From the Mind of Trevor Stone

My talk from Ignite Boulder 40 last month has been posted to YouTube. The basic idea is that organizations usually have a computer scientist kind of view: the CEO is at the top, with a pyramid unfolding below them. But what if you turned it upside down and treated it like a biology tree, with the root at the bottom and the frontline folks (who do the crucial work in most organizations) are at the top. If you've got five minutes and thirty-three seconds, give it a listen.



I've got links to the cool 1850s org chart, some info on the Black Rock Rangers, and downloadable copies of my slide deck on my Ignite page.

During the practice sessions, one of the Ignite Boulder organizers said that hat brims tend to hide your eyes. I wore a stovepipe hat and tailcoat anyway, since Decembers are the "dress fancy" Ignite Boulder events. The brim cast a much more notable shadow than I'd expected, but I like the result on the video: my cheeks look kind of washed out, making my eyes more prominent coming from the shadow. I was also really pleased with my delivery: during practice I was constantly feeling rushed to hit my slide timing cues, and worried I'd have to cut a few bits. But when I was on stage I simultaneously felt less rushed and managed to deliver all the material I wanted in each 15-second slide.

From a comment I wrote on another journal:

Listening to Sean Hannity as I drove across Wyoming last weekend, I think I realized the key to right-wing talk shows:

The host never admits they are, were, or could be wrong. A guest on, say, Charlie Rose's or Bill Moyers' shows is there to educate the listeners and the host. But a guest on Glenn Beck's or Rush Limbaugh's shows are there either to agree with the host or for the host to browbeat and contradict.

It's a great business move: If you present yourself as infallible and your listeners believe it, they'll be very loyal listeners, ripe for advertisers.

Contrast this to a prominent radio host on the left of the spectrum like Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. She shares her point of view through selection bias, inviting guests whose message she wants to spread and letting listeners hear it in a new voice each day. When she has a guest she strongly disagrees with (she hosted Lou Dobbs a few years ago), she sticks to the question format, though with more points and barbs than folks she likes. But she never outright tells a guest they're wrong or screams at someone to get off the air.