Tag: LinkedIn

Lonely crowd

Back in the 60’s , David Riesman already concluded that “the more might not be the merrier”.

Social network researchers have come up with diverse conclusions about Facebook and Internet use.

Passive vs active participation makes a difference whether we are happier or less happy when using social media.

We have yet fully exploited this new social platform (democratized, groundswell stuff).

Social media and digital content not only have width (geographically), but also depth (time irrelevant).

THIS PLATFORM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY, ALLOWS US TO MAKE KNOWN OUR EXISTENCE ACROSS TIME AND SPACE.

Right now, these platforms are monetized, politicized and socialized.

But in time, they will also be memorialized and multiplied.

People of all races, creeds and generations can access and translate someone’s blogs and tweets into their languages,

and to understand what made someone react and respond at a particular time in history.

In other words, open platform.

Yes, if we passively participate (just browsing) in social network, we might feel lonelier. And vice versa.

Riesman’s Lonely Crowd again, even with Smart Phone and Wi-Fi (wireless on the beach).

Social Network is not a utility (Application layer, not Physical Layer). It allows each of us to create and share content i.e. collective cognition, not dumbing down.

Sort of what I am doing and have experimented with Liking, Blogging and Commenting (hopefully filming and video someday).

My Warhol‘s “15 minutes of fame”.

Neither Warhol nor Orwell could have predicted the rise of the Internet. Or else, they wouldn’t have staked their claims on

limited fame or state control, respectively.

Turns out that Riesman has been ahead of his time: we are social animal subjected to existential loneliness, a fate from which we can not escape with or without Facebook.

 

Summer Sadness

Some kids revisited their Summer 1942. Coming of age.

Others, say in Vietnam, are ready for bigger stage.

A Linkedin connect started her SQUAR in emerging Myanma, just core viable product, to be perfected as time goes along.

Summer separation and sadness. Summer also brings reunion and reassessment.

It’s Q3 for business people.

Abenomics or any-omics, as long as Japan gets out its deflationary state. Egyptian want their first-year President out.

They have gotten used to protest and counter-protest.

Summer blockbusters range from the Great Gatsby to  Now You See Me (Now You Don’t). Abracadabra!

Or as our own Alan Phan, “say a prayer”, like a virgin.

I remember when California elected Arnold. The commentary back then was, “it doesn’t matter which monkey is in charge”.

The budget was way out of balance then.

Now, Gov Brown has imposed strictest order on the fiscal affairs of the State, used to be called, Golden State.

Surprisingly, Arnold was quoted in one of the beer consumption studies, which shows Vietnam at the top of the list.

Praying and drinking. Drown out our sadness and sorrow. Sharing our moments.

And never give up hope that our best days are yet behind us.

Summer Sadness. It brings understanding and perspective

In Norwegian Wood, our Toru Watanabe looked back at his last year in college, and suddenly, understood the deep pain college girl friends feel (two suicides, male and female to be fair).

We all had our 1942’s and 69’s.

Of eating dorm food and from vending machine.

Of all-nighter and crammed for finals.

Then, what’s next?

Be an entrepreneur or employed?

Looking forward or backward?

There will always be next summer.

But this summer is a hot one. An inconvenient truth.

Of torrential rain and perpetual austerity.

Of not much hope for an improved GDP anywhere.

Tourism is up as the temperature heats up.

Can’t find a decent paperback to pack along.

Be sure to wade the water and if things come along, as they always do, live your 1942 so you have something to think back in old age.

Best way to live life is to pretend to look back to the present from the vantage of the future, then live it to no regret.

No regret, no sorrow. No sorrow, no sadness. Summer or not. One’s happiness cannot be conveniently measured by a thermometer. But if there were such thing as Global Warming measurable from the outside, it should also affect what’s inside. Now, that’s something we can do something about. And it’s the most inconvenient truth about ourselves we often refuse to admit.

Turning Tragedy into Triumph

It’s on the Post. It’s on Linkedin. It’s in your face.

It’s about tourism to America. Or the decline of.

You would think people love to flock to the big Apple, to Disneyland and to Las Vegas.

