Janet Brining it!
Janet Jackson looked gorgeous on the red carpet as she attended the amFAR (Foundation for Aids Research) event at the La Permanent during Milan Fashion Week last night.
The singer posed with designer Donatella Versace who Janet is a big fan of. The designer designed outfits for the entire Jackson family to wear at Michael Jackson's public memorial this summer.
Donatella threw a huge dinner part for 150 family and friends earlier in the evening, including Janet, 43, and her beau Jermaine Dupri.
Janet recently praised the fashionista in an interview, saying: 'Donatella is just a sweet, nurturing woman.'
All The Sports News You Need
Hey HR...got any friends?
Jason
I agree with your post and think this is very relevant to the message we will be sharing with the ND SHRM Conference on Thursday…especially your comments on the importance of relationships.
I cannot emphasize the importance of relationships enough, and not the cheesy, shmoozy, “I want everyone to like me” kind of relationships, but real relationships; with some trust and some candor and some common ground. I think that one of the key challenges facing HR professionals is the nature of their relationships with those outside of HR.
HR professionals and HR teams need to become part of the business, and in too many organizations they are something apart from the business. They are the “touchy-feely” people, or the compliance cops, and not a part of the everyday business of the business. I think that this disconnect is as much about personal relationships as it is about organizational charts or seating arrangements.
HR needs to become more relational in nature. Screw the tired lamentations (that is my fancy word for the day) about how to get the “seat at the table” and becoming more “strategic” and invest aggressively in building your social capital. Meet people. Ask good questions. Listen. Really listen. Take notes. Follow-up with people. Stay in touch. Find ways to help. Find more ways to help. Repeat. Forever.
None of this is about being popular. All of this is about being valuable. If you are an HR professional or leader, go meet people.
-joe
Coffee's for Closers (HR as Sales Professional)
Joe,
As we prepare to invade the North Dakota State SHRM Conference this week, I thought maybe I'd share some of my philosophy regarding why I think all Human Resources professionals should think of themselves as being in sales.
People are often surprised to find that while I now spend my days leading an HR department for an organization of about 800 employees, I have no formal education in Human Resources. As you know, my career started with a job selling copiers in small town rural America. I literally spent my days walking up and down main street of small towns, making cold calls hoping to find someone who might give me a few minutes to talk about copiers or fax machines. I ultimately found my way to HR by way of executive recruitment (another sales job that happens to do with connecting people and jobs). So, when I finally landed as a professional in HR, I viewed it through a sales perspective. Fortunately for me, I think this perspective has played a major role in my success in HR. Here's a few of my thoughts on why.
Sales is about relationships. Sales people spend a lot of time trying to connect to people and get to know them. We were trained in sales to build and leverage relationships to help us make sales. It's easier to buy from someone you know. In HR, most of the really important work we do involves convincing leaders and employees to do something different than what they have in the past, to buy a new way of doing things. We want them to adopt a new performance appraisal or participate in a new wellness program. Whether or not the "buy" into this new program has a lot to do with their relationship with HR. Do they know you? Do they trust you? If the answer to both questions is yes, your new program has a significantly higher probability of success.
Sales is strategic. Sales people know that in order to make a big sale, several people have to say yes and only one person has to say no to stop it. If the sale is big enough, people from several departments and levels of responsibility will have to sign off on it. A sales professional knows this and maps out this process in advance. The sales pro knows who has to say yes, who has the power to say no, and what each person will want to know to make the "buy" decision. HR is no different. Let's use a new HR software purchase as an example. To make the purchase, you may need the approval of your head of HR (if that's not you), the CFO, the IT department, purchasing, legal, etc. A savvy HR pro will lay all of these approvals out on paper and outline what each approver is likely to be looking for. If this HR pro is really good, she probably has established relationships with each of the approvers so she can go to them early in the process to find out what questions each might have. By knowing ahead of time who needs what information to say yes, it's much more likely to get the approval when it's crunch time.
The list goes on. These are two of the biggest reasons I've found how HR pros with sales skills get ahead. You started off in sales like I did, have you found the same to be true?
