Some Meta-thoughts on Blogging – “A Marketplace Where Many Diverse Ideas Meet for Coffee!”

I was dragged kicking and screaming into the world of Blogging – reluctantly dipping my toe in the water exactly a month ago with my first posting. Much has happened in the past 30 days since my initial foray into Blogdom. I had been aware of Blogs for a couple of years – even reading with regularity the Blogs of Seth Godin, Dave Teten, et al. But I resisted a number of suggestions that I create one of my own. It took the gentle, but insistent, urging of several people whose opinions I respect for me finally to reconsider my decision and to make the commitment to carve out the time to give Blogging a try.

As I undertook the experiment, I had no idea what to expect, and myriad questions and doubts jousted with one another in my mind:

"Who would read the thing? Where would I find the time? Would people feel like I was spamming them? Would I have enough substance of interest to share with readers on an almost daily basis?"

I began to feel comfortable with the idea of creating a Blog when a clear purpose emerged. Over the years, consistent feedback from clients, candidates, colleagues and compadres has convinced me that there is unique value in the fact that my unusually diverse and disparate set of interests, experiences and social networks position me at the intersection of many worlds that do not normally communicate with one another. As the common link (Missing Link?!) among these overlapping networks, I am often in a position to serve as a communication interface across traditional barriers to enable individuals from different worlds to share their thoughts me with and with one another.

I knew I was on the right track when one of my readers, a gentleman from North Carolina, wrote the following message:

“I enjoy reading your blog - a marketplace where many diverse ideas meet for coffee!”

What a great phrase and what an apt description of what goes on within the ether world that the readers of this Blog and I inhabit together! In the coming days, I anticipate postings that will deal with issues such as leadership and creativity in the arts, the challenges and opportunities that women face as business leaders, the story of one of the Blog readers who was held hostage in Albania, The New England Patriots attempt to hang onto the Pete Roselle Trophy, book reports, and my reflection on breaking news and emerging trends.

I am sensing that my taking the step of putting myself “out there” in writing these postings on a regular basis is serving as a catalyst for others to be willing to share their own thoughts, concerns and stories. Yesterday, a friend in California wrote:

“My New Year's resolution is to write a novelette by the end of the year. Your inspiration spreads wider than you know...”

How gratifying and encouraging to know that the simple act of writing and sharing my writing with others is encouraging a friend in his own creativity!

On the technical side of Blogging, I am still a neophyte. I am aware that it is possible to use tools like RSS to make sure you are alerted whenever there is a new posting to any Blog that you choose to monitor, but I have not yet taken the time to understand the mechanics of how this all works. I will do so in the next few weeks and will share that knowledge as a posting for those of you who are as technically unsophisticated as I am.

I welcome your comments, feedback, ideas and suggestions. I will be happy to publish thoughts you may wish to share with me and with my readers - to the degree that the subject matter is in keeping with the spirit of this Blog. How would I define that spirit? One of my readers put it well when he wrote to me yesterday:

“. . . your very presence and campaign to promote the appreciation of Renaissance men [and women] in business inspired me . . . [and] reassured me that I’m not the only oddball at HBS [Harvard Business School]!

Amen!

Thanks for reading and responding.

Al