that it is everyone’s responsibility to look out for the children and camp. If a staff member is putting kids or the camp’s reputation at risk, they are obligated to speak-up and they do. I empathize with Michael Arrington, because I know what it feels like to feel let down. Fortunately in my case the consequences were never a safety issue. What is hard for me is feeling like I put that young person in a role they weren’t ready for and now they made a mistake that cuts at their feelings of being competent and successful. It sometimes causes them to lose their job. When that happens I always wonder if it could have been prevented had I not promoted them so soon. They of course share some of the blame, but it is not theirs alone.

For those of you reading who are going to SXSWi, I look forward to continuing the conversation on this topic of interns. They can be a fantastic source of labor if you provide them with the necessary level of supervision and training.

Ryan (commenter said it best)
“I think its a real issue. While there are tremendously responsible “emerging adults” in the world, lets be honest, kids are kids, and they sometimes do really stupid things.

And before the clueless start lobbing excuses, humanity has long protected kids from their own actions, as society recognizes that emerging adults shouldn’t be buried for life by the stupid things they do as minors.”

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