Jason
As we prepare to invade the North Dakota State SHRM Conference this week, I thought maybe I'd share some of my philosophy regarding why I think all Human Resources professionals should think of themselves as being in sales.
People are often surprised to find that while I now spend my days leading an HR department for an organization of about 800 employees, I have no formal education in Human Resources. As you know, my career started with a job selling copiers in small town rural America. I literally spent my days walking up and down main street of small towns, making cold calls hoping to find someone who might give me a few minutes to talk about copiers or fax machines. I ultimately found my way to HR by way of executive recruitment (another sales job that happens to do with connecting people and jobs). So, when I finally landed as a professional in HR, I viewed it through a sales perspective. Fortunately for me, I think this perspective has played a major role in my success in HR. Here's a few of my thoughts on why.
Sales is about relationships. Sales people spend a lot of time trying to connect to people and get to know them. We were trained in sales to build and leverage relationships to help us make sales. It's easier to buy from someone you know. In HR, most of the really important work we do involves convincing leaders and employees to do something different than what they have in the past, to buy a new way of doing things. We want them to adopt a new performance appraisal or participate in a new wellness program. Whether or not the "buy" into this new program has a lot to do with their relationship with HR. Do they know you? Do they trust you? If the answer to both questions is yes, your new program has a significantly higher probability of success.
Sales is strategic. Sales people know that in order to make a big sale, several people have to say yes and only one person has to say no to stop it. If the sale is big enough, people from several departments and levels of responsibility will have to sign off on it. A sales professional knows this and maps out this process in advance. The sales pro knows who has to say yes, who has the power to say no, and what each person will want to know to make the "buy" decision. HR is no different. Let's use a new HR software purchase as an example. To make the purchase, you may need the approval of your head of HR (if that's not you), the CFO, the IT department, purchasing, legal, etc. A savvy HR pro will lay all of these approvals out on paper and outline what each approver is likely to be looking for. If this HR pro is really good, she probably has established relationships with each of the approvers so she can go to them early in the process to find out what questions each might have. By knowing ahead of time who needs what information to say yes, it's much more likely to get the approval when it's crunch time.
The list goes on. These are two of the biggest reasons I've found how HR pros with sales skills get ahead. You started off in sales like I did, have you found the same to be true?
Jason
Sports Round Table Connection
Today Saturday Sept 26th you get a special
3 hour long Sports Round Table. Tune in to
1170AM WDIS or click on the LISTEN LIVE link
right here to go directly to the show, and if
you miss anything, come back during the week
to hear the replay. Listen to last weeks
replay now, right here !
3 hour long Sports Round Table. Tune in to
1170AM WDIS or click on the LISTEN LIVE link
right here to go directly to the show, and if
you miss anything, come back during the week
to hear the replay. Listen to last weeks
replay now, right here !
aguilera loves the night
In the new commercial for Christina Aguilera's latest fragrance "By Night," she seems to have created a sequel of sorts to the spot for her self-titled one a couple perfumes back. iLike. Of course, stuff like this is the reason we aren't getting that new album, isn't it..?
No F?@# you
Ex Danity Kane member Aubrey O Day who i use to a fan of until she sold out to become a scank.O day was caught topless in her first show called PEEPSHOW IN VEGAS,when someone in the audience took a picture of her not at her best.Aubrey is now crying about the picture being linked on the web.She acts like we have not seen her goods before remember playboy dumb ass.She is just upset that the photo was not photo shopped.Grow up bitch!
Lifes A Party
With invites to parties for Topshop Unique, Mulberry and Vivienne Westwood, Sarah Harding had her work cut out last night.
And the notorious party girl didn’t disappoint, attending no less than six events last night as the London Fashion Week festivities got under way.
So it was little surprise that the Girls Aloud singer was looking somewhat worse for wear by 3am.
Joined by bandmate Nicola Roberts the pair began their evening at a cocktail reception to celebrate the Topshop Unique show at The Ivy. Fellow guests at the star-studded event included Simon Cowell, Kate Moss and U.S. Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
The party was swiftly followed by the Vivienne Westwood catwalk show. Sarah, who sported a black leather outfit, patterned tights and a punky, shaved hairstyle raved after the show: ‘It was amazing, just amazing.
