Act Like a Start-up: Ride out The Recession, But Don't Get Too Comfortable

Big News: The economy sucks right now!

And for those of us who need a job and a paycheck to pay our bills, things are certainly getting interesting.

Business Week just published an article stating that November's 6.7% unemployment rate is a full 2% higher than last year at this time, and that number is severely understated. The unemployment number only counts a very specific portion of the population — people who do not have a job, are currently available for work, and have actively sought employment within the last four weeks.

A friend of mine just applied for unemployment and the woman told him that the number of people applying in Madison the past few weeks has been astronomical – she's never seen anything like it. A few of my other friends own a burger joint that was the hottest restaurant in town. Now they're struggling to break even. When college students stop eating burgers and fries, you know something is off.

We're certainly feeling the effects at Brazen Careerist too. Finding funding is about as much fun as sticking needles in your eyes, and we're all adjusting accordingly to keep things going.

Things are bad. But strangely enough, I side with Nadira Hira of Fortune Magazine when she says, "The outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work."

I don't know about you guys, but when I turn on the news to see the doom and gloom of the economy, or when I worry about getting a paycheck, I can't help but think that in the long run, this will make our generation more resilient and better able to handle the challenges we will face in the next 50 years.

And as far as fulfilling work goes, Hira is right on point when she says, "the trifecta of entrapment for the company men of generations past — they'll be harder to corner. Every time they get a paycheck, they'll be wondering if it's their last. And they will always resent a company that uses that paycheck as a shackle."

The advice you read for start-ups tell us that now is the time to settle in and hunker down. It may not be fun, but it's what you have to do. The same advice holds true holds true for individuals, and if there was ever a time to take a less than perfect job that uses "a paycheck as a shackle," just so you can pay the bills, that time is probably now.

But remember, the start-ups and individuals who will survive the worst of times, and emerge better than ever, may appear to the outside world to be "hunkering down" but I guarantee that on the inside their wheels are spinning at a million miles per hour.

So make sure that if and when you settle in to ride this thing out, you never stop planning your next move. Because if you get complacent and wait 'til it's over, you may be too late.

Take a Risk, Start a Blog

Last week we ran a contest on Brazen Careerist that asked our community members a simple question: "How has blogging impacted your life?"

As I read through the entries, I got the chills. The posts were amazing. The ways that blogging and online communities have changed people's lives for the better is unbelievable.

I probably can't compete with our winners, but here's my story.

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. So much so, that sophomore year of college I created a major called Entrepreneurship. I chose my course load and handpicked the classes that would give me the best all around business education.

But the next semester I spent too much time drinking and partying. I listened to the negative people who told me I couldn't get a job without a "real" major. And my motivation to be the next Donald Trump quickly faded away.

I majored in Accounting, and sure enough, I followed the crowd to awkward interviews and boring get-togethers. I interviewed with the Big 4 in New York and D.C. But the interviews never felt right. I didn't want to be there. I was going through the motions and I was looking down on my life, slowly watching it become what I feared most – boring.

I still didn't do anything about it. I moved to D.C. and started a job with IBM. I did good work. I received two raises in less than a year, and my boss targeted me as a top prospect for a spot in an exclusive graduate program.

But the truth is, I was a walking zombie. I was on a project stationed at the Pentagon. It sounds cool, but every time I walked through the endless rows of people in tiny cubicles, and every time I strolled the courtyard filled with folks trying to escape the monotony of their day, I couldn't help but think, "This is totally depressing."

So I started a blog. I partnered with Ryan Paugh because he was a good friend, and he had a Journalism background. The beginning was fairly innocent. We wrote about work, and life and our jobs. We responded to articles that characterized our generation as lazy and narcissistic. It was fun.

Then one day something crazy happened. Paugh was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. I snagged one of the copies I found at my apartment complex and made the commute to the Pentagon with the paper under my arm and a smile from ear to ear.

Flash forward to today, two years later. I'm sitting in my apartment in Madison, Wisconsin, worried sick about how my blog-based company is going to raise a second round of funding in one of the worst economies since the Great Depression, and how I'm going to make my rent in a few months if I can't pull in a salary. And despite all of this, just like that morning that Paugh was in the Wall Street Journal, I'm still smiling from ear to ear.

