Learning: Amassing Knowledge vs. Creating Understanding

14 March 2010

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In my “New Year’s Resolution” post I promised to write more…that hasn’t really happened as most of my writing time is committed to Greenhorn Connect related content.  However, I’ve just had an inspiration for a post and so I’d like to share it here.

Since I really dove into entrepreneurship a few years ago, I’ve found I have an insatiable thirst for learning anything and everything related to the topic.  All this time though, I’ve been thinking about what that really means, “to learn.”  I think that in life there are many that seek to learn, but often it’s merely to amass knowledge; I know this fact or that statistic. I’m well-read on this subject.  That’s all well and good, but if they’re just facts and merely someone else’s ideas…how much has been gained?

My goal is not to just amass facts. I’m not looking to be an encyclopedia.  I want to understand. I have so many questions about so many things. And yes, studying and reading always helps, but I always consider it in the context of greater understanding. I think this analogy may help:

You have a farm. On this farm all kinds of fruits and vegetables grow.  Those that are merely amassing knowledge would look at what they have and say that they have hundreds of broccoli heads and thousands of ears of corn.  Those building understanding look deeper and understand how they can take the vegetables and make salads and juices and other unique dishes; each item grown on the farm represents an ingredient, not an end result. When they file this knowledge away of the farm and its produce, those with understanding are thinking of it from the perspective of how the different dishes were made from the farm, while those amassing knowledge only see it in the narrow verticals of each fruit or vegetable produced Those with understanding are also more easily able to transport the concepts created from the dishes from the farm into other areas; everything around them is a small piece to a bigger picture…one that is not necessarily completely clear, but is larger and better than before because of what’s been added.

I think that it’s as important what the question you’re asking is as the means to which you’re going about your learning. For example, I’ve recently become very interested in user experience.  The questions I have are related to better understanding people. I want to be able to better step out of what I think (and all the biases and preconceived notions distorting it) and be able to understand others.  My impressions when I come to a website are not the same as someone else’s.  To accomplish this, I could go straight to a bunch of UI/UX web books, but I think it’s important to go broader than that, so I’m going to try to cast a wider net to truly understand people.  Incidentally, as I work towards this goal, I believe I will be able to apply this new understanding to other areas of my life in human interaction.

How thoughtful are you with your learning? Are you amassing knowledge or creating understanding?

GreenhornConnect – DartBoston #FlashParty Entrepreneur Meetup Recap

7 March 2010

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Last night, Dart and Greenhorn teamed up to organize a #flashparty to try to get all the young entrepreneurs out for a night of socializing.  About 20 young entrepreneurs and friends came by Clery’s to share a few drinks and catch up.

A few random thoughts:

1) Strengthening connections:

I had the chance to catch up with quite a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while, which was great.  It was also really fun to spend a few minutes talking to friends in the community and not have it be entrepreneur related.  Things like Wingman’s straws puzzle, talking about sports and beers was a welcome break from the daily entrepreneur game.

2) Making new connections:

I met Matt Lauzon from what was Paragon Lake, but is now Gemvara. It was really interesting to talk to him about some of the things they’re doing with their designer community and the Highland Capital program he went through.  Quite a few of the others that came out met people they didn’t know very well.

3) Can’t help but be productive:

I walked away with a number of solid entrepreneur-related business items that are going to be very helpful in the next few weeks.  As Laura Fitton said at her birthday party and Jennie White reported on at BostInnovation, Boston needs to have more parties. As relaxing and fun as last night was, everybody was still talking about business at times and making some valuable, actionable connections.

4) Lessons Learned:

  1. Being the broke, bootstrapping entrepreneurs we are, we got some pitchers thinking it would save us some money. Of course, when the end of the night came, sorting out who drank what and a few people had left was a bit of a pain to coordinate. Definitely going to have everyone get and pay for drinks individually next time.
  2. Much like the general community, except for a couple girlfriends and wives, it was a very male-dominated gathering. Future iterations will work harder to address this.
  3. Most people didn’t come out until 9pm…we thought we’d start hanging out earlier with GreenhornTV, but that didn’t really come together.

