Embracing Portable Ignorance

Posted on by Holbrook

Could we actually become smarter by asking a lot of stupid questions? Do we add less value when we appear immediately astute? Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, authors of the standby college textbook The Elements of Journalism, published a book in 2011 on the changing media landscape and how to discern what news is best. Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload focuses on the importance of verification, fact-checking and evidence in media — whether it be traditional newspaper media or an online blog. Kovach is a much-honored editor and bureau chief at both The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In a recent interview he said, “The separation between journalists and citizens is slowly disappearing. I mean, anyone, anywhere can be a reporter of the next big news incident. Citizens are becoming their own editors. So it’s imperative that we both help journalists understand this change…and citizens understand how they can determine what they can believe in.”

 Although the book is highly engaging, very readable, and intended for a general audience it wouldn’t seem that relevant to anyone employed outside of journalism. That is until you dive into Kovach and Rosenstiel’s writing about the need for “portable ignorance”. Basically portable ignorance involves the willingness to ask a lot of questions, often resisting the temptation to appear ‘smart’. Most of us in the creative fields have trouble with that because we’re paid to be smart… and quick-on-the-uptake. Rosenstiel, in a recent NPR interview, said we all should be more willing to say,” I don’t get this. Explain it to me. What are you going to try and do? As opposed to being seduced into trying to look like you know everything and that you’re astute.” He says we can use being “not astute” as a powerful tool.

 As ‘knowledge workers’ in an age of crowd-sourcing, curation, commoditization, and co-creation we face many new challenges to being truly effective. Could appearing to be LESS astute actually work to our advantage? Kovach and Rosenstiel sure think so and I agree that it can yield a far better result for us and our clients. Following are several practices that might improve your portable ignorance:

  • Be Inquisitive. Professionals tend to often look at our role as that of a persuader, taking an ‘outside-in’ approach to our projects. We are paid for the ‘big insight’ but often skip over some valuable ways to get at it. Being inquisitive is basically asking more questions when you’re tempted to start talking about yourself. It is allowing for the pursuit of a thread in a conversation to possibly lead to greater insight. It welcomes disagreement as a chance to learn and to consider alternatives. Kovach and Rosenstiel tell of a New York Times reporter in Vietnam who used his innate curiosity to such an extent (often asking “stupid” questions) that he was predicting our inability to win that war… in 1961! Being inquisitive involves asking ‘why’ and too much of that could lead us nowhere. To balance this approach we need to ask ‘why not’ and that’s where our imagination comes in.
  • Seek Improbable Connections. Using our imagination allows us to connect what we learn to how it can be most effectively applied. We imagine greater possibilities and thus add greater value. Let’s face it, if you regurgitate standard solutions after asking a ton of questions you’re likely to have one very upset (or lost) client. Being imaginative allows us to see how to make the pie bigger or maybe even bake a different one versus how better to carve up the existing one. If the essence of creatives’ purpose is to provide ideas that clients haven’t thought of themselves, then making these improbable connections by using our imagination is the way to do it.
  • Reject Complacency. A little fear can be a big motivator and there is such a thing as healthy paranoia. Really. This is what makes us stay on top of our industry by reading one more trend report. It’s how we create value by studying yet another market analyst’s report on our client’s business. It’s what keeps us going to another networking event or making that catch-up call to a mentor. It’s what prevents us from making a stinky proposal with a “Plan A – Number 6” recommendation to a new prospect. Healthy fear can spur you to check your facts or go over your pitch – just once more. Plenty of research shows that people with the LEAST competence or ability are the MOST likely too overestimate themselves.

There isn’t a single point above that I have accomplished with consistency. For me, this concept of ‘portable ignorance’ is one to chew on for awhile. I must resist the temptation to be the “experienced know-it-all”. Being truly smart, creative, and serving others well means staying engaged, actively seeking new insights, and remaining vigilant. So… I’m taking a little ignorance along to my next meeting. I think I’ll come out a lot smarter.

How to Deal with Being Overqualified.

