What we need is more giving and less getting

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jay Morris

Watching President Obama deliver his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, I thought of another young, charismatic president, John F. Kennedy, and his inaugural address 51 years ago.

There are many notable quotes from Kennedy’s speech, but the one that has stuck in my mind lately is the oft-repeated: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

I agree with Kennedy that you shouldn’t depend on government to do what you can do for yourself. That’s especially resonated with me as I’ve transitioned from a full-time employee with good benefits to a self-employed consultant with no benefits. It’s easy to get into an entitlement frame of mind (“why should I have to pay for my own health insurance?”), but really the only thing the government owes me is an opportunity to get up every morning and work like everyone else.

The second part of the quote is meant to be a call to service, and it spawned a generation of volunteers to work in the Kennedy-inspired Peace Corps and VISTA programs.

In many ways, Kennedy’s famous request to “give back” foreshadows the “servant leadership” thinking introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf a decade later and popularized by Stephen Covey and others. It’s the time-tested truism that it’s better to give than to get and that by serving you are practicing enlightened leadership.

Along the same lines, Marc Cenedella, the CEO of The Ladders, wrote a column recently in which he suggested that job interviewers ask their future boss, “How do I help you get a gold star on your review next year?”

As Cenedella explains, “the interview process lends itself to our becoming self-absorbed and talking only about ourselves.

“Working together and being a good addition to the team means being concerned with how you are making the team successful,” he writes. “And that means being concerned with how much you are helping to make your boss successful.”

Asking how you can help your future boss “shows that you have empathy,” he continues. “It shows that you are not just a self-absorbed ‘what’s in it for me’ kind of person. And it shows that you know you are there to ‘give’ as much as you are there to ‘get.’”

History buffs will remember that the poet Robert Frost, then 87 at the time, recited his poem “The Gift Outright” at Kennedy’s inauguration. The poem describes the history of our land, noting that the American colonists had to give themselves “outright” to become an independent nation. Until the colonists were willing to give themselves completely to their new land and accept the sacrifices that meant (such as war with England), the land would not be America’s to possess.

When you recognize that most of what we get in life is the result of sacrifice and giving, you begin to see the wisdom of Kennedy’s words. I’m not trying to be partisan, but I wish there was an equally memorable takeaway from President Obama’s speech.

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Seriously, it’s okay to promote yourself

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Jay Morris

For most of my career, I’ve been a “PR guy.” It’s been my job to make my bosses look good. In Washington, there are a lot of folks like me working diligently behind the scenes to make some pretty important people look, well, important. Even to the point where you sometimes wonder if you have a personality of your own since all of your energy is spent on packaging “the talent” and staying out of the limelight yourself.

Now take a PR guy who may be phenomenal at getting press for his boss or client and transplant him into an environment where he has to promote himself—as in starting a PR firm. It’s not an easy transition because the dirty little secret about PR people is that they are lousy at marketing themselves.

Earlier this month, the Independent Public Relations Alliance addressed this very issue with a session on “indie” branding. IPRA is an organization for people who have started their own PR practice. IPRA members network and share resources, and I’m finding it’s a great group for newcomers like me.

At January’s IPRA luncheon, Amanda Miller Littlejohn, founder of Mopwater Social PR, provided some tips for promoting yourself that apply to just about anyone who wants to stand out in the crowded and perplexing space we all must vie in for recognition. I’m referring to the deluge of web and social media tools that everyone is trying desperately to keep up with but hardly anyone really understands.

Littlejohn’s experience is similar to many who gravitate to PR from journalism. A former City Paper reporter, she started her own firm a few years ago and is now helping clients brand themselves better through social media.

Her suggestions may not seem particularly earth-shattering, but in following them she has become quite adept at promoting herself, especially through her blog and speaking engagements. So she definitely practices what she preaches. Among her recommendations:

  • Become your #1 client.
  • Project professionalism in every way.
  • Embrace the spotlight.
  • Position yourself as a problem-solver.
  • Get niched! Don’t be afraid to exploit your specialty.
  • Brand yourself by blogging, speaking at conferences and attending trade events.

Perhaps her best, most practical advice is to spend just two hours a week branding yourself, whether that is updating your LinkedIn profile, writing a blog post or networking at professional meetings. Hmm, update my LinkeIn profile, now there’s a novel idea. My profile is about as dusty as the IBM typewriter I used to write it.

As she noted, “You can’t afford not to brand yourself.” So true!