5) There will be a next time…

There were definitely plenty of good results from the event last night and so we’ll definitely try to continue to do these likely about once a month. If you have any ideas or feedback on how to make the next one better, let us know. Until then…stay tuned to dartboston.com, @greenhornboston and @dartboston for announcements of future events like this.


Why you may not want to talk to panelists after events…

16 February 2010

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As I’ve been out in the community going to events and spreading the word about Greenhorn Connect, I’ve seen my share of panel discussions.  One lesson I’ve learned from all those panels is that regardless of how the panel itself went or if you think you have a great idea, question or thought to share with a panelist, you generally don’t gain much by approaching panelists after events.

Every conversation with a panelist has generally gone the same. They’re tired. They just want to go home/run and catch their plane/get a drink.  They’ve heard a million pitches thanks to all the other panels they’ve been on and so they’re usually on autopilot in the conversation trying to just find the quickest way to the exit.  I totally understand this and respect this.

So what do I recommend you do instead?  If you have a great thought…make sure you share it during the Q&A. If you didn’t get to…use it as a conversation topic with other members of the audience. Anyone who doesn’t run up to approach the panelist is also likely to be more interested in making meaningful networking connections and share good conversation.

Please don’t take this as a jab at panelists. In fact, this is more of a recognition of the difficulties of being a panelist. It is rightfully tiring to be on a panel and usually if you’re part of the panel, it’s because you’re an influential/important person in the area of discussion, which likely means you’re insanely busy.  I also know that many people are dying to talk to you just so they can say they did or to dump their pitch on you or push their business card down your throat.  I never want to be that person and so I generally now make it a rule not to bother approaching panelists I don’t already know well.  I’d rather talk to a few more of the people in the audience that obviously shared my interest in the topic of the panel and make those meaningful connections that won’t just lead to the awkward “I’ll contact you in a month or two” and “sorry, I forgot my business cards” kind of discussions.

**Disclaimer #1** If you have something exceptionally relevant to discuss with a panelist and this is the only chance you’ll ever have to talk to them, then by all means, approach them. I think in general though, you’re better off working through your network to get an introduction to the person; this qualifies you and gives more context than “another eager audience member that wants to give me their card…”

**Disclaimer #2** If I’m ever on a panel, please don’t think this post means I don’t want to talk to you. Just realize that you should have more to say than “you should hear my pitch” or  “I’d like to meet you.”  Is there something related to what I’m working on or something I talked about in the panel that’s particularly relevant to what you’re doing or a question you have?

Naming is so (not) Important

27 January 2010

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The name of your business is everything.  It’s the first impression of your business. It tells people what you’re about and sets the expectations.  You only name your business once, so you have to love the idea. And yet…in the world of domain camping, millions of social media accounts to reserve and a never ending battle for customer mind-space, there’s a lot of factors to satisfy.

Naming Greenhorn Connect took many weeks of thinking about what the name should be and then suddenly just came to mind and we ran with it. We’re now in that “nothing sounds right and we can’t think of anything good” phase for Doodlebugging.  Much like with Greenhorn, bounties offered to others isn’t yielding anything great either (if you’d like to suggest a name, and we use it…we’ll give you $50.)  Still, I’m sure we’ll end up with something…it’s just annoying and feels like a waste of mind space and productive time to think about it.

I’ve read all the tips about making it memorable, getting the dot com of your name and what makes the best choice from a trademark perspective, but does anyone have any real tips for coming up with a name after you remember those basics?

New Year’s Resolutions Check Up

16 January 2010

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I’m two weeks into my resolutions for New Year’s and so I wanted to check up on how I was doing. I figured I might as well share my progress:

8 Resolutions in 2010

1) Improve my Punctuality: I’ve gotten a little better, but I’m still far from perfect. Going to keep at it.

2)  Improve Time Management: I’ve found that by making a list broken down by project (I’m involved in 3 startups these days) right before I go to bed, I wake up ready to get all the things done. It’s working, but will probably keep evolving.