Posted on by Greg Johnson

Karen Rehn writes extensively on employment and interviewing issues. Her recent post for HH Staffing is a realistic look at making ‘the overqualified issue’ work to your advantage. Let’s face it… many candidates choose to “dial down” a high-pressure career path in exchange for a more balanced life. Some are forced into considering alternatives because traditional opportunities have seemingly vanished. Whatever the reasons, you may have to answer to your interviewer when she says, “You seem to be overqualified for what we think this position requires.” How you answer that question could determine whether you get the job that has really piqued your interest… or the one that will keep food on the table. Ms. Rehn provides a step-by-step approach that makes being overqualified work for you.

Playing Nice With Recruiters

Posted on by Holbrook

Amanda Augustine is a respected blogger with The Ladders and this article provides some solid advice for making the recruiter-candidate relationship really work.  Some of her observations may be a bit simplistic and redundant, and a few seem to recall a world we can barely remember. But on balance the post is thoughtful and reasonable; a good read for both sides of this sometimes tempestuous relationship. 

From My Perspective: Vacation? Really?

Posted on by Bill Hagerty

It’s that time again – are you actually going to take a vacation this year or will you just be working away from the office? There was a time when people actually “turned things off” and recharged, will you?  Better question, will I?

 I’m reminding myself (and maybe you) of certain benefits of truly “unplugging”:

 1)      Let your personal energy level recharge and reset.  When the Blackberry “acts up” I remember the very helpful young man at the Cincinnati Bell Store who reminded me that proper operation of this complex device requires taking the battery out periodically so the system can reset!  I’m convinced it is the same for people – without a periodic reset we arbitrarily turn off – to new people, new ideas, new business opportunities.

 2)      Show others you trust them.  Whether these people are literally your “business partners” or are your peer/direct report employee partners, checking in every day says “I trust you, kind of.”  Let them have your contact information and trust that they will reach out if they need you.

 3)      Prove that your business has real and significant value.  Business brokers/investment bankers say if an owner/executive can’t take two weeks away from their business and remain confident in performance then the value of the company is significantly diminished in the eyes of any potential acquirer.

 I’ll be taking some vacation this summer and I know how to suspend e-mail delivery to my phone as well as how to turn off the simultaneous ring feature.  I’m committing to my family that I’ll do my best to control the annoying “I’m listening – just checking e-mail too” habit.  I’ll check my cell phone voicemail each evening but I won’t check my office voicemail and email until the evening before I return to the office.

 I’ll let you know how it all goes in the August edition of “From My Perspective” and I’m interested hearing your “vacation” stories as well – good or bad!

How to be Happier at Work

Posted on by Holbrook

I usually don’t spend time with “feel good” articles but this one from Inc. magazine contributor Geoffrey James is solid, practical advice. James writes the world’s most visited sales-oriented blog and his new book, Business Without The Bullsh*t, will be published in early 2014. Hopefully, a few of his 17 Ways to Be Happier at Work will be helpful as you slog through another day of meetings, reports, computer glitches, and cold coffee.

Reinventing The CIO in the 21st Century

Posted on by Larry Signorile

Dan Burrus is a leading technology futurist and best-selling author. His prescription for how the CIO must lead and adapt is both sobering and exciting in these rapidly changing times for every business. There can be no doubt that high achievers will be both rewarded AND stressed as they strive to stay ahead of the competition. The CIO Survival Kit is an article well worth reading.

More basic guidelines for the CIO include watching and understanding where the organization is headed.  Listen carefully to the many messages coming from Top Management.  It could be all about cutting costs today and limiting the expansion of technology…And tomorrow an immediate desire to have more information readily available for key decision makers.  The CIO casualties do not see the changes coming.

