Mike Lester, The Rome News-Tribune

I sit on the Governing Board at Freedom Academy in Provo, a public charter school. This group, elected by the parents/guardians of the students, is tasked with overseeing the school, executing the Freedom Academy vision, fostering relationships with staff and the school community, and overseeing the budget.

Currently, Freedom Academy is in the middle of a challenging expansion question as the planned expansion site has become unavailable to us and, the school is trying to find out how to go-forward, or to go-forward at all.

At the end of the day, the freedom to say what you want and believe what you want is one of the greatest things about America!

Amazingly, having freedom of speech — the ability to say anything you want — often results in freely thrown-about rumor and speculation that doesn’t line up so well with the facts. After all, as John Adams famously put it… “facts are stubborn things”.

And so it goes…

…and “this really needs to be shared.”

Thanks to my Monday morning commute (and the amazing Instacast App) I was plugged in to a new Ted Talk by Brené Brown, PhD, titled “Listening to Shame“. (Blog: Ordinary Courage, Twitter: @brenebrown).

Watch it here, then, please share it:

She talks about Vulnerability, or the ability to be open to new things and possibilities.

She talks about how, to ourselves, being vulnerable feels weak and flawed, but witnessing vulnerability in others seems like raw courage.  (…..Interesting how we lie to ourselves, isn’t it?)

She exclaims that vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and chance–things we constantly say we’re desperately seeking (as people, as businesses, as communities).

She talks about the difference between guilt and shame, one leading us to become better and toward greatness, the other leading us to misery, addiction and defeat. (…..which one is which? hint: “Shame is ‘I am bad.’ Guilt is ‘I did something bad.’”)

There’s a huge difference between shame and guilt. And here’s what you need to know. Shame is highly, highly correlated with addiction, depression, violence, aggression, bullying, suicide, eating disorders. And here’s what you even need to know more. Guilt, inversely correlated with those things. The ability to hold something we’ve done or failed to do up against who we want to be is incredibly adaptive. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s adaptive.

She talks about how far we must go into ourselves before we can find out who we are and be what we really need to be in the world… and how scary and frightening and worn out that feels when you do it, but how revealing and majestic we can become when we are willing to first silence our shame and, as she says is her vulnerability mantra, “Show up and let yourself be seen.”

I know so many who suffer because they can’t quiet their own shame. They keep it inside and it kills them slowly, mercilessly.

And, yet, handling our shame is just what we actually need to do to move ahead when we’re depressed, addicted, beaten down, angry, hurt or broken inside.

And maybe these 20 minutes and 38 seconds just might give someone wings to try to fly a little again, or at least to reach out and ask for help because their wings are broken right now (but not forever).

And, I think Brown says it right in the end of her Lessons Learned from TED post:

In the song Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen writes, “Love is not a victory march, its’a cold and broken hallelujah.”

Love is a form of vulnerability and if you replace the word love with vulnerability in that line, it’s just as true. If we always expect to feel victorious after being vulnerable, we will be dissapointed. In our culture, wholeheartedness is often a quiet sense of freedom mixed with a little battle fatigue.

About Brené Brown

Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. Brené spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on shame and empathy, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness.

Book: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
Blog: Ordinary Courage
Twitter: @brenebrown

This week marks the end of an era in my family.
The office building from the business my family ran as long as I remember was sold.

In the first-half of the 20th century, my grandfather (for whom I am named) founded a theatrical supply company in his home outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. As glamorous as starting your own business sounds, I know that there’s a high-likelihood that a reasonable portion of the business’ founding was because there wasn’t other revenue coming to the family, and food was needed on both the literal and proverbial tables.

Over the years, Merrill Stage Equipment gained a reputation among high schools, colleges and churches in the Midwestern United States as a company that installed high-quality stage curtains (that we sewed together in our office building) and provided excellent theatrical supplies, consulting and services to small and large theaters alike.

Early in my childhood, my father took over the company and subsequently relocated our family from Hawaii (what?) to sunny Indiana.

All of my childhood, I remember that Saturdays were special days, it’s the day we got ready for Sunday… and worked at the office.

I remember emptying trashcans, sweeping floors and hanging out with dad.

I remember playing with the tools in the toolbox and the electric breadboard and the soldering iron and hanging out with dad.

I remember eating gross “grown up” cereal like Grape Nuts and horrible squares of whole grain wheat (they were like Frosted Mini Wheats… minus the Frosted) in the kitchenette and talking about life and random things with dad.

