How I almost sold my soul for a box of labels

It happened like this: I tweeted a simple request. (It seemed innocent enough at the time.) I tweeted that I needed help getting some Avery labels printed for an upcoming hocoblogs party. And that’s when the snowball rolling toward my soul being owned by The Devil started to roll.

Good thing for me, my soul isn’t for sale, so I caught that potentially Hellish problem in the nick of time. “Whoa, Devil,” said I. “No souls for sale here.”

See, when I posted my request to the Twitterverse, a smart gal managing Avery label’s brand online spotted my tweet and responded to me right away. She offered that she could give me some labels if I were to blog about why I liked Avery labels.

I asked for the dollar amount of this “gift” of labels, and she said it was about $90. I explained to her that the blog post I was interested in writing had to do with respecting that a company was monitoring its brand in the social space and that it had empowered an agent (notably, a pr firm) to act on its behalf for community relations with brand ambassadors.

She told me my blog post focus that was a little out of the norm, but that she was game.

Avery labels sent from Red Sky Public Relations.

I told her that I was delighted she was game, because I was going to blog about the experience anyway; now I get to tell a happy, yay-for-Avery-and-good-online-brand-monitoring story rather than a “they tried to get me to sell soul, and they can’t have it” story.

Even better, the gal sent me the Avery product prior to my blog post being written: a statement of trust. (Nice touch.)  And, so folks, I now have a load of Avery labels … and my soul, fully intact.

***

For companies in need of some good online brand management, props to Leigh Ann Dufurrena of Red Sky Public Relations. (You can use this link in your own personal brand management, Leigh Ann; you get a shiny gold star in my book.)

Reducing board micro-management

For those of you who’ve ever experienced micro-management by a board (on either side of the table), here’s a potentially helpful document I wrote. It’s designed to help nonprofit organizations reduce unnecessary board intrusion, concurrently while helping the ED and staff serve the board and provide them what they need to do their strategic work.

***

See, I’ve served on two boards of late. And, educational experiences they have both been! I’ve learned through some rather twisted and uncomfortable ways about the roles of the executive committee, the board president, the committees, the executive director (ED) and the staff. I have not always been the easiest of board members to have around. I want information. I find it impossible to do my job of providing, among other things, strategic direction to an organization about which I know little.

In my frustration, I became a whirlwind of data requests. I had culture clashes with the staff and ED about what information I had a right to see. Me? I think Google Analytics are relevant when one is the Communications Committee chair.  And HTML newsletter open rates and clicks on links. Because I wasn’t receiving the information I felt I needed to do my job as a board member, and as my requests for information were often perceived of as stepping on staff and ED toes, the I-want-you-can’t-have push-pull became even more pronounced.

Now, EDs have to protect their staff from excessive board requests and ensure that mission critical operations continue. And usually, producing reports and providing information takes staff time that can impact the staff’s ability to do its work. So, what’s a sane organization to do? Well, I think the first thing is that people have to know is what they’re asking for and why … what purpose does the getting of the information provide? And what’s it worth? Is the information sought a $25 answer (a quick email sent), a $250 answer (perhaps a meeting with a few staff and follow up), or is it a $2,500 answer … perhaps a more extensive report? Board members should be able to ask a reasonable question of staff and get a reasonable answer. Equally, even without a master of science in management, board members need to understand “the cost” of their questions asked.

So, what’s a sane organization to do?

In my consulting work over the years (and in personal relationships), I see that it is my responsibility to ask for what I want and to make sure that I’m clear about what it is that I need as an answer/deliverable/date. My suspicion is that board member requests of staff would half and ED/staff resistance would subside tremendously if there were systems in place that required (forced) board members to be more thoughtful in what it is they need, and why.

So, I created a form, a document, a think-your-way-through-your-thought-process guide. I make no claim of perfection in this regard. I have yet to test and vet this form. I am, however, offering it for nonprofit boards, EDs and staff as a potentially helpful tool for navigating the sometimes-messy territory of board-staff relationships. (And for those of you who’ve got your thinking caps on but don’t serve on nonprofit boards at this moment in time, you’ll be able to see the business applications for such a form.)

She almost sneered at me …

Several years ago, I was at a DC area barcamp. I forget which one. (I am, admittedly, a bit of a barcamp junkie.) While there, a well-connected DC blogger asked if I’d be interested in speaking at her company about generational diversity and social media uptake. “Why, of course, thank you,” was my response (or something along those lines … I’m telling a story, not chronicling history), and I reached for my business card to hand her.

She looked at me, and I swear, she almost sneered at me. She said, “I know how to get in touch with you, Jessie.”

So, rather sheepishly, I put my card away, realizing in that moment, that the act of passing paper is not always considered a convenience to the recipient. Me, I like paper. And business cards serve as physical reminders of people I’ve met. But — and apparently — for many, and I’d assume for those leaning more toward the Millennial generation and younger side of GenXers, my way of seeing the world is not theirs.

Fast forward a few years …

Earlier this week, I hosted, as I do, a somewhat-monthly party for local bloggers. This particular party was co-hosted by three gals who live in a section of my community and, quite understandably, they wanted the party to be held on their home turf at a nearby restaurant/bar. As the party planning was underway, we aimed to invite not just the bloggers, but community leaders. We invited merchants located in the same building as the bar. We invited PTA presidents and business owners, active volunteers and more.

