Managing the Gray

Every day I wake up to a warm embrace and a wet nose from my youngest pup Jaz. She sits quietly next to my side of the bed first to see if I’ll wake up and when I don’t she jumps up to say good morning. This happens at four am every day. This has been going on for at least a year now and I’ve grown used to it. Sometimes I even wake up moments before she does and I’ll grab and hug her when she says hello. It has shifted my night time routine to going to bed earlier than I ever use to so that I still get roughly seven hours of sleep every night. Rising, I feed the animals, pour my first cup of coffee and sit down in the silence of my living room to do my morning surf. While I know plenty of productivity experts would hate this, for me it works. I quickly know if anything pressing arose overnight and I catch up on what my friends are doing around the globe. Then I read through the New York Times and Apple News to be sure I’m updated on the day’s headlines. Lately, I’ve been thinking I should use the quiet time that follows more productively though. Perhaps I should go downstairs and throw a sandbag around or ruck a few miles on the treadmill. Maybe I should break out the laptop and work on my next book that has been boiling up to the surface over the last couple of weeks. The usual is to watch a documentary or whatever series I’m currently binging. (Loved the new Jack Ryan show by the way.) The more I thought about it this morning, the more I realized that I needed the quiet morning hours of nothing in my recent past to balance out everything else that was going on in my life. Today, things are more stable, prepared and organized. The chaos of last semester with new classes, lectures and day-to-day figuring things out at a new school have settled down into a new semester that has a solid foundation and I can build on top of rather than trying to clear the land and build at the same time. It feels good. It feels inspiring. Mentally, I feel comfortable spending time and brain cycles on my art. Those things that give me deep seeded satisfaction, but might not give my family immediate support. Writing, photography and other creative outlets have long since been put on a shelf and only allowed out to play from time to time. Now, I want to take them down, dust them off and let my imagination run wild. Stability is a new thing in my world and while we never know how long we’ll have it for it is simply refreshing to have it at all. My quiet moments are evolving. I like that. no

This summer was busier and more rewarding than I ever imagined it would be. The hours spent teaching, mentoring and managing the Wheaton Innovates (WiN) Team of students challenged my mind and filled my heart. If you’ve been following along with my weekly posts, thanks for reading. If not, to catch you up I was given the reigns of the partnership between Wheaton College and MassChallenge. The ask was to choose a group of student and turn them into a successful consulting team that would work with some of the most promising new startups in New England. We spent several weeks in the classroom learning the basics. I already know that there were some lessons I didn’t teach and must be part of the curriculum in the future. The time on site at MassChallenge was inspiring and full of meetings, laughs, and excellent work. In the end, we had 31 different companies request our services and projects completed for 17 of them. Our work included developing marketing strategy plans, producing videos, taking headshots, creating social media content and developing a website. Not bad for a brand new team over six weeks is it? For some of the students, this was their first work experience. Many of them were working with technology and on projects that they had never thought of doing before. It was fun to watch them choose to shadow on projects where they didn’t yet feel comfortable to contribute but wanting to learn. They learned how you never know during a requirements gathering meeting if the client is going to be a joy or difficult to work with and that no matter how cool a project sounds if a client can’t get the logistics worked out on their side it doesn’t happen. Thank you to everyone at MassChallenge for making us feel welcomed and to the startups who we will be rooting for even now that our work together is complete. I’ve not mentioned the team members by name up until now because I wanted to wait until the end of our time together to share more about them. If you are looking to hire the next great junior member of your team, you should click through and hire one of these marvelous students. Angel Bird, Alex Stomberg, Jules Bibonimana, Zhuo Chen, Alvaro Guerra Rodriguez, Christina Smith and Keegan Dougless are all going to do amazing things in this world and whoever is smart enough to hire them is going to be happy they did. Thank you WiN Team for a great summer and working hard throughout. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

My long business career has included managing a variety of people. My shorter teaching career has included teaching a variety of students. This summer, as I manage seven students in a classroom and an office, has been a challenging and rewarding experience for me. When you are a professor, the goal is to manage the knowledge that the students learn and try to help them earn the best grade possible. The focus is on them directly. As a manager, the goal is to deliver the best result for the business you are working for. While independent development and growth of the individual employee is essential, you have to look out for the greater good of the client and business first sometimes. But, where are the lines when your employees are also your students? That has shown itself to be a fascinating relationship. This past week the work continued. We held our usual status meeting, and each member of the team was instructed to come with a detailed update of where each of their projects stood, any obstacles from successful completion of those projects and any help they needed from the team. During this meeting, a member of the team broke one of my few rules for the summer when they shared that they had delivered a completed project to the client without me seeing it and approving it first. This went from being irritating to infuriating when after the meeting I looked at the work, and it was less than stellar.  The mistake wasn’t going to cause a stock price to plummet or even a reaction from the client (thankfully), but I am not one for pushing out less than excellent work, and this didn’t fit that criteria. I worked with the student/employee to make sure things were fixed, and everything worked out fine. Today, though I needed to sit down and talk through the whole situation with them. The key for me is that we all make mistakes and we are always learning. I want to make sure that they never do this again in and to make them as successful as possible in whatever career path they walk down. It wasn’t a comfortable meeting. The important ones rarely are.  In the end, it was worth it and in my heart, I know that this student will make a great employee for their future managers. We laughed as I mentioned to them someday in the future they’d need to have a talk like this with an employee and they’d look back and laugh as they remembered.  The more I think about, and the more I reflect, this is precisely why Wheaton College puts such an emphasis on experiential learning. Why we push the students beyond the assignments in the classroom and out in the real world where memorizing facts alone does little for your success. This summer the WiN Team has spent time in the classroom and the trenches learning. Nothing ever goes wholly smooth, and while there have been a few hiccups this summer, there has been nothing that has dampened how proud I am of the team and the work they’ve done. The line between professor and manager may be a wiggly one, but I’m glad I got to navigate it this summer. 

One of the most exciting aspects of being a manager is watching your employees grow and prosper. The hard part is that when you hire someone, you only guess how they are going to perform. You wouldn’t hire them in the first place if you didn’t believe they’d be able to deliver. But, it isn’t until they start working that you find out if they live up to your expectations or not. As talented and dedicated all the Wheaton College students on the WiN Team are, this past week began to show me how different each member of the team is. They bring different work ethics, approaches to projects and personalities. It is crunch time for all of us with only two weeks left in the program and numerous projects are being worked on. While these students have completed plenty of group projects in school, none of them have been part of so many different project teams at one time. Some have handled it well. Carving out blocks of time to focus on a single deliverable. Others jump back and forth hoping to cover all the bases. A few learned how much I despise the statement of, “I have nothing to work on at the moment.” This week, the team focusing on Kushae by BK Naturals put their heads down and did nothing but create social media content for them one day. This may sound like a simple undertaking, but some of that time was spent learning Photoshop and Canva so that everyone could contribute to the image creations. There was a big smile on my face as I reviewed the images and messages they developed. I was a little worried when they first signed the contract because of how much work needed to be done, but they stepped up and delivered. It’ll be fun to see the clients reaction to them all and even better when they start going live across their accounts. We also had a big win this week with the delivery of a promotional video for the findSisterhood app.  This company was one that the team identified they’d like to work with earlier in the summer, so going from that desire all the way to a satisfied client was an excellent experience for all involved. Founder, Ana Pompa Alarcón Rawls had this to say about our work: “The WiN Team was amazing. When we worked together, they had the best attitude and were very professional. The result of their work is incredible. I’d immediately hire them for my own team. I especially want to point out how extremely friendly every single team member is, it makes all the difference.” On top of this work, there is a lot of brainstorming and strategizing going on for a variety of clients. We took some time to hole up in a conference room and focus specifically on the differences in the B2B world because three documents are being written for startups in this arena. There is also research being done for an Influencer Marketing campaign and reviewing of financial documents to help a client do better. While not the focus of our work, our team caught a mistake in a client’s financial calculations that hopefully will help them in the future. There is plenty of work still to be done in our final days. I know a lot of my time will be spent reviewing deliverables before turning them over to our clients. From the beginning, my hope for this team was that they’d all learn new skills that would help them in their future careers and it feels like that is precisely what is happening.

Yesterday, the rain didn’t want to stop and when it did a gray humidity stuck around to remind you that it wasn’t a day to be outside enjoying the world. Most of my day was spent reading and finishing Creative Quest. A must-read for anyone who knows in their bones that they are creative. We had the rug in our living room cleaned so that isolated us to our sunroom and my office. Pausing, I looked around my office. The dog beds were in here, so Jaz was fast asleep on hers. I laughed as I composed the photo and still am not sure how she sleeps this way. The photo switched me into observer mode. The variety of books, photography and outdoor gear, my choice of art on the wall and the randomness of the souvenirs that could be seen. A friend from college on Facebook mentioned that all of these things had been part of my life as long as she had known me. That made me smile, but also made me realize how right she is. Looking around the rest of my office, on my desk around my fingers as I type this and in any backpack, I have with me on any given day there is the same variety. Books – They feed my soul. My Kindle has a never-ending library of books that I want to read. Having that library with me at all times makes me feel good. The stack of books to read and ones available to flip though make me happy. I’ve had friends who decided to get rid of all their books because of the space they take up, and that baffles me. While I appreciate downsizing and the minimalism lifestyle it isn’t for me. Any time I need a jolt, I can slide a book off the shelf and get what I need. There are photography books, travel memoirs, cookbooks and a few comic books. When I need a reminder that I am creating things of value, I only need look at my shelf of the books I’ve written that have been translated to other languages and it helps balance my mood back out. Gear – My name is C.C., and I’m a gear lover. It doesn’t matter if it is for camping, photography, video or anything else. I love gear. I’m always trying to find the best gear to use in every situation. That is why you’ll see a GORUCK GR1 sitting next to my Evergoods CP24L and my Eagle Creek suitcase still sitting here from my recent trip to London. My Canon camera is laying next to an old Samsung one and a Google Pixel. My Benchmade folder is laying next to my Serepick kit. To put down my coffee cup this morning, I had to relocate the new microphones that arrived last week from Shure and R0DE to test out and review. There is an endless sea of cables and connectors. No matter how much I prune down and focus in on the best gear for me, there will always be plenty around me to choose from. Art – Hanging on my office walls are a couple of Chank Diesels and a bunch of Hugh MacLeods. There are also a few of my photographs, my prized signed Dogma poster and a poem my Great-Grandfather wrote. Part of me thinks I should change out the art from time to time, but each was hung for a reason, so it keeps me from changing them. But, I need to have creativity hanging around me to help inspire me. It adds a layer of comfort and a blanket of inspiration. Walk through our house, and you’ll find a different variety of art. Paintings from Laura’s Great-Grandfather, a painting we bought on a trip to New Orleans and a couple of special photographs from friends. Everyone has different tastes and styles, but art is something to be appreciated, and I’m always interested in looking at more. Souvenirs – These are not the shot glasses and t-shirts you find in every airport, but more personal mementos from my travels over the years. The crystal Coke bottle from one of my favorite client projects, a hand-turned mug from Fargo, the challenge coin given to me by a loving fan, the rug I bought in Istanbul and my iron buffalo from speaking in South Dakota. While they all may appear random and without thought, each of them is on display for a particular reason, and I can tell you the story behind every one of them. Sure, they get dusty and take up space, but they also give me an instant smile. One look at the top of my desk and I’m instantly transported back to Ghana, Amsterdam or my fifth-grade performance of The Lorax. Why do I tell you these things? Why not? I write to get the words out of my head and into the soul of a few that might read them. Perhaps a bit of it is because as I looked around, I realized how badly I need to clean my office, and while I know this has to be done, I know that piles of new things will appear in the coming weeks and months. Having a home office and studio is a true blessing for me. It empowers me to do the work I need to do in an environment that benefits my soul. Being surrounded by that which makes me happy is the icing on the cake. What do you surround yourself with? Take a few minutes to think about it. If nothing else, I hope it makes you smile. no

Watching a new team come together, gel and start delivering results feels excellent. Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky to be a manager or mentor for younger staff multiple times, and I’ve always found it rewarding. In previous posts, I’ve shared how unique our Wheaton Innovates (WiN) Team is. These seven students are majoring in a variety of topics from economics to creative writing. Before this summer, most of them might not have considered a career in any type of consulting and yet this summer that is the type of work they are doing. This week the first two projects were completed for our MassChallenge clients. The first was a quick re-edit of an overview video for LuminDx who are hoping to help patients and physicians address challenging skin diseases using artificial intelligence. The client had all the footage they needed but wanted it edited down to a short and fine-tuned overview video. The second was for Candorful, who work with veterans to prepare for civilian job interviews. They needed an original video that could play at the MassChallenge Showcase on their table. Something that could loop and give an overview of their services if the founders were busy talking to people. Both of these projects had tight deadlines, and the students stepped up to make them happen. In both cases, the clients were delighted with the results and hoped to work with us again before the end of the summer. While these projects were going on, our work request form kept pinging us with new requests. As a team, we decided it was time to pause requests until we delivered on the variety of projects that we had already agreed to take on. Each member of the team is the project manager for several different companies and member of multiple other projects. While each student has individual strengths, they are all learning new skills as they apprentice under and shadow more experienced students. It is fun to watch someone set up their first shot on a video camera or to brainstorm a social media strategy. They’ve all learned that one of the hardest tasks in consulting is managing clients and their expectations. This morning we had a status meeting, and it was fun to see how comfortable the team has grown with each other. Joking and challenging each other. Not being afraid to share an “out there” idea, when a few weeks ago they might have hesitated. With so many projects going on, I’m trying to help and mentor as much as possible while allowing each student to grow and learn by doing the work. So far, they’ve done great, and I have no doubt they will continue to do so.

