August 26th, 2010

Marylhurst University Registration Day

Now, it’s serious. I’ve registered for my first two classes in the MBA in Sustainable Business and I’ve scheduled an advisory meeting for tomorrow. I don’t really feel like a lemming but I do feel like I’ve taken a leap.  I’m registered for:

  • Principles of Sustainability
  • Strategic Leadership in Sustainable Management

and I start on September 27th. I feel like I should go out and buy new notebooks and pens and quite possibly a quart of ice cream.

But I also know statistics is out there…at some point…in the future…it’s there. Despite that looming cloud of destruction, I’m getting really excited about the readings, learning from my fellow students and just being included in discussions about ideas and new ways of doing business. I have no idea what to expect and that’s primarily because I know very few people in these types of programs. However, I am really hoping that as I progress through the program, I can begin applying some of these business principles to projects on which I am working. Maybe I am expecting too much, I am just optimistic that the exercise of learning and sharing ideas will energize my way of thinking and working. Or perhaps, I’ll just be exhausted. Hard to say until I get in there.

I just checked out a sample syllabus, which makes my decision feel much more real, immediate and life-changing (if only for the 18 months I’m enrolled) – I mean I’m going to have to do that work in the outline.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading a couple of life-changing books about cycling and cycling culture, which I’ll write about soon.

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August 22nd, 2010

Leadville Mineral belt trail

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August 13th, 2010

Hard Living at the Colorado Green Tech Group

Last night I made it up to the Colorado Green Tech Group meeting at the Law Auditorium Wolf Building on CU Campus. I used to work with one of the speaker so I was really excited to see what they were up to. I didn’t get to see my former manager but I did get to see and hear from a great line of companies.

The Wolf Building is the perfect place for this type of meeting; it’s kind of like a geek’s geek meetup: green technology, which in itself is often times quite sophisticated, short presentations with clear needs articulated and a well-educated, non-shy group who asked tons of great questions.

My only complaint is that during the networking time everyone clusters around the food/beer and does not budge creating a kind of green house effect – a sort of micro-climate suitable for ferns, frogs and other semi-tropical species and not for casual, relaxed exchanges of ideas.  So, like water on a hot plate, I landed and quickly steamed. Nevertheless, despite overreacting I met some interesting folks and listened to great talks.

Pulmor – wants to provide mobile and brick/mortar business fronts for charging cell phones using PVs. Their focus is mostly the developing world where the gap between available electricity, the population and the population that has a cell phone is enormous. They want to work with existing businesses and arrangements but make it easier for people to charge their cell phones. For some reason their logo includes a kangaroo.

BioVantage  Resources – talked about how water is the next oil – as in peak water. Water will be the next finite immensely valuable resources  and they have the technology – scalable algae growing systems for bioremdiation of wastewater and algae research. Well-prepared speech, very polished.

The standout for me, though, was the VAIREX air systems speaker. I’m a sucker for someone who makes me laugh and Ski had me laughing and out loud…in public.  The speaker, Ski, was candid about his company’s innovation and the mistakes he made along the way growing his company.  His talk was titled Hard Living and included great pieces of wisdom, like focusing 100% on “customers that support you” instead of “customer who suck you dry” or “if you are single stay single, if you are married, stay married”. Gems like this were interspersed with an update about the company – a fuel cell company

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August 5th, 2010

What Happened to Last Week and Other Musings

I have no recollection of the past two weeks. I mean I have the occasional memory that kicks up some dust and fragments of experiences: events, people and places. I don’t think I have been this busy – or maybe this type of busy – in a long, long time. I feel like I am cramming on ton of newness into my life and on the whole it’s been super. Here’s a run down of the past couple of weeks:

  • I got a JOB OFFER and started this week. I have experienced all the emotions inherent in finding a new job: the thrill of an offer, the excitement and nervousness of staring at the learning curve, curiosity to meet my new colleagues, etc. etc. It’s been a satisfyingly challenging week.
  • I’ve been writing about start-ups in Boulder for boulder.me, which has been great fun. I’ve met some pretty amazing people taking some creative and business risks to go out on their own and most of them seem to be having a great time – a challenging time but one that seems to energize them. Some of the companies I’ve interviewed are: fidatto, duck duck deal and several others.
  • I’ve been helping out with TEDxBoulder, which is this Saturday, August 7th. The speakers at this event are going to be great and I really think everyone is going to have a great time.
  • I’ve realized that I really need to start preparing for my upcoming stats class in my MBA program. I know it’s coming, so I may as well get stuck in now so I don’t feel completely marooned in death valley. I picked up a Magna-inspired book about statistics. The drawings are superb as is the story line, and, oh yeah, the explanation about stats is very helpful.

