The StarboardRail Rotating Header Image

Canadian Class Afloat Ship Sinks

Feb 23rd, 2010
by Tim.
0 Comments
roundel adopted by Royal Canadian Air Force, f...
Image via Wikipedia

I love tall ships and couldn’t believe the story that unfolded with the Concordia when suddenly met with heavy seas the crew, high schoolers had to abandon ship and await rescue from life rafts afloat in ocean. I agree with the sea-fever.org blog in that everyone may not be a fan of the Class Afloat program but I believe it is an incredible program that gives opportunities to kids to learn and experience something new. I wish I would have gotten my hands on a program like this when I was kid because I can now only dream of having this type of experience. While there is a some level of danger I would be willing to let my son enter a program like this because it maybe a life changing event. The sea-fever.org blog has a good description of how a Microburst potentially toppled the Concordia. This sounds like the best possibility. We’re glad to hear everyone is safe and we look forward to students and staff returning to their studies and families.

Below is an excerpt from the Canadian press about the sinking:

McArthur, who was a staff member aboard the SV Concordia, said she was teaching a biology class Wednesday when it became apparent that the ship was in serious trouble.

She said her students quickly dressed in immersion suits and all were able to get into life-rafts as the vessel quickly rolled onto its side.

“It was pretty intense, but the students and the whole crew were very focused and they all did an excellent job by helping and supporting each other,” said McArthur.

She said everyone remained calm and knew “what they had to do and where they needed to be.”

“Instinctively the students and the crew knew what to do . . . and I think that’s one of the reasons we were all able to get out of there safely.”

McArthur said it wasn’t very long before the life-rafts moved away from the ship and “we were able to watch it go down.”

Read the entire article.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Uncategorized.

33rd America’s Cup Numbers

Feb 17th, 2010
by Tim.
0 Comments
America's cup, 1848
Image via Wikipedia

With the 33rd America’s Cup finally in the books and the Cup safe and secured in hands of people that will hopefully honor the tradition of the Cup here are some of the numbers from the event. To see some of the marketing info please see the link below but I wanted to point out the internet numbers. Typical American media carried very little of the event so most of us stateside were left with the internet. Due to a prior engagement and a 4 hour delay in the race, I followed the final race on Twitter. Which was interesting in it’s own way.

I’ll have some more thoughts on the America’s Cup as start a new videolog for my site this weekend. Stay tuned for more in the future.

From Sailkarma.com

The 33rd America’s Cup in Numbers

The second successive victory for BMW ORACLE Racing against Alinghi on Sunday 14th February 2010 marked the end of the 33rd America’s Cup in Valencia. As an international sporting event it was without precedent in terms of the organization.

TV
39 TV channels acquired the broadcasting rights : Sky (Great Britain), Canal + (France), Teledeporte and Canal 9 (Spain), Eurosport (Europe), Show Time (the Middle East), ESPN (the USA) FOX Live (Australia), TVNZ and Sky (New Zealand).
15 hours of live broadcasting to 216 territories
27 hours of special programs
2,160 million potential viewing audience.

INTERNET (www.americascup.com)
2,800,000 visits
1,200,000 unique visitors
656,000 unique visitors watched the live racing direct through the official web site
(this audience does not include the streaming broadcasting by 350 other Internet sites worldwide)
346,000 was the record number of unique visitors, occurring on the 12 of February 16,000 Facebook fans and 13,000 followers on Twitter in the three official languages of all the communication of the Web (Spanish, English and French)
More than 300 articles published more in three languages on www.americascup.com

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Uncategorized.

How much do you really know or need to know

Jan 11th, 2010
by Tim.
0 Comments
Sailboat
Image by Mikett via Flickr

So I’m preparing for my spring happiness tour. OK, it’s really a day trip to the Chicago “Strictly Sail” expo on Navy Pier. It helps me through the winter doldrums. I was looking at seminars to take and found myself looking at a website for Captain Jack Klang who does these incredibly informative easy to follow seminars on different sailing topics. While checking out his website I came across some articles he has on various topics. So I checked out the article on “What and How of Cruising” basically what do you need to know before cruising around the ocean sailing and we’re not talking an ocean crossing passage but spending a couple months in Caribbean or something. What strikes me about this list is the length and remember it’s more of a technical list not a list for cooking, living aboard or visiting foreign countries. As a weekend sailor I can find the need to know well over 80% of this list which is a ton.