All good. And the party was quite different in tone and vibe … and lovely in its own way.

As I was the primary hostess and central point for people coming in to the party, I quickly noticed something quite distinct among the guests. The people who blogged, tweeted and were otherwise what could be called “social media enthusiasts,” “plugged in,” “Web 2.0 savvy,” or whatever term you’d like, showed up with smartphones in hand and the occasional business card to present, as needed.

The non-bloggers showed up with fliers to hand out, stacks of business cards and paper galore. They looked at me, as the host, and asked where they could display their fliers. “Oh, we don’t have any space for that, sorry …” was my answer.

Don’t get me wrong: Paper has it’s place. But the difference that was so clear is that for those who had an online identity (the bloggers), they didn’t need to present themselves … with fliers, cards or collateral material. They were knowable. They had a URL. They had a name (a blog name, an identity as a blog commenter, a Twitter handle.) Those who didn’t, didn’t. And, by the end of the evening, the “digital divide” was quite obvious.

I understand well that not everyone could, should or would blog. And thank goodness. Bloggers need readers. But there is a huge field of opportunity to be engaged and knowable online. In Howard County, where I live, @MacsMom is a great example of this. She doesn’t blog (well, she has a blog, but she had one post in 2008 and another in 2009), but she is an engaged commenter on the local blogs. She tweets and actively retweets others’ content. And she’s active on Facebook and shares local information. She’s knowable … and known.

The personal asset of having an online identity backed up by who you are in the community (a geographic, interest-based and/or professional one) is a place that I would encourage the majority of adults I know to put some attention and energy.

Be known. To the level you’re comfortable for now, but be known nonetheless.

Images via grammardocs and moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com

On public and private space

There was a moment I knew The Big Collective We were in trouble. It was about a dozen years ago, and I was at Bean Hollow Cafe in Historic Ellicott City, Md. A mother with (I think it was) two, maybe three, daughters came in. Her tweenager daughter was in her pajamas. In public. (Yes, I understand, a cafe is not a public space as a city park might be.)

“Wow,” thought I. “You’re allowing your pre-pubescent daughter to walk around in a public space in her jammies. What message are you sending her about how she should comport herself in public?” More importantly, I knew it was a harbinger of things to come. In that moment, I knew that the line between public and private space had been blurred and the trend was on a rise. And as you may sense by my tone, I, for one, do not think this has been A Trend for The Better.

Yesterday, when at one of my local hangouts (the Dobbin Starbucks), a 30s-Something man not only had his foot on the table (you know, the table where Other People put their drinks and food) but he had his socked foot on the table. In other words, this man felt so “at home” at this cafe that he took his shoes off and propped his feet up to get comfy.

I, as I do, being about six feet from him, spoke directly to my Starbucks Companion about my dislike about this specific behavior and the general cultural trend to blur public and private space. I spoke in a normal voice with Mr. Foot Rester  within earshot. And good fellow that he is, he soon moved his foot back on to the floor where — imho — it belonged in the first place.

Later that evening, I was at a home furnishings store. As I walked in the store, I saw a child pounding and pouncing on some decorative pillows merchandised on a chair. The father of the child sat on a nearby chair, starring into space while his wife was shopping; and he spoke not a word to his child. I smiled at the child and the man with that “Hi there, Mr. Dad, wow, your kid sure is active” look. And he might have mumbled something to the child, but he followed up with no action, and, alas, the child continued his pouncing. Pouncing, that is, on merchandise … goods for sale … you know, something that another person might wish to buy.

Now, I’ve read (most of) The Seven Habits of Habits of Highly Effective people, and I understand that I don’t know the circumstances of the people involved in the actions that caught my eye yesterday. I’m speaking to the decision point that we each get to make regarding what we do where. I feel we’re at a point where it’s time for the tables to turn once again toward more thoughtfulness about what is considered behavior for public consumption and what is considered private.

I think it will be most interesting to see how the Millennial generation (born 1982-2004) will transform this conversation. See, the first half of them grew up in the limelight of their (mostly) Boomer parents’ eyes, pushed out into the public for the world to gaze upon. They’ve been photographed with wild abandon by their parents and peers. They’ve been exalted in the media and made prominent and important by governments, educators and community leaders.

And yet, and still. Part of the pattern of the Hero generation (today’s Millennials) is actually to turn the cultural tide toward modesty. (It’s true! I’m not making this up.) Will we see modesty of covered feet? Boobs no longer busting out of low-cut Ts?  What about cel phone conversations actually held quietly and not broadcast to the entirety of the population within a 10-foot range?

Stay tuned, dear people. Stay tuned. Cultural turnings stemming from generational shifts have an a wondrous way of seeming surprising and out of the blue, and yet they’re cyclical, archetypal and fairly predictable.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies ever. For me, it has been one of the greatest messages from God/Mr. Everything/The Absoluteness That Is that I’ve ever received. Let me explain what I mean, in 500 words or less. Here goes –

The story line, most of you know: Bill Murray’s character gets stuck in eternity, in Hell on Earth (a hellish life, a hellish personality, a hellish job, a hellish town, on a hellish day …). And in this eternal hell, he is able to explore without consequence. He can explore his dark side. He can explore his kindness. He can be adventurous and do dangerous things. And he can explore his intellectual and emotional territory, including expressing his yet-to-be-reciprocated love for Andie MacDowall’s character.

