I am spending my time in New York trying to test “off-line” whether the principles behind our startup business, Climbing Fish, hold water. The key elements are seeing whether people “get” the concept, where the target audience hang out, whether there is an over saturation of connections in this age of social media – and whether getting back to good old conversations is as important as we think.

Last week, John (my Climbing Fish co-founder) forwarded me an article in Harvard Business Review by Anthony K Tjan called “It’s time for a ‘Slow Conversation’ Movement”. Please do take the time to read the article – as it hits at the core of what we are trying to do with Climbing Fish. Connections are cheap – but what’s happened to those valuable conversations. Anthony expresses it eloquently. Here’s one quote that gives a flavour:-

as we begin 2013, I can’t help feeling that the proliferation of new communication channels and “smart” devices has only further fragmented and strained the flow of real conversations. It has obscured content that is worth consuming. As multi-tasking has morphed into multi-casting — that is, it is now often less about trying to do more at the same time than trying to tell more at the same time — it has all increasingly gotten in the way of what we are trying to optimize, which is connectivity. In fact, it is quite clear that in many instances it has diluted the quality and relevance of our conversations.

I read through the comments – and was struck by one in particular from Sarah V. She said:-

I love this piece! As someone whose formative years have been greatly influenced by advancements in technology (born in ’85!), I sometimes find myself balking when it’s time for meaningful face-to-face conversation, despite knowing full well that it is important and effective.

It’s not that I don’t want to speak with my friends, colleagues, clients, etc. while looking them in the eye – frankly, even phone is difficult for me sometimes – but it’s that my generation has been conditioned otherwise. It’s so easy for me to socialize face-to-face when it’s all fluff and fun, but when it’s time to have a serious conversation – whether it’s personal or work-related – nerves kick in. Perhaps because it’s too real-time, too unpredictable, too uncontrolled.

I was intrigued that someone who was 27, obviously entrepreneurial, felt that a generation had been conditioned not to have conversations. I took time to follow the link to Sarah V – and discovered that she lived in New York. Now there’s a coincidence…. Maybe we could meet and I could ask more…

Sarah (V stands for Vaynerman) was – as she said in the comment – very good on Twitter and email. She agreed to meet at my co-working space at NYC Alley. What would the conversation be like….?

It was great. Sarah is young, lively – and a very focussed entrepreneur. She ditched her job on Wall Street to run her own venture – EsVeeGroup. She explained the conditioning…

When she was in 6th grade in the mid-90s, her mum (who was quite techy) showed her the Netscape Navigator browser. Sarah got hooked on surfing the internet. As time moved on a little, AOL suddenly became the think to join up to and her teenage years were spent communicating with her friends on AOL Instant Messenger. In late teens, the cellphone arrived – and texting each other was the thing. Now, Sarah says that she feels very comfortable with technology – and is used to the ability to use short form written communication to consider and compose a response to in her own time (usually very quickly). She feels in control in this way.

Sarah is concerned on the subject – especially how our brains become re-wired with technology. She pointed me to a New York Times article in 2010 – Attached to Technology and Paying the Price – that talks about technology giving you a “dopamine squirt”. Can a “Slow Conversation” compete with that?

Sarah and I had a great conversation – her brain has not been totally rewired! I shared the vision for Climbing Fish withher. At which point, Sarah’s face went blank… She then reached for her iPad (I thought, here goes … she HAS been re-wired). She’d not gone mad – she totally got what we are doing. She just wanted to share a set of notes she had made last year about a business idea… It sounded remarkably like Climbing Fish… Here are some of the gems:-

“Networking events are so tiring and like shooting fish in a barrel no one really likes it”

“Not anyone can change the world but everyone can change THEIR world.”

She’d seemed to have been listening in to John and my conversations….

Even more spooky – when we exchanged business cards… SNAP. We both had Einstein Quotes on the back of our cards! Surreal…

We’ve agreed to keep our conversation going. It’s always interesting when you feel stars align.

I headed off for a bowl of soup at the local coffee shop (The Cafe Grind on 10th Avenue – thoroughly recommended). As I came out – I noticed their A-board. Einstein again … maybe he’s trying to send us a message about Climbing Fish!

I was recently asked to give a talk to a group of small business owners and entrepreneurs on the subject of mentoring. As anyone who has been asked to give a talk will know – the preparation is usually started with a quick session on Google. So here were my results….

