People Happen: Shel Israel Meets with Jangl

Once we were all jammed into the Jangl conference room for our talk with Shel, it was only right to do introductions. Shel asked each person to discuss whether or not they already blogged and, if not, if and why they might try it in the future. A pretty benign question, right?

A few were there as an academic exercise. They wanted to hear what Shel and others had to say. Fair enough.

Another revealed a passionate interest in World Cup soccer. Apparently, he moderates communities of like-minded fans -- communities that number in the hundreds, if not thousands. Wow. Who knew? Perhaps he'll use blogging to cultivate that community, he said.

One of our finest engineers -- a brilliant, incisive guy who fortunately has become, to me, a friend -- locked in with Shel. As is typical when I speak with this engineer, he was able to strip away blogging and communities to their core. . .he talked in almost ontological terms, discussing communities and connections like they were organisms (they are, I'm learning). Soon my head began to hurt, as I struggled to keep up. This particular friend of mine is a guy who breezes between philosophy, mathematics, sociology, and music like a skilled driver selecting the appropriate gear. Shel seemed to get it totally. I was a little lost -- but awed nonetheless.

Another dodged the question completely, but lasered right in: which U.S. political party has best used blogging to its advantage? For the few of us who are aware of the political leanings present in that room, it was a stunning -- almost provocative -- question. Both Shel and the questioner had viewpoints to espouse and defend, and they did, in a crisp exchange that had everyone leaning forward, listening, listening.

The team here gathers everyday, in varying groups both larger and small, to talk about work, Jangl, the market, the service. We gather over lunch for usually light and random discussions. But what I learned yet again that day was interesting: that when you stick a bunch of smart people into a room and raise a wholly-new and unexplored topic, there's no telling what you'll learn.

It was like holding old, familiar gems up against a light and an entirely different angle, and seeing them for the first time. And as saccharin as that sounds, that's exactly how it felt. Fucking amazing.

The one person who struck me most deeply? A young woman who matter-of-factly put her hands on her knees, looked down for a moment, and said in a soft voice, "I don't have anything to say. I work. I come home and raise my daughter. And that's it. I don't know what I'd say."

Of course she has something to say.

Doesn't she?

Shel Israel and Jangl on Blogging

Since mid-fall, Shel Israel and Jangl have been talking blogging, thanks to Pat Phelan, who made the introduction late last summer. Shel, as most of the blogosphere already knows, is a prolific, insightful blogger and co-author with Robert Scoble of one of the pre-eminent books on business blogging, Naked Conversations.

The initial idea of sitting with Shel was to take Michael's blog to the next level, though we all knew that I was going to have to get off my ass, too. So Shel gave Michael a ton of good tips and I listened intently. Michael took the tips to heart and made it happen on his blog, and all the while, Shel provided him great feedback, sometimes in meetings, sometimes via late-night email on which I was sometimes copied.

I listened intently.

It wasn't long before Shel swept his gaze my way. I can't remember exactly, but I'll be damned if he wasn't peering over his glasses in utter paternal disapproval.

"What about you?" he asked.

I -- ahem -- listened intently. Beyond that, I'll spare you the details, and spare myself the reliving of a much-deserved ass-kicking.

But the ultimate goal of Jangl and Shel was (and is) to share with everyone at Jangl the power and promise of blogging, to expose a whole variety of folks to how they might express and share themselves and join a much bigger conversation.

So a few minutes after my ass-kicking, I was prepping Shel for what was to follow: a pre-arranged, open discussion between Shel and anyone at Jangl who wanted to talk blogs.

"How many are going to be there?" he asked.

I'd received 7 replies via email.

"Somewhere between 5 and 8," I said.

Fourteen showed up. What a fool am I.

So we spent several minutes slowly and awkwardly squeezing chair after chair into the suddenly-small room. The edges of the table were occupied, so others were pushed to the fringes, swiveling in the corners. Others perched atop a table in the corner. The fire marshal would've objected.

And finally, there we all sat, beancounters, marketers, engineers, administrators, execs. The fluorescents buzzed dimly. The room temperature was already soaring. I had my usual brief terror that the meeting would be stilted and horrible: who knew what would happen?

Wow.

People happened.

More next time.