In time, he comes to find not just peace with his life in eternity, but passion about his life, love experienced, goodness made manifest and the joy of Heaven on Earth. Now, I don’t know much about the Bible or religious writings, and the spiritual-but-not-religious folk have their own views, too, but in my view and experience, Earth is the mid-point between “Heaven” and “Hell,” where Heaven is union with Mr. Everything and the magic of everyday living, even and especially among the dark and thick world of the physical, and “Hell” is the separation from all of that and the experience of everyday living as hateful, difficult, cumbersome and hard.

Now, when Bill Murray’s character finally does break the bonds of eternity, he chooses to stay where he is. He has come to understand that it’s not the place (the town) that he was in that was Hell, as he had originally believed, but it was his life that was Hell and hellish. In his transformation, he has found that the gates of Heaven are open to him and he can do anything, anywhere … not because he is “immortal” and will wake up once again at 6:00 a.m., unscathed, but because he now has enough experience in his life to be at choice about how to navigate the world and find the Heaven that is here to be had.

***

Another thing that I have come to understand about my life is that I enjoy the seasons. And while it’s easy to see life through the lens of time moving linearly and in one direction, I believe time moves cyclically and in a spiral. Seasons remind me of this, and crossquarter days are midpoints in our seasons.

Just as Punxsutawney Phil and groundhogs across America are slated to predict a cold second half of winter (staying in Hell) or a quicker arrival of Spring (moving toward Heaven), the movie Groundhog Day, to me, brilliantly represents that choice:

Where am I headed? Heaven or Hell? Or stuck somewhere in between?

Happy Groundhog Day!

Are Hollywood “mega-fauna” going out of fashion?

I didn’t make up this term: mega-fauna. I heard it once and liked it. Mega-fauna was the term used to describe the pop culture fascination and focus on big, camera-friendly animals such as tigers, (polar) bears and pandas, oh my. The Mega-fauna movement — loosely organized as it was — spoke to the importance of the large-in-volume, small-in-number animals and their plight in the face of human choices about land use, pollution, and so on.

While I have no literal data at hand, I’d say that the Mega-fauna movement tied in very much with the Third Turning (Society’s Fall) and the era in which Boomers had primary cultural dominance. Boomers (Prophets) orient as a group toward causes, messages, vision and values. They are masters at messaging that is filled with spiritual importance, moral direction and Big Picture Vision.

Come now, the Fourth Turning and the age of Winter: the era in which GenXers (Nomads) have the primary influence on leadership and the direction of action Society takes. (This role naturally aligns with whatever generation is ascending into mid-life, and that’s GenXers at the moment.) GenXers orient as a “group” (snicker, snicker) to that which is broken, needs fixing now and can be addressed with minimal resources and consensus. GenXers are also the masters of tending to things which are small and seemingly unimportant yet are critical to effective system functioning.

Is it just me, or have movies, news, advertisements and cultural focus been on bees, ants, bugs, germs and bacteria? I love-love-love this commercial by Kleenex and find it a cultural marker. Take note!

Taking inventory

When I begin working with a new client, one of the things I ask to see is an inventory of online communication tools used. Sometimes this can seem to be an unnecessary task in the client’s eyes, but my experience is that while most companies “know” the information I’m requesting in the network of their team, rarely is the information fully documented in one specific place. Once the list is together, it becomes a most-useful resource to have on hand for new marketing and communication projects, for when new hires (or interns or volunteers) come on board, and when working with consultants who may not know the day-in-and-day-out details of your company’s communications.

The information I request, per tool, is –

• The tool name,
• The access URL,
• The account name,
• The password (redacted, but in the document for their records),
• The email to which the account is connected (très importante!),
• Who at the company manages the account, and
• And a two- or three-sentence statement for how the communication tool is used and any other important account management points to note.

The result of that query, for one tool, might look like this –

Twitter

• Sign in: https://twitter.com
• Account name: @hocoblogs
• Password: (redacted)
• Connects to: jessie (at) hocoblogs.com
• Account manager: Jessie manages the account daily and Kimberly TP fills in using Hootsuite when Jessie is off the grid.
• Twitter is used primarily to promote blog posts by Howard County bloggers which is done with short announcements and retweets. It is also used to announce local blogger and social media parties, workshops and events. Hootsuite is often used for posting and ow.ly and bit.ly are used for URL shorteners.

Of course, the quick-to-name tools that come to mind for many organizations nowadays include –

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Linkedin (for your company profile and any groups you might run)
• Flickr
• Blogs
• Slideshare
• Scribd
• Eventbrite
• Email newsletter services such as Blue Sky Factory, Mail Chimp or Constant Contact

Then, of course, there’s the endless list of online tools used inside a business, such as –

• Google Analytics (or other sources),
• Web 2.0 tools, such as Highrise, Basecamp, Huddle and DropBox,
• The company website and/or CMS
• And on and on and on …

For the nature of the work I typically do, I’m looking for information about who is managing what communication tools, so I don’t need to know too many business processes beyond this realm, unless, of course, they relate to communications, community-building and pr. If you run a communications department, or work closely with one, and don’t yet have this type of inventory together, now is a good time to do so. Oh, and it’s helpful to date the document so that you and your team are able to tell when the list might need to be reviewed and updated.

testing hocoblogs@@@

does the tag need to be in the body, or does the headline work?

