Luis also walks us through a number of reasons why blogging & social computing is appropriate and vital part of the internal enterprise workplace.  In fact, there are 5 reasons outlined in the show notes (below).

This part of the August 22 discussion finishes with an anecdote where a group of stakeholders were evaluating innovation as a closed group, but the decision to open up the reviews to a community at large resulted in high quality input.

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00:00 START
00:30 Lead in...
01:15 Opening chat... getting into the discussion... (Luis keeps typing...)
01:30 So, Mark Masterson is interested in joining us (but we really haven't been too successful at getting him actually to join us)
01:45 Robin Carey - gets a mention
02:00 Mark Masterson signs up to join the discussion
02:30 By blogging, you develop the social relationship, which you can continue when you meet face to face.  You don't have to begin the conversation when you meet, instead, by engaging in social software, it's an ongoing discussion with your own neighbor.
04:45 Through social software, you develop a knowledge of the person, like a profile.
05:15 A running record of online exchanges will enable you to review your interactions with the person before you meet them face to face.  So, if you are going to a conference, and you know that certain people are going to be there, and you have been engaged with them online, by reviewing those online exchanges, you can refresh yourself on the discussion as you are about to meet them face to face.
05:30 Matt & Luis pay attention to some ideas posted on IBM's internal microblog environment, BlueTwit.  One of their colleagues is recommending that they do a special internal podcast interview with a Senior VP.
05:45 Internal vs External discussion launches! The topic is discovered!  woohoo
06:15 What is the point of having these enterprise-internal applications when we have so many options on the internet?
07:15 Reason #1 - Internal social computing environment enables the enterprise introvert in all of us (e.g. Beehive).  Not everyone wants to be out there on the internet.  Some people feel much more comfortable working within the company, sharing their work & personal information with a trusted group or population of co-workers.
08:15 When you are collaborating and sharing with someone in the same company, there are certain things that you know about the person.  You share the same conduct guidelines, the same business goals, the same ceremonies and other cultural anchors, etc.  This leads people to trust one another more than a complete stranger on the internet.
08:45 Luis Suarez started blogging inside IBM, working in a more protected and safe zone, before he published in the big leagues at Elsua.  He regrets doing that now... regrets waiting 2 years before he started to publish externally.
09:00 Matt Simpson started by going internal in some ways and external in others.  He has always been doing online stuff externally, creating and recreating his own web site, 17 years in virtual worlds, wikis, etc.  But it took his colleagues at IBM and the creation of Blog Central to convince him of the value of the blogging & podcast pattern.
10:30 Dogear Nation forced Matt Simpson to make the transition from internal back to external, dragging him kicking and screaming.  But he didn't like the notion of being half internal and half external.  Michael Rowe & Michael Martine get a mention.
11:15 If you are going to be on the internet, make that the focus, and don't be internal.  One should get rid of the internal posting and references if you are going to post externally.  Trying to fuse internal and external, results in confusion.
12:00 Maybe a dedicated interview or topic for an internal podcast or blog is appropriate.
12:15 Luis Suarez tells his story about his experience posting internally AND externally at the same time.  (and he still does this by the way, cross posts)
12:45 Some people don't feel comfortable commenting externally.  They much prefer to comment on an internal site.  So, in order to enable the most people to comment, Luis cross posts internally and externally.  There's no reason not to cross post.
13:15 Luis writes for external audiences when he posts externally.  He shares internally so people have an opportunity to comment internally.  AND, he also writes and posts exclusively for the internal audience as well, so he can be more critical and share more internal information that he would not like to share externally.
