Over the last several months I have been making some observations about leadership and I would have to agree with the later answer:  Leadership can be both built and born.

As a “Doer,” I was born to take charge, initiate, and lead.  However, I have discovered through personal experience, a leader isn’t defined, or even qualified by, the loudness of his or her voice or how controlling he or she may be at any given time. Instead, the measure of a leader is defined by the people who are willing to follow that individual. I heard once if you think you are leading and you look behind you and no one is following, you are just taking a walk.  I believe the ability to gain followership, and then move people to action is truly the definition of a leader.  Can that skill be born?  Perhaps, but more importantly–and a relief to many—I believe leadership is something that be learned if fostered over time.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what it takes to be a leader and how I can effectively motivated/move a team to success. My ponderings have led to some insights I believe are important for any emerging leader and worthy to be shared with interested readers.  I am coming out of hibernation to use this post and the next to share “The Lessons I Have Learned on Leadership.”

As always stay tuned and if you have missed my wit (don’t blame you) you can keep updated with my happenings @danidotnoah.

I completely agreed with her frustrations but struggle with the options: tweet mindlessly or tweet purposely.

Danielle Noah
Awesome Expert

That is what my business card should say. When it comes to all things “awesome” I have more experience than Barney Stenson. I have been taught to limit my “awesomeness” so that people are not overwhelmed. Who are we kidding, I often have to tone down my personality so people can tell that I am smart and not just silly. But this conversation with my sister got me thinking that as a whole people are afraid to be themselves. In order to get followers they must show how much they read and how smart they are in order to be interesting 24/7.

What would happen if our social media streams reflected our daily happenings?

No one wants to know if you are brushing your teeth or going to bed but what if your daily habits took on a new spin. The powerful twitterer is someone who can make the normal new.

I thought I needed to compartmentalize my life. What I’m reading went to my tumbler. My personal life went to my blogspot. My business life when to my website. Facebook got old friends and twitter new friends. In the end, no one has the full picture except me and my family.

This is what I have decided: If you are reading an interesting article or book, share it! But if you are just living your life, take note of your surroundings and bring something new to the table. Your intelligence won’t be proved by tweeting more business articles than @guykawasaki, it will be in living life and finding it interesting.

LYRICS:
Now Im in the blogosphere, Now I’m in the twitterverse
Fans get so immersed, But I’m a nerd forever
I’m the new Zuckerberg, And since my website
I been cookin dough like a chef servin killa-bytes
Used to be the basement, Back at my mom’s place
Buildin web traffic so that we could sell an ad space
Make way for the, One man businesses
Bail outs finished with, White collar criminals
New sega genesis, Entrepreneur time
Makin big plans, To dominate the online
Yeah, I’m on YouTube, this is one man
Sharin’ google revenue, With songs on my webcam
Science is the new art, Databases day to day
Geeks spreadin’ sheet smarts, Hustle, make the data pay
I could be in Valleywag plus Geekologie
Tell from my avatar, That I’m most definitely

The New Dork,
Social networks – what dreams are made of, There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re the New Dork
This V.C. money is brand new, The geek is now damn cool
Let’s hear it for new dorks, new dorks, new dorks

Catch me up in Techcrunch, Right on the homepage
Hell, I’m on Gizmodo, In a photo bout a phone craze
And Im up in Mashable, weekend trip to New York
Bar pitty, 1oak, parties full of New Dorks
Now I’m pitchin business plans, From the backs of napkans
Micro-lend to Africans, Monetize Kazakastan
Catch me up on linked-in, Dog, C.E.O.
You can see where I be, With the I.P.O.
Now I’m up in skinny jeans, Now a hipster’s lurkin’
Used to be a reject, But now I’m steady jerkin’
Now my glasses mainstream, Now the girlies eyein me
Popular kids copy me, The new swag is irony
Comin’ from the small time, Girls couldn’t find me
Now I scale models, Like I climb on top of Heidi
Start big trends, with tweets that I pass on
You should follow me, cuz I’m friends with Ashton
CHORUS

FACEBOOK
http://facebook.com/grasshopper

TWITTER
http://twitter.com/grasshopper

The moving experience from California to Oregon was… traumatizing, to say the least. Between the 11 hour drive, movers from hell and saying goodbye to my 9 years in California I am a bit worn out. The good news is I have made it to Portland, my furniture is some where between the Silicon Valley and the Silicon Forest and the weather is absolutely beautiful it still feels like I am living in San Jose.

To keep with my transition theme I am reworking my online presence as well. Between my main homepage, photography and design pages they are all being revamped and prettied. Also, this blog (the one you are reading right now) won’t be updated daily like prior to the move. Instead I am going to be shooting for multiple times a week and pushing the smaller posts to my tumblr account (danidotnoah.tumblr.com). Tumblr allows me to quickly reblog my favorite posts from all of my blogs that I subscribe to on google reader and is a lot easier than transfering it and making it look nice for here. Instead, this blog is going to be strictly my words and thoughts. Of course I will recommend you follow both but as long as you are connected to my twitter (@danidotnoah) you should get a reminder of updates.

Outside of online, I am still on the search for a full time brilliant job. I am looking for account management opportunities within advertising agencies or brand management within businesses. In the meantime I am fine tuning my skillset and networking whenever possible.

I can’t wait to share about some exciting events I have been apart of  recently and continue to update you as I go from in transition to settled. Portland is a welcome change regardless of being unable to pump my own gas!

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In case you can’t read that, his welcome note says:

Welcome to the Gates Notes

Since leaving my fulltime job at Microsoft to dedicate more time to our foundation, a lot of people have asked me what I’m working on. It often feels like I’m back in school, as I spend a lot of my time learning about issues I’m passionate about.