I found a good definition – “Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.”. Quite inspiring…

I also found out via Wikipedia that Mentor was a person in Greek mythology – and I found another definition “someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with less experienced colleagues. It also brought back to me the word “protégé” – which seems to have slipped from common use. This is someone who is being mentored (a mentee in common speak these days).

I have been lucky enough to have had some brilliant mentors in my journey firstly as a photographer and then as an entrepreneur. Latterly, I have also taken on this role for other people – including an aristocrat, a professional sportsman and a property developer.

These days, increasingly there is access to professional mentors/psychologists/life coaches – and I think they serve a purpose. However, at its purest the relationship of a mentor/mentee is a partnership. There has to be a chemistry – a meeting of energies that motivate both sides to really work. It’s not a pure paternal relationship (although age difference might make it feel that way) – both sides have to gain.

I love the quote (although I cannot find the source) that “people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.” A mentoring relationship can be any of these. Certainly I have experienced all the versions.

For example, in the 90s, my business changed when the Getty family and Bill Gates moved in to the “cottage industry” of the photography world. I have two mentors who helped me through. You can read more about that experience here – but in essence I had a mentor, Chad Murrin of 3i, who introduced me to the world of corporate finance and venture capital (he remains a friend today). At the same time, I had a short term mentor in the form of Tom Kirby of Games Workshop – he helped me understand strategy (which drives all my thinking today). Both had an illuminating effect on my life for reasons, seasons and lifetimes.

Since the sale of my business, I have tried to use my experience to help others. I have found the relationships two-way. I believe I have managed to learn more, find different views and hone some of my skills – while sharing my experience. I am very clear on what I can offer to people. It’s a passion to get individuals to lift their heads from their daily grind and consciously decide where they are going. This is coupled with my desire to get people to look around and find solutions away from the narrow path they often tread. “Head up – mind open” is always my mentoring message.

Going back to the original definition I found – we all have a drive to “become the person we want to be.” I believe that you cannot do this by sitting on your own reading self-help books and making plans. John Lennon had it right “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” You need to get out and live life – and that means meeting people. You will know when the chemistry is right and you have met someone that you can be a mentor to – or ask to be mentored by. Avoid the professional life coaches, unless you have a very specific issue to deal with – get out and meet a mentor today! Two final quotes (you can tell that I love them).

“You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things, the books you read and the people you meet.” ~ Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

“…often it is strangers who help us make sense of where we are going and who we will become.” ~ Herminia Ibarra “Working Identity”

I love Wow projects – and am always happy to chat over a coffee in Bath. I’m currently working as co-founder of a startup business Climbing Fish (inspired, of course, by a quote “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” ~ Albert Einstein

Observing the world at the moment is like watching a multi-car motorway pile up. It all seems to happen so slowly – but it’s inevitable that when the brakes are applied by some and directions changed by others that a big crash will happen.

My background is in print media and photography. I’ve written in the “project and tales” section of the site about some of my experiences at the cutting edge of digital photography in the early 90s. Less than 20 years on, I’ve just witnessed the inevitable crash of a big juggernaut as Kodak filed for bankruptcy.

Everyone could see it coming. No matter how brakes were applied, a new course steered or the attempts to accelerate away from danger – it crashed.

Much discussion has been had about the demise of newspapers. The focus has been on the outdated business models – and how only on-line paywalls can hope to sustain excellent journalism. The crashes have already started to occur in the US regional newspapers – and was well illustrated in the excellent docufilm – “Page One – Inside The New York Times”. In the UK, there has yet to be a major crash. Although many would connect the closure of the News of the World as much with economics as Murdoch’s empire trying to distance itself from phone hacking.

The bigger crash I can see is the inevitable demise of the whole print industry. It’s a supertanker powering towards a reef. If I’d have said this 5 years ago, you would have thought I was mad. But now, it seems to add up. Will the printing presses be running in 10 years time? I don’t think so – except as a “side show” like black and white photography darkrooms.

I used one of the first digital cameras in 1994 at the Lillehammer Olympics. I was part of a select few to use these prototype models at the games. At that Olympics, professional photographers alone shot 700,000 rolls of film. The images were carefully selected – and a number of them used in newspapers, magazines and books. In the 18 years since that first breakthrough, more pictures are used because of so many digital platforms being available. There will be 5-20 pictures shown on newspaper websites to back up the 1-2 pictures used in print. No mainstream photography is created using film – and printing is limited to when a picture needs framing at home. I’ve seen it happen in one great industry – and the printing presses invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century are next on the crash list.

