technology

Ever hit ‘send’ and then screamed ‘noooooooo!’ Come on, we’ve all done it. Gmail has even created a feature called ‘Mail Goggles’ to prevent what used to be called ‘drink and dial’ – initiate the feature, and Gmail will make you do math problems before you can send an email. Highly useful tool for those who hit ‘send’ while soused. What about those moments when you’re sitting at your desk, stone-cold sober, and you find yourself hitting ‘send’, after which you think you’ve just made a huuuuuge mistake? Well, that might NOT have been a mistake. A client of mine called me today in a panic. Apparently, while selecting some folks in Outlook to request LinkedIn connections with, this poor soul had inadvertently selected everyone in the database, and then hit ‘send’. And then screamed ‘nooooooo!’ I asked, ‘and this is bad news because….?’ In the time since ‘send’, a dozen ‘yes!’ responses had come back from LinkedIn. Some of these connections were people my client hadn’t been in touch with for years, and with whom she had some seriously good professional history. Here’s the moral of this particular story: you only get what you ask for. Being a ‘private person’ is laudable. Hiding your light under a bushel won’t get you any attention at all. And it might set fire to the bushel, which has all sorts of other unpleasant consequences. What are you doing to get some positive attention? Are there people you knew three businesses ago that would be great connections for your business today? The tools are there to reconnect. Just hit ‘send’! That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it…

I think I’m on to something. Not that this is entirely a surprise, but it’s nice when the universe sends you positive feedback fast. Today, the Greater Richmond Technology Council had an IT recruiter + candidate mixer called TechNOW. Given the current landscape locally, with Qimonda closing its chip plant, Genworth dealing with a mortgage-market induced stock price meltdown, and Circuit City sinking like a dying whale, the job market is heavy on the candidate side. Which is true in every market across the globe, I think. What was great to see today @ TechNOW was the number of people actively engaged in discussion about consulting and project-based work, which is the non-job sort of money-for-value-given engagement I was getting at in yesterday’s post. I had the opportunity to do some individual coaching with a guy who’s got a deep background in web-based process & usability IT. He’s got two of the area’s biggest employers on his resumé, with many years of service at both of them. As we talked, it became clear to me, and I think to him, that he has mad skilz, and heavy experience, in that web-enabled business process development. Why not start branding himself as an expert in that area, using social media tools to engage with companies he’d like to work with? Not work for, ’cause this is the Brave New No-Job World, baby. I think he agreed with me. That’s why I do what I do – I live to help you tell your very best story. Today, I think I made a difference, which makes all the difference to me. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it…

The Greater Richmond Technology Council’s Sustainability Summit on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008 led a series of conversations about a variety of sustainability/green topics, from carbon footprint and energy resource management to implementing and best practices for ‘going green’. The discussions, led by business technology experts, touched on IT issues, but were really driven by the recognition that sustainability is a business responsibility enabled by technology. In all of those conversations, panelists made similar points: -Sustainability programs are becoming a business imperative, and not just for PR reasons -Sustainability initiatives can deliver operational efficiencies with clear bottom-line value -Getting buy-in across the enterprise is the first step to meaningful sustainability efforts -Technology/IT has become a leading force in enterprise sustainability programs In his opening remarks to the Summit, Gov. Tim Kaine said that 25% of all development in Virginia has happened in the last 30 years. The state is losing 60,000 acres of open space every year, putting pressure on one of the state’s leading economic sectors: agriculture. These facts make it imperative to develop a statewide environmental policy, which is under development. The Commonwealth has developed an energy plan, with buy-in increased due to rising energy costs. “Low cost doesn’t encourage conservation,” said Gov. Kaine, noting that 2009 has been designated as the “eco-year” for his administration. Gov. Kaine is pressing the Southern Governors’ Association, whose members include 16 southern states, to adopt a regional climate change accord, matching efforts by other regional governors’ associations. This would help to address the concerns of two major industries in the Commonwealth, agriculture and forestry, both of which are highly vulnerable to climate change. The Summit’s panel discussion “How Big Is Your Carbon Footprint?” explored the importance of determining an enterprise’s carbon impact – the first step in developing a sustainability plan. “Green”…