So why am I writing about this list? While I’d love to get more people interested in sailing the real reason is that had this list not existed for me to point out how many of you would understand what knowledge/equipment that was needed for this activity? Answer is very few. In fact every year people are hurt because of boat owners that don’t understand most or all of these items. So my question is how many of us understand all the different things we need to be able to do our jobs? Have you ever sat down and wrote out all the things you need to understand or have to do your job. How about what you need to know for your next job or to start a new business. Being in the position of potentially look outside of my current career I would want to know the “list” of where I should start to make sure I’m ready for my next career. I have friends that have varying positions in life . I know digital managers that control large work-flow systems, virtual assistants, CFOs, marketing people, PR people, call center employees and even those working in the life of fast food. I bet if they wrote down a list of everything they need to understand even at a basic level we’d all be surprised by the length of those list. Remember the list isn’t just knowledge but the tools needed to do these activities.

A surprising spin-off from these lists is an understanding of one’s own strengths and weaknesses. One I see is poor weather handling. I may never go sailing during a storm but it doesn’t mean that something may not happen to me one while on the water. Why not use your list to focus some effort on improving those areas you’re weaker in or making sure your resume accurately depicts what it is you exactly do. One simple exercise can bring to light a lot of information you may know but never quantified. Happy Listing!

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Where Have I Been?

Jan 5th, 2010
by Tim.
0 Comments

It’s been almost two full months since my last post and I feel like I owe an apology to everyone. The problem is I have so much going on that sometimes it is hard to focus the whirlwind in my head long enough to complete a full thought. I had a recent class that required attention along with a job that is becoming very pressurized to complete some important projects. One of those projects involved developing internal wiki and blog for my department which leaves me little motivation to pick up my laptop at home and continue posting. Not to mention that holiday stresses seem to drive me under a blanket relaxing versus diving into technology.

Looking around I am noticing that a lot people do resolutions and predictions for the next year but not me. I don’t know exactly what goals I have for this next year. It’s not that I don’t have ideas but 2009 somehow changed the ideas of what my ideal plan was. What’s going on in my life and some influences that have emerged in my life this past year that have changed my thoughts. Let’s start at the big thing to come this next year, graduation.

So after several years I find myself coming into the home stretch of my masters of business degree with three semesters left. This has been a personal goal that set a while back and though the timing completely changed due to a couple of job moves and some other life changing events. I finally can say this goal is going to be completed. Most people view my masters as a waste of time in the “new” digital world where old university programs won’t keep up. I feel to some respect this idea is being short sighted while I agree that business and technology are always driving forward there is always a need for people to understand business even if their changing the business paradigm. Besides for a person like me who had a very focused undergraduate degree my masters was a way for me to build a broader base for my future.. whatever that will be.

I originally viewed my masters degree in two ways. First as a stepping stone to move out of a production management role and into a more administrative management. I’ve been in production management for the past 11 years because that was the focus my undergrad gave me. I didn’t necessarily have the base I needed to move towards other roles in a company. The second way was I felt some tug to move outside of my industry into other endeavors and when you don’t have experience in a given industry then work experience and education are a good base to work from. What other industry? Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves I’m not there yet.

So what’s in store for me this year will be a lot but most important will be a real soul searching for my next real goal. I’ve been focused on this for a long time and when I started my thoughts were very different then where I am now. Father of two living back in Wisconsin was not on my radar when I first started thinking MBA. My problem is my responsibility is larger then when I started making changes riskier while making me a bit more cautious. My thought continues to be what is next. I don’t have that answer, yet.

Again that whirlwind in my head is full of potential goals, ideas and thoughts but I’m not ready to focus them just yet. I want to process the whole thing and explore the possibilities before setting my goals. I’m constantly searching for input from others along with looking for people to inspire my thoughts. I’m surrounded by them everyday whether they know it or not. I’ll introduce you to them and my ideas as the year continues. So if you see me wandering in my mind don’t worry I’m not drifting to a shed in Wyoming or anything I’m just taking the time to take a couple of deep breaths preparing to set sail in my next great adventure.

