Building Credibility

BUILDING CREDIBILITY has been on my mind for a long time. With several hours of time to write as I travel, it seemed a good time to capture and share my thoughts after some reflection.

One of the things I've been fascinated about in design and social media circles I frequent is the subject of credibility. How does one develop credibility and gain authority? Can it be done quickly, or is it a long term practice that demands stamina and discipline?

While I'm far from an expert in this area, I have had years of experience building my own credibility and I'd like to share what I know. Hopefully these thoughts will help others and start an interesting discussion.

Spray-On Credibility vs. Investment in Credibility

There seems to be an idea floating about that says credibility can be gained quickly. You know, 157 crazy stunts to gain followers, bombarding social media streams with promotional items or launching hit and run business card raids at attendee-rich events.

This stuff may appear to work — briefly bumping your analytics numbers. Ultimately, many of these tactics serve to form a brittle structure that resembles an organic network, but really consists of followers who mostly tune out your constant stream of SEO-optimized personal press releases.

It's Spray-on credibility.

In my experience, the best, most lasting, and deeply satisfying way to gain credibility in any community is to approach it with the respect and discipline of a long-term investment. Every tweet, blog post or face to face meeting should be seen as an opportunity to invest by giving and sharing things of value with people who choose to follow you.

This includes lots of listening, sharing resources and information, answering questions, helping solve problems and giving away your wisdom to those who can benefit from it.

At the heart of this approach are people — those you admire and genuinely want to interact with. Take away the technology to focus on listening to people experiencing good days and bad days. Share their excitement, promote their wins and sympathize with their losses. It's a community, not direct marketing.

My ultimate goal is to meet every person I interact with online — in a face to face meeting if at all possible. I may never meet every person, but by maintaining this people-centric mindset, I'm reminded of the human reasons I choose to spend time listening and sharing in a community.

The REWORK Experience

When I look back at the path taken to get the REWORK illustration project with Jason and David at 37signals, I can clearly see this long-term investment approach appearing at every turn.

It all began with taking a chance: sketchnoting a 37signals SEED conference in Chicago, meeting some good friends in person at the event and then sharing my sketchnotes with the world.

My shared efforts got the attention of the 37signals community and ultimately, the attention of Jason and David, who featured my work on their Signal vs. Noise blog. That first set of sketchnotes started reaching thousands of SEED attendees and 37signals fans.

My efforts at SEED 1 led to sketchnoting SEED 3 one year later, but this time as as an invited guest of the presenters. This opened the door to being hired by SXSW Leadercast and An Event Apart to sketchnote their events, build credibility and invest in more communities.

Eventually, after continual efforts sharing my sketchnotes, I was to hired to illustrate REWORK, which has become a runaway bestseller. In each case there was investment and sharing that ultimately led to the big project, but without that investment, the big illustration gig probably never happens. I couldn't have imagined doing REWORK on that first sketchnote assignment — I simply had to invest and trust that my efforts would bear fruit in the future. They did.

The Long Haul

This approach will not build your follower count overnight. But I believe this slow, long-term approach to investing in your communities — online and off — creates a richer, more valuable and more human credibility for those who are willing to invest.

This also means forgoing anything that feels icky or cheesy. Once you flirt with get-famous-quick schemes there's a real chance of instantly damaging your credibility. Trust your gut to determine if what you're about to broadcast to the world benefits your long-term vision and credibility.

And if you screw up, admit to it immediately. I've stated opinions that have turned out to be wrong or mis-informed. Once I realize an error, I immediately own up to it.

Ultimately it's your character at stake. I highly respect those who know how to own up to mistakes and are open to considering other, often contrary ideas without flipping out or starting a flame war.

I think this whole topic can be summed up as just being a good human. Listen, share, provide value to others, be open, admit mistakes and know that by building great character, you're also building great credibility.

Fitness, Energy, Creativity and a Better Life

BY THE END OF 2011 I was tired. I was dragging and I was in need of rest from a busy, fun yet draining year. During the week between Christmas and the New Year, I pondered ways to increase my energy, knowing another intense year of projects was on the horizon.

I began thinking of my fitness level as a missing piece in becoming a more effective professional, after reading Haruki Murakami's book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. In the book, Murakami describes the positive, critical impact running has had on his creativity, his writing career and his life.

Reading Murkami's words reminded me of early morning bicycle rides I used to take years ago. Rising at 5am to ride country roads with my friend Dave was a great way start to my day and served as a significant source of energy for my creativity and my life at the time.

I've missed those rituals and the energy. It was time to get them back.

Hiring a Trainer

For much of last year I'd been considering hiring a personal trainer to help get a workout habit established for my specific needs — but never acted on the idea. With 2012 arriving and establishing positive habits on my mind, I made the decision to contact the local YMCA and set up a free meeting with a Y-approved personal trainer.

The first meeting went very well. My trainer listened to my past successes (cycling), challenges (busy work and family life with small children) and my goals. He asked more questions, then suggested a simple plan to begin forming a workout habit to suit my life and schedule. It's been working well.

Our second meeting was a chance to refine the details of my plan — adding new stretches, activities and goals to my routine — along with a challenge to keep my momentum going. Next week I'll be challenged again and I can't wait.

Why a Personal Trainer?