I am typing this sitting on a train heading through Switzerland. Around me, I cannot see a newspaper – but plenty of people tapping and viewing content on iPhones and Androids. I’ve just been through the airport – and Kindles/iPads outnumbered book readers (and it’s early days for these reading devices). I still love reading a book in print. I’ll never stop loving it (much like the desire to process a film, put the negative in the enlarger and create a print through trays of chemicals). All that nostalgia will pass though, and I am sure the screen will win.

There is no doubt that Steve Jobs led the revolution on devices to consume content. However, when we look back in history – the real destroyer of Gutenberg’s legacy will be seen as Mark Zuckerberg. He brought hundreds of millions of people from around the world to their screens to engage with friends and consume content on Facebook. Make no mistake, many media companies engage on-line – but Zuckerberg’s Facebook has made screen consumption – at the desk or on the move – mainstream.

I had a brief email exchange with Jon Ferrara of Nimble the other day. He’s quite a visionary. I’d forwarded an article from Chris Brogan saying to get things done it helps to write out 3×5 index cards and put on your desk. Jon’s view was that this was “too old school”. I think he’s right – although I don’t know if I can ever give up scribbling my to-do list and musings in my Moleskin notebook (I have tried many, many to-do list software solutions). Jon’s company, Nimble, is redefining how individuals do business – and it’s on-screen.

Last week, I went to a board meeting at home in Bath. There were nearly 50 pages to print – so I took my iPad with PDFs loaded. It worked well, I “saved a tree” – and got nearer than I’ve ever been to the old ideal of the “paperless office”. I also read that at this year’s meeting of GE’s top executives, presentation materials will be available only via iPads.

I’m sure those of my age and older have heard these arguments before. It happened when television came on the scene. Newspapers were definitely going to die.

It’s different this time. This new wave will not just take out newspapers in their printed format – it will leave in its wake bookshops, magazine stands, printing presses, ink makers and paper suppliers. I am sure Gutenberg would be delighted. His solution was built for no other purpose than to spread “the word”. Gutenberg was the 20th Century’s greatest inventor – this millennium has started with Mark Zuckerberg in pole position. Like it or not (and there are some elements I certainly don’t like) Zuckerberg is spreading the word (and it’s not with ink on paper). There’s a new “Berg” on the block!

Bath Digital Festival is hosting a debate “Digital has killed the print industry and infantilised us in the process” at The Pump Rooms on Monday 19th March at 8pm. Tickets are £8. For more information click here…

Social Media has revolutionised the way we interact with our family, friends, contacts and acquaintances. We now have tools at our finger tips that help us to socialise, connect and share.

However, I feel the system has become a little flawed – because it doesn’t seem to work when we start to combine our on-line and off-line worlds. Let me explain.

I was at an excellent conference the other week at Battersea Power Station – The Power of One. The speakers were great – and one triggered an issue I have been trying to get my head around for a while.

Jason Calacanis talked about the challenges of future work. One of the key themes was social isolation. He said that the iPad works against social isolation. He made the point that you can easily share what is on the screen of the iPad with others close to you. A smartphone screen is too small – and a computer is too clumsy. The way we use the iPad means we can consume in more intimate places – like when we are going to bed or waking up. Most importantly it’s the first computer tool that you can use to socially engage with off-line.

He is right – and I have seen it happening in my family environment – and it prompts me to demand a joint account. Here is the example.

I love an iPad app called Fancy. It probably pips Flipboard to the post as being my No. 1 app. If you’ve not had a play – then you should have a look on the web, but it’s a whole new experience on the tablet. The App simply displays pages of 4 images of attractive products, designs, places, gizmos, accessories, gifts, etc. The idea is you “Fancy” a picture – and it is stored against your profile.

That works fine – but in the real world (as my wife will tell you) it is shared by going “oh, look at this” as I turn around and show the iPad screen to anyone passing by/sitting near.

The other element – and here is my key point – is that my daughter, Millie (who is 12) loves it too. She will sometimes sit with me – and we will “fancy together” … and sometimes she will pick it up and “fancy” her own stuff. So, if you look at MY profile on Fancy – you can often see a mixture of the latest super car/gadget…. and something pretty, fluffy, in pink!

The iPad gives us the first device that can be shared off-line easily (and there will be more to come). How do we make it that we can have a joint account and to reflect what we do together?

I wrote a while ago about my belief that the individual is the new group. That new services based on the principle of Soloware would replace corporate Groupware. I still believe that our technology and personal network will be based around individuals in the future – with the corporate group effectively bringing those individual units together. What I think is missing is something in between.

