White space is everywhere if you know where to look for it. However it’s becoming more and more of a luxury item everyday. Here are tips to preserve and grow it.
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An Open Letter To Anyone Who Will Read It
In case you haven’t noticed, the last few months have been very dynamic, but not very solution oriented, in the world of social media.
And, as this lack of orientation toward solution manifests itself as more gaslighting, trolling, and in poor communication behavior in general, it has come time to make an announcement.
It is getting almost time to exit Facebook altogether.
Along with Instagram and Twitter.
Let me clearly explain so that there’s no misunderstanding or thinking that “I just couldn’t ‘hack it'” in the rough and tumble game of social media.
An Open Letter With Clearly Laid Out Reasoning…
I’ve had a mixed relationship at best with social media going back to the old MySpace pages and profiles in the early 2000s. I was always a person who liked forums (like what Quora is now) but I wasn’t a big fan of putting myself out there, so to speak.
Then, Facebook burst on the scene and I have ridden this wave–good, bad, ugly, and indifferent, for the past 16 years (yes, I remember when Facebook was The Facebook because I worked with college students and they were the only ones on it) and now, well, all of that is slowly coming to a close.
There are business uses for Facebook, but even the utility of those is questionable and over the next few months you’ll notice me slowly fading away at the personal level as I launch new projects (like my podcast, Leadership Lessons From The Great Books), and in general begin to pull away from platforms that are just about shouting, gaslighting, trolling, and “being right” and have little to do with engaging people in nuance, focus, or real problem-solving.
Which our country–and our world–desperately need.
Lest you think I am going to head to another platform, fear not! I have always been more of a Twitter person than a Facebook person, but I exited there about a month and a half ago and I don’t even have the app on my phone, nor do I much care about what happens there anymore.
LinkedIn is another beast that is gradually transforming under the weight of social pressure to conform to the crowd and the requests of the mob, and surely as I am leaving Facebook and have left Twitter, I’ll eventually exit there as well.
I have little patience for corporate and marketing virtue-signaling under the guise of solidarity for whatever “cause de-jour” of the moment might help a brand get “traction” and a few more dollars.
Instagram I will stick with for a while because there is a video play there, but I do not think that will last long.
The fact is, there are higher levels of engagement there than here and have been for a few years now and there is less vitriol on Instagram to be sure. But I expect that will change in time as well.
If you understand human nature and, then it will come as no surprise that inevitably that even a “pretty pictures” photo-sharing app must bow low to the whims of the gaslighting crowd.
An Open Letter With Solutions…
If you’ve read this far, you might be asking “Ok. Well, how can I get in touch with you then, if I really want to?”
Well, there’s always email.
We need to return to long-form conversations in order to generate the kind of clear-eyed, courageous leadership that can solve difficult problems.
In order to support that developement I am beginning to form the outlines of a Leadership Salon Project involving podcasting, blogging, a discussion board on my website and an email list.
This will be a project in which talking with people who disagree with me but who can do that while not being disagreeable, will be the “coin of the realm.”
And we’ll learn from each other (or not) and get sharper (or not) but at least we won’t have to contend with our conversations being drowned out in your feed by memes, advertisements, and other meaningless tripe.
Maybe I’m a Pollyanna.
Or maybe I’m the last realist.
Either way, I am building an email list and if you want to be a part of it, please send me an email (put your email address in a comment at the bottom of this missive) and I will add your name.
I am connected to 1,000+ people on the Facebook platform, 2,000+ people on the LinkedIn platform, and 3,000+ people and brands on the Instagram platform.
That’s an audience of close to 6,000 people and brands who see barely .005% of content I have posted.
The fact is, many who could see this message will not see this message because fails to “play the game” that social media demands.
What a shame.
Not for me, or for the message.
What a shame that we have outsourced our communication and our ability to connect to corporate giants, begun with good intentions, run by groups of people who no longer care about connecting us in meaningful ways, but only about farming our attention to harvest another buck.
Instead of pouring more gas on the fire, hopefully, this message will provide a pinprick of illumination at the end of a very long tunnel.
It’s time to go. There are other fields than just the social media one to plow.
If you’re interested in joining my Leadership Salon Project and becoming part of conversations that matter for the future, send me an email directly at jesan@jesansorrells.com and I’ll be more than happy to add you to our Early Adopters email list.
Or visit the page for this project on our website and enter your information.
And we can start talking about what kind of community we’d like to have.
May God go with all of you who choose to hang around the corrupted Wonderland of social media.
