A Report From Podcamp NYC

Posted on 15. Apr, 2007 by Wayne in General

I attended Podcamp NYC in New York City last weekend and had an absolute blast. Imagine a free “unconference” with over 700 podcasters, bloggers and fans wandering around. Not only that, but a number of people had heard the show. Christopher S Penn, one of the founders of the Podcamp movement actually told me he’d been polling listeners on Linkedin about which business podcasts they listen to and CMM is high on the list! Chris, by the way hosts The Financial Aid podcast and is a huge proponent of podcasting. Believe me that I learned a lot from his session on marketing.
I spoke at the conference. Here are a couple of links from people who attended the sessions. Lynne Marie Bailey’s blog, Podtalk Radio’s Amy Domestico and Suzanne Falter-Barnes were too kind . John Havens at the about.com podcasting guide (a thousand blessings on his house, camels long-suffering wife and kids for the use of their couch) asked if I’d lead a session, so I gave the case study of The Cranky Middle Manager Show and how we’ve built the brand on no money whatsoever. There were over 50 people in the room, the questions were fun and I met some cool people.

I also got lots of ideas from other bloggers and p’casters on ways to work with my audience and you’ll be hearing about those soon. How does a live, call-in podcast where you can ask questions sound to you? Watch for details soon.

Confessions of an ENFP Blue-Green Driving Otter

Posted on 12. Apr, 2007 by Wayne in General

Have you had your personality assessed, tested , benchmarked or otherwise probed like an alien abductee? Here’s my latest article on Management Issues all about those tests.

What do you think of them? Are they a help, a hindrance, or a colossal waste of time or a useful tool?

If you don’t read Management Issues, you really should. They have great information and research about the world of work. By the way, starting next week, I’ll be the host and producer of the Management Issues Digest weekly podcast, watch for news on that front.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Cranky Middle Management Newsletter! Drop me a line and put “Subscribe” in the subject line.

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #90 The UNCRANKY Phil Gerbyshak

Posted on 09. Apr, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #090

Hey everyone, welcome to Episode 90! I’m less cranky than usual for several reasons, not the least of which is I’m thrilled to announce that starting May 1 there will be a Cranky Middle Manager E-Newsletter. Since I don’t want to send out spam, if you’re interested, please Click Here and put “Subscribe” in the subject line.

Second reason I’m less cranky than usual has nothing to do with me. Today’s guest is the relentlessly chipper Phil Gerbyshak, who is a blogger and schmoozer, to be sure, but more than that he’s a working manager in a place that’s recognized as a great place to work. We’ll talk about the things he does day in and day out without ever snapping and taking a life. A cynicism-free episode!(at least on his part).

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show and “6 Degrees of Phil Gerbyshak”. Name a guest we’ve had on here and odds are they’re on Phil’s blog roll on Make It Great. Phil is one of the all time great networkers.

The show is dedicated to Liu Jingting, the great Chinese Story-Teller. Let’s face it part of our job is to entertain, motivate and tell the stories that get the best out of our employees.

2:40 The quote of the week is from Viscount Henry St John- wise men spend their time in mirth. Cheer up dang it.

4:08 Welcome Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great and The Relationship Geek. It’s about not settling for “good”enough. I envy flat out his ability to do that on a regular basis. We drop the first name of the day, Steve Farber, who was our guest in Episode 86. The point is that Phil is a manager as well as a blog king and we’re discussing how to keep that cheery attitude in an IT, help desk, call center. The man is my hero.

8:17 What’s it like to try and maintain a positive attitude all the time- and don’t his employees occasionally want to throttle him? The answer is you don’t, but you get over it and move on.

14:34 How do you help mend relationships between departments? Phil took his Help Desk department from necessary evil to strategic partner. Here’s how….

19:00 Phil is a big proponent of the FISH Philosophy (check it out here). The four main components are:

1. Make their day
2. Play
3. Be there
4. Choose your attitude

Some companies believe in fun, some don’t. Why don’t I feel entirely comfortable with this? I’m a good guy aren’t I? Death by Chocolate, however, sounds like a blast.

24:24 Okay, listen up. Networking is a vital component of the manager’s job, but you have to build them. No one is better at this than Phil Gerbyshak- I am working on it but we can all learn from him, even if you’re not looking for another job. Network in your own company. We also recall Rajesh Setty’s philosophy of ROII- Return on the invesment in the interaction…..

28:21 Phil’s recommendations:

Joyful Jubilant Learning- Phil and I are part of Rosa Say’s posse, many of whom have been on this show.

Patricia Digh’s 37 Days Blog

Lots of cool stuff coming up, so hang in there, make it great and don’t let the weasels get you down.

Coming May 1- The Cranky Middle Manager Newsletter!!!

Posted on 04. Apr, 2007 by Wayne in General

Folks, after a lot of thinking and some great response to our listener survey, I am launching a monthly newsletter. The first edition will hit email boxes (and hopefully not your spam filters) May 1. Because I don’t want to simply send it out into the ether, but send it to people who actually want to be part of the fun, I’m going to ask you to sign up in advance.

80% of responders to the survey said they’d subscribe to an e-newsletter so here we go. Each newsletter will contain gossip, a guest writer answering a listener’s question, links to past shows you might have missed and news from around our little universe. TO SIGN UP, CLICK HERE and put “Subscribe” in the subject line.

This is only the first piece of news. In the weeks to come you’ll learn about more opportunities to join learners and listeners from around the world. Meanwhile you can also buy a copy of my e-book, “Meet Like You Mean It- a Cranky Middle Manager’s Guide to Productive and Painless Meetings” at http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com.

Thanks to all of you. I’ll publish the full results of the survey next week.