tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52119962010-06-14T12:05:29.904-05:00The Reluctant GuruLeverage your ambivalence!Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-78951570578643259122009-10-30T15:02:00.004-05:002009-10-30T15:33:40.838-05:00Is specialization a bad or a good thing?Recently I've been reading The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow -- an interesting book partly about probability theory and partly about how our psychological makeup fools us into seeing patterns and purpose in a world where a lot of stuff just happens by accident.What made me think of this question about specialization was Mlodinow's account of the life of Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-54059088495541618822009-07-24T14:32:00.005-05:002009-07-24T14:50:31.351-05:00The 10,000-Hour Rule and the Intransigence of ExpertsIn his recent book Outliers, sociologist Malcolm Gladwell posits a "10,000-Hour Rule," which sets 10,000 hours as the amount of practice required to master a discipline. As an example, he suggests that the Beatles were so successful because they spent about that amount of time practicing together. Then they got good and got noticed. This put them in the right place at the right time to sweep a Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-15921673739009563892008-09-09T12:54:00.001-05:002008-09-09T12:55:39.940-05:00A thought about expertiseOne thing that holds me back from being an expert is that I don't want to know so much about one thing that I don't know anything about anything else.AB -- 9/09/08Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-59734409870959020652008-06-18T12:33:00.003-05:002008-06-18T12:39:03.032-05:00Experts blinded by their biasesJust wanted to hold on to this excerpt from the Amazon blog of biologist Michael Behe -- I was drawn by his comment about expertise:"Well, it seems to me that a country which places control of the military in civilian hands is a country which recognizes that experts, like other people, can be blinded by their biases. If control of the military is too important to be left to the experts, control Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1174054844308692962007-03-16T10:12:00.000-05:002007-03-16T10:30:25.293-05:00Rhetorical IntimidationI've noticed that many experts, and other people interested in asserting authority, will use what I call rhetorical intimidation to gain the upper hand in a dispute. One way they do this is through the use of certain expressions. Here are some examples I can think of:"Pure and simple" -- As in, "This is theft, pure and simple." This is sometimes used to add artificial certainty to an assertion, Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1172254235348822912007-02-23T13:04:00.000-05:002007-02-23T13:32:05.340-05:00Spin and GaffesAn essay by Michael Kinsley in Time, "Gaffes to the Rescue," offers some interesting insights into the public utterances of politicians. It's sad to think what it must be like to follow a profession in which you have to manipulate your words (spin) in furtherance of your quest for power and control, while at the same time you have to be ever vigilant not to say something that can get you in Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1168449948478883392007-01-10T12:19:00.000-05:002007-01-10T12:25:48.496-05:00Messy worker: Your piles are all right.Recently a colleague pointed me to Malcolm Gladwell's 2002 article in The New Yorker, "The Social Life of Paper." I read this article yesterday in connection with a research project I'm doing on the future of print and paper. Gladwell confirms a thought I've had frequently in the past: Paper is a great interface.Gladwell's article considers paper as a tool for knowledge workers, and he cites Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1168444390013189482007-01-10T10:43:00.000-05:002007-01-10T11:15:10.140-05:00New Research: Big Company Execs on InnovationThe organization I work for has just released some valuable research about support for innovation within large companies. The finding that stands out most is that executives feel that their companies are picking up the pace of product innovation but that market's interest lags behind.Here's the entire press release:-----Big Company Innovation Picking Up Speed, But Marketplace Interest LagsGap Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1167322679921070562006-12-28T11:08:00.000-05:002006-12-28T11:17:59.930-05:00How to Cheat at CleaningMy brother Jeff Bredenberg is about to release his new book, "How to Cheat at Cleaning." Jeff has been starting to generate a lot of exposure with his books. He's been on Letterman and is scheduled to be on the CBS morning show Jan. 3, 2007. Plus, his publisher Taunton Press is arranging a 10-city book tour in Q1 2007."How to Cheat at Cleaning" is kind of a lazybones guide to keeping your house Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1167065749781747192006-12-25T11:47:00.000-05:002006-12-25T12:53:05.273-05:00Article That Sparked Flap at SmithsonianI recently learned about an article by Stephen C. Meyer, "Intelligent Design: The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories," published in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, a peer-reviewed biology journal connected with the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution (SI) (4 Aug 2004, vol 117, no. 2, pp. 213-239).It's a Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1166822584978172422006-12-22T16:08:00.000-05:002006-12-22T16:48:39.950-05:00Cancelled TV Shows and the Long TailIn the wake of the cancellation of Day Break, the ABC show about a cop who has to re-live the same day over and over, I was thinking about the insights of Chris Anderson in his article and book about "The Long Tail."The first time I remember getting riled over a cancellation was when The Outer Limits died in 1965 after what seemed like a very short life. When these things happen, I pretend to be Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1138273790876298952006-01-26T06:08:00.000-05:002006-01-26T06:09:50.886-05:00One Simple Idea About Building TrustGive the other person the opportunity to do the right thing, then see what happens.AB -- 1/26/06Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1137855279566352512006-01-21T09:49:00.000-05:002006-01-21T09:54:39.580-05:00Do I Really Have to Be So Smart?Here's a great essay from Walter Kirn about why it's not really so important to try to be the fastest, the smartest and the greatest:"What's So Great About Acuity?"AB -- 1/21/06Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1135986753603885672005-12-30T18:42:00.000-05:002005-12-30T18:52:33.613-05:00Some Arguments Against Intelligent DesignThere's no God because bad things happen.(And I'm not open to any explanation why.)There's no God because nature includes bad designs.(According to my preconceptions about engineering.)There's no need for God because evolution explains everything anyway.(As long as you can make up enough 'just-so' stories.)God's existence can't be proven.(As long as you only accept a certain kind of Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1135980420830269622005-12-30T17:05:00.000-05:002005-12-30T17:07:00.840-05:00Why some people think they deserve to be richWhen all the lights are green, it's easy to think God is on your side.AB -- 12/30/05Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1124556171356286762005-08-20T14:49:00.000-05:002005-08-20T12:13:37.933-05:00The World Disappears Behind MeBy Al BredenbergThe world changes behind me.When I go back to the places I've been and the places I've lived, things are changed or gone. The further back in my life I go, the greater the changes.Here was a house I lived in when I was five. Now a condo building stands in its place and the double oak tree that used to have a trapeze hanging from it is gone.A valley is filled in and covered with Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1103590946854229772004-12-20T19:46:00.000-05:002004-12-20T20:04:05.230-05:00What Does It Mean to 'Be Somebody'?
