Author Archives: scbrant

The Future Of Farming Is Here

It’s November and another harvest has finished at my family’s farm in Minnesota. It was a very wet spring and summer followed by a very smooth harvest of wheat, soybeans, sugar beets and corn. Since the last three all need to be harvested around the same time, I don’t think my brother and nephews sleep in September, October or early November. I love harvest – except for the fact that I’m allergic to everything. I did get to visit this fall and my kids and I got to ride in the combine with my nephew as he harvested soybeans. The changes in the last 75 years have to rival that of the industrial revolution. My dad would have been in his early 80’s and when he was young, they cut wheat by hand and thrashed it in bundles. In fact, farming has experienced a generation of change in just the last 20 years since I moved away. I used to drive the combine, which was sayincombine_ipads_cropg something because I’m not real mechanical compared to my brother and nephews. Now, the combine drives itself – quite literally – while using GPS locked onto a Russian navigation satellite that transmits to a receiver mounted on the roof. If that wasn’t enough to blow your mind, all imaginable metrics from the field, the fertilizer used, and the current yield, are monitored by software that is displayed on three iPads mounted in the cockpit. All of this technology has driven yield gains and efficiency, which my dad would have never believed. Global demand for corn and soybeans is rising and my family is doing everything it can to meet that demand – now if they would only get paid a fair price – that’s a whole blog for another time.

As amazing as all of this is, it’s only one example of the innovations happening in the world of farming. In full disclosure, the company I work for is involved in both of these examples but I’m not advocating for any particular technology or approach, just pointing out some amazing possibilities:

  • First, there is an abandoned brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota that some entrepreneurs fish_crophave transformed into a closed loop aquaponics system. What is that you may ask? Basically raising fish in tanks with a twist where the waste from the fish is actually used to fertilize plants, which are in turn grown hydroponically (in water). The whole system relies on some sophisticated filtration but uses very little energy and wastes very little water but on a small scale can produce protein, Tilapia fish, plants_cropand fresh organic vegetables 24/7/365 in a place like Minnesota where it’s 13 degrees and dark more than it’s light this time of year. You can learn more on the Star Tribune, where they developed a nice graphic.
  • Second, I learned about more large-scale fish farming that’s happening at projects like Open Blue, where they are farming Cobia, a premium white fish. It raises the fish from eggs to provide complete traceability from the farm to the marketplace. Another unique part of this project is the use of open ocean technology to culture fish in offshore enclosures, several miles off the coast of Panama in the deep sea. Now let’s talk about scale, the small farm in the brewery hopes to produce 5,000 fish a year, the folks at Open Blue are expecting to produce 1,600 tons of fish this year. Learn more here, especially of note is the great video done by CNN’s “The Next List.”

So, the next time you eat, think about where your food is coming from and then think about the fact that the world has approximately 2 billion people in the middle class today but will have more than 4 billion by 2030 – driving a huge need for increased food production and efficient use of resources. As a farm kid at heart, there’s no one I’d rather have at the center of these huge challenges than family farmers.

Does Passion Belong In Your Work?

I’ve heard advice both ways – try to get paid for following your passion and keep your true passion separate from your work so you don’t ruin it. I can actually see the wisdom and usefulness in both perspectives. On one hand, the cynical side of me says that there aren’t many people in today’s world who get paid for pursuing their passion – maybe artists, musicians, philanthropists, professional athletes and some entrepreneurs. What about Rachel Zoe? First question is – do you know who she is? I’ve heard of her but had never read anything that she wrote until I saw her blog post on LinkedIn today. Here’s something that she said that sounded more like an inspirational speaker than a global fashion icon:

Define your passion and remember why it has ignited and inspired you to be where you are today. I believe that you can and should live your dreams – and that rule should apply even in your professional life. If you love what you do, the success will come. If you let your passions and strengths guide you, failure won’t be an option.

