Is the 100 Bloggers project on your radar yet? 100 Bloggers is a group effort of a bunch of bloggers I admire, and they even let me have a key to the posting booth.
I just dropped by with some thoughts for managers in a post called "Flair up?" If you have a couple of moments, click on over and look around.
And, if you're so inclined, you can join the fray and become one of the contributing bloggers. Despite the name, if the number exceeds 100, that's not a bad thing.
Don't have a blog of your own? That's no hill for a stepper. If you've got something to say in the spirit of helpful advice on business and personal development, you're welcome.
This is all about dialog and sharing - and your voice is welcome. You can go here for more information.
Read MoreI've gotten a couple of questions about my site's current banner. Here's the story: Earlier this month, I was down home visiting my parents in Louisiana. They live about 45 minutes from beautiful Avery Island, home of the famous McIlheny Company's Tabasco Pepper Sauce (that's where they've made it since 1868).
In addition to Tabasco manufacturing plant, which you can tour for free, Avery Island is home to a large botanical garden and bird sanctuary established by the McIlheny's. The alligator sign is affixed to an observation deck that allows you to walk onto a platform over a huge lagoon near a part of the island called "Bird City."
What you can't see in the banner picture is that there really is a small gator in the water about 5 yards from where we're standing.
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I was honored to discover that Liz Strauss at Successful Blog has chosen Genuine Curiosity as a "Successful and Outstanding Blog" and I'm now able to display (proudly) my badge as an official SOB.
I've been a fan of Liz's work and insights for quite some time and am happy to be part of the club.
I'm especially fond of Liz's series of posts on "Bad Boys of Business" and "Customer Think." Check it out and I'm sure you'll add Successful Blog to your favorites - if you're new to it, start with the "Popular Posts" list - nicely arranged by category.
Thank you, Liz!
Read MoreLaugh, learn, cringe. Seldom does a book evoke such a combination of reactions. But that's what I got from the book "Warriors, Workers, Whiners, & Weasels: Understanding and Using The Four Personality Types To Your Advantage," by Tim O'Leary. I also came away with a better understanding of Weasels.
The book is an easy and fun read -- O'Leary's style is very comfortable and entertaining. The book is also loaded with great stories and examples.
What's your "W"?
The gist of this book is that each of us fits in one type within the "circle of life." In O'Leary's model, they're all defined by a "W" word. Here is how I paraphrase each of these types in the book:
- Warriors - People who drive people to do things (and get results themselves). High ego, high integrity, highly competitive.
- Workers - The people who respond well to the warriors to get things done. Point-and-go, get things done people - supporting cast that help the movie stars do what they do.
- Whiners - People who have lots of excuses for not getting things done, and it's never their fault. Organizational cancer.
- Weasels - Sneaky, two-faced people who never take responsibility for their immoral / amoral ways. High ego, low integrity - wolves in sheep's clothing, often deluded into thinking they are Warriors.
The book helps you determine your type (I'm a Worker), and has some guidance on how to deal with other types and maximize the value of your type - assuming you are a Warrior or a Weasel, at least.
Well Worth the Read
This is a fun read, particularly if (like me) you've worked with or for Weasels and don't quite know how to deal with them (for Warriors, I think this is easier - but not for us Workers, who tend to be more on the 'keep the peace' end of the scale). O'Leary's office is a few blocks from mine in Portland, Oregon and I wonder if we happen to know some of the same weasels.
Some of my favorite sections:
- "The Way of the Weasel: Four of My Favorite Weasel Stories" (this alone is worth the price of the book!)
- "Get Over It! Five Rules to Live By to Avoid Being a Whiner"
- "The Weasel Tax: The High Price We All Pay for Rodent Infestation"
And, if you have your own weasel story to share, you can do so at "www.exposeyourweasel.com" - an irreverent companion blog.
O'Leary's own blog is a more reverent resource, if that's more your style - check out his recent post on "The Whining Effect" for a taste.
Related items:
Read MoreI know people who are "extreme backpackers" that are always looking for ways to shed weight from the gear they carry when they go backpacking. While I'm not quite as much of a zealot for measuring how many ounces everything I carry weighs, I do always look for ways to decrease the weight and bulk of the things I carry for business.
My gadget freak bias means I carry a lot of chargers, cables, and similar accessories. I've found a few that have made a big difference for lightening my travel bag and I will start sharing some of my finds with you periodically, with a series of posts that I'll call "Travel Light." Today, I'd like to introduce you to Boxwave's line of charging and synching cables for mobile devices.
I carry a Treo 650 as my PDA of choice and wanted an easy, lightweight way to charge it while I travel.
I cycled through a couple of cheap, no-name USB sync & charge cables but I had problems with them because they didn't "grip" my Treo well enough and wouldn't stay plugged in reliably. As a result, I had quite a few experiences where I plugged my Treo in to charge before bed in a hotel room, only to wake up and find that the connection hadn't been maintained through the night and my phone was not fully charged for my busy day. Not good.
Then I found Boxwave's miniSync retractable Sync and Charge cable. These folks know how to engineer a quality product. It's compact, retracts very well (some of the cheaper ones I tried often wouldn't retract fully after a few uses). Most importantly for me, it really grips the phone and stays plugged in even if the phone gets jostled. Heck, I can even make phone calls while the phone is charging with this thing. And, as the name implies, it also syncs my Treo (it's a Palm-based PDA) with my computer to keep things accessible when I'm out and about.
They make accessories for a bunch of other devices including cables, cases, and screen protectors. If you are in the market for anything like that, Boxwave is where I'd start looking.
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