I’m just researching a possible venture using mobile devices in the heritage sector with a friend. The same challenge exists there. How do you make a couple or family group share an experience in the real world – but not define them as a group or individual in the on-line world. There are elements that we want to keep individual – but there is a lot that we want to automatically share (using the same device).

Anyway, there’s the challenge. Facebook, Google, Twitter – and especially Fancy … ‘I’d like to open a joint account, please”.

Friday 11/11/11 will go down as one of the most surreal of my life. The day started with a look through my twitter feed on Flipboard. Lo and behold, I discovered the ideal Christmas present my Angry Birds addicted wife – “The Angry Boobs Bra: For Ultimate Angry Birds Fans”. The site that was selling it had a very funny sales line “If you are brave enough to pit one boob against the other, but all means, buy this hand-painted Angry Birds bra.” How do people think of these things – Angry Birds … and the bra?

Actually, later on in the day I attended the Power of One Conference at Battersea Power Station. Part of this Angry Bird’s question was answered.

For those of you have not been – Battersea Power Station is currently a shell. It’s a listed building (protected as an historic monument) – but there are just the chimneys, walls … and no roof. The conference is held in a large marquee at the centre of the building. We were told that this would be the last conference held on the site before it was redeveloped. By a twist of fate, the only other time I had been there was the very first conference held by Sun Microsystem in the mid-90s.

The significance of the day was not lost – 11/11/11. At 11 o’clock, along with the rest of the UK we observed 2 minutes to honour those who had lost their lives in defence of our country. Seemed strange being stood in a conference hall underneath those great towers. Low point was shared by a delegate who reported on Twitter “Cannot believe that I was just asked if the two minute silence observed at #p1event was to remember Steve Jobs.”

Back to Angry Birds.. One of the speakers, Jason Calacanis, shared that Rovio (Angry Bird’s creator) had 51 unsuccessful games before they hit on Angry Birds. So how do they think of these things? By lots of trial and many errors.

Error, failure and especially perseverance became a bit of a theme of the conference. This was brought home by the after lunch speaker – Yosi Taguri from Israel. He’s probably the best conference speaker I have seen – rivalling any of the great Jewish comedians (with a raft of bad language thrown in!).

Josi’s headline to the presentation was how he had spent his life F###ing things up. However, through perseverance he had managed to find success. I’m hoping the presentation will be available on-line soon – but there is a good write up on The New Web (TNW).

His story was peppered with failures and near-miss successes. These culminated in him creating a very simple game app called Pah! It’s such a simple video game. Space ship moves and shoot things. The twist is that you move the space ship up an down by saying AHHHH! and fire the rockets by shouting PAH!. You can see a couple of videos below – one of it being reviewed:

… and the other of a Chinese mum playing the game.

There are many more YouTube videos of the game in action. Here’s another one showing a violinist playing the game through the noise of her instrument.

Do support Josi and buy Pah!, it’s only 69p. It’s a great social game – breaks down barriers.

In the evening, I headed of for a “date” with a 16 year old! Well not quite. My friend’s daughter, Polly, who is 16 had to take a “business person” to a Black Tie guest night at her school. Her brief had said the person should be over 25. I think she had misread and thought the person had to be double 25! I was honoured – but it felt slightly strange picking up Polly and taking her out for the night.

The idea of the evening was to get the sixth formers used to the world of work. At the end of the night, we had an inspirational talk from a pathologist. Another quirk at the end of a long day!

Anwyay, it was great. Dr Suzy Lishman was not just any old pathologist – she can be found on Twitter @ilovepathology. She was an inspiring role model for the youngsters in the room. Again, she told a tale of perseverance – this time in pursuit of saving lives and understanding the cause of disease. One part struck home with me – and provided a link for the day’s experiences.

She talked about her long medical training – and then the selection of pathology as her speciality. She’d chosen to give pathology a chance after her boyfriend of the time said it was interesting. She then undertook intensive training for a 12 month period on the subject. She explained that the first 6 months were awful – and she wanted to give up and chose another discipline. She described the course being dominated by looking through a microscope at slides of human tissue being moved around (which made her feel queasy) and with the only colours being red and blue (the dies used to differentiate cells). She didn’t “get it” – and felt dizzy with spots in front of her eyes.

However, it suddenly came together for her after 6 months – and she got what pathology was all about. She understood “the game” and realised she was like a detective investigating. She was looking for clues – the needle in the haystack. As her skills developed, she unlocked levels, doors opened and she could make a real difference to people’s lives by finding the causes of an illness and suggesting medical solutions.