I have a new respect for Rachel Zoe but I don’t really think there are many actuaries out there who say that their passion is analyzing the financial costs of risk and uncertainty but maybe there are. I read a book once about a guy who got laid off from his corporate job and ended up becoming a carpenter right before the last building boom. Hammers and nails weren’t his passion at all but doing that work 9-5 instead of working nights and weekends at his other job left him with much more time to explore his hobbies – like writing – and spend with his family. That doesn’t sound all that bad either.

I was in a meeting one time when we were debating the company mission statement and trying to find words that conveyed our purpose. The word “passion” was actually suggested because we were trying to illustrate how important our work was to the world and how engaged our employees were. It was probably the wrong word but I’ll never forget the response from one leader in the room who said “this is corporate America, we don’t have passion here.” What do you think? Do we? I was reading Fast Company magazine recently and came across this article about employee engagement. There was an interesting quote:

…employee engagement has become the new currency in today’s economy.Some leaders are ahead of the curve. Inspirations like Tony Hsieh from Zappos and Chip Conley from Joie de Vivre Hotels put an extreme focus on organizational culture and a premium on employee happiness. In return, people in these organizations deliver extraordinary value and produce fanatical customer loyalty. There’s a problem though: The majority of us are disengaged–70% in fact. That’s a  half-a-trillion-dollar problem in the U.S. alone.

Does passion for your work lead to engagement? I’m pretty sure it does. When I worked in public education, we didn’t have mission posters anywhere but pretty much everyone was working in education because of their passion for kids and learning. Why else would you do it? The stock options? The cafeteria food? Nope, it’s pretty much because you believe in it. What about you, do you live to work or work to live?

 

How much is 115%

I was reading a job posting the other day. It was a posting for a consulting lead at a large firm that sponsors a really popular soccer team. One line in particular caught my eye, “willingness to work 115% of time to meet client needs.” What does that mean exactly? Am I required to find more hours in the day? The last time I checked, 24 hours was pretty much the maximum available right? What kind of company writes that into their job descriptions and what kind of candidate is attracted to that job? Do any of you out there work 115%?

It’s not like I’m allergic to work or anything. I grew up on a farm so I know what real work is. I used to do some chores before school and after school and then sometimes work in the fields for 12 or 15 hours a day. My dad used to work in the fields all day and then sit up all night when our hogs were having piglets. I know for a fact that my family who still works on the farm actually do work 24 hours straight. But my family is growing food to feed the world and they are often working against the weather – you only have so much time to plant and harvest after all. But why would you want to do that in consulting? What corporate client needs that kind of attention? I mean come on. I used to have a job that encouraged working nights and weekends. In fact, some managers would check online to see which people’s messenger status were green/available. It’s like when George Costanza left his car in the parking lot when he worked for the Yankees so that his boss would think he was working late. Of course that plan failed when he left it there too long; birds camped out on it and it got covered with garbage.

Here’s my closing thought. In a recent article in US News & World Report here: http://www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/lebron-james-decision_14170.aspx#.VCQ16pQRCno, research highlighted how Lebron James’ decision to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers is reflective of his generation. Here’s an excerpt from that piece:

As a Millennial (those born between about 1976 and 2001), the 29-year-old James’s decision to return to Northeast Ohio reflects what studies have reported about his generation and the workplace. It’s a good idea for employers to pay attention. According to a study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Millennials already make up 36% of the workforce and will represent 47% by 2020. As the best player in the NBA, James could have gone to many teams and commanded top dollar. He also could have been in bigger media markets – such as Los Angeles or back in Miami – rather than the relatively obscurity of Cleveland. Yet throughout his announcement James emphasized personal preference over professional glory. “My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now,” wrote James, an Akron native, in an essay for Sports Illustrated. He noted that he wants to raise his children in Ohio. “The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.” That sentiment – focusing on personal happiness first and integrating a career into it – comes up in study after study of Millennials.

I know he’s just a basketball player who makes millions of dollars to play a game but I have a lot of respect for what Lebron James had to say and might actually agree with Millennials in that survey. This weekend, I think I’m going to focus 115% of my time on happiness.