Sincerely-
Jesan Sorrells
We’ve All Heard of Role Modeling
Role modeling is easy in leadership.
Role modeling is often touted as the easiest way for leaders to lead teams, lead initiatives, and lead others toward goals and outcomes.
Just do what the right thing is, and then other people will see you doing it (social cueing) and will automatically do that thing (social proofing).
And then, of course, magically, the workplace will change.
The ease of role modeling has even been commodified into our culture.
“Just do it,” right?
…Except, There’s a Minor Problem…
The problem with role-modeling, if we’re honest, is the fact of other people.
Other people have their own motivations, motives, and intentions. They have their own desires, appetites, and needs.
And very often role modeling doesn’t address any of that, because role modeling is always an external act; whereas, the behaviors a leader seeks to change are always internal to individuals.
It’s a minor problem, indeed.
If Not Role Modeling, Then What do We Do?
Leaders lead. That’s the nature of leadership and the fact of being a leader.
But expecting that other people will do as you are doing as a leader, might just be creating an internal environment in you as a leader, that will raise fake expectations.
Or, at least, creating internal environments where you will always be frustrated as a leader, because “they” aren’t following your lead.
Give Me Something I Can Use!
Here’s a tip: lead by example but change your expectations of your followers. Expect them to follow the smallest possible example that works for them.
And then, ask them this question: What am I doing in my leadership that you can see yourself replicating?
Then write down the answer, and double down on that.
Where Can I Get More Information?
Get more tips on how to navigate the hairy world of leadership by ordering My Boss Doesn’t Care, the latest book from Jesan Sorrells, today!
Poker and chess lessons should be absorbed and acted upon intentionally.
I thought it would take less time to hit this milestone than it has taken.
But that’s not an unusual expectation. Many people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years.
My expectations with this blog started out high minded and then crashed to earth and then became high-minded again.
But with 1,000 published posts, some of which are guest posts, podcast episodes, and other sundry items, I can say, with some assurance, that I have gone further than I thought I would.
And you have responded.
You have retweeted, e-mailed, reposted, commented, Facebook “liked” and “shared” posts, and have even gone as far as to reach out to me offline to give me feedback.
That’s how this blog grows.
It’s not like kudzu, where you plant a vine and then come back a year later and there’s growth without investment.
It’s more like planting corn: Some years it’s good. Other years it’s not so good. But the farmer still tills the soil, plants the seed, prays on the knees, and then brings in whatever harvest there may be.
Year after year. Bumper crops and thin ones.
What comes next? What does post 1,001 to 2,000 look like?
Well, there’s another book coming this year, a collection of my best posts about work, disrupting your workplace, and how to accomplish all of that while also disrupting your boss. And it’s about why external training and development doesn’t work for the creation of change.
Look for that in the Fall of 2018.
There will also be a shift as parts of this blog go elsewhere on the web to serve other functions.
In 2018, as I advance and grow my personal brand, the writing will separate, and my blog posts covering conflict management, self-awareness, storytelling, and other contemporary leadership and people management skills and best practices will be featured in this space more prominently
Articles about personal leadership, business development, branding, entrepreneurship, bootstrapping, risk-taking, marketing, social media, the future of human communication on the Internet, and other more personal brand based content will migrate to a new site, focused on building my personal brand with an eye towards keynotes and speaking opportunities.
Look for this split to happen gradually, and then all at once by the Fall of 2018.
But no matter how it plays out, I want to thank you for joining me on the journey so far.
I write this blog because it’s good for my mental and physical health.
I write this blog because it’s good for my writing muscle and it further establishes my own “voice” in my own head.
I write this blog, because it connects me to you, whether that connection happens now, or one, two, five, ten, or twenty years from now.
I write this blog, whether anybody will read this blog or blogs in the future that I may launch, or not.
I write this blog, because the acts of thinking, writing, and then publishing to the world, is still an amazing thing—even in a world of Internet thinness.
So, the real question is where would you and I like to go next?
Instead of Netflix and Chill, Quarantine and Learn a New Skill
I Hate To Be The Bearer of Bad News
I see a lot of folks out there in Facebook land, behaving (or maybe just posting) as if the “happy times” will return.
Or as if this current situation with social distancing, working from home, and with businesses collapsing all over the palace or cutting back, is just a “temporary” problem and we’ll all go back to “normal” when it’s done.
The reality is, “happy times” might not be coming back for a while.
I would encourage you, whether you are an entrepreneur, an agency owner, an employee, or a manager or supervisor, to get with the idea that your current situation is not a time for just eating chips and watching Netflix.
