I used to love hearing the coach say “Ritter, you’re in.” It meant I was going to get in the game rather than just stand on the sidelines trying to stay warm and keep my head involved. Ironic, I guess, coming from someone who now works in a profession renowned for standing on the sidelines and kibitzing to the players (best line ever – the commercial – where the consultants look at the client and say “oh, we don’t actually DO anything, we just recommend.”)
I’m thinking about this because I had an interesting experience this morning. You may have seen the announcement that konnects, a new social network, is having its official launch today. Like you, I need another social network like a third armpit, but I figured I’d search the Twitter community to see what was being said. Interestingly, of the 35 (as of this writing) tweets in the last 24 hours on this subject, it seemed as if exactly one was from a person who had signed up and was using it. The other 34 were either people reposting the announcement or asking for thoughts on the network.
How many blogs do you read that are just that? Folks who are standing on the sidelines but really don’t have the skill required to play the game? How many naysayers are there like that in your office – folks who are ready to criticize at a moment’s notice but who don’t move the ball up field themselves?
The perspective in the middle of the field or court or rink or tee box is very different than that from the sidelines. We all need to get in the game and sweat a bit before we make a lot of noise from the bench. I understand that it’s all a part of the conversation, and it’s certainly OK to ask questions or seek opinions (and I wish more people did both!). But I think there’s too much uninformed chatter out there. Maybe it’s peer pressure to blog/tweet/fill up the lifestream. We’d all be better off sharing experiences, not just opinions.
