chris busse

When the Enterprise kicks you in the shins

Driving serious change in a large bureaucratic organization is like playing soccer without shin guards.

You’re always going around trying to move things forward, and then every now and then - WHAM - you get kicked in the shins by someone who’s job it is to make things harder to move forward (or prevent change entirely).

It sucks, and you get pissed. Sometimes expletives are hurled (in your head at least), and you have to limp off the field.

But after a while the pain goes away and you’ve had a moment to study your opponent. You realize that them kicking you in the shins was quite likely avoidable - maybe you came at them too fast, too hard or too recklessly.

Time to get back on the field and have another go at it - score the goal you’re looking for now that you know what’s going to raise their ire, and most of all, make sure you still enjoy the game.

Twitter Handle Embroiled in Controversey

I own (as much as anyone does) a fairly well-followed but mostly dormant Twitter handle representing a place that has become the focus of a controversy due to the actions of some no-couth-having [redacted] and thus my phone notifications were blowin’ up this weekend.

I really didn’t want to take sides, and the temptation to troll was nearly overwhelming, so I ended up just posting a Tweet of a bit of wisdom that my father used to tell me and it turned out to be one of “my” most retweeted tweets ever.

So, I guess if you want a hot tip for social media success: wade in on super-controversial topics that people get worked up about … which is exactly why I try to stay out of political discussions.