—–

update: ok, the header didn’t work. let’s see if a post-publishing edit in the body works hocoblogs@@@ …

Four little pigs

Amy, of Buckland Farm, and not one of the younger pigs.

This weekend I had the privilege/joy/opportunity to help transfer four young pigs from the barn at Buckland Farm to their new woodland pen, also on the farm’s property. While the video here shows four happy pigs, I can tell you that the capturing and transport process was not a squeals-of-delight type of event. No sirreee. But, as my fellow pig handler, Ms. Brooke Kidd said, when we were done — and as I now concur, “The moral of handling pigs is you can’t force a pig to do anything … but you sure can bribe ‘em!”

I’m a believer.

Just donated to Wikimedia Foundation, I did, for the continuation and support of Wikipedia. And I got a badge of my choice. I like this one:

If you support/use/write to/read/believe in Wikipedia, please consider doing the same and donating. And, remember, all y’all who think GenXers don’t “volunteer” or have a spirit of citizenship, Wikipedia is a GenX-founded entity. (Jimmy Wales was born in 1966 … and he’s geeky hot!)  Our generation fixes what needs to be fixed without asking for permission or committee approval. That’s how we roll.

Ack: which way to go? Twitter, Facebook, Blogs!

Copying and pasting a note I wrote to a client when helping them devise their social media strategy and develop their capacity. Not all social media tools are the same. What works for one company, of course, may not parlay exactly to another. But this little snippet below may help you in terms of priority and sequence if you’re managing multiple channels of communication in the Web 2.0 space. Here goes –

Here are a few more pointers to round out what you’re doing and have your team clipping along fabulously. Focus on getting more of your blog content into Twitter and Facebook, but not all posts into both sites all the time. Be selective. Switch it up. But remember to tell your twitter followers re your blog posts and to link to specific blog posts now and again in Facebook.

Re how to think inside Facebook and Twitter. When managing a brand’s presence on Twitter, I aim to use the tool for 1) “thought leadership,” 2) conversations and 3) pr and chest-thumping … in that order. However, when I manage a brand’s presence on Facebook, I aim to use Facebook for 1) pr and chest thumping, 2) community building and conversations and 3) thought leadership … in that order. So, I recommend that you put fewer “hey, did you see this” posts in Facebook, more of them in Twitter, and definitely put links to your blog posts more often in both sites.

Also, remember to unlink auto-tweets, auto-reposting and such, e.g. a Facebook setting update which posts automatically to Twitter should be undone. Manage each posting in each account. It’ll pay off in the short and the long run. And don’t forget LinkedIn (an update once every couple of weeks is more than fine there). Check in on your LinkedIn network and comment on others’ status updates and news.

My process is that when I’m going to post news in more than one place, I usually write the Twitter post first to get the shortened URL for a link, but that’s my way. Not any kind of rule. Just my own system for efficiency.

Party in #theHoco

Blog-tail party coming up.

Details here.

Love to have your company, presence, engagement.

Co-hosts: Hocorising and HowChow.

Please register as it helps us all prep for the event at the restaurant.

Rock on.

The Role of (generations and) Civility in Democracy

My local library is hosting a symposium this week; it’s titled, “The Role of Civility in Democracy.” With mid-term elections, the prevalence of nasty political campaign ads, and the library’s Choose Civility initiative, all these factors add up to a well-timed event. I also believe there is another reason this  event is well-timed, and it has to do with generational dynamics and cultural change. Now, I’m not a historian, but I am well-versed in the generational theory, so come with me on this path, if you’d like to see “the role of civility in democracy” through a generation-theory lens. Here goes –

There are four generational archetypes that appear in a fixed, repeating cycle. They are affected by and affect other generations. They each have their strengths, their value, their weaknesses and their paths. Each generation is approximately 20 years in length, or the equivalent of a phase of life (childhood, young adulthood, midlife, elderhood). Right now, the constellation of generations in America is this:

The Silent Gen are moving into elder-elderhood. Born 1924 – 1942, they are 68-86 years old in 2010, and their numbers, per the U.S. Census, are about 30 million. Their archetype’s principal endowments are in the realm of pluralism, expertise and due process. This is the true Civil Rights generation that fought for rights from a perspective of sensitivity to the weaker among the community.

The Boomer Gen is moving into elderhood. Born 1943-1960, they are 50 -67 years old in 2010, and their numbers are about 62 million.Their archetype’s principal endowments are in the realm of vision, values and religion. They are the “principled moralists, summoners of human sacrifice and wagers of righteous wars.”

The GenX Gen is moving into midlife. Born 1961-1981, they are 29-49 years old in 2010, and their numbers are about 81 million. Their archetype’s principal endowments are in the realm of liberty, survival and honor. They are the get-it-done generation and are “cunning, hard-to-fool realists—taciturn warriors who prefer to meet problems and adversaries one-on-one.”

