I used to struggle with long trips as I viewed my destination as the goal and the drive to the destination as the cost rather than a part of the experience. Today that is not the case.

A few years ago I went on a road trip in an RV and surrounded by some of my best friends I experienced the journey. I discovered that the trip including late night coffee stops, peeing roadside and trash talking one another for their choice in music, snacks, apparel, etc. was as much a part of the vacation as the things that we stopped to see or do. I have more pictures and fond memories of us in that RV than at any other location and would go on the same adventure again tomorrow (SNCKR’14?).

Along the way I learned things about myself and that somewhere in between here and there is when I truly realized that memories do not require destinations to be made. They happen with every kilometre you cover, so no…. we aren’t there yet, settle in and just enjoy being here right now.

It’s not worth the risk…

Many years ago I worked on the sales floor of a Home Depot store.  This is a place where the wrong answer can cause a customer to be electrocuted from bad wiring advice or see their basement flooded from bad plumbing directions.  This is where I learned to say that I didn’t know.

The risks of the wrong answer were just too high to take, so instead you offered “I’m not sure, but let’s find out together”.

In the end I learned as the customer learned and was better prepared to answer the question the next time a customer asked me.

Changing my habits

A few years ago I started to implement this in my work life. If I didn’t know the answer I said so and would do the research and follow up with the correct response as the information became available. This meant that I became a resource that learned the answers in many categories because I was spending a great deal of time researching each vertical.

At first I was afraid that saying I didn’t know would make people think I was unprepared, but it became quite the opposite. People discovered that if they added questions into the meeting notices I would come armed with as much information as I could and realized that if I gave an answer it was because I had the research to support it.

Challenge the desire to know everything. There is no person who can possibly know everything.  Experts in all categories reference their research and that of others before they make a claim.

So if you don’t know, don’t bullshit. Accept it and start digging up the answers.

I understand, its the end of the year and as a sales person you have quotas that you have to meet.  I’m not judging you for using your premium account to search out people like me that may need your good or service, but don’t let yourself think I’m not judging your approach.

“Dear Sir,”

Your first failing: I am plainly a female and would have preferred that since my first AND last name are already on my profile you would be best to address me as Erin, Ms. Burrell or even the slightly more annoying Mrs. Burrell. It would have only taken a moment to edit that form letter to incorporate my name. A clever person may even find a method to automate the Linkedin message to include a pull of the name I have displayed.

“It appears that my (fill in the blank good or service) may be of use to you or your company”

Can you get more generic? It appears to me that you did not take the time to READ my profile or do any research about where I work or what I do. Had you taken the time to read my info you may have realized that 1) your service might not actually be relevant to me,  2) I am actually responsible for providing the very service you are selling, or 3) This girl needs what you have to sell… tell me more!

I’m not saying that I dislike cold calls. They are sometimes a cost of doing business. You as a sales person need to create relationships, but ask yourself: Would you approach a potential future spouse this way?

Google just told me there is a guy that has the following tags associated with him: #job #car #doesntliveinparentsbasement.  He’s perfect!

Dear Sir,

I think that you and I would be a great fit since I want to marry someone who does not live in their parents basement.

Please reach out to me soon to discuss our upcoming marriage.

Best,

Random Girl

416.XXX.XXXX

randomgirl@youhaventmetyet.com

What?  You think that is a bad idea?

Some of my best professional relationships have been started with a well-researched cold call, but I can’t tell you how much more likely you are going to be to get a reply if you at least know why you are reaching out to me. Figure out how your goods/service would best fit my organization/role and use my name and that of my organization in your message.

If you spend the time to do at least that, I will read the rest of your message and likely even send you a reply. If you cannot take the time, I am afraid that neither can I.

This lesson stayed with me.  You must have your vote placed and counted to deserve the right to an opinion be it good or bad in another’s eyes.

Don’t like your mayor?  Did you vote for or against him/her or did you stay home and eat pizza?

So…why  am I talking politics today?

Too many of us don’t vote.  We don’t voice our opinions where they have impact.  We need to start.  We need the people that we elect to impact what we want our cities, countries and world to reflect.

The magic of living in countries where we can select our leaders is that we can choose the ones that reflect ourselves.

Our world is in trouble.  The resources are starting to diminish faster than they restore.  Our kids are obese and brand logos are more familiar than authors or types of trees to them.  Our politicians select weapons over words. Our food is modified. Our world has changed and the only way to ensure it is changing the right way is by voicing our opinions on ballots.

Please vote.  Vote for your Mayor, the leader of your country and any other role that you can help to select.

I don’t care who you support.

Red, Blue, Left, Right.

Do what matters to you.  But please.  Act on your views by casting your vote.

An unexpected legacy

Growing up during the depression, my Grams was never one to waste anything that had a purpose. Before a garment moved on to it’s next life as a patchwork quilt or cleaning rag it was carefully stripped of buttons and trim that could be of use somewhere else. All of the recovered buttons were placed in a canning jar that she kept on the shelf of the linen closet, ready to be put back on at a moment’s notice.

