August 10, 2005
Thanks Ed...
I finally figured out how to turn TrackBack on.
Posted by Todd at 1:08 PM | TrackBack
June 26, 2005
Fast Company Article
The current issue of Fast Company has a disturbing article by Marshall Goldsmith titled The One Skill that Separates. Basically, the article follows the old saying of how to differentiate between the good and the great. In a conversation, the good will lead you to think they are the smartest person in the room while the great will make you think you are. I have such a long way to go in order to understand the differences.
Posted by Todd at 6:42 PM | Comments (3)
July Book Comments
Excellents Reads...
A Whole New Mind - Daniel Pink
For some reason, I liked the Free Agent Nation much better. This book is a follow up text on how we are progressing from the information age to the Conceptual age. The text in the early part of the book on Asia, Abundance and Automation is right on and really helped me gain a greater understanding of my own predictions. The later sections of the book seem to drag but a good read non the less.
The Dream Society - Rolf Jensen
As you can tell, this month's reading material had a common theme. The Dream Society is a book that seems to have a dual purpose. First, the book attempts to define the future of work, employment, and the society at large. The second is describing the element of change that will be required in the future. By analyzing the trends in the global world, the author forces the reader into analyzing where they fit into the new economy both from a personal and business perspective.
Posted by Todd at 1:32 PM
June 24, 2005
Blog Censorship
Recently, I noticed more and more blogs are editing the content posted. In other words, before an opinion is posted they want to review the content and ensure the validity and context (Also no vulgar posts). This will certainly keep put the Blog Spam that I get on a weekly basis. Personally, I review the comments on a weekly basis to delete the spam and obscene comments which are very few. While it is their right to do so, some blog hosts are keeping out valid criticism and squelching comments. I read a post where the author was presenting references to publications on his topic of choice. The authors were all working for him or seemingly had a close relationship. One reference hadn’t posted anything since 2002 on their web site. I posted a comment about adding references to people who are doing and writing about their experiences but were not close consultants. The comment never emerged nor was the included references added. Hey, I am all about controlling the brand but when folks offer free help embrace it.
Posted by Todd at 11:41 AM
June 21, 2005
Mid-Year Reviews
Not sure where the bolt of lightning came from but a few weeks I realized the most obvious of thoughts. “Talent competes on a global scale while Labor competes on a local scale”. Our world is changing and shrinking. True talent develops skills that can compete on the global stage where millions will evaluate your every move. The mid-year period brings on a time, for us still employed in large corporations, where our management will try to give us career advice based on a 20 year old model. These people will share their wisdom on our careers even though they only think about it twice a year. You should think about your skills each and every day and ensure that you are developing talent. True talent understands that the new career model that is based on
Posted by Todd at 12:59 PM
May 16, 2005
June DAMA-Atl Agenda
A Great session is planned for early June with presentations on Metadata, E/R & ETL and Data Transformation as well as a session on the future of data management. A number of our members are attending the DAMA-I conference in Orlando which immediately precedes our meeting. They will be keeping an eye out for us and report what they learn.
Agenda
Posted by Todd at 12:00 PM
April 13, 2005
Book Review
The Support Economy: Why Corporations Are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff, James Maxmin
Most of the time I pen a small paragraph describing the book but leave it up to you to discover the knowledge held within; not this time. The Support Economy is written by a brilliant Harvard Business School social psychologist with a savvy CEO of companies such as Laura Ashley and Volvo. The result is a book that may be the best on the market to actually explain the future of business. Many authors describe the future age as one of knowledge, conceptualization, or free agency. But, very few go into the level of details and provide a glimpse of the future. The Support Economy is not an easy read that you can sit by the beach and point read. The book describes the past, present, and future state of business and how that will influence how we move to the next phase of work. The authors call "distributed capitalism;" the need to move beyond the relentless optimization of transactions and towards the maximization of value in the context of people's lives. Provide “Deep” support that moves beyond products, services, and experiences. The death of the transaction is upon us and now we have a guide
Posted by Todd at 1:12 PM
April 8, 2005
IEEE Conference
Reflecting on the IEEE Conference hosted by Nova Southeastern University, I wonder where the metadata presentations were located. Several of the presentations / papers discussed the problems that metadata address including data integration, knowledge representation, asset inventory, and many others. Actually, it was good to see many old friends, so I didn’t get to focus a ton of time on the expansion of knowledge. Maybe next time.
Posted by Todd at 11:05 PM
February 28, 2005
Interesting Observation
Last week, I read an interesting story about a college professor that gave a final exam to his soon-to-be graduating seniors. The test questions were divided into three categories and the students were instructed to choose questions from only one of the categories. The first category of questions was the hardest and worth fifty points. The second, which was easier, was worth forty points. The third, the simplest, was worth thirty points. Upon completion of the test, students who had chosen the hardest fifty point questions were given As. The students who had chosen the forty-point questions received Bs. Those who settled for the easiest thirty-pointers were given Cs. The students were frustrated with the grading of the papers and asked the professor what he was looking for. The professor leaned over the podium, smiled, and explained, I wasnt testing your book knowledge, I was testing your aim.
Posted by Todd at 2:41 AM
February 23, 2005
Top Ten Speaking Tips
Practice, Practice, PracticeThere is no substitute for this. Every professional speaker spends an enormous amount of time working out the session. “It takes me three weeks to put together a good impromptu speech." - Mark Twain. Practice at home, in the car, in the office, 5-10, 20, minutes; what ever you can schedule.
