FC Experts Blogs
Lynette Chiang
January 29, 2008
Work/Life: Policy is a dirty word
Customer evangelism tip: if you want to bring your customers closer to you, don't use the p-word, at least not to their face.
Don't say "Our policy is …" because they don't want to hear about your freaking policy. They want to hear how you can help them. You've been there, right?
Moreover, beware of how your business partners are using the p-word, because while you're merrily trying to build beautiful relationships with customers, your partners' efforts could be throwing a pickle in the cheesecake, so to speak.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 2:58 PM
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January 22, 2008
Work/Life: Wait! Come back! There's a part of my Facebook you haven't stepped on yet!*
A customer wrote to me today, very excited about this new 'Facebook thing' - he wanted to start a Facebook profile for our Bike Friday community.
"It'll be as big as Google!" he enthused.
I thanked him for being a champ – who needs a customer evangelist when you've got disciples like that?
And what harm could Facebook do, other than allow people you've safely disowned from your bad hair days to hunt you down like a Star Wars homing beacon?
Ah, Beacon.
As a FYI, I pointed him to the NYT article which described how Facebook's "23 year old CEO" did the equivalent of "suck on this" to its 58 million members.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Wait! Come back! There's a part of my Facebook you haven't stepped on yet!*"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 9:35 PM
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January 4, 2008
Work/Life: I'm dreaming of a green Christmas ...
Now that the tree's going crispy around the edges, rubber fish on plaques singing "take me to the river" are being re-gifted, and the salutation on every email and phone message is still 'Happy New Year", I've been reflecting on the need for a global greening of Christmas.
What's this to do with work/life? Unless you seal yourself in a tomb for the holidays, Christmas is a whole lotta work, and an inescapable part of life.
Santa comes but once a year (poor sod), but leaves a massive of carbon footprint in his sleigh-stream. All this buying, moving, eating, drinking, helloing, goodbyeing, air-kissing in exotic places ...
They tell us people bought less this year, less ka-chingle bells ringing at the tills of seasonal stalwarts like Coach and Target. (Mind you, I've never understood how a company like Coach can turn over those purses like cans of Trader Joe's black beans. How many of those C-backward-C beige jacquard bags can you tolerate in a year?)
Continue reading "Work/Life: I'm dreaming of a green Christmas ..."Posted by Lynette Chiang at 8:36 PM
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December 18, 2007
Work/Life: Getting my front tire past NY's toughest gatekeepers
It's fitting that my latest experiment relates to the "/" in work/life – the sliver of time spent getting to and from the carpeted cubicle, counter or cockpit.
I've been conducting a test with the tikit, a new kind of folding bike, one that collapses in 5 seconds and looks like an incognito French Horn when required. If I can weasel it past the glum gatekeepers of NY's toughest and stuffiest office buildings – including those claiming to be 'green' - I can pronounce a folding bike to be a true adjunct/alternative to the mass transit system.
It's my small effort to be part of the 20% solution to global warming, when 80% of the first world still thinks of it as "bonus beach weather" – admittedly good for property values at chilly altitudes as long as the water isn't lapping at your Leger like in Venezia.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 10:12 AM
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December 4, 2007
Work/Life: Banksy and Hilton: Getting it right by being very wrong
I've just been to the Banksy exhibition in NY.
For those who are unfamiliar with this wildly popular subversive artist (where have you been for the past hour?) , Banksy is the anti-war, anti-capitalistic graffitist who pulled off the witty "reverse art smuggle" at some of the biggest museums in Britain. The Independent sums up his life to date pretty well, and you can read my impression of the NY exhibition here.
It's the ultimate irony that the handiwork of this former grade school vandal is probably gracing the wet bar of celebs like Angelina Jolie (who apparently spent $400,000 on 3 pieces at the LA show), Brad Pitt and Jude Law. He's been called 'the next Warhol' by people in black suits on white backgrounds.
For readers cruising in the fast lane, it's worth glancing in the rear vision mirror now and then because Banksy isn't in it – he's taken a side alley directly past GO. It seems he's done it by simply living his line with 100% conviction, and letting the PR (and riches) follow.
For example …
Continue reading "Work/Life: Banksy and Hilton: Getting it right by being very wrong"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 2:59 PM
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December 3, 2007
Work/Life: Lazy advertising hard at work
Spotted on a train this morning, on my way to work/life:
For those using a Crackberry on a slow connection, the poster shows Mr Met, a Disney-esque character with a large baseball for a head, pointing to a bag on the seat of a train. The headline reads:
"Please don't let good manners slide,
Keep your stuff off seats for a better ride."
I call this "under-writing". It's not quite there, and it doesn't make me at all guilty about not wanting to park the filthy underside of my bag on my lap, or parking it on the seat rather than the filthy floor.