So, what have all these got in common? I think the message of perseverance is clear. It’s pushing through those times of failure, feeling that you’ll never get your head around a topic or you’ll never reach the next level.

I’ve written before about the power of gamification – the ideas put forward by people like Jane McGonigal, Daniel Pink and Clay Shirkey that there is a “cognitive surplus” being used in games that could be used for a greater good. What Dr. Lishman spoke about with such enthusiasm was how pathology became her addiction, her passion, her love.

Interestingly, Dr. Lishman described her 6 month experience training as a pathologist in the way my wife tells me about getting frustrated getting through a difficult level in Angry Birds. Lots of multi coloured dots moving around – and not being able to make sense of them. Dr Lishman talked about how she role plays as a “detective” – and that’s what makes pathology exciting for her. That sounds like game play too.

In our education for future work, we can (and should) learn a lot from how game makers enthuse through levels, role play, achievement and invoking passion. It brings out the persevering side of us – and that’s a skill we need in order to power through those failures (Yosi’s F### ups) and achieve success.

[My thanks go to Chris "Bookmeister" Book for organising such an excellent conference; Chris Day and Mark Power for their images with pencil and camera of the conference; Yosi Taguri for such a brilliant presentation; Dr Suzy Lishman for enthusing me about Pathology (want to come along to one of her Virtual Autopsies) - and, of course, my "date" - Polly, you were great company

P.S. Just for clarification - there is absolutely no way my better half would be impressed by a novelty bra! I'll be getting her something much nicer for Christmas]

I’ve been following the news about the various anti-capitalist protests around the world. We’ve even had one sprout up in the middle of Queen Square in Bath!

It got me thinking – that maybe we should be careful about how to use the terms capital, capitalism and capitalist. Capital isn’t just money! As you will know if you’ve read my blog before, I believe that your most valuable asset is your Personal Network. It’s much more valuable than money in the bank – conventional “financial” capital.

These days, our social media presence and our network of contacts is referred to as our “social capital”. It’s a good term – and gets us to think of this network as an asset (much like our savings, pensions, etc). I think it’s important that we continue the analogy – and learn from the “financial” capitalists to protect, nurture and grow our social assets.

All my reading leads me to the conclusion that there is a significant power change going on in the world. My feeling is that the disasters in the world economy shields one of the biggest changes – and that is the empowerment of the individual. The growth of our social network, the change in the dynamics of the workplace and our dissatisfaction with the old system of work/get paid/consume is leading us on a new path.

We now have the tools as individuals to create and grow significant Social Capital. In time, this will mean that we will chose where we want to work – and how we want to work. We will be courted by businesses who can meet OUR requirements – and we will need to be convinced that a business matches OUR personal needs. The shoe is moving to the other foot.

I did a google search for the term “social capitalist”. There are a wide range of definitions. For example, Wikipedia says that it’s an economic theory around macro-economics and philosophy (not what I am proposing).

Fast Company appeared to give awards to Social Capitalists up until recently. Their Social Capitalists are “Social Entrepreneurs who are changing the world”. I like those too – but it’s not what I am talking about.

My idea of Social Capitalists is you and me. People who believe in their network, want to make connections, give value to those around them and cherish relationships as their most important asset.

We need to be careful with our Social Capital. I’ve written before about my concern about social networks – especially Facebook. They act in effect as our bankers, places where our social capital is held side by side with that of others. We need to learn from the banking crisis that we should be very careful where we put our trust – and check if our social capital is safe.

Every financial adviser will tell you that it is most important to protect your capital. We should do the same with our Social Capital. We should not allow our relationships to erode. We need to nurture and keep our currency.

My idea of Social Capitalism offers a middle ground between our current financially driven world – and the bartering of the past. This combined with our craft and skills will help us make our way in the world – finding work that excites us and the people who give us energy. Becoming Social Capitalists is at the core of this opportunity to leverage and grow.

Power to the people – and viva Social Capitalists!

I really don’t like the “what do you do?” question. I don’t like to be asked it – and I try not to ask it of others (although when my limited smalltalk dries up, it has been known). However, I realise that these days before we meet, I might have “googled” you – and you might have “googled” me.

So, it’s likely that the “what do you do?” question is already being dealt with on-line. Is our on-line presence making the right impression? Is it telling our story?

I read a review of the official biography of Steve Jobs in this weekend’s New York Times. His story is amazing on so many levels – but if you ran his resume in CV format, it might look quite dull.

