Twitter Reform!

@JoshSkillman & @MylesTweetz

Good morning!  Hope that you have had a nice weekend.  I just finished up a 6 mile run and now Myles sits in my lap as I type my first blog post in a couple weeks. 

Twitter reform!  Despite my self-denial I knew that the day would come when I'd have to make a decision to more clearly define myself on Twitter.  Each day my personal world and professional world become more and more intertwined and it's becoming difficult to use Twitter the way I had intended, which was to freely express my opinion, sports rants, and political commentary.  I have struggled with this as I've read tweets from the people I follow in sports, the professionals I follow in the Student Affaris Community, and the friends and family that I follow.  Truly, I have three sets of audiences and my tweets are not always appropriate or relevant to all three.  You see, the friends who follow me follow me because they know me and they probably find the stuff I tweet funny.  However, the people from my professional life that follow me, but don't know me, may really not understand my tweets about IU, running, or just plain silliness.  It's tough for me to maintain my authenticity as an individual while at the same time maintaining my reputation as a professional on Twitter without an organized strategy.  So...yesterday I decided to change my Twitter approach. 

Like many others, I have decided to use Twitter in a more intentional manner.  Yesterday, I went through all the people I follow and who follow me and created lists that will better help me read through the information that is relevant and important.  I have a list for sports, friends and family, SA Professionals, news, and IUPUI HRL Staff.  Not only will this help me sort through information, but it also helped me realize that nearly 60% of my audience was from my professional community.  This was all the more reason to make this change.  Additionally, I have decided that my @JoshSkillman account will be used to share encouragement, information that is relevent to student affairs and running, and to share tidbits about myself that may reach my whole audience.  I have a Twitter account for my dog Myles, @MylesTweetz.  Myles (aka Josh with Myles on his lap) will tweet back and forth with my fellow Indiana fans during games and share some more traditionally "Josh" banter.  While I'm never going to want to stop tweeting about Indiana Basketball or quit sharing my opinions, I'm sure that some of the folks who follow me have stopped paying attention because they don't want to read about my thoughts on certain referrees or opposing teams.  This doesn't mean I won't tweet "Go Hoosiers" from time to time, but I won't be filling up the twitter feed with nothing but IU basketball stuff or tweets about random stuff. 

This has been an interesting decision that I have wrestled with for some time.  However, the more meetings I attend on campus where Twitter is mentioned and the more I hear about Twitter at conferences I attend, it has become apparent that people are going to read what I tweet and make a judgement call on it.  Therefore, I must make the change so that I don't cost myself in the long run and damage my professional reputation.  While for a long time I tried to ignore the power of Twitter and have tweeted whatever I wanted, it's become crystal clear that I must change up that strategy. 

I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog post.  Have a great day and happy running to you!

The Guy Who Wears Running Shoes to Work

Good morning and happy weekend to you. I just finished up a nice six mile run on a very wintery day in Indianapolis. My post today is inspired by the spirited Twitter discussion on #sachat (Student Affairs Chat) about the role that your dress plays at work in Student Affairs. Here goes.


Admittedly, I’ve never been one to worry much about dress. Recently, though, this changed after I attended a meeting on campus in which an upper level administrator on the vice chancellor level invited a speaker to come and talk with a few of us about beginning a new learning community in Housing. I had an opportunity to say hello to the speaker before the meeting and she said, “oh, you are the guy who wears the running shoes.” Wow.

I was not Josh Skillman, “the guy who was nominated for Supervisor of the Year at IUPUI.”

I was not Josh Skillman, “the guy who received an award from the Black Student Union for my commitment to diversity and multicultural education.”

I was not Josh Skillman, “the guy who was commended at the Chancellor level for providing outstanding leadership during the three day Ice Storm Emergency last February.”

I was Josh Skillman, “the guy who wears running shoes.” Not even Josh Skillman, “the guy who’s a pretty good runner in Indianapolis. Nope, just Josh Skillman, “the guy who wears running shoes to work.”

This was not crushing to me because I am a runner and I made a conscious choice to wear running shoes to work each day despite knowing that the shoes did not match my otherwise professional attire (dress pants, dress shirt, sweater or tie on occasion). However, it was an eye opener. The person at the upper administrator level clearly described me to a guest on campus as “the guy who wears running shoes to work.” She did not talk about the content of my character or quality of my work. Rather, it was about the shoes I wore to work. There is a “perfectly logical explanation” as to why I was wearing running shoes, but I did not get the chance to explain why and in all honesty it would not have mattered.

