marnyb

I’ve been repeating this new mantra to myself all week, trying to figure out if it’s true – and if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I didn’t coin this phrase. I read it in a blog post by Penelope Trunk, who was essentially rewriting a “guest post” that Christine Hohlbaum had written for Penelope’s Brazen Careerist blog. I don’t know if Hohlbaum invented this phrase either, or if perhaps she read it in a 2007 article written by Sally Hogshead. (Hogshead isn’t just brazen about her career; her web site is RadicalCareering.com.)

For those not familiar with Penelope, she admittedly has a tough time turning over the content on her blog to a guest writer – even one she admires. She says she completely rewrote what Hohlbaum submitted, but I suspect Penelope did a pretty good job of summarizing the key points in Hohlbaum’s new book, The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in our 24/7 World.

I haven’t read the book, but if I’m interpreting the blog post correctly, Hohlbaum’s point is that in our overscheduled world, our default state is “busy.” It used to be that if someone passed us and asked, “How are you doing?” we would automatically answer, “Fine.” Now, fine has been replaced with busy, and I think Hohlbaum is telling us that this shift represents a sad, stressed and dangerous state for the new norm. Especially for those people who think busy is a perfect (even preferable?) synonym for fine.

I think I like this phrase, but not because I relate busy to being overworked; I think I see busy as the opposite of underworked and underchallenged. In my daily business relationships, people want to know if we’ve been busy. I get called on by a lot of printers, who all ask if we’re busy. If we’re not busy, that means we’re slow. In the manufacturing world, slow isn’t good (I saw that side of the business a year ago), so busy is a welcome change. Busy means you’re doing fine. It means, “We’re going to be okay.” If you’re not busy, you’re going out of business. A lot of the printers I talk to are not busy.

There is another side to this too. You can be busy, and still not be doing fine. For example, I know a lot of freelance creatives – many of whom were previously employed at agencies – who are uncomfortably busy, but they are not working. Or more accurately, they are not working as much as they want to be working. They are busy with the tasks of finding new projects and making new connections. They are busy being hunters, gatherers and doers, when frankly they are much more comfortable just being creative.

If Hogshead is the author of “busy is the new fine,” then she wrote it at the peak of our pre-recession euphoria, and certainly didn’t mean being busy is better than being unemployed. She meant that if we’re overworked (ie: spending 65% of our waking hours at our jobs), then we better make sure we are working at something we love. I agree with that philosophy as well.

I will probably read Hohlbaum’s book, not just because I want to understand exactly what she means by “busy is the new fine,” but also because I’d like to see if slowing my life down would be a good thing. (According to Penelope Trunk, a big part of achieving that is learning to say no, which is something else I’m working on.) Hopefully I’ll read it soon. Unless I get too busy. Which would probably be fine.

Business, Communications

I am not a social media expert. Aside from rather infrequent blogging, a bit of experience using and buying ad space on career-related web sites, and casual Facebooking, I’ve learned most of my social media skills from what real social media experts have written. But when it comes to this “new” media, there are three specific mistakes I commonly see people make, and they are things that may prevent someone from getting hired in the future – or even cause them to lose the job they have now.

1. Just because it’s the Internet, it doesn’t mean it’s okay to spell things wrong. Did you notice I spelled “it’s” correctly twice in the preceding sentence? Well guess what – other people notice every time you spell it wrong. And that happens a lot (not alot). There is a big difference between texting to “ur” friends and writing a thank-you note to your future employer. Know the difference, and remember that every business email, blog post or LinkedIn comment is being subconsciously evaluated by people who may be sticklers for the English language.
2. If you’re suddenly getting “recommended” by every current and former co-worker, you’re looking for a job. It’s one thing to actively campaign for recommendations on LinkedIn when you’re between jobs, but it reveals something quite different when you are still employed. It tells everyone you are looking for a new job. This is not necessarily a bad thing – unless you are trying to keep your job search a secret, or your current boss is either linked to you or linked to the people recommending you – but it is something employees should think about when they decide to solicit recommendations from every cohort they ever worked with. Think about it this way: If you were trying to keep your job search a secret, would you wear your best suit to work on the days you have interviews? If you want to be sneaky about looking for a job, don’t let social media betray you.
   

   I don't advise "friending" your boss. But if you must, then please refrain from disparaging him or her while complaining about your job.

3. There is never any good reason to “friend” your boss. My boss is great. He thinks I do a really good job, and we have a lot of similar interests. If he wasn’t my boss, we might even choose to be friends. But there is no reason he and I should be friends on Facebook or MySpace. (I think it would be okay to be linked on LinkedIn – but take heed of the previous point.) And it’s not just that I don’t want him knowing my business; he doesn’t want me knowing his business either. For every time his photo showed up under “Friend Suggestions” on my Facebook page, I’m sure my photo showed up on his page. If he could resist the temptation to friend me, surely I should resist too. Go with me on this one. Even CareerBuilder agrees – unless your entire corporate culture encourages SuperPoking the boss, it’s best to limit social media friends to your own level of the organization.

Like I said, I am not a social media expert, and these rules may not apply to every person. But I have seen plenty of people who either don’t know these rules – or don’t appreciate them – and who have suffered career setbacks as a result. I don’t think it takes an expert to realize they are rather important rules in the social media age.

Communications