As a little girl I found this jar of buttons saved from the garbage bin to be fascinating.  There was always such an assortment of shape, sizes and colours that I could spend hours categorizing them only to discover that on my next visit they had been returned to their home in the jar.

When I got a bit older the buttons became lessons in sewing.  As I tried my hand at the craft I would lose hours at the kitchen table carefully sewing patterns of buttons onto tea towels. As always upon my return my buttons had found their home in the jar and the tea towels had lost their splendor and returned to being merely functional towels folded neatly in the kitchen drawer.

It always seemed like magic that everything always returned to its correct place and original state.  Looking back I suppose that when we left my Grams must have picked out my sloppy little girl stitches so that I had a clean slate to begin again the next time I came.

It was only a few days ago that I realized where the desire to keep these potentially useful bits of plastic, fabric and glass came from.   I suppose that you never realize the legacy you are leaving behind while it is happening.

It just occurred to me that the easiest papers to read were written as though the writer had just had a chat with the original idea guy or gal.  They were discussing a concept and using evidence from other peoples work seamlessly because of the level of familiarity that they had with the raw concept and the source writer.

In many cases the research papers and journal articles that I am reading are written by some of the greatest minds in the business community.  These writers are prolific and have produced books, articles, case studies and even have YouTube channels all about their concepts.  What I discovered is that I too, am getting to know these brilliant minds.  I now understand and can use examples from the different works because I am getting familiar with their theories.

I will be referring to these gifted academics in papers (respectfully and with the correct CMOS footnotes) as though I know them.  The risk of not giving sources credit is too high to not work as hard as I can at finding a way to do this well.  I am going to try this approach for my next two papers.  Kaplan, Miles, Kotter et al are now my friends and trusted inner circle.  Starting today I will be crediting them the same way I would credit an idea from a call with my mom or lunch with a friend.

My goal from this test is to see if it helps my writing become fluid again and see if it helps me to take some of the crispy tone out of the sentences supported by a citation.  From what I understand this is a skill that needs practice and will someday become something I no longer have to work at.  Until such time as I can integrate credit with the best of them, these celebrities of academia are my peeps.

Defining strategies for social media in business

Each day I come across businesses that are trying to grow their engagement with their customers and employees and the first thing they come to the table with is the need for a Social Media Strategy.  I love and believe in social media, but I don’t believe that it is the best channel for every business or employee relations challenge that you are presented with.

In order to validate if a social media approach is right for a specific business challenge I have started to ask a few specific questions that help to get each brand on the right path.

Is the customer you are trying to reach in the demographic that uses the particular platform?

If you create a Twitter feed for a group that are loyal to Tumblr you may be wasting your time. Social media is a great tool to grow your business but you have to be relevant.  If the platform is not a match to the customers, then don’t bother, but if the answer is yes keep going.

Are you going to commit resources to write content and respond to questions or posts that arrive on the different platforms?

If the answer is no, then maybe you should re-think the idea of being in social media.  Responses that aren’t timely can turn into PR nightmares quickly on most platforms so what could have begun as a question about hours of service could spiral out of control and become damaging to your brand.  It is better not to be in the social space, than to do it badly.

Are you hoping to engage internal employees?

If you want to have an associate Facebook page and they can’t access Facebook from your internal network, you have likely created an obstacle to your own success.  Make sure your team can access your content from their workplace.  Hoping that they will go home and like your brand after a long day is a lot to ask of anyone.

Additionally, if your business includes employees that may not have great internet and/or cellular coverage because they work in remote locations, you may be spending time talking to yourself.

Ok, so you are going to staff the venture and you are committed to making sure everyone can access the content in the channel that fits them best, so what next?

You likely need a social media strategy.  Before you move forward and invest in the project make sure you know what you want to accomplish, and are willing to test it for a reasonable amount of time.  Most social media projects need at least six months to really build up steam, and don’t really hit their stride until at least a year of content and customer engagement has been completed.

When building your plan, include key milestones that will define success of the program as it builds and grows.  Try to be realistic about followers, circlers or likes that you want  for the first few months of the program.  Remember, just because you now have a presence doesn’t mean that everyone will seek out your page tomorrow.

Social media may have what seems like an immediate return on your investment, but you need people to care about what you have to say, before they will trust you with their time.  Be engaging, whatever your platform of choice and make sure that your social brand stays true to your existing non-social customer.

Twenty Ten

Last day of riding 2010 SNKCR

It all began in 2010 when I decided to ride my bike across Canada as a member of the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride (SNKCR).  I joined a group of strangers in Vancouver for a bike ride to raise funds for paediatric cancer causes and to drive awareness.  I had no idea that I would get so much back for my effort.  The group of volunteers and riders (approximately 100 people) come together for an amazing cause and became my family.

Volunteers for a Cause

Twenty Eleven

In my quest to pay forward all that I experienced from the 2010 ride, I hopped on the bandwagon as a member of the support crew for SNKCR 2011.  Armed with the knowledge of what the riders were going through and the feeling of how much my volunteers gave to me, I headed across Canada again.  This time it was a different experience.  Many of the people there started as my family and each of the new riders and crew were a welcome addition to our world.