14:00 Reason #2 - Bloggers were saying a while ago that corporate blogging is a waste of time.  They were WRONG.  Corporate blogging gives people an opportunity to have a voice within the company that they might otherwise not have.
14:15 What is the value of an internal blog for a small business of less than 100 people?  There is value.  You give people the opportunity to air certain things that otherwise wouldn't be said.  You don't see dozens of comments.  However, the content was significant, highlighting things that needed fixing that people were not calling out in the normal course of other meetings, memos, organizational processes.  Blogs offer one more venue, and therefore brings up more things (problems and solutions) than without the blog.
15:45 Luis tells about his internal blogging rants, where he made some significant recommendations for improvement, and others also embraced the ideas, reflecting that they also were experiencing the same things.  Blogging as a ranting tool, is really beneficial.  He advocates having a good healthy rant every now and then (inserting an mischevious laugh.)
18:15 Typical Scenario - You contact the manager in charge and make some suggestions.  The manager then asks you to put the recommendations into an email and send them.  Often, this means that they will get ignored because they are nicely contained within a private email box.  HOWEVER, when you blog about the recommendations, instead of sending the email, you can simply point the manager to the blog... that they are already documented there.  And oh, by the way, there are other people commenting there who also think the same way.  This makes the document more meaningful in the manager's eyes.
18:45 Reason #3 - Blogging (& social computing) inside the enterprise enables expertise location.  Subject matter experts who blog about things they know end up being identified & recognized within the enterprise.
19:00 Sharing knowledge is a natural human behavior.
19:30 Social computing and online social software has eliminated the natural barriers that prevent people from posting their opinion in the enterprise.
20:30 Reason #4 - People are Less Afraid to Focus on Problems When Inside the Enterprise Than on the Internet - When people fail to disclose the things that they think, the opportunity to learn and change is missed.  If the enterprise environment normally does not allow for sharing of thoughts, then many people may be thinking the same thing, yet collectively be passive and unwilling and unable to share those thoughts.  Through the normal course of business activities, workers may fail to discuss certain things.  Blogs and other social software enable more channels to surface those thoughts so that the enterprise can act on them.
21:30 Without blogs, the emporer will continue to go naked.
22:00 Positive Speak can be the downfall of the enterprise.  We (enterprise workers) have learned to speak nicely, talk in inuendos, to avoid speaking honestly and openly to get to the root of the matter.  Blogs enable another channel.
23:30 People are often very afraid of facing problems.  However, when people allow themselves to focus on the problems, then they can get it all out of their system & get all the facts on the table so that they can focus on solutions in the best way.  It's a natural human problem-solving process to focus on & define problems before looking for the solution.
24:45 Don't be afraid of focussing on problems.  They are important!
25:30 Reason #5 - You Can Reach the Right Experts in the Enterprise - Social Software vs Email - Social software is out in the open.  When problem determination and resolution happens in the open, there is a greater chance that a more qualified person will come up with an even better answer.  However, if it was burried in email, the question and the first-draft solution may never see the light of day, and only be maintained within a very closed group.  That group might not be qualified to provide the right answer.
26:45 Matt Simpson tells his story about the launch of the Harvest Community, which is designed to reach out to the subject matter expertise within the company to get input on new technology (innovation) that should be accelerated into production in the enterprise.
29:00 By reaching out to a community, you are not only getting people who are interested.  You are also getting those who are passionate, those who will make time to provide the input.  This can only happen when the system is open, public, and transparent.  The discussions will be fantastic.  You can't get better than that.
30:45 MUSIC
31:50 a special request

