Month: December 2008

animals, business, entrepreneurship, environment, nature, relationships, Seth Godin

Lessons from an albatross

Christa Avampato


Seth Godin wrote a post today on his blog that made me pause and re-consider some questions I’ve been thinking about recently. He talked about the patience of the albatross. It can often sit in the water or on land for days waiting for the right wind to carry it up, up, and away. It can fly for days or weeks, non-stop, with a resting heart rate. It’s an incredible lesson in biology, with many applications to our lives. 


Seth talks about Albatross businesses – those that favor a long, slow ramp-up with an eye toward longevity. He promotes patience as more than a virtue – it’s a method of survival. And this is a good lesson not only for business, particularly entrepreneurial ventures, but also anything that is worth our personal time. This can be a personal relationship, a friendship, a hobby. I am thinking about it in the context of my writing and career and I hope these thoughts will help you think about this principle in the context of your own life. 

My writing: I started this blog on a whim about a year and a half ago. My friend, Stephen, said he liked my writing and hoped I’d continue doing it. I knew nothing about social media at the time. He suggested a blog. I googled the words “create blog”, Blogger came up as the top search engine return (no surprise since Google owns Blogger), and I put up a few posts that were copies of the newspaper articles I had written over the course of a year. I didn’t know what else to write about so I’d just jot down funny or interesting things that would happen to me throughout the day. And pretty soon, I was cranking along with a decent body of work. Over 400 posts to date. Where am I going with my blog? Not quite sure yet – but goodness am I enjoying the writing and it’s become a hobby I hope to continue throughout my life. At my friend, Anne’s, suggestion I am consider turning some of the posts into a collection of essays for publication on a more public scale. Just like the albatross, I’m searching for the right air current to launch a project like that.

My career: I’m 32 and have spent the better part of 10 years intensely studying human behavior and product and service development. I’ve cobbled together this beautiful tapestry of experience with that experience I have found a many colorful characters that have become my greatest treasure. Their collective diversity is a reflection of the many twists and turns my life has taken. I review the expertise I’ve built and the successes I can point to and wonder what’s next? Where do I go from here? How do I know what current to look for?

Part of the albatross equation is knowing where you want the current to carry you so you can quickly identify it when it comes your way. Extending your wings is the easy part. The challenge, and ultimately the reward, comes when you have taken a 360 look around from wherever you are now and determined the direction you need to go. The albatross doesn’t concern itself with the length of trip, his wings will carry him as far as they need to. He cares only about the destination. 

career, corporation, economy, job

We’re going the wrong way! Who’s driving?

Christa Avampato

My friend, Jamie, was was telling me about a his sister’s job in retail. It’s an industry I’m passionate about and may return to someday. It’s the heart and soul of the 70% of our GDP created by consumer spending. They’re hurting, like so many industries, and in times of trouble companies need the most able navigator at the helm. The trouble, at least with Jamie’s sister’s company, is that everyone is playing a game of Pass-the-buck instead of Survivor. The answers to questions like “Who is our core customer?”, “How are they hurting right now?”, and “With our competencies how can we ease that hurt for them?” are critically important for companies that wish to come out the other side of this latest economic slide, or any economic slide for that matter. 


Jamie drew a metaphor that is so clear in my mind and it perfectly captured the situation with his sister. It’s as if everyone is in the back of the bus, facing the wrong way, and asking where we’re going. No one, no one is actually willing to grab the steering wheel and drive. That driver’s seat is a very dangerous place to be for sure, though sitting in the back, eyes covered, knowing no driver is up there steering is far worse. It’s a choice of the lesser of two evils, with advantages and disadvantages for each action. 

Let’s look at hat’s actually happening for Jamie’s sister – no one’s driving. A crash is practically unavoidable. A runaway car with no driver can only stay on the road for so long. The people in the back may feel that they have a better chance of survival if they hang out and wait for someone else to step up. That’s possible. Though the greater likelihood is that the whole operation goes down while everyone is wringing their hands. And the lead up to the crash is painful and anxiety-inducing. 

An alternative is that someone does take the helm, and the crash happens anyway. It would be a near certainty that the blame and guilt will fall to the driver, and that driver couldn’t hope to survive. But what if that driver can pull it off? At this point, it’s hard to imagine any industry coming out of this recession unscathed. With the right leadership, the wounds could be bumps and bruises instead of lost limbs and massive internal bleeding.

