The words inspiration and aspiration are often used interchangeably, and I think it’s important that we draw a clearer distinction.

Inspiration is defined as, “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something.”

Aspiration is, “a hope or ambition of achieving something.”

Stimulation versus ambition. Excitement versus action. And most significantly, external versus internal.

Inspiration is something we seek to ingest from outside. Aspiration is something we cultivate within ourselves.

I’ve been inspired by an extraordinary number people over the course of my life — in high school when I thought I would be a computer scientist, in college as I learned about journalism and HCI, at my first job when I was beginning to understand the value of my hard work. Finding inspiration has never been a challenge for me. I’m a pretty emotional person; it doesn’t take much to get my juices flowing.

But I had never really aspired to be like anyone until I became an active member of the amazing User Experience community. It had never occurred to me before that I could shape the field and change the way people work in some small way, but I saw people doing it, and I wanted to be like them. Suddenly I was filled with aspirations to be heard, to be significant, to be remembered. I’m not sure I can pinpoint the exact moment, but I know that this blog played a large role in showing me that it was possible.

Inspiration is necessary in order for aspiration to grow. But only until we’re filled with aspiration, self-initiated and self-defined, do our careers, and lives, really begin to transform, allowing us to transform those around us in turn.

• IA Summit 2008: Leah Buley’s “How to be a UX Team of One”
• Old Guard Versus New Guard: An Interview by Tom Johnson
• Being a godmother is like being a user experience designer
• Data Visualization Inspiration
• I Am Not A Woman Blogger

In Transcending Our Tribe, my closing plenary at this year’s Information Architecture Summit, I asserted that in order for the field of user experience to survive, we need to stop spending so much time looking inwards, and start reaching out to the larger business and technical communities.

Because I’m a big fan of practicing what I preach, I’ve been taking steps to work my way into the communities of other tangentially related fields in order to educate about user experience and its value to organizations worldwide — and more significantly, to humanity.

Last year, I gave my DIY UX presentation at An Event Apart in Boston (June 2009) and Chicago (October 2009), a conference that attracts a wide variety of web professionals, mainly visual designers and front-end developers. In November, I gave the same presentation at InterLab at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to a room full of web professionals throughout the U.S. Department of Energy complex.

A week ago I got to take it one step further. I was invited to present at STC’s 57th annual Technical Communication Summit. The Society for Technical Communication (STC) was named in 1971, but it had really started in another incarnation all the way back in 1953. The largest organization of its kind in the world, STC’s membership includes technical writers and editors, content developers, documentation specialists, technical illustrators, instructional designers, translators, and other professionals in a technical communication capacity.

I met Alan Houser at the IDEA Conference in Toronto last September, and he invited me to speak at STC Summit ‘10 (he’s one of the conference organizers, so he has some pull). By going outside of his tribe, he aimed to bring fresh voices into the conference and community. I had vaguely heard of STC, but I didn’t know much. After a bit of research to determine the appropriate content, I proposed both my 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design and Evangelizing Yourself presentations — and both were accepted.

A week ago today I gave both presentations in the same day. They’re very different talks — one is a primer on user experience, and the other is a pep talk on professional development. But it was such a pleasure to share both messages with a brand new audience with a distinctly different perspective from the crew that I usually hang out with. Best of all was just how relevant the message still seemed to be.

The field of technical communication is at a pivotal moment, not unlike to what user experience is currently facing. I was amazed at the parallels between the two communities, their organizations and conferences, growing pains and factions. The reality is that our work is so interconnected, it’s a wonder we aren’t better integrated under a single heading. Quite frankly, technical communicators ARE user experience designers; their deliverables contribute to the overall experience that a user has with a product, often in the most crucial times to get it right — when they need help.

Learning from this new community, getting a peek into what happens to an organization that has existed for so many years, coming to a better understanding of these practitioners’ goals and attitudes and motivations, well it really helped me to see the bigger picture in which user experience is operating, and for that I’m truly grateful.

Thank you to Alan for reaching out and bringing me in. Thank you to Twitter friends Rachel Peters, Will Sansbury, Keith Anderson, Chris Hester, Alyssa Fox, and many others who straddle between the worlds of tech comm and UX, and made me feel completely at home.

And a special thanks to the old guard, the senior members who don’t use Twitter and who will never read this blog. We new guard folks may poke fun at you from time to time, for your out-of-date methods and analog modes of communication, but if it weren’t for you we wouldn’t even be here. Thank you for blazing the trail, making a name for us, and teaching us much of what we know — even if we’ll spend the rest of our careers trying to discredit it. Much love!