Sponsored travel journal post for Virgin Atlantic to celebrate their new #BeChoosy economy seating options. They paid for our London experience, and in return, I share my thoughts and photographs from our time there.  =-=-=-=-=-=-= London is a city full of art, culture and good times. After several visits, I can confidently say that it is always a good choice when looking for a great travel destination. My daughter shares my never-ending wanderlust, and I’m glad it worked out that she could join me on this adventure. While the specifics changed numerous times, we knew that in the end, our Chapman DNA would empower us to roll with it all and make the most of the trip, Virgin Atlantic designed this campaign to raise awareness for their three new ways to fly in their economy cabin. Based around their #BeChoosy hashtag, travelers can now choose between Light, Classic and Delight seat option. All of them include delicious food, entertainment, and irresistible personal service. In the graphic below you can see the different options clearly explained. They designated me as the “Classic Influencer,” and as we took our seats, it was apparent they were new and improved. Gone were the standard headrests that many airlines have. Replaced with padded leather that felt good as I raised them a bit and laid back against them. There was the standard amount of leg room, and the only complaint I had was that the seat back pockets were rather small and tight so my headphones didn’t fit in them. In a moment of pure marketing surprise and delight, a member of the cabin crew approached and told us to grab our bags. She walked us up to the Upperclass section of the plane and encouraged us to enjoy the flight. My daughter has never flown this way and decided to fight off going to sleep to enjoy some of it. Her hot cocoa and cookies went perfectly with her late night movie choice. The in-flight entertainment options on Virgin Atlantic flights are numerous and free for all which was a nice perk on the flight home when I’d watch three different films. Best perk for me was the Fastpass through customs we were given so that we didn’t have to wait in any of the lines. If flying Virgin Atlantic, look into how you can get one of these because as a frequent traveler this was a perfect way to start our morning in the United Kingdom. On the ground, we connected with the team and headed to the Moxy Stratford to check in and drop our stuff. This hip hotel is part of the Marriott chain and looking at their Instagram feed showed me they liked to have a good time. While we didn’t find any crazy kangaroos or giant toothbrushes in our room, we were greeted with this fun message. Stratford is far outside of downtown London and is currently under massive construction. I expect if I were to return in a few years it would be a bustling new area of London, but for now, outside of the Olympic Park, the train station and the shopping mall, there isn’t a whole lot going on. Must be why the Moxy’s 24-7 bar is so popular and always packed with patrons no matter the hour. Our strategy was to stay awake and not waste any time in our hotel room except to sleep at night. “If we are in London, don’t we have to see Buckingham Palace?” asked my daughter. It wasn’t on my list of things to see, but my community had voted that we walk the city to take in the sights and over the next few days we’d put in just over 36 miles of walking according to my Apple Watch. The Palace is always a site to see, but sadly Big Ben is under heavy construction. We got a good laugh at seeing that they left the clock face on one side exposed so that people could still tell the time and know that it was, in fact, the landmark under all the scaffolding. Walking around London on the 4th of July made us smile. While there would be no fireworks or backyard barbecue, we figured the next best thing was to find a small pub and grab a plate of fish and chips. At The Liberty Bounds Tower Bridge, we enjoyed our dinner and discovered the deliciousness of curry sauce on fries. Who knew? My daughter is a mixed media artist, so a lot of our trip was planned around creative inspiration. On my last trip to London, my friends had taken me around to see a lot of street art, and thus I knew if we walked up to the Shoreditch neighborhood of London we’d find plenty of inspiration, so that is where we headed. This neighborhood is one of my favorites in all of London. A crazy mix of restaurants, shops, and art around every corner. We tried the most delicious Ghanaian chocolate, enjoyed perfect gelato under a park tree and found the most extraordinary variety of art. Watching Emily find bits of inspiration, styles, and smiles among the art warmed my heart. As a father, you want your kids to discover their calling and anything I can do to help with that I will. Heck, I may have made the perfect photograph for her first exposition poster. The next morning, Virgin Atlantic had scheduled us breakfast at Sketch. Part art gallery, part overly pink brunch spot. Scooting into a corner booth, there was freshly squeezed juice, strong Kona coffee and tiny portioned yummy plates of food. It was an Instagrammer’s heaven, but not my type of preferred breakfast spot. Fun, but a bit too fancy for my tastes. If you ever do go, be sure to swing by their restrooms where you’ll experience a unique gender-neutral bathroom. Be aware though that while you are taking care of things, others will be there for the selfies.    With satisfied bellies, we took in the nearby shopping district. Emily was excited to pop into a Dr. Martins store and a variety of other little shops. If you enjoy shopping, London is a perfect city for you with everything from the major brands to the smallest of boutiques. Something for every budget and desire. One of the benefits of this trip is we hoped to be able to sneak in a college visit. Arriving at the Chelsea College of Arts, Emily instantly loved the neighborhood and vibe. What isn’t to like when it is located across the street from the Tate Britain Museum and a short walk to a park? While most of the staff was on vacation, we were lucky to meet a helpful support staff member who gave us a tour of the campus when no one else could be reached. Because of her helpful heart, it is safe to say that Emily will be applying this fall. Thank you, Tess. Tate Britain was the first art museum I’ve ever been in with Emily since she began taking art classes. I learned so much as she talked me through art history and shared what made each period unique. I appreciated the decades painted on the floor as you entered each new room of paintings. We also both fell in love with the work of modern artist Lisa Brice who we look forward to learning more about. After more walking and refueling at Nando’s, we arrived for our Thames Rockets adventure. They give boat tours of the Thames River and once outside of the London city borders can open up the engines for little high-speed fun on the water. The rush of fresh air mixed with the comedy of the hosts made for a great time. After walking around the city, it felt great to kick back on the water for an hour and not have to do anything but enjoy it. Neither of us was ready to call it a night yet, so we found our way to the Seven Dials neighborhood and explored. Most of the shops were sadly closed by the time we arrived, but there is always something to see in London. It was fun to watch the theater crowds pour in and out of the pubs after taking in a show. With our hotel being located far outside of downtown London, the Tube is easy enough to navigate that we had no problem getting home at the end of the nights. While the cabs didn’t know where The Moxy was, it is hard to miss the purple lights when you exit the train station. In the morning, I grabbed some coffee in the quiet lobby of the hotel. While it is crazy and busy at night, once the early morning breakfast crowd is gone you can find yourself alone to grab one of their many books, a cup of coffee and your thoughts. Virgin Atlantic has partnered with Patissier Eric Lanlard to bring his delicious Cake-Boy creations to select flights starting this fall. They will be serving a unique version of an afternoon tea service to entire flights. Not only were we going to meet Eric and try some of the treats that would be served, but he was going to teach us how to make a few of them personally. My daughter loves to bake, while I prefer cooking. The science of baking is too precise for me and my preference for a little of this and a bit of that. But, when I need to, I can buckle down and bake, so I was excited to see what we were going to make. Eric was down to earth and over the top friendly. We all instantly liked him. Over the next few hours, we made savory macarons, pistachio financiers, and bee pollen scones. I have to say that the rock-hard lumpy triangles that pass as “scones” here in America have nothing to do with the moist circles of yum that we made and enjoyed here. I’m thinking that they will appear on a Chapman dinner table sometime in the future as a new style of biscuits. After we finished baking, we were treated to a formal English Tea. This is something I’ve never done on previous visits to London, so it was fun to experience. All enjoyed delicious sandwiches, champagne and a variety of sweets. It was fun to eat the items we had just learned how to make. Eric even had one final surprise for us with signed copies of his latest book Eric Lanlard’s Afternoon Tea to bring home. While I won’t be serving afternoon tea anytime soon, all of the recipes would make for great appetizers at any future gathering. While we were eating a text message popped up on my phone. Emily said she was initially worried at the way I jumped upon reading the block of text on my screen, but then she saw my huge smile and wondered what was up. It turned out that my two dear friends AJ & Melissa were in London for the weekend and they wondered if we’d have time to connect. These are two of my favorite humans on the planet, and they happened to be finishing up a meeting and going for a drink directly in our path. Once tea was finished, we headed for Shakespeare’s Globe, and when Emily wasn’t allowed into the cocktail bar, we moved into the lobby to catch up. Watching AJ talk with Emily about her future, Melissa and I shared a knowing smile and nod. Here were four Misfits in London. No idea when or where in the world our paths would next cross but knowing that we’d always be there for each other. Genuine friendships are like this. Love you both and miss you already. Since we were in the neighborhood and it was Emily’s top destination in London, we jumped on over to the Tate Modern. AJ had suggested we take in the Picasso exhibit and the special tasting menu in the restaurant. I’m glad we did both. By the way, if you are between the ages of 16-25, there is a new program called the Tate Collective that is free to join, and members get £5 tickets to all exhibits. Emily signed up and now says she has to return to London to fully use her membership. Who knows, perhaps she’ll have a piece of her art one day hanging on the walls. Days before we boarded for London, I learned that Pride in London would be taking place while we were in town. Emily had been bummed to miss Pride weekend in Boston, so there was no way she was going to miss this since we had no other plans. It was amazing to see the pure love and happiness by the thousands upon thousands of people we saw during the festivities. We arrived early to get a good spot near the end of the parade at Trafalgar Square. The conversations with the people we met make me smile as I reflect on them. Never know who you are going to meet at an event like this. Thank you Virgin Atlantic for being a sponsor of the parade. It was a pleasant surprise to learn and made me appreciate working with you on this trip even more. Walking through the SoHo District during Pride was an experience. Mix into the fun that England was playing (and would win) their World Cup game and the energy level was as high as it could be. Turn any corner, and there was a celebration of one sort or another. What an amazing day! Usually, a delayed flight home is the last thing any traveler wants, but thankfully we found out about our two-hour delay before leaving for the airport. Not one to waste a gift of a few extra hours in a country, we checked out of our hotel room and headed to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which was in the neighborhood. We knew it was near since the ArcelorMittal Orbit can be seen from everywhere in Stratford. It is a beautiful park that sadly was lacking in pigeons, and the ones that we found were scared of the bread that Emily wanted to feed them. I’m not one to go looking for pigeons, but Emily wanted to feed them, and they had nothing to do with it. You can’t begin to appreciate how much this bugged her. After a quick lunch and scoring Emily her dream pair of Dr. Martin’s we grabbed our luggage and headed to the airport. As our car weaved through the streets of London, it gave me time to reflect on the few days we had just spent in this inspiring city. London has all the culture and excitement of New York without the hurry and hustle. It is a city, I’ve grown to love and appreciate and that I wish more people got to know beyond the landmarks and the fun accent. Virgin Atlantic asked me to #BeChoosy and go on an adventure with them, and there was no way I could say no. Thank you to all involved in empowering me to take my daughter along with me. We created memories that will never be forgotten. Plus, if she ends up going to college there, I might be flying from Boston to London a lot more.

You can never know someone’s work ethic before you dive into the trenches with them. This past week, my team of Wheaton College Students went from the safety of our campus to the reality of the Boston start-up scene at MassChallenge. As I sat in the creeping traffic, I wondered how they would all do. Some people need their own space. Others crave stability in their schedules. Not everyone can handle last-minute meetings, shuffling schedules and demanding clients. I had faith in my team, but now it was time to go to work. Before the students arrived, I went up to check out the space and make sure things were ready for our arrival. On the elevator ride, I said good morning to the woman riding to the same floor as I was. As soon as I finished telling her about the team she said, “We have to work together.” and in a moment we had our first client. It is a good lesson for everyone. Say hi to people. Introduce yourself. You never know who is waiting in line for coffee with you, riding an elevator with or sitting next to on a plane. A simple “good morning” can lead to amazing things, but you’ll never know if you don’t say it. Once everyone arrived, we were given a tour of the MassChallenge office. It is a sweeping, open floor environment. Long community tables, brightly colored conference rooms, a maker space, kitchen full of goodies and an event space complete with a garage door to close it off when needed. I had fun watching the students react to everything and later as I talked to them about their first day I heard everything from “wow, this is huge” to “I thought there would be more suits.” For some of them, this was their first day ever at work. Once we got settled in, the team broke up into pairs and began going around and introducing themselves, the team and our services. We had created a flyer that explained in detail what we were about and how long we would be available to work on projects. The founders were told that to request our services all they had to do was fill out an online form we had set up. Selling yourself is never an easy task. I’m horrible at it. Some of the students were naturals at sales, and I made a point to mention that to them. It is a skill that not everyone possesses, and it is a critical tool towards being successful in whatever career you choose. By lunchtime, I broke the news to the team that we already had five companies requesting our services. By the end of the day, it would be up to eleven. As I type this, it is up to twenty-three in total. We divided up the projects based on who was interested and assigned a project lead to each of them. This student’s role would include being the point of contact for the client and to run the requirements gathering meeting. Our plan was to have meetings with all potential clients and then at the end of the week to sit down and go through all of them to determine which ones we had the time, skills and desire to work with. I’m personally excited to share that one of the companies I hoped we would get a chance to work with, Collettey’s Cookies, filled out our form. A few weeks back, I had seen a news story about Collette Divitto, who after years of not being hired because of her Down Syndrome decided to start her own company. Now, she is taking meetings around the world and making not just tasty cookies, but job opportunities. She is an inspiring young woman CEO, and I’m proud that we will be working with her and her company this summer. Oh, and if you are curious about her cookies, they live up to their name. The whole team agreed they are amazing cookies.   Remember that woman on the elevator? Her name is Pat, and she is the Co-Founder of Candorful, who are working to teach interview skills to veterans. They were the first client meeting we had and the work they hoped to have done had a very tight timeline. They were a perfect teaching example for the team and we talked a lot about how the meeting went, how hard it can be to say no and how to proceed. I’m proud to say the students have already filmed, edited and delivered a rough cut of their needed overview video. That is exciting! To celebrate the work kickoff, I took the team out to dinner. We laughed, shared stories and enjoyed some great seafood. It was nice to spend time outside of the office and classroom with these students and see them more relaxed. As a team, they’ve come together nicely. At the end of the week, the project leads briefed the team on their meetings. As a group, we decided which projects we were going to move forward with and which ones we would have to pass on. The students are going to be working on a variety of projects including branding and marketing strategies, creating video and photography marketing elements, creative brainstorming, web site development and content creation. If this isn’t experiential learning, I don’t know what is. This week we are off for the 4th of July holiday, but I know several students are still working on setting up meetings and learning new skills on their own to prepare for the client work. When we all return, the month of hard work begins. Hope the team is as excited as I am.

