[geeks] Discuss this quote...

[Dan Sikorski]

Bill Bradford wrote:
> Usually true.  However, my "non-conformist" ways, willingness to "think
> outside the box" and come up with "creative solutions using no-cost open
> source tools" have gotten me kept onboard when our Austin office closed,
> transferred to the Houston office, and put into a more senior position
> dealing with enterprise infrastructure instead of being the local IT/
> printer-fixit guy.  The "more agile and open to new ideas" IT department
> of the subsidiary I work for has grown and taken over a lot of the "do it
> THIS way or not at all" mentality of the larger parent company IT
> department.
>
> I'm sure this is an exception to the rule though.
>   
Based on my (admittedly limited) experience, I would guess that this is 
due to the fact that you can communicate with others in the organization 
effectively.  If you consider your audience when you talk to them, you 
go from "loony, non-conformist" to "a little different, but seems to 
know what he's talking about".  If you are talking to a CFO to get 
approval for a project, you talk the money end, you give him/her a brief 
synopsis of the problem, and quickly start talking about what it will 
cost and/or how it can save money in the long run.  If you are talking 
to the manager of a department, you talk to him/her about how it can 
make their employees more efficient.  When you start spouting off about 
how something sucks, and that your boss is an idiot, people pretty 
quickly tune you out  and think you're loony (and at least to an extent, 
they're right).  In other words, the only person who appreciates a BOFH 
is another BOFH.

Same goes for personal appearance, hygiene or anything else.  If you 
come in Monday morning looking like hell, it might be because you spent 
all weekend up every night hacking on a hobby machine at home, but to 
anyone else, they can't tell the difference between that and getting off 
a red-eye from Vegas from a weekend bender with brothels and illicit 
drugs and driving straight to work.  (Not that anyone would fault you 
for doing that once, but it's one of those things that becomes a problem 
when it's a regular habit and starts to affect your work, right?) 

What I'm getting at is "Personal Marketing" (if i may make up a term for 
my own use) is what makes the distinction between
the "loony" and the one that "thinks outside the box".  I'm sure that 
there are organizations where this won't make a difference, but that's 
probably when it's <mcguire>time to move</mcguire>, but as always YMMV.

    -Dan