New blog: www.StrategyHappyHour.com

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I started this blog in 2012.  Now, eight years later, I am starting a new blog here. I will be the editor, not the writer.

Started blogging in 2012

When I started a new job in 2011, there was not a lot of work. Our group was not that busy and I was a bit bored.  Wanted to use my brain more, but what were my choices?

  • MBA? Got one of those already.
  • Corporate training videos? Really?
  • Industry certification? Sure, sometime. . .

By this time, my brother-in-law had been blogging for several years.  As an avid reader and writer, this sounded like his thing – not something I would enjoy. So over many holiday dinner table conversations, I started warming up to the idea. Thanks KRL. Timidly, almost reluctantly, I wrote my first post in March 2012 here.

The post was 96 words (less than the number of words in this post so far) and entirely uncontroversial and non-committal. Didn’t really know what I wanted to blog on so I kept going – writing, experimenting, listening to readers. One of the best parts of having a blog?  It’s yours. You can write whatever you want. The blog was anonymous for 5 years, until I started teaching at Emory. Early 2017.

Why blog?

This is a sermon that my friends and students have heard repeatedly. If you’ve shared a meal, coffee, or wine with me recently, I’m sure I tried to talk you into starting a blog. Lots of reasons:

  • The Internet is thin. While there is a ton of websites and words, a lot of it is just self promotion by people (social media) or companies (public relations).  It’s just millions of pages of “hey, look at me.”
  • You have something to say; what have you learned through your work that will help others? My guess is that you can build an audience for your brand of thinking, writing, working, living.
  • Good business writing is rare; it takes discipline, practice, and curiosity.  Get working. . .
  • With Covid-19, business will not “go to normal.” Some things will be changed permanently, and that’s fascinating, largely undetermined, and worthy of debate.  We’re in the 2nd inning. Lots left to go.
  • You need to own more of your content. Think of it like intellectual property. You should publish in your own name. Not in your company’s name, not in your client’s name. Written by XYZ for XYZ.

Write about what?

Of course, this could be anything.

Your poetry. Your K-pop dance instruction videos. Your tips on squash. Your cooking podcast. Your blog about the economics of golf courses. Your excel modeling tips. Your tips for acing university. Your woodworking projects.

If you wanted to take this in a more career-path directions, a few ways to think about “your work”:

  • What do you find yourself studying, reading, watching, thinking about?
  • What would you like investing the next 3-5 years of your life to getting wicked good at?
  • What are you consistently surprised that people “don’t get”?
  • What could you talk about for 2-3 hours straight and not lose energy?
  • What do your friends say about you? “Oh, yeah. . . she is totally into ________.”
  • If you could get paid $250,000 to do _____________ for 6 days a week, what would that be?
  • What do people compliment you for (skill, talent, results)?
  • What work do you take a lot of professional pride in. . .almost to a fault?
  • What do you enjoy teaching to other people?
  • What gaps or “white space” do you see in your company or client’s work?  What could you sell?

Write for whom?

#1. Write for yourself. If you think it’s boring, please don’t ask us to read it.  Also, a few more thoughts:

  • Write for yourself.  In the first 2-3 years, very few people will be reading what you write
  • Write for the people you like to discuss this topic with; find your tribe
  • Write for one person – don’t try to impress the “average” person; they don’t exist

Write privately or publicly?

This was my first thought. My first hedge. Why not just write privately on a Google Doc, and when my writing gets really good, then I’ll start a blog. Wrong. Oddly, it’s the public nature of sharing the work that makes it good.

Don’t worry, your first blog, book, drawing, recording will be bad. (Oops, I said it out loud) That’s kind of a given. What’s more important is the learning curve. Sharing your work is like a Harry Potter boost of magic:

  • Accountability. Putting your name / face on the work really motivates you do your best work
  • Professionalism. You push aside your ego and actually listen closely to feedback; improve this thing
  • Marketing. You start to transcend the “I am writing what I think” to “what do I think, that’s worth sharing?”

As Seth Godin, marketing strategy savant, says “Artists ship.”  Others can see, experience, enjoy, criticize it. You are not sheltering it in your brain, or your basement. Nope, like a proud parent, you are birthing it to the world.

There’s something visceral, vulnerable, and human about sharing our work:

  • “What if people don’t like it?”
  • “What if no one reads it?”
  • “What if it’s no good?”

My response to that would be, “Yes, exactly why you should do it.” Godin talks about “dancing with your fear” and cracking through the social “oh no” that keeps us so gun-shy.  Quick tip: listen to more podcasts of amazing people.

Strategy Happy Hour

This is a blog I started for my previous students, and friends to publish their thinking. It’s a safe place for them to put their words and thoughts on (metaphorical) paper. I am the editor, they are the writers. This is not a marketing forum for consultants or guest blogging. Nope, these are the topics that a smart, fun set of MBA types would talk about over Thursday kegs.  The first seven posts are all worth your time:

After working AG, AP, BW, EG, JS, JP, MH over the last few weeks – I’m so proud of their work.

Are you shipping art?

 

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