Technically speaking

There is certainly tech-savvy blood in my family. I have one cousin who is a television photojournalist and another cousin who is a news director, both of whom work with complicated cameras, satellite trucks, editing equipment, and who knows what other sorts of high-tech gadgets and gizmos on a daily basis. I have an uncle who was a radar intercept officer on an F-4 Phantom jet, where he dealt with a jaw-dropping array of dials, gauges, buttons and switches, at supersonic speeds, no less. I have a brother in law who is a master plumber and carpenter, and could probably give MacGyver a run for his money.

I, however, generally need to enlist the help of my teenaged daughter in order to get the remote on the DVD player to work. I could have used her (or one of my cousins, or my uncle, or my brother-in-law, or somebody) today when I found myself trying without success to assert an air of technical confidence and competence as I fiddled with the cables connecting a computer, projector, DVD player, PA system and other assorted hardware, trying to figure out where the sound had gone. Oh, and did I mention that I was doing so in front of a room full of lawyers, all of whom had paid a significant sum to attend the seminar that had just come to a screeching halt due to the aforesaid technical difficulties? Good times….

Presentations 101

Anyone who has ever had to give a speech or presentation can probably rattle off a number of survival/success tips. Speak to the back of the room. Maintain eye contact. Don’t read. Speak slowly.

These are all decent guidelines. They are, however, pretty basic, and I would never (knowingly) sign anyone on to speak at one of my seminars who had to be reminded of them. I was therefore happy to come across legal consultant Matthew Homann’s Ten Rules for Presenters. The next time you step in front of an audience (or classroom, or jury, or congregation, or whatever), take note of these rules. Your listeners (and whoever was responsible for getting you up there in the first place) will thank you!

A Different Image

OK, this won’t be a long or particularly thoughtful post, but I’ve just gotten home after a 2-day business trip, and I have exactly 11 minutes to get something posted in order to remain on Blawger Island.

One of the benefits to my job (planning/overseeing continuing education seminars for lawyers) is that I get to work with some extremely talented people. All are good lawyers – the adage that “those who can’t, teach” doesn’t apply in my business. However, not all of them are much fun to be around – some wear their talent on their sleeve, with egos as big as their reputations. Often, though, they are the most warm and interesting people you could imagine. Such was the case with the speaker I’ve been working with over the past couple of days.

Oh, that the public’s image of lawyers was based on people like this….

Deadlines

As I begin this post, it’s 11:17 p.m. and in order to remain on the “Blawger Survivor” island, I have to get it posted in the next 43 minutes. Actually, make that 41 minutes.

Technically, I suppose I could go ahead and hit “Publish” now and stay within the letter of the Blawger law. But, in the interest of fair play, to stay within the spirit as well as the letter of the law, and with the realization that I will probably cross paths with Sean Carter at the next ACLEA meeting, I’d better do a bit more than 3 sentences.

Deadlines. When I was in school it was getting the papers turned in on time. Several of my upper-level English courses in college did not have any exams at all, just a requirement that we turn in a specified number of pages by the end of the semester. It was great for someone like me, who enjoys writing but has never been a particularly good test taker. Great at least until the end of the semester rolled around and I heard the clock ticking louder and louder.

A few years later I entered law practice, an extraordinarily deadline-driven profession, particularly for trial lawyers. Whether the deadlines are set by the rules, by the court, or by opposing counsel’s demand letter, a good bit of the day-to-day routine of a litigation practice is simply meeting one deadline after another. Usually, I’d find myself working until the 11th hour to meet a deadline. While procrastination might have occasionally entered into the picture, far more often the primary culprit was Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

If the rules allowed 30 days to compile discovery responses, it was remarkable how often it would be a 30-day project. If a judge gave me a week to file a motion, it would take me a week to get it just right.

And, if I have 43 minutes to write up a blog post, you can be sure it’ll take 42.

Pitbull in a Frame

I practiced law for eight years, and I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I’ve recounted the first couple of years in a trio of posts unimaginatively entitled Law Practice Part I, and II, and III. The bulk of my time in practice, however, was spent in the as-yet-unwritten Part IV. This post is not Part IV, but a post by The Nutmeg Lawyer reminded me of those years – and one of the reasons why I left practice.