A new blog in town

Anthony Demangone, a former colleague at the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, has a new blog called Musings from the CU Suite that is devoted to management issues from a credit union perspective.

Anthony is a great blogger and already has hundreds of readers, so I am envious. I highly recommend you take a peak!

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The ups and downs of a solo career

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Jay Morris

Flying solo can have its moments of doubt and despair, as in, “What the heck was I thinking when I decided to start my own firm? Who’s going to pay the mortgage?”

But, luckily, there can also be moments of happiness and sheer delight when you accomplish a task, land a client or otherwise make a dent in your business plan (which, hmm, I still have to complete).

My business cards have arrived!

Two projects I’ve been working on have come to a happy conclusion at about the same time—getting business cards printed and building a website.

A few days ago I received by UPS my first box of business cards for JMC. The cards had been beautifully designed by Andi Harris of Spectrum Creative (thanks, Andi!), but seeing Andi’s design printed for the first time rather than displayed on my computer screen as a PDF was definitely a “thumbs-up” experience. The design was just as clean and crisp as I had hoped for.

Business cards are perhaps a small thing in the larger scheme of startup tasks, but for me it was a symbolic and psychological achievement. Those cards said, “I have a name, I have credentials, I have an identity!” Now at meetings and networking events, I could leave a card rather than make excuses about “just getting started.”

A website, in a way, is a larger calling card. It, too, says who you are, what you do and, hopefully, conveys a sense of personality. While I plan to add more to the JMC website, I’m very pleased with the way it turned out and not at all afraid to have it “out there” on the Internet for all to see.

As with any endeavor, it is good to build in little “victories” along the way. They create momentum and instill confidence that you really can succeed.

The JMC website in all its glory.

My two victories were also learning experiences. I learned that compromises are an inevitable part of the startup process. Since I have given myself a really tight budget for establishing JMC, I decided to print my business cards through Vistaprint, an inexpensive online printer. Sure, the cards arrived promptly and were dirt cheap, but I think I would have been happier with a regular printer.

Building my website has been a great learning experience, too, as I continue to gain confidence with web tools. I again used the WordPress platform (which this blog is built on) but upgraded to a “premium” theme designed by StudioPress. I also am self-hosting the site through HostGator, so I’ve had to learn how to access the server, upload files and tinker (sometimes disastrously) with the style sheets. The other day I managed to crash my whole website with just one inadvertent change to a PHP file. Thankfully, I was able to restore the site on my own.

While I am happy with the StudioPress theme I’ve chosen, I have learned there are limitations to what it can do. Down the road, either I will need to learn more code or hire a real web developer. But for now I am happy with the beginnings of jmcomllc.com.

Building a website from scratch is no mean feat. It’s not like you’re improving an existing site or simply updating pages. You are creating out of whole cloth something entirely new. And that’s pretty cool. Definitely one of the pluses of flying solo!

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WWSJD (What Would Steve Jobs Do)?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Jay Morris

I’ve been reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, which describes the late Apple CEO’s obsession with branding, product design and customer experience. One aspect of his personality that I can relate to was his penchant for details and perfection.

I recently had to make a decision on business cards for my new PR venture, and I was going back and forth on designs—fixating on the placement of the address and logo, the colors and the style and size of the font. Finally, I thought, “What would Steve Jobs do?” I instantly knew which designs he would have liked since his mantra was “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

It was funny how just thinking “WWSJD” cleared a mental logjam!

While Jobs was surely mercurial and a tyrant to work for, it is clear from Isaacson’s biography that he had an amazingly clear and focused vision of where he wanted to take Apple Computer. And there is a part of that vision we can emulate in our own businesses and careers.

According to Isaacson, here are the three marketing principles that Apple adopted early on and has strived to follow ever since:

1) Empathy – “We will truly understand [our customer’s] needs better than any other company.”

2) Focus – “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.”

3) Impute – “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software, etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.”

As Isaacson notes, Jobs focused “on a handful of core products, and he would care, sometimes obsessively, about marketing and image and even the details of packaging.” He quotes Jobs as saying, “When you open the box of an iPhone or iPad, we want that tactile experience to set the tone for how you perceive the product.”

I still have in my garage the Macintosh Performa 575 I bought in 1994. (Would you believe it had 5MB of RAM and a 250MB hard drive?) I remember opening the box and setting it up, just as I remember later opening the box to my first iMac, iBook G4 and iPod. I don’t think there is any other consumer product that I’ve opened with such anticipation. Sure, I’m a Mac fan, but you don’t have to be one to appreciate the beauty of these products, which starts with the packaging and carries through to the look, feel and functionality of the devices and the experience of using them.