It would seem easy enough to just head to the Y and start working out — but I'd always felt unsure of where to start or if I was doing things properly. When working with Y staff, never felt I ought to pester them with all of the questions I had. However, with a trainer I'd hired with my own money, I felt obligated to make the most of our time together by asking all sorts of questions.

My perspective on hiring a trainer changed when I thought of a trainer as someone I might hire in business — a front end developer, an accountant or an attorney. They're experts at what they do, just as I am at design, so it would be foolish not to take full advantage of their skills in advancing my goals.

Finally, having a neutral person to help establish my workout habit, provide accountability and offer guidance in exercise details has been great. In-between our sessions he remotely checks my workout progress, can suggest new activities and I can ask questions, all via email.

Two Weeks In

As I write this, I've reached the 2 week mark of making regular exercise a priority, I'm feeling the best I have in years. I'm feeling more energetic than ever before and have found myself getting caught up on a few projects that had become dormant at the end of 2011.

I've established an earlier bedtime, so I get up early for workouts, before my wife and kids wake up. Oddly enough, this entire morning routine has become a great time to think and ponder, a side benefit I hadn't expected.

Exercising 4 mornings a week has had another positive side effect: watching what I eat. Since I was tracking the time and calories burned in exercise, it made sense to get back into using Lose It! on my iPhone to keep track of the calories and foods I'm eating.

It's fascinating to capture what I'm eating each day, watching the weekly trends and comparing the impact food I eat has on my energy levels. Having a place to easily record food and exercise wherever I am has been a huge benefit to my awareness. I especially love Lose It's barcode scanner for fast food entry.

Long Term

The outlook for the long term is encouraging. Ultimately my goal is to lose weight, gain strength and stamina to power my professional and personal life.

As I get older, I'm realizing any advantage I can gain in improving my life and the length of it is worth the small daily sacrifices. Feeling great in the process is the encouragement to keep on keeping on.

Another important mental approach has been to think of this as building a positive habit first, understanding that other benefits (feeling better, looking better) would naturally come as a by-product. I know that when I own a positive habit I will stick to it long term.

I'm totally owning this.

3six5: December 28, 2011

The house was quiet and dark as I climbed out of bed.

My favorite week is the week in-between holidays. My wife and kids lay sleeping while I headed to the den to spend time alone before the day began.

I've been enjoying this quiet week between Christmas and the New Year, especially after a hectic year of work and activity. Each year I use this week to review the past twelve months and think about what can be improved on in the next twelve.

Just yesterday, I asked my nine year old son Nathan what I could do to be a better father next year. What he said caught me by surprise and has challenged me these last 24 hours:

"Work less, dad."

But, but, wait. How did you.. hmmm.

He was right. Despite being even more selective about choosing new projects this past year, I was guilty of accepting more work than I ought to have. Of course, each project was a great opportunity, but the sum of those extra projects over a year's time drained me.

That's the tricky thing about work you love to do — the work doesn't seem like work at all — until you're in too deep. On top of love for the work is the draw of an opportunity too good to pass up, which makes it difficult to say no.

Mix love for your work and opportunity together and you have a recipe for potential overload and burnout — a place I don't want to visit.

Still, I'm encouraged. Even with all the projects I've done this year, my workload is much lower than the year before. I was successful at choosing fewer, more interesting and more challenging projects in 2011.

My challenge for the year ahead is to keep on the track of working less. To become even more selective about project quality and quantity, regardless of how enticing 'more' may be.

As evening draws to a close, I'm feeling clearer about my path forward, realizing I'm blessed with a loving family and a son who has no fear or telling his dad to work less.

I was honored to be part of the 3six5 project, and being chosen to represent December 28, 2011 with the entry above. Read it on the 3six5 website along with entries from all of 2011. Thanks Len.

Connecting the Dots

THIS WEEKEND, Steve Jobs and his Stanford Commencement Speech from 2005 reminded me how important it is to realize we often only connect the dots of our lives looking back. Like Steve, I can see now how the more difficult moments have shaped me and my future for the better.

Thanks Steve for your inspiring leadership and example for all of us.

Update on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by Mike Rohde

Thanks Steve. Rest in peace.

The Power of Capturing Memories

I VISTED my old neighborhood on Tuesday.

Feeling the power of childhood memories flooding back has helped clarify why I'm currently so fascinated with capturing life experiences as sketchnotes.

The Fish Keg is an iconic place in my memory, a keystone of memories from my childhood days in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side.

As I entered my old neighborhood, each city block, each bit of sidewalk, every old sign brought childhood memories sharply in focus. It was enlightening to see inanimate objects and places bring to mind many long-forgotten memories with such clarity.

This is why I sketchnote experiences and encourage others to do it too.

Feelings and thoughts fleeting past during an experience or an event can be captured visually, awaiting future moments to expand themselves and reawaken memories for my benefit or the benefit of others.

Consider my sketchnotes from a dinner at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California:

Time was invested in capturing my experience visually, but now I can look back and recall in vivid detail how the spaghetti tasted, what the environment felt like and the fun I had experiencing a dinner with my friends Kate and Kris.

In this image, those and other memories spring to life, offering a clearer recollection of that moment in time. To a degree, my experiences can communicate to complete strangers who may be curious about the Chez Panisse experience.

If there's anything that would encourage you to try sketchnoting an event or an experience, let this be the reason. Invest time in capturing what you're experiencing as multidimensional map of your thoughts and feelings so you can recall them with clarity and share those memories with others.