There comes a time with every team when you have to stop coaching, teaching or drilling and kick them out of the safety of the nest and see if they can fly. As I write this, that is where we are with the Wheaton Innovates (WiN) Team. I’m sitting outside of the Innovation and Design Building in Boston waiting for them to arrive. To see how well they planned out their morning commute. I’ll always believe that “early is on time and on time is late” so we will see if they took that to heart when I taught it to them. The month of instructional time on campus has come to an end and the final week was a fun one. We started it off with my friend Sarah Francomano coming in and teaching them a crash course in media training. Her years of experience was shared in an open conversation with the students and several of them were excited to connect with her afterward for possible future work and guidance. Having only taught at Wheaton College for a single semester, there is still a number of faculty and staff I have yet to meet. Patrick Johnson is an Assistant Professor of FIlmmaking and offered to give us access to the school’s filmmaking gear and to specifically walk us through using the Orah 4i camera and how we might use it to shoot 360-degree videos. It was fun to watch the students who had not ever used this sort of gear before getting full of excitement and wanting to learn more. My mind was a bit shook when I had to show one how to use a zoom on a standard DSLR camera as they had only taken photos on their phone before. We decided that the next lesson to learn was the art of shooting interviews. A student member of the team took the lead and walked us through setting up lights, how to focus properly and the basics of shooting these kinds of videos. To put into practice what they learned, we went out on campus and filmed a few interviews with members of the team. They quickly learned the “fun” of trying to film videos on a busy campus with landscapers, campers and other distractions causing the starting and stopping of videos. The team was eager to do a proof of concept video for Wheaton’s marketing team for a virtual tour of the campus. They decided that the library lobby would be the optimal place to see what could be done and we quickly learned that this new media format comes with a set of challenges all it’s own. We were all excited by the possibilities that this sort of medium opens and had a good conversation about where and when we might be able to use it for our MassChallenge clients. The team has arrived, so I should wrap up this post. Today, I get to see how they perform as a team and selling our services. I believe I’ve taught them well, but now the work begins and I’ll find out for sure.

The answer to the question will always be no because there are endless new mountains to climb and paths to walk. Creative Quest is inspiring my mind, Luke Cage: Season 2 opening my eyes and Post Traumatic thumping my ears. Yesterday, my team of Wheaton students finished up their classroom time and next week we roll down to MassChallenge with a drive and purpose. They’ve come together and I hope I’ve prepared them appropriately. Is the proof always in the pudding? The days begin to get shorter today and as the sun sets and the moon rises I’m faced with the question of what am I doing. I’m teaching and parenting. Living and loving. All of it is soul satisfying and yet the urge to do more is always scratching at the edges looking for a loose thread to play with. I watched in awe last week as the guys from Studio Fresh Boston took my photographs and incorporated them into beautiful pieces of art. I had hoped to be able to hang this one at home, but there were other plans for them. I’m ok with where they are headed. Knowing something I created is a piece of something that will be seen every day makes me smile. The gates are open for me and yet I let the ugly doubt monsters roar in my ear when I know they are wrong and only there to challenge me to push past. The idea book is overflowing. The creation bucket is suffering a drought. Never expected Quest Love to be the human who would give me the kick I needed, but I’m thankful he did. Let’s do this! noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

No matter what course I’m teaching, I always try to mix in life and career advice into my lessons. You won’t see me highlight these on the whiteboard with a call out, but I tend to mix them in where appropriate. Caring for my students beyond their test scores is in my DNA, and thus I hope each of them works hard and achieves their goals in life. That is how I’m approaching this summer with the WiN Team at Wheaton College. We might only have this summer together, but I’m working hard to build a foundation in each of these students that will help them throughout their careers. They may not realize why I’m teaching them some of the topics and lessons that I am, but the hope is at some point down the road they are going to have a lightbulb moment and think, “Ahhh…So that is why Professor Chapman taught us that!” Our week began focusing on our LinkedIn profiles. Each student had one in various states of completion. The goal was to accurately illustrate what they were doing this summer on their profiles and to make sure they knew how to utilize the network to find jobs and network with other people. We also covered some of my best practices including my advice to act like a human and not use their automation tools. Also, since I love taking portraits and another member of the team loves photography, we went out on campus to make sure that each student had a professional headshot. I loved that my style and the students were completely different so now each student has several options to choose from. Plus, we knew that we needed a team photo for our marketing materials. We decided to take a “professional” one and then a more fun one. Which do you like better? I decided to use one of my lectures from the Managerial Communications course I taught at Bentley University on writing for business and updated it for the team. To put into practice what they had learned, I had them split up into teams of two. The goal was for each group to write ten different tweets for DropZone For Veterans and then we would mix them all and edit/critique them as a team. The students quickly learned that while tweeting is not hard, writing multiple tweets for a company without saying the same thing over and over is harder than it sounds. I was proud to see that they took into consideration the audience they were trying to reach, sharing things they hoped would be retweeted and pulling quotes from the company founder Courtney Wilson who also happens to be the Entrepreneur in Residence at Wheaton College. Be sure to follow @DropZoneForVets on Twitter to see their work and find out more about this needed company. Our team has come together and gelled nicely. You never know when you bring together such a diverse group of students how it is going to go, but these seven have genuinely impressed me. To test the team further, I decided to give them their first project without me. The assignment was to create a two-sided, full-color flyer to advertise the team and our services to everyone at MassChallenge. They also needed to come up with 2-3 short paragraphs that could go into an email to market ourselves. I told them that I was reachable by phone or email, but they were to figure this out and deliver to me when they felt good about it. While the final product isn’t complete yet (lots of little tweaks here and there), the first few drafts were well done and showcased to me that their writing, marketing, and communication skills are exceptional. Plus, I loved how they used the photographs we took earlier in the week and incorporated them in the flyer. One more week on campus and then we head down to MassChallenge. There is a wide range of emotions flowing through me right now, but in the end, it will be nothing more than another first day of work. This is such a fantastic opportunity for the students, and I’m having a great time being part of it. Hope you’ve enjoyed following along with my posts.

Starting a new venture with students two weeks into what is supposed to be their summer break is tough. The last place they want to be is back in a classroom, and while I need to teach them a variety of skills, I also want to make sure they are having fun, gelling as a team and learning all at the same time. Managing the MassChallenge partnership for Wheaton College is a challenging one. I purposely chose students from a variety of majors. Each of them brings different pieces of experience to the table and part of my job is figuring out how to put all of them together into a finished puzzle. I chose to start the week with an exercise I do in any marketing course I teach to help me gauge the student’s knowledge of the digital marketing landscape. The students choose a consumer product that we are going to sell, and then we step through all the things we need to create and manage to be successful. This time on the merry-go-round they decided that we were going to be making and selling “sustainable silly string.” On our whiteboard, we walked through our needs for a website, social media accounts, and a successful supply chain. The talk quickly switched to tactics, stunts and other ways we were going to create content to help raise awareness and market our product. As I hoped, there were many detours into specific topics during this exercise. Discussions happened around if we were going to manufacture overseas or find a way to make it “American-Made.” They loved the idea of showing off the product at farmer’s markets and other events, but I forced them to come up with ways that we’d sell our product with these stunts. The purpose of this exercise is two-fold. First, it gets the students active and engaged. A perfect way to start off the day and wake their minds up. Second, it highlights areas that they need to learn. A big revelation is that none of them knew how press releases worked and why they can be helpful. This will undoubtedly be an upcoming lesson. On top of learning from me, the intern team from the WiN Hub across campus joined us so that one of them could give a presentation on HubSpot and what inbound marketing is all about. Students sharing knowledge with other students is always beneficial when it can happen. The other major topics of the week focused on content marketing and influencer engagement. Two items I know a lot about from years of experience. It is refreshing to take topics that I know so well and expose new minds to them. The questions that arise and the discussions that follow. Me teaching the students, but them also opening my eyes to new creators/influencers/brands that I have never heard of. To put into practice what they learned, I split the group into two teams and gave them a couple of hours to go away and brainstorm what kind of influencer campaign we might be able to do for the Mexico Tourism Board. They had to come up with five individuals that they’d want to approach to take part in the campaign and to justify their choices. They came back with a variety of ideas and individuals. I smiled as I watched them take what they had learned moments ago and showed me that they were listening and learning. We even received a helpful reply from the tourism board on Twitter. To end our week, we had a guest lecture. Gene Begin is the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Wheaton College and an old friend of mine. He shared the process his team uses when working with clients to take their ideas and make them a reality. I want these students to hear from other people out in the field doing the work. Understanding how a department at Wheaton College requests a new brochure, video or other creative asset and the steps that Gene and his team take to ensure that everyone is happy will be beneficial when the team begins working with clients at MassChallenge. Thank you, Gene, for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your expert knowledge with the team (and bringing some fun branded schwag for them and me too). Sitting here with my coffee looking back at the week, we accomplished a ton. It feels good to see the team coming together and their confidence building. The team’s homework for the weekend is to make sure that their LinkedIn profiles are up to date. We are going to be taking new headshots and diving into each of them to make improvements. Mine certainly needs a refresh, so I’m looking forward to their suggestions. I may have thrown them into the deep end of the pool, but I have confidence that they’ll be swimming laps in no time.

Life is too short, not to try the things that scare you the most. So, when I was asked what I thought about the idea of taking a handful of Wheaton College students and turning them into a strategic consulting team that would work with the 2018 Boston cohort of MassChallenge startups over the course of this summer I jumped at the opportunity. Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts consists of 1700 liberal arts and science students creating innovative solutions to big challenges and acting on them. I joined Wheaton this past semester as a visiting instructor for the business and management program. The program was added in 2013 and has since grown to be one of the most popular majors. Students can choose from more than 100 majors, and minors at Wheaton and the rigorous academic learning is accompanied by experiential opportunities outside the classroom. One such example is this partnership with MassChallenge that is entering its third year. Opportunities like this did not exist for me as a college student, and more schools need to take the learning beyond their classrooms to stay relevant and needed for future generations of students. Higher education administrators please take note. Wheaton College has committed to innovation and social entrepreneurship. This was one of their biggest strength that got my attention when I was first approached about teaching a class there. With a recent $10M gift to build out the program even further, I’m excited to be a small part of the excitement that is going on with the school and their Wheaton Innovates Now (WIN) program. This week we kicked off the training portion of the program with a focus on the team getting to know one another. Their first assignment after I taught them how to conduct interviews for requirements gathering was to team up with someone they did not know and interview them. Then they each built a quick presentation and gave it to the group so that we could all learn new things about one another. I felt it was a perfect way to teach a skill and then put it into practice immediately. When picking the team, I took special care to ensure that it was diverse in every way possible. That way the ideas would be sure to flow from all directions. We have students from as far away as Guatemala, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are creative writing, economics, film and business majors. I am very happy with the team of seven that has been assembled. I plan to write up a weekly post sharing the process. Both as a tool to help others, but also to support me so that I can look back at the end and think about ways it could be improved. You can also follow along on Twitter or Instagram if you crave more. Yesterday, the goal was to teach them the definitions of common business and marketing terminology. Explaining what a “call to action” is and why it is important to content that companies create. The difference between a “pay per click” advertisement and a “cost per impression.” What I thought would take a couple of hours, sprouted a variety of conversations and rabbit holes that we went down and we didn’t get to my planned second topic for the day. Some of the topics that came up and we dove into discussing included: How someone registers a domain name and why I have so many of them? An excellent explanation video on dark patterns that a member of the team thought we’d benefit from. If Solo or Deadpool 2 lived up to our expectations? The importance of disclosure when it comes to sharing anything a company gives you. Who is Casey Neistat? How translation rights work for books. Stay tuned as the team comes together and begins to take what I teach in the classroom and put it into practice with a variety of different clients. We’ve only got a few weeks together in a classroom, so there is plenty of work to do.  

