Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

May 21, 2008

UK Trip 2: Meeting JP Rangaswami, Out to Oxford, and a Question from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 6:52 am

Publishing and Business Make Sense Together

confused of calcutta

When the meeting at Cass Business School at City U had wrapped up, we collected our stuff and headed over to the British Telecom Building to meet with JP Rangaswami. I’ve been a fan of his blog, “Confused of Calcutta,” for close to a year now. He’s a thoughtful, intelligent man, well worth reading.

The hour we spent with JP was a high point of our trip. It’s hard not to be both impressed and honored when a busy man — one who’s about to a board transatlantic flight AND is in the throes of video recording corporate results — takes a relaxed hour for an American lady and her son.

We talked about blogging, culture, finance, and the Cluetrain manifesto. JP explained negotiation — relationship, conversation, then transaction — that is the Indian way of striking a deal. His face was delight and energy as he described it. I laughed with him as if we were involved in a friendly game of strategy.

When our conversation ended, JP not only showed us back to the street-level entry, he walked us outside to give directions to the Goldman Sachs building so that my son could the London office of his company. A mom could never have dreamed up a more elegant human role model for a son. I hope my son saw as much in JP as I did. The generosity of that hour is unforgettable. Thank you, JP.

As we parted, my son went in search of Goldman Sachs. I met up with Richard, a publishing friend, who would take us to Oxford.

Out to Oxford

We followed Richard through the tube to the train to Perrivale where we found his car and drove to Oxford. (There’s a reason folks call trips around the UK “journeys.”) He installed in a favorite English pub called Ball and Bat in a lovely room named after a cricket player. We had dinner with Richard’s wife in their thatched roof cottage in a village not far away. Later that night, we sat in the pub on the edges of a going away party for the manager, using the first real wifi. Each time someone heard I was from Chicago, I heard the name Al Capone.

Oxford Brookes University

The next morning found me with Richard at Brookes College of Oxford University. The first meeting was with Angus Phillips, the Director of The Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies. The Center is located in a brand new campus much changed since last I’d been there. Angus has a new book out in June, Inside Book Publishing. Angus, Richard, and I talked about the Oxford Publishing program. Then Richard and I moved off to a lunch meeting with the publishing staff. Lunch was a discussion with most of the academic staff and my friend, Richard, a visiting lecturer at the Centre.

We talked about social media and blogging — how the Internet is being used for business and community building, how communities form, how people are linked through content and context, the use of microblogging, cultural shifts that occur online, how writing changes from print to online, and online marketing and business models. Some thought the opportunity to turn blogs into books was where they should be looking. . . .

Oxford offers an MBA in Publishing and three publishing seminars for the business and publishing undergrad and graduate students each year. I was invited to speak and give a seminar next semester. We’re discussing the content now.

The question of the day was: How do you find time to blog and do other work too?

How would you answer that one?

More to come about UK universities. [Check back for my answer yesterday's question from City U now.]

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!





Filed under Business Life, Successful Blog |




C'mon. Let's talk!

12 Comments to “UK Trip 2: Meeting JP Rangaswami, Out to Oxford, and a Question from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies”

  1. May 21st, 2008 at 7:04 am
    Karin H. said

    Hi Liz

    It seems you had some wonderful journeys over here.
    As for your question:
    As long as you see blogging as an afterthought or a casual ‘fling’ yes then the question would be valid: who do you find the extra time. As soon as you see blogging as part of your work it is easily ‘planned’ in to the rest of the normal work-load.
    At least, that’s hwo I ‘make time’ for it as I do for all important tasks to help me grow my business.

    Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

  2. May 21st, 2008 at 7:29 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karin!
    I learned a lot while I was over, and I was delighted to see how engaged folks were with the issues, despite the barriers to reaching the Internet that we no longer have here.

    I’d say that when the walls that force folks to use wifi cards, hard wires, and broadband start tumbling so will the walls that crowd the thinking. :)

  3. May 21st, 2008 at 7:31 am
    Karen Putz / DeafMom said

    Sounds like a nice time out there!
    As for finding time to blog and do other work, that’s a constant struggle for me. I have to figure out how to delegate my time each day to get it all done. Some days, not much gets done and other days, it all flows.

  4. May 21st, 2008 at 7:45 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karen,
    I know what you’re saying. That was once my problem too. Now I realize that some of it is how I approach things. . . .

    I’m saving my answer to the question until later.

  5. May 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
    Robyn said

    Liz, by making these alliances, you are futhering the “respectability” of good business bloggers at university. Wow, what a great achievement to be invited to speak at Oxford next year!

    Do you have any ideas about how you’ll hook them?

  6. May 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Robyn,
    I’m seriously concerned that we’re preparing students with skills for brick and mortar, but no skills for the virtual world. I guess I’ll have to be “irresistible.” I’ll appeal to their head and heart and show them how the virtual world fits with practical meaning into the purpose of their lives.

    You can convince anyone in business to do what you want if you show them why it’s to their benefit. . . . :)

  7. May 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am
    Dawud Miracle said

    Workflow…That’s all I can say.

    I’ve had to create a workflow that limits the amount of time I spend with blogging and social media. That means my blog may not have grown as fast as I would have liked, yet it has grown steadily. And since I don’t monetize my site much at all (a few affiliates) I make all my money when I’m not blogging so I have to do my work. That’s the way the bills get paid.

    Yet blogging is a major part of my marketing - so I need both.

  8. May 21st, 2008 at 10:49 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Dawud,
    Great to see you — like old times. :)

    I think we get better, faster, and blog more efficiently as we do it more. It becomes a natural part of our day. Folks who as the timing question are thiking about the blog a new center. I see it as something that adds value.

    But I’m still not telling my answer until tomorrow. :)

  9. May 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
    Dawud Miracle said

    I do too. One of the important messages that came out of SOBCon08 was that a blog is not a business - it’s a method of marketing, of communicating. So the blog should fit into an overall strategy. But writing blog posts is not the strategy itself. The blog posts has to serve some goal in order to grow business.

  10. May 21st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
    Mother Earth said

    I wrote about this very thing this morning - the short answer is to plan

    the long answer - ha! is here:
    http://bestwellnessconsultant.com/2008/05/21/working-from-home-and-planning-a-perfect-day-best-wellness-consultant.aspx

    I have to say I am so excited about what you are up to

    and if i may say proud…does that make sense? it’s just so darn cool

  11. May 21st, 2008 at 2:50 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth!
    Planning does seem to be the key. Thanks for the link. Blogger synchronicity!!

    Thanks too for the kind words. :)

  12. May 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
    UK Trip 3: The London Tour and the London College of Communication - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] to come about UK universities. [Check back for my answer yesterday’s question from at Oxford. [...]

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

C'mon Let's Talk!