People at Work & Play

A lot of debate has been generated in the blogosphere by an article in the New York Times titled ” In Web World of 24/7, Writers Blog Till They Drop”.

Two well known bloggers paid the ultimate price for their passion - they died on the job. My view is that what happened to them could happen to anyone else doing their jobs, be it driving a truck, flying a plane or fixing a bug.

It was not blogging that led to their untimely deaths. It was the pressure of what they chose to do - possibly for a livelihood.

I understand the pressures of compulsive blogging myself. I am an avid blogger and keep warning myself that I could- if I am not already- get addicted to it. But I guess it is less harmful than smoking-another addiction I managed to give up a few years ago.

I feel the answer lies in moderation. Enjoy what you are doing. Don’t let it cross the thin line where it moves beyond being an interest or even a passion-to a being the means to an abrupt end.

The “Last Post” is traditionally the military tribute to the fallen soldier at a funeral. Let not deaths through blogging give new meaning to the “Last Post”.

A Step A Day was started to provide perspective and provoke thought to facilitate self-development across a wide spectrum of issues- big and small- crucial for executive success.

Completing 125 straight posts (every day for 125 days on the trot) on A Step A Day has been for me a landmark of sorts.

As a blogger, I am glad A Step A Day has evoked a fair amount of interest. I realize this not only by the comments to these posts but also by the mails I have received. In them readers have asked questions, raised issues, shared experiences and given suggestions.

I would like to reach out to more of you for your thoughts and feedback on A Step A Day. Likewise, for those of you who may wish to reach out to me, here are my contacts:

Mail: bprao@people1stconsulting.com

Telephone: 91-80-41675083 & 91-9845065903.

It would be great to hear from you

In a Global Ranking of Top English language career blogs as on March 30, 2008 by RiseSmart, I am happy to say “People at Work & Play” finds a Honorable Mention @ Rank 141.

Over time, I should improve the quality to make it to the Top 100

Here’s a comment I received recently which pleased me. “Prem - congratulations on making our list of the Top 50 Blogs For Advancing Your Career. From reading through your blog, we really admire your unique articles on building a successful career. You can find the full write up right here.”

Success in HR is about helping people succeed in the HR field. The site begins by saying : “Welcome! On this blog we’re going to share blunt, no BS , street-smart strategies for advancing your career, impact and income in HR. We will be sharing our bare-knuckled experiences in working every day with business clients who are pressured every day to meet quarterly and often unforgiving targets for profitability, productivity, sales and costs. “

I am glad that “People at Work & Play” has made their list of Top 50 Blogs For Advancing Your Career. Over time, we hope to improve upon our rank of 48!

Success in HR, like the late Eric Morley used to do when announcing ” Miss Universe” appear to be announcing their list in reverse order. We need to wait and see which blog is rated No.1 !!

David Maister, whose blog I follow, was interviewed by Rob LaGatta for LexBlog recently. It was interesting to read David’s views on how he began blogging and what it has come to mean for him.

A few points stuck in my mind:

• Don’t let quantity affect quality
• Blogs sometimes turn out to be educative rather than revenue-generating
• The essence of a blog is to interact with the community

I learnt from David’s blog that by raising issues after his posts, he provokes thought in his readers and get them to comment. This is a very effective way to involve the community. The number of people who share views at his blog is impressive. More importantly, the content is consistently of a high standard.

I have gained a lot from David ’s blog and would strongly recommend it to any one wanting to learn more on people issues in business, especially the consulting business.

Here’s something I enjoyed immensely. Saw this in Regina’s Adventures, Musings and Aphorisms.

Realizing he was lost, a balloonist dropped down to ask directions.
“Excuse me, but I’m a little off course,” he shouted. “I promised to
meet a friend an hour ago. I don’t know where I am.”

A woman yelled back, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately
30 feet above the ground. You’re at exactly 37 degrees, 24 minutes and
26.16 seconds North latitude and 122 degrees, 8 minutes and 42.3 seconds
West longitude.”

“Amazing,” the balloonist replied. “You must be an Engineer!”

“I am,” she replied. “How did you know?”

“Well, everything you told me is technically correct, but I can’t use
your information. I’m still lost, and you haven’t been much help at
all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman thought for a moment, and then replied, “You must be in
Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well, you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You’ve risen
to your position due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise
that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to
solve your problems. In fact, you’re in exactly the same position you
were before we met, but somehow it’s now my fault.”

Excellent!

RiseSmart has announced their Career 100 - a listing of the world’s top English-language Career blogs. Here’s how that list was arrived at.

Heading the rankings is Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist.

I am delighted to see my friend, Gautam Ghosh’s blog, Gautam Ghosh on Management ranked 24 on that list.

Gautam is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and we XLers are proud of his achievement.

Huge amount of good advice on careers in that list, I am sure.

Avid bloggers, and I am no exception, put in a lot of time and effort to improve their blogs. I have learnt my lessons on the fly. Apart from the content which goes into the blog, there are issues of fonts, colours, background, design templates etc. which can enhance or bring down the appeal of the blog for your readers.

Have you wondered: Are there any guidelines to make your blog more readable? Here is a list I liked - titled The Ten Commandments of Blog Typography by Randa Clay.

I agree with her that our blogs should be reader-friendly. After all that’s what blogs are for, right?

Comments on how I am doing with respect to typography on this blog are welcome.

How many times have young students wondered “Gosh ! I wish I knew of this earlier!”. They could be speaking of an essay competition, a fest, a conference or a coding contest. In today’s fast-paced world, ever so many events take place without their even knowing of it. They could be missing out on opportunities to showcase their talent or just gain valuable perspective.

To meet this need, Nitin Rao has put together various opportunities for the student community in India in a unique blog - Let Me Know.

Let Me Know allows readers to suggest opportunities that they know of and would like to share.

With “sharing” being the way to go, this should prove to be an useful site to bookmark for our talented youth.

Came across this neat widget called Mini Site Translator from Widgetbox.

Visitors can click on the flag of their country to have the content translated into their language of choice. Be it French, Spanish, Portugese, German, Italian, Russian and Chinese, apart from English, of course.

This could be an useful add-on to your blog as it helps those who may prefer to view content in a language of their choice.

I must add that putting the widget was not too difficult either.