• Old Guard Versus New Guard: An Interview by Tom Johnson
• Holy crap…I gave the closing plenary at IA Summit 2010
• So you wanna be a user experience designer — Step 1: Resources
• I’m Speaking at Pittsburgh Web Design Day
• IDEA2008: Cross-disciplinary Design Conference, Chicago, IL, October 7-8

Thirty days later and it has still barely sunken in that I gave the closing plenary at IA Summit 2010 in Phoenix, AZ, titled Transcending Our Tribe. Being bestowed with this tremendous honor was a shock in and of itself, but having actually survived the months of preparation, the intense trepidation, and the profound duration of my time on stage is all the more astonishing.

This year was the 11th annual Information Architecture Summit, and my third consecutive year attending. IA Summit 2009 in Memphis, TN, was the very first time that I had given a solo presentation to a public audience — I never could have expected that just a year later I’d be giving the closing keynote.

I owe a lot of gratitude to the people who have believed in me at times when I haven’t believed in myself. Jennifer Bombach and Livia Labate, organizers of this year’s conference, gave me an opportunity that I probably didn’t even deserve, and because of their confidence in me, I was able to rise to the biggest challenge in my professional life thus far. Abby Covert, event producer extraordinaire, became my accomplice in ushering in the next generation of this profession. And the people who had my back, particularly Mario Bourque, made me realize that no matter the outcome of the talk, I would still get to walk away with this amazing group of friends.

The day before I left NYC for Phoenix, I was feeling pretty confident in what I put together, and proud of the message that I would be imparting to my community of practice. Then I shared the slides with my boyfriend Orian to flip through. His reaction was extremely uncharacteristic (in a good way). That’s when I knew I had created something special.

I stood on that stage thinking, I feel so passionately about what I have to say, that even if no one agrees or cares, it matters so much more to me that I just say it than what people think.

So I got up there and I did it for me. Thinking back on my life, I can only remember a handful of moments in which I have been motivated entirely by my own spirit, not trying to be what I think other people want me to be. This was a freeing experience, and it allowed me to be my true self for one of the first times in my life.

The fact that what I said meant something to people, maybe even inspired someone to live more authentically and feel better about who they are as a person — well that was just the icing on the cake.

I love user experience. I love practicing it and I love educating people about it. But most of all, I love being a part of the most dynamic, intelligent, thoughtful, challenging, ambitious community of practitioners in the workforce today. Being able to make even the slightest impact on these people’s lives is a dream come true.

If you are interested in listening to Transcending Our Tribe (it’s 30 minutes), you can follow along with the slides on Slideshare [note: audio screwed up at the moment, Slideshare is working on it], or listen to the podcast on Boxes & Arrows (thank you, Jeff Parks). When the video is live, I’ll be sure to post it here.

A description of my talk on Boxes and Arrows:

In her keynote closing the 2010 IA Summit, Whitney asks if our work is just our job or our passion. To really make the difference we seek, our practice needs to be our calling. The UX community is united because of a common mission:

“We empower people to become self-reliant and more resourceful, organized, social, and relaxed. We don’t do it for them, they do it for themselves.”

Most designers don’t make the things that people use; we’re ideas people. We’re nothing without the visual designers, developers, copywriters, and business managers with whom we work. It’s time we focus our energy outside the UX tribe, to these people that bring our ideas to fruition.

Ms. Hess implores us to stop feeling so disenfranchised and misunderstood, to stop isolating ourselves and strive for the influence to bring about the change that drives us to do what we do. Defending “perfection” will defeat us; instead, she calls us to have the audacity to fail spectacularly and then move upward from those moments.

In the end, she asks us to consider our legacy. Do we want to be a footnote in a technology textbook, or do we want to “cross the chasm” and embody the change that we talk about amongst ourselves.

Also, check out the wonderful sketchnotes by Murray Thompson:

Thank you for reading through this reflection. I am incredibly proud of myself for having gotten this far, and doubly proud to be a part of this community. It is only the beginning for both of us. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

• Reaching outside the UX tribe at STC’s Technical Communication Summit
• I’ll be speaking at IA Summit 2009 in Memphis
• Old Guard Versus New Guard: An Interview by Tom Johnson
• IA Summit 2008: Leah Buley’s “How to be a UX Team of One”
• The Honor and Burden of Chairing a Conference

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Harry Max is an independent management consultant and executive coach for a variety of startups and major brands. Previously he was a Principal Consultant at Rubicon Consulting. In 1994, he co-founded Virtual Vineyards (wine.com). Follow him on Twitter @harrymax.

