So many people ask me how I can spend so much time being so out there as a blogger on social media. Here’s my secret.
My new friend Yoon J Lee told me she might like to start blogging but that she’s too awkward and a little unsure — though an excellent writer.
She perceives my posts as being very much me, in my voice — the person she met in Aspen last week.
Authentic Chris.
While that is indeed true, Yoon also met world-class-international-conference-of-the-world’s-best-and-brightest-attending Chris Abraham. Completely me but also the best of me. When you blog, be 100% yourself but be your best self.
Here’s an analogy I always use:
Blog like you’re at dinner with your parents, your significant other’s parents, with your boss and his wife, with your holy man of choice (priest, vicar, guru, etc), and with someone you’d like to have dinner with, living or dead (for example, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Jesus, Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, or Winston Churchill — not so much your rock stars — and I am on the fence as to whether one should include Oscar Wilde).
You really don’t lose yourself or your voice. You may indeed share a lot of funny stories and be really funny and sometimes also be provocative — if you’re confident and courageous — but it is important to be always aware that you’re on stage in earshot — and in full attention — of people you respect and who’s opinion you value highly.
Here’s a caveat, however: when you blog and you’re thinking of the table of people you’re blogging for, make sure you choose people you respect and want a continued relationship with — don’t choose people you want to impress! Why? Well, everyone hates an over-the-top kiss-up.
People detest networkers, people detest kiss-ups, people detest salespeople, and people abhor folks who are doing a complete song-and-dance snow-job. Don’t be that guy.
Even if you’re innately profane and despicable, I am sure you don’t act that way when you’re meeting if your boss, greeting your pastor, or breaking bread with your family during the holidays –
Be that guy!