Design or function?

It’s not a new question, should something be built to be beautiful or should it be focused on usability instead? I’ve seen this question play out while developing web sites and print materials for years. The sweet spot is that the design actually improves usability like the iPhone that’s both beautiful and easy to use – “your world in your pocket” as Steve Jobs said. From my experience, that’s very difficult and very rare. In a past life, my company mailed two 16-page full color magazines out to employees to help them make their benefits decisions each year but no one ever read them and the call center was jammed for two weeks. So, over the course of five years, we went to a simple postcard and an interactive web site with good content and modeling tools and the call center heard crickets chirping rather than the phones ringing. It can work the other way too, one time I was building a web site and the prototype was so ugly (against my will by the way) that people couldn’t figure out how to use it. Don’t worry; we fixed it!

Until yesterday though, I never realized how different the design of an elementary school building could be or the outside pressures for functionality that influence design. I am lucky enough to be on a team that’s designing a new K-5 elementary school in the district where my kids attend. It’s an expensive and important decision – but it’s also a confusing one that’s filled with trade-offs about expenses (of course this is a public project), utility, instructional needs, access requirements, etc. Here are my observations from a tour of four schools:

  1. Why build computer labs with desktop PC’s when every student has their own iPad? This one has been solved by a regulatory requirement unfortunately – all the standardized tests that students are required to take and the fact that they are taken online, on computers that must be hardwired to a network. So, you have to both waste the space on computer labs and buy all of the equipment as well.
  2. At one school we visited, they had used a beautiful industrial design throughout that carried through to the entryway. But, birds built nests on the beams and sat on the lights and exposed pipes and pooped on the children and visitors as they walked underneath each day. The solution, compromise the design by adding some ugly screens and netting.
  3. One school put their media center – a combination library and technology hub in the center of their school and put windows all around to let in natural light from the surrounding hallways. Now you have a fishbowl where kids – remember those 600 people that you’re building the school for – lose focus while inside the lab because everyone who walks by is always waving or showing off.
  4. What colors should you use? The temptation at an elementary school is to go with primary colors but yellow can look dirty and red can be a little too emotional. Green is great because it can represent peace and harmony in the right shades and blue can be calm and friendly – do you think it’s an accident that the logos for Facebook and twitter are both blue?
  5. Do you add enough parking to accommodate every parent or guardian when all of them only come to the school at the same time a couple of days a year?
  6. Another dirty example. Would you ever put carpet in the lunchroom to reduce noise when you know that kids spill everything? It’s apparently cheaper and less slippery but really?
  7. What about recreational or community space? The main purpose of the building is to instruct students but gyms and soccer fields and rooms for groups to meet are in short supply and after all, the community owns this building. So, do you design flexible space into the cafeteria and classrooms so they can be used outside the school day? One school we saw had a partnership with the city that threw in the money for a second full size gym.
  8. How about lockers? Do you put them in the classrooms for easy access and require kids to share the space? Do you put them in the hallway outside the classrooms where you have more space? Do they have doors or not? What about space under the locker for wet boots?
  9. Security is a huge concern in the post-Columbine world. Some experts say to take out all of the windows so those who would do harm are left in the dark and others say put more in because natural light is better for learning and so authorities can easily see into the space.
  10. I’ll end where I started, with technology. Do you put screens and projectors and so called “smart boards” everywhere or do you design the space for the future more flexibly with walls that can be projected and written on with the use of a new adhesive film. What about all those iPads, do you put Apple TV in every room so you can go right from each student’s iPad to an LED LCD on the wall?

Those are just the top ten things that stuck with me. I’m going to be living this project over the next six months and then hopefully seeing a great new school in 2016 that will make students, staff and our community proud! Let me know if you have ideas and wish us luck.

