What Every 20-something Knows (or How to Get Ahead in Business)
A strange kerfuffle over at Vowedemort's non-blog, with a questioning of whether Lotus values community based on a few departures in recent months, leads me to wonder what some of the respondents are smoking.
Anybody who's studied negotiation for more than 60 seconds understands that the strongest position for you to be in is when the other party comes to you. And the best opportunity to make additional demands in a labor relationship is when the relationship hasn't yet started. These two factors combine into a truism that every post-college career starter knows....
The fastest way to a promotion is to switch companies.
This is true whether you work for the Very Big Corporation of America, or Midsize, Inc, or Ma & Pa's Groceries and Ammo Depot. If you want more pay, more authority, better hours or to work from your bedroom 5 days a week, the easiest way to get there is to convince someone other than your boss that you deserve these things. When you go from marketing your labor services to ONE person to marketing them to the WHOLE WORLD, the price for those services will rise. It's Econ 101.
Does that mean IBM doesn't value community-building efforts? If you think it doesn't, what would you propose as a way to reflect that value? Should Alan Lepofsky have been made an IBM Vice-President because he has a blog? Should his boss have made a giant counter-offer because everyone's friends with Alan? That's just silly.
Alan had a great impact on the Lotus product line during his tenure at IBM, and now he's going to take that experience and contact network to an IBM business partner where he has an opportunity to shape the course of the entire company. That's good for Alan, good for SocialText and not some terrible tragedy for IBM or the Yellowverse. The only thing IBM needs to do is make sure that there's someone who's able to duplicate and promote the Alan Lepofsky Notes Experience (tm) and they can continue the rich value of Alan's contributions with someone for whom his job is a big new opportunity. I'm sure that new person won't be a cool or even as smart as Alan (how could they be!?) but I bet they'll be competent and bring some good ideas to the table.
Obviously there's more IBM can and should do to support the community and ecology surrounding their products. We're always going to think that But to propose that IBM doesn't support the community because it doesn't fast-track employees who have public visibility is ludicrous. Little things like meeting revenue targets, speed of product shipments, good design, and technology innovation are a tad bit more important than whether 500 readers checked out a picture of your six-toed cat. And those public personalities who moved out of IBM will all live-and-die by their ability to meet THOSE needs in their new roles. You need look no further than their respective blogs to see that they didn't get their new vice-president titles so they could spend more time pontificating on the internet.
And in case it wasn't clear: congratulations to Alan on his new career. I'm sure Ross Mayfield and the gang at SocialText are going to see they made a smart acquisition in no time.
Comments
It's like someone said on Twitter yesterday - why should anyone get all upset when a few people out of 360,000+ at IBM leave? Sure, they're "high profile" in the sense of the online Lotus Community. But it's not like IBM just canned them! And to say that IBM doesn't value community because of this? Have you not seen the community-oriented products that IBM provides? That's ludicrous and speaks to either the ignorance or ill-will of those who would post such things. I don't even read this non-blog of which you speak...
Posted by Chris Whisonant At 08:45:07 AM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
And ROFLMAO
Posted by Erik Brooks At 10:58:42 AM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
I'm excited for Alan, and look forward to seeing how the skills and passions he brought to his role at IBM impact his new employer's business, but to suggest that any company doesn't value its customer and partner community because a few employees decided to go elsewhere is ludicrous, and overlooks the type of rewards those who remain have received but perhaps have not spoken about publicly... if you received a sizable bonus and/or salary increase, for example, would you blog about that? I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess: probably not.
Posted by Tim Tripcony At 11:01:16 AM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
I agree with you, I don't think the issue is that IBM is not valueing Alan and others, they got an offer where they get to do other/new things, perhaps getting better pay/benefits/perks, etc. As you point out, both Rocky and Bob are not blogging as much anymore, they seem to be working hard at getting settled into their new positions. I am sure we will see more blogging from them (as well as Alan) later. And it is not like they have left the Lotus community. They just work for another company, and we will have others replace them at IBM, thus actually growing the community.
Posted by Karl-Henry Martinsson At 11:33:55 AM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
but you almost m=nailed it! Lotusscript yes ... debugger no ... maybe after 8.5 ...
Posted by AC At 02:43:41 PM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Maurice del Prado At 06:41:29 PM On 07/10/2008 | - Website - |
RoB
Posted by Roberto Boccadoro At 08:26:41 AM On 07/11/2008 | - Website - |
IBM is actually a great place to work, mostly because of its people. I could do without all the silly business processes (IBM is like my hair was in the '80s - over-processed), but if you're willing to put up with a few silly policies that have forgotten the humanity of its workforce, you can have a stellar career there. I did.
Posted by Gia Lyons At 08:51:33 PM On 07/11/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 07:10:39 PM On 07/12/2008 | - Website - |