But lately, it doesn’t happen (tourists prefer destinations like Turkey over the USA).

To top that, we got bad news like “they closed the White House tour”, ” the Monument is in repair” etc..

Tell that to those who are planning their family vacation to attend this year’s Cherry-Blossom Parade.

In Marketing, we seek to create a conducive atmosphere (to induce spending), like the Experience Economy which Las Vegas has mastered.

Wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to finish rebuilding the Twin Towers at quicker pace, and use that as a draw.

Look, we were knocked down, but not out.

Come and see the resilience, the sacred history, and the undefeated spirit of a freedom-loving people (Discover American).

It would create high-paying jobs (using future tourist revenue), and not just for NYC.

Tourists would likely end up touring both East and West Coast.

Think like a tourist. What would you be looking to do and see? (the Dakotas?)

What differentiates the US  from the UK and other EU countries?

Teach a short course in English, with terms like Filibuster, Sequester etc…

I would stay away from visiting a house in disarray and disagreement which induces more stress than spending.

Corona did a good job showing pristine beach front, under the shade of umbrella and 2 beers in the foreground.

Now, that’s vacation away from stress and strain.

They can do that with two bottles, how much more can we do with two buildings, rising from the ashes.

Turn Tragedy into Triumph. Build and they will come.

They always will. Just need to be nudged.  Call out Hollywood, line up the stars (our new ambassadors).

I remember that one time, when Quincy Jones called everybody to leave their egos outside the door. Outside, they might be stars in their own rights. Inside the studio, We are the World. And they ate it up. The synergy and energy of first-class vocals, in harmony and collaboration. Build it and they will come. From very afar, to rediscover America and American, people who can turn tragedy into triumph.

Switching the script

On film set, writer is often called out on short notice to fix the dialogue.

Something is better left unsaid or sounded odd when in “live” context.

In life, we can’t retrace our steps to switch the script.

It’s live, and happened once only.

There lies the importance of getting the right words first time around.

Another way to lessen the impact of misspoken words, is to come out immediately and retract.

Even the NYT does that.

When the facts are not straight, when a character is mis-portrayed, the best way for editors to damage control is to come out clean.

We happen to live on this side of the communication (data) explosion.

Facts and fiction are both out there.

As mentioned in Brand America a few blogs ago, people do come here and reinvent themselves e.g. name change (anglicized), hair-coloring and new wardrobe. Voila! Boy George and Bieber. Entertainers and sports idols are hot. They are more than hot. They sell merchandise.

Just Do  It.

After all, we move about our days, filtering ads and spam mail.

No wonder we long for those “in” mail.

Someone cares enough to probe and not to pitch.

And we in turn empathize with their plights, the pressures they are under.

If only we could switch the script. Living a new life and assuming a new persona.

Like when we were kids, imagining we had just been adopted by our real parents.

We wished for another life, another script (if only the writer were standing by as fixer).

Then we would be reclaimed, taken back to the castle and live a happy life ever after.

When I grew up, there was such a story. Of a half-breed (African-Vietnamese). Co Ba Xi. The man who had fathered her left only to come back years later as King of his tribe. Vietnamese Cinderella. But that’s just one jewel among a variety of Immigrant stories, ranging from model minority stories to loser’s stories.

One last thing about scripting. As long as we live out our story, and not someone else’s.

At the end of all travel is to return to the same place and to know ourselves for the first time.

It is often said, life is 10 per cent action and 90 per cent reaction. When a large part of life is lived out of reaction instead of proactive, we are not living our life script. Paul Anka would be proud to hear his “My Way” sung by 7 Billion.

Why wait for the writer to come to our rescue?

We are the writers, we are the world.

While still alive, we can switch the script, reinvent the characters, and overcome the challenges.

As long as we know what we want.

Or seek help. There are people who are gentle and kind (not just in San Francisco or down in the Bayou), and whose advice are plenty and fitting (learned this in Vietnam. People still give out free advice as if they were still living in a village).

I am indebted to professionals on LinkedIn, who endorsed my skill set and characters.

I am grateful for “followers” . People who trek the trail of current Recession and the trajectory of Social Media.

