Sunday, December 23, 2018
Content Marketing Institute.
American Writers & Artists, Inc., or AWAI, on getting clients.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
1. Blogger Tools? Yeah, I won't hold my breath, but it doesn't hurt to see what people think is important.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
1. Domains.
LEGAL WEBSITES, Friday, January 16, 2015
1. Legal Websites.
2. AVVO for legal advice.
3. Reddit offers free legal advice. Who'd'a thunk it?
4.
Budgeting Blogs, Monday, January 12, 2015
1. MyBudget360.
2. VisualEconomics.CreditLoan.com
3. WordPress Blogging Tips. Some very useful tips.
On Blogging, Wednesday, January 7, 2014
1. Use Twitter in Blogging.
2.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Sites Wenzel relies on to feed his Libertarian audience:
1. 24/7 Wall St.
2. BarStoolSports@Twitter.
3. Politico.
4. Carl Menger Center.
5. NBC Bay Area.
6. San Francisco Chronicle.
7. Mashable is a social media news blog. Not sure what that means. Their about page reads "Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe."
8. Washington Post or WaPo.
9. Mother Jones.
10. New York Post.
11. Bloomberg.
12. Businessweek.
13. SFist.
14. Breitbart.
15. American Enterprise Institute, AEI, via Carpe Diem, via Mark J. Perry.
16. Financial Times. This is an excellent site for worldwide economic coverage. It is a subscription site.
17. WESH.com. is a virtual channel 2 (VHF digital channel 11), is an NBC-affiliated television station serving Orlando, Florida. United States and is licensed to Daytona Beach. The station is owned by the Hearst Television division of the Hearst Corporation, and is part of aduoploy with CW affiliate WKCF (Channel 18). The two stations share studio facilities on North Wymore Road (near I-4) in Eatonville (Using Winter Park address), and its transmitter is located in Orange City.
18. Economics21. is the economics portal of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to economic research and innovative public policies for the 21st century. Their aim is "to advance free enterprise, fiscal discipline, economic growth, and the rule of law. Drawing on the expertise of practitioners, policymakers, and academics, we will encourage a spirited debate about the way forward for democratic capitalism." What is democratic capitalism? Fair capitalism? Rothbard, call your office! Their About page continues "And we will do so in a manner that is accessible and engaging, in a way that appeals to both experts and non-experts." You can find the rest of it here.
19. Diana Furchtgott-Roth.
20. Investor's Business Daily.
21. New York Sun.
22. Epic Times & Richard Ebling.
23. Money & Markets, Charles Goyette.
24. Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution.
25. The Week.
26. Will Oremus, Slate.
27. Wall Street Journal.
28. Economist Magazine.
29. George Selgin, CATO Institute.
30. Smaulgld.com.
31. JessesCrossroadCafe.
32. Martin Hill, Liberty Fighter.
33. ZeroHedge.
34. Martin Feldstein, MarketWatch.
35. Payscale.
36. Robert J. Ringer.
37. Life Hacker.
38. Daily Mail.
39. Harvard Business Review.
40. Moody's Investors Service.
41. Gene Callahan.
42. Forbes Magazine.
43. Fusion.net.
44. Proven Ways of Making Money.
45. Zenconomics by Joe Withrow.
46. Gawker.
47. McClatchy.
48. Mark Perry.
49. Marginal Revolution.
50. Devour.com, videos worth watching.
51. Jon Rappaport.
52. Rappaport's Blog.
53. Russ Baker's WhoWhatWhy.org.
54. Economic Principals, David Warsh. Wenzel cited this article by Warsh.
55. Mark Nestmann.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Blog Topics
Curation sites:
1. BusinessInsider.
2. Upworthy.
3. Deadspin.
4. Buzzfeed.
5. WhatReallyHappened.
6. FreeRepublic.
7. FreeRepublic.
8. Freedom'sPhoenix.
9. Freedom'sPhoenix.
10. Viralnova uses Choopa for its dedicated hosting service.
11. Economics21.org
12. Dish.AndrewSullivan
13. RobertRinger
14. LewRockwell
15. DrudgeReport
16. JamesAltucher
17. GaryNorth
18. TomWoods
19. ZeroHedge
20. Gene-Callahan
21. MentalFloss
22. Fark is a news aggregator. The first thing you should know is that Fark.com isn't a weblog. Fark.com, the website, is a news aggregator and an edited social networking news site. Every day Fark receives 2,000 or so news submissions from its readership, from which we hand-pick the funny and weird notable news--and not-news--of the day.
