Turn the T.V. on to A&E. Around this time in the morning a lot of home improvement shows come, including one of my favorites, Flip This House. We recently started watching this show and become instantly hooked. I love watching the DiY, home improvement and design shows. My wife enjoys watch for ideas to do in our own house. I also enjoy it for that reason but more so for a completely non-house-flipping standpoint.

Flip This House features a variety of different house flipping and investment gurus. Among them is Armando Montelongo, a San Antonio flipper who now also sells books & DVDs teaching people how to “get rich” flipping houses. Armando is loud, hot-tempered and has a no-BS approach to flipping houses. I love it.

My career has taken me from college dreamer, waiting tables and hosting karaoke shows, to web developer & wedding photographer to my current role as project manager for one of Houston’s largest B2B Internet Marketing agencies. I can truly say I’ve sat on both sides of the desk. I’ve lived through the designs-by-committee and the misdirections of the un-knowledgeable (I think I just made up a word). Now I’m managing time-lines, expectations, cupcake consumption and project scopes. Not so much the cupcake consumption, but one can dream.

So what does one have to do with the other, you might ask. Well, I’m glad you did ask, otherwise this next part will be a moot point.

When I’m watching shows like Flip This House, one key element speaks to me. Project Management. Being a project manager for flipping houses or any type of project carries with it a lot of inherent responsibilities. Your juggling Client expectations with internal policies, time-lines, personalities, etc.

When you’re flipping a house you set a goal to be in-and-out in X amount of days/weeks. Same thing applies with web development. A Project Manager must know when the dry-wall crew is coming so they’re not butting heads with the painters. They need to allow the painters to do their job before the tile guy gets there and the tile guy needs to be done before the floor guys do their part. It’s managing multiple layers (and personalities) so the operation runs as smoothly as possible.

It’s rarely perfect, if ever. Someone drops the ball, shows up late or does something not-to-standard; which then delays the project and you’re shifting budgets, people, time-lines and everything else in between.

The more I watch the mistakes of the contractors in these shows and how people like Armando and his Project Managers handle these situations, the better I feel about how I manage my time, our team and the Client’s expectations. They inspire me to be firm, but understanding; flexible without conceding my goals and authoritative without being “that guy” who’s unrealistic.

I can only keep trying to better myself which will then, in my hopes, inspire others around me to do the same. My desk is clean and organized – which leaves my mind and body relaxed. My computer desktop never has more than 2-5 icons on it. My folders are labeled and legible.

These small things keep me from loosing control. Control of my projects, my team and more importantly, myself. I physically touch the folders in my organizer and make mental notes on where that project is. And, if I can’t answer to myself where it is, I ensure I’ve taken the proper measures to know its status.

There are plenty of other examples; TV shows, books and movies that inspire people to whatever it is that they do. While watching another show I love, Dirty Jobs, host Mike Rowe reflected on a quote that I now see is probably over-and-missed used. “Be passionate about your job”. He responded with “bring your passion to your job”. So whatever is that inspires you, bring it to the table and use it in one way or another that helps you do your job better. Update: Check out this awesome TED talk featuring Mike Rowe.

What show(s), books, blog(s) and blogger(s) or [fill-in-the-blanks] inspire you to do your job better?

Photo by: Leeco

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Seth’s post resonates with another reason I’m pretty straight-forward nowadays. We spend too much time flowering up responses, rather then getting to the point. So as not to fall under my own example..here’s the post:

But you’re not saying anything http://bit.ly/cITXfC

Photo by: Tiagø Ribeiro

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What a refreshing, inspiring and motivating speaker he is. Straight-forward would be an understatement. I’ve yet to experience a speaker who was that ‘transparent’ and open about their success. I thoroughly enjoyed – not only the great food at the Intercontinental Hotel – Jeff’s presentation and style.

In true celebrity form, his introduction was followed up by another introduction; in video format. The 3ish minute video talked about the transformation of the Kodak brand and company itself. It was hilarious. Very well done and entertaining. Kudos Kodak!

After the into(s) Jeff started right into his presentation. What made this even better for me is that Jeff presents in a way the Kelsey Ruger is currently posting about. He presented a story, with emotions and humor and a feeling of really connecting with what he was sharing.

I jotted down some key points I took away from his storytelling/presentation. One thing that really stood out was the Kodak, a company built on capturing our memories, uses the phrase: Kodak creates emotional technology. Wow – that’s deep and so true!