We’ve all been wronged. No one goes through life without being scarred by someone deciding to do something wrong towards them. But, where is the line that when crossed there is no forgiveness? Some would say that the line doesn’t exist. Others would argue that it depends on the offense. Some might say it depends on the person committing the wrong and how close they are to the victim. As with most aspects of our lives, there is no easy answer. Rather, an endless stream of contemplations and wonderings that we each must decide on. My heart always wants to forgive. To acknowledge that we all make mistakes and to move forward in a positive direction. My heart never forgets, but it tries to forgive. Balancing this out is the angry soul that wants there to be retribution. Pain on the other side to balance out mine. That isn’t right. It isn’t wrong. It is just what it is. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Diners are my happy spot. The coffee is never great. The eggs always a gamble. But, I’ll take an order of homemade hash and eggs over a five-star tasting menu any day. This morning the conversation was about prom, work and our plans for the weekend. There was grilled cornbread, crispy bacon and overheard local gossip around a disgraced teacher. Diners are where a community comes together. Whenever I travel, I love to sit quietly in a corner and take it all in. Listen to the voices of the locals and what is on their mind. My dream book to write is a travel story of my wife and I driving around the country and visiting diners and talking to the locals. The stories I’d find and the yumminess I’d devour I believe would make for good reading. This idea was the spark of my NaNoWriMo idea last year. It evolved into something different, but that is how it started. I could write forever about my love of diners, but it is time to head out the door and watch Solo: A Star Wars Story. Make it a great day. no

Sometimes all you need is a couple of hours of conversation over a stack of ribs with a dear friend. Sometimes all you need is to get offline and binge watch a full season of that show you’ve been meaning to check out. Sometimes all you need is a close-knit group of friends that you know are out there and you can text anytime you need to. Sometimes all you need is the realization that as bad as things are, you aren’t dead so keep on living. Sometimes all you need is a good laugh. Sometimes all you need is a good scream. Sometimes all you need is the realization that you and your problems are only a grain of sand in the enormity of the universe around us. Sometimes all you need is a thank you from a student who you made a difference to. Sometimes all you need is a good book in the warm afternoon sun. Sometimes all you need is to lay down on the floor and cuddle with your dog. Sometimes all you need is the patience that it will get better. Sometimes all you need is to get the words out of your head to make room for other ones. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consum

Spring semester at Wheaton College is officially over. It was an eye-opening semester for me in multiple positive ways. I was hired to teach Marketing, and while I’ve spent most of my career in the space, it was fun to go back to a textbook and the fundamentals. At the last moment, I was asked to teach a second class, and that was where a lot of the surprises came from. The Business and Management major is one of the newest ones at the school, and it has quickly become a popular one. Many students who are majoring in other things realize that having a minor in business is a smart idea in today’s world. My second class was Business Fundamentals, and it was filled with a variety of students testing the waters of business. I had an absolute blast teaching it. I wasn’t prepared for how different it would be teaching courses at a liberal arts school compared to when I’m teaching at Bentley University which is one of the top business schools in the country. The students are different. Their questions from all corners. It was challenging but in the best possible way. Plus, my mind has always been wired more towards the liberal arts side. I was a theater kid at a business school. I’ll always use my creative side more than my analytical. While I’m sure some professors don’t enjoy teaching the 101 level courses, I hope I get a chance to teach Business Fundamentals again. Setting a foundation for how a business of any kind is run was a damn good feeling. Plus, I had several friends come in and guest lecture with the goal of exposing the students to a variety of different types of businesses. What I wasn’t prepared to find when I started this semester was such a welcoming community at Wheaton. I’ve gotten to know so many different people around campus and love the direction that they are going. Attending my first faculty meetings, I felt like I was pulling back the curtain on a piece of the Higher Education puzzle that I didn’t know about yet and I have an infinite list of thoughts. Wheaton College is evolving as any school should always be striving to do. With such a deep-rooted history and a bright, innovative future, I can’t wait to see what happens. I hope I can be part of it. Thank you to all of my students who I know are going to do amazing things in the world. Future dentists, cosmetic packaging designers, music marketing professionals, artificial intelligence developers and a list of jobs we can’t even imagine yet. Being an Adjunct Professor means you never know what the next semester is going to hold. Maybe I’ll be teaching at Wheaton? Maybe I’ll be at Bentley? Might not be at either. Right now I have no idea. This semester did cement for me that I want my future to be in a classroom. For a long time the signs have been pointing me in that direction, but I believe that the next phase of my career is that of a teacher and I need to figure out how to make it a fulltime part of my life so that I can concentrate 100% on the students and not be struggling to find work while trying to do best by them. The search for a college that will allow me to be a full-time member of their community continues. noC.C. Chapman

Six years ago today I was standing inside of Princess Marie Louise Hospital in Ghana holding the hand of a young girl named Mercy. Days later I would board a plane home. Weeks later she would die. When I share this story, it is followed by the notion that when I returned home I determined that I “wanted to use my powers for good.” Today, as I look back at what I’ve done since that day I find myself smiling. The artist and entrepreneur in me will never be satisfied. It is the curse of the creative that you always strive to be better than the last thing you did. To leave a mark. I’ve tasted the sour of failure over and over again. Been burned and thrown away like trash by people I trusted and loved. Starting things that never grew into what I hoped they would. You know what though? I am using my knowledge and power for good. I’ve taught and inspired. I’m helping the next generation learn and grow into the working adults I think we need in the world. The work I have done mattered. I passed on things that didn’t fit into the parameters I was hoping for. Those who know me, know that I’m an optimist, but tend to be very critical of myself and my work. A grin crossed my face as I looked out into the woods this morning and realized that while I don’t know what the longer-term future holds, the immediate is pretty damn special. The truth is that looking out too far is dangerous for me. The worry and fear that comes with it simply aren’t worth it. Focusing on the now and the immediate time ahead of me is much healthier in all forms. What am I doing this fall? I don’t know yet. This summer? I’m in charge of an amazing partnership and internship program that I can’t wait to kick off. That should be enough for me to focus on and work towards doing my best at. I crave more stability because it would make everything easier. My reality though is that things haven’t been “stable” as long as I’ve walked the earth. Perhaps the idea of stability is a myth that we all crave and endlessly search for? I’ve done good. I feel good. I’ll continue to work hard and do more good. How are you feeling today? Try to do some good in your immediate vicinity today. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Earlier this week, tens of thousands of students around the country walked out of school to protest for changes in our country’s gun laws as part of the #NationalSchoolWalkout on the one month anniversary of the attack in Parkland, Florida. Many schools recognized student’s rights to a peaceful protest. Our school provided a designated area to gather, and while they didn’t openly support it, they warned students that their teachers would decide on if to discipline them or not for leaving class. Our school was closed due to the latest blizzard in New England, but we had already told our daughter that we supported her taking part and if she were punished at school, she would not be punished at home. There has been plenty of chatter angry at schools for punishing students. I understand not being happy about it, but at the same time, I’m okay with it. Students (and all people) need to realize that while their rights are protected to peacefully protest and say what they want, that doesn’t mean you are free from consequences. This reality has been lost in our society lately. We should not be able to tweet, scream, post or say anything and then be angry if people react negatively to it. Words have consequences. Actions create reactions. If a school has a rule about walking out of class and they choose to enforce it when students do this, I’m okay with it. Sure, I would prefer them looking the other way and understanding what was going on, but the students taking part shouldn’t have assumed they’d get a pass for deciding to protest. They don’t have the same worries that individuals who chose to sit down at a segregated lunch counter or to march into a crowd of armed police had, but they should be ready for consequences if they believe in what they are protesting. Change has never come without consequences and walking out of school for seventeen minutes is easy. I hope that every one of those students who received a detention or suspension uses the time to continue their protest. I look forward to a detention room photo of students all in orange or #ENOUGH duct taped across their shirts. This fight for change is far from over, and while the wave is powerful at the moment, I’ve seen it crash on the beach too often to be overly hopeful. Yet as people, #MarchForOurLives and another #NationalSchoolWalkout is being planned I’m trying to be optimistic. I do know that there will be another wave if this one doesn’t continue, but eventually, I hope the tides of change arrive.

These past seven days have followed a similar pattern that plays over and over. Outrage, anger, call for changes, finger pointing and then silence as something else grabs attention and pulls people away. Ban this! Shut up snowflakes! Lock it all down! We demand change! The technology we love has made it too easy to scream and thus harder to discuss. When you are more inclined to only use your thumb to reflect your emotions, you can’t use your brain and heart. I have some very strong beliefs about guns, our kids, teachers, and schools. But, those are not what I want to talk about today. Do you only have friends who share your exact view? The problem is that too many of us stay isolated behind our screens. Even as we sit down to dinner or a catch up with our friends, we stare into the black mirror hoping for something more. Humans like to surround themselves with their tribe. It is how we’ve found comfort and safety since we took our first steps. The problem as I see it though is that too many have decided to go down the path of only caring about their tribe. If thoughts or people are different than that tribe than they must be wrong. We can’t listen to others because they are not the same as us. One of my recent lectures was on protectionism and how it affects business. Watch the masterpiece Black Panther and you’ll see it debated on the big screen. Protecting what you know and love makes sense. It is important. But, what I keep seeing people forget is that America is one country full of different beliefs. What I fear is that too many of us are not going beyond our front porches. Instead of yelling from the extreme edges, wouldn’t it be more productive to sit down and talk with those who have different opinions than you? My life has exposed me to all sort of people. I’ve visited all but seven States and in each, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down and getting to know people from all walks of life. I often laugh and shake my head scrolling through my Facebook feed as I wonder what it would be like to connect some of my friends there who are polar opposites. Not connect them on Facebook, but over some steak and bourbon at my house. To sit down and while the time ticked away actually talk about the things we scream about. Not enough of us, know our own country. We assume to know everything we need to know and that is utter bullshit. I watched last year as a friend in Texas helped the police patrol and rescue people after the hurricane hit Houston. He and his friends on their own dime brought a boat there and were saving people. They also all were strapped with “assault rifles” and were ready to use them if they needed. How many of you were full of emotions at the beginning of that story and then turned to anger? That is the problem. On the flipside, I was told at the end of an event I attended a few years ago, that my presence had worried a bunch of attendees because I was “a liberal writer from New England” and they assumed we wouldn’t get along and that I’d be against everything they believed. Unless we are talking about brownies, the edges suck without the middle. So many issues in this great country of ours could start making progress towards meaningful change if more Americans got away from their screens and got out to meet people around them. Move beyond your fenced yard and get to know your neighbors. When you travel, say hi to the people around you and listen to the conversations around you at the local diner. We need to understand that just because someone looks, acts or believe in different things it does not automatically make someone a bad person. Being different is celebrated in so many ways and in others, it is ridiculed. As you bitch and scream about the latest debate online, I encourage you to find someone with different beliefs than you and have an actual conversation. Preferably one that does not involve text, but voices and eye contact. We are divided as a Country and nothing online is going to help bring us back together. America, get out there and meet your fellow Americans. We’ve always been about a unique blend of beliefs and people. It is what makes us great. Start today with one person. One conversation. If enough Americans got to know other Americans who are different than them, I believe we’d start moving in a better direction. noC.C. Chapman

Emotions are raw and hearts are heavy. Another school day in America ended with screams, blood, and gunfire. Since our paid-off government isn’t doing anything about updating our gun laws and I wasn’t in the mood to have those kinds of conversations today I decided to focus on a different issue that doesn’t get talked about enough. I wondered aloud if people I knew were prepared to deal with and survive an incident that involved injuries around them. Doesn’t matter if it is a car accident, a natural disaster or an attack. Do you have the skills, equipment, and mindset to help save yourself and those around you until professional help arrives? In my head, I suspected that the answer from most would be no. In my heart, I hoped that it would spark some to realize that they should know these things and to go out and start making changes. I firmly believe that everyone reading this should know the basics of first aid and CPR with a first aid kit in your house and in your car. Go to https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class and you can quickly search for classes in your area. You and your kids should take them. Want to learn more? Search for “field medicine” or “tactical first aid” classes near you. Many outdoor retailers will also know where to find these classes and some offer them. Personally, I also carry a mini trauma kit with me almost all the time. In it are the usual band-aids, wipes and other “boo-boo” type of treatments. But, there is also a compression bandage, QuickClot sponge, and tourniquet. Want to just buy a kit and have everything at once? My buddies at ITS offer a variety of options. The one shown here is what I keep in my car. The key is that I know how to use all of these products in addition to having them with me. Surviving and helping others is more about having the proper mindset and knowledge than anything else. My kids have called me paranoid more than once, but I prefer to believe I’m just being prepared. We talk openly about what to do in a variety of stressful situations in the hopes that if they ever have to go through it that they’ll know what to do and remember those conversations. I know there are a million things to worry about every minute of the day, but knowing how to help and save others is worth the time. I’m glad I asked this question earlier today because it has sparked a lot of conversations with friends asking for more information and thanking me for lighting a fire under them. That outweighs any of the other frustrations that came from me asking a simple question. I’m here to help whenever possible. That is always my motivation even if others don’t realize it. Stay safe out there. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,lif

Before the sun rose this morning, A Futile And Stupid Gesture was playing on the television. The coffee was strong, the dogs were sleeping and the weather people had completely botched the forecast of “a dusting at most” with the arrival of several inches of fresh powder. Laura packed up and headed to work and as we hugged, I blurted out, “movies like this remind me that I’m not a complete fuck up.” We shared a laugh and she left for the day. Schools are delayed by two hours since the guessers with radar were wrong. Lately, there has been plenty to watch and reflect on. To consume and then ponder. With a man baby bully in power and the entire population in a seemingly endless bad mood, it is hard to be an optimist. To survive online, you’ve got to learn to laugh at the insanity and scroll on past the lunatics. The issues arise when your friends and people you respect choose to share or react to things that baffle you that things become harder. Every day it seems that someone new feels compelled to expound about how others should act. I’ve run out of fingers to count the number of ways I’m living life wrong according to them. Being back in a classroom means less time in front of a screen looking at feeds. In a few short days that his proven to be a needed and welcomed change in my life. Having something to focus on, in this case teaching the next generation, is the change I needed to start this year off on the right foot. Looking forward rather than around feels like the best approach lately. The snow is continuing to fall outside and at this point, I have no idea what the hours ahead hold, but I’ll hunker down, plan my lectures for the rest of the week and make the most of what matters in life. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Technology is rapidly improving around us, all the while breaking us as humans. A century from now, historians and scientists will look back at these years and write volumes on how technology evolved society in a negative way. I’m not going Amish on you anytime soon, but as much as I love my gadgets and technology all around me I do hate watching how it is eroding a lot of what makes humans great. When a celebrity decides to film, make jokes and then publish a video to their millions of fans of a dead body hanging from a tree, there is a problem. When a spoiled, rich, simpleton is given ultimate power and chooses to spend his time throwing tantrums with my dick is bigger than your dick hates to the world, there is a problem. When people repeatedly share, react to and celebrate something they saw online without taking even a moment to verify if it is true or for thinking for themselves, there is a problem. Take a scroll through your network of choice and you’ll see what I mean. People pimping the latest pyramid scheme, sharing red or blue propaganda or someone butting in with their opinion when no one asked for it. Sadly, a large chunk of humanity has given over the power of their thoughts to the hive mind fishbowl they’ve created around themselves. By only seeing, hearing and watching views similar to their own they now believe and share all that is thrown at them. Remember when the rule was that you never talked about sex, money or politics with friends? Now, no topics are off limits with people thirst trapping for attention at every possible corner. Sure, it isn’t always about the abs and boobs, but the cry for attention and validation is certainly there. Every morning I look at my “On This Day” link in Facebook to see status updates from years past. When I see what some people post every day, I can’t imagine what it is going to feel like to look back at those a year, five years or more from now. How sad and emotionally draining will that be? What will their empty anger or blind following shares trigger in them at that point? It seems that in today’s world everything has to be at the extremes. Having a constructive disagreement about anything is nearly impossible. Look at any issue you believe in and try to find content and conversation around it that is more than a version of this side is wrong and this side is right. We have to find middle ground if changes are ever going to be made. I’m convinced part of this is our brains have been trained that we must either like/love/click on something or not. Our emotions have to fit into a single emoji when we read it on Facebook. Ever had that ping of “crap, my reaction to this doesn’t fit one of these by themselves” and then do nothing? I know I have. We are never going to give up our phones and screens. I enjoy having so much power and connectivity in my hand. We all enjoy the dopamine hit we get when someone reacts positively to something we created and shared. Many of my friends are beginning to pull away from the big networks. Private groups, group text chats, and one-on-one conversations are becoming more common. People are starting to realize that Black Mirror isn’t a simple television show, but one-hour warning commentaries on our human sacrifices to technology. The world is powered by technology, but it will be destroyed by humans. Use and love technology, but don’t become a slave to it. Have your own thoughts and don’t be afraid to share them. Talk to people. Interact with your fellow humans beyond a screen. Cook a meal that doesn’t come out of a box. Sit down around the table with friends so you can hear what is really going on in their lives rather than only what they are choosing to share online. Take the time to research and find out an answer beyond asking your listening device of choice for the shortcut. Think of others before yourself. Get your personal priorities straight and so much else will fall by the wayside. Assholes will always exist and technology has allowed them to self-identify themselves to the world. Don’t give them the attention they crave. We can’t let the algorithms and robots win. Be a good human.