What a time we are living in, and what a company we are keeping. Just as we thought we should throw in the towel, then comes help.

I am the sum of my relationships. Two old people in their early 40’s were still at it, hence, creating me.

Now I live out that script, all the while hoping to switch those last pages.

Hope to read about your multi-chapter, multi-tasking life whose script is not written in stone, but evolving with unpredictable twist and turn and whose ending is happy albeit not perfect.

Perceived message

Message received often times is different from message intended.

Wrong timing. Different context and stress level. Words that inadvertently trigger negative emotions.

We live and learn.

It’s not easy to get across, at both cognitive and emotive levels.

Male are known for missing emotional signals more often than female.

That’s why long distance relationships are hard. We can’t rely on non-verbal cues.

Perfect communication doesn’t exist.

Only when two frames of reference converge in a perfect eclipse.

It’s as rare as the Moon and the Sun passing.

Yet we try. We rely on objects to speak for us, on gifts and on symbolism.

These days, people use chat, text and video calls. Yet Hallmarks cards are still thriving.

Twitter is for bursting self-promotion.

Facebook for social, more than two.

LinkedIn for professional networking.

That leaves the ubiquitous SMS and chat (which requires simultaneous typing).

I know that fax and voice mail are on the way out.

Just like pagers and answering machines.

We move on. We change the way we communicate. With emoticons and acronyms..

Languages that once belonged in OPs domain now drifted into our daily conversation.

Machine-like language for a dehumanized world.

Please get to the point ASAP.

OK. I promise to get it done by COB.

Can you hear me saying? All I intend to say is ….

Please don’t get it all wrong. I meant well. Oh, that’s not enough?

Sorry, I completely disregard your circumstances. Are your under stress? I see.

Let me start over again. Since you are this and that….. I just want to say this ….and that. Now we acknowledge the other ‘s level of communication, we begin to factor in empathy. I often feel the same way. People read me wrong most of the time etc…But I found that ….

One of the best conversation on race took place in a(imaginary) trench, between a Princeton Lieutenant (white) and a career sergeant (black) in Matterhorn. Since they both were going to die, the Lieutenant asks the Sergeant to teach him the “hand dance”. After a few times, he still did not feel right. The retort ” that is because you are not Black”.

Even when you meant well, still it’s not enough. Perceived message.

Heart and Soul

The intangible qualities. We can only recognize them when we see them.

How can we put a measure on that which makes us human i.e. mortal yet full of life versus a machine whose sole existence is to carry out instructions and perform repetitive tasks without getting bored (the sad thing is when the machine gets to do interesting things, while human boring things).

Fordism has spreaded from automobile assembly line to the entire manufacturing process as we see today (Foxconn and workers’ tension).

Heart and Soul , however, are a bit elusive:  Air on the G String, Nocturne; Shubert can move you, a movie clip can make you feel  joyous or sad, elated or evaporated (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face).

B movies and production houses have succumbed to poor substitutes e.g. sound track and laugh track.

Anything with an audience e.g. a lesson plan, a presentation, all-hands meeting; requires heart-and-soul delivery . To be flawless, one needs to go through 3 stages of rehearsal (courtesy of recent LinkedIn article on presentation rehearsal: You Sucks stage, Robotic stage, and finally You Rocks!).

Aim for standing ovation. Paint a broad stroke of vision, the type of speech Jesse Jackson would give at convention.

Facts and feeling. Sweat and tears. Fire and brimstone.

Orators of the past were known to speak at tent meetings for hours on end, most notably John Wesley. Today we only have day-time television which caters to the lowest common denominators : “Jerry, Jerry” ( with bouncers on the set). Or Maury, Maury …also w/ bouncers.

Jean-Luc Godard said: “all we need for a movie is a gun and a girl”. Hence, it seems as though all content was just  to fill the programming gap, waiting  to sell soap, soup and cereal.

Via Twitter, we saw glimpses of greatness, but only in 140 characters.

To stir the heart and soul, we need some work-up time.

Warm them up then chill them out. Stirring and settling.

Then BAM!. Hit them at the gut level. A call to ACTION.

Truth  has its own ring and can stand on its own legs.

