maandag 19 januari 2009

Twitter fountain

This widget shows my actual twitterstream.

donderdag 1 januari 2009

Building my (digital) reputation

Working on my 'visibility' and 'reputation' both inside and outside the company used to be one of the hardest things to do. "You are only as good as your last presentation", so I was told. 

Up until recent it meant that I had to fight, beg or be smarter than somebody else for a presentation timeslot at management meetings. If I was lucky I was able to present my thoughts once every two or three months. At the same time I had to be very careful not to 'just' give away my creativity to another person who had the opportunity to create more or longer timeslots. 

Also trying to 'please' our journalists 'gods' to write down or at least quote some of the ideas that I thought were useful to publish, was a hell of a job. Either they undervalued it or, more hurtful, they just didn't understand. And what quality of published material do we get when these things get paid a lot of money for?

I realised that building a reputation had more to do with pleasing, begging and paying than with being original and creative.  I'm pleased to say that this painful experience is over. Not only for me, but for everybody who wants to speak up. For everybody who wants to say some-thing. For everybody who wants to be heard.

Yes, I'm still ''only as good as my last presentation", that hasn't changed a bit, but at least I don't have to beg, pay or waste a lot of energy on irrelevant intermediaries. I can write what I want, when I want ... and because I want. Building my digital reputation is something I am responsible for. And what a fine responsibility is that!