Cutting and sewing fabric with dad.

Reading airplane magazine (dad’s).

Playing lunar lander on dad’s TRS-80.

Playing any game I could find on dad’s Apple ][.

Learning to program in BASIC so I could make games on dad's Apple ][ and IIc.

Playing flight simulator and Tracon and Oregon Trail with dad.

As a teenager, loading huge tubs of curtains and scaffolding into the van/suburban/whatever-big-vehicle-we-had to take to job-sites.

Doing photography down in the dark room and learning how offset printing works (yes, we had a printing press).

Installing curtains in remote high schools and colleges and churches and driving long nights home across various places in the Midwestern plains with dad.

And talking about life, the universe and everything with dad.

And, just hanging out with dad.

I don't remember the business making incredible money hand-over-fist, but it provided what we needed, and my dad was home every night.

I have owned many small enterprises already in my life, and I can see many other entrepreneurial pursuits in my future, but as long as I live, I will be grateful for all the great things my family provided me through the ownership of that small (sometimes would-be) business that had nothing to do with money--but had a lot to do with hard work, sacrifice, quality and honesty about your labor, and doing right by people.

...and the value of hanging out with dad.

Thanks.

Driving the roads here in Pittsburgh, PA brings an interesting set of sensations to my mind. It feels like Indianapolis, where I grew up. Overgrown trees and shrubs line the old roads, too narrow for our supersized cars which zip around corners and along perfectly-engineered limestone rock retaining walls blackened by exhaust fumes from the millions of passersby on their way to important meetings, flights, school, or home.

Yet, the most-obvious difference about this town and my hometown are the hills. HILLS, HILLS, HILLS! Steep and precarious, they cut through this countryside in a daunting way that surely any less-determined people would be turned away from–but not here. 446 bridges span ravines, crevasses, rivers and streams in this town (amazing images), and many of them are a testament to this steel-towns spirit, which seems to whisper,

“Go ahead. Throw anything in my path. I will go around it, over it or through it. Nothing can keep me from my destiny.”

This town feels like its going somewhere, on purpose. Surely, it will be somewhere important when they arrive.

Like my hometown of Indianapolis, the city feels shiny and upward-reaching if not trying to hide its obvious lack of real housing or the urban lifestyle that comes with walking cities like Boston or New York, where working in-town also means you need to live there, too.

And there are real reminders that people here are suffering, too.

While I stayed in Pittsburgh, visiting Carnegie Mellon university, I was impressed by this city. The gritty feel of the town, yet also the nearly fierce friendliness of the people. Open, real and honest about who they were and what they were living for. The hotel I stayed in services many local hospitals, and I watched couples two-and-a-half times my age carefully, dutifully walking the halls with their spouses, one of them obviously in town (long term) for treatments, or there to support suffering family members. Yet, there was no sadness I could detect in their voices. There was appreciation for what life brings. There was care for one-another. There was love. There was determination. I thought I was somewhere caught between the hospitality of the South, the friendliness of the midwest and the grit of Chicago-style do-it-iveness.

And something about this city reminds me of something almost distant or forgotten–something that runs deep inside me–a reverence for the things I love about America, and a respect for the entrepreneurs, the engineers and the back-breaking labor it took to build America from a wilderness into the greatest nation the world has ever known.

A nation which is in crisis today.

A nation which is on the move toward greatness again, if we can.

And, as I drove the streets of this city, I could almost hear in my mind the music now being heard around the world resonating from another city, also built on steel and blood and sweat and smarts:

Go, Pittsburgh. I’m rooting for you.

The reason I am writing this, however, is not so much about the State of the Union as much as it is about something Damian said when being questioned about her job-search:

Ryssdal: And about how many [resumes] were [you] sending out on a weekly basis?

Damian: At least 100.

Ryssdal: A hundred a week?

Damian: At least 100.

Ryssdal: Any nibbles?

Damian: I was lucky if I got a thank you, but no thank you.

Now, I have no other information about what she’s done/doing other than what she said on the air, but when I hear things like this it makes me want to stand on my car and yell to the world:

**STOP SENDING OUT RESUMES!!! YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!**

I am not blaming Damian or the millions of Americans who are out of work. I am also not trying to make light of the real suffering that happens when you are unemployed. And, I have to admit up-front that my view is limited and myopic because interviewing and helping people get hired is what I do all day long (psst: I’m hiring). But in this world today where supply is SO much higher than demand in the job-market, you have GOT to do something more than just flood the world with your resume.

