Comment Conversation Done Better: Never Work Alone

I get very excited about being able to witness great new ideas, and there’s one you want to be watching with me.

If you have admired Ho‘ohana Online Community blogs Slacker Manager, Genuine Curiosity, and Random Thoughts of a CTO, I have some really great news for you: Bren, Dwayne and Skip have created a brand new blog called Never Work Alone. There’s so much to like about the whole idea of what they’ve done, for it is not just another new blog:

It’s Lōkahi - cooperative and collaborative
It’s Kākou - inclusive and synergistic
It’s ‘Ike loa - seeking greater knowledge and wisdom
It’s Alaka‘i - demonstrating initiative for leadership
It’s Kulia i ka nu‘u - pursuing excellence and banishing mediocrity
It’s Ho‘ohana - built on our passions for worthwhile work
It’s Aloha - an optimistic sharing of great intent
It’s Managing with Aloha - revealing how our business values drive behavior and results, and gathering the best and brightest ideas possible so that strengths are revealed and built upon

What’s Never Work Alone all about? As Dwayne describes it:

We’ve all been through “trial by fire” management situations, and have faced difficult management and leadership dilemmas at various points in our careers. As active participants in the brain trust on the internet, we also understand the tremendous power of Community.

The goal of Never Work Alone is to provide a community for managers and leaders to share their experiences and challenges, help each other grapple with issues, learn from each other, and advance the state of the art in enlightened leadership.

I like to think that those two paragraphs Dwayne wrote could be a way to describe Talking Story too, however our Ho‘ohana Portland Connection has done me one better: There is a companion Google Group that provides a sort of engine for getting conversations started, from which the guys will skim the cream off the top to post the best possible content on the Never Work Alone blog.

Comment conversation is great: we who blog get giddy with excitement when we see that someone actually takes the time to comment on something we’ve posted about - and that they were brave enough to go public with it. But truth is it’s always hit or miss. The way I see the Never Work Alone concept, when we read the blog we’re only reading the hits. As a blogger, I also can see the incredible amount of work that Bren, Dwayne, and Skip are willing to take on to bring all of this to us.

See for yourself: Dwayne has just posted the first result of this very smart new collaborative effort, and it’s a harbinger of the good things to come. You’ll want to read Never Work Alone, however I also encourage you to participate in the conversations taking place in the Google Group. Share your knowledge, and help us make work better.

Why go it alone when you don’t have to, and when it’s smarter not to?

Comments

[Gary Cohen]

I thought your points on the road warrior were very good having lived that life for too long a time. I found that asking my team to count how many times they got regected in trying to network more successfully than asking how many successes they had. I did this once with a friend that wanted to meet a girl friend, so I sent him to the mall and asked him to not leave until he got rejected 100 times from women he wanted to meet. He failed delightfully by continually finding women who were willing to sit down with him for a coffee if asked. I simply extended this concept to net working and it works great. I use many such devises in my leadership training, "Ask Don't Tell Leadership." I would welcome your visiting my sight to get your opinion and to see if you would like to share links. Best of luck on spreading the word of good leadership ideas. Gary

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Gary, good to meet you, and welcome to the Ho'ohana Community. I shall visit your blog to learn more about your leadership ideas!
Mahalo nui; thank you for reading Talking Story and for sharing your thoughts with us.
Rosa