The Education of Millionaires - Michael Ellsberg [104]
Robert stood up and said, “Put a more public face on the company.” He explained how, outlining what amounted to a strategy for corporate blogging—long before the concept of “corporate blogging” existed.
Ballmer said, “That’s a great idea,” pulled out a dollar from his wallet, signed it, and gave it to Robert. But Robert eventually got much more than a dollar and an autograph out of that interaction.
A few months later, Robert got a call from a Microsoft executive who had been at that meeting. He said to him, “You’re doing something at NEC that I’ve never seen anyone from a manufacturer do—you’re out talking to everyone, blogging, connecting. I want you to come to Microsoft and teach us how to do that.”
Scoble interviewed over five hundred people at Microsoft, everyone from the janitor to fellow non-college-graduate Bill Gates, and blogged about what was going on at the company, from an insider perspective. Eventually he got tired of restrictions on his blogging, so he quit in 2006. Not too many people who have such comparatively free-ranging corporate jobs choose to quit, but such is the power of having an incredible personal brand—you can write your own ticket. He quickly found a job at a podcasting start-up, then was wooed by Fast Company, and now works for Rackspace (http://www.rackspace.com), the world’s largest Web hosting company.
I asked him what his job duties are. “I’m the public face of Rackspace in the Valley. The company is in Texas, so the executives can’t be here every night. I’m an ambassador and connector for them. I go to a lot of events, conferences, parties. I also know every tech journalist in the world. I build relationships with press people. If we have a press event, I know whom to invite—and I have their business card. I also travel around the world and interview the leading-edge start-ups. I understand what’s going on in the industry, and if I see something happening, I tell the executives, ‘You better kick into gear in this area.’” If Robert wants to travel somewhere to pursue a hot lead for the company, he just goes. “I don’t even ask anymore. I’m going to Davos next week.”
Sounds like one of the greatest jobs anyone could wish for. Not too many people have corporate jobs like Robert does—complete freedom to travel when he wants, go to which events he wants, and talk to whomever he wants, whenever he wants. And the reason is, not too many people have been as passionate, savvy, and persistent about building up their personal brand and network of connections as Robert has. He’s become one of the most influential tech bloggers in the world, and lives life completely on his own terms.
I asked Robert if he ever considered writing that last Shakespeare paper, seventeen years late, and get his BA. He burst out laughing. “I have always joked around that if I actually got my journalism degree, my salary would go down. Because a journalism degree is not worth anything.”
His career advice? Build up your presence as much as possible on new platforms, media, and communities as they arise—the ones that already exist, and the ones we can’t even imagine yet, that will no doubt burst onto the scene. “HuffingtonPost.com didn’t exist five years ago. TechCrunch didn’t exist five years ago. YouTube didn’t exist six years ago. Facebook didn’t exist six years ago. Twitter didn’t exist five years ago. That’s the world we’re living in now. Why don’t you build a LinkedIn page instead of watching TV all night long? The savviest kids today already know how to build networks that work for them.” Robert believes that time spent building your presence and network of connections online—your personal brand—is one of the most important things you can do, because it will open doors for you that simply wouldn’t open otherwise.
He said he Googled me right after I e-mailed him for the interview request. “Within minutes, I knew something about you. I knew how to plug you into my world. I knew what size influence you had, and in which spheres. I knew your network and whom you were connected to.” Luckily, I had already