‘Vivienne Westwood is my favourite designer. Everyone’s gone full circle. It’s back to the Eighties.’
The evening continued with a pit-stop at the Mulberry party at Claridges where the Sarah was seen riding a carousel pony at the fairground-themed event.
A Dash of Cheryl
These images popped up on the forum earlier today, a new Cheryl Cole photoshoot by Absynth. We are not sure what the images are for, maybe for the album booklet?
Euro MTV
Best Song:
Beyoncé - Halo
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
David Guetta - When Love Takes Over (feat. Kelly Rowland)
Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Lady GaGa - Pokerface
Best Live Act:
Beyoncé
Green Day
Kings of Leon
Lady GaGa
U2
Best Group:
Black Eyed Peas
Green Day
Jonas Brothers
Kings of Leon
Tokio Hotel
Best Newcomer:
Daniel Merriweather
La Roux
Lady GaGa
Pixie Lott
Taylor Swift
Best Female Artist:
Beyoncé
Katy Perry
Lady GaGa
Leona Lewis
Shakira
Best Male Artist:
Eminem
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Mika
Robbie Williams
Best Urban Act:
Ciara
Eminem
Jay-Z
Kanye West
T.I.
Best Rock Act:
Foo Fighters
Green Day
Kings of Leon
Linkin Park
U2
Best Alternative Act:
Muse
Paramore
Placebo
The Killers
The Prodigy
Best Video:
Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)
Britney Spears - Circus
Eminem - We Made You
Katy Perry - Waking Up In Vegas
Shakira - She Wolf
Best Push-Artist:
Daniel Merriweather
Hockey
La Roux
Little Boots
Metro Station
Pixie Lott
The Veronicas
White Lies
Best World Stage Live Performance:
Coldplay
Kid Rock
Kings of Leon
Lady GaGa
Linkin Park
Performers:
Tokio Hotel
Leona Lewis
Cheryl FIGHTS
Cheryl Cole’s official music video for her new solo single Fight For This Love.She kills it in here firat solo vid from the number 1 Girl Group Girls ALOUD
More thoughts on Fear of Commitment
Hmmmm.
Nice post, I think this is a very good topic and I think that I agree with pretty much everything that you have said, but I also think there is a bit more to the story. As you are painfully aware, I like to be the "there is always more to the story" guy.
A few things that come to mind for me on this issue:
1.) We need higher level communication and deliberation skills.
I think that for the most part we are not very good at convening, communicating, and decision-making in a way that leads to plans and commitments that are real and connected to the work that we do. I think it is not at all uncommon for a "leadership team" to spend time and money on a retreat and a facilitator to develop plans and commitments, which then get printed (in color and on nice paper), and then get slammed into a three-ring binder, which then gets stacked on top of the book shelf in the corner of our office where it promptly gets forgotten about. I think there are a lot of organizations and a lot of leaders that this applies to.
True story: I got contacted by an organization about 3 months ago to work on a 3-4 month project of guiding them through a strategic planning process and culture building process. My contact was the Executive Director, who had been in place about 6 mos. before contacting me. In between our 3rd and 4th planning conversation she discovered that there was a comprehensive strategic plan already in place. Something is horribly wrong with a strategic plan when nobody knows / remembers that it exists.
I think that this has a lot to do with the fact that we have become very dishonest with our language and conversations in the workplace to the extent that the plans, documents, and language that we produce often means nothing. Spinning, and messaging and bullshitting has become such an exact science that it has removed all meaning and value and reality and humanity from what is said.
So, we end up with people and organizations that a) have plans and goals that are being ignored and / or b) that are resistant to making plans because they have gone through that process repeatedly and the outcome has never been of any real value.
2.) Sometimes plans can be over-rated.
A long, long time ago in a far away galaxy, I was an infantry squad leader in the Marine Corps. We spent a lot of time learning how to make plans, communicate plans, and implement plans. But we spent even more time learning how to "improvise, adapt and overcome", because plans rarely survive contact with reality. Things change. Situations change. People change, priorities change and if an organization is going to be good at developing and following good, solid actionable plans, it also has to be good at supporting its people in understanding what is changing and adapting to those changes. Rigid adherence to a suddenly flawed plan is a good recipe for tragic outcomes. For organizations that are very serious about planning and goal setting, I think it can be easy to place too much faith in a static plan and in goals based on what was true yesterday.
