Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

My life was pretty much transformed when I met the Mac. I discovered technology I could relate to the year the Mac was born, when the two halves of my brain were finally united in a Macintosh 128K.

Yesterday, I learned of Steve Jobs’ death while sitting at my generations improved Mac, watching a Twitter feed. The irony was not lost on me that I learned of his death on a device he inspired. So many of us were likely to have experienced just that.

I knew his death was inevitable, but I was surprised at how hard it was to take. I stopped working at 4:43 Pacific Time on October 5, when I realized that first Tweet I saw was true.

• Friends said they cried - for the first time - at the passing of a CEO. I know!
• News and blog coverage has been consistent in personal remembrances. I’ve been moved to blog for the first time in a month!
• His impact, while it will continue to be felt for years, is already feeling too small. What would even ten more years have offered him? Us?

In true Apple fashion, their home page tribute to him is actually something I captured for posterity:

Apple's tribute to Steve Jobs

And Google and Amazon have honored him as well, today, each in their own ways.

Inspirational. Creative. A champion of simplicity.

Thank you for your extreme leadership. Rest in peace.

I’m sitting at my desk on a monday morning for the first time in 18 months. I’ve just moved from being a full-time employee back to consulting again. Today is my first day in my consultancy again.

During those 18 months, I have been extremely fortunate, as I’ve:

• Rebuilt a marketing organization around a re-tooled business
• Developed a lead-generation mindset in marketing for those there - delivering more than 65,000 leads, mostly online
• Helped turn our online education business into something that was thriving enough to attract a buyer that shares the space and will propel our efforts forward

At the same time, I’m excited to be out in the world again.

• I have a passionate and successful company - K12 - as my first client, for whom I’m going to do some extremely interesting work.
• I’m going to have the freedom and flexibility to write more for myself. (I’ll do it here, in case there are folks out there still interested in reading…)
• I’m very much looking forward to applying the lessons learned from my last time around as a consultant in order to improve that experience as well.

So today, I celebrate the delicious in-between - the morning of a new beginning and the successful wrap of a lovely new experience and adventure. The in-between of anticipation and satisfaction. Of excitement and edginess. Of delight and deliberation. I’ll live here for a day.

Let’s go!

At this time of year, I always take time to reflect. Not on specifics, necessarily, but on themes. Certain themes follow me through the months, years and decades of my life. Some themes are just beginning, some are chronic. I suspect my “terminal” themes will continue to dog me as long as I reflect on them, as opposed to work on them.

And at this time of year, I always pick a few things to work on. Most I never share. (Is that for protection? In case I’m not successful?)

A couple I will admit to:

• I’d like to write more. Back here. Which shouldn’t be too hard. The bar in 2009 is pretty low.I have to admit, I have enjoyed Twitter - the fast break, no guilt posting option that keeps me lightly engaged in the social web - no matter my time and attention options in the moment. But I miss writing what’s going on in my mind. Really exploring and sharing thoughts as I used to.
• I’d like to find and foster my unique talent. Everyone has one. I used to think my unique talent was painting/drawing/illustrating. I’m not convinced that drawing’s the unique talent I’m willing to foster at this point in my life. My few and feeble attempts over the past few years have been lackluster. Perhaps it’s because I’ve not spent the time exploring my drawings… explorations are critically important when it comes to creativity - in writing and drawing.
• I’d like to continue teaching, speaking, and helping educate. I’ve only given a few presentations since I took my full-time gig in education; but they continue to energize me. I’ll be interested in exploring new educational themes for 2010 - especially since my previous area of expertise, that of social media, seems to be (finally) not mysterious any more.

And, as always, sharing these thoughts publicly - narcissistic? perhaps - can be effective in giving me insight. Perhaps a theme that dogs me is exploration. It’s delightfully woven through my chronic and burgeoning themes, whether I consciously work them or not.

Upon public reflection then, I look forward to a Year of Explorations in 2010.  I’m willing to share that with anyone and everyone.

What is driving the themes of your future? Are you willing to share?

I have a new job. A full-time, back-into-the-corporate-world new job. And I’m very excited about it.

When I was young, and I imagined my life’s trajectory, I always saw myself teaching once I hit my 50’s. Which surprised me… since I had no plans to become an educator. But today I’m getting closer to that imaginary scenario than I ever thought possible.

I’ve been working at KC Distance Learning for five months, full time. And I’m going “back in” to run marketing for the organization. My long-term stint there is why I’ve gone “dark” here and in many other social media venues since June, causing some to forget me, and some to wonder whether I’ve forgotten them… (I can assure you, I haven’t!)

I’ve been focused. On a new market, education, which is ripe for change.

When I started there, I was shocked to learn that 30% of high school kids across the country drop out. Last spring, congress heard testimony that nationwide:

• 7,000 students drop out every day
• 2,000 US high schools produce more than half of all dropouts
• In the 50 largest cities, only 53 percent of students graduate on time

Why? I’m sure there are 7,000 unique reasons kids drop out every day. But something has to be done.

What’s KCDL doing about it? We are helping school districts deliver middle school and high school classes online through our iQ Academy and Aventa Learning brands. We power a private, online middle and high school experience for kids in the US and in scores of countries around the world with Keystone National School.

Technology is a natural tool to help revolutionize education. Kids in rural areas can take world-class courses in Mandarin, and Flash programming, for example, using an online delivery platform and subject-and state-certified teachers. Adjudicated kids can continue their courseware while serving their terms.

But technology isn’t enough. People from many different disciplines are taking the opportunity to change the way kids learn, as private organizations attack this very public problem.

So, dear readers, I plan to continue to post and tweet. And know that my new focus on education is highly likely to be reflected here.

And maybe we’ll all learn something new.

I’ve not really done any links posts before, but I thought I’d give one a try this morning. Hey, it’s Monday, I’m being active on Twitter, and I’m not quite ready to get serious on my blog for the week. I’ll give this a shot and see whether people like it or not.

• Most inspirational: Photos from the Hubble Spacecraft of our galaxy (via Daily Beast)
• Most useful: A tie between a primer on hashtags (via Mashable) and a list of Rachel Levy’s top favorite Twitter tools.

…And, in support of “throwing sheep,” (thank you @missrogue and your HorsePigCow blog!):

• Most fun: WolframAlpha says I was born on a Friday, 19057 days ago. On Saturday, Dec. 11, 2011 I will be 20,000 days old.