So, that’s it. Well, that’s enough for me, at least.

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July 20th, 2010

Interviewing Your Friend – Practicing the Art of Interviewing

haha!

My great friend and former co-worker and I were both laid off from the same company at the same time. This had many advantages:

  • I knew I had a lunch partner
  • we sent each other job postings that were in our respective cities
  • we had a sounding board

and some disadvantages

  • sometimes we were both woed at the same time
  • neither understood COBRA
  • neither one of us could bear to look at our resumes

Most recently the advantages of having worked together for so long and to both be going through the interviewing process has become more evident and appreciated. We’ve started practicing our interviewing skills by role-playing: one of us is the interviewer, the other the interviewee. Our job responsibilities were quite similar in our past roles and we also had a pretty good idea of each other’s strengths and weaknesses so having this sort of immediate feedback is super.

Some of the questions we have challenged each other with are:

Describing your job role or responsibilities. You would be surprised how much you forget. We both were in our roles for over 8 years and during that time the scope, tools, teams, goals and technical environment changed immensely. Having someone to say, “You forgot about this, or don’t you remember having to present to the VP of Marketing, remember the roll-out of that new tool you helped lead” is really valuable.  Another important advantage is that while you may struggle to toot your own horn, we’ve been really good at reminding the other that “you know, you did a great job of leading that or don’t forget how you had to synthesize all those different requests”.

How do you handle a missed deadline? This question brings up tons of memories and incidences but mostly of deadlines met. The answer we both toyed with was simply accepting responsibility and then figuring out how to fix it. Honestly, we never missed a deadline, even with all the launches, product releases or infrastructure upgrades but things happen and accepting a downturn and moving to resolve it seems like the most honest answer to give.

What did you like about your last job? What didn’t you like? Both of us loved the innovative spirit of the place: new technology, brilliant people and the optimism of working with great technology. We both realized how easy it was to identify what we loved about Sun and to be fair, it wasn’t that difficult to pinpoint what we didn’t like – the year on year layoffs. I don’t think an interviewer could fault someone for revealing they didn’t like layoffs but then if you haven’t been through something like that perhaps it may be difficult to understand. Although, I’ve never had a broken bone (thank goodness)  I can pretty much imagine it probably isn’t pleasant.

Gawd, this is fugly!

The tough part about interviewing a buddy is that it can be hard to get into character and not only remain in character but not laugh and respond with “Did you really mean to say “Um, you know” before answering each question?” The upside is that we can help each other fill out the story of our careers, provide other examples of accomplishment and remind each other that we’ve got a lot of great experience and there are great opportunities out there. We can also compare notes on interviewing attire and if you have been into Macy’s recently  you may understand how difficult it is to find something reasonably professional that doesn’t look like somthing your grandma would wear to church. I mean look at this image to the left, it’s absolutely appalling. I’m not sure what the beads are supposed to do other than offer you an alternative to gassing yourself.

My advice on preparing for an interview – find a co-worker/friend and ask them to sit in as the interviewer and ask you the tough questions.  You’ll get great feedback and become more comfortable answering questions about your past roles and responsibilities and they’ll remind you of some of the great things you did!

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July 14th, 2010

Boulder Coffee Shops – Where I go when I need some inspiration

Just follow the sign to another coffee shop

Since I now have a bit of time on my hands I have been spending a fair amount of time in the various coffee shops in Boulder. Most often I’m there for a networking meeting, or a safe setting to follow-up with someone I met at a networking meeting or I simply need to get out of the house and interact with people.  Boulder is one of the few places I can think of that can support so many coffee shops all within about 100 yards of each other…and all on Pearl St. And this is just the East end.

Each one is a little different – obviously – but each serves a great cup of coffee and the baristas for the most part listen to your order. I always order a double-shot americano with extra room and most of the time that is exactly what I get. Most coffee shops always want to fill the cup or mug with water, turning the drink into drip coffee essentially. I don’t know why but they just can’t seem to get their head around leaving room in the cup.  I guess they want me to feel like I am getting my money’s worth.

