Find That Thing That Makes You A Little Bit Weird And Your Work Will Get Better

Saturday, 04 February 2012 00:37

Find That Thing That Makes You A Little Bit Weird And Your Work Will Get Better

Written by Scott Payne

My favourite thing about getting to work with social media as much as I do is connecting with and getting to know people with whom I wouldn't otherwise have crossed paths. Towards the top of that list of people is Dave Olson.

Dave is VP Community at Vancouver-based social media dashboard giant HootSuite, but perhaps more importantly a story-teller extraordinaire and wise, humourous, and humble human being. Dave's capacity to be hyper-engaging is good enough reason to pay attention, but what struck me watching the video is how much of what he says in this TEDxCapU talk about being, "On the Road to Creativity," speaks to what I take to be the underlying mantra of Beams and Struts.

The possible quotes in this sucker are rife enough to swim in and you can look at a post at East Side Media for some of my faves. But, really, you should just watch the whole thing for yourself:

You can check out Dave's blog here or follow him on Twitter as @uncleweed or @DaveOHoots.

* photo from kk+'s Flickr stream

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5 comments

Comment Link Saturday, 04 February 2012 19:44 posted by TJ Dawe
This guy has Enneagram Seven written all over him - completely unrelated jobs in Germany, Japan, Guam, and his stories of throwing himself into each environment with no preparation, not speaking the language, no idea what he was going to do, but landing on his feet each time nonetheless. And now he works in another unrelated field in Vancouver. He studied at five institutions to get his degree. He synthesizes different fields of knowledge. He's full of idealism and the desire to spread freedom and happiness to everyone. He looks up to Hunter S Thompson. He threw a party so big it took him four days to clean up after it. And he frequently uses the word "awesome."

Great talk.
Comment Link Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:34 posted by Scott Payne
Interesting observations, TJ. Not sure whether Dave is familiar with the Enneagram system or has plotted his personality quirks across it.

What I like most about Dave that I think really shines through in this video is his respect for and commitment to authenticity in both one's self and one's work. I love how he describes the stuff we "craft", that's a word I've used in the past myself and I think it lends an appropriate depth to our efforts in public.

Also,I found myself nodding my head vigorously and saying, "Yes, yes, yes!" to the below quote, especially as pertains to our site:

"Embark on personal archeology. In your closet you all have a shoebox full of pictures; you all have a file folder with your awesome college thesis that your professor and maybe one other person read; why don’t we put all that collective intelligence online?"
Comment Link Tuesday, 14 February 2012 04:32 posted by Dave O
A few notes for the record...

1) Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, it means a ton to me

2) "Yes yes yes" reminds me of Neal Cassidy at the wheel in On The Road

3) Not familiar with the Enneagram system - must Google that up... but first a beer

4) TJ, lots more of my odds and ends floating around the web i think you might enjoy... Scott, you seem to find all the best bits.

#cheers
Comment Link Tuesday, 14 February 2012 04:38 posted by Scott Payne
Dave,

Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment. I should be lucky to bottle as much life into the trajectory of my whole body across time as Neal had in his baby toe. Do you have any suggestions for me/TJ, I really just stumble across what you put out there.

And TJ, perhaps you have a good Enneagram link you slide Dave's way?
Comment Link Tuesday, 14 February 2012 05:58 posted by TJ Dawe
An Enneagram link for Dave: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/TypeSeven.asp - that'll take you to the Enneagram Institute's profile for Type Seven.

for an overview of the Enneagram itself, there's this piece I posted right here at Beams: http://beamsandstruts.com/essays/item/265-enneagram-overview