This is becoming increasingly dangerous for business now as we live in a time of great change and change is happening more and more rapidly.
3.) We are wired differently.
One last thing that comes to mind for me is that we are truly wired differently and we function differently. Some of us are all about structure and detail and linear process. Some of us are much more intuitive in nature. I do not think that one is necessarily better or worse than the other, I believe that they both have pros and cons, and I believe we can all benefit from some of both.
I am much less structured than you. I have had my own business for two years now and I do not have a business plan. You would probably not do much of anything without having a business plan in place. Formal plans feel restrictive to me. I am probably not ever going to have a business plan, and I am quite comfortable with that. I am everyday doing work that I love, and my work continues to move in the right direction with more clients and bigger opportunities. I am not saying that organizations or people should not have objectives and plans, but I am saying that they can take a lot of different forms. I operate my business without a formal business plan, but that does not necessarily mean that I am without direction.
For what it is worth. Have a good weekend.
-joe
Nice post, I think this is a very good topic and I think that I agree with pretty much everything that you have said, but I also think there is a bit more to the story. As you are painfully aware, I like to be the "there is always more to the story" guy.
A few things that come to mind for me on this issue:
1.) We need higher level communication and deliberation skills.
I think that for the most part we are not very good at convening, communicating, and decision-making in a way that leads to plans and commitments that are real and connected to the work that we do. I think it is not at all uncommon for a "leadership team" to spend time and money on a retreat and a facilitator to develop plans and commitments, which then get printed (in color and on nice paper), and then get slammed into a three-ring binder, which then gets stacked on top of the book shelf in the corner of our office where it promptly gets forgotten about. I think there are a lot of organizations and a lot of leaders that this applies to.
True story: I got contacted by an organization about 3 months ago to work on a 3-4 month project of guiding them through a strategic planning process and culture building process. My contact was the Executive Director, who had been in place about 6 mos. before contacting me. In between our 3rd and 4th planning conversation she discovered that there was a comprehensive strategic plan already in place. Something is horribly wrong with a strategic plan when nobody knows / remembers that it exists.
I think that this has a lot to do with the fact that we have become very dishonest with our language and conversations in the workplace to the extent that the plans, documents, and language that we produce often means nothing. Spinning, and messaging and bullshitting has become such an exact science that it has removed all meaning and value and reality and humanity from what is said.
So, we end up with people and organizations that a) have plans and goals that are being ignored and / or b) that are resistant to making plans because they have gone through that process repeatedly and the outcome has never been of any real value.
2.) Sometimes plans can be over-rated.
A long, long time ago in a far away galaxy, I was an infantry squad leader in the Marine Corps. We spent a lot of time learning how to make plans, communicate plans, and implement plans. But we spent even more time learning how to "improvise, adapt and overcome", because plans rarely survive contact with reality. Things change. Situations change. People change, priorities change and if an organization is going to be good at developing and following good, solid actionable plans, it also has to be good at supporting its people in understanding what is changing and adapting to those changes. Rigid adherence to a suddenly flawed plan is a good recipe for tragic outcomes. For organizations that are very serious about planning and goal setting, I think it can be easy to place too much faith in a static plan and in goals based on what was true yesterday.
This is becoming increasingly dangerous for business now as we live in a time of great change and change is happening more and more rapidly.
3.) We are wired differently.
One last thing that comes to mind for me is that we are truly wired differently and we function differently. Some of us are all about structure and detail and linear process. Some of us are much more intuitive in nature. I do not think that one is necessarily better or worse than the other, I believe that they both have pros and cons, and I believe we can all benefit from some of both.
I am much less structured than you. I have had my own business for two years now and I do not have a business plan. You would probably not do much of anything without having a business plan in place. Formal plans feel restrictive to me. I am probably not ever going to have a business plan, and I am quite comfortable with that. I am everyday doing work that I love, and my work continues to move in the right direction with more clients and bigger opportunities. I am not saying that organizations or people should not have objectives and plans, but I am saying that they can take a lot of different forms. I operate my business without a formal business plan, but that does not necessarily mean that I am without direction.