The Millennial Gen is moving into young adulthood. Born 1982-2004(ish), they are 6-28 years old in 2010, and their numbers are about 80 million. Their archetype’s principal endowments are in the realm of community, affluence and technology. They are a bright, upbeat, team-working generation.

The Homeland Gen is being born now and just entering the K-8 system. They will, assuming the generational cycles repeat, have a life course that is similar to the Silent Gen.

All the quoted text in this post, by the way, is from Strauss and Howe’s work, e.g. Lifecourse Associates.

So, let’s look at “civility and democracy” through this lens … not just that there are generations, but in which phase of life each generation has been, and how it will impact the phase of life it is now moving into and the surrounding generations.

In the past 25 years, Boomers were the primary gen in mid-life. Mid-life is about power. Think about it: it’s the 42-62-years-old people. Families are mostly started and kids, if they are still young, are typically in elementary school or beyond. School is done. Professional capacity and community leadership are realms of directed energy for many in mid-life. Boomers in midlife, per @lifecourse, “preach a downbeat, values-fixated ethic of moral conviction.” In other words, they are argumentative, passionate, focused on their values (one does not negotiate “values”) and more interested in their convictions than they are in solutions. To have even talked of civility in democracy while Boomers were in midlife would have been an argument, in and of itself, about whose values were more civil.

In the past 25 years, GenXers were the primary gen in young adulthood. Young adulthood is about vitality, about serving institutions with energy and the excitement of a life to be experienced. GenXers in young adulthood are “brazen free agents, lending their pragmatism and independence to an era of growing social turmoil.” To have asked GenXers in young adulthood to speak of civility in democracy would have been seen as a joke. GenXers are not trusting of institutions, by and large, to do right by them as individuals or as a generation and, therefore, do not put a lot of faith in democracy and governments to solve problems. Nor would GenXers compete in Boomer turf to gain voice at that phase of life. Boomers were simply too culturally dominant then, both by phase of life and certainty that their values were more relevant and needing to be heard.

In the past 25 years, Millennials were the primary gen in childhood and have been “nurtured with increasing protection by pessimistic adults in an insecure environment.” Millennials in childhood have grown up believing that government is good. All they have to do is turn on the news to hear campaigning politicians proclaim that they are a more child-friendly candidate than their opponent. In their childhood years they experienced a stream of increasing child-focused programs and initiatives being funded. They have no memory of Civil Rights tensions, nor of the contentiousness around the Viet Nam war-skirmish-geopoltical maneuver. They have watched their next-elder GenXers scramble and tumble through McJobs, unreliable contract work and extreme sports-behaviors-attitudes that are a bit too edgy for their tastes.

In the past 25 years, the Silent gen were the primary gen in elderhood. They have lived life by the rules, keeping their heads down in young adulthood, and hitting phases of life at relatively uneventful times to be the age they were. So, in their elderhood, while midlife Boomers slashed society with their moralistic rants, and GenXers rapidly transformed the culture with their take-what-you-can-and-cash-out-quickly approach, the Silent Gen helped “quicken the pace of social change, shunning the old order in favor of complexity and sensitivity.”

OK, “so what,” you might be saying. Well, generations move through time, which is why unless someone is pinging to the archetypes, years and definitions of Strauss and Howe, they are really talking about “demographics” and not “generations.” But I digress. OK, so time has moved along. We are not 25 years back, but 25 years forward. Let’s look at each of these generations and their impact on “civility in democracy.”

Today, Boomers are moving into elderhood where they “push to resolve ever-deepening moral choices, setting the stage for the secular goals of the young.” In other words, Boomers (will) finally have a moment of realizing as a generation that they are the elders and that their legacy as generation is perilously close to being abysmal. And Boomers are about their moral legacy, so this dawning sense that their moralistic rants and red-state-blue-state politics are putting in peril not just the nation, not just the rising generation of young adulthoods (their beloved Millennials), but their l-e-g-a-c-y, as well … this is the wake-up call for Boomers to self-correct and align in a more civil, go-forward direction that is — while not-less-moral — less polarizing. Or perhaps I should say, the Boomers who wish to have their voices included in the coming dialogue about where our nation is going will do so. Those who continue to polarize will be marginalized, which will be a system-shocker for those Boomers who’ve come to believe that polarizing is how to get attention/focus/dollars.

Today, GenXers are moving into midlife with the first POTUS of this generation currently in power. GenXers in midlife “apply toughness and resolution to defend society while safeguarding the interests of the young.” The challenge for GenXers in midlife — long at the edge, the extremes, the fringes — is to come  in to power structures, bring their capacities to solve problems without all the bantering around moral direction and vision that Boomers have done, and to force change toward fixing broken systems, businesses, governments and more. GenXers in young adulthood have been a cranky generation, a grunge-y generation, a leave-me-alone generation. To be included in the public conversation about what needs to be changed and how it will be done, GenXers need to release much of their crankiness and instead lead and make things happen.

