Month: May 2010

Introduction: Mark Wingrove

Editor’s note: Mark is our “true geek”, who will largely be blogging about actual geeky stuff. He has had the (mis?)fortune of working for Jenn at a previous job.

The True GeekAccomplished IT professional with a 10-year track record of successful technology management, and administration within various industries. I found my way into the IT world by way of geology. Yes, rocks. While studying geology, I was heavily involved in geographic information systems (GIS). GIS is computer mapping and modeling in the areas of earth science. With my computer background attained as a side effect of my dealing with GIS, I found myself working mostly with the IT department at my first job out of college, even though I was hired as an environmental chemist.

This being my first attempt into blogging, or any form of public communication, I enter with great enthusiasm and trepidation.

My reluctance (and fear) of writing was instilled at an early age. The first poor grade I ever received was for penmanship in the fifth grade. This compounded my aversion to writing, and I avoided it at all costs. For my part, if practice makes perfect, than the lack of practice… well, let’s just say my last bad grade wasn’t in the fifth grade. So, I use this blog to gain the practice I should have gotten so many years ago, and also to share some knowledge and lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Photo courtesy of johnmuk.

Re-introduction: Jenn Steele

Jenn Steele, a sister, and a nieceOnce upon a time, I was a Leader of Geeks.  I was the head of IT at two different Boston-based law firms, and was absolutely passionate about leadership.  Then I started getting more involved with social media & blogging via the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), and fell in love with the internet.  So around the time that I was Social Networking Coordinator for the ILTA 2009 conference, I was talking HubSpot into hiring me as an Inbound Marketing Consultant.  For the first time in seven years, I was an individual contributor.

I really NEEDED to be an individual contributor, since I had really burned out at my previous job (think technology hell.  Then multiply that by 7 and get less sleep.  Yeah, that.).   After an extended brain/blog hiatus, I’m ready to talk about leadership again, so I’ll be blogging under my same old Leading Geeks persona.

I live in Waltham, Mass. with my husband and utter lack of any other living things (pets, plants, children, etc.). My hobbies include fine wine, single malt scotch, physical fitness, science fiction television, and epic fantasy novels. I have an obsession with figuring out what motivates people, and tend to concentrate on scientists and technologists. I have a severe Blackberry addiction with no plans for rehab any time soon, much to my husband’s chagrin (although I did take it off vibrate mode and now only check it every 20-30 minutes or so while at home).

Words that have been used to describe me include:

  • Refreshing
  • Straightforward
  • Honest
  • Intimidating
  • Inspirational
  • Odd
  • Funny
  • Intelligent
  • Blunt
  • Perceptive
  • Weird

And that’s about it.  Nice to re-meet you, and I’m looking forward to blogging on this new Leading Geeks!

Welcome to the New Leading Geeks

Welcome to the New Leading GeeksAfter a much longer hiatus than I initially anticipated, we’re re-launching Leading Geeks!

Why?

I (Jenn) got lame.  I changed careers, and it turns out that also changed my day-to-day thoughts enough that I didn’t have my nifty general ideas to spew out on my blog.

Who?

Stay tuned!   Folks will be introduced over the next few weeks. (But you can get a sneak peak using the links up at the top.)

So…?

Hey; I’m just putting up this post so everyone knows I have 3 awesome co-authors who will start publishing soon.  Turns out there’s not that much else to say :).

Customer Service = Convenience

Editor’s note: We’ll be announcing all the nifty Leading Geeks changes soon, but Jenn got inspired before that…

I admit it, I subscribe to the Harvard Business Review. I’m a total business/leadership/management geek, and I really enjoy the articles and occasional data porn.  Heck, I’m even on the advisory board.  For a publication that’s supposed to be business-savvy, however, my recent renewal fiasco has been rather startling to me.

  • First I got a special offer to renew via email.  I’d get some articles about leadership.  Awesome!  So I click through the offer, and I can’t tell whether it’s print only or the premium subscription to print + online (what I currently have).
  • So I find them on twitter and ask about it.  (Yes, on twitter.  Deal with it.)
  • Whoops; wrong twitter account.  Apparently, they have several.  Re-tweet that to the correct account.
  • After a few back-and-forth exchanges, they ask me to follow them so they can DM me.  I do.
  • They DM me an email address that I can email for inquiry.  (Seriously?)
  • I try to DM back that email isn’t exactly convenient, but they’re not following me.
  • Meanwhile, I get some snail mail renewal offers, all with the same completely unclear offer–am I renewing print-only or premium? No way to tell.
  • 3 weeks later, I get around to sending that email (wonder why this blog is behind? Yeah; I’m hosed.)
  • They reply with (wait for it!)…AN 800-NUMBER TO CALL.
  • Seriously?
  • So I try to DM them about it.  Still not following me.  Shocking.
  • I send a public @ reply to them about it.
  • THEN I get an email back from that same person with an offer to sign me up for a premium subscription and bill me.

Now, wouldn’t it have been much easier to just give me the choice of renewing print-only or premium subscription on the initial email offer?  Yeah, I thought so, too.

Edit: I just received a customer service survey from HBR.  I’m trying to resist giggling maniacally about it…

Edit #2: Hey! All they ask is why I contacted them and whether my issue was resolved.  Seriously?  I don’t get to give feedback?  Mushrooms…

Edit #3: Oh, wait, it continues to more pages.  Usability fail.