Data. Knowledge. Power. Truth.

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I was just listening to @sarahrobinson’s GameChangers call, and @chrisguillebeau mentioned a sign on his computer…something like, “What is your purpose for doing all this?” And then I realized I know why I’m doing this, but I never told you.

Time to tell.

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My entire working life has been about passing on information. Maybe all jobs are, but looking back, mine seem particularly so. I was a receptionist for years while recovering from college. And while that job is the bottom of the corporate food chain, I had an amazing amount of power.

At just above minimum wage, I controlled which visitors got to speak with which engineer/partner/manager. Or not. And because these were the days before voicemail, I controlled what was in the phone messages each engineer/partner/manager got. If any.

And I used my powers for good. Good enough that I got upgraded to my first ever tech job: reporting an accounting firm’s digital billing. Considered a bottom-of-the-barrel tech position, with a paycheck to match, I was given even more power.

Now I had my fingers in the combined billing data for 20-something offices from Maryland to Miami. Hundreds of staff. Many millions of dollars. Even. More. Power.

I knew who was working on what (and who wasn’t) and for how long (or how little). I had a view of the workflow that no one else had, and my job was to arrange what I found so it spoke truth to the handful of men (and 1 woman) who made the decisions that affected us all.

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I loved that job. And I was run out of that job. Nothing dramatic, just the same ol’ same ol’. My knowledge intimidated someone above me on the foodchain, so they sabotaged my work to diminish my power. I was young and I took it hard and personally. And I decided then and there that jobs sucked, but data rocked. So I walked across the street and got a different job with different data.

Because data arranged in useful ways is information. And accurately interpreted information leads to knowledge. And knowledge is power.

I had three more jobs like that. One I walked away from because I told them the truth and they used it to tell a lie. One I abandoned in shame because I unintentionally told a lie, and didn’t have the courage to admit my mistake and then tell the truth. And one I refused to continue because I got tired of telling the same story over and over and over again.

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Because that’s what data is. It’s the start of a story. It doesn’t look particularly interesting…at the start. It always begins as a scattered, disorganized mess of facts that have no meaning. But I’ve learned (and am still learning) to assemble and sort, arrange and streamline, highlight and gray-out, until the mess settles into a structured pattern of symbols, numbers, and words that tell a truth.

Not: The Truth…data can’t give us that. I offer a truth. A single, clear view of what’s going on out there, which we can interpret through our unique worldviews, and then use to step forward with whatever magic we’re making. I offer one truth among many.

I’m a fact finder. I’m a planner. It’s not what I do. It’s who I am, and so I do it. I look around (and back) to see what’s being (and been) done, and then I make a good guess on what to do next.

I would do it for free. I have done it for free. And don’t I love the Kolbe exams for putting a label on it, giving value to it, pointing the way for it, and confirming what I knew all along, but: a) Didn’t have a name for and, b) Didn’t appreciate the value of.

My job was to pass on information needed to make good decisions. Essentially, to tell a story. Ideally, a true one…albeit never the whole one.

And it’s still my job.

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My job is to suggest a story that you can read any way you want. You may reach the same conclusions as other people, but you’ll get there in your own time, in your own way.

The power I have is not  for me. It’s for you.

I want you to work your business your way. If you wanted to do things someone else’s way, you’d get a job-job…right?

I want you to make your dreams come true. That only sounds corny because I really mean it.

I want you to feel confident when you make a choice. Not that there won’t be other options you could have chosen…there always are. There always will be. But I want you to know, for sure, that with what you know right now, you did the best thing for you.

I don’t want anything to stand in your way. But I can’t clear the whole path. I would if I could, but I can’t. I’ll help where I can.

I want you to have the power to walk away from a job you can’t stand and people who don’t appreciate you. I want you to be free to walk away. Every bad thing that has happened to or around me happened because someone (sometimes me) didn’t feel they could walk away. Every good thing came when someone (sometimes me) felt they could, and then did.

Above all things, I want you to own your power. The power to be wholly you, somewhere you choose to be, among people who adore you as you are.

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So we’re clear: My job is not to tell you what to do. My job is to invent questions and tools you can use to tell yourSelf what to do.

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So when you read a Big Bright Bulb article, ebook, or review, don’t expect them to give you single, solid answers. There are people out there eager to tell you just what to do, and I’m not one of them.

My job is to look around, sniff stuff out, trim the fat, focus the lens, and make things clear(er). To ask the questions, raise the doubts, confirm the facts, unearth the secrets, and shine the light.

I am not the sage on the stage,
I’m the Guide on the side.

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And that’s all.

Photo credit: nasrulekram