For what it is worth. Have a good weekend.
-joe
Fear of Commitment
Joe,
One of the things that continues to perplex me about both individual people and corporations is why the idea of strategy and long term goals are so intimidating. The more experienced I get, the more I've come to realize that running a successful team, organization, or company boils down to three key actions:
One of the things that continues to perplex me about both individual people and corporations is why the idea of strategy and long term goals are so intimidating. The more experienced I get, the more I've come to realize that running a successful team, organization, or company boils down to three key actions:
- Find and keep passionate, talented people
- Define your purpose so you know why you do what you do
- Clearly outline a strategy so you know where you are going
These seem to me to be obvious and they might be to others as well. The first two, talent and purpose, are areas where companies at least seem to make some efforts (note I didn't say successful efforts) through talent management programs and mission statements. But, I am continually surprised by how few organizations spend the time to have well-defined strategies. Likewise, I seem to encounter very few people on a day to day basis who know where they want to be professionally in 3 years, let alone 10 or more. So, my question is why?
My theory is that it isn't safe to set long range goals. As an individual, if I set a long range goal or strategy and communicate that to others, I'm now bound to make my best efforts to go achieve that. If I fail, I'll have some explaining to do. However, if I don't set long range goals, when I arrive at where ever I end up down the road, I can rationalize that it was where I wanted to be all along. No goals, no explaining, no failure. I think the same thing happens with groups of people. No big goals, no big failures, no explaining to do.
On top of this, setting strategy and long range goals takes work. It's not easy if it's done well. It requires asking tough questions and making some decisions that we'd rather put off.
Have you experienced the same thing, Joe? If so, what is your theory?
-Jason
Nadines Move
ay Sean is set to release his new album in late November, and Nadine Coyle appears on it!
‘All Or Nothing‘ will be released November 24th 2009. Guest’s on the upcoming album include Lil Wayne, Nadine Coyle, Kiesha, and Kevin Rudolf, himself, among others.
Jay Sean topped the charts this week in the US with ‘Down’ (featuring Cash Money Icon Lil Wayne ). Jay Sean is also having tremendous success around the globe with “Down,” hitting # 2 in New Zealand, as well as climbing toward the top of the charts in Canada and Sweden, among other territories.
In January this year, he confirmed his collaboration with Nadine.
America the Beatiful
América Ferrera went from the token curvy girl to the boss on the set of Ugly Betty. Some have even cast her as a diva. But this strong, determined woman has a bright career ahead of her—hit TV show or not. What could be wrong with that? Writer Eric Parker speaks to Ferrera about her early school days, the challenges of working with her boyfriend, her "feud" with Lindsay Lohan, and her attraction to playing strong Latinas on screen.
HER EARLY SCHOOL DAYS:
“My biggest problem in school was that I talked too much. My kindergarten report card said, ‘América would excel if she just stopped talking.’ From there, I got straight A’s and it would still say, ‘Needs to stop talking.’ ”
ON HER NON-EXISTENT FEUD WITH LINDSAY LOHAN:
“Of course they want to make us look like we fought like cats and dogs, because people are going to believe it. And it’s total BS. It’s not true. It does such a disservice to the image of young women.”
WHY SHE LOVES HILLARY CLINTON:
“I really liked what she was about. She is smart and unafraid. And I feel like people can be really threatened by smart, fearless, active women—and that spans across every industry.”
ON ADJUSTING TO OVERNIGHT FAME AFTER THE PREMIERE OF UGLY BETTY:
“After Betty premiered, I literally couldn’t walk down the street without people recognizing and stopping me. It was just a shock. You’re not doing anything different in your life the day before, other than going to work every day and enjoying your job. And then it felt like I’m on this roller-coaster ride.”
THE MOMENT SHE REALIZED SHE “MADE IT":
“I knew very early I wanted a career in acting. There was the moment I realized I never have to go back to that day job. And there was the moment when I realized that people recognize me. And then there’s the moment when you realize, ‘I’m an actor. I’ve arrived. And I don’t ever have to worry about getting another job.’ I’m still waiting for that moment.”