“I founded a computer company, they sacked me, I got involved in cartoon animation, then another computer company – and for the last few years went back to the first computer company for a second try at running it.”

It’s not the list of jobs – it’s the achievements and the world beating stories that put us in awe of Steve Jobs.

Why then, do we present ourselves with our jobs and roles in a boring list formats? Have we just been brought up to fill in forms?

Why do people judge us by “what do you do?” – without asking us to tell our story?

It’s great to get the regular formatting and all those dates in chronological order. Computers like them, LinkedIn can build a business around them – and HR departments can sift hundreds of candidates more easily. But what does it say about a person? What’s their story? What have they done that they are most proud of? What makes them special?

I’ve mentioned DJ Patil on the blog before. He was the LinkedIn Data Scientist who led the InMaps project. DJ – in his new role as Data Scientist in Residence at Greylock Partners – last week spoke about the information that LinkedIn process around CVs. Here is a telling statistic:-

“Unstructured data is harder to work with. Open text fields in forms can cause issues. There are between 4 and 8 thousand variations of IBM and “Software Engineer” in LinkedIn’s database”

So even that doesn’t work! For unstructured data, read the real you!

As you will have seen from my website, I’ve tried to get around this “dull CV vs story telling” issue by adding a “Projects & Tales” section. It hopefully defines me more through what I have done – not the list of jobs I have worked at and for how long.

I’m a big believer in trying to present things visually. It got me wondering whether there was the opportunity to solve the problem of dull CVs visually. I wrote a while ago about a start up in Singapore called Identifii. They had come up with a very simple psychometric test that gave a visual report. I like this type of format to get the “headline” of a person. Much better than the “what do you do?”.

A friend also pointed me in the direction of a new service called VisualizeMe. Just a few clicks and permission to access my LinkedIn account gave a graphical overview. This has potential – but not sure it tells a story.

Fast Company magazine reported on an interesting hiring strategy brought in by News Corp to find great coders who had not followed a conventional path. The sub-text of the article was “Why hire a PhD, when a self-taught kid is just as good?” News Corp are having to compete with some major players in Silicon Valley. They decided they would literally take anyone who had the “right stuff”. Their project was named “Code Foo” and their recruitment campaign said “Flipping burgers to scrape together enough cash to buy Portal 2?” and “Blow our minds while you’re here and we’ll hire you.”

They brought in 28 students – with the aim of taking on 4. They took on 8. Roy Bahat, the ING (Division of News Corp) President said:

“It’s not like if you looked at their résumés, you would have said it’s impossible that they would be qualified for the jobs. But if you only looked at their resumes and said, ‘Should we interview this person based on this résumé?’, there wouldn’t necessarily be a reason to say yes. They’re the kind of people we would have overlooked.”

An innovative approach – and the six weeks allowed these candidates time to tell their story!

As we approach a very different world, where individual presentation will be so important – it’s important that we try to find the tools that tell our story. The “what do you do?” is the old-world equivalent of today’s google search for your name. We need to pay attention and be ready to tell our story when that google search button is clicked!

The BBC have been running a story this morning that University applications in the UK are down by 9%. It comes across as something we should be worried about. I think we should be delighted. It’s great news if we want to kick start out economy. Let’s get those young brains with fresh ideas creating start up businesses.

There is too much emphasis on the idea that the way to get on in life is having great qualifications – and in particular a degree. I think it’s a dangerous fallacy. It’s education along with opportunity that matters – and that doesn’t necessarily involved schooling or universities.

I sat at lunch with a friend the other week. She was hosting a dinner with a chief executive of a major multi-national company – and she started to make apologies for the fact that she had dropped out of further education. I pulled her up on this, and reminded her that many of the greatest achievers dropped out or left school early. It was the week that Steve Jobs had died – so there was one example for starters! Finishing a course and getting a degree is not the route to success.

I regularly listen in to Desert Island Discs – an excellent biographical programme linked in with favourite music of high achievers. I am always surprised at how many subjects of the programme have dropped out. A recent Desert Island Discer was the broadcaster Danny Baker – he left school at 14.

This morning, I read an excellent Op-Ed (Opinion/Leader Column) in the New York Times called “Will Dropouts save America?”. It was by Michael Ellsburgh – whose book “The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late” will be published in the UK in mid-November. I’ve put in a pre-order for my copy.

In the article, Michael goes through a “credits list” of dropouts that have made such a difference to the world of technology.