On Thursday there was an intense debate on #sachat about the importance of professional attire. I rarely chime in on the #sachat feed, but even I felt compelled to share my opinion. I stated that “dress will get you in the door” and that “dress is important,” but that “your work is much more important.” And…I still believe that your work, the way you treat people, and coming through for those you are responsible for and to is most important to professional success. However, dress is an important factor as well. While I wish that we all would be evaluated solely by what is written on the pages in our book, it would be a mistake not to consider that your cover is of equal importance. If you don’t have a presentable cover, then some folks won’t care what is written in your book. For me, I was willing to live with some folks thinking it was weird that I wore running shoes to work. After all, I’m a runner and runners are kind of strange. However, what I learned at that meeting last semester was that the person sizing me up did not think of me as a runner, which is what I intended, but rather as a guy who wore running shoes to work. She could not have cared less about why or about my running. Unfair or not, this was the result of my choice.

So…what did I do? I went out and bought some very nice and comfortable black and brown dress shoes and started wearing them to work with my otherwise professional attire. While I personally may never really notice or care about what someone is wearing to work (as long as it’s not torn clothing, shorts, ripped shirts, etc.), there are people—people who can determine how far we can progress professionally—that do care. I could keep wearing running shoes to work and be seen as that “guy who wears running shoes to work.” And…I could draw my line in the sand and say that I’m helping students and my shoes don’t matter. And that would be fine. But…for me, it would mean that some people—key people-- would not take me as seriously and may not consider me for advancement. Ultimately, that would be a dumb move for me. Why work so hard and screw it all up over pride? Yes, I now wear dress shoes to work and I’ll do the same at conferences and other professional events. When I run, I’ll wear running shoes. When I coach runners, I’ll wear running shoes. Heck, when it’s Saturday and time to go to Target or the movies or Whole Foods, I’ll wear running shoes. But…at work, I’ll wear dress shoes because I’d rather be known for my good work than “the guy who wears running shoes to work.”

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend. Happy running to you!

2012 Goals...

M15s:  My Limited Ed. Mizuno Wave Riders

Good Morning!  Happy 2012!  It's going to be a fantastic year and I hope you are ready for it.  My six mile run this morning was awesome and it's hard to believe I ran in shorts, but it's in the 40s so I did.  This is going to be a short post with my goals for 2012.  A cardinal rule of setting goals is that you put them in writing and tell people about them!  In general, when one broadcasts their goals, then they are more likely to commit to reaching them.  Here are mine:

1. Let it go:  Yesterday, I wrote a great deal about this.  Briefly, in order to truly reach my potential in 2012, I have to let go of any negative baggage from 2011.  So...I commit to letting it go!
2. Leave work at work:  I have a bad habit of disrupting my time with Sarah & Myles by checking work email on my iPhone.  Sometimes, this is good and sometimes it's adds needless frustration to a time that is supposed to be spent with Sarah and Myles.  Worse than that, sometimes I bring home residual feelings that just need to be left in my office.  So...I commit to managing my work/life balance by leaving work at work unless it's an emergency.
3. Stay healthy in running:  I've had two very good years of training (averaging over 1800 miles run the past two years).  A great deal of that health has to do with taking 1-2 days off from running each week and also through core training.  So...I commit to staying healthy.
4. Focus on 5K/10K/10MILE:  I have flirted with the idea of the ultra marathon, but that would severely impact my ability to meet goal #3.  So...I'm going to try and run a sub 16:59 5K, a sub 34:59 10K, and a sub 58:59 10 Mile.  If I train well, there is no reason I cannot reach PR's (personal records) in the 10K and 10 Mile.  So...I commit to these running time goals.
5. Write a book:  This one scares me a bit.  But...more than a few people have suggested I turn this blog into a book.  So...I commit to writing a book this year.  Who knows, maybe it'll get published.

So...there you have my goals for 2012.  We have 366 days this year and I plan to make the most of each one.  Here's to a Happy New Year for you and your loved ones.  Happy running to you!