And even though you might not have liked Jobs, you have to grant that he had a remarkable knack for stylishly and playfully reinventing the way we access information, listen to music and communicate with each other.

What I take from my own Apple experiences and reading about Jobs’ life is that form matters as much as functionality, but it matters most when it conveys something unique, inviting and fun. Sometimes I will walk into an Apple Store and play with an iMac or iPod, even though I already own one. Now, why would I do that? Because they are so cool!

Think about the Apple experience versus the experience your customers have with your products and services. Or the way you are perceived as a professional—your personal brand and image. If there isn’t that same pleasing, inviting experience, maybe it’s time you did something about it.

Photo of Steve Jobs by Matt Yohe
Photo of Macintosh Performa 575 by apple-history.com
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Practice makes (nearly) perfect

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Jay Morris

Many years ago when I was a young, budding writer (or so I thought), I received quite a blow to my tender ego from the esteemed scholar and critic E.D. Hirsch Jr.

I was at the University of Virginia and taking a course he taught on literary criticism. I remember getting a C- on my midterm essay and being irritated that there was no explanation as to why I received a less-than-stellar grade.

Remember those dreaded blue books?

When I asked if he could give me some feedback, he reviewed my work and wrote: “After rereading this, I’ve come to think that your thinking is (maybe) sounder than your writing—that you did not convey what you understood because your writing is unpracticed.”

Never mind that at the time I was the editorial page editor of The Cavalier Daily, U.Va.’s student newspaper, and had received A’s in other English classes.

But I took to heart what Hirsch said for two reasons: He had an incredible mind (later he wrote the best-selling Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know), and so I respected his opinion. More importantly, he was right—my writing was not as careful as it should have been. So I decided to make an effort to write with more clarity and exactness. I stripped my writing down to the most basic nouns and verbs, and practiced writing in a simpler, more lucid style.

That may sound a little silly, but I have often thought that we do not practice some of the most essential and important activities in our lives: writing, speaking, parenting, personal relationships and career choices, to name a few.

We understand the need to practice jump shots if we want to be a good basketball player or play scales if we want to be a good musician. But in other aspects of our lives, we simply say, “That’s just the way I am.”

I once tried to coach a CEO to speak better in public. He went through one training session I arranged and then declared, “No more.” He was done with me trying to change him and promptly went back to his old, peripatetic style of speaking.

If you are truly a “lifelong learner,” as many people claim to be, doesn’t that apply to all parts of your life?

And if the answer is “yes,” what about in business? In my career, I’ve worked for 10 CEOs and numerous chairmen and board members. I can probably count on one hand the ones who were extraordinary leaders. I would attribute their success, in large part, to years of practice and a good dose of humility.

I recognize that it is not easy to change old habits, run a business or lead and motivate people. But practice does make a difference. And when I say “practice,” I mean more than mere repetition. It’s the willingness to experiment and try new things to get to your goal, the wisdom to recognize when change is necessary and the humility to acknowledge that you are not as good as you think you are.

In the new year, I plan to practice listening, understanding and relating in my personal life, and assertiveness and follow-through in my professional life. That’s my New Year’s Resolution.

final exam

By the way, there was a happy ending to my semester with E.D. Hirsch. On my final exam, he wrote “this is a sound job” and gave me a B+. I’ve kept that, along with my “unpracticed” midterm, as a reminder that practice makes (nearly) perfect.

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4-year-olds and SMART goals

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Jay Morris

Art Linkletter was right: “Kids say the darndest things.” Reflecting on time spent recently with Miss Kylie, a 4-year-old who often visits us, I have come to realize that toddlers also have much to teach adults about SMART goals.

SMART is the goal-setting acronym first introduced to the business world in 1981 by George T. Doran in his Management Review article, “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.” While it was originally touted as a project management tool, it’s since been widely applied to all types of goal setting—from personal and career goals to financial and health goals.

Once you become familiar with each of the letters in SMART, it’s pretty easy to see how it applies to goal setting:

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Achievable
• R – Realistic (or Relevant)
• T – Time-bound

I would say planning activities for a 4-year-old definitely puts the SMART concept to the test!

kids

SMART goals and kids go together like peanut butter and jelly.