PG-13 Changes Everything

Someone recently turned 13 in my home. I guess that becoming a teenager is a big deal but the most important thing that my son noticed was the fact that it opened up a whole new world of film entertainment – the PG-13 movie! Now, if you’re not a parent, you probably don’t pay much attention to PG, PG-13, R, you just stream movies and TV shows or order them on-demand and who cares about the ratings right? Well, not all PG-13 movies are created equally. In fact, if you’ve not paid attention over the years, the PG rating used to be a lot different. Compare the colossal Disney hit “Frozen” – which is rated PG with the 80’s classic “Uncle Buck” starring John Candy which was released in 1989 – also PG. I love the Internet Movie Database or IMDB as the kids call it. Actually, I think it’s just geezers like me that use that app but it’s incredibly helpful for those “who was that guy that was in that one movie with…” questions. Anyway, they have a parent’s guide for every movie that is not only accurate but cleverly written. According to that, there is an extensive amount of profanity in Uncle Buck (and none in Frozen), which is hilarious if you’re 13 and you don’t hear those words every day.

BS

That brings me to the photo here. My mom recently relocated to be closer to my family and she has a habit of writing her appointments and keeping almost a diary of sorts on a calendar that hangs on her wall. One day last week, my kids and I went over to visit and my son immediately noticed the entry on the 23rd and got the giggles. As you can see, she had “BS” scheduled for 9:30. Not long after my son buckled over with laughter, my daughter (who is 11) came over and asked what was so funny. He just pointed at the calendar and said “BS” and she looked at me and said with an inquisitive look, “Bible Study?” which was indeed what the abbreviation stood for. She hasn’t seen PG-13 movies or ridden on a middle school bus or spent any time with my dad who used the more profane version of “BS” in casual conversation to describe everyone from the weather man to our congressman.

I don’t know about you but I seem to deal with a lot of “BS.” I follow the process but the insurance company doesn’t pay a claim and the clinic sends crabby letters, our builder makes a total mess in our front yard last fall and doesn’t prioritize fixing it because we’ve already paid for our house, I get letters from our homeowners association about leaving the fire pit on the driveway overnight but I can see (and smell) a port-a-potty and five huge blue construction dumpsters full of garbage from my driveway. I could go on. Do you ever look at your calendar and see a meeting and then read “BS” between the lines. Maybe we should all schedule time to deal with “BS” (not bible study, also important but not the topic of my blog), would it be easier if we just knew it were coming on Wednesdays at 9:30? Maybe we should just watch more PG movies from the 80’s and laugh more.

Let’s Break Some Rules

We run into and up against rules every day. Now, let me clarify, I’m not talking about laws, laws are in place to protect society right? I’m talking more about rules or policies that restrict our work and personal life. I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences with rules lately and I’d like to share them.

First, on the personal side of things. I had the privilege of spending a week on vacation in Florida recently and after what seemed like several years of the “polar vortex” in Minnesota, I can only describe warm sun, sandy beaches and cold (alcoholic) beverages as heavenly. However, I did find some rather strange rules on vacation and I found myself wanting to break them. First, we stayed with relatives in a “seniors only” condo, which again was wonderful. But, it seems that when baby boomers have free time, they like to create rules. The craziest rules involve the beautiful pool at theImage building. It’s incredibly expensive to maintain a swimming pool with heat, chemicals, cleaning, etc. – but apparently the only time they want the pool to be used is one hour a day, in the morning, for water aerobics. There is to be no jumping, no toys, no splashing, basically no fun. In past year’s I’ve received warnings because my kids were playing with dive toys, throwing balls and because I was playing “marco polo” with them. Really? The other rule that I found myself breaking several times was walking into a “private” area of the beach and purchasing drinks from a “members only” snack bar. Don’t signs like this actually make you want to see if you can get in? Why would you refuse money from people who are thirsty on the beach? So, that retired people never have to stand in line at the snack bar? We’ve already established that all they’ve got is free time so what’s the big deal?