23. MetaFilter
24. Mashable.
25. Huffington Post.co.uk
26. Flipboard.
27. GoogleNews.co.uk
28. GoogleNews
29. Zite is mobile only.
30. MSN Now.
31. Quora. Using question and answer sites gives you access to some really interesting content you can use on your site. You can list some interesting questions and answers you found and compile them in one article.
32. Reddit.
33. Digg.
34. Listverse. Listverse is well named. It is a service that presents information in the form of lists. Most, if not all, of their articles will have headlines like "10 Awesome Stories About Incredible Underdogs," and "10 Baffling Medical Mysteries from Around the World," and "10 Strange and Unusual Deaths Related to the Manson Family" that present unusual information in readily digestible lists.
Articles are not the only form of content at your disposal. You can search for relevant pictures and videos and feature them in an article. Instead of just embedding a photo or video in a post, take time to write something short about it.
35. Free State Project.
36. George F. Smith
37. Top 60 Health Blogs for 2014.
38. Robb Wolf.
39. Another 60 Health Blogs.
40. Happy Yolks.
41. OhSheGlows.
42. The Year in Food.
43. NaturallyElla.
44. 20Committee.com.
45. Intellihub.
46. TheWrongfulConvictionBlog.
Wenzel's blogging course. It's only up until 12/15/2014.
Test articles for originality with Copyscape.
Content Marketing Institute.
American Writers & Artists, Inc., or AWAI, on getting clients.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
1. Blogger Tools? Yeah, I won't hold my breath, but it doesn't hurt to see what people think is important.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
1. Domains.
LEGAL WEBSITES, Friday, January 16, 2015
1. Legal Websites.
2. AVVO for legal advice.
3. Reddit offers free legal advice. Who'd'a thunk it?
4.
Budgeting Blogs, Monday, January 12, 2015
1. MyBudget360.
2. VisualEconomics.CreditLoan.com
3. WordPress Blogging Tips. Some very useful tips.
On Blogging, Wednesday, January 7, 2014
1. Use Twitter in Blogging.
2.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Sites Wenzel relies on to feed his Libertarian audience:
1. 24/7 Wall St.
2. BarStoolSports@Twitter.
3. Politico.
4. Carl Menger Center.
5. NBC Bay Area.
6. San Francisco Chronicle.
7. Mashable is a social media news blog. Not sure what that means. Their about page reads "Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe."
8. Washington Post or WaPo.
9. Mother Jones.
10. New York Post.
11. Bloomberg.
12. Businessweek.
13. SFist.
14. Breitbart.
15. American Enterprise Institute, AEI, via Carpe Diem, via Mark J. Perry.
16. Financial Times. This is an excellent site for worldwide economic coverage. It is a subscription site.
17. WESH.com. is a virtual channel 2 (VHF digital channel 11), is an NBC-affiliated television station serving Orlando, Florida. United States and is licensed to Daytona Beach. The station is owned by the Hearst Television division of the Hearst Corporation, and is part of aduoploy with CW affiliate WKCF (Channel 18). The two stations share studio facilities on North Wymore Road (near I-4) in Eatonville (Using Winter Park address), and its transmitter is located in Orange City.
18. Economics21. is the economics portal of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to economic research and innovative public policies for the 21st century. Their aim is "to advance free enterprise, fiscal discipline, economic growth, and the rule of law. Drawing on the expertise of practitioners, policymakers, and academics, we will encourage a spirited debate about the way forward for democratic capitalism." What is democratic capitalism? Fair capitalism? Rothbard, call your office! Their About page continues "And we will do so in a manner that is accessible and engaging, in a way that appeals to both experts and non-experts." You can find the rest of it here.
19. Diana Furchtgott-Roth.
20. Investor's Business Daily.
21. New York Sun.
22. Epic Times & Richard Ebling.
23. Money & Markets, Charles Goyette.
24. Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution.