Please take this opportunity to learn a new skill. Take this time to advance a hobby and think about how it could make you some money tomorrow.
Please take this time to spin up a new business model for how you can deliver what you used to do in a new way.
If that means taking a low-interest loan, then take the loan. If you can’t take the loan because you’re overleveraged on debt, don’t like the government giving out money, or are worried about the upcoming $30T national debt, then I hope you’ve got a rich Uncle. Or that you are prepared to pare down your life to the absolute bare bones.
Please take this time to talk with your children about what 30-60-90 days in the quarantine may mean for your relationships. Establish boundaries and get real with each other about self-care, mental health, and all the things that you wouldn’t “normally” talk about.
Because “normal” times aren’t coming back in the way that they were here before.
Instead of Netflix and Chill Please Take Some Time…
Please take the time to think about what you’re employer might do and begin to build contingency plans to get paid—not at your current level of pay, but at a lower level—somehow someway. Set up dropshipping on eBay. Set up an Amazon account. Write that book you’ve been meaning to write. Create that painting you’ve been meaning to create. Make that digital product you’ve been meaning to make.
And then put it out there on Facebook, for free at first, and then offer it to a smaller community.
And if you’re retiring, or have the option to do so, and think that that’s your “get out of jail ‘free’ card” well, I would implore you to dig in now and help your community, not with money, but with your time, your wisdom, and your sweat equity.
Retirement is only ever talked about as a punishment in the Bible, and you’ve lived too long, and done too much to be punishing yourself now in the face of all that’s happening in the world right now.
Now is the time for entrepreneurial thinking to blossom like a thousand poppies in America. You don’t need money, you don’t need permission, and you don’t need reassurance.
All the people who would provide that are in social isolation anyway.
Now is the time to get real with your life, your perspective, and your future.
Because the vast majority of us will survive Coronavirus. But, the cast majority of us may be broke, unemployed, or without ideas on the other side of this current crisis.
Be not afraid. But don’t be lazy either.
If you need help thinking about this differently, contact me using the information below. give me a , and let me help you navigate this new world.
by JESAN SORRELLS
2 min read
When everyone can publish to the Internet, it turns out that many still feel stuck in observation mode.
Which is too bad.
Because the courage we need from you to write something that matters for somebody to read, to watch, or to engage with, trumps your fear of raising your hand to commit to doing so.
So, while everyone can publish, still very few actually will.
We as a society of consumers, publishers, advertisers, and owners have failed to understand fully the radical implications of the communications schema we now live under with the presence of the Internet.
When almost everyone in the world has access to a keyboard, a microphone, and camera, almost everyone will become a publisher.
But, someone must fund that publishing in order for it to be seen by an audience willing to be changed by its presence in the world.
And while publishers may fail to understand the relationships between awareness, advertising, persuasion, publishing, and creation, consumers do themselves a disservice when they pretend that what a third party–wedged between them and the publisher–wants doesn’t matter.
There are multiple parties to consider in this transaction that is now going on at scale in the world right now:
Publishers are people (and sometimes organizations) who want to publish. They create, comment, click, like, share, and otherwise either participate, or validate, an opinion, a fact, or an idea through their actions.
What publishers want is a platform upon which to publish and attention from the audience they seek to impact.
Consumers are people who want to consume. They passively watch, applaud, share, click, like, and otherwise take in the opinions, facts, and ideas that publishers create.
What consumers want is to consume. Preferably without much action or engagement on their part and with as little friction as possible.
Owners are brands, organizations, and community builders of all types and stripes who want to own a piece of the communication real estate that the Internet has created. Owners create and own.
What owners want is to get paid for their work, their creativity, their cleverness, and their time spent building something for others. And they want to get paid as quickly as possible, as much as possible, as often as possible.
Advertisers are organizations, buyers, creators, and others who seek to intersect themselves in between owners, publishers, and consumers, ostensibly for the benefit of publishers and owners, but in reality, for the benefit of themselves.
What advertisers want is attention, awareness of the products, services, and processes they are seeking to persuade consumers. And they want it at scale, with as little friction as is possible.
There is little alignment between all of these parties (even though there is often confusing overlap), as the Internet has fractured and atomized the 20th century’s mass media, mass audiences, mass attention, and mass awareness.
With this lack of alignment comes confusion, misunderstanding, miscommunication, and at the end, scandal, corruption, mismanagement, and further erosions of public and private trust.
The best alignment is the type that removes the middleman from the interactions between the publisher and the audience and gets the publisher and the audience aligned.
