I want to hate these 'Lessons Learned' but I can't

I pretty much can't stand the phrase 'Lessons Learned'.

It could be due to seeing it once too often at the end of a really dull presentation (where one of the 'Lessons' never seems to be the presenter saying 'Don't hire me again to speak'), or that even if the presentation was solid that seeing a slide called 'Lessons Learned' seems to imply that all you really need to do is remember these things and everything will be peaches and cream.

I think the 'Lessons Learned' slides usually become the framework or outline for what eventually comes to be called 'Best Practices', and we all, (or most of us anyway), know what we think about Best Practices. So for me, just like Best Practices, I generally take anyone's 'Lessons Learned' with a grain of salt (where did that phrase come from?), and normally don't put too much stock in them. Every person's or organization's background, experience, and way of viewing the world is unique - and we can get into at worst real trouble, or at best fall into dull mimicry, by taking too much stock in either 'Lessons Learned' or Best Practices.

But a week or two ago, one of the smartest list of 'Lessons', this one from legendary Wall Street investor and executive Byron Wien from Blackstone was posted on the firm's blog. Titled smply 'Blackstone's Byron Wien Discusses Lessons Learned in His First 80 Years', the list includes some really sharp, relevant, and balanced ideas or recommendations or simple bits of easily forgotten common sense that someone with the benefit of years and years of experience can offer.

You should take a few minutes to read through Mr. Wien's list - but in case you are you know - super, super busy this morning, I will cherry-pick what I think are the most cutting, insightful, and helpful ones below:

Lesson #1 - Networking

'Network intensely.  Luck plays a big role in life and there is no better way to increase your luck than by knowing as many people as possible.  Nurture your network by sending articles, books and emails to people to show you’re thinking about them.  Write op-eds and thought pieces for major publications.  Organize discussion groups to bring your thoughtful friends together.'

Lesson #2 - Be Likeable

'Younger people are naturally insecure and tend to overplay their accomplishments.  Most people don’t become comfortable with who they are until they’re in their 40’s.  By that time they can underplay their achievements and become a nicer more likeable person.  Try to get to that point as soon as you can.'

Lesson #3 - EVOLVE

'Try to think of your life in phases so you can avoid a burn-out.  Do the numbers crunching in the early phase of your career.  Try developing concepts later on.  Stay at risk throughout the process.'

Pretty great, right?

Especially the idea about staying at risk throughout your career, or at least engaging with as much risk, fear, or even unknown as you can manage. Safe is safe, and while it (sometimes) means 'secure' it often turns into 'boring'.

So yes, I still hate 'Lessons Learned'. But I made an exception for Mr. Wien's list. And I will make an exception for you too - once you hit 80 years old. 

Have a Great Week!

Here's the social media video you'll see 1,418 times in 2013

There is no doubt we love, love, love the 'Social Media Revolution' series of videos created by Erik Qualman.

If you have been to any kind of conference, event, presentation, webinar, etc. that had even the remotest tie-back to social media, social networking, or mobile technology in the last 5 years or so, then you have definitely sat through 4 minutes of increasingly incredible social media statistics fly in and out of the frame, while tapping your toes to the pulsating soundtrack courtesy of Fatboy Slim's 'Right Here, Right Now.'

Well the latest version, titled 'Social Media Revolution 4' was released a couple of weeks ago, (embedded below, email and RSS subscribers will have to click through to get your Slim on), and in keeping with the structure, format, and presentation of the first three videos in the series, this latest installment presents numerous facts and statistics about the state and growth of social media and networking.

Take a look below and then come back to read my sincere request of you about this video in 2013. 

Great stuff, right?

Facebook is really big.  Lots of folks sign up for LinkedIn every day. People like to read online product reviews and check out recommendations about restaurants from strangers on the internet. Fatboy Slim (sort of) holds up in late 2012.

So here is my request for 2013 - don't include this video in any presentation you may give, webcast you present, or informal talk you might have with your colleagues. If you find yourself in attendance at an event/presentation, and the speaker cracks out this little beauty in an attempt to convince the audience by virtue of the statistics and volume of our pal Slim that 'social media is a really big deal' then you need to walk out and send a strongly worded letter, (that will teach them), to the event organizers that you expect better from speakers in 2013.

We just can't keep trotting this one out, and we can't keep trying to 'impress' people with it either.

