Getting Off the Schneid

I grew up in a family of football fans.  As I understand it, somewhere around the age of two, they sat me down in front of a televised professional football game and told me “you’re going to watch this, and you’re going to like it”.  Fortunately for me, I did like it, and I still do.  Somewhere along the line I became a New York Jets fan, but I’m hardly rabid in that regard.  I’m much more interested in watching a competitive game between two skilled teams.  I consider myself a student of the game, having picked up a fair bit of knowledge about its history, rules, strategies, and culture.

One phrase I’ve heard countless times over the years from football announcers on television and radio is “getting off the schneid”.  As long as I can remember, I’ve known what was meant by this phrase. It refers to a team scoring its first points in a game, or winning its first game in a season, usually after being stuck at zero points or wins for an extended period of time.  I don’t think I’ve ever uttered the phrase aloud, in part because I had absolutely no idea of its origins or connotations beyond the realm of football announcers.  Just recently, I decided to look it up.  I was surprised to learn that the phrase comes from the card game gin rummy (I’ve never been much of a card player), but was satisfied to have learned something new and to know that, should the situation arise, I’d feel confident using it in conversation.

That brings me, finally, to the point of this post.  With regard to blogging, it is long past time that I get off the schneid.

As my participation in social media and social networking has grown, it has become increasingly evident to me that my not having a blog was a missing piece of the puzzle.  I realized this when I found myself wanting to share thoughts and ideas that could never be captured in 140 characters.  I realized this when I found myself writing comments on other people’s blogs that dwarfed the length of the original post.  And I realized this when, on numerous occasions, I was asked, “do you have a blog?”

Now, with this inaugural post, I do.

I have spent most of the past twenty years as a management consultant.  Through most of the 1990s, I worked for the Hay Group, a global human resources management consulting firm.  In 1998, I founded Slope Resources, and am now in my twelfth year dedicated to providing human resources and organizational management consulting services to nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes.  I’ve come to realize that this experience has provided me with a fairly broad range of knowledge — and an even broader range of opinions.  Also, as social media and social networking have expanded my connections, exposure, and awareness in the areas in which I work, I have found my thinking, interests, and imagination stimulated to a degree that I never imagined.  And I’ve been encouraged, if not urged — particularly by my new friends Heidi Massey and Ericka Hines – to get to blogging.

My blog, for which I’ve chosen the name Done by People, gives me an outlet for sharing my knowledge, experiences, and opinions regarding human resources and organization management in the nonprofit sector.  It also provides a platform both for deeper interaction with others in these and related fields, and for further expanding my interests and thinking.

I’ve learned a great deal in the process of just getting to this first post, and I’m sure that I’ll learn much more as I proceed. Toward that end, I welcome any input, tips, critiques, questions, or other feedback that anyone might be kind enough to offer.

I have, at last, gotten off the schneid.  How am I doing so far?

Photo credit: ccarlstead