communication. community. cognition.
Posts tagged Your moment of Venn
Venning an Election
Sep 21st
This is a rare treat for me, as someone has taken the Venn concept and applied it to personal decision-making.
Reader Brian Carpenter sent this in for thought and consideration. He does not claim it to be complete or universal, but found it an effective tool for rating those qualities voters would look for in elected officials.
He sorts out the three main divisions as a candidate’s Stance, Ability, and Character. His analysis follows the graph:
Selecting a President
- The intersection of Stance and Ability without Character is cunning.
- The intersection of Ability and Character without any stance is wishy-washy.
- The intersection of Character and Stance without Ability is ineffective.
Stance gets most of the attention. It is the political views of the candidate often labeled as democrat or republican.
Examples
Many may consider Jimmy Carter within the yellow zone. He represented their political stance and was thought to have good character, but was unable to get much done. Sarah Palin may be also in the yellow zone for those who agree with her stance.
Many may consider Bill Clinton to be where the magenta and cyan zone almost touch. He was broadly accused of being poll-driven and lacking character, but has tremendous abilities to discern political strategy and communicate.
What do you think? Any other examples of placement of historical candidates? Any alternate divisions you would use to replace the three main spheres of influence? Come up with your own, and either link them here or send them to me.
Well done, Brian!
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, election, decision making, Venn diagram, politics[/tags]
The Dream Job
Aug 22nd
When I was interviewing for my current job, I was asked why I wanted it. True, everyone loves getting a paycheck (and some even love being employed.) But my answer came back to the intersection of things I enjoyed. I actually traced the following diagram on my desk for the interview committee:
These are three things I truly enjoy: helping people tell their story in times of stress and strain; geeky tech tools; and teaching others. The real actualization comes when those spheres start overlapping. My experience with using New Media tools to communicate during disasters comes in an intersection. Likewise my media training, and even the time I spend on Twitter and elsewhere helping others “get” Social Media.
I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to play in the mixed colors, and even work in that bright white zone in the middle.
Have you ever mapped out your motivations in this way? There might just be some fulfilling intersections that you’re missing because you haven’t tried overlapping…
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, motivation, Venn, career[/tags]
Friendz
Feb 26th
What does it mean to be a “friend?”
If you’re young, and growing up online, the word can mean many different things. And there are other words that can cloud the issue: followers, acquaintances, allies, supporters…
So think for yourself how you can categorize and differentiate the terms. I broke things down this way, but it’s not the only way:
- People you like
- People who like you
- Over a long period time
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, friendship[/tags]
Career
Nov 8th
A Moment of Venn inspired by Valeria Maltoni:
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Venn diagram, personal development[/tags]
The Sweet Spot of Influence
Sep 7th
Today’s “Moment of Venn” looks at the factors that make a story powerful and influential:
This one speaks for itself.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Venn diagram, storytelling, influence[/tags]
Live Nude Girls
Aug 14th
There’s something powerful about the number “3″. As writers, we are drawn to threes because they give us a sense of completeness. Past-Present-Future. Hook-Line-Sinker. Beginning-Middle-End.
Sometimes we choose to go the route of dualities. Good-Evil. Light-Dark. But they don’t feel the same.
Simple writing is best, but there are times when you can simplify too far. Someone once said (and my Googling fails me, for reasons you’ll understand) that it takes three words at minimum to describe something. Anything less, and you’re falling short, or leaving ambiguity. The example given was a neon sign at Times Square years ago, promising Live Nude Girls.
Somehow, altering any one of those three words changes the complexion of the situation, in a decidedly more comical, more dark, or less sexist way. One word can change quite a bit.
Now, there is a picture of that classic sign somewhere on the internet. iStockphoto has it, and I’ll just link to it here. I won’t post it, because, well… I’m cheap. And I can’t find an alternative, because as you can imagine, “Live Nude Girls Sign” generates 127,000 hits on Google Images. “Live Nude Girls Neon” fetches 26,500 candidates, and the combination of “Live Nude Girls Neon Sign” only shaves it down to 21,400. And let me tell you, I just can’t bring myself to wade through that many pictures. I pondered the sacrifice, but alas…
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, writing, rule of threes, communication, venn[/tags]