I go to all of the coffee shops listed below; depending on what I am doing determines which one I pick. So, if you have stuff to do, are meeting someone, or simply want to chill out for a bit, here are my recommendations.

Atlas Purveyors – serves tea and yummy Coda coffee (we know one of the owners of Coda but can still say with honesty, they have great coffee) Every time I have gone into Atlas people are doing some hard work: coding, design, working on plans. A place to get things done. They even have built in desks, with access to outlets. And great art on the wall! I go here when I am preparing my resume, thinking about interviewing questions or preparing for one thing or another.

The Cup serves fair trade, organic coffee, which is roasted locally at Conscious Coffee.
 A little more social, a little louder – they were watching the tour last time I was there, and their large garage doors were open so you could step almost directly from the street into the shop. They have a huge room at the back so if you are needing a bit of quiet. I go here to network, to meet and charm people (or at least not offend them) or meet up with people I have met at networking events.

Laughing Goat – also serves fair trade, organic locally roasted coffee from Kaladi Brothers of Denver. This is where you go when you are writing your novel, working on your poetry or just needing to be inspired. Great looking people come through their doors and you know you could write a short story about each one. Superb people watching, lovely and cool – just a great coffee shop. I go here when I have momentarily decided to ditch corporate life to work on my novel “The Welsh Matador”, which was supposed to be a comedy but came out rather sad.

Jet’s Espressoria – They don’t seem to have a Web site so I can’t tell you much about their coffee but I can tell you they bake a lot of their own goods on the premises and they look great. I haven’t tried them but only because I am on this weird paleo-diet challenge with my husband, which is another story all together. I go here to sit in their back area, which is wonderfully shaded by some trees and has cute tables and chairs.

CategoryUnemployed Thoughts | CommentNo Comments »

July 13th, 2010

The Reinforcing Enthusiasm of Being Around People with Ideas or Networking

Only When Negotiating

This morning I attended a great talk by Joyce Colson and hosted by Startup Women Boulder. I don’t why I am such a ninny going to these things; it may be because it’s early, or that I don’t know what to say when people ask what are you doing, or that I can be social nimrod sometimes but despite or in spite of this I always leave this particular networking event feeling jazzed.

Joyce gave a great talk about negotiating, highlighting some key points where she feels women are weakest: we talk too much, we offer too much, and don’t always trust our belly brain (gut).  Her main point is to keep quiet, ask questions, of course, but to err on the side of listening.  She mentioned that age-old truism about women wanting to be liked, wanting the work and how that can undermine our value both in terms of how we value ourselves and our work but also how our value is perceived by potential clients. In other words, how can you expect respect from others, if you don’t respect yourself; I know I have heard that one before often followed by “If your friends jumped off a cliff would you?”

Joyce even kindly handed out tips and best practices for us to take with us; it was simply a great morning spent with some very interesting women. If you haven’t been before and are a woman in a start-up, creating a start-up, thinking about a start-up then this is a great group to meet.

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July 6th, 2010

Is this anyway to run a coffee shop? The Foundry SA

I decided to escape the Colorado heat for a bit and head to Texas to cool off. And what better way to cool off than a piping hot Americano at the local coffee shop. In a scene that is probably replicated across the town and probably goes against the natural order of things, Texans come in from the summer heat to stand in line for a cup of coffee. To be fair, they are probably getting iced coffee, or a frapaphooey, or some other sort of iced concoction but this “coffee-thing” didn’t not happen when I was growing up.

At any rate, a new coffee shop opened up near my mom’s so her and I dove into the humidity and walked on over. We decided upon arrival that the reason everyone one else looked so coiffed and cool was because they drove over and we look like bedraggled mops. The coffee shop is called The Foundry and what an interesting and trendy place for an all-volunteer, fair-trade coffee, Methodist-church supported affair. Yes, that’s right. The staff is volunteer, they make a huge effort to promote the arts and use fair-trade coffee and a portion of your purchase goes to help the church with their outreach programs. But before you (or maybe it’s just me) get all squeemish, the barista behind the bar was dressed in a really nice kilt and had a really nice purple tail at the back of his head; he was completely bald save for this tassel of bright purple.  Here’s the explanation from their Web site:

The Foundry is designed to foster thought, art, conversation, and community in a world that no longer pushes towards our churches. Instead of waiting for people to come to us, we have decided to move into the community and share the Gospel message through the building of relationships. People are going to need different things from us as we go along, and hopefully, we can provide for them as best we know how by showing them who Jesus is by our actions, not just our words.