25. The Week.
26. Will Oremus, Slate.
27. Wall Street Journal.
28. Economist Magazine.
29. George Selgin, CATO Institute.
30. Smaulgld.com.
31. JessesCrossroadCafe.
32. Martin Hill, Liberty Fighter.
33. ZeroHedge.
34. Martin Feldstein, MarketWatch.
35. Payscale.
36. Robert J. Ringer.
37. Life Hacker.
38. Daily Mail.
39. Harvard Business Review.
40. Moody's Investors Service.
41. Gene Callahan.
42. Forbes Magazine.
43. Fusion.net.
44. Proven Ways of Making Money.
45. Zenconomics by Joe Withrow.
46. Gawker.
47. McClatchy.
48. Mark Perry.
49. Marginal Revolution.
50. Devour.com, videos worth watching.
51. Jon Rappaport.
52. Rappaport's Blog.
53. Russ Baker's WhoWhatWhy.org.
54. Economic Principals, David Warsh. Wenzel cited this article by Warsh.
55. Mark Nestmann.
subscribe to…
56. Charles Hugh Smith on college degrees as nothing more than signaling.
57. The Money Illusion.
58. Investment Watch Blog.
59. WashingtonsBlog. Business, Investing, Economy, & Politics.
56. Charles Hugh Smith on college degrees as nothing more than signaling.
57. The Money Illusion.
58. Investment Watch Blog.
59. WashingtonsBlog. Business, Investing, Economy, & Politics.
1. Forbes (@Forbes) - I couldn’t post this list without giving a shout out to the platform that has the confidence in their own editorial quality to allow me to publish a list of competing sites.
2. The New York Times (@NYTimes) – “All the news that’s fit to print.”
4. TechCrunch (@Techcrunch) news blog focusing on technology and start-ups
5. Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) – get the inside scoop and some pretty racy headlines on finance, media and technology.
6. Fast Company (@FastCompany) – one of the best rags you’ll find on business, innovation and professional success.
7. The Week (@TheWeek) – if you’re looking for content curation in practice and some pretty excellent coverage of all the news across just about every category, The Week fits the bill. I subscribe to the print and digital editions and get their daily news alert as well.
8. Fortune Magazine (@FortuneMagazine)
9. Inc Magazine (@Inc)
10. Time Magazine (@Time)
11. BusinessWeek (@BW) – one of the best twitter handles on the web!
12. Forrester (@Forrester) – top analysts firm covering business and marketing
13. Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) – thoughtful, intelligent and unique coverage of the latest in business
14. Knowledge@Wharton (@knowledgwharton) – from the University of Pennsylvania
15. The Altimeter Group (@AltimeterGroup) – Charlene Li (@CharleneLi), Jeremiah Owyang (@Jowyang), Rebecca Lieb (@LiebLink) and many other amazing analysts produce tons of some of the best analysis on the innovations driving business today.
16. Adobe’s CMO.com (@CMO_com) – covering marketing and digital trends for marketing leaders.
17. Content Marketing Institute (@CMIContent) – everything you need to know about content marketing
18. MarketingProfs (@MarketingProfs) – one of the best resources covering the latest trends and thought leadership in marketing
19. Hubspot (@Hubspot) – another one of the top resource for marketers.
20. Ad Age (@AdAge) – the latest in advertising trends, discussions and opinions.
21. The Nielsen Wire (@NielsenWire) – if you’re looking for stats for your next presentation, this is a good place to start. (Disclosure: I started my career as part of The Nielsen family)
22. iMediaConnection (@iMediaTweet) – keep up to date on the state of digital marketing and advertising
23. eMarketer (@eMarketer) – another great marketer resource for stats.
24. SmartBrief on Social Media (@SBoSM) – Jesse Stanchak is one of the best curators on the web working at SmartBrief, a company whose newsletters in many ways provide the best example of content curation in the digital age. I also subscribe to their Small Business and Leadership emails
25. BtoB Magazine (@BtoBMagazine) – for us Business to Business marketing folks
26. MarketingVOX (@MarketingVox) – stats and research notes covering the “voice of digital marketing.”
27. MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa) – research reports and blogs on marketing.
28. Social Media Today (@SocialMedia2day) – a great site syndicating some of the best authors covering social media
29. Business 2 Community (@B2Community) – one of the top social news sites on the web covering the latest trends and discussions on marketing, business, entertainment and more. (Disclosure: I am co-founder of Business 2 Community)
30. Business Innovation from SAP (@Biz_Innovations) – covers how business can grow and innovate through the latest technology. (Disclosure: I am the managing editor for this site @SAP)
Friday, December 5, 2014
Blog Topics
Curation sites:
1. BusinessInsider.
2. Upworthy.
3. Deadspin.
4. Buzzfeed.
5. WhatReallyHappened.
6. FreeRepublic.
7. FreeRepublic.
8. Freedom'sPhoenix.
9. Freedom'sPhoenix.
10. Viralnova uses Choopa for its dedicated hosting service.
11. Economics21.org
12. Dish.AndrewSullivan
13. RobertRinger
14. LewRockwell
15. DrudgeReport
16. JamesAltucher
17. GaryNorth
18. TomWoods
19. ZeroHedge
20. Gene-Callahan
21. MentalFloss
22. Fark is a news aggregator. The first thing you should know is that Fark.com isn't a weblog. Fark.com, the website, is a news aggregator and an edited social networking news site. Every day Fark receives 2,000 or so news submissions from its readership, from which we hand-pick the funny and weird notable news--and not-news--of the day.
23. MetaFilter
24. Mashable.
25. Huffington Post.co.uk
26. Flipboard.
27. GoogleNews.co.uk
28. GoogleNews
29. Zite is mobile only.
30. MSN Now.
31. Quora. Using question and answer sites gives you access to some really interesting content you can use on your site. You can list some interesting questions and answers you found and compile them in one article.
32. Reddit.
33. Digg.
34. Listverse. Listverse is well named. It is a service that presents information in the form of lists. Most, if not all, of their articles will have headlines like "10 Awesome Stories About Incredible Underdogs," and "10 Baffling Medical Mysteries from Around the World," and "10 Strange and Unusual Deaths Related to the Manson Family" that present unusual information in readily digestible lists.
Articles are not the only form of content at your disposal. You can search for relevant pictures and videos and feature them in an article. Instead of just embedding a photo or video in a post, take time to write something short about it.
35. Free State Project.
36. George F. Smith
37. Top 60 Health Blogs for 2014.
38. Robb Wolf.
39. Another 60 Health Blogs.
40. Happy Yolks.
41. OhSheGlows.
42. The Year in Food.
43. NaturallyElla.
44. 20Committee.com.
45. Intellihub.
46. TheWrongfulConvictionBlog.
Wenzel's blogging course. It's only up until 12/15/2014.
Test articles for originality with Copyscape.
Five Ways to Generate Revenue as a Blogger
How to Use a Blog to Sell Other Products
The Stories that Will Generate the Most Revenue
The Drudge Formula
Questions
World Affairs Council
Council on Foreign Relations
Commonwealth Club
Milken Conference
White House Press--email
Treasury Press
Read these articles on Curation:
3. YouBrandInc.
4. MarketingDonut.co.uk
5. MakeUseof.com
6. http://blog.shareist.com/is-curated-content-a-copyright-issue/.
7. Don't Just Create Content.
A few comments or cautions on curating. I found all three of these at Bill Myers' site.
Comment #1
You can curate anything! A list, a chart, an image, a video, etc. And one thing did come out of the last court challenge about curating is that DO NOT TAKE THE WHOLE IMAGE. USE A THUMBNAIL. A few more things:
1. Give a link back.
2. Be careful where you put your return link.
3. Technically you cannot use videos off of YouTube without permission. Yes, I know that everyone does it, but that doesn't make it legal. Just because you use a photo and give recognition for it don't make it legal.
4. Can't change or manipulate a photo if you take it.
5. The court ruled that a thumbnail is fair use but the entire image is not unless an agreement is made.
Comment #2
From this article, Bill Myers explains, "I found an interesting article about how curators are the 'super heros' of the web. In that article, they recommend that content curators should start by knowing:
1. If you don't add context, or opinion, or voice and simply lift content, it's stealing.
2. If you don't provide attribution, and a link back to the source, it's stealing.
3. If you take a large portion of the original content, it's stealing.
4. If someone asks you not to curate their material, and you don't respect that request, it's stealing.
5. Respect published rights. If images don't allow creative commons use, reach out to the image creator--don't just grab it and ask questions later."
Comment #3
Done properly, curation can add enormous value to people's lives by sorting through mounds of information, sifting out the bad, selecting the good, eliminating duplication, and then synthesizing, collating, and summarizing relevant information--which is often obtained from a variety of sources that may be somewhat obscure or challenging to access for other reasons. Good curators are not just topical experts; they're also experts in identifying, evaluating and efficiently scanning/searching large number of sources, each of which might have peculiarities in the way it indexes content and might require unique search methods.