So, what’s the magic bullet?

There is NO one thing you can do to get a job–and that’s exactly my point! You have to do a LOT of things. I help people get into places and connected for opportunities they never would have discovered if they blasted out resumes all day long.

My suggestions:

• Get yourself a job to pay the minimal bills.
  This is what  Damian did–she got a part-time job. Good work. This keeps the collectors from calling (for a while) and keeps you both active and out of the house… both very good for you mentally and physically. Temporary placement agencies often can get you “in” to a company quicker and easier than you can and they are often hiring when other types of employment are not available.
  
  
• Get very clear on what YOUR value is to the marketplace.
  What can you do that NOBODY else can do? Who are you and what are you all about? Get down to bedrock on this. You’re getting close when you realize it is normally something much bigger than your current career or college degree would often explain at first blush (which is why resumes suck at explaining who you are). These are themes that run through your life, no matter who you are with and what you are doing.  You would seek to do this at any age, in any country, no matter the economy. This is you. And, suddenly industries, titles, job descriptions and everything else falls away to who you are, and frees you up to explore how to go about achieving real value for companies by being the most-unique that you can be…. Now, make sure your resume, your social media profiles (LinkedIn), and every other thing you do publiclyreflects this.Often, this takes the form of a tagline or mantra. If you were a $BLN corporation dropping ads on the Superbowl coming up, what would the screen say at the end, when it fades to black? Your name, your tagline and your URL.  What IS that tagline??
  
  
• Stop Thinking, Thinking, Thinking and Start Doing.
  When companies are looking to hire people, they are looking for doers. For “get it done-ers”.  In this economy, there are acresof people willing to get paid to come to work each day, but only very few of them prove they are doers by DOING the kinds of things that prove they can take on great big, hard challenges and succeed at them.This is a chance for you to take your job-search seriously and turn it into an opportunity to make great things happen.Mark Suster, entrepreneur-turned-VC wrote a great piece a few years back where he details how real entrepreneurs stop thinking and, in his words… JFDI.Doers are the ones who seek challenges.Doers are the ones who get involved with organizations, consortiums, meetups or other professional groups where the kinds of people who would hire you are bound to frequent.

  My recommendation? Volunteer your time. Rub the elbows. Kiss the babies. Be a servant first and always GIVE 10x TO YOUR NETWORK before you ever ask. Let yourself shine for who you really are. Show up early and stay late. Shake the hands. Welcome the newcomers. Call influential people on behalf of the organization and ask them to pitch in and help/speak/promote your group.

  People will see you as a doer.
  People will trust and get to like you.

  And, as soon as one of those people needs a doer, you will be the first person on their list. No resumes, no stuffy interviews, just a job-offer.

• Connect with People, not Computers.
  As friendly as computers are these days (sending you polite” we received your resume” emails when you apply), they really do a poor job at-best of helping to match people with jobs. You will have 10x more success talking to a real human being (any real human being) than trying to get the Human Resources System to give you a shout out for a new job.My recommendation: Swap out 100 resumes a week for talking to 10 influential people per week (just 2 per day) and within a month your job-prospects will dramatically improve. I’d bet that within 10 weeks you have a new, shiny job.I double-dog dare you to try this. It works.
• Be Willing to Trade Up
  Being unemployed is tough business. Beside the mental and emotional toll, the obvious financial strain can really put you behind.  It’s generally well known that it’s easier to find a job when you have a job–any job.Look, something might come along and it might not be your dream job, but if the One Red Paperclip guy taught us anything, you should take what you have and trade up for something bigger or better.  Keep your mind open and you can achieve something great. This won’t happen overnight, of course. (Besides, if it did, we’d all think you got into a get rich quick scheme and, at last count, nobody thinks these are legit.)…Besides, was your last job your “dream job”? Guessing it wasn’t. Get in the market and start trading!
  
  
• Send Resumes Only AFTER Making A Connection.
  The first thing Recruiters will tell you about how they really find people is that they ask employees for referrals, then search LinkedIn and other networks (or their own databases) for qualified people, and then, finally, when all else is lost, then they mine the online applicants.

  Don’t get stuck in the online applicant black-hole! You’re better than that. You deserve personal attention, and this is not how to get it.

  Build and leverage your real-life and online networks and ask people if they know anyone working at that company you want to work for.  Chances are, you know someone who you can talk to. Ask them for help, and don’t submit your resume to the blind computer system–submit it to someone who knows who you are and is interested, even invested, in helping you at least get a chance to talk to the hiring manager.