I have to admit it does give me pause about going back but they do have a really great Americano and it’s nice that they are encouraging people to come together. There wasn’t anyone there pushing an agenda and had I not visited their Web site I would never have known of the church’s influence and I can smell holy water from 10 feet. So, there you go. One group’s way of reaching out into the community in a unique way. And run by volunteers!

CategoryGeneral, Sustainability | CommentNo Comments »

June 30th, 2010

Networking Round 2 – Boulder Green Drinks & StartUp Women

Yesterday, I went to two, yes, that’s right, two networking events. One was StartUp Women at The Cup. The other was Boulder Green Drinks held at iSupportU. Both super events, well-organized and well-attended. I felt a little flat, like an English defender against an effective German offense.  I may be feeling a bit ragged due to amount of sneezing and sniffling I’ve done since the Cottonwood trees bloomed huge tufts of cottonwood; it sort of looks like a bunch of down pillows exploded.

At any rate, Cindy Carrillo spoke at StartUp Women about the evolution of her business, which was very interesting! She willing admitted of setbacks, partnerships that didn’t work, and allowing her business to adapt to a changing market.  So often I think, well if this idea doesn’t work clearly I am not meant to do “whatever”. “Whatever” being the endeavor, when really it’s simply part of the process of doing. I wouldn’t want to take this to an absurd conclusion, where I hock everything on a dream but I think it’s important to consider failure as part and parcel.

Green Drinks Boulder is always a great time, lots of different people and naturally a little loose as these are all peeps moving into an industry that is still in its infancy. So, there is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of flailing around, huge heaps of creativity and good beer, which may be the underpinnings behind the enthusiasm but who cares.  I spoke with a guy named Eric, who manages Boulder Community Computers and what a great idea that is. Here’s the premise, they take throw-away computers off people’s hands, repair them  and then give anyone without a computer the opportunity to earn one. Isn’t that cool!  People, who want to earn a computer, are taught how to build one using spare parts and install an open-source operating system. Once they have clocked 20 hours, it’s theirs. Super, super idea!!

I saw a couple of familiar faces, which is always nice when you go into these types of things. And they had an 80′s cover band, so really I had everything I needed to flourish but instead sniffled and sneezed around the place.  Oh well, only a few more weeks and I’ll be back to my more usual understated self.

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June 29th, 2010

The Necessary Revolution – My Book Review

Most of the time when someone suggests a business book, my face puckers like I have taken an unfortunate swig of sour milk. I know these books are insightful and provide all sorts of useful and juicy tidbits and I can’t really explain my irrational dislike of them but there you have it. Some people don’t like black-eyed peas, nor the smell of patchouli and I am not a fan of business books. But then, as usual, I made a fool of myself by extolling the greatness of “The Necessary Revolution” by Peter Senge a business book I just finished reading.

The book is about “sustainability” and how some businesses today are embracing this new age (new age as in era not the “aaa a aa” one); it chronicles what worked, what didn’t, the unexpected successes and alliances that formed.  Some of the key themes from the book were:

  • Collaboration – companies, normally competitive, working to solve industry-specific waste issues or alliances formed between NGOs and Fortune 500 companies to address water safety issues.
  • Systems-thinking – describing what happens to what we make, buy and use within the context of the larger systems of nature
  • Regenerative society – discusses the meaning of a vibrant, healthy, diverse community

One of the most amazing parts of the book described the interaction between humans and chimps and the ability of chimpanzees to communicate using human language or specially-designed keyboards. And not just “sit” and “stay” type commands but rather the chimps interacted in a contextual manner. The idea was to illustrate that although humans are unique, we are much more connected to the natural environment than we could ever have imagined. When I read this last chapter, I was completely blown away. I could not believe the stories of interaction between some of the chimpanzees and their human researchers. For me, it changed how I see our (human) place in nature; we really do share this planet with other creatures, whose range of emotions, ability to communicate and needs we are slowly beginning to understand.

The book is full of examples of groups, businesses, organizations working together successfully! The book had such a positive message, one that I don’t hear very often above the din of destruction, waste, pessimism I often associate with books dealing with our changing environment.  The book also provided tips, toolkits and ideas for working on issues that readers may have within their community or organization.  Really great, tactical advice on how to tackle some of the issues and problems many of us would like to improve in our working lives.

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