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For all you personality cult members....

You will find a cameo from Mark in the WSJ today...B1, at the end of "Cubicle Culture. "

Cheers
Jonathan

wendii's picture
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And online at: http://online.wsj.com/article/cubicle_culture.html

I assume it's the same although - don't blink!

Wendii

deforest's picture

Just caught Mark's one-liner myself just now. Way to go Mark!

Stan DeForest

DWElwell's picture
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Yeah, I caught it, too! Maybe the author is a Manager Tools fan!

-Dan

quentindaniels's picture
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Nice job Mark!

Mark's picture
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Thanks folks! It's much more pedestrian than that.

Jared and I talk every once in awhile, but it's only because I wrote in to give him some feedback about a column, and now he asks me for comments for lots of columns. I know some other people who get asked, and their comments never get used...but in this case, Jared knew that I had strong opinions about this. (I've given comments before and mine have also not been used.)

He sent a mail, I sent back a note saying sure, and he asked to call me. We spoke for 45 minutes. I hate getting interviewed by reporters - I never know what they're going to use, and I never can be sure that they will accurately represent me. Sometimes I'm too clever for my own good.

So, thanks - we're ambivalent about such things, but it's not bad to be quoted. And I do have strong opinions about calendars!

Now if only he had said "Mark Horstman of Manager Tools, a podcast website with 30,000 weekly wonderful listeners."

Mark

tcomeau's picture
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[quote="mahorstman"]....
So, thanks - we're ambivalent about such things, but it's not bad to be quoted. And I do have strong opinions about calendars!
[/quote]

I'd like to hear more about this. The quote in WSJ is
[quote]"The shared calendar," he says, "implies a privilege or right that doesn't exist."
[/quote]

I make a distinction that I suspect most people lose. My public calendar is, well, public. But I still have control of it. Anybody who wants to see that calendar can see much of what my public persona is doing. Confidential stuff just shows me "busy" or "unavailable" or "out of the office." Often the details are on my private calendar, and I copy just the time window I'm busy to my public calendar. (Google calendar makes that easy.)

I've shared the public calendar with my directs and my peers, and with a significant number of collaborators inside and outside the Institute. I want to make it easy for people to legitimately find time with me.

I am maniacal about declining invitations when I think it's appropriate. Again, Google calendar makes it easy for me to decline, and attach a note that says "This is wavefront sensing, please work with Laura to see if I need to be involved" or "You scheduled me against a one-on-one, please pick a time in the afternoon."

To quote Gina Tripani (http://lifehacker.com/) in another context, "You are the boss of you." Yes, your boss gets to set objectives, but you shouldn't be waiting until you are sitting in a meeting to ask "why am I here?"

So, what did I miss? Am I unusually fond of the "Decline" button?

tc>

Mark's picture
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Tom-

No. Decline, decline, decline.

Mark