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Following My Father’s Footsteps

Nov 9th, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments

I don’t remember a time growing up when I wasn’t known as “Dr. Florek’s son”. When your father is a dentist in a town of 22,000 people a lot of them have had interactions with him. I never really appreciated that and for a long time growing up I felt it was more of a curse then something to be proud of. When everyone knows your family there is no anonymous actions. The fact that my father knew so many people meant I always seemed to know the right person to get something such as a summer job in my industry which gave me experience for college. I always felt that his influence was helping me whether I wanted it or not. My decision to move to St. Louis after I graduated from college was as much about proving to myself that I could succeed on my own as it was a boy wanting to spread his wings a little. I spent seven years in St. Louis and lived through Mark McGwire, rise of Kurt Warner, the death of Joe Buck and the tragic September 11 attacks. On a personal note I saw a cousin living in the St Louis area recover from a career ending accident, lost my uncle living in St. Louis to cancer and lost my grandfather to time. Taking stock in my life I realized that what I missed the most was the time I spent with my father. It’s not that we see eye to eye on most issues but it was the connection between a father and son and the random conversations we’d have over beer, fishing or hunting. It had slowly dawned on me that “Dr. Florek’s son” was not as much a curse as it was a compliment. When ever I meet people who ask me if I’m related to Dr. Florek it was always followed by line “I love your dad” or “your dad’s a really good guy”. There are never any bad words about my father. I never heard anyone criticize my father until he helped push for a smoking ban in my hometown. After losing a good friend and his brother to cancer caused by smoking he helped push through a law making restaurants smoke free. A trend that has taken hold in other areas around the state. I realized a sense of pride I had in my father and what he had done. This is when I began realizing that my father was the type that people enjoyed knowing and in Malcolm Gladwell speak he is a classic connector of people. He knew people and a ton of people knew him. Beyond that though I realized how much I admired what he had done..

In 2003 my father started on another journey along with another fellow dentist they put together the Tri County Community Dental Clinic offering dental services to those in need. For a man that should be halfway to retirement he basically had given himself a second full-time job. In 2005 he and Dr. Tim Brown were inducted by the International College of Dentistry for their work in the Tri County Community Dental Clinic. More recently in 2009, again my father was honored along with Dr. Tim Brown with The Social Innovations Prize in Wisconsin which is given to adults who address critical social problems at a local, regional or national level. Go to socialinnovationprize.org for more. Here is the write up that this group put on their site about my father and Dr. Tim Brown.

From The Social Innovation Prize in Wisconsin dated 10/13/09: “Dr. Brown and Dr. Florek are the co-winners of The 2009 Social Innovatin Prize in Wisconsin“

Through the efforts of Drs. Brown and Florek, the Tri County Community Dental Clinic was created with the aim to provide quality dental care through a volunteer program that links local volunteer dentist mentors with dental and dental hygiene students. Since the inception of the clinic in 2003, over $6.4 M in free dental services has covered over 30,000 patient visits.

Brief Bio Regarding the Tri County Community Dental Clinic
The 2001 Fox Cities LIFE (Leading Indicators for Excellence) community assessment outlined a striking issue – a large number of area residents are without access to adequate dental care. As a result, in 2002, local dentists Tim Brown and Phil Florek realized this need would continue to escalate and proceeded to mobilize their peers and community.

To meet the growing need for dental care for the over 60,000 uninsured and under insured in the three-county area of Winnebago, Calumet and Outagamie counties, Tim and Phil encouraged a group of dentists and community leaders to embark on an ambitious project: to build and staff a volunteer dental clinic. Their dream was that local volunteer dentists would provide oral health care for those in the community with no insurance or with limited means to pay for dental care. With support from dental students and residents from Marquette University School of Dentistry and dental hygiene and dental assistant students from Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), the dental community not only agreed to volunteer their time and talents, but also contributed financially to the project. Doctors Jeff and Marissa Kessler donated a parcel of land across from Fox Valley Technical College as the site for the new dental clinic, Marquette University agreed to donate the equipment for eight operatories, and the Tri County Community Dental Clink (TCCDC) was born.