Today, Millennials are moving into young adulthood with a trust of government, institutions and corporations do not only do right by them, but do right by their generation, and — by their thinking and the cycle of generations — do right by the nation. Millennials in young adulthood “challenge the political failure of elder-led crusades, fueling a society-wide secular crisis.” Millennials don’t understand (don’t have any personal experience with) moralistic, values-based battles to which many Boomers still cling. Millennials don’t understand GenXers’ crankiness, as they have received the opposite treatment as GenXers got in childhood; they were precious to adults, while GenXers were forgotten. They are being exalted and talked about and supported while they are moving into young adulthood and new careers, while GenXers were met with temp jobs, contract work and a “no vacancy” job market in their young adulthood. More to the point, Millennials like team work. They are bright-eyed and upbeat. They believe their generation to be very capable of solving large-scale problems and don’t need experience to prove this: they already know it to be true about themselves and their generation. Heck, they’ve been getting awards, gold stars and adulation since they’ve been in kindergarten! In other words, Millennials don’t understand Boomers’ nastiness and GenXers’ crankiness. (Was I just cranky in my explanation here?)

Now, are generations the only influence making “civility and democracy” a timely issue? No, of course not. But generational theory does provide some clues as to why “civility” is becoming a more a desired and important value at this point and time. It is time to be civil once again in democracy and politics. Or at least for civility to start to have a stronger toehold in the conversations. Nobody except Boomers cares about Boomer values wars anymore, and, I’d add, some Boomers are growing tired of the same-ol-same-ol from their generation. Nobody cares about GenX crankiness anymore, except equally cranky GenXers. And Millennials are showing up in jobs, in politics, in communities and in organizations, believing that life and work and community and governance can all be balanced and good. It won’t change overnight, for sure, but — and perhaps — a bit more civility will get us there faster.

Rock on.

Banana – Sorghum Syrup – Almond Smoothie

Sorghum syrup from Rebecca’s Garden in Columbia, Md.

Making a smoothie for me is honing the art of my intuitive voice. The smoothies I make develop as each ingredient “comes to me,” to speak in such language. Good smoothies are the ones where I listen to my intuitive voice. The horrible ones — and, mercy, I have had some of those — are the ones where I think my way to the result. So, without further ado (and, yes, I had to look up the spelling of “ado”), here is today’s smoothie –

Banana – Sorghum Syrup – Almond Smoothie

• 1/2 c soaked almonds and hazlenuts (couldn’t get my eyes off of them)
• 1 Tbsp sorghum syrup
• 1 banana
• A couple shakes of cinnamon
• A super-small pinch of nutmeg (because a little nutmeg goes a long way)
• A pinch of salt
• Ice, because the coldness of smoothies makes them more drink-like and less gloop-like
• Water, to spread the taste out over a larger area

I pureed the ingredients in my beloved Vitamix and … voilà: A banana – sorghum syrup – almond smoothie!

Here’s what I like about it: the sorghum syrup (which is really sweet) finds a landing place with the banana. (I find bananas rather bland and too banana-y. I don’t really like bananas except in smoothies.) The soaked almonds and hazelnuts add depth, richness and fat, as nuts do. The cinnamon is layered with the nutmeg for a slightly complex flavor that neither overpowers nor underwhelms. And the salt, of course, punches the flavors. It makes flavors a bit more sophisticated, I think. Overall, it’s somehow almost a milky flavor-texture without having any actual dairy ingredients.

Murderous dreams

Many years ago, I dreamed I murdered someone. It was my then-boyfriend. Or maybe he was my recently X-boyfriend. Or X-turned-now-turned-X-again boyfriend. In any case, I murdered him in my dreams. It was a horrible dream. I woke with that fuzzy did-I-really-do-that—-oooh-phew-thank-goodness-it-was-just-a-dream feeling.

But this morning was different. Oh, I dreamt of murder all right. Cold, calculated murder. Mass murder. And I delighted in my murderous activities. See, last night in one of my dreams, I was vacuuming when I saw these stink bugs on the floor. At first I avoided them with the vacuum, thinking I’d scoop them up, as I usually do IRL, in my handy stinkbug collecting jar and then put them outside. But something came over me in my dream, and instead I became predatory. I watched my target, calculated how to approach them without causing them to fly away and disperse, and then I used my weapon on them. Turns out, my vacuum cleaner had a sort of electrocuting-fry-them sort of device wherein I could zing them to death. My vacuum cleaner glowed a reddish sort of glow when electrocuting the stinkbugs, then after the bugs were murdered, the machine would suck them into the vacuum bag. And, I’d then repeat my actions on the next round of bugs.

I woke up this morning with no regretful feelings about my murderous dreams. As well, I discovered through a note that a very bug-oriented friend wrote on my Facebook wall that the stink bugs I’d believed to be carnivorous, and therefore at least slightly redeeming, were, unfortunately, herbivorous.

So, it turns out my dreams and my IRL world may indeed match. No more Mrs. Nice Guy for me. No more releasing them back into the wilds of suburbia. No, into the jar, and there they will stay until death does them part.

Stinkbugs, image from the hoco360.com website

Millennials: an “I want to help” generation?

I’m reading Millennials in the Workplace by Neil Howe, my generational theory super-hero. His latest book, produced with the help of Millennial super-star Reena Nadler is, imo, a must-read for anyone who gives a hoot about HR, workplace issues and general cultural shifts. In full disclosure, I’ve been working with Mr. Howe on some pr, branding and social engagement work in and around this book and his brand.

