Ozzie

On any given day in San Francisco there are certain neighborhoods--the Haight-Ashbury, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Mission, and the underground transit stops along Market Street, to name a few--where street performers and panhandlers congregate.  If you go out with the sole purpose of finding them you won’t have to look hard.

What will be difficult is remembering one after you’ve seen so many.

In my time, two of them stand out--a hammer dulcimer player at he Embarcadero BART station, and the Bush Man at Fisherman’s Wharf.  The dulcimer guy got a 5-spot from me for lugging a temperature-sensitive, heavy, stringed instrument down into the tunnel, and the Bush Man got the 5-spot for scaring tourists, including me.  He made me aware of my surroundings.

The rest of the performers and panhandlers I don’t remember; they’re not all alike, but they are all weird.

I was thinking about them as I read an article over the weekend in the April 9th issue of the The New Yorker about the Miami Marlins.  In the article writer Ben McGrath profiles the new spangled stadium, the new players, and the new manager, Ozzie Guillen.  For those who aren’t familiar with Ozzie, you’re probably living in the same ignorant state of nirvana as those who don’t know who Nyjer Morgan is--the parade of sports figures who want to be known inside and outside of Major League Baseball for something besides baseball.  Ozzie’s extra-cirricular activity is his mouth, and his blatant disregard for tact or humility.  Most quotes from employers of such characters are along the lines of “Aw, that’s just Ozzie being Ozzie” and then we’re all to go on, dismissing the behavior as that of a celebrity who became famous by utilizing precisely that behavior.

What separates Ozzie from the other pack of weirdos (and maybe includes Nyjer as well, since he uses his San Francisco visits to anger fans who are from the community where he was born and raised) is that while he just had a mouth in Chicago, he apparently possesses a megaphone in Miami.  As of Tuesday morning, Guillen states he “has to live in Miami” and that he misspoke and that he meant to say that he’s surprised that Castro is still alive instead of saying that he admires him.  The question begs, “then why didn’t you say that?”

I have to wonder, too, how such a market-specific topic came up in the Time interview.  Was this Time’s question?  Or Ozzie’s offering?  Who’s pushing the buttons here?  I imagine the Marlins were seated to get all kinds of nationwide attention before this happened, which would explain why Time might have posed the question, or that Ozzie wanted to keep the national spotlight, which might have explained why he made the comment.

At the end of this hoopla another question is begged by the comments in the social networks, “Why should we care what Ozzie’s political positions are?”  In a utopian society, we wouldn’t, but utopian societies aren’t run by the consumer of the end product.  (If they were, I could watch the Nets or the Padres on Time Warner Cable.)  Ozzie’s consumer base is over 50% Cuban-American, and that consumer base is also no longer living in Cuba for a reason, and that reason is not because they too admire Fidel.  Well then, you say, boycott the games.  If only it were that simple.  Because the “Florida” Marlins had such a low fan turnout for their previous seasons, the new venue is mostly subsidized by the Dade County leadership.  McGrath explains in his profile that the mayor of Miami lost a recall election because of it.  So, whether you agree with the new venue, the name change, Ozzie’s politics, or if you aren’t even a baseball fan; if you live in Dade County, you’re a consumer.

And if you’re Cuban-American, you’re probably an infuriated consumer in Dade County.

*****

In another passage in the New Yorker article McGrath talks about all the bells and whistles on the new Marlins stadium, bells and whistles inserted because the general manager and the owners believe that the Miami fan prefers to be entertained than watch baseball.  “Come to the ballpark--look at me, look at me!”  One of the team mottos is “Did you see that?” and Ozzie’s placement seems to have been to add to the theatrics even before the Time article.

It all reminds me of the collection of the fantastic selection of weirdos who I don’t readily remember...unless they make the impossible happen or they scare me into awareness.

I wonder which of those two categories best fits Ozzie in Miami...if either one fits him at all.

Yelp, Revisited

Here she is again, beating the social network drum...

I am a regular poster on Yelp, an online site for reviewing businesses.  I post on Yelp despite that many of my fellow posters are half my age and despite the controversy of review manipulation to make numbers look better for some businesses over those of others.

My San Francisco Yelp experience (where the site began, too) has been mostly one-sided--the equivalent of a review in a bottle.  Once, someone acknowledged my review of a favorite burger joint and offered to make the experience better.  No one else in the Bay Area said boo, save for other reviewers who enjoyed my particular brand of scrutiny.

But San Diego County has been different.  Managers/owners are consistently checking their reviews, and listening to the voice of the customer with concern and gratitude.  The gratitude part comes from offering up the feedback in the first place--patrons in San Diego county tend to save their thoughts for FourSquare (a tracking device, for the most part, that can be activated on your phone), which isn’t that hard to believe, since Yelp doesn’t allow for review posting on its mobile edition.  You can save a draft of your review on your iPhone, but you have to go on like on a computer to publish that draft.  I have a feeling this gap in connectivity and the general lack of locked on cell phones here contribute to fewer reviews here.

I’m not picky...my favorite social media aspect is connectivity with others, and when that happens I’m happy enough.  When it happens with the business management, however, it takes on a feeling of having been heard.

Imagine...being heard by a business...so that you’ll go back...because that business seems to listen to you...

It’s not just a fairytale.

Mind the Gap

Oh, what a motley crew is starting to collect on the social networks.  First there  was Netflix raising their prices.  Then there was Bank of America and Verizon adding fees.  And, most recently, there was the Susan G. Komen Foundation making funding changes.

Some of the actions of these organizations were reversed.  Some weren’t.  But all seemed to be missing an important component--a proactive approach to customers and contributors.

