Solid Cactus Boot Camp

Solid Cactus is a cool company. The people obviously enjoy what they do, they are expanding in an exponential way, and they're located in an old high school building complete with the old gymnasium and chalk boards.

They've invited me to participate in their client boot camp today. These folks have been here for three days picking the brains of the Solid Cactus pros about SEO, pay for click marketing, emailing programs - you name it. I'm co-presenting with John Dawe, marketing manager about branding and strategic planning. Our presentation will be a little different than others as we're going to be talking about an asset that doesn't necessarily show up on the balance sheet - but is critical to long term sustainability - their brand message.

This is a second day of presentations for me. Yesterday I facilitated a session at Prudential on Diversity in Marketing. It was part of their month long series on Diversity at Pru - how the company focuses on attracting a diverse workforce and reaching out to diverse potential clients. The group was great! We looked at selected print ads from companies like Mastercard, the New York Times, Kodak and Ogilvy designed to recruit diverse employees. The group talked about their reactions to the ads based on their own perspectives and were interested to hear their co-workers input.

We then looked at a series of Prudential print ads. Old hands at this point, the participants looked at these ads with new eyes. We talked about things they could do in their own workgroups to encourage inclusion - and there were some wonderful ideas! My thanks to them for letting me be part of the afternoon.

Catherine

Walk, Talk, Breathe

Those are the three things we're told to do to alleviate stress - and who isn't feeling stress at the moment? Go for a walk and get some fresh air. Talk to a friend - or a stranger. Breathe. It seems we forget to do that when we're tense.

I'd like to add a few more suggestions.

Take a nap. When I am really stressed, I find if I close out the real world for just a little while I can return to reality with a new outlook. Of course walking from the Land of Nod back into the World of Chaos tends to make this short term solution seem more like a waste of time rather than a sensible course of action.

Look at old photos. Your high school yearbook or the family reunion shots. No matter what happens in life, you will always have family and friends - no really, I mean it. Yes, I understand they may be causing the stress you're feeling, but the world would be a much quieter and sadder place without them. Look at those photos and smile.

Remember two things. First, worrying about things over which you have no control is futile. Second, unless it's fatal, it's no big deal.