Are You Smarter Than Your Phone?
I just got a “smart phone,” and I’m beginning to doubt my own intelligence! I am amazed at how much this thing can do. You’d hardly call it a “phone.” Maybe you have one, too. There’s e-mail, text messaging, weather, news, sports, shopping, internet, oh, and you can actual use the device to TALK to someone!
So why is this a career topic? Because for all the technology that’s literally “in your hand” — more I’m sure than went to the moon in 1969 — it’s just a supplement to the core of your career (especially your fundraising career). The essential element missing in the “smart phone”? You.
Unless this phone can hold down a close and personal relationship with a donor, a colleague, or your next future boss (maybe I just didn’t get that app?), your career still depends on you.
Who knows, maybe I AM smarter than this thing!
Weather or not, here I come.
Is it getting chillier where you live? Here, too. In our corner of the world we’re just off one of the hottest summers on record, which followed one of the coldest, snow-filled winters.
So what does that have to do with your career? In these days of jobless recovery and slow economic growth, your career could be cold (and you can be bitter). It could be slow one season and red hot the next. More and more it’s not the weather, or career conditions, that make the difference but how you dress for the weather.
How is this a career issue? Are you using the “hot” times to put away for the cold? Do you train during the cold times so you’re ready to expand your work when it’s hot? Whether the job weather is hot or cold, keep doing what it takes to make your career shine!
Mr. Gadget
Gadgets are a fascinating part of our culture and our day-to-day lives. On one hand, they provide us more options — thus more complications. On the other hand, they profess to (and sometimes do) simplify our lives. The “trick” as I see it is to pick the RIGHT gadget, then use it to meet the objective for which it was bought.
For example, I was given a Kindle e-reader not long ago as a birthday gift (yes, I gave big hints). It’s done a fine job getting me away from the television, and it gets me to read the newspaper each morning — something I wanted to do but was loath to receive on my doorstep (and recycle). Yes, the Kindle also plays mp3s, but that’s not why I bought it — and I barely use it for that.
So how is this a career move? If you’re like me, you get caught up in doing what you’re used to doing. It’s not that I avoid new tools for my work, it’s just that I don’t see them because I’m buried in what I’m doing day-to-day. Once in a while I need to be intentional and look.
So step back for a moment, and think about what you do all the time, and look around for tools that make that task easier, quicker, or less expensive. In this world of ever increasing technology, you’re sure to find something that can put your life, and career, in a better place.
Some Shameless Advertising
I hope that this week you’ll indulge me some “shameless advertising” of a couple of upcoming speaking engagements …
- On October 25 and 26 I’ll be joining my good friends at the DonorPerfect Community Network Conference, at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel in suburban Philadelphia. Here’s the link to sign up: http://www.donorperfect.com/CommunityNetworkConference
- On November 19 I’ll be one of the featured speakers at the Brandywine (Delaware) AFP’s National Philanthropy Day at the Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club in Newark, Delaware. Here’s the link: http://afpbrandywine.afpnet.org/LocalNationalPhilanthropy.aspx
On both occasions, I’ll be presenting on: “Technology is Great, But Why We Still Need to Pay Attention to Direct Mail.”
Here’s the promo:
The age of paper solicitation is fading like an old newspaper in the hot sun … or is it? Join Matt Hugg, fundraising veteran, educator and writer for a lively presentation on where direct mail fits into your fundraising plan and how it fits, or not, in this emerging age of the “techo-ask.”
I hope I’ll see you there. Both conferences look like they’ll be excellent opportunities to get great ideas for your fundraising programs — and, of course,a great career move — to do some networking.
