A Year in the Zone
Friday, February 01, 2008
Happy Birthday O'zoners, and congratulations on a great first year! I just read David Prescott's musings in Code Review and have to agree, it does seem like much longer than a year for the Opportunity Zone. Well, for me that's especially true since I've been doing the RealQuixtarBlog since April of 2004. I don't know the exact date, because the earliest months in Blog Harbor are now gone, with my Quixtar-developed blog launching in August of 2004, and the O'Zone version you see today launched December 1, 2006, a few months before the O'Zone itself. So, I guess RQB could celebrate on February 1 (today, Yay!), April 1, (April Fool's Day -- very appropriate), August 1 (Half way between Indepenence and Labor Days), and December 1 (because that season isn't busy enough already!).
What began as a little experiment has grown into something I've become somewhat passionate about. I can't say I live to blog (or blog to live), but I do enjoy it. Publicly sharing your personal life can be somewhat daunting. By the way, I don't share everything about me. You'd be bored and, in some cases, grossed out. Like my visits to the dentist a few weeks ago. Yuck! If you read RQB regularly you know I try to make sense of things by making analogies (sometimes weak ones) drawing on personal experiences or interests. Look, this is a complex business and sometimes people need visuals or comparisons they can relate to. The word pictures I create aren't for everyone ... that's why there are other bloggers here. Different people respond better to different voices, so hopefully we're providing enough variety for all of you!
At our little birthday party today I asked a few of the IT folk who support us if we can launch a dozen more blogs (not all at once). They're all super busy with a variety of web initiatives in support of IBO businesses, including the ongoing "Web 2.0" initiative plus things with names like Atlas and Magic. I think there's a special place in their hearts for the Opportunity Zone, though, because I didn't get violent opposition to the idea, especially if we keep the design simple and templated.
OK. Here are my O'Zone props.
First I want to thank all of the bloggers. For all of the bloggers, this is not their primary job. So thank you to Beth, Leyla, Nick, Susan, and Gregory! Thank you Melissa, our only blogger (so far) from Marketing! Thank you Matt, Bill, Brett, David and others in IT who share Code Review duties! And thank you to the execs who have taken their turns to address issues and share strategies and corporate news at Adatudes. AND, thanks to a bunch of names you haven't even seen yet because they are writing blogs that have yet to launch!
Next, I want to thank those same execs for allowing us to do this. Not all companies have the courage to allow the kind of conversations we've had in here to exist on corporate space. As I've shared before, we've come a long way from the early days of "maybe they'll go away if we ignore them long enough." I like that we're now having a conversation rather than separate monologues.
Special thanks go to those who truly make the Opportunity Zone work. Anna Bryce did the heavy lifting for all content on the site to make it live a year ago. Since then, Katie Pearsall joined the team and is now responsible for most O'zone coordination, including nudges to bloggers who haven't posted in awhile and checking to see if your comments have been posted and responded to. David Snyder did a lot of design, Jeff Bosch in IT did project management, and others I don't even know did their jobs to get the Zone up, running, and functional.
My BIGGEST thanks, however, go to you, the readers and participants in the Opportunity Zone. Without the IBOs, employees, critics and interested passers-by reading and responding, this wouldn't be a very interesting place. There have been a few times that people have "raised their voices" at each other in here, but I have been very impressed that, for the most part, Civil Discourse has reigned supreme in here. So, CONGRATULATIONS to all of you for one year of Opportunity Zone! Thank you Jeffrey and Bridgett and Rocket and Tex and rdknyvr and sivaram and so many others for taking the time to read, consider, and share your thoughts in here. Without that dialog, there really would be no point in doing this.
Our goal is to add new voices from the corporate side to the conversation by drafting new blogs with different topical focuses. The REAL goal, however, is for more of YOUR voices to be heard in the Opportunity Zone. I've talked to countless people at IBO events who have read this blog and others in the Zone. Sometimes they comment on someone they disagree with. My response is always the same: "Did you post a response?" So, if you're in here and you've seen something you disagree with (even on posts from months ago), make sure your voice is heard and post your response.
I'm looking forward to an active dialog during this second year of the Opportunity Zone. What do you say to that?