99% of presentations result in a tremendous waste waste of human potential, forcing 99% of the people at an event to sit in their chair and say nothing, to be passive receptacles of verbal spewing of the microphone coddler.  We're not saying that a 55 min presentation is a bad thing.  But we are saying that failing to facilitate 55 minutes of further dialog is a modern knowledge management / enterprise 2.0 tragedy.  How arrogant can someone be to think that the audience is solely there to simply listen to the wonderful wisdom between their ears.  Instead, we propose that the audience be engaged in an open discussion in the event and invited to participate by sharing their opinion and perspective.

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00:00 START
00:30 Introduction - Continuing the August 15th recording... The Age of Conversation
01:15 Previously heard on Sweettt.com... Luis and Matt recap the KM 2.0 session by Carl Frappaolo... A real eye-opener... Tune in, Turn on, and Wake UP!
02:45 Carl was really willing and able to engage with the audience.  He was willing
03:15 He was a good synthesist, was able to include, summarize, compare, contrast, and synthesize without being defensive.
04:00 The audience is just as good as the speaker, not just taking a turn being the speaker, but really part of the process, with an opinion, and a voice
04:30 the speaker's opinion is not better than everyone else's
05:15 Main tent / Keynote sessions are a waste of time from a knowledge sharing point of view.
05:45 Conversations in the lobby and on the floor are much more engaging.
06:15 Keynote sessions are one way interactions, and not very engaging.
06:45 Harriet Pierson, Chief Executive Privacy Officer started her session with a conversation.  «Does anyone have any questions»
08:00 She answered all the questions before she got into her pitch.  Then she integrated all the questions into her pitch.
08:15 This kind of presentation is rated #1 in a conference.
08:45 The future of conference recognizes that the reason for being there is the audience, not the speaker.
09:00 People must be connected to online services.
09:15 Convensions need to facilitate conversations between participants, instead of preach to them.
10:15 Why are people so obsessed with PowerPoint slides?  Without your slides are you naked?
10:45 Someone who really knows there stuff really won't need their slides.
11:00 A very embarrassing story about an executive who didn't know his presentation and could only read his presentation.
12:00 A huge percentage of speakers are not really able to present without their slides.
12:15 Slides act as notes for the presentation.
12:45 It's a sad statement about the knowledge and insecurity of the speaker when they have to go on stage and dominate the discussion 95% of the time.
13:15 Speakers do not realize that they are missing out on an opportunity to learn.  Instead, they are looking for opportunities to show off.
13:45 It is confusing why people aren't more open and willing to learn when presented with an audience.
14:30 The audience is put in a position of the mythical role of student, sitting at the feet of the master.  And if no one sits at your feet, then you must not be a master.
15:15 However, it's a myth that students were just listening to the master.
15:45 Socrates was famous for asking questions.  He didn't lecture.
16:15 Socrates never wrote anything.  His entire means of sharing knowledge was to have conversations with students. (note - Yeah, but if Plato never wrote down what Socrates did, we would never have known)
17:00 We have not really advanced much beyond the ancient Greek scholars (in fact, we can only hope to be so good as them) when it comes to using conversations as a means of sharing knowledge (and so many other things).
17:15 PowerPoint-based presentations are really aweful.
17:30 Luis is going to be at a conference and presenting without slides.  Actually the request was to avoid using slides.
18:15 The conference committee obviously was afraid to ask speaker NOT to present with slides.  But it's a great thing that they wanted to do it that way.
19:00 David Snowden doesn't use slides.  People are surprised by that.
19:30 We will have to make an episode based on the terribleness of slides.
20:00 Slides are all about being BIG, with a big persona, and taking control of the room.
21:00 Sometimes slides are helpful to coordinate attention and get everyone on the same page.
22:00 Tertulia is the opportunity to have that good discussion... share the knowledge... get what you have been missing.
22:30 And Sweettt.com is another space to have this space... this Tertulia... these conversations.
23:00 We really need to figure out how to engage people and invite them into the conversation.
23:45 Please post comments to propose topics.
24:00 We really need to work on the process and the technology to engage and interract with our audience.  Is a puzzlement.
24:45 There are many ways... a forum... email... comments on the blog... video comments... we could find & use other tools...
25:30 Maybe we could do a TV show (oh god I hope not)
25:45 Keep a live chat channel going.
26:15 We need a way for people to be able to chime in at any given time.
26:30 Maybe this is a good time slot.
27:15 How in the world can we reach out to Asia Pacific?
28:15 Recording of the Introduction
28:45 Matt doesn't know when to stop.
29:15 Logistics
29:45 Wrap Up
30:00 END

Engaging in meaningful discourse enables us to truly know what we think we know, by getting a chance to hear what we have to say.  The ability to recognize certain facts and patterns is only an introductory level of understanding.  However, when we can freely recall information & ideas, and actually generate language based on those concepts, this is an indication that a deeper, more thorough level of understanding is achieved.  Take that a step further and show that you can think on your feet, reacting spontaneously the highly-variable momentary situational demands of a conversations, and you have knowledge-sharing nirvana.

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So, here is a challenge to all the wonderful speakers out there in the world who thrive on your specialness at the podium.  Are you really doing your best to ensure that people are learning during the time they are investing on you?  If there was a better way to ensure knowledge development within the audience, would you do it?  What is the purpose of the audience?