3) Get Back to the Gym: I finally made it back to the gym on Wednesday and then went again on Friday. It felt better than I expected getting back into. Apparently the pull ups and situps I’d been doing in my apartment kept me from losing too much strength. I am incredibly sore right now, but that comes with the territory. I also feel energized, so it’s a fair tradeoff. I just need to get a routine going and I’ll be good.

4) Get back to Running: Waiting for warmer weather…

5) Read a Book per Week: I’m 2 for 2 so far as I’ve made it through Trust Agents and Crush It. I’m now onto a bit heavier reading with 4 Steps to the Epiphany, so we’ll see if I can get through that in a week as well. Taking books with me on the subway has definitely helped a lot. I didn’t realize how much time I was wasting each day just not thinking while on the subway. You’ll now know what I’m reading if you see me at an event at night as I’m taking reading material for the trips to and from.

6) Post More Often: This is my 6th post of the year, so that’s going well. I’ve also successfully started writing shorter posts as evidenced by my business card and winter wardrobe posts.

7) Keep learning: This one wasn’t so much anything new as trying to do more of the same.  A number of you have been great in providing me more feedback and comments, so please keep it coming!

8.) Pay it forward: I still help who I can. The best example is the other night at an event a woman was lamenting that she couldn’t find much support as a woman entrepreneur. I was able to pass her along info of all the resources for women entrepreneurs listed at Greenhorn Connect.

So all in all…doing well. Need to keep improving in the punctuality department, build the gym back into my routine fully and stick with the book reading regimen.

How are YOU doing on your resolutions?

It’s a Black and Blue and Gray World…

15 January 2010

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As we move through the toughest part of Boston’s annual weather cycle, I’ve noticed that the colors of people’s wardrobes have gotten increasingly dark and muted. It creates an interesting sea of similar looking people and crowds. I feel like this wardrobe boredom is probably for a few reasons: dark colors are slimming (holiday/winter gain from inactivity), reflection of attitude (winter can be depressing) and it’s easy (black goes with everything!).   This provides a unique opportunity for anyone willing to buck the trend.

If you’re a high energy person, this creates a fantastic opportunity. Wear some color. No really, put on that red sweater, that shiny blue vest or that…bright green shirt.  You will stand out and your energy can draw people in.  It’s a great tool for networking, for going out or whatever you’re doing.  If nothing else, people will notice your lack of black/grey/blue-ness and wonder a bit about you (in a good way).  At best, they want to come over and talk to the interesting person that was bold enough to wear something different.

Clothing is one of the best ways for your personality to show through. Let’s get a little more color out there and turn the energy level up a notch or two.

Book Review: Gary V’s Crush It

14 January 2010

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If entrepreneurship was a team and we had a big game coming up, I have no doubt that Gary V would lead the pep rally and carry the spirit stick.  If you need a book to jump start your passion for entrepreneurship, to remind you why you do what you do and give you some tips to better succeed at what you are passionately pursuing, then Crush It is is the book for you.

When I first started reading this book, I wasn’t sure I was going to buy into it. It felt like sort of fluff.  But Gary V’s enthusiasm is contagious. Before long I was really feeling charged up about his beliefs in pursuing your passions and thinking about how I’m already doing it and how I can do more.

Compared to some more academic entrepreneurial books, this is a quick, easy read (142 pages), but it still is filled with great ideas and concepts.  After feeling like Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents was a bit verbose, I was very happy to breeze through this book. Gary hit on a lot of great points and covered a reasonable number of topics, but never dwelled on any idea too long.

If you’re looking for a quick read to get you pumped up to pursue your life’s passion AND have a method for actually making money on that passion, this is well worth the time to read this book.  If you don’t like overly casual/conversational books, you may want to steer clear of this one.  If I had to boil the book down to one principle, I’d say that it’s “Discover your life’s passion and create interesting content about that in the form you want, then be patient and get paid.”