The other rules that I’d like to highlight today are those that I’ve encountered during a recent job search. I’m pretty sure that they were also created by the baby boomers that run most HR departments at large companies but that would be me just guessing. I find it very interesting that the human part of hiring has been replaced by elaborate rules that are enforced by technology called “applicant tracking systems.” I’m sure it’s at least 2% more efficient to use these systems to collect and manage resumes and they offer ample opportunity to create rules to limit the candidates who actually get reviewed by a person. Are we better off this way? In talking with other job seekers, they often feel like even though they are qualified and jump through the hoops involved with the application process, they don’t ever get an interview. I’ve also seen this from the other side of the desk when trying to hire people and working with HR – no one I’ve ever talked to seems to like the technology that manages the hiring process. What’s the point? Why can’t we just get back to letting people hire people? I love the model adopted by Internet sales experts at Zappos (now part of Amazon.com). I saw their founder Tony Hsieh talk about their culture and their values book one time. They hire for personality and culture fit, that’s what’s behind their legendary customer service. They have great questions like “what’s your theme song?” and “on a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?” I would probably not get hired there because my theme song is probably by John Mellencamp or Blake Shelton and I’m boring but they know what they want and how to get at it in an interview process. They have an amazing philosophy, read more about it here: http://onboardingnewhires.com/620965-Corporate-Culture-Best-Practices-Zappos.html

Florida is one of those places that’s so much fun to visit that you look past strange rules. Zappos is a pretty next generation company, not many boomers behind the scenes – after all Hsieh is just barely an Xer. Is there something to that? Will corporate culture and senior-only condos change considerably once Gen Xers and (god help us) Millennials start making the rules? Will there even be rules? What do you think about rules? What’s your favorite rule to break?

Musical Memories

We all have musical memories right? When that song comes on the radio and takes you back in time, you can feel those memories, smell them, maybe even taste them. That’s amazing isn’t it? That’s why music is so important.

Here are some of my musical memories:

  • George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning” takes me back to my dad’s Dodge truck, it was raining lightly, he was smoking and we were driving around looking at our crops
  • Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration” takes me back to a gym at a school dance where I had my first kiss with a girl who was quite a bit taller than me
  • Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” takes me back to a time with my brother in his girlfriend’s Chevy Chevette driving way too fast on a gravel road where we grew up
  • Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” takes me back to my grandma’s basement at Christmas because my cousins got “Thriller” on cassette and we just sat there and listened to it over and over

Maybe you’re one of those lucky one’s who can actually make music. It’s interesting how many of us try, even Seth Godin says he played the clarinet for eight years but then corrects himself,

Actually, that’s not true. I took clarinet lessons for eight years when I was a kid, but I’m not sure I ever actually played it. Eventually, I heard a symphony orchestra member play a clarinet solo. It began with a sustained middle C, and I am 100% certain that never once did I play a note that sounded even close to the way his sounded.

I watch – and listen – to how much progress my son has made with the trumpet this year. It’s amazing. He played it for the first time about 20 months ago and that was painful, I’ll admit. The dog hid, we put him in a room with doors that we could shut, the neighbors called to ask if everything was ok. It was, and now it’s much better and it sounds like music. The whole band sounds like music. He’s not getting calls to join The Roots or anything but I can tell what he’s playing. Maybe he’ll be in the high school pep band, maybe he’ll get a scholarship to play the trumpet in college, maybe he’ll get paid to play the trumpet – who knows?

What I do know is that he’s learning a system and once you learn a system like math or music or another language, you can transfer that experience. For those of you who don’t think that technology is changing everything, even the way people learn, let me tell you about an app called SmartMusic, check it out at http://www.smartmusic.com/ This is a piece of software that listens to you play an instrument and then gives you instant feedback on the quality of the notes so that you can fix them. That’s a revolution. I wonder if it would have helped Seth? I wonder if these first memories of my son playing the trumpet will be one of those moments that I remember for my whole life or if it will be those first bad notes instead? What are your musical memories?

