Yesterday I got tagged by Rob over at Yack Yack to join in on a meme. The challenge; to write a post about why I blog. You know how these things work. You write whatever the meme calls for and then you tag 5 more people to do the same thing to keep it going.
My first thought was, who should I tag? And who would be interested and who wouldn’t be?
Well, I couldn’t just do this without wrapping a business concept around it to share with everybody. So here goes …
Decisions Are Made Before They’re Made
When you walk into a meeting, a boardroom, or a shareholder vote where there are big decisions to be made, the outcome is already decided. More than a few executives have been thrown aside and more than a few people have lost control of the businesses they started and built up from nothing because someone else effectively campaigned to make it happen.
There is a fair amount of politics in business. It’s human nature. And it can rip a company apart from the inside out.
At the same time, if you know what needs to be done. If you know what the right decision needs to be. Then you have to get everyone on board before that decision is made. Leading with vision means getting everyone on board with an idea and then executing that idea.
If you surprise people with a new idea, you might be the one who gets surprised. But when you communicate your vision effectively, other people can see it. They can get used to it and make it their own.
Recruiting For The Meme
So, rather than just writing about why I blog and tagging a few people and possibly having it go nowehere, I thought I’d see if anyone was interested first. I sent out some quick emails late last night. I sent out 9 and I got 8 responses back. From the 8 people that responded, I got 7 thumbs up and 1 decline.
These are all great blogs from different corners of the globe. Everyone here has their own unique voice and they’re worth checking out. Here they are:
Nate is the Scottsdale entrepreneur
Jon is the philospher
Gregg is the contender
Robin Bal is the guy who’ll help you watch your fortune
Anthony is the bloggist’s blogger
Mark is a very funny guy
and Scot is a collector of interesting things for you to read
*Update. Ms. Q (tardy about checking her email!) got back to me. And coincidentally, she wrote a post about why she blogs … the same night I sent the emails … cue (or miscue) twilight zone music.
*Update. The Paper Bull has jumped into the arena. It took 4 tags from different people to get him to charge. Which is another good boardroom lesson; Sometimes you need some help to get everybody on board. 🙂
Hopefully, over the next couple days they’ll ponder the big question. Why? I’m looking forward to reading what they each have to say. As a side note, Rob’s fun little Tumbleweed Ratio WordPress plugin is available to download and try out.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Why do I blog? Because I can’t write 100 pages.
Well said Shane.
I like the way in which you approached this .Seems that you treated the meme a little like a piece of shaped plasticine, you took it for where it was at and moulded it into a new shape, with a few extra thrills and indentations thrown in for good measure – nice one!
Hey Shane,
Thanks for tagging me on this mate, I will have something up in a couple of days. I liked your answer, because “I can write a 100 pages”. Good on you.
Cheers and take care
Very nice way to approach this. I look forward to exploring this for myself.
Nice post, interesting approach, and thanks for the pointer to tumbleweed, thats a neat plugin.
Rob,
thanks for throwing some plasticine my way! It’s always noce to take an idea and play around with it.
Robin,
I look forward to reading it!
Anthony, Steve,
I like to keep it interesting. Some of the best stuff comes from putting a new twist (even just a little twist) to squeeze some new insight out of an old idea
Great read, I’ll have to get my ‘why I blog’ up within the next day or so 😀
Thanks Gregg. I’m looking forward to reading it!
I’m writing it right now, i’ll probably post it tomorrow (and the way you presented it in your post, i can’t help but try to do something a little “different” from the usual meme thing, your post is really creative and interesting, so i’ll try my best to let out of me some creativity!) 😉
Jon,
Different is good. Different is real good. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Hey Shane, i just posted on my blog, i wanted to do a video and “say” the reasons why i blog instead or “writing” them… but damn technology, i need a firewire cable to plug my cam… and the one i have doesn’t fit! ahrg! so creativity will be for next time 🙂
John, cool. Video’s an interesting idea. Too bad about the firewire.
I’ve been talking to a couple friends about some video blogging ideas. Not something any of us has much time for right now, but we get a ton of hilarious ideas whenever we talk about it … have to start writing them down.
Hi Shane,
I posted last night on “why I blog”.
Take care mate and cheers.
Thanks for jumping in Robin! Just finished reading it. Very introspective.