Today, TCCDC is an innovative leader in fostering mentor programs between local dentist volunteers and dental student/residents. Volunteer hygienists from the community also mentor hygiene students at the clinic. The Tri County Community Dental Clinic is a non-profit dental clinic established in 2003 to provide quality oral health care services in a caring and compassionate manner to under-privileged individuals. Under the direction of Brown and Florek, TCCDC has made some amazing strides. Since turning their vision into a reality over five years ago, TCCDC has been able to log over 6.4 million dollars worth of free services and 30,147 patient visits for general care and emergency services. This would not be possible without the many monetary, in-kind, property and equipment donations. TCCDC works in collaboration the Fox Cities Community Health Center to coordinate medical and dental care. Federal Grant dollars are shared between the organizations.

The team of dentists provides the most cost-effective dental care, including preventive screenings. In 2008, over 80 local dentists, 34 hygienists, 38 non-dental volunteers, 312 Marquette University dental students, 37 FVTC students and 30 pre-dental students provided care at TCCDC, staffing over 6000 patient visits. The clinic’s partnership with Head Start provided 262 children the opportunity to receive dental care and another 80 to have free screenings and teeth cleaning at the Give Kids a Smile event in 2008. The clinic now sees around 29 patients each day, treating around 11 emergencies daily, as well.

Drs. Florek and Brown continue to lead TCCDC as board members and serve as active volunteers in the clinic. They actively recruit local dentists to serve as mentors, solicit funding for the clinic, train young professionals and seek out community board members to provide marketing, financial, technology and other skills to help support the work of the clinic. TCCDC has been recognized in Wisconsin as a model for volunteer/educational liaison/professional services. Both will continue to lead TCCDC as a partnership of volunteers, educational organizations and community support providing dental care to those in need. www.tricountydental.org
end quote

I do not cringe at the phrase “Dr. Florek’s Son” anymore. In fact I the sense of pride I get when I hear someone tell me what a great guy my father is. I also use it as a goal to somehow find a way to follow in the footsteps of my father and do something of meaning outside my own life. I haven’t figured out what that is or when it will happen but when it does the first person that gets the credit will be my father. I have an enormous amount of pride in my father I only wish I would have realized this at a younger age.

So the other day I’m talking to my mother about my father’s award and she noted an interesting point that none of the local media TV or Newspapers had really covered the Tri County Community Dental Clinic awards and it’s located right here in the Northeast Wisconsin. That’s when I decided to write this post figuring that maybe in some way my little blog here is at least telling the story.

I did some searching online and found that today November 9, 2009 an article was posted to our local Post Cresent newspaper online by Ed Lowe. Thanks Ed. It’s not so much about my father as it is about the clinic itself. There was also a blurb in the Oshkosh Northwestern though I can not find a link that acknowledged the award won by the dental clinic.

I hope to see more stories about this not because I want everyone to know how cool my dad is but because we need more people like him and Dr. Brown finding solutions to real problems in everyday life. Then we need people like all the volunteer dentist, hygienists, students and office workers that give their time to ensure that people are helped. If we had more people like these in our world a better place it could be.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Personal Tale, Service.

Hire Smart People not Yes People

Oct 26th, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments

As some may know I am currently finishing my Masters in Business Administration in Marketing but the downfall in going back to school is that I have to open old fears like my fear of finance. So let’s get this straight I’m not afraid of finance it just doesn’t “click” with me. With two sisters talented enough to be CFOs I know where my limit is and finance is it. I’ll still probably end up with a “B” hopefully in this class but I will not be sending my resume into any financial firms for trader jobs anytime soon.

There is one thing that I have learned in my 12+ years in the job pool and that is I’m not always going to be the smartest one in the room on every subject. A chief executive officer I met in college(over 12 years ago) was discussing with me what it takes to run a company. He said the thing that made him the most successful was the fact that everyone that works for him is smarter than him in some way. Basically since we may not know everything, we need other smart people that can fill in the blanks. Surround yourself with smart people so that when the going gets tough there is more than one brain in room thinking. Too many times I see managers hire people that are well below the skill level of the manager. I don’t know if these managers need to feel important or may feel threatened but I do know that they hurt their companies by making these poor decisions. I want to hire people that can teach me new things or people that aspire to grow because those are the people that bring talent to the table. This doesn’t mean hire the “aggressive type” that is out for your job because that will create unwanted conflict. Besides in my opinion most of the time those “aggressive types” aren’t smarter they are just more scheming and end up hurting team interactions.