The final hours of another year. The ball will drop, people will kiss and tomorrow everyone tries to start over. I pondered making a video wearing my Casey Neistat “Work Harder” hoodie while drinking from my Chuck Wendig “Art Harder Mother Fucker” coffee mug to motivate everyone to do more in 2018. Those of you who know me just giggled because you know I could never do that with a straight face and that sentence was dripping with sarcastic honey. The reality is, every December I look back and wished I accomplished more. The truth is, every year I accomplish plenty and if I ever look back and am completely satisfied I know I’m dead. I wrote 30,000 words of my first novel, did a solid job as an Interim CMO for five months for an organization I love and taught another group of great students. My son graduated high school and we drove across the country to take him to college. My daughter is a confident and creative young woman who jumped at the opportunity to drive to Mexico and have lunch. My wife loves me and makes me laugh on a daily basis. We have a roof over our head, food on the table and no one we love is extremely sick. I’m choosing to focus on the positive rather than dwelling on the negative. So, what am I focusing on in the coming year? Those who know me, know I always go through the 3 Word Exercise to help me focus. This year I’m choosing: STEADY Dan Rather is to thank for this one. He talked a lot about the importance of this word to him in What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism which I read earlier this week. It is to remind me that no matter how crazy things get around me that if I hold steady that I’ll make it through. If I remember that our country, my life, and the world has been through an infinite number of rough times before and to this point survived that we can all do it again. MOVE Far too much of my life is spent in a stationary position. For a variety of reasons, this needs to change. I want to get away from the social networks and see my friends in person. I want to go for walks, summit mountains and see more of the world. I know that nature recharges my batteries and yet I’m not out in it often enough. DO There is a novel that needs to be finished, another book I want to write and a third that I’m revising right now. There are videos I want to make, stories I want to tell and speeches I need to give. There is a classroom of new students waiting for me to begin them on their marketing journey and strangers that I hope my words inspire. Photos to take on the ground and in the air. Cookbooks full of recipes yet to be tried. Books to read. Hugs to give. An infinite list of things that I want to do and rather than thinking about them all and reflecting in twelve months that I didn’t get them done, I’d prefer to DO. 2017 was a rollercoaster of a year and while some things won’t change, plenty will. If you are reading this, I hope our paths cross in the new year. We’ve all become too comfortable with keeping in touch with friends based solely on what they choose to post and share. A few months back I sent out a newsletter and asked people to hit reply and let me know what was going on. Not a single person I would call a really close friend did so. It was mostly acquaintances that hit reply and we started chatting. That felt truly strange to me and I’m still processing it. Let’s grab a coffee, bourbon or a home-cooked meal. My door is always open. Happy New Year!

December is my most reflective month. The end of the year. Another trip around the sun for me. The first flakes of snow and bitter cold in the lungs. Life quiets down and speeds up at the same time. The mayhem of the holidays mixed with cuddling in front of a fire with those you love. You want to look to the future. To plan for the next year. Determine your three words, say all the things you are going to do, promise to make the next twelve months better than the last. The only thing I know about 2018 is that the first months will be spent as a Visiting Professor at Wheaton College. Earlier this week I met with one of my students and I’m excited to be in the classroom again. I also have a writing deadline at the end of February which is clearly in focus at the moment. But, after that, there is nothing on the calendar. No major milestones. No contracts of work to do. A blank canvas. That scares me. The lizard brain screams about impending doom. Then calmer instincts roll in and remind me that this is the path I walk. This is no different than past Decembers when I try to keep the two wolves balanced out and not let either of them feast. Next week I’ll receive the best birthday gift when my son returns from his first semester of college. I’m proud of the work he has put in this semester so far from home. The challenges he has faced and his own wolves that have howled at him as he grows into the man he wants to become. There is nothing quite like clearing your head on a cold winter day. To take deep, meaningful breaths of air that sting your lungs. To be blinded by the sunlight off the sparkling white snow in front of you. To enjoy the stillness as a pond ices over before your eyes and the only noise is the whisper of the wind through the trees. These moments are the ones I cherish. I stood for a long time looking out over a lake earlier this week. My photography plans for the day sidelined by technology, but being a roll with the moment guy I decided to use it to center myself a bit. To balance out the swirl of voices in my head and remind myself that everything finds a way to work out in the end. A grin is on my face as I ponder how this might come across as sad, but I know it isn’t. When I think back to several Decembers ago and the darkest days I’ve seen, I know this isn’t sad. In fact, I am in the most upbeat of spirits. There are so many opportunities ahead for all of us. From the sea of hate and frustration, I have to believe that enough joy rebels, radical artists and passion hits will rise to turn the tide to something good. Spending the month of November working on my first novel that I set in the not so distant future allowed me to paint the worse case scenario based on our current climate. It was dark, disturbing and at times was painful for me to create. Yet, even in the midst of this world I created, there was hope and life went on. Life is going on right now. Babies are being born. Art is being created. Work is being done. The whirlpool of anger can suck all of us in and all we will do is scream at the social streams we swim in too often. Taking even a few hours away from the screens and living will remind you that we don’t need the constant guzzling of information. Light snow falls outside my office window as the first light of morning arrives. Today is another day. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,rel

The dominoes are starting to fall and while I’m glad the truth will finally begin to be known, I’m also angry that this is happening in America. That we’ve become so “my side is right and your side is wrong” that we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture that we are one country and if another country messes with us, we should all be pissed. We woke without power this morning. Thankfully we were prepared and it is back on now. Of course, it made me realize a few things we should have done but didn’t. Also, had me thinking about all the Americans in Puerto Rico who are still without the power, water and attention they need to be receiving. Both of these play a role in my immediate future which is why I’m writing about them. In less than forty-eight hours I’ll begin taking part in National Novel Writing Month. After interviewing the Executive Director, I couldn’t shake the idea of taking part out of my head. It is something I’ve been tempted with doing many years in the past, but this year it appears everything has aligned properly for me to give a full on go. The family is all on board and since you have to have a working title to track in the system I lovingly (and a bit jokingly) titled mine “Corned Beef Hash With a Side of Bourbon.” It is a road trip novel set in 2033. Just far enough in the future that I can take some liberties with technology and world events. Yet, keeping it close enough that I’ve had to take a long hard look at where I think things could go in the world. I’ll be honest that the last part has been rather scary. What could all the hate grow into? What happens when third and fourth political parties are formed and start winning? How does technology taint interactions, love, and humankind? The exercise in thinking about where it might all lead and then deciding how much I want to include in the story is an interesting experience. I wanted to outline what the world looked like so I knew as much as possible for where my characters were living and playing. It feels like it will help a lot. My personal #NaNoWriMo2017 goal is to hit the 50,000 word goal and come out at the end with a solid first draft. While I don’t have a formal outline, I do know where I currently want to story to go, the main characters and enough to get started. One special event tonight, Halloween tomorrow and then it is time to write. Wish me luck! noC.C. Chapman

For the past year, I’ve asked numerous people the simple question of “Why do you write?” on the Why I Write Podcast. The answers usually start with a giggle at the enormity of the question, but the answers all have a similar vibe to them. All around some version of having to do it because the urge/voices/need is there. This certainly fits for me as well. I have to write. It isn’t a choice. The voices in my head scream when I haven’t created in a while. For me, there is a variety of writing I do. My paper journal gets my most honest and open writing. No matter how much I strive to put my true self out to the world, we all censor ourselves. The darkest of dark winds up in my journal. Blogging since 2002, my writing has evolved. I now only write when I have something to say or needing to get out of my head. Sometimes I cross-post to other sites and other times I keep it right here. Amazing Things Will Happen and Content Rules both continue to sell copies and things are in motion to keep that going. Being a published author changed my life. It opened doors, put me on stages and connected me with a vast variety of people around the globe. Writing makes my world better. It allows me to collect my thoughts, tell stories and help others. Earlier this summer we held memorial service for a dear friend and each of us was allowed to choose a stone with various words or phrases painted on them. My father grabbed one for me. It is a simple white rock with black letters that read “Voice for the Voiceless.” I hold that rock in my hand often and wonder if I’m doing enough of that with my words. Lately, there hasn’t been enough of that sort of writing and it is something I’m striving to do more of in the coming months. Recently over dinner, my daughter challenged me that I wasn’t writing enough. She asked, “Whatever happened to your ‘fiction Fridays’ you were trying?” I had nothing to say to her because the truth is I haven’t been writing as much as I should and want to do. Next month that will change. While chatting with Grant Faulkner I realized I have no excuse this year not to take part in National Novel Writing Month. It is something I’ve always wanted to do but never had a problem finding an excuse to keep me from doing it. I  jokingly made up a title, but then the characters and story started to roll around in my brain. Like I said, I write to get the voices out of my head and these are screaming to be let loose. Why do I write? I write because I love it and I respect the power that words hold. I wish more people embraced and respected that power.

This space has always been treated as an online journal first and any other word you might choose to call it second. I collect my thoughts and process the ones that I want to share with the world. The ones not for your eyes go down on paper in some sort of semi=regular schedule that is far from daily. Last night as I walked the dark streets of Boston I reflected on friendship and how it works. We use to call, write and touch base with those we cared about. Today a thumbs up, like or retweet seems to pass for being a friend. It is interesting that those that you don’t consider a close friend are the ones that will check in on you, invite you to dinner or reach out when you are least expecting it. We tend to assume that what we see online is an accurate portrayal of how someone is doing when we all know only the extremes are shared. Earlier in the night as I sat at the penny covered bar of Worden Hall, I read a 2012 commencement address from Neil Gaiman. His words hit me directly in the soul. Reminders of things I knew but had not been following. This morning I awoke from less sleep than I try for. The frosted flakes were needed and the coffee was assigned. Today? Today I’m going to let my mind wander some more. To think about the art I’m not creating and the friendships I’m not making the most of. How is your day going? What aren’t you doing that you should be? Make the most of it. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Dylan started college earlier this month. On the cross-country road trip, many stories were shared and advice given. He has a few years before he has to worry about it, but I reminded him that the only person he can fully trust to care about his career is himself. Recently, I was reminded of this fact and by now it is something I should know since more than once I’ve put my faith in others and then had it thrown away. What it boils down to is that you need to be sure you are looking out for your best interests first. Yes, there are people who work in the Office of Career Services when you are in school and friends later in life who can and will help you. But, none of them has you as their top priority. I tell my students that if they really want a job, they have to go out and find it. Make the contacts, reach out and say hello and then land it on their own. Everyone else can help and support, but in the end, you are the one that has to do it. Over the course of the last five years, too much of my faith has been put in others. I’d commit my heart and soul to something too early and it would turn around and bite me. Fool me once right? Dummy me didn’t learn. This last time did enough damage that I’ve learned my lesson. Never again. The world is full of good people who want to help you. Yet, there is no one more dedicated to your success than yourself. noC.C. Chapman

My beliefs are simple and set in stone. They’ve evolved over time as life experiences shape them like river rocks. I don’t judge people based on the color of their skin, who they choose to worship or who they love. I judge everyone based on their words and actions. Your word is your bond. Putting in the time, effort and work is the only way to get what you want. Break my trust once and you’ll never earn it back fully. I forgive as much as possible, but I never forget. Protecting those I love comes before all else. If you choose to hurt anyone I love, I’ll do everything in my power to destroy your world. Friendships mean the world to me. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to help a true Friend. I have an optimistic heart, but a realist soul. While always looking for the silver lining, I know sometimes there are only storm clouds. There are bad and evil people in the world. They need to be dealt with. Any organization that deals with veterans, dogs or children get my attention and help. There is no greater honor than to serve in the military to protect our country. Anyone who can meet the physical and mental standards should be allowed to serve. Our country needs to do a much better job of helping Veterans when their service ends. More people should have conversations with those they fear and don’t understand so that they could learn that different doesn’t have to scare you. If you’re willing to eat meat, you should be comfortable with killing it. Technology is an amazing thing, but if more people got away from it on a regular basis things would be better. Not enough people think before they speak. There is never a reason to have a phone in your hand while your foot is on the gas. I try to put more positivity into the world than negativity. These are mine and you don’t have to agree with them. I love traveling the world because it opens me up to more experiences and reminds me that humans are the same and different everywhere you go. Most just want to keep their family safe, make enough money to take care of their needs and live a happy life. Make it a great day. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

