It’s true, great minds must think alike…

….because earlier this week Lesley Price and I both tweeted about the same subject within an hour or so of each other. This was the thought that was running through my mind as I was driving home a few days ago, which I subsequently tweeted about…

Later on that evening Lesley tweeted this

This led to an exchange of tweets between us, which resulted in Lesley being kind enough to share an experience with me via this email.

  A couple of years ago… I fell down stairs and sprained my ankle really badly.  I had to be at a Technology Conference organised by Becta as I was facilitating a table…. Natalie, my daughter took time off work to drive me.  She sat on the table I was facilitating…. even although it was an educational technology conference and she was a primary school teacher, she had no idea of the language and jargon that was being used.  It was almost like the Emperors New Clothes and she was the child watching from the side lines.  She sat all morning and the first part of the afternoon taking it all in.  She then just said…. I have no idea what you are all talking about, what does Social Media mean?  I typed that into questions that were coming from the floor… Facilitator picked it up and came to talk to her.  She was youngest person in the room and just said… “now that I know what it means…I can tell you I use SoMe all the time…I just don’t see what all the fuss is about, that is my life!  Why all the discussion???  Why don’t you just get on with it??”I have just talked to her again about it this evening and she still remembers the occasion… and still does not understand the facination by oldies. SoMe is part of her life…. she is not into Twitter, doesn’t see value in it.  If you look at profile of average user of Twitter I can understand that.  She uses FB, FB chat, skype , skype chat and txt all the time.  Sometimes using more than one at once… makes for interesting conversations lol!!I am trying to persuade her to start blogging… she has wonderful ideas. Although she teaches reception she also runs Computer Club for Girls with Yr 6 girls.  When the Tsunami and Japanese earthquake story started breaking, she put BBC news on her interactive white board and had it running all day as her reception class were interested in the live commentry that was coming through and bombarded her with questions.  She doesn’t close down social networking when she is teaching, not that she spends any time on it, it just runs in the background, the kids are now used to ‘silly noises’ that come from her laptop and tell her she when she has a message!  So kids completely understand SoMe… just don’t call it that…. they see it as normal… why are the rest of us making such a fuss about it instead of getting on with it!!So my question to you ‘Dear Reader’ is are we right, or are we waaaay off the mark?Is the ‘social’ holding things up due to it’s ‘connotations’?Should we just be referring to media, learning, networks etc and work under the assumption (a dangerous thing I know) that the ‘social’ is inherrent.Why not let me know your thoughts in the comments box below?

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You May Have More Influence Than You Think

Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC Oct 30, 2012 | Comments (0) Sometimes we go about our business and don't think about if others are paying attention or not. Generally, not many people notice us or our behaviors. But sometimes we're being observed and, unbeknownst to us, admired. We are unwitting role models. Or even held to a higher status than we believe we have.This became apparent from a brief conversation I had during my recent speaking tour in Turkey. In between engagements, I hung out at my friend Tamer Ozdemir's English Test School in Eskisehir. I got to know the English teachers there, including a young Turkish man named Aykuk. After a week of visiting with him and his students and his hearing of my speaking engagements in Turkey and beyond, we had this exchange:Aykuk: This week I've met one of my goals.Me: Congratulations! What is the goal?I almost fell off my chair laughing. "Aykuk, I'm not a celebrity so you need to keep that on your goal list."But I was to him. He'd never met an author, nor someone who'd been on Oprah, 60 Minutes and in the national Turkish newspaper. These amounted to celebrity status to him.So while I don't consider myself a celebrity, I was in his eyes.I believe that optimally we should behave as if we are a role model, even when we know no one is looking. When we encounter a problem with someone, choosing our response by asking ouselves how we'd react if a special child were watching us. We want to be someone s/he looks up to and admires, which then shapes our behavior.But even in non-confrontational situations, our behavior telegraphs our character to others we have no idea are paying attention. We have influence on their future behavior by being a role model. And yet we may never know.Have you experienced watching someone you admire to determine how you'd behave in future situations? Have you ever been surprised to learn you were a role model? Tell us your story.Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC, is a bestselling author of 25 books, speaker and consultant on workplace effectiveness. For more information on her services go to RebeccaMorgan.com. Send your suggested issues to cover or questions to Rebecca@RebeccaMorgan.com. If you want to discuss working with Rebecca, give her a call at 408/998-7977 (Pacific).

Her most recent books are:

Remarkable Customer Service ... and Disservice: Case Studies and Discussions to Increase Your Customers' Delight

Grow Your Key Talent: Thought-Provoking Essays for Business Owners, Executives and Managers on Developing Star Staff

Want to read more from Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC? Check out the blog archive. Keyword Tags:  MAnagement development   leadership   communication Disclaimer: Blog contents express the viewpoints of their independent authors and are not reviewed for correctness or accuracy by Toolbox for HR. Any opinions, comments, solutions or other commentary expressed by blog authors are not endorsed or recommended by Toolbox for HR or any vendor. If you feel a blog entry is inappropriate, click here to notify Toolbox for HR.

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