My sister, a respected upper manager for a large banking firm put it as simple as this. “If your people can function without you because they’re smart enough to make the correct decisions then you are more promotable.” It makes sense that if a department under your management falls apart when you take a vacation then how can the company promote you without adversely affecting the department and the company. My proudest moments as a manager have been when I cross that threshold with a department. When I realize that I am no longer needed for day to day items is when I know I’ve done something right. If you build your team out of smart people then their solutions will drive a business, product or service forward.

So the next time your staring down an interviewee ask yourself what can he/she bring to the table and can they teach me something new. Don’t hire the next “yes” person hire the right person even if their smarter.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Informational.
Tagged: · · · ·

Airline Service strikes again

Sep 24th, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments
Airbus A330-200
Image via Wikipedia

I don’t know what it is about airlines but there is a reason why people don’t like air travel. Reading this situation story from Elliot.org I would ask the question why did the flight attendant really act in this way and how could it have been handled better. Are you telling me that a minor “conflict” with a passenger is grounds for removal from the flight. In that case I’m never asking for a second bag of peanuts again. Listen I know airlines can be stressful and since that ugly day in 2001 people are on edge but honestly last i checked the airlines are still a business for humans by humans.  I do think the author of this article says it best when he thinks Mr. Winn should take his travel budget elsewhere. Here’s a brief look at the story.

“I said I prefer to hold it on my lap, and wrapped its
cloth strap around my wrist and laid it on my lap, as it held my
wallet. Note that the steward did NOT say, “I’m sorry, but
plane regulations require you put your wallet up above.” I knew
of course that larger bags could not be held in an exit row during
takeoff.

Strangely, the steward pointed his finger at me, with thumb raised
up in the air as if it were a pistol, and said, “It looks like
you and I are in for a conflict.” Then he walked away. I
dismissed it as odd behavior, or maybe a poor attempt at humor.

It was no joke. Winn says he was escorted from the plane. “I
was threatened with arrest and deplaned for wearing an eyemask,”
he told me. “

Read the full story here.

What makes me wonder is the follow up correspondence that Mr. Winn had with the airline where he was made out to the be bad guy. Seriously? Listen airlines I give you the benefit of the doubt so many times only to be proven wrong time and time again.

There is a new concept coming out in airline design in which passengers will sit face to face. Apparently the idea comes from the way military personnel are transported. Now the design is for short commuter flights but honestly taking an idea from the military is basically telling us we’re not viewed a living people just sardines in a can. Sure the 50% savings maybe tempting but just make sure their intention is to land the plane. I’d hate to get on a flight where they then remind you that your seat cushion is also your parachute for jumping to the ground with. For some this will work and for others it is just another nail in the coffin of a good customer service.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Service.

Don’t Forget the Customer Service.

Sep 17th, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments

I have listened, read and attended talks given by people talking about the power of social media and how we can use it to create relationships and connect to our customers. While I agree 100% with the importance social media, I feel that sometimes we overlook the basics to have in place prior to using social media. Merlin Mann said in his South by Southwest panel with Jon Gruber that Social Media doesn’t automatically give you good service. Using Zappos as an example of a company that had great service then turned to social media. Think about what he’s saying, create a great company first then use social media to enhance your communication to your customer base.

So the area Merlin mentioned was good customer service. Outside of marketing and PR however typically the view of a company comes through our direct interactions with employees, customer service. Poor customer service will always undercut your business goals by irritating, frustrating and losing customers. So what does it mean to have good customer service. It means different things to different companies. Some say it is doing whatever is necessary to make the customer happy while others look at customer service as scriptable phone jockeys and still others think of customer service as secretaries there to take orders from customers. So which is it? To me none of them work and all too often the role of customer service being played incorrectly.

For me a customer service person is someone that serves in the best interest of the customer and company at the same time. The problem with that is that to accomplish that customer service needs to be smart enough to understand the balance between the two. This is typically where customer service fails. They do one versus the other. If you focus too much on employer then customers get mad and if you focus on customers then the company may suffer from poor decisions.The customer is always right but that doesn’t mean they should get anything they want. Intelligent solutions are needed. To satisfy this customer service people need to be some of the smartest people in an organization. I don’t think this happens. I think customer service is looked upon all too often as a data entry clerk or phone jockeys not intelligent problem solvers. If the people dealing with your customers aren’t some of the smartest in your company then your customers and your company will suffer.

