Change the world or go home

I guess it doesn't really help you if you are trying to change the world FROM home but Hugh McLeod did this nifty cartoon for Microsoft and he links to Steve Clayton's video explanation of what the deal is with it anyway.

My two cents is this...

...if you ask many Microsoft employees why they are here, you'll often hear something like this. The fact is, there's an opportunity to make an impact on a very large number of people. It's heady stuff and it can be humbling and energizing. If it doesn't get you fired up, you might not like it here. Because it is hard work. Seriously, the problems I see so often with candidates in interviews is that either they don't express their passion (go ahead and say it...we are into it here) or the way that they express it smacks of arrogance (you might be all that but you have to chill on the hubris during the interview). Man, it's hard to separate out the passion and the ego, isn't it?

...Hugh makes some valid points about storytelling. It's been a topic of a few conversations I've had this week, actually. We have not gotten good yet at telling our own story (my opinion) and I think part of it is not executing well on the balance between tooting your own self-important horn and evangelizing your passion with some humanity. One comes off as cocky, the other can be boring as all get-out if you don't have some swagger. Trust me, the story is here. I'm working on some stuff that I can show you later, but I can tell you that this concept of storytelling is so important to me...it's THE reason why I am here and willing to spend the time to share (it's not always easy).

....there are many different interpretations of Hugh's message. For me, it's a bold statement about the fire to be competitive and strive toward being the best, or making a difference, or taking risk; whatever changing the world means to you. It's sounds corny, but if you love what you do and believe in it, the concept of changing the world, though aspirational, seems real. It sounds like part of your job description.

OK, enough of that. I'm starting to sound like the kind of inspiring, go-get-em messaging that really doesn't work for me. For some reason, the cartoon with the blue monster head does.

[edit 5/28: corrected typo]