Clark's Spot

I had too much fun writing this review for my profile on Goodreads. (I read it as part of my research for my PC for my graduate degree.) I just had to cross-post it here as well. Check out my review below, the cluetrain website, and the book.

Expanding on their website launched in 1999 (actually, expanding on the book published that expanded on the website), the four authors add additional commentary to their original work(s) and review how the Internet has changed business.

There are some good nuggets aboard this train.

First, you have to get past the voices. Oh, the writers are very proud of their voices. They explain how humanity hid its voices for The Corporation. They explain how the Web will free voices – has freed voices – and how if you don’t find A Voice and talk in A Voice, then your business will fail.

Perhaps they’re making up for lost time for their many years of hiding their voices. The voices must be stretched to check for their limits – the same way a 42-year-old at his college reunion tries to tailgate the same way he did as a senior.

You must also get through the tone, which can rail against business the same way a jilted lover proclaims all the failures of his or her beloved.

At times, the authors strike a tone similar to teenagers who sneaked into the office, turned on the P.A. system, and barricaded the doors – determined to have as much fun as they can squeeze into their minutes in the Sun.

That said, I’m convinced that markets are conversations. I’m convinced that conversations sound humans, and that ignoring those conversations means missing opportunities. I’m convinced that hyperlinks mean that networks can be as powerful as hierarchies within organizations. That smart companies can connect conversations that occur inside and outside the corporate firewall. That one of the changes wrought by the Internet and the World Wide Web is the lack of scarcity. That this abundance and this connectedness offer unique possibilities and challenges for all of the “people of Earth” – business and market.

So don’t misread my warning about voice and tone. Set those aside as you read it. This book offers four viewpoints (eight, now, with the new chapters and forward) of how to use the power of the Web to listen and to speak with your customers.

What’s the old line? It’s a recession when your neighbor is out of work. It’s a depression when you’re out of work.

Earlier today, the chairman of the Federal Reserve said the recession was probably finished. He may have missed yesterday’s Times, which reported the job losses continued – 5,500 positions at Eli Lilly. (The Federal Reserve isn’t the official arbiter of a recession anyway – that’s left to a council of economists to measure the country’s economic growth.)

The slow recovery matches so many descriptions of an economy being reset.

So is there a recovery or a reset? Can Americans keep up their increased savings? Will they want to? What changes in spending habits do you plan to make?

I woke up Monday morning unemployed. I had been let go from a position about four months ago. I rushed out to find a part time job to bring in more money – I wasn’t at a spot where I was ready to be without a paycheck. I’m still not, but the four months of seasonal work gave me a little financial breathing room. Now at the end of a seasonal project, I’ve been able to think about to do next.

I’m completing a graduate degree this semester at Marywood University; I expect to receive my degree in December. I’m looking for a full time position for after graduation. If the right spot is available, I’d be happy to start before then while I finish my studies. I’m looking for contract, freelance, part time, and independent work to carry through the next few months.

But I’m also looking to use this time to complete some personal projects. Yes, I’m looking for professional opportunities and writing papers and projects. I’ve also given myself seven weeks to tackle a to-do list of items that have nagged me for years. There will always be projects, but this is my personal sabbatical.

I’ve tracked my diet and exercise for a year and a half as I’ve worked to be healthier. I’ve gotten close to my target weight, but I picked up a few pounds during the summer. These seven weeks give me the opportunity to drop the final few pounds. They give me the chance to work on my complexion. To do a better job digitizing notes, files, and photos. To organize and back-up that data. To fill in some missing information on my family history and to compile and organize my wife’s genealogy. There are more traditional projects too – getting our house ready for winter and transitioning the local SAR chapter to a new set of officers.

I hope to use this space to track my progress and to spur myself onward. These seven weeks equate to about 1,200 hours. That isn’t much time to change habits, to complete long-simmering projects, and to start new trends. Time to get to work.

Living in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a place with a bar and a church on every corner, it was hard to miss the news today. All the local media outlets – even radio – were on hand to capture the bishops’ retirements. Rumors that the local bishop was leaving town had floated last week, and the local newspaper grabbed the scoop.

The Diocese of Scranton's Mother Church

After covering the press conference, each news outlet produced a similar reaction piece from around the Diocese. (The results were easy to figure out: Catholics who stopped going to church are glad he’s gone; Catholics interviewed on their way into Noon Mass think he did well in a tough job.) Then each newspaper and television station produced a piece highlighting the history of the Diocese of Scranton and its nine bishops. One television station went through the work to put together a piece on the challenges of leading a Diocese with changing demographics. (This is just a sampling of the coverage. You can find all of the articles from each outlet through the initial main news articles.)

I’m always interested in following the news, and I watched and read the coverage Monday evening. The tidbit of resigning because of insomnia at 63 – more than a decade before he’d normally retire – makes for a great twist too. (The auxiliary is retiring at 77.)

I’m sure Sunday will bring more man-on-the-street interviews and look-back pieces. Beyond that, I’m curious to see the additional local coverage. (About 325,000 of the 1 million residents is Catholic. That 30 percent figure is higher than the 22 percent nationwide so this is a big deal here. This is also a community that is big on religion, whichever one you follow.)

There is an additional, well-informed source to follow if you happen to be interested in the process of filling the seat. That blog, in fact, carried three stories as the drama played out to its final press conference on Monday.

Thanks to patwalsh_2000 for the Creative Commons picture via Flickr.