I’m fortunate because the people I’m working with and learning from are true experts in their fields. I take a lot of notes, and often share them and my own thoughts on the subject with others through email, so I can learn from them and expand the conversation.

I thought it would be interesting to share these conversations more widely with a website, in the hope of getting more people thinking and learning about the issues I think are interesting and important. So, welcome to the Gates Notes.

My opinion: I love the literal white space and effective use of color.  It has a very fresh, clean and modern look. Best part, it doesn’t look like he is trying to hard.  I do agree that the type is a little too small.  I can read it fine enough but I am in my 20′s and with a large screen, his target demo might have a rougher time than I do. I have also heard that the coding is a bit sloppy, but as I am no expert who am I to say! Overall, I really enjoy the first impression and look forward to seeing how he continues to report and update it. As for twitter, I don’t plan on following but you go Bill!

http://www.gatesnotes.com

BUT… there is always a but… I cannot stand it when I am with someone, whether they are a significant or not so significant other, and the cell phone is out. There has been many a case where mid movie a phone call is made or answered, mid dinner a text message sent, or mid hangout an activity check made. There is nothing that says “You bore me” quicker than a push of a button that lights up the phone screen. If I see the cell phone you better be checking in on your dying pup, finding out the movie times or showing me something that will blow my socks off. Otherwise, you can tweet that funny line I just said after we are done.

For those that are clueless and helpless into cell phone etiquette, Gizmodo.com is here to help. Answer the questions and follow the path to find out if you can pull out your cell phone safely or face the consequence of me judo chopping it away!

…

Image courtesy of Gizmodo and Shane Snow

I started a twitter experiment. Life Lesson #. Each morning, right when I woke up, I thought about my entire day yesterday and what was the greatest thing I learned.  It could be silly,  it could be profound but by taking those minutes to really invest it, I was allowing the life lesson to have a greater hold on who I am. Allow it to really sink in instead of pass me by.

My journey to date: (in reverse order)

Life Lesson #090911: Cheating on Boxed In is more fulfilling than sitting there stumped. Sometimes cheaters do make winners.

Life Lesson #090912: Talk Soup is the cure for the common cold. That and Bill Rancic.

Life Lesson #090913: It is not until you are content with yourself that you will find true happiness.

Life Lesson #090914: Never understimate the power of a sneeze.

Life Lesson #090915: Ignorance is bliss. Unless when sneaking you find something you like…that ain’t bad either!

Life Lesson #090916: There is a good & a bad side to every situation it’s how you respond to it that counts.

Life Lesson #090917: Forgiveness & trust are not rights but privileges. Ones we should spend our energy being worthy of.

Life Lesson #090918: Look less, see more.

Life Lesson #090919: Laugh often an earnestly. http://bit.ly/pkanI

Life Lesson #090920: Always find a positive spin. Sunday isn’t the end of a weekend but a fresh start to a new week.

Life Lesson #090921: It is best to work with kindness & grace. You never know when the tables will turn and who may return in your future.

Life Lesson #091016: If you are constantly looking for the better offer you will miss the beauty of life that is happening right now.

As you can see, I took a 3 week break from my experiment and now I’m deciding between continuing it or finding a new twitter schtick. My thoughts are leaning towards “I’m determined” and instead of it being life lessons, but life goals. Those to can range from silly to profound. I will keep you posted.  Until then, follow me at @danidotnoah

It is officially, the entire Noah family is on Twitter.  Some of you may not be familar with my parents or sister but let me tell you why I think you should follow them:

Ray [@rnoah]: When my sister and I were still living at home, he successfully survived years of being the only male.  We got him countless male dogs but in the end Squire or Jake can’t protect him from 3 women.  Not only has he seen The Notebook, listened to Hilary Duff (and enjoyed it), folded our underwear and been told many stories of boyfriends who deserve to be exes BUT he has survived!!  By following his twitter, you will get daily updates on his blog, non-profit, and random RNOAH facts usually involving coffee.  He hasn’t quite mastered the fact that he too can follow people, but hopefully soon…

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Linda [@LindaNoah]: You have been warned… I am her mini me.  We look alike, we act alike, and we talk alike.  This can only lead to trouble.  When we are not fighting like cats and dogs over our similarities she is conquering the world one personality at a time.  She is a behavioral guru and can understand a person within a single handshake.  Team building, public speaking, marriage counseling, and parenting are all in her repertoir.  Having just joined this past weekend I cannot make any guarantees as to what will be tweeted but an estimation.  By following her twitter, you will potentially get links and tweets regarding communication arts, parenting, and updates usually centered around missing her daughters.

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Ashley [@ashleynoah]: Without shame I can promise you, Ashley is my better half.  If we were combined, we would create the perfect person.  She is book smart, while I am street smart.  I trust no one, she trusts most of everyone.  Tall, short. Blonde, brunette. Funny, funnier. Doesn’t matter who is who (Except I am the funnier one ), although we are different, our interest and passions are the same. Or maybe I am just a true younger sister and copy everything she does! Ash is currently getting her MBA at Kellogg in Chicago and still raising awareness and support for Ethiopia.  Needless to say, but I will say it anyway, Ashley is a giver and a world changer. Just like Linda, she is new to the twitter world but what I expect to read from her is her daily happenings in Evanston, MBA studies and activities, and Soli, Soli, Soli.

That is my family in a nutshell and hopefully you can get to know them as you get to know me as well.

For those not following me on twitter, you can find my updates at @dani_noah