Any time I read any of Mr. Howe’s books, I read it slowly. I highlight the heck out each book he writes. I talk about the book with friends and colleagues. I digest it. And this book is no different. Recently, I read about how “team oriented” and helpful Millennials (born 1982-2004) are and the implications for employers. (Really. Heads up, folks. Generational cycles impact workplace issues. Heed the experts here to your own advantage and peace of mind.)

Anyway, as a GenXer and one who has been watching the media frenzy and giddiness around Millennials and whatever phase of life they’re in, I’m reminded that when talking about any generation, it’s most informative not to look at a generation as isolated and separate, but as part of a constellation of generations all moving through life phases, with each of the four generational archetypes influencing and being influenced by each other.

So, come with me here as I look at this view of “team oriented” and “helpful” Millennials. How true are the claims that Millennials are more helpful? More likely to feel their career choice or company mission or volunteer work needs to help the community, help others and have a positive impact on society as a whole? Well, when surveys ask that question, guess what? Survey results demonstrate really high stats that show Millennials are much more oriented toward such goals. Not too surprising there.

But what if the survey question looked more like this:

Are you willing to tackle a messy, disastrous project, by yourself – perhaps with the help of some online friends you’ll never meet in person — and to do endless hours of work, never get credit, never see the limelight and never be personally acknowledged for your efforts (except and perhaps by a handful of others doing the same work who will, by the way, also get no credit)?

Hmmm, I don’t think many Millennials would check that box on the survey. But this is exactly what hundreds of thousands of GenXers did in their young adulthood years. What about this question?

Are you willing to tackle a project for which you have no guarantee of success but with the slight chance that others behind you (businesses, nonprofit organizations, governments and individuals) will benefit? Can you do this knowing your effort may help others not have to deal with the horrible  tech tools, software, unusable manuals and unresponsive help desks at hundreds of companies across the country and globe? (Remember: no credit, no limelight, no tuition reimbursement, no Volunteer America website acknowledgement, no awards, no shining smiling adult faces looking at you and praising your value)?

What do you think? Do you believe Millennials would score high as “helpful” on this kind of question? I don’t think so. And yet, this is exactly what the GenX generation has done, mostly on their own dime and time. But this GenX effort and time will never be recognized in surveys as being “helpful,” mainly because GenXers didn’t do such activities to get recognition but to do — as GenXers (the Nomad archetype) do — what needs to be done, regardless of or in spite of the obstacles, blocked pathways and unwillingness of those who created the problems (older generations) to recognize the complexity of the mess they’ve allowed to be created.

So, back to Millennials in the Workplace, the surveys that show them to be ever-so-statistically higher in a helper orientation and, by result, interested in jobs and careers with a obvious helper role: this is really important information to know, understand and apply. Read Mr Howe’s book! And it’s true. They are — as a whole — much brighter in their optimism, desire for collegial work experiences, belief in themselves and their generation to “be helpful.” I offer that while acknowledging this as true, my own generation has helped in a way that is equally significant, just not the type of work that will lead to ceremonies, acknowledgement or recognition.

GenXers do what needs to be done because it needs to be done.

Millennials help and get involved because they see and experience themselves as trusting of institutions, team oriented and helpful.

It’s all good. And it’s all part of the mix.

If this is their best, I can’t wait til they have competition

Back in the early ol’ days of my blogging, one of my first-ever posts was about the astounding lack of detailed information in PayPal transactions. This evening, I’m combing through some transactions now to confirm a rebate, and I once again find myself astounded by PayPal’s lack of evolution. Come on, PayPal people. I love your service, the ease, the security, your ubiquity. You rock. Oh, except in one area where you suck: lack of data about transactions. It’s impossible to tell to whom a payment was made. The description is not a human-readable description and something that might — gasp — serve their customers, but some yackety-yack-yack data that serves your company.

Evolve or perish.

All kinds of critters, countries and businesses lay dead and forgotten as proof.

Imo, PayPal, you’re not far behind if you can’t step up your game.

PayPal's lack of detailed information in transactions is abominal. imo.

And here’s the useless data that shows up on my bank account –

Please, PayPal, evolve. For the most part, I really like being your customer, and I’ve been your customer for years. But I need data. And I’m dependent on you providing it. Or I’ll have to go somewhere else. And that would be sad. For you.

Blueberry, Mulberry, Banana Smoothie

Mulberry

The vibe to make a smoothie occurred this morning. So I heeded it. This is what came about and got mixed together in my lovely, favorite-ist kitchen gizmo: the Vitamix –

Blueberry, Mulberry, Banana Smoothie

• 1 c frozen blueberries
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 T mulberry syrup (from a local Turkish grocer)
• 1 tsp agave syrup
• 2/3 c plain yogurt

Whirrr. Whirrr. Whirr. Yum.

Note: Mulberry syrup is a bit molasses-y and tastes faintly of raisins, to me. It needed something to mellow it, so I added the yogurt at the end.

Photo via thingsthatfizz.blogspot.com

SEO tactics from a non-expert … and generational influences

I had a conversation with a client re SEO the other day. Here are some notes — in a very note-like form — that came out of this conversation. It’s messy writing, messy formatting and messy organization of thoughts. Scan it if you want to. Scroll down to the last paragraph for the generational take on things. Never one to miss such an opportunity. Oh, and no, I’m not practicing what I preach in this blog post. Just getting notes up and out into the public.

