December 13th, 2011
Last year I took a 30 day “social media holiday” over the holidays. It was pretty awesome, and I am going to do the same this year. I am going off-line from Friday December 16th until Monday, January 16th. This is kind of a quiet time of year for me and rather than investing the extra time in tweeting, blogging and poking people on Facebook, I try to spend a bit more time with the family, get caught up on some things, reflect on the past year and plan for the coming year.
2011 has been a good year. I got back in shape this year (thanks to my wife who set the example for me and ran a half marathon), lost 40 pounds and ran my first 10k. Climbed a couple more 14ers. My speaking business grew a lot. I was happy to return to some events that I am very fond of and also found my way on to the agenda of some very cool events for the first time. I am grateful for every single invitation to share my ideas, aspirations and frustrations with an audience. I am very lucky to love what I do and to have some amount of talent to apply toward its delivery. I made some wonderful new connections this year, did my first Ignite presentations, wrote a book with my bff and had some articles published. Good things. Celebrated five years of marriage with my lovely and talented wife, and it is no small miracle that someone actually wants to be married to me…not to mention pull it off for five years. Our baby boy turned one this year, our 4 year old started pre-k and our 11 year old is not a little girl any longer. Awesome and horrible things. It looks like we are going to make it through an entire calendar year without any trips to the emergency room. Awesome.
2012 looks to be even better. To be honest, I get a little giddy in my belly thinking about 2012. Having met my weight loss goals, there are a couple of new tattoos in my near future. There are some very cool speaking engagements already booked, with a lot more in play. Our book will be ready, and maybe I will get serious about writing my book. Some cool new projects to dig into. My website is getting tuned up a little bit and I have some new videos in production. I have worked closely with a branding consultant for a few years now and in 2011 we added some business development firepower to the team. In 2012 we will add some marketing and administrative help. The beat builds. All good things.
A few themes that seem to be bouncing around in my head as the year comes to an end…
Design. Specifically HRs role in designing the employee experience.
Narrative. Specifically as an extension of and a way to interact with identity.
Affinity. Agency. Association.
The power of choice.
Artifacts. Social objects. Iconography.
Architectures of information, opportunity and decision making.
The future of “work.”
The end of “management.”
The importance of failure.
Social and organizational network analysis.
Thanks for visiting this place and caring. I appreciate it. I am going to post a few more times this week and then the blog will be quiet until mid January.
Be good to each other.