5 steps to Journalistic Reinvention

I was reading a book by basketball coach Rick Pitino titled "Rebound Rules". In it, he talks about how as a baby boomer, he's not the most technically-savvy guy. One of the most successful college coaches of all time, Pitino has won a national championship and hundreds of games. You wouldn't think he would need to to embrace technology--after all, he's Rick Pitino. Isn't that what graduate assistants are for?

Wrong.

In order to compete in the uber-competitive world of college basketball, Pitino has developed new software techniques, video-conferences with his staff, and although he has yet to tweet, he texts as often as a 15-year-old on a Red Bull high.

It then hit me why this guy, and others, have continued success.

Reinvention.

Here are Innovative Journalists 5 steps to reinventing yourself. No better time than today to start-

1. Admit you must. Like any addiction, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Saying "I don't do email" or "Facebook is for kids" is the language of the lost.

2. Back to School. I don't mean necessarily college--although it's done wonders for this journalist--but studying the market. Subscribe to Google Reader and receive updates from sites such at Poynter.org, TechCrunch.com or Mashable.com. Read influencial bloggers such as Monica Guzman or Etan Horowitz. Be a student of innovation. This will fuel your own ambition.

3. Define, then refine your brand. When I say "brand" I don't mean on par with Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft or McDonald's. Spending millions each year on advertising is not a strategy I would endorse. When I mean is carving out your place in the online universe. What skills do you have that would benefit others? What message do I have that will be a conversation starter? This is a simple formula: available resources + intellectual capital= personal brand.

4. Implementation. The 800-pound elephant in the room. One difference between achievers and pretenders is achievers' ability to implement their plan once it is in place. Pretenders tend to over think--what if changed this? How about this tweak? What if it didn't work? So what. Act. Sign up for an account on Blogger or Word Press and get pubished today. Send out a message to your email network asking if anyone knows a good web designer. Actions stimulate brain activity. And the resources available to act are already in your rolodex.

5. Humility. Speaker Jim Rohn says "humility is the path to prosperity". Understanding you don't know it all, you won't know it all over night, and most important, we live in a transparent, open-sourced culture where the skills you need to succeed are on your Mac screen.

And if all else fails, you can always ask your neighbor's 7-year-old how to use Facebook.

Reinvention = Inspiration

I attended a seminar last night on social media. The course did cover much material I had heard before--blogging, SEO marketing--although it is never time poorly spent to hear a new take on these older concepts. What struck me most from this group was the demographic. Over half were recently laid off journalists on the print side. No surprising when you consider recent events. There were also quite a few recently laid off corporate types. The average age in the room was probably 50, which made me feel quite spry.

It got me thinking--reinvention is the buzz word of our times. If you are not out learning new skills, attending seminars, loading up on brain fuel, you will cease to be relevant. This has never been more true. I talked to one former newspaper reporter of a major market daily during a break who told me he isn't sure he wants to blog, but he now knows that if he wants to stay on top of the industry, he must. He's never had to before--he had his newspaper brand backing him up. Now, he has to establish his own brand. I wasn't sure if he was nervous or excited about what lies ahead--probably a little bit of both--but taking action of some kind is one certainty.

In a later post, Innovative Journalists is going to have it's Top 5 steps to reinvention. The first? Admitting you must and trusting you will be rewarded.

A converged journalist is a well-fed journalist

The concept of working in a multi-platform newsroom has been around since web creation. The economics of this reality is finally trickling down in newsrooms and academia. It is no longer enough to just be a good writer, or an editor or photographer. To insure a lengthy life expectancy in journalism today, you must be able to do all three. Compartmentalization is out, convergence is in. Darwinism is the philosophy that reigns supreme; adapt or die.

Terrific article on Poynter's website about what's going on at Ball State. Students are learning how not just about new media platforms, but how to apply different skill sets along these platforms. One student took a NASCAR internship--against her professor's recommendation--and helped design a graphic that was used on a race car. This translated to revenue for the driving team.

You think she has a leg up on the competition come job interview time?

Just another example of how we must think differently about our jobs in media today. By attaching a sales and marketing component to how you evaluate opportunities and their outcomes, not you will stand out from your competition, you will be thinking like an innovator.

And you will be employed.

Journalism=innovation=application=employment