00:00 BEGIN
00:30 Introduction
01:15 Previously heard, on Sweettt...
02:30 Kicking off discussions without the kickoff.  Keep it natural, baby!  When you make a bit SHOW out of it all, then the prefiltering kicks in.  It's so much nicer when you forget that you are recording and you get to be yourself, and have a real conversation.
03:40 Your feelings inside of you are a tremendous source of information.  If you don't feel right doing it, this is telling you something.  If the introduction of a podcast feels pressured and awkward and artificial, then maybe it could be better.  The podcast can sound forced.  It's much better to do an introduction outside of the podcast.
05:30 Record the introduction at the outroduction is what we're going to do.
06:30 We could actually record an endless loop.
07:00 Here it comes... The best way to share knowledge... This is what you don't want to do when you are setting up presentations...  We're ging way back in time to KM 2003.
08:00 Nancy Dixon - Common Knowledge - The traditional way of doing presentations is not a very good way of sharing knowledge.  Conversations, instead, are the best way to share knowledge.
09:00 In keeping with the idea that conversations are the best way to share knowledge, we actually had an entire conference full of breakout sessions where only 50% of the time was spend delivering the presentations.  The rest of the time should be spent in conversations.
10:30 The idea really caught on.  Attendees were expecting an opportunity to talk and have real discussions during the breakout sessions.  The conclusions was that we should definately keep the presentation to discussion ratio at 50:50.
12:00 Luis remembers that conference & notices how little we see this in other conferences since then.
13:00 Even Enterprise 2.0 had speakers running overtime.  They don't get it!!!  E2.0, if any conference is supposed to get it, should be a dialog.
13:30 This is a major downfall of conferences.  Speakers are not willing to explore the option to have discussion in their time slot.  People don't like to give up control and move outside of their confort zone.  As soon as you allow the audience to challenge the speaker, they are not comfortable.
15:15 It's patronizing & insulting for the speaker to continually talk down to the audience.
15:45 Some sessions @ E2.0 were like a trap, where there was no way to interract with others.  The network was cut off.  And this was not acceptable.  We just left and went to the lobby.
16:45 There is a growing trend & expectation in conferences to allow for this discussion & interraction.  The back channel chat is at least the most minimal requirement.
17:45 The audience might have something more intelligent and smarter to say about your presentation.  And it is good to listen to that.
18:00 Speakers are afraid to allow the audience to talk in the room for fear that it will make them look less of an authority.  Wake up speakers!  Deal with the reality that you do not know everything!  No one expects you to know it all.
18:00 It is a myth that one must be an definitive authority in order to be valuable.  You don't need to have students sitting at your feet in order to prove that what you know is worth teaching.
19:45 Professional conferences are sometimes the only chance many people have to present the facade of the authority.
20:30 People don't trust the process of dialog and conversations.  They don't trust themselves to think on their feet.  Instead of being a facilitator, they play the authority game.
21:30 Carl Frappaolo - Knowledge Management - held a session in the morning that was really refreshing, a real wake up for the attendees.  It was engaging.  He followed the 50:50 Rule.  He invited the audience to engage with him in a discussion.  He played the role of facilitator.
22:30 A full room at 8:00 in the morning, people with expectations to hear about KM 2.0 and not really expecting much... all of a sudden were treated with one slide and 15 minutes of discussion.
23:30 Out take
24:42 END

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Sweettt.com - Episode 5 - Wordle

Tune in and listen to the kinds of things we're planning to do.  Are we on track?  Is this what makes for a great podcast?  What would you do differently?  If you were creating your own podcast, would you consider this good advice?