 

 

Advice From Spiderman’s Uncle

I was really hoping that Sheryl Sandberg would fade back into her day job at Facebook and that her book tour would finally end so I could quit hearing about “Lean In.” I realize that I cannot speak for women in the workplace but neither should Sandberg or someone like Reese Witherspoon, who is featured on leanin.org for overcoming her fear of public speaking so she could become the spokesperson for cosmetics giant Avon. Really? I’m not worried about the lack of opportunity or confidence for anyone – woman or man – with a Harvard B.A. and M.B.A. who has worked at World Bank, McKinsey, The Department of the Treasury, Google and Facebook. Other people seem to agree with me, including these two accomplished women: Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean In’ campaign holds little for most women; or Sheryl Sandberg Lean’s into another controversy. 

Why “Lean in” anyway? I’m assuming they have a class at business school that teaches aggressive behavior. I’ve had bosses tell me to “lean in.” It was bad advice and it never worked. My impression is that the single biggest problem with business leaders – and our current crop of politicians – who have elite educations and make millions of dollars is not that they don’t lean in, it’s that they have lost touch with reality.  I suppose it’s kind of hard to keep it real when you reportedly cash in $90 million in Facebook stock right? In today’s corporate and political climate, it seems like compromise and collaboration should be valued and celebrated more than aggression. Do you think the government would have shut down last year if our political leaders were more collaborative? I’ve seen some interesting research from a corporation that was having problems with new leaders failing – both men and women. You know what the biggest problem was? They were too aggressive, they burned too many bridges, they failed to see people on their teams and in other departments as people and instead saw them as obstacles to profit and career advancement. 

Apparently Sandberg is really committed to being in the news because now she’s back with a few celebrities and the girls scouts trying to ban the word “bossy,” I thought she over did it before, but this may be an even worse idea and less helpful than leaning. Here’s a nice piece by a woman who is much smarter than me and has actually done research on this topic. Her name is Peggy Drexler, and is the author of “Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family” and “Raising Boys Without Men.” She is an assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University. One of her quotes is worth repeating here in case you don’t read her entire opinion piece published on CNN: 

“Let’s not forget: There is evidence that girls and women aren’t in fact being overlooked, or discouraged into meekness. Girls are outperforming boys in schools. More women than men are graduating college and going on to earn as much, if not more, than their male partners. Fortune’s latest ranking of America’s 500 largest corporations includes more female CEOs than ever.”

I want to comment specifically on the fact that girls are outperforming boys in schools – that is certainly true in K-12 public education. I used to work in public education and I learned that the much maligned “No Child Left Behind” law was actually going to report scores by gender as well as every other grouping but that scores for boys were much lower than girls and “they” thought it would distract from the focus on raising test scores. In addition, the facts are there about the new gender imbalance in colleges and universities across America as well. The fact is that boys are being left behind or at least at the back of the class according to this piece in the NY Times.

Finally, to quote Spiderman’s uncle, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” So, I ask this simple question, if Sandberg really wanted to put her considerable wealth and influence to work, how could she? I have ideas. Even if she just wanted to help women, which I would be fine with, I can think of several more valuable and worthwhile ways than teaching them to lean or banning the word bossy. Here are two easy ones for someone like Sandberg, first, if you insist on being aggressive, how about helping young girls who have difficulty with bullying and their self image? Second, probably the easiest one for an executive at a technology company – what about getting more girls interested in technology and engineering careers? Those problems are real. They could be solved or at least affected by wealth and influence right? I think Uncle Ben would be proud of that.