In my earlier post #FAIL is not the objectivewhere a Youtube video became a PR horror story for United Airlines it all could have been avoided if one of the first customer service representatives had acted smarter when approached with the situation. Poor customer service ended up costing United Airlines a lot more than just a replacing a couple of guitars. On the other hand in Yvon Chouinard’s book “Let My People Go Surfing” he writes about a situation where a customer had sent in a pair of twelve year old pants hoping they could be repaired. By accident the pants were tossed and the customer was upset. A smart customer service person went back into the company archives and found the same style and size of pants to replace the ones that were lost. Think about how smart that is. Taking the time to search for obsoleted stock to fix a mistake cost Patagonia very little to save for a big mistake. While we don’t know the customer I would guess that they were satisfied with the solution.

Smart customer service people are problem solvers that benefit both customer and the company. So before firing up the twitter profile, setting up the Facebook fan page or starting that corporate blog maybe we should all ask ourselves if our customer service is up to the task. Let’s face it the only worse than poor customer service is seeing a trending topic named #fail”yourcompany”.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: professional tale.
Tagged: · · ·

What Jimmy Buffett Taught Me About CEOs

Sep 2nd, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments

This past weekend was the annual Jimmy Buffett concert in East Troy Wisconsin for all of us Cheese-Parrotheads but I didn’t get to go. In the past 18 years I’ve only missed his show a couple of times. Late on Friday I had the opportunity to purchase some cheap tickets for the show but my prior engagements could not be changed. After telling my story of how many years I’ve seen Jimmy play someone asked wasn’t I afraid he’d retire and not play up here anymore. That’s a good question but then I remembered an interview I read in which he talked about how he may dial back the number of shows he does but could never give it up completely. I said, I know he’ll be back as long as he can play and sing he’ll keep coming back. He’ll be back not because he needs the money but because he loves what he does and he loves the working family he plays with every night. He is the CEO of Margaritaville and all its inhabitants and doesn’t see a reason to retire yet. He is an entrepreneur that became the accidental CEO to something wonderful. He is the type of person I would want to work for; passionate, driven and dedicated to his work.

There are two types of CEO’s in the world. We have accidental CEO’s that typically started off as the entrepreneur of a small enterprise that grew into a larger stable business. The other kind of CEO is what I call a career CEO’s. Career CEO’s seem to be the executives that move from established companies to established companies. Now there are a different variations of each type and most people can come up with good and bad examples of each but when they are all tallied the accidental CEO is the one I’d choose time and time again.

Let’s talk about where the accidental CEO comes from. They typically start from the beginning; an idea, a feeling or even a partner that gets them thinking about starting a new business. Then they do something so many of us don’t have the strength to do, they take the next step and pursue the business. Some like Yvon Chouinard started a climbing gear company, Ben & Jerry started an ice cream company or my current CEO, Bruce Bell started a printing company. The catch is they started as entrepreneurs whose businesses were their passion and it grew into something more that they hung onto for the ride. This is also when they cross the line from entrepreneur to a true CEO. Accidental is my term and it really comes from Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia’s, book “Let My People Go Surfing” when he talks about how he had not planned to become a CEO he just wanted to make better climbing gear for himself and figured others may want the same. The rest just happened. To me they accidental fell into the title. What makes the accidental CEO is the passion they typically have for their company and products. It shows in the way they interact and how the company operates. I currently work for an owner that started our $100+ Million dollar company in his garage and though now half retired he still attends operations meetings and gets to know every new employee. 500+ employees currently. When you talk to him and look at the mission statements on our walls there is a one to one connection. The drive to serve our customers is the same drive he founded over thirty years ago.

