With all of my elation yesterday, I completely forgot to acknowledge that on August 3, 2005, I signed the paperwork that established my LLC. I was 7 months into my first full-time job at Digitas, and struggling to make ends meet. Since friends and family were already asking me to “just help them” with their [Keep Reading…]
Whose life is this?
As my 28th birthday comes to a close, I can’t help but reflect on the past year. I experienced the deepest love, faced my greatest fears, and found accomplishments I never knew I could have. Life feels like it’s happening to me, like I’m largely out of control. And perhaps I am, but I need [Keep Reading…]
Whit Hour – Week 10
Thank you so much to the 35 people who showed up for the tenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.justin.tv/whitneyhess. Whit [Keep Reading…]
Undercover Boss: Just How Badly is Your Company Screwing Itself
Undercover Boss is one of my favorite new shows. Why? Because we desperately need to encourage upper management to get in touch with what’s really going on inside their companies. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, and it’s harming employees just as much as customers, if not more. I was [Keep Reading…]
Questions show passion, not doubt
I was recently contacted by someone to contribute to a project they’re working on. It was a well-connected and well-respected person whose work I’ve followed for years, so naturally I was quite excited by the inquiry. The initial email was a bit sparse — describing the project in just a couple sentences — and while [Keep Reading…]
SXSW Interactive: Never As Good As the First Time
I’m behind on summing up my thoughts on this year’s SXSW Interactive. A lot of people have panned the conference, saying “SXSW sucks,” “SXSW is dead,” and more constructively, “the conference isn’t that good.” Fast Company called the keynote with Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, “the most horrifically devastating keynote presentation in SXSW history,” [Keep Reading…]
Can Leadership Be Learned?
The words both start with L-E-A, but can leadership really be learned? As a consultant, I have the pleasure and challenge to work with a variety of different teams. I am a team of one, but I collaborate with agency teams (such as Happy Cog, whom I’m working with on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum [Keep Reading…]
I admit it: I’m always five minutes late. And it stops now.
I was just smacked in the face by a recent blog post by my dear friend Jeffrey Zeldman, Free advice: show up early, about the consequences of being late to client meetings. Why? Because it forced me to finally fess up to one of my major flaws: I’m always five minutes late. Sure, five minutes [Keep Reading…]
I am (more than?) a bunch of adjectives
I think like a lot of us, I have an incessant need to see myself reflected by others in order to believe that I am who I think I am. Positively and negatively. I save adjectives like souvenirs, reminders of when I got them and from whom. I wear them as badges, as armor. When [Keep Reading…]
Happy New Year to You
2010 is here and I can hardly believe it. A new decade. A new period of time to look forward to with high expectations and even higher hopes. At this time…. …ten years ago, I was starting my last semester of high school and looking forward to the freedom of college. …five years ago, I [Keep Reading…]
