The most famous double-play combination of all time is the Chicago Cubs infield of Tinkers to Evers to Chance. What’s that got to do with business? Read on:
“Konrath to Should to Benidt” just doesn’t have the same ring as “Tinkers to Evers to Chance,” I admit. The Chicago Cub infield trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance was immortalized in Franklin Pierce Adams famous poem that begins:
These are the saddest of possible words:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
“Konrath to Should to Benidt.” You see, a while ago now I was “tagged” by Clayton Shold of SalesOPedia fame. Before that, he was tagged by sales expert Jil Konrath. And, fair reader, you might be the next to be “tagged,” so watch out.
Wikipedia has a definition of this online phenomenon and here’s their summary of what they call “memetag:”
A blogger invites five other bloggers to list their ‘top five songs of all time’.
Those bloggers publish their list, incude the memetag that links back to the original invite, then invites five more bloggers and asks them to include a link to the original post.
The next five list their top five songs of all time, each linking back to the original post using the memetag. Each of them invites five more friends.
And so on.
Clayton’s blog article that tagged me carried a specific responsibility - to share 8 random or little known things about myself. Gulp! I write a business blog specifically to escape writing about personal stuff. So this is very difficult, but here goes:
- One of my best friends is Frank Chance. No, not that Frank Chance! - a librarian in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- I don’t like nuts with weird shapes - I’m not saying more.
- I was a cab driver for more years than I’d care to admit.
- I love the novelist and memoirist May Sarton, but I’d never tell anyone.
- I really, really wanted to play in the NBA.
- My dream job is being a chauffeur, but only if I can wear the uniform and the little hat.
- My favorite movie is Walkabout - with Jenny Agutter.
- My favorite book is The Surface of Earth, by Reynolds Price
There, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now, to fulfill the prophecy of this “tag,” I have to pass the favor on to 8 other lucky folks. They all write - sometimes newsletters, sometimes blogs, sometimes books. Read them even if they don’t accept my tagging challenge:
- Naomi Takeuchi
- Kenny Moore
- Sam Richter - sorry, no blog, but new book coming out
- Bruce Benidt
- Lee Gomes - Wall Street Journal columnist - sorry, no blog
- Jonathan Yardley - just do a search for his book reviews at www.washingtonpost.com
- Sam Horn
- Amy Gahran
- Phillip Van Hooser
And there you have it - I hope you’re satisfied, Clayton. Actually, it was kind of fun!
6 comments ↓
Michael - thanks for sharing. I am sitting here snacking on cashews wondering if they qualify as “nuts with weird shapes.” Still laughing on that one.
Glad you had some fun with this Michael!
Now I know why I like you, we hacks have to stick together. After university I was working to build my graphics design company. To pay the rent I drove taxi full time on the night shift and worked the business during the day. This lasted 7 months until the business could sustain itself. To be young again.
I hope I don’t fall into your ‘nuts with weird shapes’ category!
Derrick Moe - who was snacking on cashews in the comment above, writes one of the best blogs about selling and hiring the right sales people in the country - It’s called The Hire Sense
No Derrick, any nut shaped like a punctuation mark is not weird. It’s the really weird ones I don’t like.
Clayton Shold’s comment about hacking refers to “taxi driving,” not “messing around with computer code.” Remarkable how language changes - and how I can’t spell. Clayton - I’ll fix your name in the article above.
And, thanks again for starting all of this. Any interest in writing a guest blog article about where this kind of tagging took you?
Are you kidding? Once I tagged you, I yelled “you’re it” and ran like crazy!
Seriously, I’d love to put a post together on networking using blogs. Leave that thought with me.
I’ve been tagged, huh? Well, for some strange reason I am drawn to random, obscure activities, and this little random, obscure activity certainly fits the bill. As a result, I am drawn to it like a magnet. Thus, here comes a collection of eight of the most obscure nuggets about myself…
1. I love pigs…especially with mustard based barbeque sauce.
2. I think Robert Duvall is the most interesting actor working today.
3. I watch baseball games more to watch the umpires than the players–I think the umpires are more interesting.
4. I believe the best country song of all time may be “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” written by Kris Kristofferson and sung by Johnny Cash.
5. When I grow up I want to have a job that is a hybrid cross between Willard Scott’s and Larry King’s.
6. I secretly hope the the Loch Ness monster is proven to exist.
7. I like speakers who sweat while they speak–it makes me think they really work for a living.
8. My favorite TV show character of all time is Ernest T. Bass. (”It’s me, it’s me, It’s Ernest T.”–The Andy Griffith Show)
So, that about does it for obscure. Analyze that, if you dare.
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