ON CHOOSING TO PLAY STRONG LATINAS ON-SCREEN:
“It’s not anything I’ve done consciously. I’m just drawn to the characters and trying to make them more than one-dimensional.”
WHY SHE DECIDED TO PURSUE A DEGREE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:
“The decision to study that came after 9/11, which spun the world on its head. There was a feeling of not having been educated enough about the world and what was going on in it. That made me feel vulnerable and weak.”
Wizards get reach the top
Our heartfelt congrats go out to Selena Gomez and her Wizards of Waverly Place costars who recently nabbed the award for Outstanding Children's Program at the 2009 Primetime Creative Arts Emmys! Gomez beat out fellow teen queens Miley Cyrus and Miranda Cosgrove for the award and was elated to be given the honor. Check out her adorable reaction below:
A divas return
She's taken her good ol' time, but Toni Braxton's back! She officially returns with "Yesterday," the first single off her upcoming album, which is set for release in February 2010. Forgive me for this, but Toni sure knows how to put the 'YES' in "Yesterday!" I've always loved her, but she's really bringing it with this song. She looks great too! I'm thrilled for what's to come.
Enjoy The Baseball Season While It Lasts
This a piece I was asked to do for a
site that loves it's baseball, and I
thought you might be interested in
listening to it. Enjoy !
site that loves it's baseball, and I
thought you might be interested in
listening to it. Enjoy !
Housewife never tardy
This is for all of you Real Housewives of Atlanta lovers. Yes this is Kim's debut single called "Tardy For The Party" which is actually 1000 times better than I could have ever imagined her singing. Kandi produced it, and it kinda reminds me of an early Heidi Montag lol. Listen and Love lol Enjoy!!!
Kim Zolciak - Tardy For The Party. Produced by Co-Star Kandi Burrus... Thoughts?
Milian has a bun cooking
Newlyweds Christina Milian & The-Dream are expecting. It will be the first child for Christina, who has expressed interest in starting a family before, as well as for the couple, though The-Dream already became a father with ex-wife Nivea. Regarding the news, a source stated, "The pregnancy was a surprise, but they were getting married regardless." *Takes deep breath* Maybeit'sselfishofme,butIwishtheywould'veplannedonreleasingChristina'snextalbumElopebeforethis.Imean,it'snotlikethesethingscan'tbeprevented. In any case, I'm sure this new baby will make Christina very happy, so congrats to the two of them.
Learned Along the Way #4
Jason-
Big, fat, happy congratulations to you and yours on the newest addition to the family. Hope you have all enjoyed some quality nesting time over the past week or so...don't hesitate to slap a picture or two up here so we can get our eyes on the newest anarchist to join the team!
A little radio silence has actually been kind of nice, and I really like what you came back with in #3. It reminded me a little bit of what Gordon MacKenzie says about new employees in his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball. He reminds us that new employees (and I would say young professionals) have a very unique magic as they come into an organization (or a community) with fresh eyes and fresh perspectives. Even though their perspective is especially valuable, our organizations and communities do a lot of things to beat it out of them and get them to look, talk and think exactly like the rest of us. It is important to have no fear if we are to push back on that dynamic and I think that lesson #4 fits very nicely with #3 and our earlier posts on this theme.
Lesson #4 Do Something. Now.
I think that it is important and valuable to network, to spend time getting to know people, to seek out feedback on your ideas and ideals, but too many folks never go beyond that. It is not hard to find a group of folks in a community or an organization that know exactly what should be done to make everything "perfect" and everyone "happy." They know all of the answers. They are passionate about their answers and they will (and do) talk until they are blue in the face. And talk is all they do.
It can be very easy to get bogged down in details, what is allegedly realistic, why you need to "pay your dues" before you can drive change, yadda, yadda, yadda....a little bit of this stuff is important and relevant, but most of it is bullshit. If you wait until you have the perfect plan and everyones support and have paid all of your dues your time will have expired on this planet.