Recap:

• 40% of commercial printing is touched by Kodak.
• Kodak’s online photo-hosting service has more high-resolution pictures than anyone. Anyone. He noted that if you’re using services like Flickr or some such – you might be loosing out in the end.
• Every Best Picture winner and nominee for the Academy Awards® was shot on Kodak film.
• 70% of their digital business is B2B.
• Kodak’s transformation is the largest turn-around in business history.
• Kodak has 13 products with account for 80% of their revenue. Half of which didn’t exist a year ago.
• Being trustworthy and reliable is their main focus. As should it be for other businesses.
• Quote: “A brand is a promised delivery”
• Kodak’s social media practice uses the 4 E’s: Engage • Educate • Excite • Evangelize
• When Kodak started using social media, they encountered 43% complaint traffic. It’s now down to about 7%
• Business owners/Executives need to understand social media ROI isn’t Return on Investment, rather Return on Ignoring.
• Email Tom@Kodak.com for a free copy of Kodak’s Social Media Tips. I’ll save Tom’s inbox and give you the link.
• What Kodak tries to do – and does well so far is – link the science to the soul (creating emotional technology)

Jeff, if you ever come across my humble blog. Thank you! You get it!

If you get the chance to hear Jeff speak, take it! You won’t be disappointed. Have you been to a Jeff Hayzlett presentation? What did you think?

Note: Banner image is from the Kodak website featuring screenshots of this years Oscar nominees hand-picked by the movies cinematographer’s.

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Let me say I’m rarely a fan of getting inspirational quotes from management. My belief is that quoting leaders, doesn’t make you one. And I’ve had my share of timelines being filled with endless quotes. I like to think for myself, ya know? I digress.

This morning I got the quote above from management. It hit close to home with my recent changes. Through my experiences, both professional and personal, I feel I’ve become a strong, productive plant. I think it’s a good quote.

It reminded me of something a read last night. If you follow Kelsey’s blog, he has some really good lessons on creativity, business and right now he’s doing a series on storytelling.

This is a quote from his former employer way-back-when: Smart, confident, employees make for better results all around.

The more we empower employees to learn on their own, fix their mistakes without belittling them; we’ll have people who are truly passionate about what they do and will do the work internally and externally to build the company’s reputation.

How are you treating your employees? As assets or indentured servants?

Photo by: Selkovjr

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1. Keep Moving Forward…

Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths

Felt appropriate as I close out this chapter in the book of life and move forward to the next. Changing jobs is never an easy thing to do. You leave behind the people you care about, professionally and some personally. I’ve made great friendships that I hope to carry on in my journey.

I won’t look backwards very long because you don’t win the race by looking back. New doors have opened for me. I owe so much to G-d, my family and all those who have mentored me along the way.

I’m the Chair for Houston’s largest marketing conference. Apart of some really good organizations that are and have helped me grow. As this new chapter begins, I hope to be an inspiration to my peers. A guide to those looking for more knowledge.  I used to think I had little to offer in that respect. But I’ve learned people don’t always know what I assumed they do and are seeking mentors as I once did.

To also quote another great movie, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, “Your life is an occasion rise to it”. And, “Be the block..” Hat tip to a great thought leader, Kelsey Ruger.

So here’s to moving forward and not looking backwards!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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I stayed away from doing the fall-back top [fill in the blank] list of the year that past blog post. Mainly because this year has gone by so quick I couldn’t tell you my top anything list of 2009.

So you’ll be happy to read that this isn’t a top anything list of last year or even my 2010 resolutions. I’m not really a fan “New Years Resolutions” because it’s a set up for failure. Most people do the “I’ll lose weight” or “I’ll do this or that” and then they fall off the wagon, gain 20 pounds, smoke even more and say “I’ll make it my resolution for next year”. Why wait? Just do it already. I digress.

So what does “The year we make contact…or connections” mean for me? It means I want to do more personal brand development. Speak at more events (on social media, leadership, religion <gasp>) and share more ideas. I want to make more contacts and connections to better not only myself but to help our community grow.

Here’s to 2010, where’s my flying Delorean?!

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Today’s political atmosphere is torn between the left and the right. Both sides have the ultra-extremists who believe whole-heartily in their sides view and find it hard to come to the middle and see each others view points. I’m often met with an assault on my intellect for having a difference of opinion. Rather then having a healthy and intelligent debate, both sides attack the other side with immature name calling, attacks on religious and personal beliefs and rarely ever get to the question behind the question.

Torture has been a hot topic recently with the release of documents by the Obama Administration that catalogs the methods our country uses to extract information from suspected terrorists. Both sides of the argument have completely opposite views on torture. The left says it’s completely wrong, it should never be used and it never actually provides useful information to stop terrorism. The right says that it is a necessary and vital interrogation method that has, in fact, stopped other “911 style attacks”.