And just who gets "the better ride?"
It looks like someone either spent 2 seconds dashing off the headline, or 2 weeks over-thinking it with several committees on the finer points of tone and political correctness.
What the poster really wants to say is this:
"PLEASE DON'T LET YOUR MANNERS SLIDE
GET YOUR STUFF OFF SEATS SO OTHERS CAN RIDE."
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 11:34 AM
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November 18, 2007
Work/Life: Google Alerts go where your friends don't dare
Do you check out your reflection in spoons?
Secretly coif your comb-over in a cufflink?
Attempt to zap a zit in a mirror ball tile?
OK, let's be serious: does anyone really care about your forthcoming volume of slam haiku?
Google alerts, the online narcissist's favorite tool, can help with all but the first three (but give it time). A Google alert tells you when someone noted or quoted you on the web, seemingly in the last 5 nanoseconds. You know instantly if someone found your bleat about something you liked or hated useful, or if you've butchered a sacred cow on the way to making a point.
I'm sure Google alerts aren't new to the fast folks reading this, yet I meet business owners every day with websites who draw a blank when I mention it. So this post is for them.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Google Alerts go where your friends don't dare"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 11:30 PM
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November 6, 2007
Work/Life: Not going anywhere? Make your place of work a place to stay
"IT'S ALL very well for you, I'd love to travel, but I can't leave my job because because because …"
I hear you. Books, life-coaches and Oprah articles abound on 'cutting loose', how people have gone from actuary to Aeolian harp restorer, cabinet minister to cabinet maker or weekend gardener to orchard owner in Vermont.
You can do that, but the reality is, the majority of you won't be quitting or switching careers - nor need you.
I'm talking about transforming your 'real' job unto an 'unreal job'. I hesitate to use the cliche 'dream job' - if you're dreaming you're sleeping, and that's not the 8 hours that are causing you grief.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 1:48 PM
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October 30, 2007
Work/Life: Write your own duty statement and see who buys it
Ok, so you and I missed the boat on being a child prodigy*.
You want a job that pays well enough, one you'll get up for without smashing the alarm clock.
People ask me, how did you convince that company to hire you?
(We're talking here about my job which pays very modestly but for some reason many people want it. I'm trying to fathom why.)
I tell them to turn the question around: How did the company convince me they were worth spending hours of my life on that I'm not going to get back?
So here's an unconventional approach to finding a seamless work/life job - one where you're working without feeling like it's work - that you might not have tried.
Start by finding a company who makes a product you use and like, and – very important - with a personality you like. You don't want to spend 8 hours sleeping beside someone you don't like, why feel same for the next 8 hours?
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 5:04 PM
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October 22, 2007
Work/Life: If Money Can’t Buy Happiness (Unless its $1.5m), Try Happiness
When people ask me what I do, I use to fumble around trying to describe my dilettantish existence. Nowadays, I say I ride a bike for a living.
Before an image of a female Lance Armstrong enters their head, I quickly add that I don't ride fast; sometimes I don't ride at all. I tell them I had a couple of "real jobs" before which paid way better.
They dismiss the money issue. They say they want my job, despite having a superior retirement plan (and while straddling the Pradas of high end bicycle brands). They might not actually take my job if offered, but a sense of "something not quite jiving" with their current life is apparent.
I googled 'money and happiness' on the FC website. According to this 2003 article, $1.5 million net worth is the magic figure where people's feelings of happiness go from nowhere to nirvana in nanoseconds.
Since a handful of us may not be able to rustle up that amount in our lifetimes, can we still be happy without having to eat beans and move to the boonies where rent is cheap? Even if "stuck in a job we hate"?
Assuming you're not grafted to an extremely expensive lifestyle (hello? Have I lost 98% of readers already?) I believe so. And I'm not talking about doing daily affirmations, gratitude prayers or joining a calligraphy class to keep your mind off the political pratt at the office who got you moved to cubicle without a window.
I'm talking about letting happiness buy happiness. Knowing what makes you happy will unlock the guerilla career seeker in you, because you'll be coming from the place that floats your boat – not someone else's. It's a powerful place.
Continue reading "Work/Life: If Money Can’t Buy Happiness (Unless its $1.5m), Try Happiness"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 4:40 PM
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October 15, 2007
Work/Life: When Not to Blog
I spent all last week bedridden with some kind of bad Manhattan flu. Fast Company likes us to blog at least once a week, so like a faithful reporter I started banging keys to see if anything worthwhile would come out. Thank Bhudda I didn't post it here on Fast Company. It ended up being a delirious rant about a global warming presentation and whether I could care less if a small colored frog in the middle of Costa Rica disappears from the face of the earth. For posterity I posted it here.
When under the weather, keep a lid on it!