The worst alignment is reflected in what is happening right now.
We as a society have gotten the Internet we asked for; dare I say, the Internet we wanted.
Now, at the beginning of yet another unraveling, a further atomizing and erosion inflection point in the overall communication culture, it’s time to ask for, and to want, something better.
Employees, managers, leaders, and organizations, don’t really believe the workplace needs to change.
If we really believed the workplace needed to change, we would hire and encourage employees to be candid about problems and issues, in a way that would interrupt the hierarchical power structure, and would encourage creative thinking, innovation, and risk-taking at the lowest level at work, rather than at the highest level.
Which is why leadership training is a worthy investment by an organization into its potential and current leaders, but leadership follow-through and implementation will always be a chimera.
If we really believed the workplace needed to change, we would have the courage to question issues that we see at work and propose equitable, non-hierarchical solutions to problems, issues, and conflicts, despite the impact of politics, power, or other considerations.
Which is why management training is a worthy investment by an organization into its potential and current managers, but management follow-through and implementation will always be difficult, but not impossible.
Which is also why the organizational view of management must shift and change, from one of day-to-day “keeping the train on the tracks” to one of “investing in pushing employees to be better today than they were yesterday.”
If we really believed the workplace needed to change, we would have the clarity to describe issues, conflicts, ethical and moral lapses, in clear, unambiguous language, rather than covering up with jargon, info-speak, or other forms of hiding.
Which is why organizational communication needs to shift to being more transparent, truthful, and honest. Workplace communication is about promotions, compensation, and all of the ways that we communicate non-verbally about culture to employees at all levels.
Because we don’t really believe the workplace needs to change, we don’t really believe the workplace can change in these three critical areas.
But, in order for the workplaces of the future to be better than workplaces of now–or of the past–we must work actively to change the workplace, whether our belief is solid, or not.
The impact of the next leap remains non-obvious for too many people, and too far off in many individuals’ minds. But then, there is the alarming presence of all the obvious “whens” all around us.
When the AI gets so good that human beings can’t tell the difference between the computer program and the human being.
When the machine learning gets so good that human beings can’t navigate managing and strategizing about the flood of data coming at us faster than the machine can.
When the amount of collected data is so overwhelming that human beings are paralyzed by analysis rather than having the courage to act in spite of the implications of the data.
In a world of those “whens”—which are arriving to the present as fast as they possibly can, no longer “whens” but “nows”—the only areas remaining to categorize, atomize, and to deliver on spec at low cost to an eager consumer, will be the emotional content of individual, human-to-human interactions.
The next leap is not around AI, machine learning, the Internet, or social media applications.
The next leap is not around robotics, data analysis, electric cars, augmented reality applications or virtual reality.
The next leap won’t even be around the industrialization of outcomes to spec on price, cost, labor, and work.
The next leap will be people—individuals, corporations, businesses, churches, schools—preserving and paying for the texture that individuality brings to human interaction.
The companies that are playing the long game of digitizing everything—every human interaction, every job, every product, every process, every service, and every crumb of knowledge—understand this las concept innately.
Google’s next great leap from dominance in the digital world will be from industrialization of outcomes to spec in a digital environment, to dominance in the material world of emotional, human-to-human interactions where spec means something different from individual to individual.
Are you playing Google’s long game, or are you playing humanity’s long game?
There are three questions to consider the answers to before you begin your next project, start your next job, voice your next complaint, or become frustrated in your next conflict.
What is the price?
This question is about trade-offs in a world of scarce resources, such as time, energy, effort, money, and so on. The price of something allows narrow, transactional negotiation to happen with seeming immediacy. The problem is, if you are in a race to the bottom with yourself on price, you’ll always be losing because the least expensive price is free.
What is it worth?
This question is about values and benefits in a world of abundant resources, such as time, energy, effort, and even money. Worth is personal, subjective, and priceless. Think about how much a glass of water is worth to a thirsty man in the desert who owns a Lamborghini. The problem is, if you have a mindset focused solely on the worth of an item, you may miss the cost of it.
What does it cost?
This question is about the work that a person puts into the development, maintenance, and growth of a product, process, or service. The work has a cost, from emotional labor to technical competency. The work is the cost. The problem is, we both undervalue and overvalue work for a variety of reasons that stem back to the root of worth and cost.
Before you launch your next project, start your next job, voice your next complaint, or become frustrated in your next conflict, please consider the answers to the questions above carefully, so that you know exactly where to put your focus.
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