It’s a gamble – there are clear choices that need to be made now by every company. What’s not clear is the best way forward that causes the least number of casualties. Strong leadership that focuses on stakeholder needs now is best able to find a way up, over, or through. At this point, we have to ask ourselves a key question about that bus situation: If we had no intention or desire to drive, or at least take a shift at the wheel, then why did we get on the bus in the first place? It’s foolish and downright dangerous to leave an entire journey up to everyone else. 
books, literature, technology, writing

Virtual Bookshelf

Christa Avampato

This week I finally purchased a set of bookshelves from Crate & Barrel that I’ve been coveting for a year. They display my books so beautifully that they’ve become a piece of art. I took a stroll past the shelves this evening, admiring my skills of putting together 9 straight pieces of wood with an Allen wrench and a few screws. I realized that these books aren’t just a collection of reference materials or thought-provoking stories. They are a diary of where I’ve been and interests I’ve developed over a number of years. They are beloved childhood memories and reminders of very long nights spent in a library, pouring over their pages, while in school. Some are like old friends that I visit again and again for guidance, for strength, for inspiration. 


This morning  read David Churbuck’s post about the virtual bookshelf. He loves his Kindle, though he worries that it’s destroying perhaps the greatest joy of literature – sharing it. Lending books to people, swapping them with one another, and then discussing their merits. He questions the selfishness that we embrace with our new electronic devices. 

That set me to thinking about how we might combine technology and literature in a win-win, rather than consuming one at the jeopardy of the other. This idea is particularly poignant to me because of a fiction piece I am working on that revolves around this very idea – a children’s story that I began after taking a stroll through one of the increasingly rare used book stores in New York City. I love my local Barnes & Noble, though there is something magical in the mustiness of those bookshelves that contain texts far older than me. There is history living in those shelves – those books represent pieces of people’s lives, the same way that my books represent mine. 

I don’t have any good answers for this conundrum of technology co-existing with literature, though its a question I’ll be considering in the days and years to come. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments if you’d like to share them.     

dreams, education, hope, youth

A Lesson in Teaching

Christa Avampato

This morning Junior Achievement was on-site at my office building for a day of financial education. I co-taught the first session: A Day in the Life. We discussed feelings about money, sources and uses of it, and the value of savings and making a budget. Those 16 sets of eyes were some of the most discriminating I have ever been in front of. They are reacting to the teacher, to their peers, to the person at the front of the room, all while searching for self-definition. Quite a mixture of emotion, and therefore, behavior. 


We got through the lesson with little pain. Though nervous, I found it was helpful to put on the face of confidence and push through without stuttering or stopping except for questions from the group. I forgot nearly every one of the notes I had memorized. When in doubt of what to say next, I asked for participation, and the students happily responded quickly and intelligently.

I co-taught for close to an hour and then returned to my day. I will admit that today was more irritating than most of my days. It seemed that I would put out one fire and then find that another one had been building strength just behind me. And this went on for several hours. By lunch time, I was cranky. The last thing I felt like doing was having lunch with 16 high school students. But I went because I promised I would go. 

Bob, my previous boss, continually says that there is magic in commitment. I learned that lesson today in a few short minutes, and it was taught to me by a group of 16 year-olds. If you’re ever wondering how old you are, sit with a group of high school students, and will quickly become apparent. Over sandwiches and pasta salad, we talked about their studies, their schools, their hopes for their futures. During our conversation, I felt my frustration lift and dissipate. They made my day brighter by shining their own light on me, and for that I am very grateful. Lesson learned…
books, career, entrepreneurship, job

Ladies Who Launch

Christa Avampato

I am in the midst of reading the book Ladies Who Launch. It’s part guide book, part inspirational story collection for women interested in entrepreneurship. In the uncertain times we’re now in, I’m thinking a lot about diversification. Traditionally, we get a job, we work hard, and pay for life from the salary of that job. In times of recession, which just today economists officially figured out we’re in, there’s a lot of talk about the importance of diversity in our investment portfolios. But what about in the ways we take in money. Isn’t it safer, and perhaps even advantageous, to have multiple sources of income? Companies diversify their products and services. Shouldn’t we, as average earners and consumers, do the same?


This book is about helping women to think about launching as a continuous pursuit. And that launch can revolve around a business idea, a project (personal or professional), a relationship. It draws its strength from encouraging women to get out in the world and stay active. I was a little skeptical at first, though I put my best foot forward and dove into the book after reading so many good reviews. 

After making notes throughout the afternoon on Sunday and considering questions like “What do I want my typical day to look like?” and “What would I do if I had no limitations and boundaries of any kind?”, I noticed that my step was a little lighter today. The things that may have upset me on other days didn’t phase me at all. And I noticed that I was bolder than normal, speaking my mind and sharing my views of even the most staid and traditional ways of doing things. 

There really is magic in thinking about ourselves as the CEO of Me, Inc. To think of our lives in a constant state of launching. Oscar Wilde said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” While I don’t think of my life as “in the gutter”, I understand his point. We might feel down-trodden by the news of recession, by the political situation around the world, by the violence and sadness that stretches across the news waves these days. This idea of launching, of taking flight, has the ability to lift us up. It empowers us and allows us to retake control of our lives. The very thought of launching allows us to let what ails and pains us to fall away. We begin to look at the opportunities before us rather than the challenges. Or better yet, we suddenly become able to look at the challenges and launch opportunity from them.