With Kylie, it’s best to define early in the day what our specific, measurable goals will be. It’s not enough to say, “We are going to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.” You need to add that we will be seeing dinosaurs and bugs. And noting that we’re taking the Metro is a huge bonus. The specific, end goal needs to be clarified and frequently repeated during the process. The goal has to be clearly understood, and there definitely has to be buy-in!

Achievable and realistic are an understatement when it comes to 4-year-olds. You quickly learn that there is no bigger disappointment than an unachieved goal. One activity—like buying and decorating a Christmas tree—is about all you can fit into a single day, what with naps, books and videos.

Time-bound, you bet. Four-year-old time is not the same as adult time. But how often have you set a goal and found as you pursued it, you were wildly unrealistic in your expectations? Even professionals and respected companies fail to deliver products and services on time. In the business world, it gets called cost overruns; for 4-year-olds, it’s called “When are we going to get there?” Either way, the client or child is not a happy camper.

When it comes to setting personal goals, I often get stuck on “should” versus “want” goals. Several years ago, I was convinced I had to join a gym to get in shape. I visited local gyms and was close to signing up for a membership. But friends who knew me well told me I would be wasting my money. How often would I really go? Finally, someone reminded me that one of the things I enjoy doing is hiking, so why not do that? So I joined a hiking club instead and was much happier.

Obviously you have to be committed to your goals, but not every goal can be fun or exactly what you want. However, the more you can “own” a goal, the more likely you are to achieve it. And as a manager and leader, the more you can demonstrate that your goals support your organization’s vision and will result in tangible benefits for your team, the better your chances are of actually realizing those goals.

Achieving a goal, no matter how small, results in great satisfaction. Making the life of a 4-year-old a bit brighter is its own reward. By applying SMART techniques, the chances for success are dramatically improved!

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Put in-person socializing on your to-do list

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Jay Morris

FastCompany.com ran a piece yesterday by freelance writer Kevin Purdy entitled “Why In-Person Socializing is a Mandatory To-Do Item” that underscores many of the points I’ve made in previous posts here at Wayward Journey on the importance of community and group interaction.

Purdy cites the work of sociologist Ray Oldenburg and the need for a “third place” that is not your home or your office.

The Third Place is a concept of Ray Oldenburg, urban sociologist and author of The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. The First Place is your home, and the Second Place is your office. You have assigned roles and tasks at each place, and you know nearly all the people in each. The Third Place is where you meet with people you don’t know that well, or maybe at all, and you exchange ideas, learn about other people, and, as Oldenburg sees it, enrich society and yourself.

two people talkingPurdy also suggests that in-person interaction is key to testing out new ideas, learning to argue your case and fostering collaboration. He notes, as I have witnessed as a trade association executive, that attendance at conferences and meetings has not declined as much as expected in the digital age despite more and more people being online. In fact, as human beings we need, and thrive on, face-to-face, in-person communication.

As Purdy concludes,

In other words, humans have evolved over many, many years to be very efficient at working with, arguing with, and talking over ideas and pursuits with people, face-to-face. Social networking tools and remote technology is nowhere near as efficient (yet). So grab your calendar and add “Talk to humans” to this week’s task list.

I couldn’t agree more and would add that in-person interaction is especially critical for career-changers and budding entrepreneurs. While much of the exploration and work you do is solitary, do not neglect the social side of your life!

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Accountability groups, success circles and self-discipline

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Jay Morris

No doubt about it, the possibilities for success in this country are limitless. There’s boundless potential. The sky’s the limit…and all you have to do is go out there and get it.

Accountability and mutual supportOh, if it were that easy. At some point, my friends, those big dreams need to be lassoed, brought down to earth and turned into concrete realities.

Over the last two months, I’ve been recharging and retooling, busying myself with the details of establishing an independent PR firm, and exploring various opportunities. And, yet, what do I have to show for it?

Well, I have this blog and the beginnings of a new website. I have had the pleasure of many fine lunches, breakfasts, coffee breaks and conversations with some incredibly creative and supportive people. I’ve done a lot of reading. I’ve had meetings, stepped up my networking, chased down leads and done a lot of volunteer work. And in fairness to myself, I have completed one assignment, been asked to do a second one and have been considered for a larger, long-term project. And in between all that I’ve taken a vacation, had a hernia operation (ouch), been elected to the PRSA Board and fixed up my house.

Maybe I shouldn’t be beating myself up, but in some ways I feel I have hit a brick wall already in my new life as an independent PR guy.