Brands, Brains, Crowds, and The Doors

Posted on by Holbrook

When The Doors released “Break on Through” in January 1967, JIm Morrison sang that “we chased our pleasures here, and dug our treasures there.” That message could be applied to brands as they came into prominence in the early 20th century. How you ask? Well, consider that America was largely an agrarian society and common standards for product manufacturing and consumer safety were spotty at best. Brands promised consistency and big came to mean safe. Brands took pleasure in battering the little guys and dug a lot of treasure out of consumers desire for security. Those days are over now. Retailers are hungry for new profit centers, establishing an increasing presence of store brands that have both the appearance and performance of national brands. The not-so-secret intention of many chains, especially in food categories, is to crowd out the big brands in favor of higher margins afforded by private-label products and niche specialty items that aren’t available everywhere. That philosophy is inexorably marching into other retail spaces as well. Any traditional response by established brands will be both wrong and damaging.

At that same time in the brands’ heyday, all the supposed brains necessary to elevate a brand to national prominence were housed in some big ad agency on either coast. If you doubt the hubris of the agency world of that time, check out a few episodes of Mad Men. That world is breaking apart now and what do the tradtional brains have to say? Again, in Morrison’s own words, they “tried to run and tried to hide.” It’s always easier to rail against new developments and opportunities than to embrace change. Instead of acknowledging the emergence of Daniel Pink’s free-agent nation, the arbiters of all things safe and proper at global agencies chose to label ‘the crowd’ as “DIY designers.” That was a huge mistake because as consumers came to own the brand and the influence of social media conferred credibilty on the real-time recommendations of our peers, many brands were locked out of the conversation. And their agencies simply scratched their heads and continued to collect retainer fees, promising that this wasn’t a trend but merely an anomaly. Wrong again.

The crowd is here to stay and its influence, like the genie, can’t be put back in the bottle. Is this crowd, to paraphrase Spiro Agnew, merely the “nattering nabobs of negativism” exercising undue influence over initiatives of The Gap, Tropicana, and other supposed violators of a democratic approach to design and branding? Or are they, in Thomas Friedman’s words, the “great flatteners and levelers” who will have an increasing say in the upstream image before the product is ever on the shelves? I think it’s the latter. Why? Because the crowd is simply too big and too well-qualified, and the communication tools are getting more pervasive and seamless. The arbiters are us and we don’t hesitate to vote with our feet. If brands and entrenched agency insiders bet that this is transitory, they will be wrong. Again.

So what is a brand to do? Unfortunately the common response, and always the easiest as well, is to increase the volume, wattage, and tonnage. Traditional agency and media types will always recommend a higher spend when faced with new competition. That’s wrong too. Brands must now seek to engage and reinforce their relevance in consumers’ lives. Communications must be grounded with integrity and empathy rather than be riddled with bombastic claims and unrealistic social benefits. The default response can’t be an ever-changing new and improved package design, but should be rather a concentration on delivering real and desired benefits. Consumers are no longer at the end of the chain, and this fragmented society will no longer be lemmings. Pretending otherwise or wallowing in deep denial of permanent changes in consumer behavior will be wrong. Again. To reprise The Doors, it is time for brands to “break on through to the other side.” It is not only the right way, it is the only way.

So… Where Will YOU Be In Five Years?

Posted on by Bill Hagerty

Most interviewers ask this question, thinking it provides a window into a candidate’s intentions. Does it? Most candidates dread the question because they aren’t really prepared to answer with any certainty. Why?

US News and World Report blogger Alison Green writes that it may stem from a fundamental misunderstanding on both sides. What information is really desired and how to convey your intentions professionally will go a long way to defusing a potentially dangerous question. This is a concise roadmap to ensure that you know where you’ll be in five years.

Posted in For Candidates | Comments Off on So… Where Will YOU Be In Five Years?

Older Workers Are In Demand Again!

Posted on by Greg Johnson

Fox Business published a quick-read that is still a valuable perspective for workers over 50. It affirms that these experienced and knowledgeable professionals are being sought by companies that have found there is value in being able to “hit the ground running”. While the current economy still has many challenges for those who graduated college in the 70’s or 80’s, there is plenty of hope for those who can transfer knowledge quickly and effectively. Read the entire article.