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 4:37 PM
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October 5, 2007
Work/Life: Spam Me Baby, Just Make My Day
I say, I say, these spammers and solicitors are getting really enterprising.
Not only do I get an email from Fred Smith almost immediately after I send an email to Fred Smith, and they're not the same Fred Smith, I received a long, detailed diatribe showing that the solicitor actually studied my shtick, the shtick of my employer, then proposed her own shtick.
She'd devised an entire PR plan for our product.
The only problem was, it contained so many ?????????????? and !!!!!!!!!! and breathless statements that it was a complete turn off.
I almost instinctively hit DELETE, but instead shot her a quick reply, acknowledging her efforts, pointing out the ?????????'s, saying she'd have more success with us if she talked *to* us rather than *at* us, and remarked that she's clearly got a pretty tough job. After all, this woman made quite an effort. She shot back an apology, and I thanked her.
Hello ... she came back ... softer this time, and now telling me a bit about her life. And she didn't just add me to her environmental concerns spam list either.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Spam Me Baby, Just Make My Day"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 12:26 PM
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September 28, 2007
Work/Life: Selling a dream? Don't make returning it a nightmare
For my birthday, a thoughtful friend bought me the Wolford Fatal dress. This killer dress is basically a long tube you can wear any which way, but not loose. A pricey toob at that - $165. There is a picture of it at the bottom of this blog if anyone cares.
But oh, how versatile for a work/life road warriorette, who doesn't want to look like she's sold her soul to REI/MEI and those beige pants with zip off shorts that scream 'I been to Annapurna too'.
You can wear the Fatal as a skirt, a long dress, a top, maybe even a turban, and best of all, you can ruche it nicely around your tummy for days when you leave your washboard on the kitchen sink.
I'm a big Wolford fan. As in, I have a pair of stay-up stockings that are 15 years old with zero holes, ladders or pilling. I can't afford much else in this premium store, but I endorse it based on my tiny sliver of experience – a quality product that simply stands the test of time. Or so I thought.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 6:17 PM
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September 18, 2007
Work/Life: This post is not about the iPhone (really)
I've just spent a week riding my bike 80-100 miles a day with 2000 customers and other folks on Cycle Oregon. I was looking forward to impressively blogging last week from the saddle using my new, all-singing-all-dancing iPhone, but it turned out to be a mute, club-footed wallflower.
On the few occasions I managed to get a connection, the entire emailing process was so slow I basically gave up. I have tiny fingers, yet couldn't string letters together without making loads of mistakes. Somehow along the way the talk mechanism got discombobulated when I plugged in the headphones to listen to the iPod function, and even my former Apple developer pal who's on dinner dating terms with Steve J couldn't recombobulate it. And the number of times I accidentally brushed that shiny glass keypad and called the same person 10 times, or restarted a song 10 times ... but it did come in handy as a mirror to get at the spinach stuck in my teeth.
Bah, it was worth the 10% restocking fee to try it out, but I'll gladly revive my old Crackberry for now. For serious handheld wordsmithing, it's hard to beat. (I just wish I could get PocketMac to sync my 1000+ addresses instead of choking at 350).
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 2:21 AM
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September 3, 2007
Work/Life: Sustainability - 1 More Adoption, 1 Less Footprint
I'm 45 today.
It's Labor day, so appropriately, I'm laboring over this blog entry in the stickily sweet environs of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor, the mediocre drone of generic strummy rock competing with the Kelvinator. Hey, that's why you don't see me in Starbucks, when it's free wi-fi I don't complain.
Ten years ago I celebrated my birthday in the living room of two total strangers I'd met less than an hour or so earlier, who presented me with a cake, a card, and the key to the spare room somewhere in Edinburgh. Bedtime reading.
Today, I'm in exactly the same position, except now I get paid to sleep in the spare room.
So what are you other 45 year young women doing right now in a 10 mile radius of where I sit? Perhaps playing playing ultimate Frisbee with your nephews? Hooting over crotchless G-strings at a hen's party? Throwing spendy Wholefoods kebabs on the Barbie? Talking on the big white telephone after a big night at the local tavern? Studying for a PhD you're no longer that interested in? Blogging alone in Ben & Jerry's …
Continue reading "Work/Life: Sustainability - 1 More Adoption, 1 Less Footprint"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 8:40 PM
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August 25, 2007
Work/Life: When did you last give your customer some business?
I recently sat through a 1 hour family musical co-written by one of my customers, Karl Greenburg. It was a low-budget NY Fringe Festival production called Angela's Flying Bed.
Now what was I, a single income no kidder with an aversion to musicals doing at this PG-rated pantomime on my day off, with so many other bleeding edge options on within NY cabbing distance?
Not only did I sit with a grin on my face throughout, I posted a mini-review on my personal blog and encouraged all our customers in the area to go see it.