Show Notes

00:30 - Introduction
00:50 - We've actually up to the 5th episode with this one
01:15 - Previously, on Sweettt.com...
01:50 - Maybe we should use the word Tertulia.
02:15 - Tertulia is already used.  But not Sweettt Tertulia - Place to be... This is quite an exotic word, not English.  Anything not English is exotic, right?
03:35 - The topic of conversations is really the focus here.  If you focus the conversation, what do you get?  Let's consider all the things we could do, or should do with this podcast.
04:15 - A good podcast will focus on just one or two topics.
06:00 - We hit 113 downloads from Sweettt.com when we checked on Episode 3
07:30 - Doug Cornelius - says that a good blog post should focus on one topic, and shouldn't go over 20 or 30 minutes, just enough time for a short commute.  My god!  How are we going to cut this down?  We just did an hour and a half!!!  Answer - stay with one topic.
09:45 - We can stick with one topic and really enjoy the subtopics within that one major topic.
10:20 - Very few podcasts that we like go over 30 minutes on average.
11:45 - And so how in the world did we end up recording an hour and a half???  It didn't feel like it was that long at all.
12:30 - We got lots of feedback from people saying that they really liked the podcast.  But not a single person told us it was too long.  Wake up people!!
13:00 - We think that people enjoyed it because it was an introduction.  And so they forgave the length of it, or maybe didn't notice the length of it. Hmmmm QUESTION - Is it really a problem when it's over 30 minutes?
14:00 - 30 minutes can be great for the listener.  However, it's a challenge for the non-razzle-dazzle-em discussants.  We really were into the discussion.  We weren't putting on a show.  If we artificially stop at 30 minutes, it will really cause the conversation to suffer.
15:30 - Does it make sense to split a longer recording into mutiple episodes?
15:55 - Other podcasts in the area of KM have done just this.  There was no need for a hard stop.  Instead, the post production edit simply found the natural transition time, that occured naturally in the middle of the conversation.  This was the split point, where it can be divided into multiple parts.
17:25 - Next question - When do you post the episodes?  Post all 3 at the same time?  Or should we post and wait a bit?
18:15 - Matt Moore - http://engineerswithoutfears.blogspot.com/ - Whenever he does a podcast, if it is too long, he splits it up & posts each subsequent episodes one day apart.

(oh!  THAT Matt Moore!!  Hi Matt!!!  When I was listening to Luis, I thought he said 'Mark.»  Of COURSE I know Matt Moore.  He was my great KM colleague in Australia who always reminded me of the timezone difference for the all the KM calls... that and many other things we discussed via **cough** email.)

19:20 - Actually tracking topics by minutes and seconds can enable the listener to track where to listen to various things within a posted recording.
20:00 - By creating lots of content and pacing how people can digest the content, people don't get
20:45 - Matt is invited to join the Sweettt Discussion in the future!  (How in the world are we going to get into the Australian time zone?  We should reach out to Stephen Collins too.)
21:00 - How do you create show notes?  What can you do with show notes?  What can you do with the work products that come from listening to the episode again?  Can we use show notes AND also expand out this content into blog entries or other articles?
23:00 - 2 Options - bullet outline of podcast vs. extended blogpost - The blog post option would really create a lot of content.
24:00 - Make sure that you don't include the blog post inside the same podcast posting.
25:30 - It's important to keep shownotes brief, and to the point, so that people can listen and then comment.
25:45 - Keep the blog posts and podcasts in seperately posts.
26:00 - We wonder how to post podcasts and blogs at the same site and to keep the podcasts and the blog posts seperately.
27:00 - Using Wordpress, we can use pages.
28:30 - We have our solution!  :-)  Our approach will be to have great discussions that won't be interrupted, and then to split them into more digestible pieces.
30:30 - We don't want to just talk at people.  But a little bit of pazzaz can be fun too.
31:00 - END

Check out, also, Luis' blog about Sweettt.com - Episode 5 - How to Make a Great Podcast

Wordle for Sweettt 4_Deep Discussions for Podcasts

In this episode, Matt & Luis launch a discussion about the target main theme to the Sweettt Podcast.  They explore the difference between a podcast that functions to interview people, and one in which people participate in deep meaningful conversations.  The goal of our Sweettt Podcast is to engage is those conversations, the kind in which you would find in the cognoscenti of the 1800's.  In Spanish, the word is «Tertulia.»  In English, perhaps the word «Salon» best fits.

If we are lucky, we'll encounter someone as insightful and mischievous as Mark Twain.  But regardless, we will thoroughly enjoy these conversations, if for nothing else, their ability to create social events that gather our colleagues and engage in thesis, antithesis, & sysnthesis.