Forget Law And Medicine, Try Software Engineering

I was reading yet another article about Yahoo and Marissa Meyer this week. Apparently she’s fixed the company’s biggest problem – talent. Read all about it here on QZ

I pulled a couple of insights from this article that I can’t help but comment on. First, the long tenured Head of HR at Yahoo was replaced by a former private equity exec. Then, they went on a buying spree, but not for market share or synergies, which drives many acquisitions, Yahoo bought 37 companies including Tumblr for over a billion dollars – for their talent. For other CEO’s who have “talent” as a goal, and they all should, this is an interesting strategy right? Their CFO was quoted as saying they lost a lot of talent and companies didn’t even want to be acquired by them so they had to pay a “Yahoo Premium.” Apparently their reputation has been repaired to a certain extent because the number of job applications more than doubled in the past year and they are the third highest paying company for engineers in the Silicon Valley. I’ll get to the pay issue again later but one other interesting place that Yahoo doesn’t score well is being a great place to work. Mayer’s ideas in that area haven’t been as big a hit. According to Glassdoor, which provides the salary info too, Yahoo did not make the 50 best places to work list like their other high tech peers.

Now let’s talk turkey. If you clicked the link to the QZ story above, I hope you noticed the table that lists average base salaries for engineers. If you didn’t, let me enlighten you. I remember when I was growing up, not that long ago by the way, the cool careers were law and medicine. They came with good pay and prestige – the two most popular TV shows were St. Elsewhere and L.A. Law. I wanted to be a lawyer for a very long time – until I bombed the LSAT and did some internships that is. I have friends who are doctors, that’s no picnic either, lots of headaches with insurance and patients. Here’s some advice for you parents out there – get your kids into software engineering or let them develop their own social network app.

At Juniper Networks, the highest paying company in the Silicon Valley, the average base salary for engineers was $159,900 last year. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook all pay over $120,000 a year.

Oh, and by the way, there is no end in sight to the demand for software engineers. Everything runs on software and everything will for the foreseeable future. Remember, Yahoo bought 37 companies to get their engineers. Forget clarinet lessons and getting into the Ivy League, let your kids absorb and learn to love technology because we need them to take care of us so we can eventually retire.

Social Media Breakfast?

Have you ever been to a social media breakfast? It’s almost an oxymoron right? It could be on a list with bitter sweet, definitely maybe, jumbo shrimp or seriously funny. It sort of sounds like one of those virtual conferences where people synchronize their watches to tweet each other or all agree to post their status on Facebook from the comfort of their homes along with their coffee and toast.

Well, it’s a real thing where people gather together in an actual place and have breakfast and discuss social media. I’ve been involved with the Minnesota version of the breakfast, SMBMSP, and am part of a panel discussion on the use of social tools inside the firewall at SMBMSP #63 on Monday, March 3: http://smbmsp.org/2014/01/smbmsp-63-behind-the-firewall-social-networking-for-employee-collaboration/

There are SMB’s all over the country from Boston to Seattle. The event in Minnesota started in February 2008 and has been going strong ever since. I’m rather fond of their informal motto of “community + coffee with a side a bacon.” According to their web site,

“Since it’s founding, SMBMSP has been a regularly occurring event where like minded folks across the Twin Cities get together to share & learn about social media. Online membership has grown to over 2,300 professionals from all different disciplines, and many partnerships, jobs, career changes, and friendships have blossomed because of this group’s ability to connect people who enjoy sharing what they know!”

That kind of sounds like what social media was intended to do right? Bring people together? I know facebook started out being a way for college kids to rate their peers and find out if they were single. Now that almost everyone is out there, it seems like people share too much that is worth too little. Twitter was an ingenious innovation, limiting the length of communications! After working in corporate America for almost 20 years and creating lots of 70 page PowerPoint presentations and sitting through full day meetings, that’s a concept I really like. It’s much harder for people to understand though with the hash tags and the mini urls and the language all it’s own. LinkedIn is easy but it’s status as a meat market of sorts for talent and recruiters is a little hard to get past. Do you understand all the social tools like Pinterist, Snapchat, Instagram, Google+, Vine, and the hundreds of others? Some brands have like 9 icons on the bottom of their page so you can “connect” with them. I mean really? Are they bringing people together? Are they even doing a good job with their brand?

However you feel about social tools, find a local social media breakfast and connect with people, dress business casual, create a new tradition and be alone together.