This morning I was reading Time Magazine's recent series on the "2004 Global Business Influentials." As I read the pieces on the CEOs of CitiGroup and JPMorganChase, guys who have really 'made something of themselves' and 'become somebody," I thought about my friend Barbara Weeks, who died last week.
Here's Barbara's obituary in the Danbury (Connecticut) Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1103124077309021512004-12-15T10:16:00.000-05:002004-12-15T10:22:42.903-05:00PR Hacks -- Ya Gotta Love 'Em!
Don't you love the way press releases are crafted so as to position the company in the best possible light? This example appeared on the news feed today:
Excerpt: "Sugar Creek Packing Co., the nation's leader in bacon slicing capabilities, has significantly increased operational efficiency by implementing an automated labor management system by Time America Inc. (Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1102442847882547522004-12-07T12:40:00.000-05:002004-12-07T17:30:53.303-05:00Telemarketing Push and Shove Continues
by Al Bredenberg
Two news items from today speak to a common theme:
Majority of U.S. Mobile Phone Users Against Development of Wireless Directory
Excerpt: "The proposed 411 directory would be a database comprising wireless mobile phone numbers provided by five major U.S. wireless carriers: Cingular Wireless/AT&T Wireless, Nextel, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile.Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1083690052467994542004-05-04T12:00:00.000-05:002004-07-31T13:43:29.746-05:00Does Expertise Really Exist?
by Al Bredenberg
Ever notice how people sometimes say this when you don't know the answer to a question and they're trying to make you feel bad about the job you're doing:
"Well, don't you know? You're supposed to be the expert!"
See, this is one of the advantages of being the Reluctant Guru. The Reluctant Guru doesn't really believe in experts, so he can be very Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-1077645056879687872004-02-24T12:50:00.000-05:002004-02-24T12:52:58.326-05:00Sometimes I take myself too seriously.
I need to recognize
that my brilliant ideas
are not more important
than the people who have to listen to them.
AB, 2/24/04
Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-938905652003-05-06T17:51:00.000-05:002003-05-06T17:51:42.286-05:00How to predict the future
As a professional know-it-all, I am often called on to provide predictions of 'what the future holds for online marketing' or some other area in which I am supposed to be an expert.
This coming Friday, I am to address the Westchester chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. I nearly always accept such invitations -- one of the principles of experthood isAl Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-922412872003-04-08T15:06:00.000-05:002003-04-09T10:12:57.000-05:00One of the incidents that got me thinking about this Reluctant Guru project was a scathing email I received about a year ago from a reader of my Email Marketing Results newsletter, in which I enumerated a number of the arguments against email spamming. This fellow was critical of my anti-spam sentiments, and basically said, 'If you want to be a guru, you've got to stop being such an idiot.' Not Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-919266602003-04-03T13:01:00.000-05:002003-04-04T13:17:47.000-05:00So I can certainly see the value professionally of becoming a "recognized expert" -- but that doesn't necessarily help me to feel comfortable with the role.
Lately I've been listening to an audio-tape program by the late Thomas Leonard called "28 Principles of Attraction" -- a great program by one of the gurus of the coaching profession. One of the principles covered in the program is "Be Human.Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211996.post-917205532003-03-31T12:57:00.000-05:002003-03-31T12:57:53.140-05:00In many ways, I agree that developing a guru identity is a good marketing tactic. Here are some of the things I've done to try to establish myself as a "recognized expert":
1. Writing articles
I started getting a lot of articles published in the late 1980s. At first, I did it partly because I like writing and partly for the money. But over time, I found that people would contact me for Al Bredenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589186413734622273noreply@blogger.com0