So what do you do when you hit a wall? Perhaps you seek the support of others facing similar challenges. If you’re like me, you probably need a stiff kick in the pants to get you going.

Enter accountability groups, success circles and, yes, a more disciplined approach to life and work.

Small groupWhile it’s good to compare notes with colleagues at meetings or chat with them on the phone, it’s only when you commit to being part of a small group that meets regularly and is committed to pushing its members to perform at their maximum that you begin to see some serious results.

When you mutually agree to help each other set goals, offer encouragement and hold one another accountable, you’d be surprised what you can accomplish. Especially when it’s your peers urging you to excel in an environment that is honest, forthright and results-oriented.

The best accountability partners and success circles are ones that don’t let you get away with slacking off. They drive you to perform at your best.

I have to confess, for years I have resisted joining or starting such a group, preferring instead to rely on myself and friends to help push me forward. But lately, I see that even highly motivated individuals need structure, coaching and accountability.

So getting yourself plugged into a small group might just be what the doctor ordered to take you to a higher level of productivity. That coupled with what I would call good, old-fashioned discipline.

7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleThere just aren’t any substitutes for self-discipline. I’m not sure you can teach it or learn it from a book, although there are many good resources to help people refine and improve their work and productivity skills and their overall effectiveness. While it’s getting dated, I still think Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the best all-around “self-improvement” books out there.

What do you do when you’ve hit a wall? I’d be interested in your comments.

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Black Friday, business plans and the homeless

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Jay Morris

As I write this, the stock market is going crazy, buoyed by news that this weekend’s Black Friday retail sales increased 16 percent to reach a record $52 billion. I also am writing this post somewhat groggily, having stayed up all night to help with a hypothermia program for the homeless at Annandale United Methodist Church.

I could easily use this space to contrast our area’s homeless population with the affluence of Fairfax County where I live, or to juxtapose the start of our annual Christmas shopping frenzy with the fact that our nation’s poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent last year, the highest level since 1993. Last night, in fact, 60 Minutes did a heartbreaking piece on homeless children in central Florida.

But this post, ironically, is about the importance of business plans—turning your dreams and visions into a concrete reality.

One thing I have learned over the last three years of volunteering at homeless shelters and assisting with the work of groups like FACETS is that while the homeless may be down on their luck, they still have ambitions and dreams. They are not bums, low-life or any of the other derogatory stereotypes you often hear applied to them. This morning, when the group of about 35 men and women left Annandale UMC, over half the ones I talked to were headed to work. Imagine spending the night in a church basement, sleeping on the floor, and then getting up early the next morning to go to work without the comfort of a warm shower. Now you know what some of our homeless neighbors are up against.

One man I met last night, I’ll call him John, wants to start a bicycle shop. He’s spent years fixing up discarded bikes he finds in dumpsters. He has the experience and skills to tune up and repair bikes. And John says he already has a large clientele, people he’s given or sold bikes to over the years.

But what we also learned last night is that John doesn’t have a business plan. He has a notion that he could make a go of it if he were given a chance, but he hasn’t worked out the details of what that would look like. As I talked to John and listened to one of my AUMC friends counsel him on small business resources he might consider, I realized I had a lot to learn from his circumstances.

I may have one advantage over John: I have the financial resources to start my own PR business. But I don’t have a fully developed business plan. I know what services I can provide and how to pitch potential clients, but I don’t have a full-blown marketing plan, nor have I tried to forecast potential sales or growth.

I realized last night that I need to get serious about the planning part of my new endeavor. I also discovered in John a passion for his dream that I have to wonder if I possess. You could see in his body language that he really wants this. He’s willing to do the work and make the sacrifices to be successful. The lengths that he is willing to go in order to make his dream a reality were really quite touching.

I was reading a column on leadership the other day by John Baldoni about the importance of having both passion and compassion in our work. It’s a great reminder, particularly in this season of giving and receiving, that good leaders are both passionate and compassionate.

As Baldoni notes, striking a balance is the key: “Passion gets you up in the morning; it is the fuel that drives you to immerse yourself in your work and deliver results. Compassion is what you extend to others; it is the manifestation of caring and concern. Though these two concepts may not get equal time in the discussion of leadership, they are equally important.”

I would add that it’s important to turn your passion and compassion into reality through careful planning and execution. What I like so much about the mission work I do at AUMC is that we put into practice what we believe. Put bluntly by Baldoni: “It’s no good being compassionate if you never do anything for anyone.”

Put another way: If you don’t have a plan for what you want to do, it may never happen.

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