In Amazing Things Will Happen, I talked about the idea of being a duck. The concept is simple enough. Ducks don’t care about the rain. They keep swimming around, doing duck things. They let the rain wash off of them because they realize there is nothing they can do about it directly so they focus on what they can do. Today’s world is full of moments where I need to stop and remind myself to be a duck. If you could hear the voices in my head you’d hear “Quack! Quack!” as they remind me of my own words. Every day I’m presented with comments, situations, and events that force me to pause before proceeding. My natural instinct is to fight anything I disagree with. To push back and have a discussion at a minimum. This rarely helps the situation. Every day under the current rule presents me with new things to scream about and that won’t help anyone. So, I take a deep breath and move forward. Ask yourself if what you are thinking of posting, saying or doing is going to have any positive impact on the situation. If the answer is most likely not, then quack and move on. This is harder than it sounds, but the more you do it, the more you realize the ducks have it right. Happy quacking! noC.C. Chapman

My iPhone vibrates and I quickly pull it out to see what the latest from Command is. As the designated Comms for the team, it is my job to stay on top of what other teams are doing and orders from on high. “Blue teams, you have two minutes until hunting of red teams begins.” I share the news with the team and we quickly scurry to our predetermined hiding spot. We were assigned call sign Delta. Some of us know each other. Others are strangers. But, for the night we are together and everything from building fires to reading maps will only be successful if we work together as a team. After a night in the darkness, the morning sun is arriving and her warmth feels good. Throughout the night we’ve talked to locals to gather intel, carried fallen comrades on stretchers made from what we could find and stopped the bleeding on our two-liter friends who took a knife to the heart. We weren’t sent out into the wild city of Boston without knowledge to help us survive the night or beyond. Two Special Forces veterans shared what they learned in the mountains and deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. They instructed us on the differences between bugging out in Idaho versus North Carolina. They did their best to instruct the eighty or so of us who had signed up to be part of this unique experience. I had several rucks to choose from and opted for my trusty black GR1 and Dylan was using his gray wolf Rucker for the night. As the hours rolled on, I knew we had both overpacked, but there were no regrets for being prepared. Taking cover next to a U-Haul, I quickly texted the rest of Team Delta. We had become split up since the last hunting season began and it was my job to ensure that everyone knew what was going on and where we needed to be. Earlier in the night as Dylan and I had taken cover in decorative bushes in the middle of the street. Cars and pedestrians passed us by without any knowledge that we were there. Nearby the rest of our team were under cars and in the shadows of entry ways as the Cadre hunted for us. I’ll never forget those damn bushes. Might have something to do with my new “war paint” I was covered in from thorns ripping up my forehead while hiding. That and the man sitting on a bench nearby and what he must have thought as two dark figures rose out of the bushes in front of him and his look of shock as he let out a, “Whoa!” upon seeing us. Most of Delta has regrouped. We back into our hobbit hole and replace the pallet we’ve added as a bit of extra concealment. We hear approaching feet and recognize that it is the final member of our team. We fit him in and bunker down for the next wave. My iPhone goes nuts again and again. The blue teams don’t seem to be able to tell time and are not sure if hunting has begun for them or not. We chuckle silently and wait. Down the alley, we spot someone turn the corner. They look directly at us, do a double check and then leave. We are one with the shadows. The alley was an obvious hiding spot, but we’ve taken it a step further. We are never found. Returning to base, the doors to our HQ are closed. Rarely a good sign because you never know what dragons may pour forth as they roll up. Our final dragons of the night are named Mike and John and they have an evil grin of delight on their faces as only GORUCK Cadre can flash. Our improvised gas masks are needed. We line up as ordered. One final test for the night? Mention of a new formation inside and no more teams moving forward, but one single unit. Smells like citrus. Burns like being tattooed by the sun. Glad we learned how to make these masks earlier in the night. We enter headquarters and see the patches. We are one unit now. GORUCK Constellation #008 Now it is your turn. The hardest part is signing up.

The heat of summer has rolled in. My least favorite time of year and one that I don’t mind rolling past as quickly as possible. Last week was one full of emotional swings. It started on Sunday with Dylan graduating from high school. It wasn’t as emotional as I was expecting it to be. We are so proud of him and what comes next in his life. It’ll hurt to see him go, but knowing that he is starting the next phase of his life excites me. Plus, that next phase starts with a cross-country road trip. I can’t wait for that! The end of the week had me crashing into a wall of frustration thanks to the less-than-fine folks at Hootsuite. I’m not going to go into all the details since it is still not resolved, but long story short is that after years as a happy paying customer, they’ll never see another dime of my money again. The perfect way to get rid of that stress arrived Friday night though when Dylan and I took part in GORUCK Constellation #008. Nothing like spending a night learning about and putting into practice urban survival techniques to clear your head. In the middle of all this, I continue to love the work I’m doing with the National Council of Teachers of English. They are a great team to work with and I love working on projects that matter to the greater good of our country rather than only be angered by the situation surrounding us. Plus, I published the latest episode of the Why I Write podcast I produce for them. If you need a pick me up, I suggest you listen to this episode with Brad Montague of Kid President fame. All in all, I have to say it was a good week. I’m vertical and not sick, so that is a good week in my book. This week is starting off quieter than the last. Last days of the school year on deck for Emily and then it will officially be summertime around the Chapman household. no

I’ve worked remotely for more years than I’ve commuted to an office. If my Internet connection is slow or unstable, I can’t get the work done that I need to. The moment Verizon Fios came into my neighborhood I immediately signed up. I had done some marketing work for them early on and knew how good they were. I raved about it to my neighbors and soon everyone was signing up. Check to see if Fios is available in your neighborhood. Today, the internet is more important than cable or telephone. Outside of sports and the local news, my DVR is more important than flipping through the channel guide. The sun is barely up, my family is still asleep and still, FiOS is being used. Our security cameras are streaming to the cloud, a photo backup is running on my computer and my iPad is downloading app updates. On any given workday this summer it will be put to the test. My son will be playing on the XBox while streaming a podcast to his phone. My daughter’s room will be filled with her latest Apple Music playlist coming through her Sonos, while she kicks back on her laptop streaming Netflix. All this will be going on while my wife sits in the sunroom taking an online class while listening to a Sonos there. This will all be taking place and I’ll have no worries about the Zoom video conference call I need to have while running a photo backup to the cloud. As you can see, Fios has become invisible but needed by my family. Recently, for the first time in forever, there was an issue. I hadn’t noticed it yet, but the kids were both having a hard time streaming and my son kept complaining about lag in his League of Legends game. “Reboot the router,” I explained to them. The blank stares reminded me that it had been quite some time since we ran into any issue, so they were not sure what I was talking about. Our Fios router sits in my office. Unplug it, wait 10 seconds and plug it back in. A couple of minutes later everything was back to blazing fast speeds. Not sure what happened, but with a fix so easy I didn’t dwell on it long. Today’s families are connected more than ever. As people begin to add Google Home and similar devices to their homes, the importance of reliable connections will become even more important. I know that because of me, my family may be more connected than some, but we are far from the outliers that we use to be. How important is your family’s home internet connection? Disclosure – I am a member of a Verizon #BostonFios influencer team. We are compensated for our thoughts and shares in a variety of ways. All words and opinions are strictly my own. Those are never for sale (unless you’ve got a really big checkbook). If you have questions or concerns, let me know.  

My week began with an early morning viewing of the new show American Gods. Last year, two trusted friends insisted that I read the book before the show came out. I do what I’m told (sometimes) and in this case am better for it. Sipping my coffee, I savored every minute of the episode even though I knew it was going to end too soon and I’d have to wait a week to see where it goes. Last weekend, I plopped down on the couch with a bowl of pistachios and a cold Sam Summer to start watching American Playboy. Four episodes later, my brain was full, and I decided to call it a night. The on-demand generation is in full swing. We click a button and have what we desire. Swing into a local big box, and they don’t have what you want? Your phone places the order, and it’ll be on your doorstep in two days. Three hours to kill before you connecting flight leaves. Pull out your iPad and fall in love with a new show. Yesterday, Dylan and I picked up his new suit and then headed to a local diner because he loves their milkshakes. Sitting at the counter, we ordered food because it felt like the right thing to do to balance out the flawlessly made shakes we were going to enjoy. We ate, barely chatted and hit the road. A different vibe than sitting down at a white linen table and enjoy the chef menu course after course. One is not wrong. One is not better. But, each their own. Books are the same to me. I keep a hard copy of a book on my nightstand to read when I need a little something before bed. There is always more than one there, and sometimes I finish them. Last week, I opened my Kindle as I took my seat on a plane to start and then finish a new book on my flight home. Being titled Thunderbird, I wonder if that is why I read it so fast? We live in a world where I worry upcoming generations won’t understand the satisfaction that comes from savoring what they enjoy. They’ll rush into and through everything that they like. Sure, it’ll feel good and there is nothing wrong with a quickie, but slowing down to take the time to enjoy something is great as well. I enjoy having both options. The power to choose between which I want at any given moment in time. To each their own. There are few absolute rights and wrongs in reality.

Time is flying by and while I refuse to start counting days, I know there are not many left. Dylan begins college in the fall and the emotions that come with preparing for it have been hard and swinging. We are a tight family. I hug and kiss my kids goodbye and good night every day. Our times together are generally full of laughs. Laura asked that we go away together for her birthday. Booking a cabin for all of us to stay in the weekend before the college road trip begins brought the reality of it all home. The life of a parent is full of phases and milestones and I’m proud that two of the big ones are about to descend upon us. Dylan will graduate high school and begin college. Those are big ones. They hit you right in the feels and make you pause and remember all the ones that have already passed. I’m excited that he is about to begin his life. I worry he isn’t ready. Perhaps we didn’t give him everything in his head that he needs. In my heart I know we did all we could. Every minute of the coming days will be savored. That is how I approach life always, but this summer I know I’m going to be spending extra close attention. It will be the last summer that we are all together under the same roof. There will be laughs and plenty of tears. Bring it on. I’m ready (sort of). noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

The moment you add an event to your calendar titled “Dylan & Dad’s College Road Trip” you know that emotions are going to be a bit messy. Not as messy as last week when an entire week worth of Senior events was added including one titled “Dylan Graduates.” We even had to go and buy him his first suit since he now has a date to his senior prom Yes, my not so little boy is nearing the end of his mandatory education and headed into the next phase of his life. He isn’t the only one growing up. Emily went to the junior prom this week. My little girl is now a young woman. When did that happen? As a parent, you live for milestones. They break your heart, but also make you smile. We joke about the changes coming to our family, and for the most part, all I do is smile about them. But, at the same time that I know this is a natural progression for a family, I know that it is going to hit me harder than I want it to. I think back to the night I left my parents house to move to Virginia. I know how hard that was for me and now I’m beginning to understand how hard it must have been for them. Funny how many things come into focus once you become a parent. A number of little things you took for granted that are now of vital importance. While in my heart I’m mostly sad about the changes ahead, I’m also extremely excited by them. Every day I’m reminded that Laura and I have done a good job raising these kids to be the adults we hoped they’d grow up to become. Who knows what lies ahead for each of them, but I’m excited to see. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,sec

Words have been hard to come by lately. No, that isn’t exactly true. There have been plenty of words, but I’ve been writing them down elsewhere. Leaving this spot alone. They’ve been anger fueled and tinged with a layer of neon orange slime. Not the words I want to share. Not the energy I want to throw out into the universe. Did you miss them? Did you miss me? Lorde is screaming about tennis courts, ribs and bravado as I hit the keys to share with you. There has been a lot of anger in my soul and I can feel the wolves battling it out to balance or go over the edge. I know which one has to win, but it is exciting to realize I let them both out to play from time to time. Flipping the calendar this morning to March, I paused and thought about all that happened last month. The screams, laughs and head shakes were plentiful. There were talks in Houston and Orlando. Consulting in Washington, DC. There were brainstorms for things to come. Decisions made. Garbage thrown out. Pruning of commitments. No matter what burns around me, I’ve committed to do my part to focus on only what is most important to me. Bring it on. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,ma

Men and women are different. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated equally. Around the globe this weekend, on all seven continents, millions of humans marched. Each who chose to show up did so for their own reasons. My reasons were simple. As a father, I marched to show my daughter that I support her. I wanted my son to see that a strong man is one who helps and supports others. As with everything, I lead by example. As a male, I wanted all the women around me to know that I support them. That if men’s minds are not changed, nothing will change. I want my voice and actions to be part of the change. As a photographer, I wanted to be there to capture and share the experience with others. To document what my eyes saw and my heart felt. To ensure that this day was preserved. (full album here) As an American, I’m not happy that we have a bully in the White House. I want him and his staff to know that they’ve got a lot of work to do and need to start doing it. He is our President and should start acting like it. The Women’s March to me was about awareness more than anything else. The variety of causes and concerns were all over the map. The pussy hats and ovary signs get all the headlines. But, each person who marched brought their own causes they were passionate about. One of the speakers encouraged the masses “To organize around the cause that means the most to you and be an ally to others.” That advice is what the energy of the day felt like to me. There was a special moment where everyone was encouraged to lock eyes with someone we didn’t know. Without words to tell them that you saw them, supported them and were there for them. I happened to turn and lock eyes with a young black woman in an American flag hat. Earlier, she had made me smile when she screamed out to the Minister on stage “Girl, you’ve got groupies here!” It was a quiet moment among the masses. A special moment. Later, I noticed her lost and looking for her friends. We locked eyes again, I gave her a big smile and pointed beside me. It was a little thing, but we both knew we were there for each other even if we didn’t know each other. The reports of the crowds being heavily white were true for here in Boston. Emily and I discussed how weird that felt. I’ve been reading my friend’s thoughts on why they chose not to take part. Their words give me plenty to think about. I look forward to future marches where more feel included and choose to take part. It also reminded me that I need to show up. I need to march alongside those marching for Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock and any other marginalized group. Pink and white are only two colors in the big box of crayons and I want to support them all. This march needs to be the beginning. Chanting, waving signs and marching raises awareness, but it doesn’t do anything. You have to work, put in the hours, fight for what you want changed to make things happen. Nothing changed in the last 48 hours except a whole lot of people feel energized. What you do with that energy is what matters and I hope people take that to heart and don’t go back and hide behind their screens. Change is never easy. There will be yelling, hate and a roller coaster of emotions. Change takes more than sharing memes, unfollowing people and complaining. Change means you have to work with people who disagree with you. Have conversations with your mouth instead of your thumbs. Put in the hours of work for what you believe in. I’m glad I went to the march. I’m glad my daughter was beside me the whole time. The march wasn’t perfect, but it was another piece of the puzzle for change. We need to move beyond our differences and figure out how to ensure our country stays as great as it already is and make it even better.

