A Changing of the Guard at Slacker Manager
Since I started blogging about productivity, leadership, teamwork, and management, I've enjoyed reading Slacker Manager ("Paving the path of least resistance, so you don't trip and fall").
Sadly, David Zinger -- one of the dynamic duo who, along with Phil Gerbyshak, has provided the lion's share of the content -- officially retired his slacker card last month.
David is off to focus on his new endeavor, the Employee Engagement Network. Last week I corresponded with him about the genesis of his Slacker Manager gig and his new trajectory in the blogosphere; here's what he had to say.
About Slacker Manager:
Slacker Manager was started by Bren Connelly. Bren sold the blog to b5media. Bren and b5 decided to look for a replacement and decided on Phil Gerbyshak and I to co-write the blog.On his blogging schedule:
Phil and I were each expected to write 3 posts a week. I don't think we ever missed getting 6 in each week for the 15 months I was there.The best and worst about Slacker Manager:
The best part of Slacker Manager was the freedom and the comments from readers, the worst part was not having control over layout, design, etc.His change of focus:
I was also writing my own site on strength based leadership and it transformed into employee engagement well over a year ago. I love writing about and learning about how we engage in our work in a way that matters. How do we connect to others, meaning, results, performance, the organization, managers, leaders, etc. I am determined that employee engagement is a positive force for all in the workplace and is never reduced to just sucking discretionary effort out of workers.About the Employee Engagement Network:
Back in February of 2008, I started the Employee Engagement Network. In eight months we grew to over 570 members. I love this network, the people who join, the pluralism of voices, and the contributions we are making in employee engagement. At 54 I have really learned to go from me to we. We have already written one free e-book and we are in the process of doing a collaborative print book on numerous Top 10's in Employee Engagement.On what's down the road for him:
I love change and to keep changing. I want to work until I am at least 75 but I fully expect the type and ways I work will keep changing many times in the next 21 years. Of course, at 75 I would hope to volunteer my services where they are needed.David, of course, is a tad busy at the moment -- but in the future, look for him authoring a guest post or two here on Team Taskmaster.