While I am a PC, I do enjoy John Hodgman’s work. He is a great comedian and a great representative of the geek culture.
I was listening to TWiT today and John was a guest. What a great guy. You should pick up his book: More Information Than You Require
Stay interested and interesting!
John
Know what your limits are, but go for it anyway!
Short post today. Very little spare time…
Stay interested and interesting!
John
When I was younger, I used to hang my hat on the fact that I could learn anything and if I really pushed myself in the books, then I would be better than the next guy who did not. This worked for a while and would probably still play in to the perception of me as an individual. However, through a lot of introspection, I have also learned that experience is an amazing asset.
For me, education is paramount. There is no substitute for learning every day and I hope that my thirst for knowledge will never wane. I love to learn. Learning also means that you have to keep an open mind. You have to be concious that your knowledge of a subject is limited and you do not know everything. Socrates used to go around proving this. You need to start every day with the idea that you can learn from every experience and make it a concious decision to do it.
Next, experience is complementary to education. Education is worthless if you do not use what you have learned in some way. You make know the atomic weight of oxygen, but what good is it if you never use it for something. See, I know that it is 16g and I am USING it here as an example of knowledge. See how that works? 😉 Some of you will think that I found it on Wikipedia before posting here, but I actually learned it as a junior in high school chemistry and have a weirdly accurate memory for numbers.
All that being said, take heart that what you do not know, you can learn. And education coupled with experience will give you the best base to start with and with which you can make the best decisions at work and in life. Be open to new edutation and experience, it will get you farther than you ever though imaginable and probably down a different, more interesting path than you would have ever anticipated.
Stay interested and interesting!
John
With all the economic uncertainty and the snowy weather in Ottawa, it is time to build your brand, stay inside and learn all you can. There is still a looming human resource shortage on the horizon. The baby boomers are still going to retire. Some have lost parts of their pensions, but my prediction is that they will retire from their full time job, take the pension and find some part time work that they truly enjoy, but are not slaves to the system.
You are in control of your own destiny and there has never been a better time to build your knowledge and market yourself. Smart employers are locking their best employees in through incentives that are more important than money. Think pride, belonging, adventure, influence and, of course, learning opportunities!
Keep in touch with the labour market. You have to know what the opportunities are out there for you and don’t be afraid to apply for jobs you think you would like. Yes! Even if you already have a job. That may seem selfish, but you have to remember that your current employer will probably replace you and if they don’t, then maybe you made the move at the right time.
It is your career. It is your life. Take control.
Stay interested and interesting!
John
If you watch Internet TV, you probably know about a little outfit called revision3. There worked, up until today, Martin Sargent and Sarah Lane who, among others, were laid off. Of course, the spineless CEO claims that the uncertain economic times precipitated his decision. In the words of Neal Stephenson, this is bullshytt. Anyone with a little common sense can see that this yet another in a series of layoffs being blamed on the credit crunch. It is very convenient for the CEO’s of this world to have a scapegoat handy. Unfortunately, the Internet is an amazing communication vehicle that executives seem to ignore, even when their company is based on it!
There is obviously more to the story than we are led to believe from both sides. The layoffees are smart enough to not burn any bridges. They are worked together before and probably will again. They are taking their time with their blog posts and not pushing back. The layoffers are trying to quell the storm by posting standard corporate rhetoric. It may even be the truth, but jaded fans, who almost feel like they have friends in these two online celebrities, take offense to any perceived mistreatment of their icons. Martin and Sarah have been smart about bringing fans in to the fold and will hold on to them through this.
It is no longer the employee that belongs to the corporation, but the corporation who has the priviledge of being the employer. The people see the looming battle for human capital and are positioning themselves to be the winners.
Stay interested and interesting!
John
There is something about Sunday afternoon, a cold beer and football that just makes me happy. I love to sit and watch great athletes battle on the gridiron. Simply amazing. Love it!
Stay interested and interesting!
John
I love sparking debates and seeing who answers the call. My last post was a picture of PC vs. MAC. It would seem that few subjects can plant the seed of passionate debate as well as this can. Only politics, religion and money, with the possible exception of cars, can incite flame wars and derogatory comments more.
The people who respond usually fall in to two categories, the informed and the uniformed. Funny thing with the Facebook era though is that many people fall back on to their public personas and behaviors, choosing to stay silent lest they appear foolish. It is really too bad that they do not venture to explore the subject and express an opinion, whichever side it may reside on. I feel that too many people slide by in the manner at work and in life. Stand up for your beliefs! They are your truth after all. 🙂
Stay interested and interesting!
John
I think the big company politics and irrational behavior (irrational when viewed on the macro level anyway…) that has been going on of late. Perhaps I am not getting all the information and need to talk to more people. However, our leadership should be good enough at communications (not bloody likely!) to talk about some of these issues. I would love to hear the explanation on a few of these decisions (Really!! No sarcasm. I want to understand).
If you know of anything interesting available or different paths to follow, drop me a line. I would love to hear about it. I am not going to drop my current job for just anything though. I still love the people I work with and think there are big opportunities, but am open.
Thanks for listening.
Stay interested and interesting!
John
You should know that DATA IS IMPORTANT. When you put together a business case, you need to know what you are measuring, have the historical data to produce a baseline and have a measurable objective. To do all this, you need data. You need to know what the performance has been and be able to match that with a dollar figure somehow. Not the other way around. Saying that you have to save $$$ and then say that means you need your metric to be x will not get you to your goal.
Building a business case with faulty numbers will get you in to a very bad place. A place where expectations are all wrong and there is no chance for success. It will either be way too easy and people will question if you put a target that you knew was easy, then they will change the target for you. Or, you set unachievable targets and you get raked over the coals when you do not deliver. Either way, you are in shit. The best way to avoid this is to confirm your numbers with trusted sources and quote the experts.
That was my little rant for this morning… I will now go back to fixing the numbers on a business case someone else built…
Stay interested and interesting!
John
So, the CRTC launched the Do Not Call list in Canada yesterday at www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca and BIG surprise, the site was overwhelmed in the first day. 1.2 million phone numbers registered the FIRST day. For a country of 30 million people, that is HUGE! With the site crashing, the calls starting coming fast and furious at a rate of up to 1,562 call per MINUTE!!!
I would not complain about a site crashing or not being able to get through to a call centre. If people honestly believe any government agency or private company will ramp up to take a one day deluge, they are seriously out of their mind. I say BRAVO for getting it back up so quickly and registering the mass they did.
This also speaks to the great hatred Canadians have for telemarketing. If only the law was a little broader and did not contain so many exemptions, such as newspapers, political parties and any company you already have a business relationship with. I think people will be surprised that they will still get many of the calls they get today with no recourse other than to listen to the spiel, continue to play tricks on the poor souls manning the phones and / or simply hanging up on the dead air you get for 5 seconds because the auto-dialer is just a little off.
PS: Don’t call me, ok?
Stay interested and interesting!
John
No Pants - Thoughts & Inspiration 