Steve Jobs of Apple
Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft
Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone of Twitter
Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker of Facebook

He also talks how 20% of jobs are fulfilled by a formal process that involved a CV, qualifications, etc – but 80% depends on the personal network you create and the story you can tell. Don’t get hung up on the CV and degrees – people want to know the real you, not a set of stats.

I agree with Michael that the route to some careers will require formal qualifications. The professions such as lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc. However, the economies of the world will be driven by business creation – and that’s what we should help many of our school leavers towards. I would like to see equal support given to young people in creating new business as in applying for universities to get degrees. I would also like to see the willingness of governments (and banks) to give the same funding support for new startup ventures that they would to running up debt on studies.

Also this morning, Sachin Rekhi (founder of Connected – which has just sold to LinkedIn) shared with me a story in Fast Company magazine. The story “Silicon Valley’s new hiring strategy” – told the story of an innovative programme in the US to find coders away from the conventional trawl of CVs. It also had a great graphic showing some successful dropouts, entitled “we don’t need no education” (I’m a sucker for a Pink Floyd lyric!)

So you can add Richard Branson, Frank Lloyd-Wright, Lady Gaga and Walt Disney to that list!

I liked a quote from my twitter friend, Sarah Doody, yesterday:

“How do you balance a start up and having a life? You DON’T. If all your chips are in, it IS your life.”

Let’s get people creating start ups, having a focus – and not killing time in a 3 year trip to University. Let’s drive those University applications down. Create something, learn out in the real world – and choose life!

Building my personal website has been a stressful experience. It has produced frequent crisis of confidence. I’m not naturally a self-promoter – and I blush as I write this article about narcissism.

My “bible” during the build has been Lynda Gratton’s book – “The Shift: The Future of Work is already here”. It’s an excellent, recommended read. It’s been mentioned in a previous blog post - and I am sure will feature in many more. Lynda’s book also formed a significant part of The Economist’s Special Report on “The Future of Jobs”.

Lynda peppers the book with quotes about the challenge to balance narcissism with reputation building and personal branding”:

“These are also the people who will tread the fine line between out-and-out narcism and a more nuanced presentation and branding of self.”

“Walking the line between personal branding and making a mark, and out-and-out narcism, will be increasingly important.”

“I don’t want to confuse narcissism with this reputational building. It’s not narcissistic to want to build a trusted personal brand – it’s vital.”

It’s encouraging – but doesn’t give you much of a safety net. Being a pioneer – can mean you fall flat on your face and your personal branding just makes you appear a pushy, self-promoting, narcissist!

Also, while the website building process has been going on – I seem to have been bombarded by headlines such as:-

Marketing to Narcisists – by Seth Godin

Social Network Overuse Breeds Narcissism – the Daily Telegraph

In the end, I bit the bullet and did all the things that I needed to do. Some were easier than others.

I had some great help from the team at local Bath agency, Storm. Dave Kelly (the “award-winning” young boss) took the brief, Andrew pulled together a simple – but striking – design and Liam wired it all up so that it worked. It’s been quite a big build as I decided that the “Projects & Tales” area were going to be the best way to build confidence with visitors. The site is aimed at business founders who might want help – and like minded individuals who want to make contact. Lynda’s book was again useful on this:

“Attractors pull others towards them because they are seen as open, so others feel less anxious about approaching them, and they are seen as good at reciprocating, so their friends are keen to introduce their friends to them. But perhaps the most important pull of attraction is that they are seen as interesting and exciting, and create clear pathways along which others feel they can approach them.”

It would have been cheaper to just have a DIY site from About.me or Flavors.me – but I felt the “storytelling” was important. Would be interested to hear your thoughts if you get chance to compare the three sites.

Having my picture taken was pretty cringey. Despite being a professional photographer for nearly 15 years – I’d never been the “victim” of a studio photographer before. Neill Menneer from Bath studio Spirit Contemporary Photography, put me at ease. I’m pleased with the results. It was originally suggested that I could just have a “snap” done – but the professional photography makes such a difference. I think if I was running on a tighter budget I would have had the pro photo session done – and just gone with About.me or Flavors.me. I would then have worked harder on a basic WordPress.com blog to back up those sites.

Writing the project and tales was a cathartic and enjoyable experience. It was definitely self-indulgent, but an important opportunity to reflect on what I have done that I’ve enjoyed and have managed to make a difference with. Getting the tone right was important – and here I drafted in the services of my “big sister”, Sandra. She’s an experienced newspaper sub-editor. As well as knocking the writing, spelling and grammar in to shape, Sandra was able to give me an honest answer to my questions like “does this make me sound too much of a twat!” I hope she’s been honest!!!