Career CEO’s are another group of executives that may never have felt that entrepreneurial pull but understood how businesses run and worked their way to the top. These CEO’s can be as successful as any other CEO but typically they are missing a few qualities found in accidental CEO’s such as passion and a direct connection to the company. Don’t get me wrong these CEO’s can be successful and are driven to success but the passion behind the product is missing. Sometimes when talking to these CEO’s it feels that they almost have standard phrases that they just insert their current company’s product into. Now these CEO’s can be incredible business people and launch companies skyward but is that all we are looking for? A lot of people look towards these types of CEO’s and see people out for the highest dollar with little concern for those working for the companies. People probably associate them those who took down companies like Enron, Quest, Worldcom and others. I worked for someone like this in my past. I watched a 100+ year old company get sold and erased from the map while it’s CEO walked away with $16 Million. I doubt she could name five employees from every plant her decision affected. Was she a bad CEO? I can’t say but I will say she had no passion for what the company did nor the people that worked for it.

The obvious comeback is to say that some entrepreneurs sell their businesses everyday to the highest bidder and others fail completely that affects a lot of people. These are true but not all entrepreneurs become accidental CEOs and businesses don’t always work out. However when you go to work everyday wouldn’t you rather look up to someone who is passionate about their company, their product and the future of their company. Think about the power that brings to the room. It’s infectious when you see entrepreneurs who have that passion. Their employees feed off that passion and the work being done collectively moves everything forward. It is a tremendous sight watching a company all moving in sync with that common passion.

Whether you are in the market for a new job or potentially looking to become a new entrepreneur figure out what kind of person you’d like to work for or become. Is it someone filled with passion about what they are doing or someone that just views their work as more work. Find what you are passionate about and make that your career.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Uncategorized.

First Comment Horror Story

Aug 26th, 2009
by Tim.
0 Comments

I wanted to tell you the tale of tvorse and his first blog comment. When I first joined Twitter I wasn’t sure who to follow so I looked to people that I heard about, listened to or read. People like @leolaporte @kevinrose @chrisbrogan @zeldman @guykawasaki people who had some punch behind their name. I admired them in some way. Whether it was listening to podcasts, using Digg or following their blogs. Especially Chris Brogan and Jeffery Zeldman who I found their blogs interesting and real. Then it happened, I was reading Chris Brogan’s blog and I had something to say about his post. Now those who know me also know that I frequently have something to say. If you know me that well then you also know that once in a while my words out pace my brain or my fingers. So I posted a comment, quickly from the top of my head. This was not a good idea. My first paragraph was disjointed and probably sounded like I was smoking something. After that first paragraph though I actually put a couple of thoughts down that I felt were relevant. For some reason speed to post entered my mind then came all the words. Too many words. Finished I hit post. There it was my first real blog comment posted. Not an IRC chat or random post to a thoughtless news engine but a real comment. Then came back a response. RESPONSE? WHO? Chris Brogan himself responded to my comment. He mentioned that the first paragraph didn’t make much sense to him but went on to compliment me on my take for the rest of the comment. First thing that went through my head was shame. I am not a writer by any means and currently attending graduate school part-time reminds me of the caution that I need to use when writing. When it was all said and done I felt embarrassed. Embarrassed because I didn’t slow down and take the time think through my post but also because it was on someone like Chris Brogan’s blog. I let it scare me away from commenting and writing my own blog. So what changed that now I am trying it all again. Actually let me say that I have always kept a web presence I just never promoted it that is now changing.

Couple of things changed for me. The first was my comfort level. I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people through Twitter, work and professional circles that has built up some confidence in my opinions. Also if you read what I said above, Chris actually made a positive response to my comment. I may have verbally tripped but still managed to deliver a reasonable perspective. Took me a bit to remember that.

The next thing that has changed was 4 more semesters of school. While I still am not a writer I am remembering where my difficulties lie. I try to slow my thoughts and writing down in an attempt to catch more errors and poorly worded phrases. They will still get by me but I continue to try to improve myself. I can still do calculus and calculate angular momentum from 11 yrs ago but still have bad memories of my tech writing class.

So my advice on the subject is this:
• Think through your comment and try to keep it short and to the point. Long comments are fine when you have something to say but when you think them out you also typically thin them out as well.
• Don’t be afraid to comment. If you are yourself and speak your mind people can get past the minor details.
• Post on people’s blogs you’ve met before to get use to your process of commenting.
• Lastly just try it. You may not be perfect but who is? Your online experience will be enriched by the extra interaction. We’re here to communicate not play english teacher.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Posted in: Informational, Personal Tale.

← Earlier Posts