Don’t get in its way.

Fear not.

Ask not.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

He who is no fool to lose that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.

I have a dream.

Man from Hope.

It took a village.

Great orators stirred us and their sound bites stayed with us.

We feel a lump in our throat. It resonates and reinvigorates us.

It stirs up our Heart and our Soul.

It passed muster.

Quality is what you recognize when you see it.

The rest, any machine can do, at the automobile or chocolate factory.

Le Temp Modern. I love Lucy. Foxconn Apple plants. From Detroit to Disneyland, at the turn of  the 20th century to present time, are we happier now? (studies show China experiencing similar dissonance i.e. wealthier, but not happier, due to eroded “iron rice bowl”). Or the gas line and hot-dog line (at Cosco) have weighed you down?

Wake up Hot-Dog Nation. We can do better. Think and Ask Not. Feel the pain. Use it. Start rising. And don’t stop there. Have a dream. A different dream (by definition dreams are supposed to be out of this world. What are you being afraid of: that it might come true?)  Seek First. That Thy will be done,….but first on Earth.

Socially connected

The inner ring then the outer ones.

We learn to trust, to collaborate.

Great things cannot be achieved alone.

That’s why the President tweets. That’s why we tweet.

Do you know someone who needs our services?

Or some place who is hiring so our students can apply.

We need those links and those leads.

People need people.

On LinkedIn, we keep seeing so and so is now connected with so and so.

The social graph keeps getting denser. Pretty soon, the net (shaped in our image) will be big enough to carry us to safety *unlike our social safety net which is in need of mending).

New world order, fashioned after our image and likings.

I have come across issues and images I would never have come across on my own.

Thanks to the net economy and taxonomy; yes, I can.

Let’s see if Twitter will tip the election (Kennedy election was a close call as well).

I suspect that it will.

We are not back in 2000. We are in 2012.

Apocalyptic year.

And we have made it thus far pass Labor Day.

Penn State lost 2 games out of the gate.

And the economy, especially in Europe, is still puttering.

Hard times. Like those Post Recession black and white phoros (migrant Madonna).

Something is to be done but then everything has been done.

Together we can. Can’t we.

More than ever before, we are socially connected.

More than ever before, we are doing worse.

What paradox!

What predicament!

All the tools in the world All the help in the world.

Yet still stuck in lower gear.

If we apply the five stages of grief  to the situation, we are now somewhere pass Anger and Denial.

We are in Compromise and Depression.

When people compromised, they ask for less  in return.

And when they are in depression, nothing gets done. Hitting the blank wall. Everything shuts down.

Socially connected or not, let’s remind one another to quickly Accept (acknowledge the Elephant in the room), and move one. Get out and vote . Get some fresh air. Go travel and spend money. Fall is a good time to catch up on some spending and yes, reading (Tom Wolfe is coming out with his voluminous piece again). Turn the chapter to “your life 2.o”.

Learn from Penn State, even with its first two losses. Ouch!

Algorithmic social

People who connect with so and so, tend to be interested in so and so….

Once you clicked down that path, you entered a maze that leads you further down the path of algorithmic and formulaic social links. No backing out, no return.

So, my machine-led social graph has taken on new twists and turns as I went back and forth between Vietnam and the US. During the downturn, I have followed the advice “Go East, Old Man”. So most of my Linkedin connections turned out to be friends of friends and associates in Vietnam. Now, back to the US, I hardly get any algorithmic recommendations for “white folks”.

Should I stay with machine-recommended linkage? Ignore it altogether? Go out and hustle for new connections in the US?

It’s a perfect storm: new apps, new austerity and new attitude (cash only).

All happened within the span of 4 years.

I  value friendships made during the downturn.

For everyone realizes we need one another more than ever.

A bit of self-advertisement, not self-aggrandizement.

Just nudging, swaying. Just in case. For the next job.

Friends in both high and low places. Need them both. The former to lift us up, the later for mutual support and empathy.

In the Strong and the Weak, Paul Tournier talks about how we need both (just look at Japan‘s aging population).

Virtual friendship is even more delicate than platonic. It’s out there, in the ozone (like pics sent from the Curiosity Rover in Mars), unreachable, but real nevertheless.