• 00:30 Welcome & Introduction - «The Age of Conversation»
• 01:50 Silly Baboons - Matt sends Luis a photo of the two of them with a caption «Silly Baboons»  Who said that podcasting is not fun?
• 02:30 We've not far from the apes
• 03:10 Great Photos - Chris Brogan getting a mention for his incredibly good photography skills, amongst many other things! heh
• 04:00 Our Name & Brand - What should be our name?  Should we include Elsua in the brand?  Finding an identity for The Sweettt ELSUA podcast? Excuse me? (hey!  «Sweettt Elsua» hmmmm) Branding? Podcasting? Is there such a thing? Excuse me?
• Surprise, surprise!?! We can't comment on that one yet! (But stay tuned!)
• 04:45 A future Elsua Podcast, in the making... ELSUA going solo podcasting! YAY!!! About time, too!
• 05:00 Interviews & Conversations in the Enterprise 2.0 podcast space - On the importance of Enterprise 2.0 interviews... We can't get enough of them? Fancy being one of our guests?!? Let us know!
• Sebastian Thomschke getting a mention, too!
• 06:50 Getting ready to bring more discussants on board
• 07:00 Mark Masterson - is interested in joining the discussion (actually, Matt broached this with Mark back in Boston)
• 07:00 John Mell - is interested in joining the discusion
• 08:00 Mention of Dogear Nation and their dynamic fast-paced style of conversations. Wooohooo! Dogear-Nation getting another mention! (We highly recommend subscribing to that podcasting series, if you haven't done so already!)
• 10:00 In depth discussion is the goal, just like a decent long chat over coffee.  Entering the Age of Conversation and on the power of coffee!  What's the right length of time in a podcast? The one who figures it out gets the big prize!
• 12:13 Tertulia - Luis teaches Matt a new word.  And then «Tertulia 2.0» was born!
• 12:50 A loud SLAP is heard
• 13:15 An intellectual gathering... Babbelfish translates «tertulia» into 'Social Gathering'... It's like a Salon. Now really getting into the «Social Gathering» thing. Boy, did we have some good fun or what?
  
• 14:11 What is a Salon?
• 14:30 Tertulia definitely has a strong intellectual component, highly social, intense discussion, very intellectually stimulating
• 15:30 A cocktail party among the cogniscenti.  This is a Salon.  Tom Short, former IBMer and good friend of ours, gets a mention when talking about the concept of «Salons». Yes, we are still in search of that identity for the podcast!
• 16:50 The kind of discussion that Mark Twain would be found within.   Oh, oh, we are now about to get in trouble. Mark Twain coming up on the show, too!
• 17:40 Agreement, disagreement... Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.  Maybe we just nailed the identity of The Sweettt ELSUA Show: Tertulia 2.0!
• 18:20 Luis attacks a poor defenseless creature.
• 18:40 And THAT's how you share knowledge!!  BAP!!!
• 19:15 Finish

Wordle for This Episode

- Matt Simpson

I'm a big fan of West Wing.  I really am.  The level of discourse in that show is simply wonderful.  The images... the characters... Anyway, there is a nice little exchange I just had with a colleague, who was sharing with me that he was resisting change...

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... he wasn't comfortable with a change that was about to happen.  And immediately, a scene within West Wing came to mind.

The story goes like this...

The President, Jed Bartlet was plagued with a 5 point drop in approval ratings.  Concurrently, a position paper on how to bring down the Bartlet Presidency was being surfaced by the press.  Because the paper was highly critical of the administration, Bartet and his senior staff had to read the paper.  In the paper was a key message, that...

Leo (Chief of Staff) drives Bartlet to the middle, and Bartlet lets him take him there.

After Bartlet & Leo read the paper, up comes the time for them to talk about it.  Now they are confronted with their partnership in mediocrity.  Bartlet brings up the suggestion from the paper, that Leo is the one driving them to the middle.  Leo struggles with the message and then rejects it with a strong retort, that Bartlet is the one to drive them to the middle.