We can't, trust me on this. Someone's head will explode at SHRM13 and with all those HR people in the room the workmen's comp discussions will be epic. Actually, that might be kind of fun.

There is nothing wrong or bad about this video, (or the ones that came before it in the series), but we have, all of us, heard and seen it all before.

Especially the 'Right Here, Right Now' bit, which by the way was released back in 1999.

I think the song is about the Y2K bug.

Hello Wisconsin! - Presentation at the MRA Conference

Greetings from cold, rainy and 'hard-to-find-some-working-wifi' Milwaukee, Wisconsin!

I am here today to attend and present at the MRA's Annual Human Resources Conference titled : 'Take Your Game to the Next Level'. The MRA is a large professional employer's organization that serves members in the Midwest with development, learning, and other resources to help make them more effective.

An HR Conference being held at a baseball stadium with a 'sports' theme running all the way through the event? I am in!

My session is called 'Hitting the Curveball: Leadership in the Social Age', and is centered around some of the challenges that leaders and organizations face in the new world of openness and transparency, and offers some (I hope), useful suggestions for getting more comfortable and effective in this new environment.

I just uploaded the slides I will use today to Slideshare - you can take a look at them here, and they are also embedded below (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through to see the presentation).

Leadership in the Social Age - MRA

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Let me know what you think of the slides, it was not easy finding all the 'right' images to try and illustrate this topic.

Thanks very much to the great folks at MRA for inviting me to come to the event today, I just wish a Brewers game was on!

Shuffling to Buffalo

Today I have the great honor of presenting at the Buffalo-Niagara Human Resource Organization's annual event, HR Strategies on the Road to Recovery.

My session is about collaboration tools and technologies, what they are, how they can be applied in organizations to foster increased innovation, and how HR leaders and professionals might go about assessing and deploying these kinds of technologies.

I also have lots of unrelated images in my slides, and a dorky but neat 'Star Wars' effect on one of them.

I sent out a few tweets in the last couple of weeks about the event, mainly to try and discover if anyone in my extended network would be there today, and I was met with silence.  So either I am not that popular in Buffalo (likely), or the Greater Buffalo community is not all that dialed in to Twitter (probably), or the community there is passively ignoring me, (possibly).

At any rate, I have embedded the presentation below, apologies in advance for the crude nature of the design, pretty soon I am going to just start doing these 'Jimmy The Greek' style.

BNHRA - October 27, 2010 - Steve Boese

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If you do see me in Buffalo be sure to say hello.

Presentations and Props

If you are like most professionals when you have a client, prospect, conference, or even an internal presentation to prepare, you start thinking about the tools you will bring to the show even more than the content and insight you are meant to be delivering. Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder

Admit it, when you first hear about the venue or room that your treatise is to be delivered from, your mind starts processing questions like:

1. Is there a projection screen?

2. Do I need to bring my own laptop? 

3. How is the audio? Will they be able to hear me in the back?

4. How about wifi? There had better be wifi or all bets are off.

And so on.

Unless you are presenting some incredibly complex material, chances are you'll walk into the room armed with more than you really need to make your points. In fact, the 47 powerpoint slides (yes, even the cool ones that have nothing on them but one large black and white image and one big word like 'Strategy' or 'Impact') may not even be necessary.

The 'show' is meant to be you, not the props (apologies to Carrot Top).  

The Greek understood this. Take a look at the image on the right. Sure he had his prop as well, the seriously cool 'Pro Football Analysis' chart, but he is clearly the star of the show, and the focus of attention.  Admittedly, the 'turtleneck/big gold medallion' look certainly helps, but the Greek definitely seems to strike the right balance between presenter and prop.

I imagine the Greek breaking down that week's big game, running through his analysis of each team's strengths and weaknesses, all leading up to the payoff, the recommendation of what team to place your bet on (of course factoring in the point spread).

The fact that his entire set of presentation materials is open and on display the entire talk doesn't matter. The audience has to pay attention because the conclusion, ('take the Eagles and lay the seven'), is not displayed, you have to listen to the talk to get to the payoff.

A good approach I think, a single chart/slide/drawing on the whiteboard, then just talk from that point on. I am going to try that in my next presentation, I just need to shop for a big gold medallion.

What do you think, could you present 'Greek' style?