It is a proud moment in any parent’s lives when their child is accepted to college. The moment our son received his acceptance letter to his first choice will never be forgotten. You get to check off another accomplishment proving that you did ok as parents. Soon after the hugs and fist bumps were done the realization of the high price tag ahead got us thinking, “how are we going to pay for this?” Back when our kids were born 529 college savings accounts were new. While they sounded like a great idea, plenty of us had questions about how they would work when our kids needed them. The web was brand new and so were these programs so there was not much to go on besides trust. Looking back with what we know now, we wish we had set aside something every week so that we never noticed that it was gone. It would have been slowly growing over the years and right now things would be easier. I’m no financial expert, but my advice to you right now if you have kids of any age is to set up a college savings account. My friends at MEFA have tons of information on planning and saving for college. We are now at the point where we are investigating our options to pay for college. Thankfully there are many different loans, scholarship and financial aid options out there. Filling out our FAFSA application wasn’t the nightmare we had been warned it would be. We file our taxes electronically so it was only a few clicks to import all of our information. Every parent with a child going to college should fill this out as it is the only way to be considered for financial aid from most colleges. We can’t go back and be smarter about this, but by sharing our story I hope it’ll help someone out there do better with their plans. Disclosure: I have partnered with Fidelity & MEFA in support of the U.Fund Dreams Tour. As always, all thoughts, opinions and stories are my own. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

I’ve been outlining my keynote for next month’s IzeaFest and one of my scribbles reads “stop creating only to satisfy an algorithm.” The more I pondered it and how I might represent it on a slide, the more I realized I wanted to write about this specific epidemic because it bothers me to my core. There is a constant game being played for our attention. Dictator Orange Tinyhands is a master of making you look over here, while something you should be paying attention to what is happening in front of your face. Last week, I watched as a friend shared that she received a pile of angry feedback for a recent video that had nothing to do with the thumbnail or title. She looked right into the camera and said that she had to name it something catchy or else no one would watch it. I know how the game works. I know all about clickbait, listicles and SEO. I teach marketing and write books about it. I know how the game is played. BUT, that doesn’t mean that you as a writer, photographer or artist in any form have to create in order to please our robotic overlords. One look at this weeks “announcement” from Medium about looking for focus and you get the feeling that once again they only want to reward those who create to feed their beast. I’m always on the outlook for great art. Earlier today, I watched this video in awe. Last week, I read this post and found inspiration. Both were created because the person felt compelled to do so. Their creation satisfied a yearning to share their love with the world. Both knew they might get attention. Both tagged, shared and everything else to feed the algorithms, but neither were created TO feed them. Every day I see people writing posts, creating inspirational quote images and videos with no other reason than to get attention. I’m a member of several private groups for a variety of topics and so many of them are nothing more than sharing ways to game the system. The type of content you should be creating if you want to gain attention. Yes, again you should know these tactics, but I’m begging you not to have them be the only reason you create things. What I mean is, when I take a photograph and post it to Instagram, I do it because I want to. There is a creative urge or feeling that as a photographer I need to satisfy. Yes, I’ll add hashtags in the hopes that that photo is seen by more people and some of them choose to follow me, but I’m never driven by this when taking and posting a photo. If this is what drove me, all you would see is perfectly framed travel photos instead of a mix of family, work and fun all at the same time. Create based on what compels and inspires you. Know the game, understand the rules and bend them to your favor whenever possible. Let the robots do their jobs, but don’t let them dictate your creations.

The calendars have been flipped and 2017 is upon us. A fresh start and we don’t know if the car is going to crash over the cliff, handle all of the curves or keep on driving off into the sunset. I’m full of worries for the world around me. Anyone with half of an open mind would realize there is a pot of turmoil and upheaval boiling on the stove and soon it is going to start making a mess. The holidays were full of quiet time away from screens and memories being made with those I love. There has been plenty of thought put into my 3 Words exercise and yet I haven’t settled on the ones I want to commit to. I’m trying to not make them fight, truth and balance. Those are all going to play a big part, but they can’t be the focus. Or should they? I’m still deciding. The discussions happening behind the scenes give me hope. Catching up with friends via back channels rather than conversations in the open. Slowly seeing more people questioning decisions being made around them. Realizing that there is only so much one can prepare for when most of our reality is out of their control. I find myself with a bit of a clean slate this year. Several relationships have gone away and while none of them held me back, they did dictate the paths I had to choose sometimes. The idea of open roads and shifting with the win excites me. Someone asked me over break what my job description for 2017 might look like and as I pondered the question for a minute “Create and Inspire” is what I settled on. Two words don’t make a job description, but as I pull together my syllabus for the two classes I’m teaching at Bentley this spring and think about the projects I want to finish this year, they work. Two speaking gigs I have in February certainly fit into the inspire category. Brand new talks on back-to-back days in two difference states. I can’t wait. Today new cameras will arrive for me to test out and I have a short film I’m  story boarding out with the plan of releasing it before spring. 2017 is going to be a rough year. So much turmoil and transition. Emotions are going to be on the razors edge at all times. People will click, scream and share without thinking. It is going to get worse before anything gets better. That being said, I’m focusing on what I can control. What I can do. What I can make a difference with. So much that will happen in the days ahead I have zero control over and getting angry will do very little except make my life worse. As angry as I might feel about something, does screaming into the Internet abyss help anyone? Does it do anything to curb my anger? NO. The rain is falling outside. None is hitting me because I’m inside of my house, typing away on my computer. I’m fortunate to be in this situation and will never take it for granted. So many people I know are hurting from a myriad of things and in the grand scheme of the universe I’m not. Every morning I wake up I try to remind myself of that. I’m going to spend less time at this desk and more time moving, doing and helping. The last book I was reading in 2016 was The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World and it is the first book I’m reading in 2017. It is full of nuggets that I know I’ll be carrying with me over the coming months. Nuggets that I’ll take out, ponder and breath with when I need them. I highly recommend the book. I hope 2017 brings you what you seek. Be prepared to work for it. Don’t expect anything to be given to you. Always remember that you don’t have to scream to make a difference. Go get it. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,man

Letters pour off the hallway walls as you walk to the elevator. Typewriters hang on the wall and hold menus for you. You are not in some hipster gin infused dream, but find yourself at The Press Hotel in Portland, Maine. I awoke there recently and noticed that the desk chair had the familiar “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” quote on the back of it. In the dark of night I had not noticed it. The first of the morning sun shined on it and the writer in me smiled. Traveling the globe, a lot of my time is spent in hotels. Most don’t leave an impression beyond an overly friendly staff member checking me in and a luke warm buffet as I rush to speak or catch my next airplane. In town to speak at the final Social Media Breakfast Maine of 2016, the organizer offered to find me a hotel room so I didn’t have to drive up first thing in the morning. She gave me a wink as she coyly told me, “I think you are going to love where you are staying.” Built in the building that housed the local newspaper for years, from the outside it looks like another cement box that can be found in any New England city. But, as soon as you valet check your car and enter, the words and hospitality hit you. Throughout the hotel, the theme is writing and journalism. Everything from the decor to the do not disturb hangers include quotes about writing. This could be seen as kitschy, but it isn’t. You can tell when they put this hotel together, they wanted it to be high class without the snobbery. Inspiring without being giggle worthy. When you travel as much as I do, you develop your own set of travel rules. One of my most important ones is to “never eat your first meal in the hotel.” (inspired of course by the great Anthony Bourdain) There would be two meals for me in Portland and I knew lunch after I spoke would be at Silly’s because it was suggested by two trusted friends who know what I like. After reading about the in house, local first restaurant Union I decided to break my rule and give it a try. As I waited for the hostess to appear, I noticed the Chef and asked him which of his dishes I needed to order. He laughed and reminded me that I was asking him to pick from all of his children. But, he encouraged me to try the pasta dish because the rabbit in it was fresh and was the perfect comfort food for a cold night in Maine. Pasta is rarely my first choice, but I’m not going to argue with Chef Josh Berry and the dish lived up to his hype. The star of my meal was the homemade venison sausage that had a kick I wasn’t ready for. A special shoutout to the waitstaff who were attentive, but not hovering. True New Englanders throughout and I appreciated them all. If you enjoy a great cocktail like I do, order a Katahdin (or two). The mix of walnut bourbon and scotch made for a delicious few moments. Housing an art gallery in the basement, ample meeting spaces and a lobby that invites you to sit for a bit, I loved everything about The Press Hotel. I hope they don’t mind, but I had to steal one of their coffee mugs because I don’t remember the last time I woke up in a hotel that had actual hotel mugs in it. Most are lucky to give you a paper cup to wake up with. While I didn’t have the luxury of time to fully enjoy the hotel, the few hours I was there were well spent. I hope to return. Maybe I should see if they have a special “book writing rate” so I could hole up there and work on my next book? Next time you are in Portland and want to stay someplace within walking distance of the ocean, the shops and all the fun of Portland, give The Press Hotel a look. Disclosure: The Press Hotel was a sponsor of the event I was speaking at and paid for my accommodations. They didn’t ask for a review, but I had such a great time there I decided to do one. Thoughts and photos are my own.

Out of all the things I create, I enjoy pulling together my year in photos the best. Scrolling through all of the photos I take and share brings back memories of the little things I forgot. The trips that blend together. The faces, places and meals shared. These roundups are not of my “best” photos, but the ones that stand out to me for one reason or another. I share them equally for you to enjoy and for me to remember. Of course this is best viewed on any screen bigger than your phone, but I’ll leave that up to you. Happy Holidays and see you next year. 2016 started off with Clarence and I taking the train to New York City. We wanted to go take photos and discovered an empty and quiet New York that we had never seen before. Louisville wanted me to speak at an event and the sponsors insured I had a good time while in town. They set up a VIP tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and bourbon country. I definitely need to return to see more of Kentucky because my camera would have a very good time with the beauty of the rolling hills. Life is about little moments too. Nadia laying in my office keeping an eye on things and coffee with Ann at her house. St. Louis was a city I had never visited before, but keynoting a travel conference brought me there. Having local friends like Matt to show you around means you see places that you’d never randomly run into. Victoria joined us from China for two weeks. She arrived scared of dogs and was sure that Nadia would bite her. Before she left I took this photo. As you can see they became fast friends. It was adorable to hear her sing to Nadia. No idea what she was singing, but it was beautiful to see her get comfortable with a dog. Tolkien use to get together with a band of other creatives and they were known as the Inklings. This little group is what I call “Inklings 2.0” and we don’t get together nearly as often as I’d like. A walk in the woods. Rucks on back. Cameras in hand. Never a bad way to spend a few hours. I decided that I was going to only bring my “new” film camera to SXSW and before heaving I had this custom leather strap made for it. No matter how good and comfortable with photography you get, you’ll always make rookie mistakes. This photo reminded me of that as I was shooting photos for a web feature and completely missed myself in the mirror while taking the photo. Whoops! We set up the SocialGood.club storefront in Austin. It felt amazing and people enjoyed it. Sadly it is no more and I don’t know where or what is going on with it. One of those big question marks from the year that I have deep rooted, mixed emotions over. Meeting a robot with the brains of IBM Watson was interesting, fun and scary all at the same time. Skynet is coming for sure. Out of all the film photos I took in Austin, this is one of my favorites. It captures the randomness that is SXSW. Plus, the guys shirt to me is a sad statement about what so much has become. Now that I have a drone, my photography goes beyond what I ever thought I could take. I now look for and think about whole new angles. I’ve always wanted to capture the American Flag on this old stone church, but never had a way to do it until I flew my drone up over the reservoir and took this. Dylan and I traveled to Philadelphia to visit a college and he had never had a real cheesesteak before. Needless to say, it changed his world. During my drive to the University of Rochester to speak I paused to capture this at a rest area along the way. I stood there longer than I should have waiting to get the shot. Fun to realize that Clarence appears so much in my 2016 memories. He is the first non-family member I’ve ever shared Echo Valley with and while it was only a single over night, it was the perfect escape from everything for both of us. Without a doubt, this next photo is my favorite one I made this year. Everything about it clicks for me and it was a perfect moment out in nature where I’m most happy. I consulted with Minute Man National Park and somehow had never been there before. Nadia and I went to scope it out before the work began. Montreal had me attending a conference and thankfully a lot of the time there was spent with my buddy Mitch. Including jumping into a ball pit. Social networks are fun, but they’ll never be as much fun as a ball pit in the middle of a conference. A friend asked if I could bring my drone over and shoot some footage for a television show he was working on. How do you say no to that? I learned a valuable lesson on this shoot though and that is that my drone makes enough wind that if you are flying inside of a half built tree house surrounded by other trees it might crash itself. Thankfully the drone survived. While trips are fun and I love to travel, there are plenty of great memories close to home as well. From a front porch concert to a father’s day brunch on top of a mountain. I love my neighborhood and the friends who live here. How can I not mention the off road, in the desert trip we took to Yuma, Arizona with my in-laws to find a geocache. We ended up WAY off road and while it wasn’t fun at the time it sure did make for great photos, laughs and memories. Easily the saddest time of this past year was when our community lost a young woman to a horrible car accident. The pain the entire town felt was tough to go through. Filed under “things I never thought I’d do” was being invited to London to attend a Star Wars Celebration. The level of behind the scenes and exclusive access we were given was amazing and I’m thankful that Rogue One lived up to all of the hype. This is another one of my favorite photos from the year. Seeing it makes me smile because I remember how excited the little girl was and for me this captures the variety and love of Star Wars fans. While in London I was lucky to see a few friends and got to spend time laughing and walking around the city to see parts I had never seen before. Taking Dylan’s senior photos was beyond stressful for me. Thankfully they came out great and we even had a few laughs while taking them. This outtake warms my heart because it captures Dylan at his more real. I’m a blessed man. To have Laura as my wife and Dylan and Emily as my children. I honestly can’t ask for more. Photography for me is about capturing moments and this was one of those perfect ones that you have to bring home with you. We had gone to Lowell for the day and she was catching Pokemon or checking her messages and everything lined up. The color of her hair against the brick and her leather jacket all came together and I’m so glad she allowed me to take it. Yes, that is Rob Gronkowski and his brothers. I was hired to shoot behind the scene photos for a video shoot they were doing. It was fun to have a secret shoot that I couldn’t talk about for months. We welcomed Jaz into our family. This was the moment I met her and instantly fell in love. Who knew we’d visit Martha’s Vineyard for the first time in our lives and it would be to adopt a puppy. Niccolo joined us from Italy for a few weeks and we had fun taking him to King Richard’s Faire before he left. Dylan is excited to see him again early next year when he travels to Florence. GORUCK asked me to take photos for them for their first Gold Star Family Challenge. It was an honor to do so and shooting in sand, water and darkness made for a day full of good living. Iceland, what can I say? It was everything I’ve dreamed about. Spending our 20th anniversary there is something I’ll never forget. I’m eager to return though since we didn’t see any waterfalls or northern lights. So much more to explore. Life is about little moments too. Not everything is an epic adventure. My annual birthday selfie. What will 2017 hold? Houston, Orlando and a father-son roadtrip to Arizona are all on my calendar. Whatever happens I’m ready for it. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,mana