Next Book: Steve Blank’s 4 Steps to the Epiphany

On Deck: Open to recommendations…

In the hole: Open to recommendations…

Book Review: Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents

10 January 2010

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As I mentioned in my New Year’s Resolutions post, one of my goals was to read a book per week this year. The first book I chose was Chris Brogan and Julien Smith”s Trust Agents.  This 260 page social media gem took me a bit longer than a week (9 days in fact), but was well worth it.  Here’s a quick review:

This book provides a step by step philosophy and guide for how to become a key member of the online and offline world.  This is really a “how-to” on being a great person who is valued, trusted and genuinely liked by others.  If you’ve ever followed any of Chris Brogan’s work such as his blog, or the awesome “overnight success” video series you know that basically this is a detailed book on how he did it.

The really strange and amazing thing about reading this book for me was the realization that I owe a lot of Greenhorn Connect’s success to the principles Chris and Julien go over.  At times, this made me inpatient reading it as I wanted to get on to topics I didn’t already know and practice, but at the same time, it was reassuring and helpful to understand those principles better.  Often, you can see success and attribute it to the wrong things.  This book helped me realize some of the things I’m doing that are helping lead to success. It also surprised me how often things that were happening in my life lined up with things I was reading in the book.  That includes the inspiration for my post earlier this week on business card etiquette.

I’d like to give this book some deeper analysis, but really all I can say is that YOU should read this book. It’s about social media and so much more. Not only will it teach you key tools and tips for taking proper action in social media, but it also shows you how to become a genuinely likeable person who succeeds.  If I had to boil the book down to one principle, I’d say that it’s “Pay it Forward both online and offline and it will all work out for you.”

Next Book: Gary V’s Crush It.

On Deck: Steve Blank’s 4 Steps to the Epiphany

In the hole: Open to recommendations…

Business Card Etiquette

6 January 2010

12 Comments

As promised in my last post on my New Year’s resolutions, here’s a quick post. This time about Business Cards. I was inspired by both reading Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents on the subway trip home from #OpenCoffeeBos as well as by my own experiences networking in the Boston community.

Business Card Etiquette

1) Start at the End

There’s nothing more annoying than when people lead with their business card.  As Chris Brogan mentions in his book…you need to build a connection before your card has value.  Giving out a business card should be a reaction to the conversation you have with another person. It should be a means (way to contact you) to an end (follow up email/meeting/deal).  Men, you wouldn’t ask a girl for her phone number the moment you met her, would you? And ladies, you’d never give that guy your number, would you?

2) Leave some White Space

We all want to make a good impression and have the right information on our cards, but let’s not complicate things.  Leave some white space,  so I can take notes on the card.  I don’t have a great memory and often meet many people at an event. It’s really helpful to write a few words on the back of your card so I know why I want to follow up with you or simply where we met when I add you to my stack of cards from previous events. This also means making sure your card is a light background at least on the back…if it’s glossy or a dark color, my efforts to write notes are futile.

3) Keep it Simple

The value you create should not be in how cool or catchy your business card is.  If you network properly, people are going to go out of their way to pull out your card and add you to their contacts and/or follow up with you.  Focus on building those relationships and you’re more likely to get noticed.  When I go through my pile of business cards, it’s because I’m looking for someone in particular, not to randomly choose a card from the stack.

These are a few things that stood out to me recently. What are your tips for business card etiquette?

8 Resolutions in 2010

4 January 2010

6 Comments

With the turning of the new year, it’s that time when people make resolutions. Yes, most people make them and soon break them, but I’m hoping to be different.  These are issues I’ve recognized and was already working to improve before the New Year. I’m simply using the turning of the year to make these goals public; I think by putting them out there for the world to see, you put a bit more pressure on yourself to deliver.  So, below are my resolutions and a few items for how YOU can help me make these all happen.

8 Resolutions in 2010

1) Improve my Punctuality: I’ve had many meetings over the past few months and unfortunately, I’ve had a bad habit of not making it on time to many of them. Sometimes it’s a beyond my control like when the T didn’t run for an hour while Obama spoke at MIT, but often, I’m just not giving myself enough time to get places.

How You can help me: Hold me accountable for punctuality. I’m open to creative ideas. Currently Cort, who films GreenhornTV for me, has it that I owe him a beer for every 5 min late I am. So far, I haven’t been late yet since we made that arrangement.

