Who Are Your Blogging Heroes?
This week I had to have a conversation with a vendor for SOBCon 07. Something wasn’t going quite right and it needed attention. One detail of the event wasn’t yet of the highest quality. . . . In my younger days, I would have approached the situation by being clever and right. This time I wanted to approach it by being reasonable and compelling.
I spoke to the folks on the steering committee about the problem, and Chris Cree, who writes on Successful Blog as well as his own SuccessCREEations gave me this advice.
Don’t call yourself a blogger. People don’t know what that is. Call yourself a web publisher.
Chris pointed out this comment that Kent Blumberg made in the comments on his blog.
When I tell people I write about leadership, strategy and performance and have published over 150 articles on my website, they go, “Wow!” When I tell them I blog, they look for someone less weird to talk with.
Chris even wrote an article on his own blog about what the comment means.
These two guys packed a whole lot of wisdom into my thinking about myself as a blogger. Here, I’ve been an International publisher for over two decades. I’m a pretty darn good thinkier, but I hadn’t got to where they had.
I had gotten stuck on the word blogger, and it had the potential of getting in my way. If anyone could say she was a web publisher, I sure could, but I hadn’t thought of it. They had.
The next day, when I talked to that vendor, I was not only compelling and reasonable, I was confident and nice. We ended the conversation sitting on the same side of the proverbial table. That vendor now cares as much about SOBCon 07 as we do.
Blogging makes a lot of “unlikely heroes.” Those two guys, Chris and Kent, are are just two of mine. I have a feeling I’ll be telling you about a few more.
Who are your blogging heroes? Have you stopped to look?
Liz Strauss writes about thinking and heroes at Successful-Blog.
Could you tell me what plugin is it which shows grey/black portion at the bottom of your blog ?
Holy Schmoly, Liz! I’m blushing!
Seriously. Thanks. Wow.
Imran,
I think what you refer to is part of the designed footer. :)
Chris,
You know I only write from what I know is trus. End of story on that one. :)
I think everyone needs mentors, heroes, and representative icons in their life that show them by example how to live, work, love, and fight. You are right. We need to find more blogging heroes to help define the pride we have in blogging.
Web publisher. Oh, please. How grandiose. Web writer is probably more appropriate, but there is that act of publishing…hmmm. Nope, I can’t go there, yet. I’ve worked in the publishing and advertising industry most of my life and I hold a Publisher on a pretty high pedestal. Still, maybe it does a better job at describing what we do.
As for heroes, Liz, you are one of mine. Darren Rowse is another of my heroes. And as I think about them, I can tell I have to really examine my definition of a hero as well. I need to do more thinking about what makes a hero a hero to me.
Shucks, you’ve done it to me again, Liz. Made me think too much. That will have to be part of my description of what a blogging hero is to me.
Liz,
Thanks so much for the compliment. The real hero for me, though, is you. I learn something new from you every day.
And yep, I think the word publisher works just fine. A publisher produces written material for wide dissemination. Isn’t that what we are doing when we write for our web sites?
See you at SOBCon07!
Kent
Hey,
Lorelle, You are one my heroes. Believe me, you know that feeling is mutual. I learn from you and your blog evey time I’m within shouting distance of either one of you. Publisher works for me, for the very reason that I’ve known so many of them. . . . let’s leave it at that. :)
Not every weblog writer is a publisher, granted, but heck of lot of them sure are.
And, Lorelle, you set the standard in so many ways.
Liz
Kent,
Thank you. We all need heroes and people who teach me are mine every time. Thank you for what I’ve learned from you. :)
I prefer Web Rockstar! :)
Terry,
I think you look like a rock star. Will you autograph my blog?
Music to the ears of us digital publishers, Liz. :-)
Thanks John!
We need to take ourselves more seriously. :)
No offense Liz, your place is very special but Lorelle is my blogging star!! I look up to her whenever I’m up to writing my next post. She works much much harder than me and I think to myself whether I can ever catch up her speed?
PS. Liz, you are using IBM laptop just like me.. hihi =)
** ** ** Sincerely awe shucks and blush ** ** **
Thanks.
As regards titles and labels I’ve gone for the “mesmerize them with meaninglessness” approach, calling myself a blogologist :)
I’m free to imbue that word with the meaning I want it to have.
Having said that, and as a publisher from way back, I certainly don’t mind “web publisher” either, especially for those conversations with offline people for whom blogging is a relative unknown.
I don’t get the respect when I call myself a blogger, that’s true.
– Alister