***********************************************************************
Monday, November 11, 2014Council on Foreign Relations
Commonwealth Club
Milken Conference
White House Press--email
Treasury Press
Read these articles on Curation:
1. Fast Company.
2. Content Curation Marketing.3. YouBrandInc.
4. MarketingDonut.co.uk
5. MakeUseof.com
6. http://blog.shareist.com/is-curated-content-a-copyright-issue/.
7. Don't Just Create Content.
A few comments or cautions on curating. I found all three of these at Bill Myers' site.
Comment #1
You can curate anything! A list, a chart, an image, a video, etc. And one thing did come out of the last court challenge about curating is that DO NOT TAKE THE WHOLE IMAGE. USE A THUMBNAIL. A few more things:
1. Give a link back.
2. Be careful where you put your return link.
3. Technically you cannot use videos off of YouTube without permission. Yes, I know that everyone does it, but that doesn't make it legal. Just because you use a photo and give recognition for it don't make it legal.
4. Can't change or manipulate a photo if you take it.
5. The court ruled that a thumbnail is fair use but the entire image is not unless an agreement is made.
Comment #2
From this article, Bill Myers explains, "I found an interesting article about how curators are the 'super heros' of the web. In that article, they recommend that content curators should start by knowing:
1. If you don't add context, or opinion, or voice and simply lift content, it's stealing.
2. If you don't provide attribution, and a link back to the source, it's stealing.
3. If you take a large portion of the original content, it's stealing.
4. If someone asks you not to curate their material, and you don't respect that request, it's stealing.
5. Respect published rights. If images don't allow creative commons use, reach out to the image creator--don't just grab it and ask questions later."
Comment #3
Done properly, curation can add enormous value to people's lives by sorting through mounds of information, sifting out the bad, selecting the good, eliminating duplication, and then synthesizing, collating, and summarizing relevant information--which is often obtained from a variety of sources that may be somewhat obscure or challenging to access for other reasons. Good curators are not just topical experts; they're also experts in identifying, evaluating and efficiently scanning/searching large number of sources, each of which might have peculiarities in the way it indexes content and might require unique search methods.
***********************************************************************
Business Idea Center. Don't miss it!
***********************************************************************
5 Key Elements of Winning Business Proposals
- SOLUTIONS: After the lead paragraph on the company's needs and problems, follow up with a detailed presentation of my solutions. But promise only the solutions that you can deliver.
- BENEFITS: List the benefits and follow with proof. Your proof can be in the form of completed projects.
- CREDIBILITY: Winning proposals glow with credibility. Confidence is stated self-assured tones. Third-party endorsements will build credibility, particularly form folks in your same field.
- EVIDENCE: A proposal with evidence of your ability to deliver on time, under budget, and effective is key to winning the bid.
- TARGET THE INTENDED AUDIENCE: A winning business proposal is all about communication. Speak in a language spoken by your intended audience. If the proposal evaluators are from an engineering background or financial department use the appropriate jargon.
LinkedIn is considered the heaviest used business network media in the world. Facebook is the largest social media that includes all topics.
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6.
The Fundamental Law of Self-Promotion Inside a Bureaucracy: A First-Hand Account
Sam Rayburn once said, "To get along, go along." It is the fundamental rule of getting along in a bureaucratic organization.
I decided to put it to the test and report results here. Keep in mind that my sample size is one, and I work for the federal government. So here it goes.
BACKGROUND
See this thread:
This is the pertinent part of when I was a second-level manager in my last position.
Fast forward two and half months to today. Departmental productivity is up over 300%. Time spent on waste is reduced to zero or severely limited. Departmental man-hour capacity spent on value-adding projects is over 95% and should approach 100% over the next month. We are actively using tools like FMEA, project scope statements, stakeholder registries, requirements traceability matrices, RACI matrices, etc. The department has deadlines and a few metrics now. People are not only uncovering and bringing problems to me, they are actively implementing or proposing solutions. Other departments want to work with us and are amazed at how good the relationship is. Nobody spends time fixing the blame. People focus on problems and solutions.
I knew I had really hit it head-on when one of my engineers sent an e-mail back to an adversarial department identifying the issues under contention and overtly separating them from the relationship while recommending a solution (no finger pointing or coming to me to solve the problem).