If you see a better way to do something (and if you are awake and alive and paying attention, you do see a better way to do something), take some action. Do something. Now. You will make mistakes. If you do not make any mistakes you are not doing much at all. You will make some mistakes and you will ruffle some feathers and it is all part of the process and it is part of how change happens and how you learn and grow.
Do something. Now. Today. Right now. If you wait too long, you might just become one of those professional talkers that know all of the answers but never do anything.
Rock out a little bit today, it's Friday. And have a good weekend.
-joe
Big, fat, happy congratulations to you and yours on the newest addition to the family. Hope you have all enjoyed some quality nesting time over the past week or so...don't hesitate to slap a picture or two up here so we can get our eyes on the newest anarchist to join the team!
A little radio silence has actually been kind of nice, and I really like what you came back with in #3. It reminded me a little bit of what Gordon MacKenzie says about new employees in his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball. He reminds us that new employees (and I would say young professionals) have a very unique magic as they come into an organization (or a community) with fresh eyes and fresh perspectives. Even though their perspective is especially valuable, our organizations and communities do a lot of things to beat it out of them and get them to look, talk and think exactly like the rest of us. It is important to have no fear if we are to push back on that dynamic and I think that lesson #4 fits very nicely with #3 and our earlier posts on this theme.
Lesson #4 Do Something. Now.
I think that it is important and valuable to network, to spend time getting to know people, to seek out feedback on your ideas and ideals, but too many folks never go beyond that. It is not hard to find a group of folks in a community or an organization that know exactly what should be done to make everything "perfect" and everyone "happy." They know all of the answers. They are passionate about their answers and they will (and do) talk until they are blue in the face. And talk is all they do.
It can be very easy to get bogged down in details, what is allegedly realistic, why you need to "pay your dues" before you can drive change, yadda, yadda, yadda....a little bit of this stuff is important and relevant, but most of it is bullshit. If you wait until you have the perfect plan and everyones support and have paid all of your dues your time will have expired on this planet.
If you see a better way to do something (and if you are awake and alive and paying attention, you do see a better way to do something), take some action. Do something. Now. You will make mistakes. If you do not make any mistakes you are not doing much at all. You will make some mistakes and you will ruffle some feathers and it is all part of the process and it is part of how change happens and how you learn and grow.
Do something. Now. Today. Right now. If you wait too long, you might just become one of those professional talkers that know all of the answers but never do anything.
Rock out a little bit today, it's Friday. And have a good weekend.
-joe
Sparks amd MILK
Jordin Sparks has become the latest celeb to endorse the Got Milk? campaign. Very nice shot. Jordin's excellent new album Battlefield is out now!
WORK IT WORK IT!
Check out Jordin Sparks in her new vid SOS let the music play
Bringing the child back
No, they aren't getting back together. Nonetheless, this leak made me very excited. The Scott Storch-produced "Heart," most likely recorded circa 2004 during the Destiny Fulfilled sessions, is a pretty good leftover from the group. Just to hear them all on the same track again--& especially with it being previously unreleased--is really cool.
Diva Check
s you can see in this newly released promo poster, Jennifer Hudson & Jordin Sparks were both recently added to the VH1 Divas lineup. Special guest performers on the Paula Abdul-hosted program will be Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, Cyndi Lauper, & Melissa Etheridge, while Toni Braxton will also be there as one of the many presenters. Considering they have now doubled my reasons to watch, I'm getting rather excited about this show. I realize that it may be Mariah/Whitney/Celine-less, but with the reintroduction of the Divas event, VH1 is trying to present the new generation of chicks at the top of their game & I can respect that, especially because there are so many talented young women out there now who deserve recognition (& they're doing a pretty good job of it--4 out of 6 ain't bad). VH1 Divas will air Thursday, September 17th, @ 9/8c.
Wheres Madonna,Whitney,Janet,Christina,Britney?
Janet palnet
Janet Jackson covers the newsstand & subscriber versions of Harper's Bazaar's latest issue, respectively. In the issue, Janet gives her first interview since her brother passed away.
This is It!
Check it out! The official poster for "Michael Jackson's This Is It" has been unveiled. The two-week engagement begins October 28th & you already know it's gonna be [insert word here that means better than words can say].
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