Twenty Twelve

Motivated by the last two years of giving back to my community I made the choice to give back to myself.  Enrolling in the Royal Roads MBA program was a big step for me in helping to move forward as a professional and as a person.  What I was not expecting was that this was another huge adventure.  School has been something I have thought about for quite some time, but not something that I was prepared to commit to.  I was sure that I would learn a lot, but I had no idea I would change as a person.  The program includes two residencies and a bunch of online learning and programs along the way.

I spent the last three weeks in Victoria BC on my first residency engaged in team projects, outstanding classes and absorbing as much content as I possibly could.  During all of this academic learning came a great deal of personal growth.  Being in a safe place to ask the question “how does my action effect another person?” was incredibly empowering.  It helped me to better understand my own choices and to listen before making a judgement about another person.

At least the weather was good for crutches

The Lessons

Each year I have taken a number of personal lessons away from my experiences.  These lessons were not easily earned and in many cases came with many obstacles that I had to overcome before I could get to the lesson at all.

In 2010 I learned how to feel genuine emotion again by learning how to cry after years of thinking that tears were a sign of weakness. I became liberated by understanding that emotion is what makes us whole.  In 2011 I learned that the little things you do for another person can make their lives better in big ways.

This year was the biggest personal lesson so far.  I learned that asking others to help you is sometimes more of a gift to them than to you. Navigating the campus on crutches was hard, but learning that I can ask for help will last a lot longer than a broken leg.

Now I find myself wondering what life changing adventures are ahead of me next September…..The world is full of lessons if you are willing to show up on time for class.

On more than one occasion I was struck with the idea that I could get so much more done alone, and during those times I could have. What is magical is when the team shifts as a group and starts to produce to the volume of their communal capacity. It took us twelve days to get to a place that many teams may never reach.  It wasn’t easy, but it does say a lot about what effective communication can do to help a group move forward together.

I’ve worked on lots of “teams”, but they were more just groups of people following the demands/requirements that a boss set out for us.  We didn’t collaborate on the best methods or approaches to problem solving, we just did it the way the boss said to.

I can admit that I have also been a”boss” at times when I thought I was a leader.  Instead of having a dialogue with my reports I was mandating that they complete a project or task my way.  Being a leader is an evolution.  You need to grow with your team and take turns following another person’s ideas through so that you can understand what the best way to tackle a problem really is.  You need to do things wrong, so that you really know and understand when you do them right.

Leading means learning and growing, not dictating.

The idea of going back to school was not forced upon me, but has actually been something that I have been toying with for a couple of years now.  I am not sure when I decided that getting an MBA was a must have bucket list item, but I know that once I decided that I was doing it, it all came together very fast.  The school and the program type came to me organically as I rated and reviewed all of the programs available.  Once I decided on Royal Roads , all of the rest of the items just flowed right behind it.

MBA @ RRU

Life Changing

At the end of May I had a conversation with the Dean of the Faculty of Management and the program manager and knew that this was the right program for me.  With an outstanding level of academic achievement and a much higher than average age (43 versus 26), I was going to go to school with leaders from many different industries, and I was going to be able to learn from everyone there.  The other learners in the program would be leaders from every industry there was.  The perspectives and life lessons presented were going to come from talented professors AND every other person in the room.  I was going to learn so much in this program!

I applied… now what?

Much like anything in my life it all came together almost overnight.  Not quite “Erin Burrell please cross the stage” fast, but speedy, none the less.  From application to the first day of class, just over five weeks passed.  From the day I was accepted to today it has been less than two months, and here I am in the fifth week of the program.

Back in Class

The program is designed as a mostly online model, but includes two three week “intensive” residency sessions, the first of which I am at the end of day ten.  I’m tired.  My brain is so busy, that I’m not sure it is going to have room for the readings I have to do for tomorrow’s classes.  I woke up this morning unsure if the case study I read last night,  had been read thinking of the right course (for those of you who are interested… I was thinking strategy when I should have been thinking of organizational behaviour and yes, I re-read it).  We are busy, between team and individual assignments, reading and trying to absorb the materials most of the students, myself included are going from about 6am-midnight.

Over the last ten days I have had my writing and thinking processes ripped apart in order to make room for the new tools that my professors and fellow learners are giving me.  This exercise is not just necessary in order to help me grow as a leader, it is mandatory in order to help me to expand my notions of what it means to be a leader.  Each comment in the margins of an assignment is designed to help me to understand the lessons that my instructors are teaching me, don’t get me wrong…they still hurt a little but I am learning my ass off!

Have I mentioned my broken leg?

Oh… so…yeah, I fell and broke my leg practicing hits at roller derby.  When?  Well gee… I was in the hospital the morning of our first day of online classes, but it’s ok.  Yes, it is hard to get around a campus that has more than it’s fair share of stairs on crutches, but the entire campus is helping me!  Every member of the staff has gone out of their way to help make my RRU experience better.  It goes well beyond opening doors and offering me shortcuts, they have made the girl on crutches feel welcome and not even slightly out of place.

So here I am… just around 5% of the way through the program and couldn’t be more pleased that I made the choice to come.  I will do my best to share my journey along the way, but really… both you and I know that I should be doing homework right now.  Conclusion goes here.