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I'm in the position of having three (or three and-a-half -- :) ) very different jobs. I've worked as a professional film editor for many years in a wide variety of markets -- films, television, corporate, commercials, show films, etc. I am also a professor at the USC School of Cinema-Television and run a small department there. Finally, I co-own a small Internet Consulting business which does database consolidation for a variety of industries and also builds applications, primarily for the entertainment industry -- music and film. I also am a writer in many of these categories (that's the "half" job).

That's a long-winded way of saying that my clients are hugely varied and have a variety of egos, needs, business goals, and business acumen.

Yet I have found that Manager Tools is incredibly useful across all of my job areas and clients. Even as a film editor, I am a manager. As a professor, I have need for time management, personnel management, task management. And, of course, as an Internet Consultant/Product Manager, we need most of the tools you talk about -- including skip levels, network building tools, and much much more.

The point is this -- in the 21st Century, we all need to be entrepeneurs and managers of our own work and our own careers. As such, there is nothing that we cannot learn about management that doesn't help us. The similarities in how to maneuver in this world across differing careers, are much more prevalent than the differences.

As such, I find MT an amazingly effective, very user accessible, tool for my daily life. Thanks so much for all of your work with the cast and with this site.

Norman Hollyn

P.S. Do you realize that there is a huge opening for delivering these messages to people who wouldn't consider themselves as the audience for them? That is people who don't consider themselves managers at all?

Mark's picture
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Norman-

Thank you for taking the time to write such an exceptionally kind and insightful note. My appreciation has nothing to do with my having two brothers who are Southern Cal grads - Adam and Hugh, 85 and 78. They loved their experience in the Business School there.

We agree with you about the... portability of MT. We talk about it in the context of management because we find that the most fertile market. WE hope that we can grow from there to touch many other disciplines where, you so astutely note, the skills have applicability.

I told a multimedia student at UT recently that he would have to develop these skill for a career in film or TV direction. He said he wouldn't, because he was an artist. I chuckled and secretly hoped he was talented enough to win an Emmy or Oscar... to make up for what he would need but not have.

Thanks for being a listener. It's a privilege to do this for you.

Mark

TimK's picture

Yes, MT is indeed useful for many different roles.

On the weekends, I am a music director at my church. A few of us rotate in the role from week to week, and I share the administrative tasks with one of the other band members. So it's a very part-time thing, but it [i]is[/i] a management role.

Just yesterday, I witnessed the aftermath of an encounter between a member of the music team and one of the parishoners, an encounter which left the team-member in tears. Even without knowing the specifics, I immediately started going through the feedback model and what I would need to know in order to make my feedback effective. And then I started thinking through other approaches. What I did not do is shrink from the issue, because I knew it needed to be dealt with if the music team was to remain effective, and I knew what results we needed.

Much of how I responded in this situation had little to do with specific management techniques. Mostly, I found myself relying on understanding I had gleaned from MT and from watching the great managers I've had in the past.

So, a manager? Naw. I'm just a musician... :wink:

-TimK

cincibuckeyenut's picture

I found this last comment interesting, because I just recently joined my church council, shortly after starting to listen to the podcasts, and what I chose to do was to attempt to apply as much as possible of what I was learning immediately to the council and my subcommittee. I felt like this would be an extremely safe learning environment and I would be able to get my feet wet in a nonpressure environment, rather than ratcheting things up at the office where I am behind the eight ball already.

That said, I also have put in place a few things at the office, and definitely will be putting much more in place, but it is a learning process for me and I wanted to start somewhere small.

So far, so good.

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Cincibuckeyenut-

Glad you're aboard and doing what you can. Let us know what you think and what you need.

We consider it a privilege to serve you.

Mark