Friday September 28, 2007 
Friday September 28, 2007 My sister, who is older and wiser than me (Sorry, sis! I know, I know, you're not that much older than me!), once commented that it seems people come to their careers in one of two ways. Some people just grow up knowing what they want to do. My sister wanted to be an attorney, my husband a physician, my cousin both a musician and a lawyer (she recently retired from labor law, working with musicians, and now teaches the viola - talk about having your cake and eating it, too!). Others, like yours truly, set out without a definite path. We take various jobs along the way for various reasons, and if we're lucky, end up in an interesting place well suited to our skills.
I don't know anyone who said, "When I grow up, I want to do employee communications!" Yet there's a bunch of us out there who have fallen into this odd way to make a living. Over the past two weeks, I've met communicators from 20 different states here in the U.S. plus South Africa, Canada, Chile, the U.K., Slovakia, Singapore, to name a few.
We have a lot in common - for example, we pretty much agreed that our profession has undergone huge changes in the past 10 years, and is now set to undergo another major shift. But it's our differences that make for an interesting story.
Here at Sun, we pride ourselves on our global workforce, but we struggle on how to communicate and behave in a global manner. Well, imagine you're a telecom company - such as T-Mobile, MTN Group or Zain, and you decide to grow through acquisition. When these guys acquire a company, they often acquire a portion of the globe that they weren't in before. Based in South Africa, like MTN? To grow, you're now dealing with other parts of the African continent, with vastly different cultures than that of South Africa. And you're now in the Middle East, where once again you face huge societal differences. (BTW, their very clever way of bringing people together is to introduce a new way to greet each other and answer the phone: "Y'ello!" See, their brand color is yellow and... well, anyway. Darned clever. And effective. Wish I'd thought of it!)
Talk about change management and communication! So it was a true pleasure to rub shoulders at this Jacob Fleming conference with the resourceful, creative and smart communicators who help lead their organizations through change.
From there I moved on to Chicago where I was privileged to give the keynote address on social media at the Melcrum Conference. The crowd was enthusiastic, excited and engaged, leading to many terrific conversations about social media and other communication challenges. There were many presentations, such as Roger D'Aprix's excellent and moving address about our profession, that will stick in my mind for a long time. But for now, let me leave you with the advice given us by David Grossman, CEO of Chicago-based dg&a:
My Summary of dg&a's 7 Must Do's for Communicators:
- Daring discipline in planning - excellent execution doesn't happen without careful, thoughtful planning.
- A method to your greatness - set service level agreements, pay attention to messaging, increase your efficiency with common templates for strategy development and measurement, tie your work to performance management systems for maximum impact
- Drive the business goals
globally and locally - don't be a headquarters geek or a silo
servant. Look around and make sure you're aiming at the right
audience - and results.
- Conversations rule -Nothing has as much impact as a conversation between two people. Communicators need to be ready to ask the tough questions, change the dialogue, listen well and encourage others to listen well.
- Continually upgrade the skills in your group - don't get stuck with yesterday's standards. Push the limits; insist that everyone stay up-to-date and try new things
- Meaningful measurement - that which you measure is that which gets done. Look for ways you can impact the bottom line, increase key indices around employee engagement and productivity.
- Unparalleled strategic counsel - be a business person first, and a communicator second. You'll be amazed at the increase in your impact
Accidental communicators? Well, yes, at least for me. Accidental contributor? Not on your life - that's all planned, worked on and driven with passion.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Sep 28 2007, 08:00:00 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Thursday September 20, 2007 If It's Not Baroque, Don't Fix It
After the required miserable flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, and the mandatory footrace through the Frankfurt airport to make my connection (see “Cruel Shoes” and “Leaning Boards” footnotes at the end of this entry) I arrived in Vienna a bit worse for wear. But I was quickly charmed by this old city with its many parks, the Danube flowing through the town center and the spectacular architecture.
I'm here to chair and speak at the Jacob Fleming (a Sun customer, by the way) conference on Change Management and Communication for Telecoms and ICTs. It's a great way get to know an important customer base, understand non-U.S. perspectives and get a little visibility for Sun.
To prepare me for my duties as chair, I had dinner last night with Matthew Yoder, a Tennessee boy who grew up to marry a Slovakian woman and now lives here in Europe. We swapped stories of international marriages and where to live and the struggles of parents to deal with their children choosing to live thousands of miles away. All in all, it was was a relevant entry to talking about this conference, which features speakers from Singapore, Indonesia, Sweden, South Africa, the States, Canada, Spain, and more.
It's a packed agenda for a day and a half, and I'm eager to meet both participants and speakers. This particular audience is made up of companies who are going through gut-wrenching change, cultural evolutions and battles for talent. Sound familiar? So much for the staid old world of telecoms – that has certainly changed over the past few years.