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The two principles go back an forth in the dialog, and wrestle with whose to blame for their position.  After some negotiation around the topic, it's recognized that Bartlet is a big thinker, the one with vision, the one who ultimately gives direction.  Faced with that notion, he justifies his political inaction with all the constraints on his office... These incessant compromises weigh him down and keep his true leadership from coming out.

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He sighs, «I don't want to feel like this anymore.»

And then Leo urges him, «You don't have to.»

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This insight hits Bartlet squarely between eyes.  He and Leo feel the weight lift as they confirm together that they are going to start doing things differently.  They are going to disregard their fear of losing a second term in the Whitehouse.  Instead, they are going to follow some of the vision of the President and tackle some of the issues that they've always wanted to.

Leo's strategy... LET BARTLET BE BARTLET.

Step 2 - LOOK FOR A BOLD ACTION - to commit to that change.

No... I'm not through talking about West Wing.  The very next episode begins with Jed Bartlet making a speach in which he is about to to make a bold unprecidented announcement which is certain to enrage Congress, and trigger the parties to launching into a series of political attacks on the Adminsitration.  The speach needs a parable to build up to that announcement.

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And so, Jed Bartlet spoke about a story that his grandfather used to tell, about 2 Irish lads who while walking through the countryside came upon a wall that they thought they could not climb.  Instead, of trying to climb or even backing away, they first threw their caps over the wall so that they were dedicated to either get over the wall or lose their caps.

Making a bold statement can be fun, enlightening, and invigorating.  It can liberate you to act freely, without prior burdens.  It can open up new territory so that you can set the direction for yourself and your endeavors.

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But don't be reckless.  Be thoughtful.  Look before you leap.  And get ready for consequences.

A bold move can also disturb and surprise those around you.  They may become shocked and react.  They may wish that there was more of an opportunity for them to persuade you to keep things they way they were.

Keep in mind that, there is a reason to make the move bold.  Certain changes don't come easily.

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Keep in mind that, as long as you are being fair to others and fulfilling your promises, it is your perfect right to be bold... to catch others by surprise... to be independent... and to act unilaterally.

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Addendum

Thinking about change myself, I've decided to leave Dogear Nation and spend my time pursuing other things.  Michael Rowe and Michael Martine have become great friends & dudes.  I hope to find ways to collaborate with them in the future in the blogopodsphere.  However, as you can tell from this post, my own predisposition is to delve into more of the psychological aspects of the way we work.  It takes time for me to develop ideas to the depth that I prefer.  So, I felt the need to break away and do things on my own.  The topics and pace of Dogear Nation just weren't aligning to the direction I'm going to take.

So, thank you, Michael & Michael for embracing me as a co-host as you have.  To that role, it's been fun, and goodbye.

Time for a new chapter.

Disclaimer

In the course of deciding to make a bold move and surprise my friends with my abrupt departure from Dogear Nation, a number of thoughts came to mind.  So, I used this opportunity to expound on some introspection.  The article above did not mean to suggest anything significant about my role and relationship with Dogear Nation.  And if it was taken in that light, then it was grossly exaggerated.

Photo Credits:

• Baby Changing Table for Boys - by The Rocketeer
• Introspection - by e³°°°
• Pressures of Work - by sparky2000
• 365-D268: Take On Me - by bitca
• you will not control me - by the prodigal untitled13
• Goat (Man & Goat Crossing Bridge) - by Jungle Boy
• Mr. Independent - by Infinity Rain
• Do you believe in Change? - by carf

Academic Reference:

• Albert Ellis - Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy - Insight 2 - No matter how, when, and why people acquire self-defeating, irrational beliefs that mainly lead to their dysfunctional, emotional-behavioral consequences, if they are disturbed today, they tend to keep holding these irrational beliefs and upsetting themselves by them -- not because they held them in the past but because they are still actively, though often unconsciously, reaffirming them and acting as if they are still valid. They still follow, in their minds and in their hearts, the core «musturbatory » philosophies that they may have taken over or invented years ago, or that they have more recently accepted or constructed for themselves.  (In other words... You don't have to... there is nothing that you must do... The only thing that you must eventually do is die... What you do between now and the day you die, that's your choice. (paraphrase by Matt Simpson)).