Finally, I knew that there was one page that needed to be a bit more “sales”/pushy. That was the About Me page. I decided to outsource the writing of this. Lea Woodward offers a great service to do this. I sent her the draft of my site – and a brief on who I was trying to reach. I think she’s got the tone right – and along the way she reinforced that I should use “you” in my writing much more than “I”. Training the narcissist out of me!

Well, the site is now up and running. I’ve still not shown my wife or given her the link. I still find the idea of talking about myself and showing personal pictures in such a public way skin crawling!

I did read an article last week that did give me faith that if I come across as a narcissist, it’s not that bad.

Michael Maccoby – author of books like “Narcissistic Leaders: Who Succeeds and Who Fails” and “The Productive Narcissist: The Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership” said:

“Steve Jobs is a text-book example of a brilliant productive narcissist, a change-the-world personality who evolved into a great leader by developing his strategic intelligence: foresight, partnering, visioning and motivating.”

RIP Steve – a narcissist the world admires!

This is the first blog post at my new home of philobrien.com. Hello to former readers of the Personal Network blog – and welcome to new readers. I hope to cover a wider range of topics here. I am especially keen to comment on what is happening in the worlds of old, new and social media. Other issues on the agenda will be “future work”, “visual communication” – and, of course, personal networks.

The recent changes to Facebook have really got me thinking again about their role in our world. You might have read previous blog posts Is Facebook the “McDonalds” of your Personal Network? and LinkedIn – Love it or cancel it!? Facebook – don’t know what to do with it.

I was brought up a Catholic in Liverpool. Weekly trips to church – and lots of talk about Souls and The Devil (then lapsed at 18 and never went back!). In recent times, I have read and watched to try to understand how the world got in to such a financial crisis. Part of my “education” on the subject of the financial crisis has been watching the excellent film “Inside Job”. It is a compelling (and deeply worrying) story of how deregulation and “toxic instruments” like Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) were used to bundle up sub-prime mortgages. I recommend you watch the film.

Anyway, back to Facebook. Where do they fit in with these trains of thought? Well, I think we are happily trading chunks of our social capital for the free services that Facebook (and others) offer. It’s a bit like being invited in to the Casinos at Las Vegas – those free drinks are tempting us to make poor judgements. You might look at Facebook (here you should include in your thinking Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al) and consider their financial model. They are not making money (or significant money) – but are worth billions. Why is that?

Well, my feeling is that they are taking chunks of our social capital, bundling that together in batches of 10 million users – and then setting a share price for these bundles. Their balance sheet is our aggregated social capital.

More individuals “loaning to FB” their social capital = more value

More individuals “swapping” their social capital within FB = even more value.

I could write a long article about this – but why not write your own and play this search and replace game?

Social Capital = Soul
Facebook = The Devil
FB Stock = Toxic Social Capital

In the last year, I have watched the revolutions that have taken place around the world. Many have been attributed to the social media generation using Twitter and Facebook. It’s been positive to see so many people standing firm against corrupt governments and taking back their countries. It has needed bravery and determination.

Many commentators now talk about Facebook in comparison to countries. Facebook’s own stats today tell me they have 800 million active users world-wide. In July nearly 50% of the US population where on Facebook – I suspect that is over 50% by now. So, if Facebook is the size of a country (in fact bigger than most) – what sort of revolution might take place? It would be an easy revolution – little bravery, no bloodshed. I’m intrigued to see if Facebook implodes. Will historians look back and ask “what where they thinking?”

Last week, I went to a play at the Theatre Royal in Bath called “Earthquakes in London”. It was a play about the impending doom caused by our generation not looking after the planet. It talked about a planet that would always survive – but could only cope with one billion humans, not the seven billion we are heading towards. There was a line where the actors talked about desperate Africans deciding they could take no more and walking to Europe en masse. Apocalyptic stuff! The same day, I had listened to reports that it is 75 years ago since the Jarrow March. Back in 1936 this was a march by 200 desperately poor, unemployed people from the north east of England to London. They covered 300 miles – and held a banner calling it the Jarrow Crusade.

We live in interesting (and unstable) times. We can learn from recent history that if things seem too good – they probably are. The financial crisis has shown us this – and we might think of applying this learning to how we consider our relationship with Facebook. On the bigger picture – don’t underestimate the power of large groups of people with a cause. The Jarrow Crusaders showed it 75 years ago – and the revolutions around the world this year have echoed the same. Where next? Is revolution coming on-line?