I'm curious to see what practices from other countries translate to the States, as well as the reverse. And I'll be carefully listening to learn how country cultures impact universal challenges around change, social networking and communication.
So stay tuned for more. And now, a brief less high-minded explanation of cruel shoes and leaning boards.
Cruel Shoes
Look at them.... don't they look innocent? Brown suede, cushioned insoles, moderate heel. Well, don't be fooled. Sure, they seemed perfect when I wore them last week. But after doing the Frankfurt airport marathon hike from concourse B through passport control through security and back to the nether regions of concourse A, they revealed their true nature – blister makers. So bad that I had to buy a new pair of shoes at the airport. Where they snickered at my big feet. Well! Laugh they may but I danced away happy in a new comfortable pair of sneaks – which will be put to the test on Saturday when I once again do the race through the Frankfurt airport....
Leaning Board – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Now I fully understand that traveling and representing Sun is an honor so I hate to complain, but only a sadist could have designed the coach section of the plane I flew to Europe. And only a truly cruel person would have added unpleasant, hostile flight attendants were fully armed and ready to deal with a cranky group of customers who had the nerve to want coffee and to be able to walk around the plane to avoid blood clots (I heard them making fun of us – those flight attendants – just a laugh riot for 11 lovely hours).
Now I know this is a competitive market, and airlines need to fly full planes. And I don't have to draw you a picture for you to know what it's like in coach on an international flight - seats jammed together so close that when I dropped something on the floor, I had to lie down on my belly in the aisle to retrieve it. So little room that when my fellow passenger in front of me put his seat back, the only way I could get into my seat was by sitting on the armrest and swinging my legs back into their cramped space. So tight that I can't even imagine how someone over 5'6" physically can fit.
But you know me - the Pollyanna of Sun. So I have a solution in mind that could benefit all. Why not replace those bulky seats that we unreasonable customers complained about with new, ergonomically designed leaning boards?
Airline executives, listen up. You could fit at least one more row of customers into your jam-packed planes. That means more money in your pockets! And for the small expense of providing each coach customer with a heavy dose of tranquillizers, they'll sleep the entire way and stop being so darn demanding of your staff.
OK, if this idea flies, so to speak, I want a cut of the action.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Sep 20 2007, 10:56:21 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [4]
Thursday September 13, 2007 Screened Conversations with My Son
I was asked to present on social media at our IT Leadership Summit this week. Talk about being nervous - this liberal arts major was more than a trifle intimidated at matching wits with some very smart and sophisticated professionals. But the audience couldn't have been kinder. They made me feel welcome and we had some great conversations around community building and how to use social networking to its best advantage.
After the first of my two talks, an audience member came up to me and said, "Terry, I know you emphasized that interpersonal communication is still the most effective kind, but I don't know that I agree with you. Don't you think that there are times, especially for people who are nervous presenters or who are too shy to speak up in public, that forums, chat rooms and IM can be a better solution?"
I could see his point. But still, face-to-face is pretty darn powerful...
When my sessions were complete, I returned to my office, happily kicked off my high heels and went back to my "day job." I was interrupted with an instant message from my son, who wanted to share with me the trials of his past week. And believe me when I tell you - this was the week from hell. It involved a lost driver's license, a lost bank card, and a towed car with no valid registration or smog check. To top it off, it was all happening during one of the hottest weeks of the past three years in Los Angeles, and fixing it meant taking many bus rides all over town to try and get the paperwork required to get his car out of impound jail before the fines exceeded the value of the automobile.
Now, for the parents of teenagers and adult children, you'll understand me when I say that this is the kind of conversation that is a test of willpower for the well-meaning parental unit. Because as I "listened" to this retelling, I had flashes of brilliant advice that I could offer. But I didn't. I shut up and let him "talk". My comments were restrained to "yep", "hmmm", "ouch", and "that must have been really tough". Because it was an IM conversation, we couldn't see each other's faces, and so it was a safe environment for us to talk about a truly miserable experience. Containing my urge to mother him and give unwanted advice was easier in this climate, and I suspect it was easier for him to tell the story without worrying about judgmental reactions on my face.
And because the conversation was written, a form that both of us are very comfortable with, he could paint the picture for me and help me feel as though I was right there with him. For example: "When I finally got back to my room, I was inchoate with rage." And when he made it to the Department of Motor Vehicles after miserable, crowded bus rides and found a line out the door, he "almost lost it. But then hope gradually returned as the line moved along quickly...and then died when I made it to the counter and found a cranky, exhausted clerk who was just waiting for this long hot day to end." And when he finally had temporary registration papers, a new driver's license and cash in hand to bail out his car, he stepped off the bus into downtown Los Angeles "at that time of day when the light is golden, and even the ugliest of the industrial buildings glowed. I felt overwhelmed with happiness at having taken agency of my life again, and I almost wept with joy."
