Bragging Rights

There are lots of year-end posts going around. They’re all lovely. I see predictions. I see a huge trend of “best of” posts that I think are largely due to Christopher S. Penn sharing how he did his. I see lots of wrapping up posts.

Oddly, what was on my mind, was bragging.

Becky McCray has a “brag basket” set up on her blog, where you’re supposed to comment on the post with things you want to brag about. I’ve done it a few times. It’s always left me feeling weird, because I’ve been taught (like most of us) that bragging isn’t very useful.

But man, I really feel like bragging about 2009.

I want to brag about my family: about Katrina managing my family’s daily operations and handle my crazy travel schedule, all the while being a caring and thoughtful participant in the success of what I’m doing. My mom and dad, who are now acting as my backoffice for a lot of my work, and who are researching and editing and doing all kinds of interesting things for my upcoming projects, as well as managing my business schedule. I’m proud of Violette for being interested in food and cooking, and Harold for being able to read much better than a 3 year old should, and because he’s potty-trained (thank you, Kat).

I feel proud of my New Marketing Labs team: Colin Bower, Bob Collins, Justin Levy, Colin Browning, TJ O’Connor, Stephen Saber, Nick Saber, and our support teams, who gave us a huge great first year in business. I want to brag about Coffeehouse Ideas, who did lots of design projects with us, as well.

I want to brag about Christopher S. Penn, Whitney Hoffman, Michelle Wolverton and all the amazing volunteers and teams who put on successful PodCamps this year, and for what we’ll all do in 2010 (not to mention their own amazing careers and projects).

I want to brag about Jon Swanson, who writes amazing blog posts on more than one blog (if you’re Christian, you might also like his 300 Words a Day blog. (I’m not especially Christian, and I love it).

I want to brag about Megin Hatch and the team at GNMParents for writing great parenting materials. Same with Doriano “Paisano” Carta, and Jeffrey Sass, who keep the fires burning at Dad-o-Matic.

I want to brag about C.C. Chapman and Mitch Joel, who have so many great projects on the go, and who are pillars of their community.

I want to brag about Julien Smith, for all his accomplishments with co-authoring a New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, as well as his own incredible blog. (that was cheating)

I want to brag about all my friends who acted as trust agents to their companies in 2009, like Christopher Barger at GM, and Scott Monty at Ford, and Frank Eliason at Comcast, and Paula Berg at Southwest, and Jenny Cisney at Kodak, and Kenny Miller at MTV Networks, and Jess Berlin at Cirque Du Soleil and Bonin Bough at Pepsi, and Peter Fasano at Coke, and Bert DuMars at Rubbermaid, and Fergie Devins at Molson, and George Smith Jr at Crocs, and just all the incredible people I’ve been able to meet and share ideas with.

I want to brag about all the great people I met in 2009. I met around 10,000 new people this year, plus got to catch up with several hundred wonderful people at the few hundred events I attended. It’s a crazy life, flying all around the country (and the world), to New Zealand, to Mexico, to Paris, to Amsterdam, and all the other amazing places I’ve been, and what keeps me going is finding people like you, who are driven and motivated and passionate and connected to what comes next. You might think it’s cliche, but it’s you who makes this all worthwhile, and believe me, I talk to Kat all the time about how I’d pack it in if I didn’t have as many amazing friends and community members like you out there.

This year proved to me that you can be ambitious, can have a strong sense for business and revenue, and still bring as much human touch to what you’re doing as possible. The more I reach out, the more I connect with people, the more I give as much as I can away for free, the more it pays off.

But that’s because of the great people I’ve come to know and spend time with, and from all the time I can put into building relationships that matter.

Thanks for an amazing 2009. See you in the new decade.

One last thing: I’m most proud of these two speeches I gave in 2009. If you have some extra time, give them a browse:

From Web 2 Expo 2009 Keynote:

From New Media Atlanta 2009 Keynote:

Thank you. I see you.

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