Who is right? I don’t know. What I do know is that torture, for any reason is inhumane. Has it stopped other attacks in our country? I’m not one to say, “well, they say it has, so I’m fine with that”, but I haven’t seen or heard of anymore planes flying into landmark buildings in metropolitan areas, killing thousands of innocent and unsuspecting civilians. So whether you believe the attacks on 911 were perpetrated by racial Islamists or a self-inflicted attack by our own government, I don’t think you can ignore the hard decisions that have been made by this President or Presidents in the past to ensure our safety.

Col. Nathan Jessep’s speech from “A Few Good Men”:

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know — that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.

You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall — you need me on that wall.

We use words like “honor,” “code,” “loyalty.” We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.

I would rather that you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don’t give a DAMN what you think you’re entitled to!

Powerful words, I think. Maybe it’s because I did my time in the Armed Services. I understand that there are certain things that have to be done in order to keep a nation of people, however ungrateful they are for that very security, safe. There are decisions being made on our behalf by those individuals we elected to represent us that are not easy ones. People on both sides of the argument spit out opinions of how they think it should be done, yet it stops there for most of them.

During the Bush Adminstration liberals, conservatives, republicans and democrats all in some form or fashion united against his policies and in their eyes they were patriots. They used catch phrases like “Dissent is not disloyality”. Now these same people, less convervative, point the finger at the people that once agreed with them and call them hypocrites and right-wing nut jobs because they’re doing the exact same thing with the current adminstration.

Why is that when someone has an opposite view from your own, the first thing people tend to do is attack the intelligence of that person or group? Are we so uncomfortable with healthy, polite and intelligent debate that we must resort to pety name-calling and personal attacks.

Sad thing is, I’m not saying anything new. This goes on and will continue to go on until we can come together and realize, whether you believe in it or not, we are one nation under god, indivisible. *GASP* Now I’m talking politics and religion. I await your insults on that

Thanks for your time and your opinions. They’re always welcomed here, unless you use a fake name and insult my intelligence

Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos

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While this is not only true of students, but in society as a whole, I’m going to touch on students only. Why am I picking on these hard working individuals that spend so much time studying to make the grade, that work full time and still manage to pass their classes, because all that tends to mean very little in today’s market. It’s fact of life. Now, that doesn’t mean that those things are not taken into consideration, but really, it takes more then a resume to impress supervisors. They’re not hiring your resume, they’re hiring a personality who will not be, as Seth Godin calls them, Sheepwalkers. Those are willing to go above and beyond the 8-5 routine. I’ll step off my soap box on that point.

I started noticing this trend about a year and half ago when I went back to The Art Institute of Houston as a quest speaker with Aaron. My half of the lecture was about being an alumni in the real world. What to really expect after graduating.

I tried to encourage these students to get out of the rut I faced early on. The, “I’m just a web designer” rut. I quickly learned post graduation that I couldn’t just be that one title. I found job listings asking for a graphic designer but their duties included and was not limited to design, office work and even IT related management. I thought to myself, these employers are stupid. Nobody is an all-in-one position, I’m just a web designer, I want to do that and only that, psh.

Boy, was I the stupid one. Being the fast learner I am, I took it upon myself to expand my knowledge beyond design and ended up really liking the logic behind development. I’ve always enjoyed being behind the scenes and knowing how things worked, so web development came quicker to me then learning awesome design.

What turned me off the most while we gave our presentations was the lack of enthusiasm when it came to the Q & A part. We spent all that time sharing our knowledge of today’s workforce, our insight to the blogging and social media community and we got, you may have guessed it, blank stares followed by..”So, um, is your company hiring?”

And that set off a little light bulb in my head. If this is happening here, it’s probably happening in major universities. They’re teaching these young people tools and that’s it. While Ai Houston has a “resume building course”, it fails to really go deeper in the importance of selling yourself.

The vibe I got from that night was, “I paid X amount of money to be at this school, which promises to help me find a job after I’m done, why are you here telling me I need to learn more?!” Since then, I’ve been looking for opportunities, whether in passing or more speaking oportunities to talk to students about the importance of being a hard worker and not expecting things to come to you based on how much you spent on your education or even where you got your education.

While “faking it till you make it” might get some people by, I say, work hard till you make, and when you make it, share that knowledge of how you did it. That’s what I’m trying to do. Granted, I don’t think I’ve made it big nor is making it big a huge deal for me, if one person takes from this and doesn’t expect a job handed to them, then I’ve done something to help.

I’ve had many jobs in my life. The days of 20 years plus and a pension are done, in my opinion. But with that being said, you can’t just jump at a high salary either and ditch a good thing. I digress.

My goal, that I’ve shared with my supervisor, is to speak to more students as an ambassador of our company. Not for the sake of recruiting talent to our staff, but to prevent prospects who think they’ve earned a position based on a sheet of paper that lists the tools they can use.

Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik

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