I was becoming a jackass. Read The Nutmeg Lawyer’s post for the gory details. I don’t think that I quite reached the point of alienating those in my professional life – although I know that I did suffer some by way of guilt by association due to working with one of the partners in my firm. I did, however, have a difficult time in turning off the hyper-aggressive litigator persona when I got home. And that, my friends, is not a recipe for either marital or paternal success.

When did it finally dawn on me? The day that the aforesaid partner left my office in a red-faced rage after excoriating me for not being aggressive enough with opposing counsel, and rather than giving him my 2 weeks notice, I found myself considering the idea of putting a framed picture of a pitbull on my desk as a motivational tool. Yikes.

True to my lawyerly instincts, I’ll include a caveat. It doesn’t have to happen – one can certainly be effective as a lawyer, and as a litigator, without being a jerk. I like lawyers. I work with lawyers. I’m married to a lawyer. But, it can happen.

Choose your mentor wisely.

Social Networking 101

Sometime last year I signed on to LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking site. There are essentially two approaches that one can take with LinkedIn. Some choose to limit their “connections” to trusted contacts that they know and would feel comfortable recommending to others. Others take a more aggressive approach, and seek to add any willing warm body with an email address to their network.

(Recovering) lawyer that I am, I could argue for either approach, but I chose the former route. As a result, all of my LinkedIn connections are people with whom I share some sort of relationship – largely professional, but some social as well. Admittedly, a few of these connections are rather tenuous – I cannot vouch fully for the work ethic and ability of all of my LinkedIn connections (although I can say with some degree of certainty that none are ax murderers). But, as one of the primary goals of most people participating in LinkedIn is to expand their network, and therefore increase their potential to be able to find an employee/expert/consultant/career opportunity, I think that’s OK. I have 150-some connections and an extended network of close to 500,000, and I’ve realized some business benefit from it, so mission accomplished.

Not so with Facebook, which I joined just a few days ago. I see Facebook as a purely social utility. If I don’t know someone well enough to think that they might have some interest in what I am up to at a given point in time (and I in what they are doing), I don’t see any point in connecting as a “friend” on Facebook.

Which has led to some interesting decisions. Who should I invite? I have little reservation about sending someone a LinkedIn connection invite, as I view it as a business decision. If I have some sort of relationship with a person, and believe that networking with them might potentially have some business value (either through them or through one of their connections), I’ll send them an invitation.

It’s not as easy with Facebook. I don’t know; it may be something as simple as the semantic difference between “connection” and “friend”. A business “connection” is just that, business. You don’t want to connect, fine, your loss. A social “friend”, however, is, well, a friend. I’ve told my oldest daughter to remember that when the day comes that a boy calls her on the phone and asks her for a date, she should keep in mind the fact that his finger may have hovered over the number pad for quite a while before he finally got up the gumption to make the call. Asking someone to be your “friend”, even in the context of something as contrived as Facebook, carries a measure of risk. After all, they could say “no”!

While I’ve only been on Facebook for a few days, and really haven’t put too much time into it, I’ve already faced Facebook rejection. I sent out an invitation, to a female acquaintance who is already on Facebook, and … nothing. I know that she received the invitation, because I got an unrelated email from her the day after I sent it. So, why didn’t she accept? Was my invitation inappropriate? Did it make her uncomfortable? Does she think I’m a jerk? If it’s the latter reason, that’s OK – she should probably just take a number and get in line. I do hope, however, that it wasn’t because I made her feel uncomfortable.

Oh well. Such is the lot of a 40-something trying to adapt to the technology and social mores of a 20-something.

By the way, if you are reading this, know me, and think we should be connected on either LinkedIn or Facebook, shoot me an invite. I promise I won’t make you wonder why I didn’t respond….

Seven Months Later

Late last year I left the company that I’d been with for nearly a decade. It was largely a quality of life move. As I explained at the time, much about the job had changed and, most of the time at least, it was no longer an enjoyable place to be.

