I followed the posts soon realizing that the recruiting bubble and the librarian bubble have [or had depending on your point of view] much in common. The blogs, the personalities, the relationships, the tensions, the idealism, even surviving the space — The NextGen Librarian’s Survival Guide, sound familiar? It all resonated with me. More, they write, read and link to really good stuff!
To the extent that I have gotten so much from following this meme I wanted to share it with you! Enjoy.
As I begin to look at SlideShare for all its virtues as a medium to both communicate and optimize content I am reminded that everything we publish brands us. The challenge then is to create content that is at least as good as the best.
You wouldn’t know it from my posting frequency but I have been quite busy in my research. In an effort to develop an understanding for the recursive nature of blogging and its value, and reconcile Pierre Proudhon’s notion that “property is theft” with the persistent nuisance of walled gardens — or is it the perennial nuisance of persistent identity? — I am in danger of missing out on the increasingly popular YouTube gimme-juice phenomenon. Phew!
I came across this example from Cisco which illustrates the point — take your pick from any one of those above:
This is a study of the technostructure as described by J.K. Galbraith and Henry Mintzberg. Their notion of the technostructure is compared to Gareth Morgan’s eight metaphors in “Images of Organization” to see if Morgan’s metaphors can provide new aspects of the technostructure…
In 1967 John Kenneth Galbraith wrote The New Industrial State. In the book he analyzed his new findingThe Technostructureas a part of his description of modern economic life. He defines the technostructure as the leadership of the modern industrial enterprise. He found that it is the complex of specialists and technicians that exercise the decisive power.
In 1983 Henry Mintzberg published both Structure in Fives and Power In and Around Organizations, which among other topics describe the technostructure as taking part in the management and development of individual organizations.
In 1986 Gareth Morgan published Images of Organization where he is using various metaphors to scrutinize our perceptions of organization. The book does not treat the notion of the technostructure as such. Second edition was published 1997.
Since my introduction to Gareth Morgan’s book in 1988 — golly Olly, I’m getting old — it has been a recurring reference for my research and a helpful tool for reconciling some of my experiences in, and at, work. To the extent that have returned over and over to a new reading of Morgan’s metaphor’s I have hardly read John Kenneth Gailbrath or Henry Mitzberg. Ebbe Munk’s reasearch — which is not recent — has rekindled a desire to revisit them more often. And I will.
Dion Hinchcliffe posts Enterprise 2.0 as a corporate culture catalyst and raises some interesting points that serve to remind me that this has to be one of the most extraordinary periods of history to be a change agent or involved in business with an All-things 2.0 orientation.
However, I have yet to find something equally substantive to read that addresses the more fundamental issues of how to create an environment in which Web 2.0 applications and social media can be adopted when the underlying management style, corporate thinking, vested interests and technology are typically All-things 1.0. Perhaps I should look harder.
Tom Davenport who is referenced in Dion Hinchcliffe’s post writes in Why Enterprise 2.0 Won’t Transform Organizations on Harvard Business Online. He suggests that organizational hierarchies and the centralization of power within larger bureaucracies will thwart the aspirations of advocates who would advance the agenda for a flattening of traditional models but offers no thoughts on how to reverse this dystopian — and likely accurate — view of the future. Rather Tom Davenport asks, “Is Enterprise 2.0 a way to create more democratic organizations?”
Well, to my own question — how to facilitate adoption of Enterprise 2.0 in the face of prevailing convention — and Tom Davenport’s tease regarding the creation of democratic organizations, quite frankly, I don’t know. I do think social media enables a vanguard of activists — agent provocateurs, intraprenuers and “radical transparencists” — to force rapid and irreversible change by deploying technology and widgets and things to oblige accountability, transparency, authenticity and responsibility.
The question then is, how many are there willing to lay it on the line for an ideal which may never profit them directly? For sure, they will more likely be crucified than promoted to positions of “power” and influence. Historically, the vanguard and avant-garde have been the culture catalysts but rarely the beneficiaries of social change.