One would think, with large organizations like these, that public relations consultants or social-networking gurus would have been hired years ago to use innovation and market knowledge to gauge ahead of time through sample studies what kind of reaction new policies would get.  One would think that organizations of this size would find a way to “float” an idea to customers and/or contributors without flat-out presenting it or dictating it.  One would think that organizations of this size would find a cleaner way of presenting their initiatives than the approach of shoot first, apologize later.

What kind of person might fill such a position for a company of this size?

• Someone with strong customer service skills;
• Someone with strong analytical skills, in order to analyze trends, news sources, and social networking to determine best practices;
• Someone who has the courage and support to bring their input to the boardroom;
• Someone who has the communication skills to articulate and be diplomatic about keeping customers and stockholders (or donors) happy.

I wonder where these companies could find someone like that, says this blogger as she reviews her experience and skills and sighs.

Even more importantly, I wonder what company will do the shoot first, apologize later tactic next?

What I Have Been Doing Lately

There is a short story by Jamaica Kincaid by the title "What I Have Been Doing Lately," in which she dispels a dreamworld of what she has been doing in a variety of shadings to make herself look better with each telling.

This story sounds remarkably like what an unemployed person must do for each application in order to be hired.

Still, here is a list of what I have been doing lately.  There have been no utilization of bonbons or of soap operas to the process--just me, doing the following:

• From November 19th through November 29th, I visited my brother and sister-in-love (they will get married in October 2012) in Carlsbad, California.  While my brother was at work daily in San Diego and my sis-in-love would go to one of her volunteer organizations during the day, I would work on one of the following tasks that I had been working on before and after the vacation;
• Every day, first thing in the morning, I free-write three pages.  Sometimes it feels pointless, other times it grounds me, and still other times it helps me plan what's next;
• I went for morning runs while I was in Carlsbad--usually a two mile climb up a neighboring hill and down again;
• I worked on a long work of fiction that I began in August, for an hour each day;
• I combed through job listings for as long as it took to work my way through the daily entries.  I've been looking for coaching, training, or management jobs with Amazon, the San Francisco Giants, and anything in coaching, training, or management in job boards like craigslist and publishing listings like Mediabistro;
• I had phone interviews;
• I spoke with locals about opportunities in Carlsbad.

After I returned home I usually take a short period (a couple of days), and re-assess; I review what works, what doesn't.  I have been trying to break into freelancing, offering my experience and skills up for consulting and any other related opportunities, but I hadn't been doing that well.  That's what I am working on now--the list above and offering my expertise on a short-term basis for improvement in our customer service-based world.  There will be more to come on my opinions in upcoming posts.

For now, I'm working hard to learn:  to learn how to change my approaches to the business world; to learn how to improve my communication skills; and to learn how to be a better leader.  When I flew back on November 29th, I had something to look forward to--joining with a group of writers at our weekly writing group, where all of us are trying to be better at fiction and prose.

There will be more to come on that, too.

Have a great workweek.

Resume Parts & Pieces, Skills, Systems, and Conclusion

While I was still employed at Grainger, a headhunter was discussing my resume with me one morning and asked me, "Wow, is there anything you haven't done?"

My skill set tends to be on the eclectic side, as does my work history, which stems from two drivers:

• A need for challenge;
• Opportunity seized when presented.

Hence, the reason for learning so many different and disparate computer systems and communication venues.  What follows is my competency in each:

• Windows - Experienced. What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet;  
• Excel - Experienced. What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet;
• Word - Experienced. What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet;
• Outlook - Experienced. What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet; 
• PowerPoint - Novice.  What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet;
• Mac equivalents - "Equivalents"referring to programs equivalent to Windows counterparts on the Mac, such as Pages, Numbers, and Keynote...Experienced. What I don't know that may be needed for particular tasks I can teach myself with access to the Internet; 
• Impact 360 - Experienced in both performance of the program and how it applies to importing data to Excel or other spreadsheet applications; 
• Blue Pumpkin - Novice (my experience on this program was limited to agent status only).
• Cisco supervisor and monitoring systems - Experienced in both performance of the program and how it applies to importing data to Excel or other spreadsheet applications;
• AS400 systems - Experienced, but not to the point of programming or designing particular applications;
• SAP - Experienced in both performance of the program and how it applies to importing data to Excel or other spreadsheet applications;
• Forklift - Most experienced in stand-up model, novice in sit-down electric, no experience in gas-powered;
• Man-lift - Most experienced in stand-up model, novice in sit-down electric, no experience in gas-powered;
• WAVe - Experienced to the point of adjusting height limiter and step-off safety controls, with some trouble-shooting experience as well; 
• Symbol operation and trouble-shooting - Experienced in terms of SAP applications; 
• Certified to ship/process HazMat sales and shipments - Experienced in LTL, domestic, UPS/FedEx/USPS, and international Schedule B and documentation applications;  
• CPR certified - Class only, no life experience.

In addition to this list, I also have a pretty comprehensive list of networking tools that I have in constant use, including but not limited to:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Google/Google +
• Three book review networks
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yelp
• Meetup

And the list goes on and on. My primary passion is in having a dialogue, and if I am most successful at that in one place, I don't stop there--I open up the possibilities, World Wide Web style.

If I learn the systems that my employees need to learn, that my peers need to learn, and that my managers need to learn...and if I learn every way possible to communicate easier or more effective ways to utilize them so these groups of people, than I cannot expect to do anything less than succeed. And the company that I am committed to cannot expect anything less, as well.

Beginning next week I'll look at business issues in the news, and my thoughts on them.