2)  Improve Time Management: As I launched Greenhorn Connect, I took the approach of doing everything all the time. That’s not a good strategy. I’ve gotten better as time has gone by, but I still find myself losing some days to doing things, but not Getting Things Done.

How You can help me: Any suggestions on how I can become more effective and efficient (books, articles or tips) are much appreciated. Thanks Apollo and Mike for your help already!

3) Get Back to the Gym: For my first 6+ years in Boston, I was a regular at Northeastern’s awesome gym, the Marino Center.  No matter how busy I was through undergraduate and graduate school, I always made time for the gym every other day.  Since I launched Greenhorn Connect, I’ve watched my gym attendance dwindle to not having made it since before Thanksgiving.  Fortunately, I have a pull up bar in my apartment and I’ve been getting creative by creating quick 20 minute workouts in my apartment, but it would be much better if I got back to my old workout routines that are a bit more diverse.

4) Get back to Running: I was a pretty good runner in high school on my cross country and track teams. I racked up a few thousand miles in that time and really look back at it as some of my favorite memories from high school. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to hammer out a routine in Boston that compared and so I’ve progressively lost my endurance.  I can’t run on concrete (not that I think anyone really can without injury) and this isn’t suburban PA so I can’t run on the roads.  This means I need to get out and take advantage of the 2 great locations near me: the Esplanade and Jamaica Pond.  This one will probably wait until spring when weather improves.

How You can help me: I think having the team really helped me stick to my running, so if anyone lives in the Back Bay area and is looking for a running partner or knows of any running groups, let me know.  I think I’d be running in the 7-8 min mile pace right now, looking to run 3-5 miles a day.

5) Read a Book per Week: I saw this come across the Twitter scape and thought it was great: Read a Book a Week for a Year. At first I said to myself, “I’m so busy! I don’t have time to read THAT much!” Then I read that post…and I realized, that’s like 30-40 pages a day. That’s not so bad. I can do that! So, I just started this on Jan 1st and am 3 for 3 as of this writing for getting my pages knocked out each day. As I hopefully progress on this I plan to also write reviews on Greenhorn Connect for the books I like best.

How You can help me: Two ways: 1) Recommend any books you suggest I read. 2) Loan me a book. Yes, I know I can go to a library, but if I borrow it from you, I bet you’ve read it and could then compare thoughts on the book briefly.

6) Post More Often: Keeping the Greenhorn Connect Blog going became my priority over the past couple of months, but now I think it’s starting to stabilize. I like the idea of having things I write here and on Greenhorn Connect (much like there are New Years Resolutions at both places). I’m going to try to commit to posting more often. To help that, I’m going to try adopting a new Seth Godin-like style here where I just write a couple paragraphs about a thought I have and leave it open for continued thought by you and I.

7) Keep learning: Since I started grad school in September 2008, I feel like I’ve been drinking from the fire hose in learning about entrepreneurship. I look at everything I do as a learning experience and that’s led to zero regrets in my somewhat unorthodox journey.  I hope to keep that mindset in 2010 and continue to leverage past experiences to develop future success.

How You can help me: Give me constructive criticism. I really take all the advice and feedback I get from people to heart. I find many are apprehensive to give feedback, but it’s the only way you can truly improve. So please…share your advice, suggestions and criticisms…I’m listening, and more importantly, acting on them.

8.) Pay it forward: One of the things I’ve learned over the past few months is that often, you can’t help those that are helping you. Instead, the best thing you can do is pay it forward and help others regardless of what they can do for you.  I’ve met with a number of people to share what I’ve learned from Greenhorn Connect and other recent experiences and look forward to helping when and how I can in the future.

How I can help You: Ask! You don’t know unless you try. If I can help you I will.

To me, these are more than resolutions; they’re part of my evolution. I think they actually all tie together as there’s a greater theme of curiosity, learning and organization.  Success in one is likely help success in the others.   Please comment or contact me if you can help with any of those or I can help you.