I don’t see social media and mashups in of themselves changing that much about how corporate culture is catalyzed, do you? Maybe it will take an Army of Davids and then some. Or is that wishful thinking too?
Jason Goldberg, Jobster’s Blogging CEO Learns a Lesson
Richard Becker who authors the Copywrite, Ink blog posts a fantastic reply to comments left by “fire-brand” Jason Goldberg on his inaugural posting on RecruitingBloggers.com. For some, Jason Goldberg energized the debate on CEO blogging, albeit polarizing a great many within the fast-growing, lively and precocious Recruitosphere, and beyond.
As an aside, Jason Goldberg has been a favorite topic in many posts on my semi-retired Recruitomatic Blog. I couldn’t make up my mind then whether he is Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, and I still can’t make up my mind now. Anyway…
A reading of Richard’s post will give anyone who is not familiar with the recent debacle surrounding layoffs at start-up Jobster – and Jason Goldberg’s opaque and inept handling of the situation in real time — will find this an excellent point of entry into what is for me, undoubtedly, one of the most interesting twists in the developing genre of CEO blogs.
There is an object lesson here for those who are prepared to learn from Jason Goldberg’s naivety and Richard’s PR prowess, not least of all, for Jason Goldberg himself. Richard’s “living case study assessment” is proving to be a growing resource for understanding the related issues of CEO blogging, crisis communication and understanding that sometimes it is better to be thought a fool than to remove all doubt.
I came across this post, The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging by Brian Clark who writes Copyblogger. I can honestly say that I must have read hundreds of posts and articles that similarly advise tenderfoots like me how to tiptoe through the tulips. But this one is the one I will reference as I move forward, at least for now.
Why?
Not because it is better than everything else I’ve read, although I like it best. Not because it’s short and sweet. After all, there is the The Two Immutable Laws of Blogging for that. And, not because these five things…
The Law of Value
The Law of Headlines and Hooks
The Law of “How To”
The Law of the List, and
The Law of the Story
…are unduplicated pearls of wisdom, they are not. So, why?
When you consider the awful noise to signal ratio of blogging I think it might be just as well to tune into one thing that resonates clearly and stay tuned. Too often, at least as it seems to me, in the quest to find the best information or resource out there we forget it’s not the information or resource that is of any use, but the use we put that information or resource to that makes one man’s post another man’s…er, post? Dammit! So much for “The Law of Value!”
Interestingly, I came across The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging two clicks away from The Enormous Linkbait List published on cornwallseo.com proving once again, in researching blogging best-practice – at least as far as I’m concerned – less is more, even when it’s enormous.
Julian Seery Gude is running his first marathon tomorrow. While that is a personal milestone in of itself, not to overlook his dedication of the run to remembered family and friends, what is most interesting to me is that Jules has managed to connect with people – drawn from both his birthday list and Rolodex – on a number of levels, most importantly perhaps, on an emotional level. More, Jules connects people in a way which nicely blurs the line between personal and business associations.
Admittedly, I’m not sure that this could have been achieved without the juxtaposition of a business and a personal blog but in any event, Jules illustrates one simple truth: blogging is a medium that if committed to with integrity, and managed correctly, can transcend the dichotomy of personal and professional self.
Dave Taylor posts When is a blog too personal? on The Intuitive Life Business Blog and makes some interesting points on the topic of personalization in a professional blog, suggesting that there is a line to be drawn. Perhaps there is. By contrast, Jules illustrates how blurring that line by choosing the time, the place and the topic to get personal can connect an audience in ways that can enhance one’s reputation at home and in the office.
For sure, 26 miles is a long race to run. Whatever he hopes to gain from the experience physically, emotionally, spiritually – whatever – in elevating his personal reputation and professional brand through his blogging, Jules is already ahead of the pack.
Comebacks...