Every day I come to work and say, "Fix the problem not the blame." They do. Nobody makes excuses anymore. My department is not world-class by any means, but we've come a long way. To tell you the truth, I'm probably the biggest impediment in the department now--they don't need me. One more year, and I could probably turn this into an organization that others could benchmark to, but I'm not the permanent replacement, so not my choice."
CURRENT SITUATION
I transferred back to the United States to a non-supervisory senior engineer role. I decided that, no matter what, I would go along to get along--barring ethical violations. I have only submitted one good idea, and when my manager said it wasn't the right way to go, I backed down, and didn't bring it up again. I no longer submit ideas. I do not stand my ground or get defensive in any way. I do reports and spreadsheets exactly as my managers want them. If they want to make minor changes, I tell them I'll have it in their inbox in 5 minutes.
I have learned the legacy computer programs everyone else hates using. I simply stand by in meetings and then ask how my managers would like me to implement the idea. I do exactly what I am told, and no more. As a matter of fact, the few times I have gone the extra mile, things didn't turn out so well. I am the least technically experienced person in several departments, but am one of the most favored. I even openly say that I go along to get along.
I am amazed at the results. After being here two months, I am the departmental 'golden boy.' Managers regularly bring me in on conversations where they are planning long term. They complain about other employees in front of me. When something has to get done quickly or just so, they come to me. I am regularly thanked for my 'hard work' and 'going along with the plan instead of arguing.' I am invited to eat lunch with my bosses twice a week. I have no doubt that were I to stay in this office long term, I would reach the top grades. If you saw me in this position, you would probably consider me a cheerfully brain-dead person.
A LACK OF MARKET COMPETITION
Few people have experience on both sides so here are my conclusions.
The "go along to get along" bureaucrat is a useless person who has no substance other than attaining the next grade in a bureaucratically oriented organization. To a smaller entrepreneurially oriented firm, I would be considered no more than deadweight, and summarily fired. I would myself fire someone acting like this in my last position (if I could have). Unlike my last position, I have no solid results to put on my resume.
The person who stands his ground in a bureaucracy hurts himself and will accomplish little. The engineer I respect most in the organization is a fire protection engineer who is regularly reprimanded for standing his ground. He refuses to approve technical plans by contractors, and he makes a stink when he believes it violates the fire protection code. I go to him regularly for technical instruction--and then translate it to something palatable to managers.
In any organization, I am not sure that there is a middle ground between being effective and succeeding bureaucratically. I think that one has to accurately sum up his personality and then find an organization that matches it.
In a large bureaucratic organization, I am amazed that anything gets done. I think it is only because of high barriers to entry, such as economies of scope, economies of scale, legal monopolies, high capital requirements, etc. Were these barriers to drop, these large organizations would go out of business. A friend of mine today who has sat in on board meetings of large corporations says that his impression of most executives matches Peter Sellers in the movie Being There.
Lastly, many of the battles I fought while an effective manager probably could have been solved more diplomatically and weren't worth fighting. Jousting at the windmills is rarely an effective tactic in any organization. The only battle I had no chance of coming out ahead on is when I crossed swords with a senior manager's paramour who was a subordinate manager.
FLIP THE SCRIPT
Not all is wasted. I've learned some valuable things here. First, I am finding that the people who hide behind the "the only reason I stand up to them is that I have integrity" are in general lazy jerks. Those with integrity and moral courage rarely toot their own horn. They merely act according to their own code.
Second, the time to object in any project is not at the 95% complete review. Do this at the 10% or 30% phase.
Third, there are always ways in any bureaucracy to get your objections implemented without heartburn. For example, I explained to one colleague that writing a letter to the executive director complaining about something will get action, but all he had to do is wait one more month and have the statement of work ready when the finance folks are desperate to spend money to zero out the budget at the end of the fiscal year.
Third, people in bureaucracies are in genera so lazy and incompetent, that if you can quantify a positive result of what you want to do, he'll back you all the way. His numbers depend on things like this.
Lastly, sometimes the boss just wants things done a certain way, and he doesn't want anyone changing, improving, or arguing with it. This is the 'labor' solution rather than the 'problem solver' solution. So, if the manager wants this, just provide it.
RUNNING BOTH SIDES
It's been an interesting run doing this, but I think I need to be moving on. I need to be in an organization where I actually have some value and the organization's actions and goals matter. I wouldn't want to look back at the end of my career and say that the only I ever did was go along to get along.
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