The Medium is the Message, or: Talk is Cheap (Show me the money)

admin March 26, 2008 first 90 days, leadership 6 Comments

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As noted earlier, I’ve been interviewing colleagues and my staff to get a sense of their goals as well as their fears, concerns, and desires regarding technology. During these interviews, I sometimes get feedback that my predecessor’s style was not viewed as successful, and often people note how different I seem.

Then, this afternoon, I was reviewing some old files, and I came across my predecessor’s notes. There was a list of questions which was very similar to my questions as well as a spreadsheet indicating who had been interviewed and the results. Deja vu all over again! A cold chill ran down my spine and I realized that either:

1. my personality is making me appear more effective than perhaps I am

and/or

2. interviews may be nice, but it’s what I do with this information that will make all the difference

The right answer is probably both.

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6 Responses to “The Medium is the Message, or: Talk is Cheap (Show me the money)”

  1. seth vidal said:

    Mar 26, 08 at 6:27 pm

    It’s also possible that YOU were your predecessor in some sort of horrible Star Trek Next Generation Causality-time-loop-thing.

    You’re only way to leave yourself notes is by communicating via your interview notes.

    It’s like the number 3 in that episode where the enterprise kept being destroyed over and over again.
    aaaaaaaaaaaah

  2. admin said:

    Mar 27, 08 at 7:06 pm

    d00d! You’re totally right–or maybe this blog can help disrupt the chain? Also, I found a photo of myself standing behind a bar from the 1920s and then this creepy Jeeves character appeared and said something like “You’ve always been the caretaker” and so now I know reality is just a big fat sham designed to prevent me from enjoying the safety of my own little warp bubble–like Crusher, you know?

  3. kdghty said:

    Mar 27, 08 at 8:13 pm

    and here i was thinking that was you running around an ocean liner in an evening gown, believing it was still 1939, fending off nazis with mulder when actually you’d been caught in the bermuda triangle for 50 years…

  4. filberthockey said:

    Mar 28, 08 at 9:54 am

    I find myself in a similar predicament, on the other side, where my new boss is interviewing his new staff and trying to get the lay of the land. And what I’m thinking is, “What’s wrong with the Pequod? Why can’t Ahab just hide in his bunk for a couple months and then come out and nail a gold dubloon to the mast?” The White Whale lives, Ahab.

  5. admin said:

    Mar 28, 08 at 4:34 pm

    everyone is the same as everyone else.

    shantih shantih shantih

  6. G-lo said:

    Apr 04, 08 at 5:37 pm

    Maybe you’re the new hot thing and that changes the results. Yes. Hot.

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