How impactful can it be? To what extent can we help one another online? What are the measures of a man/woman? Glowing recommendations? List of degrees and accomplishments? Or just his/her smile, transparency and potential?

Perhaps all of the above. For we start relying on machine-matched relationships. We are developing relational skills that have never existed nor been taught in school. Welcome to 21st-century network effect. Now go, shake hands (virtually) and introduce yourself.

Reading Re-Enchantment

Cover of "Care of the Soul"
Cover of Care of the Soul

Thomas Moore (double O’s) was quoting Thomas More (single O) in his book, the Re-Enchantmet of Everyday Life.

He came out with a bang in Care of the Soul. Essayist, therapist, monk and philosopher who hit the marks. Those marks point us back to Nature, Magic and Intuition. Qualities of life .

He treaded carefully, staying in “common grace” space, so as not to offend, or be typecasted  as a Luddite (anti-technology). But given a choice between a new printer (obviously necessary for his work) and a new piece of rug for home office, he would choose the latter.

Enchantment.

Mr Moore traveled to Ireland, seeking historical sites and scenery. He constantly argued for “touch points” with the Eternal and Sacredness: rock and ruin, trees and green movement in our parks and cities. It’s true that office workers never stopped in the lobby on their way to work (holding a donut in hand).

Building lobbies are for job seekers waiting for an interview. These days, that’s most of us, and soon, one of the Presidential candidates. His chapter on our  Martian nature was right on (I was talking about violence within each of us the day before the Aurora shooting). Hollywood certainly did not let violence go unexploited.

I am reminded via Mr Moore’s work that it doesn’t take much money to extract joy from Nature or from objects of sacredness (even graffiti is a cry for validation). At some point, we all want to have our profile on Facebook and Linkedin. Before Social Media, where were we all?

I refer to Respect in my earlier blog about Connect and Respect.  We must first respect those with whom we do business . And we must first get to know them (Connect) and respect them whether we eventually do business or not.

This takes sales rejection to a whole new level. We respect people’s IP (by signing a NDA) and we  don’t make reps work their tails off then turn around and use their proposals as unpaid due diligence.

Yes. Thomas Moore belongs in some Trappist order. But he happens to speak our language, live in our city and help cure our friends who got issues. He often speaks of life and magic as unfolding. In other words, it’s active and alive. We just need to give it proper attention and expectation.

Just magic in everyday life: a rock , a tree and poetry ; all will still be there long after we are gone. Now , that’s something.  That’s reassuring. That’s eternal, from our short temporal frame of reference. I am not going to re-read Re-Enchantment. But it does make me re-think about everyday’s touch points whether it be readership, relationship or romance.

Connect and Respect

I often go first to Home Page on LinkedIn to see who is connecting with whom.

The Network Effect assumes people are inherently decent, deserving respect and reciprocity. Society continues to work on that basis. Not random shooting, nor indiscriminate mass slaughter.

We have learned invaluable lessons in collaboration: WWII, internet peering, crowd-sourcing and job networking.

We have also learned invaluable lessons in ignoring our intuition: derivative bubble or work-life imbalance. For every new member we are linked with, newer 2nd-degree acquaintances also joined our circle indirectly.

Connect and Respect.

We honor their transparency (completing a profile), their professional experience and background, and their access to “friends in the high places”.

At the base, we respect people as fellow human beings, sojourners in this pilgrimage called Life, of which Work is a big part.

Each person brings a unique set of skills and circumstances. If asked, each has a story to tell, a lesson to teach us.

I refuse to speculate about why a PhD Student decided to get firearms and bullets to shoot down people randomly.

Nor do I try to explain away why higher-ups at Penn State Higher Learning decided to cover up the shame, which only worsens as time goes on.

When we feel that those were grotesque, instinctively we are for decency,  respect and want to connect.

Each person is sacred in his or her own right. Each person has a lot to give even if by being just a connector or memory keeper. The more the merrier. Keep them coming. Seek first to understand, more than to be understood (courtesy of the late Steven Covey).

Thank you for connecting and respecting.