kathleen forden

2011 in Review

The good, the bad, the ugly…the truth in a more uplifting format if you will.

Thanks to F! I’m in my Twenties for the graphic

Lately I’ve been getting mixed signals from friends, peers and select family that admitting that you love what you are doing for a living and for whom you work for might not be such a good thing.  I’ve heard the term, “drinking the Kool-aid” on at least five occasions in the last couple of weeks whenever I start talking about work and how I feel about it.

Up until the last two weeks when I’ve had to deal with my own personal drama, I have loved walking into the office each morning.   I’m not a morning person by any means of the definition; but when I wake up in the morning I feel a surge of excitement and joy at the fact that I’m going to do something that I love doing.

I know it’s no longer fashionable to be loyal to your employer and that employers for a majority of US citizens might not be worthy of loyalty; however, I feel differently.  The folks who lead the organization I work for are honest, hard-working, caring individuals.  While there is always a barrier with most business relationships to keep work matters related to work and personal matters to personal; they try to offer more.

While I may not chose to cross those barriers due to my own beliefs; I am appreciative of the fact that they are willing to try and see all their employees as individuals and not just “employees”.  After working years for a large organization that on more occasions than I can count never saw their employees as anything other than “numbers”; I can’t tell you how much I appreciate working with the polar opposite.

Not only am I getting an opportunity to work on something bigger than myself, to learn daily and to work with some of the brightest minds I’ve encountered in 20 plus years; I feel committed to the cause of the company I work for.  Heck, I’m committed to the people I work for and with at this company.  I’m emotionally invested in our mutual success and actually care about them all.

So to me loving your job doesn’t mean that you see life with “tinted glasses” and a “glitter and puppies” perspective.  It also doesn’t mean that you like every moment of the duties you are responsible for daily.  What it means to me is that the great and good portions totally outweigh the negatives.

I chose to see that people are trying to evolve to be better people, leaders, managers and role models for all of us who work together.  Seeing folks take the extra moment to not be decisive solely on an emotional response is a big motivator for me and allows me to strive to be a better person, employee, and peer.  Watching folks learn and watching the “A – HA!” moments occur has been my drug lately, all the more enjoyable as I’m not sure everyone knows that they are sharing that moment.

Daily I have a resurge of hope for what my future will be with the team I am working with.  What I see daily is the growth and evolution of each person I work with.  As Randy Pausch said, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you expected.”  I see the people around me growing as individuals and I share their excitement.

It all of that means “I’m drinking the Kool-aid”, then I willing accept the statement as a positive one for me.  It’s not a cult or brainwashing that compels me to share my joy about my job.  It’s the folks around me who are striving to be better with me.

Thinking about life lately and I keep coming back to solid basics that I have decided to live my life by.  These include deciding to never live life in passive mode, never sitting back and just letting life happen to me.

I want to live a life with minimum regret.  Thinking that I can’t be the only one who has this philosophy I Googled to see who else might share my view.  Color me surprised when the first link I found was a video interview with Jeff Bezos on living with a framework of Minimizing Regret.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwG_qR6XmDQ

So here’s to letting those around me who impact me know it.  Here’s to telling people you love them while you have the opportunity.  Here’s to grabbing for the brass ring daily, to reaching for the stars and working your butt off on a goal.  Here’s to living my life to it’s fullest.

…” guess it comes down to a simple choice, really.  Get busy living or get busy dying.”- Andy Dufresne – Shawshank Redemption

For as long as I can remember I was schooled and saw others schooled in the art of sharing.  When my son was younger I can remember reminding him to share his toys with other children.  Extra piece of food at a meal?  Share it.  See someone who needs something you have?  Share it.   It’s something I always believed helped make us better people in the long run.

Now as an adult I realize that society has changed and sharing is now more suspect than not.

So why now am I even bothering to keep doing so?  Like most of the living I have had decades of life altering experiences , many heart wrenching life stopping moments and every thing that can be experience between.  I recently decided to change my life in more ways then one.

I changed my lifestyle to a more healthful one, changed my personal life to leave behind baggage I’ve held on to way too long, changed my career path and decided to expand my horizons about how I define sharing.