I'm smiling because the posts I read this weekend, the posts written by the people who are proud to be in the community that I helped build, gave me the opportunity to step back and look at how much a simple little blog has changed my life in two short years. And I've realized; my life is far from boring.

In two years of blogging I've made new friendships that I would never trade. I've taken existing friendships to a whole new level. I've started an amazing relationship with someone I never would have met if she didn't find my blog and leave a comment. I've had the opportunity to live and work with my brother after six years of living in different states. I founded a company that people believe in. I turned a great mentor into a great business partner. I found the discipline to train for and run a half marathon and I demolished my paralyzing fear of public speaking.

And I've had the pleasure of experiencing all of these things with a community of like-minded people who are all conquering their goals and living out their dreams right alongside me.

Blogging is a beautiful thing.

Is Gen-Y the First Post-Racial Generation?

The place went crazy. People jumped on tables and raised their hands in victory. Others were hooting and hollering, high fiving friends and ordering round of shots for complete strangers.

No, I'm not remembering an awesome rock concert. And I'm not having flashbacks to watching my favorite football team play for the national championship. I'm thinking about the upcoming presidential inauguration and I'm remembering the scene that took place one month ago.

We were in the middle of New York City – in Soho, at a bar with a diverse group of professionally dressed twentysomethings. It was November 4, 2008 and CNN had just officially announced that Barack Obama would be the 44th president of the United States of America.

The scene was magical. I couldn't help but look around with a huge smile on my face. I was watching history, and all I wanted to do was soak it in.

Then John McCain took the stage for his concession speech. The bar went silent. Everyone turned toward the television. And some of the first words that came out of John McCain's mouth (after "My Friends" of course) were about the special significance that this election had for African Americans.

The bar immediately started booing. I looked at my friend Keith and said, "Why does it have to be about race?" He shook his head and remained silent. None of us wanted this election to be about race. To us, it was never about race. It was about hope and change and the future of our country.

Remember, this was not a bar full of people who all looked the same. It was an extremely diverse group of all races and cultures. And nearly every single one of us did not think John McCain should have brought up Barack Obama's race.

"What's the point? Who cares?" We thought.

Then something weird happened. The pundits came on and every single one of them acknowledged race and how significant this was for African Americans. To me, and the rest of us in the bar, this was really surprising. Race wasn't a factor in our minds, but it was obviously at the very top of the list for everyone talking about the election – everyone who just happened to be much older than us.

Over the next day, I watched pundit after pundit and television host after television host talk about the historical significance of the election, and it sunk in that, yes this election was very much about race – for everyone who could remember the days of segregation.

But for a generation of people who have only read about separate water fountains for whites and blacks, and Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech," this election was purely about a new direction for the world and the one man who may be able to guide us there.

So, when I presented on a panel on the afternoon of November 5, and the panel host asked us, "Is Generation Y the first truly post-racial generation?"

I thought back to the night before and said,

"Almost."

For one, I can't possibly speak on such a big issue for an entire demographic of people. And secondly, despite what I felt and witnessed at the bar in Soho that night, I'm not sure if I totally believe our generation is post-racial.

What do you guys think? Is Gen-Y the first post-racial generation? Is this even a conversation worth having?

Finding Great People Should Be a Top Priority, Especially in a Bad Economy

I recently revisited Jim Collins' "Good to Great." I first read the book back in college when I was obsessed with the thought of being my own boss and never answering to anyone. It was a good read, but for where I was then, it seemed a little too corporate. But now that I've been running a business for more than a year, I can apply the analysis directly to my current situation.

My favorite point is about the importance of hiring GREAT people if you want to build a great company. Collins claims that people are not the most important asset. GREAT people are. He goes so far as to say that "good to great" companies first worried about getting the right people in the door and the wrong people out, and then worried about setting the right vision or plan for the company. Some companies lost millions of dollars a day while they waited around to find the right people.

They lost millions because it's not easy to find GREAT people to work for you. Most great people have great jobs and make great money. They're not hanging around Monster.com waiting for someone to read their resume. The truth is, it costs a company a ton of time and money to find great people. And most companies would rather settle for good or even average people. Unfortunately, that's not good enough.

Seth Godin reaffirmed Collins point in his post the other day, when he wrote

"If your organization can thrive with ordinary folks, then the marketing you're doing right now to fill the ranks might even be overkill. You've got plenty of resumes. No need to pretend you're doing anything much more than bottom fishing, though. That plaque for employee of the month? You can sell it on eBay.

