White Collar Doom

Met some GREAT people last week at a conference and found myself in a very funny, non-linear conversation over beers. Topics included social media, marketing, work, culture, getting mugged and perhaps most importantly, what would happen if the power went out, and stayed out. For good.

Here's where "white collar doom" comes from: we lost power for more than a few days after Hurricane Irene in late 2011. During that time it did occur to me on more than one occasion that if the power had not come back on - I'd be pretty well doomed. In fact, if you are reading this blog, it's quite possible that you are just like me... essentially incapable of survival without power, credit cards and the internets.

Here's how I think about it; I'm an information worker who spends his days in front of a computer, tapping little plastic buttons. I've not done physical labor of any sort since high school (worked in a variety of places including a furniture store). I've never done construction of any sort.

I'm not much of a camper. In fact, just today I set up a new fire pit and had very little luck in actually starting a real fire. I even resorted to using a fire starter log and even with that... not much to show for it.

I have never needed to kill my food in order to survive. In fact, never killed anything myself that I have eaten I don't think. Maybe 30 days on Survivor is in order.

That's why today, in the comfort of my backyard I dug up a broken drainage pipe, headed to the hardware store and purchase some "PVC" pipe and something the guy called a "coupler." When I got home, with my very own hands I fixed a pipe situation. Epic!

If I can ever figure out how to start a fire, maybe there will be hope.

Doubtful, but maybe.

Comments

What Would Google Do: Non-Profit Edition

I've been tweeting and yapping to friends about Jeff Jarvis's terrific book " What Would Google Do " even before I've properly finishing the thing. I sat myself down tonight and plowed through the last 100 pages where Jarvis examines different industries including automotive, manufacturing, telcom, healthcare and more to see what Google would do if they were in those businesses. On one hand, I was really hoping that Jarvis had taken a look at the non-profit sector given my personal history in the sector and my ongoing interest in how non-profits operate. I'll also note that I used to write a fairly well read non-profit marketing blog . Unfortunately, the book doesn't delve into this much, if at all. I thought, instead of a basic set of notes or a book review as I usually do that I'd jump back in time and take a look at the sector with fresh, and "Googley" eyes. If you haven't yet read the book, the basic premise is that Google fundamenta

The Future of Non-Profit Fundraising is Already Here, and You Are Not Ready

This blog post is loosely transcribed from a talk I gave as part of a Future of Non-profits meet up hosted by my buddy David Neff . I was asked to do no more than 5 minutes and came up with the following. I'm also posting my hand scribbled notes I used to plan the talk, may as well show you my doctor like scribble. The notes were written on my iPad mini using Penultimate in case you were wondering. And now... the talk... Hi everyone and good morning (In my head there is awesome music playing!). My name is Marc Sirkin and I'm currently a Director with PwC, focused on helping organizations transform their digital marketing and social media. I spent 10 years in the non-profit sector, with large health charities such as March of Dimes, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Autism Speaks. Most recently, I've been volunteering and doing pro-bono work for much smaller organizations focused on mentoring and youth. Before I jump in, let me warn you, I'm extremely enam

Disconnect - 3 keys to disconnecting while on vacation

Previously posted on Medium , reposted here. I blog so infrequently, I figure I need to repurpose as much content as I can! (Photo by Marc Sirkin, Utah Mountains 2013) Even before mobile/smartphones I was bad; sneaking away to check email, reading business books or memos while on the beach, working on proposals or ideas at the pool. All behaviors of someone who would rather lose himself in work, instead of being present with family, focusing on clearing the mind and having a good time. Over the past few years I’ve improved my efforts to disconnect. I did however notice that it would take 2 or 3 days to fully disconnect. Similar to an addict, I’d have dreams about work, fanatically check in and have to almost physically restrain myself from replying to emails. It was bad, very bad. I’d come back from work up to date, but feeling like I hadn’t even had time off. As my kids grew older, it became more and more important to disconnect from work and get focused on my family and fri

Marc Sirkin's Mindnumbing Thoughts

Search This Blog