So what is the definition of sharing?

1. To divide and parcel out in shares; apportion.
2. To participate in, use, enjoy, or experience jointly or in turns.
3. To relate (a secret or experience, for example) to another or others.
4. To accord a share in (something) to another or others.

Basically for me sharing is the new way I tithe back to society.    I use to tithe to the religious organization I was reared under and with.  Then as I became more aware I tithed to the local homeless shelters and food banks.  Then domestic abuse shelters and finally I found what works best for me.

Everyday I try to tithe 10% of my waking hours and a 10% of my income to those around me.  It might be the down on their luck couple at Circle K without enough gas money, it might be part of the lunch I brought, it might be the smile I share but basically it’s something I offer and experience daily.

Sharing your smile, lunch, a book or just a joke  which can brighten your day more than you  realize.  So what if occasionally you encounter nothing but negative around you and feel like not bothering.  Share something and feel the difference around you!

Here’s to the power of sharing!

I was just cruising the web and found Hugh MacLeod’s gallery again.  It’s been a couple of years since I first saw his work so finding it again last night felt like a new discovery all over.

I’ll share one of his “scribbles” with you here.  Check out all his recent work from SXSW 2010, I really liked the US map as I’m a true “yankee “but now live in what he refers to as the “boring” part of the states.  (I don’t disagree).

Check out his site here: http://gapingvoidgallery.com/

Posted via web from kforden.com

I’m just rereading a piece about higher education dying just like the newspapers and I can’t help thinking that newspaper publishers need to just redefine themselves and their products and find new sources of revenue.

How do newspapers make money?  Ad Sales and Readers, right?  Who really cares what the medium or channel is.  Expand your market base as one side constricts.

With ad sales, I’m pretty sure that the news agencies invested in technology spends to run those online digital ad networks across their sites.  Start offering those services to a larger market with a better price point.  Offer to sell ads for the Pennysaver like coupon papers, small publications and other publishers living on the ad spends; expand your sales for your services not your content.

You have the experience with sales, ad creation and technology to run it all.  So use it for more than your own publication.

I mentioned getting revenue from services, so I’m sure lots of folks are shocked.  Don’t be, I think they should continue to sell their content to readers with subscriptions.  Subscriptions sold by paper, digital or mobile, sell them all just drop their price.

Did she just say “Drop Their Price”?  Yes, I did.  Expand your other market with content.  Sell it to and for every blog etc that wants to republish it.  Allow all teasers for free to entice and offer a soft baseline of information.  But sell the republish rights for each item for a penny.  One cent.

Will these ideas offer a big enough return to be considered by the Knight Ridders (The McClatchy Company) of the world?  Maybe not, but then again I never said I had the solution just a few random thoughts…..

What do you think?

<excerpt from Wikipedia> The stone is said to have been presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn;[1] popular legend holds that this was a piece of the Stone of Scone. This stone was then installed at McCarthy’s castle of Blarney. When the castle was rebuilt in 1446, Dermot McCarthy had the stone preserved in the new castle.

The proprietors of Blarney Castle list several explanations other than the Stone of Scone for the ancient origins of the stone, many of which suppose that the Stone had previously been in Ireland but was then taken to Scotland and returned to Ireland in 1314.[1] The theories listed include those that the stone:

* was part of the wailing wall in Jerusalam brought to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was half of the original Stone of Scone – presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.[1].
* was the stone that Jacob used as a pillow, and was brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah.
* was the pillow used by St. Columba of Iona on his deathbed.
* was the Stone of Ezel, which David hid behind on Jonathan’s advice, while fleeing from King Saul, and may have been brought back to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was the rock that Moses struck with his staff to produce water for the Israelites, during their flight from Egypt.
* was related to the stone was known as the Lia Fáil or “Stone of Destiny” – part of the king’s throne, with mysterious powers.

None of these provenance stories account for why a stone of such significance and antiquity would be used in the construction of a fifteenth century castle, inconspicuously incorporated into an exterior wall and exposed to the elements. Apart from discoloration and wear caused by human contact, the stone is not readily distinguishable from its neighbors. </excerpt from Wikipedia>