But it wasn’t just a quality of life move. I was a rat jumping off a ship that I thought was soon to sink. Now, just seven months later, the ship has indeed run aground, with yet another reorganization/ downsizing/rightsizing/workforce optimization/reduction in force/insert your favorite euphemism for “layoff” here. The ship hasn’t fully capsized yet, but it’s taking on water and the survivors are looking for the lifeboats.

The Friday afternoon email that announced the reorganization said, almost as an afterthought, that “[a]n unwanted but necessary outcome of this process was the elimination of a number of positions.” Among the casualties was my mentor, who had 20 years of service in the company and was the heart and soul of our division. I have no doubt that if I had stayed with the company, I too would be paying my mortgage with a severance package.

It’s a shame. It really was a great place to work for a number of years.

6 Things

I’ve been in a blogging drought lately.  If good intentions counted for anything, I’d be on my second or third book by now.  But, they don’t, so I’m not. 

To break the dry spell, I’ll hit each of the 6 topics in the masthead – family, faith, politics, current events, career, and outdoor adventures. 

Family first.  As it should be.  On Sunday we took our 3 girls up to Pennsylvania for two weeks of summer camp.  We couldn’t be any more pleased with this camp.  The girls love it, and have a wonderful experience there every year.  That said, while they are away my thought patterns tend to run something along the lines of how-are-they-doing-what-are-they-doing-will-there-be-any-letters-in-the-mailbox-today-how-many-days-before-we-pick-them-up.  I should really be a joy to be around in 3 years, when our son is old enough to join them.

Faith.  There’s an interesting flap brewing between James Dobson and Barack Obama. It seems that Dobson has taken issue with a 2006 Obama speech in which Obama pointed out that Leviticus suggests that slavery is acceptable but eating shellfish is sinful. Obama also noted that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount isn’t exactly in line with Defense Department policy. Expect finger pointing and mischaracterizations to ensue – on both sides.

Politics. Obama has asked his contributors to help Clinton retire her campaign debt. Sorry, no can do.

Current Events. George Carlin’s passing over the weekend reminded me of going over to my neighbor’s house to listen to his new Class Clown album. As the album was released in 1972, this meant that I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 years old at the time. Suffice it to say that my friend’s parents ran a somewhat looser ship than mine did.

Career. I learned today that a former colleague has moved his family to one of the area’s most exclusive country club communities. His reputation, at least when I worked with him, was that of a mediocre performer who exceled at playing the corporate game. I’d like to be able to congratulate him on his success and move on, but this is going to take some time to digest.

Outdoor Adventures. I sent out my annual email to organize a whitewater rafting trip to the Gauley River. I have a talent for making things more complicated than necessary, and I did a bang-up job this time by inviting input on changing some of the aspects of the trip. I wish I hadn’t opened that Pandora’s box because predictably, responses are all over the map. It’s hard enough to find a weekend that suits everyone; I can’t imagine what possessed me to add additional variables to the mix.

Well, that’s it. All 6 topics covered. I’ll try for a less disjointed post next time.

Moving On

This has been a challenging year, work-wise.  Leadership changes prompted by the departure of my boss and a significant corporate reorganization above his level have prompted a rather seismic shift in our corporate culture. 

The result has meant more of many things.  There has been more work on my plate, for one thing.  The size of the territory that I oversee has nearly tripled.  I’d like to say that this was the result of a promotion, but it was simply a matter of coverage - divide 50 states by 4 people, weigh it so the more experienced folks have a bigger load, and presto – I’m covering 22 states.

There has been an increase in travel.  This goes hand-in-hand with the expanded territory.   

There has been an increase in revenue expectations.  Suffice it to say that slow and steady will no longer win the race.

There have been decreases as well.  There has been a marked decrease in information as we operate in a “need to know” environment.  Doors that were formerly open are often closed.  This includes mine, I’ll admit.     

There has been less collegiality.  As our division has grown larger, it has been restructured into smaller sub-groups, each with different leadership, market focus, and procedures.  Apart from water cooler conversation about plans for the weekend, members of the various sub-groups have little interaction.

