More than #FollowFriday – People who Impact Me
For anyone who uses Twitter, today’s a busy day. It’s #FollowFriday when everyone tags a bunch of friends and people follow one another like crazy. In general, I’m not particularly fond of the whole idea because it gets carried to extremes. People feel some obligation to list everyone they know week in and week out. It’s great to compliment our friends, but at the end of the day it dilutes the real value.
I’ve been on a path of self re-invention, ar at least redefinition that past few months. And it’s struck me this week in particular that there are some people who I follow and talk to on Twitter (and other places, including real life) who truly impact me. They impact how I think, how I see others, and how I react to others. They open my mind to ideas and new direction in ways I appreciate more than I can really say.
Today, I’m not going to spam my network with a #FollowFriday list. Instead, I’m writing this post to introduce you to a few people I value. I want to tell you why they matter, why they create impact. I don’t want to just tell you to follow them. I want you to know something about them.
These are people I follow, not just on Friday, but every day. People I follow into the breach in some way. These are people whom, should I ever walk into a bar fight and find them surrounded, I would pick up a chair and step in to cover their back. These are people who impact me in some way. They matter because they bring real value to me. They are here in no particular order.
Jeff’s an icon in the part of the industry I work in. Beyond that, he’s a personal friend. We’ve traveled together, had meals together (breakfast *and* dinner). We talk on the phone. We check on each other daily, most often via the notorious Facebook poke. In short, We’re in touch often.
Jeff is someone who’s faced some challenges the past couple of years, and he’s never backed down. He’s pressed through to do some new things. I admire and respect that. His example provides me encouragement on those days when I feel discouraged.
Above and beyond that, Jeff’s a real futurist cut froma different cloth. Jeff sees a future he thinks should be, and goes forward to make it so. He did this with his VoIP work, again with Video. He’s doing it with social media (and the power of Twitter), and true to his voice services passions, he’s doing it with HD voice initiatives. Jeff’s a true visionary who takes his vision a step farther toward reality.
Claudio’s a new friend who I met on Twitter not long ago. He’s a kindred spirit who’s thoughts and words echo my own sentiments in harmony rather than being precisely the same note. He’s a thoughful man who really considers what he’s saying before he writes a blog post. His comments are insightful and always add to the stream of thought.
Claudio has another gift. He gives me some appreciation of myself. He has a way of paying a compliment that allows me to just step back and say “wow, thank you” rather than feel an attack of self-depracting humor and defensiveness. From Claudio, I learn the art of giving a genuine compliment to someone I appreciate. It’s a new friendship that I value. Claudio’s one of those online connections I hope to meet in person.
Sheryl and I met Jeff on Twitter, and we were both struck by the work he does with Global Hope Network International. Jeff is working to improve the lot of people in the world by bringing basic essentials and education to small remote villages in faraway places.
So often in our lives, we see the pictures of people living in poverty, disease, drought and starvation. The legacy of my lifetime is that someone tried to shame us into helping these people. Sometimes shame worked, but most often it left a bad taste in our mouths and we didn’t stick to our efforts at doing something.
Jeff shows every day that we make a difference in the world. One person, doing one small thing, can and does make a tremendous difference to someone a world away. Jeff’s interest in social media and how it can help him share the power of human change with others inspires me to think more widely about the impact I have on the world and how I can help deliver positive change.
Sheryl and I both talk to Jeff all the time. We consider him a real friend. We’re investing our efforts in helping find support for GHNI wherever our network can help. He’s someone I look forward to meeting in person and sharing a long evening of conversation with. If finances permitted, I’d take Sheryl for a weekend in Denver so we could spend some time with Jeff and his wife.
Shel’s another friend who I’ve met a few times and had many a pleasant conversation with. He’s the author of Twitterville, which is due out in September I believe. Shel impacts me for a couple of reasons, and through a couple of shared life experiences. He and I are neither one young pups. We’ve got some battle scars we earned through our lives. We’re both diabetic. We both need to be vigilant about our health, exercise and such. Shel does a better job than I, but he’s a good “peer group example” for me.
Shel has always had a fun comment when I talk about Sheryl online, yet I’ve noticed that his comments over time have grown beyond “going for a run with Brewster” (his dog) to include his time with his wife Paula, and that special time he spends with his grandkids.
Shel is someone who’s stepped out and risked trying new things. He did some video interviewing and found it wasn’t his best work. But without excuses, he openly took criticism on the chin and worked to bring it up to his standards. Shel finds value in the microcosm of 140 character tweets and the macrocosm of the Twitterverse. He spends his time and effort going out to gather and collect stories, then share them with the world. I like that. And now he’s working on a project around healthcare. That’s something I believe is critical to humanity at large.
My biggest concern listing Sheryl here is the subset of people who will see her name and fail to read what I have to say. What a terrible loss for them to not hear about her from the man who knows her better than anyone else on earth.
Sheryl is above all, passionate. She’s the most passionate person I have ever met. She’s filled with ideas, with hope, with curiousity. She’s courageous beyond measure. I’ve watched her step out and do some things that challenged her and weren’t easy. She’s never backed away from a challenge.
All this passion and curiousity is leading her to something new. Sheryl is defining a new role in our world, our business, our industries for women. Some days I know she can’t see that. She’s too close to it to really see. She’s setting the bar for what women can do in a male-dominated sector. She’s a lyrical voice of sharing in the world, introducing a delicious buffet of new people, personalities and causes through her Incidental Interviews.
Sheryl pays attention in a way most people simply can’t. She listens, and she hears. She pays attention to me, to you, to her network, to the world. She’s in tune with the world around us in way that brings questions that matter to her mind. She has a way of asking a question that may sound simple, yet is truly deeper than the deep blue sea.
Sheryl’s my life partner, and yes we spend our lives together. I love her beyond anything I’ll ever be able to express in words. Beyond that, I like her more than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had. She brings value to the world every day with her thoughts and her actions. She’s a butterfly taking wing, a flower blossom opening, the notes of a symphony of life, hope, curiousity and wisdom in the universe.
on May 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
Ken,
That’s one terrific group and, in turn, a reflexion on you.
on May 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Thanks JP. It is a phenomenal group of amazing people in my life.
on May 22nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Everyone who does followfriday should be required to make a post like this.
on May 26th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Thanks Richard. I think we too often toss “off the cuff” posts without putting anything of ourselves into them. For me, the #followfriday mem so often feels that way. It was important to me to invest something in why those people matter to me.