Karl wrote to me very excited, telling me that, despite its lack of sugarcoat, my review was 'the best he'd ever had', and forwarded it to others.
Karl wasn't my only customer doing his shtick in NYC. Puppeteer Jennifer Levine was performing her show Miracle on Monroe St at the same festival. She says she uses her Bike Friday to tow her puppetry paraphernalia to her gigs and 'always arrives with a smile on her face'. I ran out of time to catch her show, but made sure I let our community know.
Am I 'sucking up' to my customers big time? Perhaps, dear cynic. To me, it's a no-brainer, and just another hour in my 24/7 seamless worklife.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 8:30 AM
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August 10, 2007
Work/Life: Fortune Favors the B(old)
Wow, that last post was quite a rant on my part about Sydney. It sounded like I was down on it, big time. Actually, I think it was the opening of the /cities article that set me off:
You're smart, young, newly graduated from a university with the whole world before you. You could settle in a small town with well-tended lawns, pancake suppers, and life on a human scale. Or you could truck it to the big city, with all its din and dog-eat-dog lunacy. Your choice?
OK, I admit it pushed a button. The button that connotes "unless you're smart, young, newly graduated from a university" you might not be reading that Fast Cities article at all. Instead you'd be sitting constipated on the can thumbing for the leaf blower ads in last month's AARP.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Fortune Favors the B(old)"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 1:30 PM
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August 3, 2007
Work/Life: It's Fast, but is it Liveable?
I've just returned from bouncing around like an email peddling Viagra .... NY, Philly, Texas, Eugene, Seattle and finally IOWA, where I rode across the state with 10,000 others on RAGBRAI. Including Lance, who, at all times, seemed to be riding his bike just outside my field of vision. Try as might I could not track him down. Since I probably couldn't tell him from a bar of soap I was looking for a jersey that said 'Hi I'm Lance' front and back but I don't think he was wearing it that week.
Over 40% of riders hailed from IOWA. It is great to see people lovin' their own state, in this day and age of 'I'm here I want to be there'.
Which brings me to FASTCOMPANY.com's Fast Cities report, where I discover my hometown Sydney was praised as being their 3rd favorite, after London and Paris. Here's the ranking.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 5:48 PM
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July 15, 2007
Work/Life: Don't Talk About Kids to People Without Kids
Right at the outset, I'll do the politically correct thing and say, I've got nothing against kids.
In fact, I'd happily trade places with a lot of them right now: I'd get fed, watered and put to beddy-bye under duvet dotted with cotton tail bunnies with a gentle kiss; I'd get adored and cuddled when I least want it but that's OK, it's better than begging for it; I'd get driven around to a smorgasbord of expensive activities like soccer and baseball (remember when the school throw-the-beanbag P.E. session was free?); I'd get handed the latest iGizmo (some tots are already killing this blog entry on their iPhone) and told to go fly my Millenium Falcon XIII. I could smear jam all over my face and get called 'cute' rather than be committed. Oh to be a kid!
But if you want my business, or even friendship, then as one of the handful of people who don't have kids, please spare me the harping on about your kids, and see what turns up.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 7:15 PM
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July 7, 2007
Work/Life: Trophy Wives and Honesty
I'm sitting on the train to Connecticut and there's a poster for Donald Trump's PARC Tower framed in front of me. Executed in cerise pink and azure blue, it features a big ornate gold key and below it, a blousy blonde in a busty blouse.
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The headline is: AND NOW ... THE TROPHY CONDO FOR YOUR
TROPHY WIFE.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 5:24 PM
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June 29, 2007
Work/Life: Great, You're Lookin' Bad!
I've just been chewed over by my well-meaning NY host.
He: I can't believe you posted that negative critique of your book on your blog. What if someone reads it and agrees with him?
Me: Well, I guess they'll agree with him.
He: Then he won't buy the book.
Me: Why would I want him to buy the book?
He: It's a sale.
Me: Why would I want him to buy the book?
Continue reading "Work/Life: Great, You're Lookin' Bad!"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 11:49 PM
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June 19, 2007
Work/Life: Welcome to My 24/7 Seamless Life
I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor of my office in Austin, TX, wedged between a bolster and a hard place. It's a customer's personal Pilates studio.
The night before, I was holed up in my Chicago office, curled up on a futon in a brownstone owned by couple who had seen the DVD my movie about cycling 2,400 miles along Route 66 last year. They invited me to come stay in their home.
The night before that, I was in my groovy Manhattan office, using the south-east corner of my host's gargantuan Design Within Reach desk overlooking the ornamental stove.
I lease 'offices' like this all over the country. They're located wherever I'm invited to lay my bicycle helmet and plug in my 12" Powerbook.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Welcome to My 24/7 Seamless Life"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 1:01 AM
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