A day in the life of my son, captured in words that I won't soon forget, powerfully conveyed in instant message - more powerfully, I think, than could have been done in person.
So there you have it. Screen-to-screen communication that beat face-to-face by a country mile. In the right circumstances. For the right people. Even for a mother and son.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Sep 13 2007, 08:00:00 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [3]
Monday September 10, 2007 Billions and billions and billions of stars
Remember being a kid, and lying in your backyard at night, starring at the stars? And thinking about our universe, and what lies beyond our universe, and what lies beyond that, and what lies beyond that? It was my first experience with trying to ponder the unknowable, and I still remember the spinning feeling I had as my brain bumped up against something it simply couldn't comprehend.
Not scientifically inclined by nature, solving the mysteries of the universe was not my first ambition. And as a near-sighted, not particularly athletic child, exploring the mysteries as an astronaut didn't occur to me either. But reading about them? Writing about the wonders of not knowing everything? Capturing the beauty of the world on canvas? Ahhh, that was much more up my alley.
I was brought back to these memories as I continue to read comments on the Sun bloggers' alias (sorry, non-Sunnies...it's an internal email group) about "the wikification of Sun" and a video Danny Holland and Lou Ordorica posted on YouTube. As is my usual experience with the bloggers' alias, I'm lost for much of the conversation as I'm not an engineer. But because we're a broad community (remember, over 10 percent of us blog externally - that's a lot of conversation!), there's almost always something in the exchange that peaks my interest. This time there were two broad themes I found pretty interesting:
- With all the information being made available in blogs, wikis, social community sites, etc., how do you keep vital data from being buried or lost?
- What's the right balance between unconstrained proliferation of Web 2.0 devices, channels and widgets and the need for technical support for users and, I would add, governance to protect the interest of both users and the company?
I'm also hanging with engineering, IT, privacy and marketing folks. Each of them provides another piece of the puzzle, another perspective, another bias and another set of passions to ignite the conversation.
If you believe that the most exciting innovations occur when different people work and play together, than you've gotta be loving the explosion of knowledge and approach happening through Web 2.0. We've built a community of interest at Sun, fueled by curiosity, supported by expertise and knowledge, enriched by interface and sharing with the rest of the world.
So when I lean back in my chair and stare at the many windows open on my laptop, and hear the beeping of text messages on my phone, and remember I need to catch up on what my favorite bloggers are saying, and look for time to check out what's happening on Sun wikis, I don't have that overwhelmed sense of the incomprehensible that I felt as a kid. What I feel is so very, very fortunate to be living in this time, working for this company, surrounded by these remarkable people. And I don't even have to be an astronaut to share in the joy of exploration.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Sep 10 2007, 07:44:16 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Tuesday September 04, 2007 South meets North; East meets West
She came from Hanoi; he came from Saigon. She is a Buddhist, he a Catholic. They met in California where she was a model for his parents' clothing line. That was some 20 years ago. Today they are married, and hoping (praying, really) that this month they shall return to Vietnam and pick up the little boy they want to be their son.
North meets south; east meets west. I've been friends with Dennis since 1978, when we worked together in Computer Science Corporation's Los Angeles office. Dennis was a technical rep; I was a sales rep. We teamed on a number of accounts, notably American Honda. In time, Dennis wanted to learn to sell, and I became his sales manager. A lifelong friendship was forged during those years. My husband and I joyfully attended Rosalie and Dennis's wedding and have remained friends oh these many years.
We spent part of this past Labor Day weekend with them, and got caught up on where they are in their struggle to adopt. It's been a process filled with great expectations and even greater disappointments, and one that is, unfortunately, not unusual for adoptive parents to endure. Rosalie spent three months in Vietnam last winter with the little boy they are trying to bring home. At the last minute, his mother changed her mind, and Rosalie went home with empty arms, devastated. Imagine how angry they were to learn the mom never picked her son up - she just left him at the orphanage. It was a classic shakedown for money.
So back to square one they went. Redo the paperwork. Ensure the mother signs all the papers this time so she can't go back on her word again. Meanwhile, their spirits are kept up by talking to the little boy every week, and he has started to call them Mama Rosalie and Papa Dennis (well, actually, Danh từ Rosalie and Danh từ Dennis). One more set of paperwork and a new family will be made.
From an ugly civil war in Vietnam to a beautiful family in California. Spanning multiple cultures. Overcoming many hardships. Contributing mightily to this country - and to my life. I can't wait to meet their new son, and the new daughter they are hoping will quickly follow.
The face of immigration has many facets. My mother's parents, my father, our friends and the son they eagerly wait to welcome. Hardworking people who have given back many times to their new homeland. When I think about Labor Day, I think about all the many different people who labored mightily to build a good country and a good life. Worth celebrating indeed...
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Sep 04 2007, 08:00:00 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