Cautions and tips on engaging SEO:
- Question the belief that strong SEO equates an increase in sales before embarking on an SEO project
- You  can never “win” the SEO war (there will always be someone else, perhaps in a different market, who utilizes same keywords and is more geeky)
- Currency and popularity of content are now trumping some older, established content in search engine order. In other words: prior definitions of SEO tactics are shifting. New methods and strategies abound.

Approaching SEO in 2010:

- PR efforts are a part of SEO

- increased incoming links to our content increases our credibility in SEO algorithms

- Take a pulse of the company’s SEO standing vis-a-vis keywords first – Project.
- search on google, yahoo and msn, using  selected keywords

- find where we are now

- find who is there if we aren’t there

- Best area for us to focus SEO is content creation: blogs, blogs, blogs!
- Search engines love:

• • blogs
  • blog headlines
  • content tags
  • photo file names
  • captions and tiles accompanying photos
  • first sentences in blogs
  • and links to legitimate (established) sites on keywords, e.g. link to a Wikipedia article on the word “xyz” in your first sentence or two of a blog for good Google juice.

Specifically and conscientiously put keywords in these areas in the list above
- repeat keywords in the content
- name (with keywords) and upload photos to accompany content
- tag content – when posting blogs use tag tool to tag the content with appropriate keywords

Plus the tip I emailed you yesterday …

From Jessie

This is really helpful, (person)! Thanks for the conversation and for wrapping up the notes. I made some tweaks (above) and will add this perspective to the conversation: I’m not an SEO expert and yet I have astounding successes with search results on terms that my blog should never rank in any meaningful way. And yet I do. Again and again. And again.

Yes, your company can embark on SEO work vis-a-vis your website, but you’ll never win that war. Instead, focus on your blog (which is on your website’s URL – yay) and on learning how to use each blog post for increasing your Google juice. Learn how to use your blog for SEO juice; use your blog intelligently, wisely and completely.

And, don’t stress the SEO conversation. Here’s why:

1. You’ll never win the SEO battle.
2. You have phenomenal brand ownership of your name on line and presence inside of (subject matter expertise area).
3. Your big picture goal should include getting your community to talk about you and link to your content more.

Here’s my generational take on this
Be wary of intentions to control (web) territory and squat on turf (Boomer mentality). Be wary of Millennial desire to do things that are successful, good and praiseworthy. The energy now is in social capital. Getting social capital requires being detailed, down in the dirt, real, engaged and personal. GenXers (the primary force in marketing, media and communications) want to know and meet their adversaries one on one, right? So, to do they with their information sources. Get personal. More juice there now. When Millennials are in midlife, this will change, but that’s 15 years down the road. But for now, if you want to be successful, you gotta work within GenX energy around sharing of info, and it means getting personal and real.

my2cents – from the front line

Checklist for Success: using social media for parties

A fan am I of The Checklist Manifesto. It motivated me to write down the activities I’ve been doing for a (sorta) monthly party I co-host. And the information, I do believe, is helpful for individuals, orgs and businesses as they plan events in today’s option-rich communication environment. Here is the checklist I follow for integrating social media into the local hocoblogs blogtail parties.

Checklist for Success

hocoblogs Blogtail Parties
Logistics, Communications and Engagement

Venue
Secure a cohost.
Select a date.
Select a venue.
Introduce self, explain the blogtail party to the restaurant manager.
Check with restaurant manager to confirm a clear event date and time.
Send the manager the link to the wrap-up doc for our Pure Wine event. http://scr.bi/8YfYcg and the eventbrite.com invitation link.
Get the restaurant’s twitter handle, if it exists. And the website address.
Find out if the restaurant is actively managing its foursquare account.
Encourage the restaurant to do something special for the bloggers at the party.

Invitation
Create the eventbrite registration.
Create a hashtag for the event, or just use #hocoblogs.
Find and include links to Howchow posts about the place, the foursquare URL, Hocoloco-girl post, and other blogger reviews of the restaurant.
Email the invitation to all registered bloggers on hocoblogs.com via Akubo.net.

Communication
Write an event announcement and send it to The Columbia Flier calendar section.
Tweet the event on @hocoblogs.
Post the event on my Facebook page, published to my Hoco list.
Blog about it on Hometown-Columbia.com.
Ask the bloggers to share the news of the party in their networks and on their blogs, where relevant.
Create a Facebook note (but not an event) and tag bloggers in it.

Day of the event
Tweet it.
Post it on Facebook.

On-site
Encourage tweets, photos, foursquare and Gowalla check-ins.
Use hashtags, links and @ to recognize people, places and things.

After the event
Get links to local bloggers who wrote about the event, pre or post.
Take a screen capture of tweets with hashtags.
Take a screen capture of Foursquare checkins.
Create a wrap-up document.
Send the wrap-up doc to restaurant manager.
Post the wrap-up doc on Scribd.com.
Send wrap-up doc link to bloggers via Akubo.net service. Remind the bloggers that as individuals and as a community, we rock.