Entries Tagged 'Life' ↓

Saying Thank You

In the corporate world, it’s easy to feel powerless, but there are things within everyone’s reach which can improve the culture of your team (and taken to its logical conclusion, your company). One of these is taking time to say Thank You.

Our successes in the workplace depend a great deal on those around us. Every day, our co-workers make decisions which impact us. And when that person does something that makes our lives easier, what should we do? We all learned this as kids. We say Thank You.
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A Question of Boundaries

I’ve written before about how confusing it can be to navigate this new world where your boss follows you on twitter and your mom reads your professional blog. It got me thinking about the sorts of boundary problems people can run into in meatspace as well. I was thinking it might be interesting to find analogs for various online activities. Of course, there are complications….
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Casual Friday: Dave Talks Home

I’ve got good news and bad news. First, you may soon see a drop in activity on this site.  (Wait, wait, that’s the bad news, not the good news, stop cheering!)

The good news is that it’s because we’re due to have our first child in two weeks.

When this happens, I’ll be taking a couple weeks away from work to concentrate on being home with my family.  Given the circumstances, I may not have a lot to say that fits into this blog (then again, maybe I’ll be up all night and resort to blogging to pass the time 🙂 ).

Even after this, my blogging schedule will likely change.  I plan to continue regular updates, but you will probably not see new posts every work day.  No promises I can’t keep, remember?  So I promise to update regularly.  I hope that’s good enough.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Career Limiting Moves

I recently wrote in my EMC internal blog about transparency. My goal was to demonstrate that while opening yourself, your product, and your organization to the world (or at least the company) might be risky, there was inherent risk in sitting out while others did it. In fact, I used a very similar argument when describing to a friend why I was starting this blog.

There’s a quiet assumption in that, which I didn’t realize until I started listening to and reading the feedback I was getting. I’m assuming that the motion I’m seeing is progressive – that we as a company (and industry,  and culture) are moving in a direction where further transparency on a personal and institutional level are inevitable. In other words, I’m assuming this isn’t a fad.

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Integrity in the little things

Integrity is one of the big name values that people like to say they hold dear.  We all like to think that with our jobs on the line, or facing the temptation of a big score at someone else’s expense, we’d take the high road.  But how about the little things?

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Mind the gap

We’ve all heard discussion of the technology gap.  I tend to feel I’m spending most of my time among the “haves” when it comes to technology.  I’m not talking about income, just availability and comfort.  And yet every time I make mention of certain technologies and tools, I am greeted with at best a politely blank stare.

Twitter? Forget it.  It’s a toy technology, used to tell people what movie you’re waiting in line to see, right?

Blogging? That’s what those guys do who get into fights with our competition, right?  What could I possibly have to say in that area, and when would I find the time?  “What do you even blog about?”

Imagine only a few dozen people are blogging at your company, or twittering from your event.  Imagine you are one of them.

In what other scenario can you imagine having such disproportionate access to potential customers, employees, partners, or employers? Can you even imagine it?  Your voice could be one of only dozens in any given area.

Talk about leveling the playing field.

Among the “haves” there’s a new gap forming.  This isn’t even about early versus late adopters.  It’s the gap between producers and consumers, in a world where everyone can be both. And it’s a gap entirely under our own control.

Are you hyperconnected?

Quick post this morning as I struggle to get my handouts down for EMC World (I said they’d be done yesterday, remember?  No such luck!).

Ars Technica is running a story today, talking about a recent study commissioned by Nortel.  The study talks about how a growing percentage of people, worldwide, are connected for both work and play, and are comfortable being in contact with work while eating, on vacation, or even at places of worship.  They are using the same devices and networks for social and business reasons, and don’t find this odd.

Pretty timely stuff considering my recent post about my own work/personal boundary blurring, considering many of these hyperconnected individuals still claim to feel a healthy work/life balance.  My comments on age seem spot-on too … most of the hyperconnected were under the age of 35.  I look forward to seeing the comments on this out in the wild.

Good fences make good neighbors

Americana

Work-life balance is a tricky thing. I’ve always maintained that I keep a clean separation between my personal life and my work life, and that it has done wonders for keeping me sane through some insane stretches at work. But I’m finding things beginning to blur these boundaries, and I’m really curious as to where it’s going to take me.

Creative Commons License photo credit: speakeasy(X)

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