Establish that Foundation
The first 10 minutes may be the most crucial time in an entire speech. This is where people form perceptions on your skills, knowledge, and experience. Delivering a solid performance here and you will set the stage for the remainder of the session.
Flexible Ending
No matter how much you practice, you will approach the ending of your session at different times. Try to take the last 10 minutes and make a mental note of which slide you should be on. Assuming you have 20 slides and you think you should be on slide 16 with 10 minutes to go. You should be able to expand the discussion points to 15-20 minutes or shrink this time period to 5 minutes or less. This is crucial to deliver a professional speech; attendees don’t want to feel cheated by ending early or not covering some of the material because of time constraints. Your ability to pull this off without giving a hint of what’s going on will set you apart.
Limit the Use of Bullets
Most speakers like to use bullets in their slides and the more the merrier. The problem is that you can’t really tell where you are in the slide deck without reading the slide itself. Try to place diagrams or even clipart into the deck that can remind you of where your are. Most nervous conditions come during the transition period between slides and by using diagrams you only need a glance to determine where you are.
Deliver with Feeling
The basic difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly is passion. Deliver the session like you have spent your entire life waiting for this moment. Deliver the session with feeling and emotion, let your passion flow like a Baptist Preacher, can you say amen?
Watch that Slide Count
You should be able to spend 3-5 minutes on each slide besides the title and support slides (QA, References, Contact). Why not less than that? Because some members will be reading the slides while you talk and you want to make sure they can read the entire content. Hence, why you shouldn’t put 20 bullet points and then cover in 2 minutes. Why not more than 5? Perhaps you have too much content that could be much easier explained in separate slides.
Alter your speed of delivery
If you ever watch the World Poker Tour, you will hear them talk about changing the speeds of play. Playing fast, slow, conservative, aggressive, etc is the recipe for success. Same holds true in speaking, delivering a slow monotone for the full period can lull the audience to sleep. However, an overly aggressive style, like Richard Simmons, can wear the audience down and perhaps lose the message in the process. Vary everything!
Use Humor or Interesting Things in the Show (It is a Show by the way)If you have ever watched Emeril Live more than once you will pick up on some comments that are meant to interject humor and delineate him from other cooking show hosts: Bam, Use your Knobs, Kick it up a Notch, Smell-a-Vision, etc. They are funny fillers that have become a brand unto them selves. Work on a few things that you like to say besides Hmmmmm. Props are good for this….
80-90 Percent Rule
No matter how hard you practice, when the day comes you will only be able to deliver 80-90 percent of your ability. The same is true for professional sports like golf. The pressure, time constraints, public view, and a variety of other reasons cause you to be less than perfect. It’s ok, most people won’t notice.
A Built-in Support Group
Remember, the attendees have selected your session to attend. They may have paid to see your presentation and you can bet they want to see you succeed. Nobody goes out and buys a car in hopes that it will break down or get into a wreck. Go on, everyone wants you to succeed.
The Room is your Friend
Most speakers find a parking spot at about 35 degrees to the left and right of the screen. It gives them comfort of being able to look at the screen at any point in time. Don’t park the car, ride that baby. Walk in front of the screen (just don’t park there), walk in the isles, walk down the sides, vary everything. This allows you to look directly at the majority of the audience, since most people sit in the back of the room. Also, big secret time. The most important time you need to see the screen is when you change slides, this is where you gather your thoughts. If you time it right, by walking back toward the front of the room you can see the entire slide without appearing as you needed it.
Be a Host not a Speaker
Before the session, try to meet as many people as you can. Even if you only talk to the people you know, others will get the feeling that you are an approachable person. Try not to spend more than 2-3 minutes with any one person; bounce around. If your session is large, you may only get to say hello with 5-10 people, but these folks could be your supporters that you focus on during the session.
Posted by Todd at 5:52 PM
February 8, 2005
Window of Value
Not sure why this thought emerged today but perhaps its because we are entering into the 2004 review and 2005 objectives period of time. If you draw a timeline, beginning with your first job and ending the line today, you will see your career as a series of assignments and jobs. However, does anyone really care what you did 20 years ago? How about 10 years ago? 5? The reality is that within our corporate walls is an environment built by a management group that only cares what you did one to two years ago and what you’re going to do the following year. This is not a slam, but a reality check. Ask your current manager what key projects you worked on in 2001. This is the window of value. So What? The so what is that you need to develop a brand mentality that enhances this time periods focus on your unique value proposition instead of relying on x years of service. Its later than you think.
Posted by Todd at 8:11 PM
February 3, 2005
First Three Steps
One of the presentations that I want to put together in the coming months is how do you create a personal brand online. After much thought, I decided that these items should be the first three steps. First, update your resume with content and style. Second, convert your resume to the CV format used by academics. This will force you into thinking on a different plane. While the resume is only 1-2 pages, the CV is unlimited and acts more like a chronological roadmap of your story. Finally, take these components and create a portfolio that can be used in an interview. Assemble your publications, awards, supervisor compliments, and other items that would not only interest your perspective employer but will impress them that you have it with you. These are the first steps toward building your brand online, know your product.
Posted by Todd at 4:55 PM