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-4dc37eeaeca582a874915150119f77b6}

Keep Silly Walking :-)

So, Michael, you are surprised to discover that IBM has been using micro-blogging behind the firewall? You want to couch this as a sensational critique? Common!

The world's 14-year leader in number of patents didn't get that way by NOT engaging in everything new. There are lots of things behind the firewall with which early adopters are having a blast: blogs, wikis, podcasts, broadcasts, micro-blogging, tagging, social photo sharing, social video sharing, social file sharing, IM for over a decade now, online communities, 3D internet / virtual reality, online friends & connections, rating & reputation systems... there are over 100 innovations available within our early adoption program. The list goes on. We don't gate our innovations. We promote them!

Do you think that each of these innovations are perfect before we try them? Well, that's not the way it goes. It's survival of the fittest.

In Case You Forgot How

We have about 400,000 people inside our firewall to try this stuff out and give us feedback. Before we roll something into full production, and before we send it down the product development path, we tap into that feedback and learn as much as we can about the new creation. It makes the final solution stronger.

And guess what... We need these tools. The workforce has changed. The standard for the online social interaction experience is set across the internet. The corporation that doesn't embrace this functionality will be the corporation that doesn't stand the test of time. In case you haven't noticed, IBM is Built to Last.

None of that would be possible if it weren't for our willingness to embrace new things. Don't damn IBM for that. Congratulate us. Applaud us. Follow our lead, because it's very very successful. Over $90 billion a year is no accident.

photo by magandafille
and by faultier.at

A Household Windmill

Rooftop Solar a Commodity within Google Ads

So, what are my plans?  Well... after I paint the house, install a new window, build a retaining wall, replace patio door, buy a new desk, build a front porch...

The Boogie Man

Recently, I was on a trip of my own, that was a little outside the ordinary, and I wanted to join in all the Twittering fun.  My wife, son, and I drove to Montreal to visit her parents.  The trip was an adventure.  I mean, it would have been fun to tell my whole network where I was, and some of my experiences, while I was actually having the experiences.  But I couldn't bring myself to do it.  Every time I thought of mentioning something about it online... that I was on a trip, in another city, in another country... I kept thinking about the old joke where someone calls the Jones' house; Their not home; The answering machine picks up...

BEEP - «You have reached the Jones' residence.  We're going to be away from the house on vacation until August 31.  We're sorry, but no one will be here to pick up your message until then....»

If only all burglars were as cute as the Ham Buglar

Even these days, when home robberies are on the decline simply because electronic alarms are so prevalent.  And no matter whether the market for stolen goods is so bad because there's so much stuff out there that no one is buying stolen goods.  Most people with common sense just don't announce when they're away from home.  There's far worse evil that can befall an unattended home and family than mere theft.

I can just imagine hearing my Dad looking at this Twitter free-for-all from the eyes of his generation.  Mind you, he struggles to understand how there can be economies and markets going into the $millions within Second Life, which is really nothing but an online game.  But we can usually find some common ground in that discussion.  But this is one area where we would both look at all this tom foolery and shake our heads together and say, «what are they thinking?»

Color me paranoid if you will.  But there's something to be said for common sense.  It doesn't make sense to publish to the world when you're not at home!

I recently saw a really compelling commercial in which a woman is standing in an open field in the middle of a thunderstorm, holding a lightning rod, with lightning blasting all around her.  She explains that every year 20 people are killed by lightning in Canada.  And then she says that 18,000 die from cigarette smoke.  And then she asks, «who's more stupid?» (http://stupid.ca)  The point of that commercial is that if you wouldn't stand in the middle of an open field in a lightning storm holding a lightning rod, then you certainly shouldn't smoke.

My point here is that it's common sense to do neither.  Just because the chances of a problem decrease in general, doesn't mean that people should do things to increase their chances of having a problem.  Broadcasting to the world that you are away from your home and family just isn't wise.  Is it foolish?  I don't know.  Time will tell.  The first cigarette smokers had to wait and see too.

And if you think I just spilled the beans to the sociopaths, and we no longer have our security through obscurity, go and watch Silence of the Lambs again and reconsider.