There has been less autonomy.  The view from a few levels up the corporate food chain used to be that since we could be counted on to make our numbers every year, we should be left alone.  With no shortage of things that needed fixing in the corporate machine,  there was no sense in messing with what wasn’t broken.  We were therefore spared a great deal of bureaucratic oversight and interference, and most of our group thrived in being able to operate under the corporate radar.  However, we no longer work under the radar - we are under the spotlight.

We are closing in on a year with all of these changes.  In the end, I believe that the result of all of this will be a highly efficient and dynamic organization that can be counted on to produce annual double-digit revenue growth, and which will propel some rising stars to eventually assume senior leadership positions in the company.  Either that, or the thing will implode and the whole house of cards will come crashing down.    

Either way, I’ll be watching from a distance.  I’ve opted for quality of life, and will start a new career with a non-profit publishing outfit in December.

I can’t wait.   

Gauley Postscript – Could vs. Should

We had big waves, and we had a safe return.

It was a great trip.  This was the sixth year that I’ve been organizing these rafting trips, and we had our biggest contingent yet with 13 rafters.  Several are repeats who have come to look at this trip as an annual rite of early autumn, but every year we add a few more to the list.  Everyone was gracious with their thanks to me for organizing the trip, and my response was always the same - I’m happy to do it.  Organizing a rafting weekend every year guarantees that I will be able to go rafting every year.  And, I do get a lot of pleasure out of making the experience available to others.  This year’s trip, however, left me wondering whether there is a way for rafting to play a more prominent role in my life.

In a blog post written while we were getting ready to set out on the Lower Gauley run, my wife showed how well she knows me:

They’ll come home thumping their chests dreaming of jobs that allow for this kind of fun every weekend and on the days in between! Monday morning will come quickly and will hit hard. Such reality is never pretty! Soon the fantasies of the dream job on the river will fade and they’ll begin making plans for next fall’s river trip.

Guilty as charged.  With 15 notches in my whitewater rafting belt, a dozen of them on either the Upper or Lower Gauley, I have to admit that the thought of leading trips instead of paying for them has crossed my mind.  This is nothing new, as I’ve always returned from my rafting adventures euphoric and full of grand ideas.  However, as I’ve gotten to know some of the guides on more of a personal level, I’ve come to realize that joining their ranks really is within the realm of possibility.

After all, not all river guides are pony-tailed 20-somethings who alternate between guiding in the summer and teaching snowboarding in the winter, living out of their car all the while.  There are Gauley guides who spend Monday-Friday behind a desk, or in a classroom, or even a courtroom.  While some Gauley guides are transients and others are West Virginia locals, there are many more who live up to several hours away.  They clock out of their “real” jobs on Friday afternoon, then head to W.Va for the weekend.  In fact, our guide this weekend has a longer commute from his home in Ohio than I would have from Charlottesville.     

So what would it take to become a guide?  I’m physically capable, and have a reasonable whitewater experience base upon which to build.  I would need to go through guide training, which takes place on successive weekends throughout the spring.  Once trained, guides can start leading trips on the New throughout the summer and fall, then the Lower Gauley, and finally the Upper Gauley. 

And that, of course, is why I can’t be a river guide.  The fact that I could spend my weekends as a river guide doesn’t mean that I should spend my weekends as a river guide.  There are guides who are married, and there are guides who have children.  However, I think it’s a safe bet that there are few if any guides who live three hours away from the river and have four children.  If there are, they certainly aren’t involved with their families’ lives in the way that I need to be with mine.

It’s taken me a few days to come to grips with this reality, as my wife predicted.  Now I feel rather silly and selfish for even having considered it.  But, it was an important exercise for me to work through.  Self-awareness and all that, you know. 

If my life situation was different, I believe that I would be guiding, regardless of whatever I was doing Monday-Friday.  I really do feel that strong a connection to it – the river, the adventure, the whitewater fraternity.  But, my life is not different, and I thank God that it is not.