Harry Max’s mentor is…

Brian “Fitz” Fitzgerald, Entrepreneur

How long have you known each other and how did you first meet?
I’ve known Fitz for about 10 years now. I met him through one of my Public Mind investors while he was still SVP of World Wide Operations for Intuit. Brian attended one of my board meetings as an observer. Afterward, he took me to a bar, bought a round of Macallan 25, pulled out his checkbook and invested in our early vision of demand aggregation, now more commonly known as “crowd sourcing.”

How would you describe how you relate to your mentor?
I’d have to characterize the relationship as complex. At times, I’m an apprentice. Other times, I’m a peer. Part of what works is that Brian doesn’t put people into boxes. And, even though some people might perceive him as an “old salt,” his amazing energy, commitment to bringing out the best in people, and supporting what they’re trying to accomplish shines through brightly.

How formal or structured is the mentorship? Does Brian know you consider him a mentor?
Fitz probably doesn’t realize that I consider him a mentor. I can imagine he thinks that we’re just friends who share a common philosophy about how visions get built, and how value gets created and exchanged.

What is one piece of advice your mentor gave you that has stuck with you the most?
Actually, there are two pieces of “advice” that continue to reverberate through my daily interactions. The first is that “Business *is* people.” On some level, I always knew that. But Brian’s words really brought it home to me. The other, as overly simplistic as it might sound is that business boils down to the following things: Making money, saving money, avoiding unnecessary costs, hiring and retaining excellent people, achieving business goals, take care of ALL your stakeholders, and (above all else) provide products and servcies of real and lasting value to customers.

What else do you want the world to know about your mentor?
Brian Fitzgerald is one of two or three people for whom I’d drop everything to follow into battle.

Thank you Harry for sharing your mentor with us!

• Who is Michael Gruen’s mentor?
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• Who is Mario Bourque’s mentor?

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Michael Gruen is a serial entrepreneur and independent business consultant for a variety of startups through Greyworks. He is the co-founder of TechKaraoke and the co-author of Twitter For Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @gruen.

Michael Gruen’s mentor is…

Michael Gruen, Self

How long have you known each other and how did you first meet?
Our scene opens with a pool of blood, the primordial screams of an infant fill the walls. You see, my mentor was born Cesarian. Carnage and mayhem is in his blood; two weeks late, he forced the knife, determined to be born. How do you argue with someone who forced-cut open his own mother? This, undoubtably, solidified the beginning.

How would you describe how you relate to your mentor?
We’re besties, attached at the hip. He’s always been there when I need him most; however, some of my friends have commented that I take his advice too often and too seriously.

How formal or structured is the mentorship? Does Michael know you consider him a mentor?
We haven’t really broached the subject. One of these days we should sit down and have a face-to-face, but it’s been so long it’d be awkward to really put a definition on our relationship.

What is one piece of advice your mentor gave you that has stuck with you the most?
Be yourself. (Horrible, horrible advice… ignore it.)

What else do you want the world to know about your mentor?
He needs a new hobby.

Thank you Michael for sharing your mentor with us!

• Who is Michael Leis’s mentor?
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• Who is Peter Kim’s mentor?
• Who is Mike Rohde’s mentor?

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Mario Bourque is Manager of Information Architecture and Content Management for a leading technology solutions provider to the passenger transport industry. He also helped to organize the Information Architecture Institute’s IDEA2009. Follow him on Twitter @mariobourque.

Mario Bourque’s mentor is…

Juan Guillen, Technology Executive

How long have you known each other and how did you first meet?
I met Juan in 1997 while working at a project recording studio in Kanata, ON. He booked a session for his daughter and her friend. Little did I know at the time that he was the VP of a software company. He died in September 2001 in a boating accident off Kingston, ON, leaving behind a wife, two daughters, and many people who thought the world of him.

How would you describe how you relate to your mentor?
Part protege, part apprentice, he saved me during a difficult time in my life and gave me the opportunity I needed to become the person I am today. I learned a tremendous amount of knowledge about the technology industry from him and continue to use many of the things I’ve learned from him. He’s also responsible for most of my “brute force” approach to things.

