The Influencer Army

Influencers might be nice guys, but are they leaders?

Back before COVID, I was on my way to meet a friend at a hotel in New York City. I came up from the subway on 57th Street and got disoriented, so I simply announced in a loud voice:

“Can anyone point me toward the such-and-such hotel?” A a passerby replied cheerfully.

“I’m going there myself. I’ll walk you over,” He asked, in a friendly Irish accent. “Are you staying at the hotel?”

“No,” I said, “just meeting a friend in the lobby. And you?”

“I’m getting a lifetime achievement award in the ballroom tonight. Heading to rehearsals.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “Do you feel like you’ve actually achieved anything in your lifetime?”

He laughed.

“I’d like to think so.”

We made pleasant chit-chat as we walked, and parted in the lobby.

That evening, I told the story to my son.

“You know,” I said, “I logged over 25,000 miles hitchhiking in my youth. And wherever I went, there was always someone who knew the lay of the land. You don’t need your smartphone—it just keeps you from seeing the people around you.”

Naturally, he pulled out his smartphone.

“Did he look like this?” he asked as he showed me a photo on his phone.

“That’s him.”

“That’s Bono,” he said. “He’s getting a lifetime achievement award tonight, as we speak. Aren’t you ashamed? You managed to insult Bono.”

I am absolutely not ashamed. He didn’t seem insulted either. And I hope Bono won’t be insulted by what I’m about to say next.

How to Tell if It’s a Disaster or a Cause

I once told my “How I Met Bono” story to a Bulgarian friend who grew up under the Soviets. He laughed and said they had an expression:

“It’s not a disaster until Bono shows up.”

Until then, they just dealt with their own problems.

I laughed too. As a kid, it felt like it wasn’t a cause until a folk singer wrote a song about it. People went to the concerts, got their kumbaya fix, then went home feeling better about themselves.

How to give me a negative reference on LinkedIn

By: Brooke Allen (you will find my LinkedIn profile here.)

Be aware that on LinkedIn you cannot give me a negative reference unless I approve it.

This is bad news because if it is impossible for you to say something negative, then the positive things I might allow you to say must be taken with a grain of salt.

I want you to give me a fair and balanced reference so others can have an accurate picture of who I am, and I want you to let me know what I’m doing wrong and how I can improve.

But before you give me a negative reference let us establish a few ground rules. Let’s begin with:

Motivation – Why do you want to say what you do? Why do I want to hear it?

Familiarity – How well do you know me and my work?

Rationality – Are you basing your statements on facts and valid reasoning?

Let’s analyze each in more detail…

Continue reading “How to give me a negative reference on LinkedIn”

You do not need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.

I went to college in 1970. By 1974 I had a degree in mathematics and experience hitchhiking to every state of the union except for Alaska and Hawaii; perhaps 30,000 miles in all.

I learned more about how to live from those experiences than anything I learned in a school. Here is the story of what I learned from a man in the pick-up truck who took my girlfriend and me from central Minnesota to just west of Fargo, North Dakota.

Had I not learned this lesson my life would have been very different; not only would I have been much less inventive I would not have had the courage to stand up to some of the shenanigans I saw during the 30 years I was on Wall Street.

I’ll call him Jeb. I don’t remember his name, but during Prohibition he used to bootleg whisky, so Jeb sounds like a good bootlegger’s name, don’t you think?

He said the pay was good and it was exciting work because the cops were always chasing you, but it wasn’t very intellectual. The only creative thing he learned was the Bootlegger’s K-Turn. He left the Interstate for a side road to show us how it is done. I’ll draw it for you: Continue reading “You do not need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.”