At 5:00 on Thanksgiving morning, I am not supposed to be sitting here writing a blogpost, but here I am. I am patting myself on the back for figuring out how to link this blog to my professional pages on Facebook and LinkedIn, and for doing a “soft launch” to friends and colleagues. I haven’t posted anything too opinionated yet – still just practicing.
In graduate school, blogging was part of the curriculum and my hand hovered over the “ENTER” key for a long time before I finally sent my first post out for everyone (well, a class of about 20) to see. Blogging is so public….omg, what if folks disagree.
Perhaps it is the wisdom of the years since grad school (3…) but I have come to believe that the work I do – organization development, culture, performance, learning – is steeped in shades of grey, and just cannot be black and white. Why does that matter? Well, it lets me off the hook a bit, I guess. My opinion is framed in years of my experiences, as others’ opinions are in theirs.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to people; there is only robust dialogue about perspectives. And the richer the dialogue, the greater the learning, and ultimately, the better the decision. (Of course you have to MAKE a decision, but that’s another post…)
So I look forward to some robust dialogues. Please join in.
....@ the intersection of learning & performance 
“What if folks disagree?”
Well, these things happen. I was hesitant to start blogging myself, but am about to hit the sixth year of my professional blog. One encouraging model that got me started was Harold Jarche (on whose blog I saw a comment from you just now). Harold told me his blog was where he thinks out loud about the issues that interest him, and I decided I could manage the same sort of thing.
Naturally I’m delighted when people choose to comment, but as a kind of professional mindfulness, the blog benefits me. I hope you find the same for yourself.
Dave – thanks for the comment. I am becoming more comfortable “thinking out loud”, and in sharing my opinions. I loved the blog I did in graduate school, but I had a focus there. I want to find a similar focus here.