How formal or structured is the mentorship? Did Juan know you consider him a mentor?
I reported to him for three years. it was a working relationship, but I had the opportunity to watch everything he did. He helped me learn about every aspect of a software engineering department, which in turn gave me a solid foundation in understanding the entire software development life cycle.

What is one piece of advice your mentor gave you that has stuck with you the most?
There is no point in going back to school to learn anything. What you have learned and continue to learn will be of much more value than any piece of paper. Don’t hold back and don’t ever be afraid.

What else do you want the world to know about your mentor?
I miss him dearly.

Thank you Mario for sharing your mentor with us!

• Who is Lou Rosenfeld’s mentor?
• Who is Kristin Maverick’s mentor?
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• Who is Mike Rohde’s mentor?
• Who is Harry Max’s mentor?

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Erin Malone is a Principal at Tangible ux, a user experience consulting firm. Previously she led Yahoo!’s Platform User Experience Design team and helped build the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library. She is also the co-author of the recently released Designing Social Interfaces. Follow her on Twitter @emalone.

Erin Malone’s heroes are…

Diane Malone, my mom

and

Georgia O’Keeffe, painter

How long have you known of your heroes and have you ever met?
I have known my mom my whole life, but didn’t really consider her my hero until I was out in the working world. I discovered Georgia O’Keeffe in college when I was studying design and taking art history classes.

How have your heroes had such a profound impact on your life?
My mom is of the era when women were supposed to go to college to get married. She did that, but she also defied the stereotypes and majored in math. A major not known for many women in the program. I think that had she been in school in the recent past, she would have been a software engineer. Additionally, she was active in the theater in college, which is where she met my father.

My mom showed me that women can have their own life, their own career, that girls could do whatever they set their mind to regardless of what was “supposed” to be. I grew up involved in the theater but stopped in high school. The camaraderie and team effort of the work (work my parents still do) is partly why I love working in web / product / application design so much – it is so much like theatre in that sense. It takes a group to succeed or fail.

Georgia O’Keeffe epitomized the life of an independent woman. She was married but very much her own person. She was not Alfred Steigletz’s Mrs., she was Georgia O’Keeffe, painter, who happens to be married to Alfred. I admire both these women in different ways – for their guts, for their determination to stay true to their passion regardless of the circumstances which has been a guiding force in how I live my life.

How do you gain knowledge and inspiration from your heroes?
I get advice from my mom – mostly financial – as well as support for the decisions I make about my career. The inspiration I get from knowing about Ms. O’Keeffe’s life is that no matter your age, it’s important to be true to your life, your art, your heart. This was central to her work and her passion for living throughout her whole life.

What is one piece of wisdom your heroes have been quoted as saying that has stuck with you the most?
“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage,” and, “You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare,” are two things that O’Keeffe said that resonate about taking charge of your own destiny, your own decisions, your own successes.

Thank you Erin for sharing your heroes with us!

• Who is Gabby Hon’s hero?
• Who is Brandon Schauer’s hero?
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• Reader E-mail: “Follow your dreams while you can”
• Who is Meg Fowler’s hero?

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Paul Isakson is an independent strategic planner. Previously he was the head of strategy at space150, a marketing and advertising agency. In 2008 he caused a stir when he began anonymously tweeting as Don Draper, the protagonist from the TV series Mad Men. Follow him on Twitter @paulisakon.

Paul Isakson’s mentor is…

Dion Hughes, Founder, Creative Director, Persuasion Arts & Sciences

How long have you known each other and how did you first meet?
Dion and I have known each other for just over a year now. We met in the spring of 2008, at a dinner and drinks gathering after one of Tim Brunelle’s “Conversations About The Future of Advertising” events. We ended up sitting across the table from each other and due to the person who was the speaker at the event being more interested in checking his iPhone to see what people were saying about him online than being in conversations with people at the table, Dion and I started chatting about advertising and whatnot. We’ve continued to get together for those chats ever since.

How would you describe how you relate to your mentor?
I would say I consider Dion a friend, more than anything else. We’ve become friends from a standpoint of both being incredibly passionate about the business of advertising and how it is evolving. While I’ve only known Dion for a year, he’s already had a profound impact on my life and career.