  Of course, referrals can only get you so far. Some great advice from the popular #HireFriday chat on twitter comes to mind here:

  Referrals get you on stage, but you still need to perform #HFChat

  — Tribune Media Group (@CTMGjobs) January 20, 2012

  
  (Incidentally, this Friday’s chat will be about “Out of the Box Ways to Find a Job“. Tune in Friday’s at 12noon Eastern on Tweetchat’s #HFCHAT room.)

Summary: you can’t expect to send out any number of resumes and get responses in this economy. The supply is too incredibly high compared to demand. At the end of the day, the people getting jobs are shortcutting the system and getting hired because they are known, not because they follow the process. In fact, this already happened for Damian when she landed her current job:

Damian: I had to have something. And I got this on a fluke and it was because I knew someone who knew someone who needed someone.# (emphasis added)

Check out and download the free, funny Fusion Face app for Apple or Android and find out what the Fusion-io performance boost will do for your application performance.

If anything else, just download it for fun. It’s a cool, fun application that you (or your kids) will have a really fun time playing with.  Take a picture and see what your “fusion face” looks like, then share with friends, rinse and repeat!

After you get the app, if you think you might want to work for us, well, we’re hiring, too.

In a word: Connection.

The new features in Twitter are great.

The Connection Tab is really my new homepage when I visit twitter. In one view, it thins out all the conversations into what’s going on related to me and the people I know and talk to?

• Tip: Flip between Interactions and Mentions (links @ top left) to see different views of your content.

Also, the way media, replies and conversations and retweets and other features are tracked in the new twitter view is really nice. It helps me know what’s really happening with things, and watch the engagement happen.

Finally, the #Discover tab surfaces some really interesting stuff if your friends are not sharing anything interesting at the moment. Check into it.

Wishlist: I don’t mind the new Retweet function anymore, but I really, really, REALLY like the old way of retweeting. I think it broadened and increased conversation. Retweeting this way just promotes things, doesn’t allow for coherent conversation as well.

Summary:
I am surprised how much time I am spending with my twitter stream these days. Thanks for the improvements. It makes twitter feel much less crowded and a lot more intimate.

And, that’s what it’s all about.

Try this one on. Overnight, I got a notice there was a purchase of something called “Kingdom Conquest” on my iTunes account. I knew one of the other users on my account (in my family) was renting movies, so I guessed that this was an odd name, but likely legit purchase.  This morning, I discovered nearly 10 purchases “in game” from said app (owned by Sega) that came through my iTunes account which is linked to my PayPal account.

Turns out, of course, I am not the only one to fall victim to this, and it’s actually relatively old news. Apparently, anyone can add your itunes account and just buy stuff until your account blocks it

*sigh*

Good news is, Apple seemed to notice and put a hold on my account after about $300 was spent… and now PayPal is investigating with hopes toward reversing the charges, nothing has hit my bank, and apple vows to give me the credit back I deserve (though I haven’t seen anything yet).

Updates to follow. Meanwhile, I continue to change all the passwords in the world. Luckily, my iTunes password is NOT one that is common among other accounts I own, but I’m not taking chances.

Thoughts? How do you protect your online accounts?

Shared by Darrell Hudson on G+

Today is day 0 (zero) at Fusion IO. I mentioned last week that I have chosen to leave Novell (a tough move) for new challenges here. I am working here as a Senior Technical Recruiter, and I have already been impressed with the people I will work with and the tech I get to hire against.

I’ve been checking out the current openings and, if you are in the Salt Lake City, Denver or Silicon Valley area and you’re interested in working on some great tech, check out Fusion IO’s openings or reach out to me.

• Check out who you know at FusionIO on LinkedIn (or see how we’re connected)
• Follow the tweets @fusionio (or mine @robertmerrill)
• Plus One Fusion IO on Google+ (or circle me, here)

New Job: Day Zero @fusionio bit.ly/xlMcuy

— Robert Merrill (@robertmerrill) January 3, 2012

About Fusion-io

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with offices in Silicon Valley and just north of Denver, Colorado, Fusion-io is a pioneer of a new storage memory platform that significantly improves the processing capabilities within a data center by moving process-critical, or active data closer to the CPU where it is processed. Called shared data decentralization, this significantly reduces latency while increasing data center efficiency. Fusion’s integrated hardware and software solutions leverage non-volatile memory for enterprise-grade performance, reliability, availability and manageability.