On the other hand, organizations that work best with extraordinary talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on it, why aren't you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that you are betting the company on it, why aren't you actually investing in finding and retaining that talent?"

Godin's absolutely right. To be a truly successful business, you can't just market your products. You have to constantly market your jobs.

The top companies already get it. There's a reason that the big four – Deloitte, Accenture, Ernst & Young and KPMG appear at the top of the list year after year for best places to work. They spend money, time and energy marketing their jobs by branding themselves as employers of choice. It's not like they have earth-shattering positions available. They're mostly accountants, auditors and consultants. But they take their hiring seriously. And that's why they're great companies.

So yes, finding great people is expensive and time consuming. But hiring the wrong people is even more expensive and more time consuming. If your company is trying to figure out where to cut costs right now, make sure you consider the advice from Jim Collins, Seth Godin and The Big 4 before you decide to cut those recruiting and marketing budgets.

This Is What Happens When Good Community Goes Bad

Last week, Penn State (my alma mater) overcame its most difficult football challenge of the season—defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes. The aftermath was boisterous. A celebration for Penn State fans everywhere. But back in State College, PA, boisterous turned into raucous way too quick.

Students flooded the streets. Beaver Canyon, the core of off-campus life, became a sea of blue and white. And when I first watched the footage I thought, "Awesome!" But I changed my mind.

You see, I love Penn State. It's still a huge part of my life. And when something remarkable happens to that community, I can be as rowdy as they come. But when a community as great as Happy Valley turns on itself—and ends up hurting itself— it's just way too ugly to ignore.

Communities are a wonderful thing—college communities, neighborhood communities, online communities—and most accomplish great things. But sometimes, communities can turn dangerous. And last week at Penn State was a perfect example.

It's easy to be an asshole in chaotic situations.

I first found out about the Penn State riot online. My younger frat bros who are still in school had pictures up on Facebook. A few sorority girls I knew had links to the footage on Instant Messenger saying how "fucking awesome" it was. To be fair, that was my first reaction too.

But things got ugly. And they didn't get ugly because of a community of criminals. They got ugly because of a handful of criminals scattered amidst thousands in a massive celebration.

A couple of meatheads, drunk off their own stupidity, thought it would be cool to rip down some street lights. Or break some bottles. Or smash some cop-car windows. And everybody suffered.

This kind of thing happens in communities all the time. Big or small, minority behavior tends to put us all in a whacked out situation. It even happens with communities online.

It's like that blog post that organically creates passionate response. Usually the response is civil … but then someone realizes they can say anything they want, with no consequence. And a passionate, engaging dialogue turns sour.

And guess who usually gets burned in this equation? It's not the person who was just there to throw some stones. It's the people who showed up to genuinely enjoy the celebration. They're the ones who end up with mace in their eyes.

And then the blame game begins …

I don't know what happened first at PSU, the rioting or the mace. I'm pretty sure nobody will ever truly know. But regardless, we'll still try to place blame months from now no matter what.

Students will blame the cops, because let's face it: cops are the Anti-Christ to a college kid. And the cops will blame the students, because they're just the spoiled-rotten kids their job forces them to deal with seven days a week. And when I read the post-riot articles online, I can really sympathize with both sides.

Fortunately, the online communities I've experienced are far tamer. But the blame game remains the same. Because how individuals act within any community affects how the entire community is perceived.

If some wild card decided to get slanderous tomorrow on Brazen, there wouldn't be any long-term damage. But someone is going to be offended, or hurt. And when you're trying to build a community that respects one another despite their differences in opinion, you do your best to make sure nobody walks away bruised.

And there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just like overcoming great odds as an individual, communities that overcome great odds become stronger and more composed once the next obstacle erupts. The Penn State community will, and so will any other community that looks at what they did wrong the first time and makes changes in response.

I think the first step is to recognize how powerful we are when united. With that unity we can do great things, but can also wreak havoc. And sometimes pride and passion are great catalysts for people with violent intentions.

But I don't think that means that we should dilute ourselves either. We just have to be more aware of the actions of the people around us. And if they're malicious, it's our responsibility to do something about it. And it's harder to do than you think.

But I think that's a leadership skill many of us don't use that often, maybe we don't even have it. But it's certainly one that every community needs.