How formal or structured is the mentorship? Does Dion know you consider him a mentor?
I would say it is highly informal. We mostly meet-up for drinks and just catch up on life, chat about what we’re thinking, what’s new in the world of marketing, etc. Does Dion know I consider him a mentor? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But to be honest, I don’t know that I really thought of him as a mentor until I opened this link to answer these questions and had to consider what I believe to be the definition of being a mentor. For me, that is someone you look to as a teacher and friend – someone whose advice you trust most when it comes to making hard decisions about your career and life and such. Like I said in the previous question, I consider him a friend more than anything else, but he also teaches me way more than he probably realizes, and that’s why I wanted to recognize him here.

What is one piece of advice your mentor gave you that has stuck with you the most?
It’s not as much the advice Dion gives me that had me think of him for this as it is the inspiration he provides me with through all of the great ideas and stories he shares with me directly, and with others via the Persuasion blog. Every time I chat with Dion, he shares bits of wisdom and ideas that challenge me to think about things from a different angle, or help me to more seriously consider a point of view that I was trying to ignore. But probably more important than that is seeing how this brilliant advertising man has continued to stay hungry, passionate and curious throughout his career. That’s what I take away the most from my experiences with Dion – to stay hungry, passionate and curious.

What else do you want the world to know about your mentor?
Dion is truly one of the great minds in the advertising business, but he’s far to humble to ever admit it. I am honored to call him a friend and I hope he doesn’t mind me singing his praises here. I very much look forward to growing our friendship and continuing to learn more from him throughout my life.

Thank you Paul for sharing your mentor with us!

• Who is Spencer Fry’s mentor?
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[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Brandon Schauer is an experience design director for Adaptive Path, a user experience design and consulting firm. He is also the co-author of Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World. Follow him on Twitter @brandonschauer.

Brandon Schauer’s heroes are…

Charles & Ray Eames, Designers

How long have you known of your heroes and have you ever met?
I first saw their IBM Mathematica exhibit about 21 years ago. It was the first interactive museum exhibit that I ever felt I learned something from. No, never met them.

How have your heroes had such a profound impact on your life?
I’m still regularly surprised and energized by their work. They somehow address the very practical aspects of a design challenge while not forgetting to cater to the very human and emotion potential of an object or an experience. They inspire me to reinvest in design again and again.

How do you gain knowledge and inspiration from your heroes?
Luckily they left behind a treasure trove of films, photography, and work. The films are especially influential for thinking about experiences. For instance, see their film introducing the first Polaroid camera:

What is one piece of wisdom your heroes have been quoted as saying that has stuck with you the most?
From the film Design Q&A: Question: “What is design?” Answer from Charles Eames: “A plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”

Thank you Brandon for sharing your heroes with us!

• Who is Todd Zaki Warfel’s hero?
• Who is Erin Malone’s hero?
• Who is Gabby Hon’s hero?
• Who is Meg Fowler’s hero?
• Who is Chris Baum’s hero?

[This post is part of a series on Mentors and Heroes]

Josh Damon Williams is the director of product strategy at Hot Studio, a people-centered design studio, where previously he served as a senior user experience designer. He is also a part-time DJ. Follow him on Twitter @joshdamon.

Josh Damon Williams’s mentor is…

Ryan P. Sims, User Experience Designer

How long have you known each other and how did you first meet?
I met Ryan in 2003 when he made the highly questionable decision to interview me for a UX Designer role at Hotwire.com.

How would you describe how you relate to your mentor?
Ryan allowed for a lot of autonomy, while at the same time managed to provide thoughtful guidance. He wasn’t pedantic, didn’t give tactical instructions about what to/not to do. Instead he had a more Socratic approach to critiques, and this approach encouraged better, broader, and deeper thinking.

How formal or structured is the mentorship? Does Ryan know you consider him a mentor?
Ryan was my boss, but he didn’t foster a particularly hierarchical team structure; instead he kept things as a two-way street. He reviewed my work, but he also solicited my feedback on his work. But yes, he knew that he was helping provide structure to my approach to design.

What is one piece of advice your mentor gave you that has stuck with you the most?
When in doubt about a design solution, review your objectives. If you’re still in doubt, maybe you have the wrong objectives.

What else do you want the world to know about your mentor?
1) He’s been doing great work at TripIt for the last year or so. 2) When wearing a beard, Ryan bares an uncanny resemblance to the character Dr. Daniel Faraday on Lost. 3) More info can be found at http://tumblr.ryanpsims.com

Thank you Josh for sharing your mentor with us!

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