Comments on: This is not the job you're looking for

By: Whitney

Whitney — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:03:16 +0000

There are some problems with Malcolm Gladwell’s Book “Outliers”, but I think the point he makes about it taking about 10,000 hours to get good at something, to become an expert of sorts, is probably true. I think this applies to every field, including social media.

Experience of both the good and the bad makes it easier for you to predict success and failure before taking on a task. Some one new to the field can learn these lessons as well, but it does take time, as well as a willingness to be analytical about both success and failure, coupled with a willingness to experiment freely.

Cleaning out my office from top to bottom this weekend, moving all my books, helped give me some perspective on all the books I’ve read, people I’ve interviewed- the time I’ve spent towards that 10,000 hour mark. It no longer seems like nothing, but an accumulation of small steps towards a larger goal- it is a real accomplishment, every bit as the ones I have from more formal, academic settings.

Hard work and experience count. You get experience from all parts of your life,and that experience becomes important down the line. I want a surgeon, for example, that operates frequently because he has not only gotten into situations that have scared him, but he now knows the way to get out of those situations safely.

Likewise, I want contractors who do projects all the time, not just every once in a blue moon on the side, because their experience and relationships with subcontrators are essentially those you discuss in Trust Agents. Every line of work relies on experienced staff, training the less experienced, and in that process, trust and opportunity thrive.

Give me someone with a list of projects they do both for themselves and others, and I’ll show you someone with the skills and experience to help your project succeed as well.

By: Jeris JC Miller

Jeris JC Miller — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:44:41 +0000

Social Media is my third technology revolution: I worked in BBN’s Communication group in the 80′s (which launched DARPA/ARPANET). I saw one of the first Mosaic demos and knew the world would change completely (later did Netscape 2.0 Support). I went on to Intel and MSFT and suffered through Dot Com meltdown. But it wasn’t until Social Media started reaching “critical mass” that I realized that the vision that I have been holding all these years would see reality and the light! I have watched **many worthy visionaries** fall by the way side, chewed up and spit out during my career. But I have held tough and held strong and led with the tenderest part of my heart and never compromised core values of human dignity and Respect (I am not rich either – not that wealth is a mutually exclusive category from a compassionate heart – I’ve seen otherwise). I still feel passionately that social media will be the very center of a 21st Century humanistic revolution! I have not lost my vision, even after all these years. @dakini_3

By: Eric Marden

Eric Marden — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:41:14 +0000

Those that you think have the passion but are still not producing results fall into another category: Idiots.

The web industry has and probably always be full of them. But the true experts don’t make those claims, their results speak for themselves.

Don’t kid yourself or your clients.

By: Bill deys

Bill deys — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:20:32 +0000

I get a lot of your points but I’m not sure how I feel about “social media isn’t their passion” I think there are people as you described but some that are passionate about the space. It more then just communicating, it’s a huge change in the way people interact and in some cases think. There is passion involved with changing the world!