Out of this World

Chicago is city of many cultures and people--I can walk outside my condo in the South Loop and two blocks in either direction encounter a three sushi restaurants, two Yoga clinics and two cigar bars.

My experience Saturday was something entirely different than smoking a Havana washed down with a sift of Bushmills.

The US Men's National Soccer team was hosting--more on that later--Honduras in a World Cup qualifying match at Solider Field. In the universe of men's soccer, it was a pretty big deal. Whoever won this match, had a leg up in making the World Cup in 2010. The US won 2-1, and will most likely qualify for the Cup next year.

What made this so memorable, though, was not the action that went on the pitch; no rather it was the atmosphere surrounding the game.


These photos are a mere glimpse of what the scene was like outside the stadium before the game--thousands of Hondurans, all caught up in national pride for their team. Outward shows of emotion, a sense of patriotism that you don't typically see here in the US (although there are Bears fans who might disagree with me on that). Most Hondurans I spoke with flew in from their home country to watch the game. While this soccer match was one in a litany of sports options any American with a satellite dish or mobile phone could have witnessed this night, to Hondurans, this was the center of their galaxy, their sporting epicenter.


The 55,000 or so announced crowd was easily 70-75% rooting for Honduras, which in effect, made the match a rare home road game for our national team (as you can see by the photo of red shirts signifying the minimal US support inside the stadium). When Honduras scored a goal early in the match to go ahead, we felt as though we had been transported to its capital of Tegucigalpa. The crowd erupted in civic unison, even the Honduran media checked their objectivity at the door and shouted through the closed windows of the press box.

As we walked outside the stadium after the match we saw many misty-eyed Honduran fans, knowing the loss could spell doom for their World Cup hopes. I felt a sense of appreciation for their tears--when you travel as far as many of them did, are so emotionally invested in your country and team, why would they not be sad over the result?

Of course, I am a Cubs fan, so I feel some sense of empathy. We know all about disappointment.

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.

Rules of Engagement

Social media is a powerful force- breaking down barriers of discussion that were at one time insurmountable. Cruising the Cayman Islands and want to to share your pics with family? Post them on your blog. Or post them on your Facebook wall. Or now, share it almost instantly with a community of squid lovers as a TwitPic. Innovation has changed the rules of engagement. For the better.

What makes Twitter a different breed of social media cat is the instant, direct dialogue platform it creates. Take the Roger Clemens interview on ESPN yesterday. As soon as the disgraced former pitcher was on the air--continuing to deny he ever used steroids--reaction was flying all over in the form of Tweets. The dialogue was not what you would see in a discussion board or comment section of a blog posting. No, it was real time, Q & A back and forth just as if you were knocking back a few barley molds with your buddies at the tavern.

Even the media was engaged-- reporters were Tweeting with each other, commenting on the absurdity of Clemens continued non-mea culpa but also making suggestions about story angles/takes on the news.

Innovation is taking on many forms in this era of digital journalism. Be on the lookout as it may be under your nose. And if so, be sure you Tweet about it.

Tweet, Tweet, then beat

Who knows how long Twitter will be the hot social media currency. It continues its meteoric climb in usership, and you can check user statistics here. Whether you think it's relevant or not to obtain a Twitter account, one thing is for sure--someone you know is Twittering. That person is most likely a Facebook friend. And they just put the kids to bed. Just read their wall. The fascinating details are all there.

Now, if you want to read real news and stimulate your brain, it's possible to achieve both on Twitter. A grad student at DePaul Unversity started a website a few months ago called BreakingTweets.com. It is a news gathering site, where by using Twitter search engines, they report on international news, mostly breaking news. Something happens in the Middle East overnight in the US, traditional media can't, won't cover it. That doesn't mean there isn't a thirst and desire for this type of news.

Thanks to technology, BreakingTweets.com can learn about a story happening in real time, search for eyewitness accounts of a story while also aggregating reaction from those impacted by a news event. The site was sourced by Sky News in one of their online stories about an attempted shooting on the Queen of Holland. The site beat conventional news outlet BBC with the story. Read the riveting account of what happened here.

Technology+Social Media+Journalism=Innovation.

Have a Tweeterific day.

Success Leaves Clues

You've seen her on ESPN First Take, duking it out with the insufferable Skip Bayless. You've read her columns on ESPN.com, where she has distinguished herself as a no-nonsense reporter. Now you see Jemele Hill posing with me, your insufferable blog editor (I gave her no choice as I staked out the lobby like a crazed fan).

I attended a seminar this past weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida where Jemele spoke. She has quite a story--coming up from the streets of Detroit, moving up the newspaper ranks before landing at ESPN a few years ago. After listening to her speak and spending some time with her, one word keep creeping into my consciousness--genuine. As a journalist, I always admired her authenticity. Once you meet her and listen to her speak, that quality is no act--she's a real and down to earth in person as she comes across in her writing and on television. That's not an easy transistion, but it is a common thread amongst successful people.

The ability to not only be in touch with who you are--am I compassionate? Am I humble? Am I a fair?--but the talent to channel that sense of self outwardly is what attracts people to or away from you. In journalism it is essential to survival--being hated is preferred over indifference. So ask yourself this question- how well am I in touch with my own values? And how can I best share those values through my work?

If you are looking for a good example, just check out Jemele Hill's work on ESPN.

Brain Fuel

I'm writing from sunny, humid St. Petersburg, Florida where I am attending the Poynter Institute Sports Journalism Summit. Lots of heavy hitters down here--Jack McCallum, Pat Forde, Jamele Hill, Sally Jenkins, just to name a few. I'm excited about rubbing elbows with these stars of sports journalism. But I'm stoked (I apologize for the mid-90's slang reference, I'm writing in a hurry here) for another reason.

It's a concept known as "slight edge". It's why I flew in from Chicago and paid my own way to attend the seminar. The idea is that by spending 3 days absorbing the intellectual capital of those mentioned and others, I will pick up one or two innovative concepts I have never heard before. And those concepts--combined with implementation--will add a significant amount of revenue to my business. Successful people understand this. Unsuccessful people look at the "cost" and say they can't afford it.

I would encourage all of you to ask yourselves--what am I doing to fuel my brain? What seminars, conferences, speeches are you attending that will give you a "slight edge" over your competition?

You don't have to fly all the way to Florida to practice this.

Brain fuel is all around you.