In our family, we know the importance of helping others. Our kids have been exposed this their whole lives through various fundraisers and activities. They’ve walked 5k, climbed up stairs and seen me go on humanitarian trips. When Heifer International reached out to me about partnering for a post about giving it was easy to say yes. Plus, I had never had anyone ask me to take a “goat selfie” before A photo posted by C.C. Chapman (@cc_chapman) on Nov 29, 2016 at 5:30am PST Heifer International’s mission is to work with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth. They do this through empowering families by providing them livestock, agricultural training, tools and education. This turns poverty stricken families into  to small-scale farmers. My daughter has visited their farm in Western Massachusetts several times (I have yet to be able to) where she learned about all of their programs. She got to experience first hand what it is like to farm, live and thrive in the areas of the world where they work and help. You should visit Heifer.org to learn more. With my children both being in High School, I thought I’d use this post to inspire something new. I told them I wanted each of them to research and present to me a charity that they’d like to donate to this year and I’d give them each $50 to donate. It had to be an organization that we haven’t given to in the past and I wanted them to be able to answer the question of why they chose them. On my birthday in a few weeks I’m going to ask them to tell my wife and I who they chose and then I’ll make the donation. I wonder who’ll they choose. I personally like Heifer’s model of Passing on the Gift. This means families share the training they receive, and pass on the first female offspring of their livestock to another family. This extends the impact of the original gift, allowing a once impoverished family to become donors and full participants in improving their communities. Plus, how much fun is it that you can buy a goat, water buffalo or other livestock and help a family in need? As you can see, I’ve learned to like goats since my daughter loves them. By 2020, Heifer aims to help 4 million families achieve living incomes. This income will allow them to send their children to school, feed themselves adequately across every month of the year; and have proper housing, water, hygiene and other essential resources. There are plenty ways to give to those in needs, but I love when you can directly know where your money is going and how it is helping. I encourage you to learn more about Heifer International and the work they do to improve the world around us. I hope this post helps put you into the giving spirit a bit and that you and your family consider giving in some way during the Holidays. Disclosure – This post was produced with support from Heifer International. All opinions are, of course, my own.

Emotions are impossible to perfectly put into words. The only reason we are able to even begin to encapsulate and share with others is because the human brain has experienced similar things before and can fill in the blanks for us to understand. This morning I felt the most pure form of joy that I’ve felt in a long time. Jaz has never seen snow before and we woke up to a little over an inch this morning. It still falls as I type this. She watched as Dylan cleaned off his car and when he threw a snowball at the window she was confused. We went out and played. Just her and I so that I could see what she thought of it all. Instantly I realized she isn’t as white as I thought. Seeing her against the pure white snow made her yellow spots stand out. Her natural color shining. I flung snow in her face and she tried to eat it all. The hound in her sniffed every inch of the yard in excitement. Playing fetch with a snowball was something I loved doing with Roxie and Jaz played along. Hopping on top of the spot the natural ball disappeared and looking at me with a nose covered in snow seeking answers. I laughed and giggled. My hands stung from the snow and my feet began to numb as my slippers soaked through. Two years ago this week I lost one of my best friends and today a new one pushed down my sorrow with a wet kiss of my face. noC.C. Chapmanma

Millennial Exhibitions has high hopes for their European inspired holiday marketplace known officially as ‘Boston Winter presented by Berkshire Bank’ at City Hall PlazaCity Hall Plaza. Today, we were given a behind the scenes tour to see what is being assembled for all of New England to enjoy. I’ve had the pleasure of walking through holiday markets in England and The Netherlands and have fond memories of them. The smell of sweets, the giggles of children and holiday cheer in every direction. They are fun and I’ve always wished we’d see more of them here in the States. With over forty different vendors, an inflatable igloo, bike powered Christmas tree and enough chocolate, beer and wine for all to enjoy this looks to be a good time. It was underwhelming today to walk around and have to dodge forklifts and construction at every turn, but at the same time it was exciting to think about what it is going to all turn into. An ice skating loop (real ice, none of that synthetic fake stuff here) is surrounded by vendor shacks selling everything from socially conscious jewelry, to dog biscuits. The Urban Lodge will allow you to warm up while enjoying a cold one. If wine is more of your choice, cruise on into Vinopolis to sample and learn at the same time. The Chocolate Story sounds like my kind of place where you can try a sampling of different chocolates while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. Of course there is also going to be a Santa’s House for the kids and photos with the jolly old man. The marketplace is open to the public for free, but many of the attractions mentioned above require tickets to be bought ahead of time or on site. As a thank you to you, use discount code BLOGFRIEND for 15% off your ticket purchase for any of the attractions. The vendors I spoke to were very excited for the crowds to arrive and that something like this has finally come to Boston. I hope that the kinks get worked out and that this grows into an annual tradition. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates. It runs through the end of the year.

When Thanksgiving leftovers begin to be annoying is when I become reflective. Looking back at the year that is beginning to end. Pondering over missed opportunities. Smiling at the memories that warm my heart. Wondering what might have been and marveling over what was. The truth is, I learned some hard lessons over the course of the last eleven months. The lesson learned is that while I don’t have a lone wolf mentality, I need to be the pack leader more often. See, this year I put my faith and energy into other’s ideas to satisfy internal cravings. None of them went the way hoped for. Far from the first time this has happened in my life, but why do I keep going back to the same well rather than digging my own? I’ve been trying to fit my work, direction and art into definitions made by others while telling everyone to not do that. Time to take my own advice. If you ever hear me use the word ‘hustle’ you have permission to slap me side the head, but I am going to be selling more. I’ve always avoided it, but I have to. My skills as a creative and consultant are ones that can help others and yet my humble New England DNA has prevented me from raising my hand and shouting “pick me” over all the noise. Mapping out 2017 on paper rather than a whiteboard has been a helpful change for me. Determining what deadwood to get rid of in my life and not second guessing those decisions is making room for the things I should be focusing on. Alicia Keys is belting out of my speakers and reminding me that I need to wrap this up and hit publish as there is work to do today. Little tasks building towards bigger goals. Success is never handed over lightly. If you rely on others to drive you are never going to get there. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Sunday morning I sat and watched Brad Meltzer speak to a packed room of english teachers. He spoke of the legacy we leave and how we each leave one behind that we’ll never know. The end of 2016 has been a life changing one for me that I know will have effects on my legacy that I can’t begin to contemplate yet. I woke up to a nightmare election result, a friend died too young and I attended the National Council of Teachers of English annual conference in Atlanta. Those three things have nothing to do with one another, but in my life they have combined over the course of a week to change so much inside of me. While I was in Atlanta, I spent a morning at the Center For Civil and Human Rights. I needed to visit. I wanted to be reminded of what our country had been through and to prepare for what may be coming. I talked about how Bob dying caused a lightning bolt of peace inside of me. That is the only way I’ve been able to describe it. Yesterday, it was put to the test and I passed with flying colors. Seeing the variety of books and inspiration they brought to teachers from around the country reminded me of the power of words. Experiencing art from around the globe reminded me that it can make a difference to change minds and improve situations. There were not many notes taken while in Atlanta, but there was one that has stuck with me and is going to evolve into mantra and a push forward when I need it. It is something poet Donté Clark said in the new documentary Romeo is Bleeding when talking about his community. My note simply says “Thriving/Surviving.” Words and images are powerful. The art we choose to create may become more important than ever. We should never question that itch in our brain that screams to be put out into the world. There is much I want to do. I need to stop focusing on what comes after the creation and begin the doing. Thriving over only surviving. That sounds like a solid way to build a legacy I’ll be proud to leave behind. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Friday morning I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed my phone, turned on the local news and plopped down on the couch the same as any morning. Sip the coffee. Turn on the phone. It is a process that happens most mornings. My phone was full of messages and wiping away the night I quickly realized that things were not well. A simple comment by someone on a friend’s Facebook wall had started a wave of concern. Was our friend dead? Was it a joke? Was it in reference to his last Facebook post about being sick of all the hate he was seeing everywhere? Messages were sent. Concern grew. Sadly, our worst fears were quickly confirmed. Thursday night, my Friend Bob Goyetche wasn’t feeling good and then he was gone. One moment this loving father and devoted husband was going about his day and the next he was no longer with us. We’ve set up a memorial fund to help pay for his son’s educational costs. Simon is only thirteen and I can’t begin to imagine how he is doing right now. I’ve chatted with his wife and she is holding up better than I would be. I guess when faced with something like this, you find the strength. One of the many things I loved about Bob was that he had no tolerance for bullshit. While he loved podcasting and the good that came via social media, he hated the douchebags that muddied the waters of something he loved. He always told me that he loved it when I went on a rant because he knew I tried to put forth only positivity at all times. We were both members of the 2004 Club. When podcasting first started, we were one of the few out there doing shows and of course we connected. Many long commutes were made bearable listening to episodes of The Bob & AJ Show. I first got to hug the man at Podcamp Boston. I’ll never forget the late night in someone’s hotel room laughing, singing and being complete goofballs. Sadly, I never made it to his conference Podcasters Across Borders. EVERY year something would come up to prevent me from going. Emily’s first play, the death of my grandmother or something else. There are plans to do another one next year in his memory and once the date is announced I’ll start worrying about what may come up to prevent me from going because you can be damn sure it is going to be the highest priority thing on my calendar. Hopefully it doesn’t conflict with Dylan’s graduation. I wish the story ended here with fond memories of Bob and being in a haze of sadness all weekend. Bob liked me best when I ranted, so I know he won’t mind me including one here. In fact I think he’d get a good laugh at it. Shortly after the confirmation came of his passing I shared the above photo of the two of us on Instagram. Bob I’ll never forget all the laughs we shared. You loved my rants and still to this day whenever I get that way a little voice in the back of my head would giggle “Bob is going to appreciate this.” The world lost a great man, a devoted husband and a loving father. Rest In Peace my Friend. I’m going to miss you. A photo posted by C.C. Chapman (@cc_chapman) on Nov 11, 2016 at 4:25am PST Now, if you are not aware there are tools to “help” lazy people comment on Instagram. You give the tools hashtags, people or topics you want to follow, provide it with a handful of generic comments and the tool will go forth and comment on photos following the parameters you set up. The thought is someone will see the comment, click through to your account and follow you. After all, it is all about the numbers right? This has been going on for a while and I have always shook my head and never cared much. Every day I have a couple of accounts that do this. Every week a few new ones swing by. It is obvious once you know what to look for. If someone wants to waste their money on commenting on my photos I don’t care. But, when your robot posts a “Nice!” on my remembrance photo, I am going to lose my shit. I love marketing, but I hate marketers who use lazy tactics or sleazy practices to try and get ahead. As I screamed at my screen, I said something along the lines of “I’m going to burn this motherfucker to the ground!” A tweet and a reply to them on MY Instagram page and then a wave hit me. A true reality bitchslap that I hadn’t had in a long time. These people are not worth the time or energy! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have no tolerance for stupidity. Just ask Ragu or any of the other brands who in the past decided to be stupid and lazy in my direction. That ended this weekend. Ended for good. Forever. One moment I was mourning my dear friend and the next I was screaming about someone that I’ve never met and honestly don’t care one bit about. One man was a Friend and a good person. The other was a lazy marketer who obviously cared more about himself than anyone else. Instead of moving forward as I planned, I stopped. I blocked his accounts and a calm fell over me. I can’t put into words how the wave of emotions shifted inside of me. It honestly felt like a wave of energy and suddenly I found myself feeling completely differently. Sure, he later deleted his comment and reported my own comment to Instagram. He never apologized and probably never will. But, I don’t care. I don’t care one bit about this lazy, sleazy soul. Life is too short to care about those who do things like this. Sure, I’ll use it and future mess ups as case studies in my class (I can’t wait to teach around this one *grin*) but I’m no longer going to go on crusades to try and teach the stupid how to do things better. Why should I? My energy is going to be spent on spending more time with those I care about. I didn’t spend enough time with Bob and now I never can. The rest of the weekend proved to me that this wasn’t just a momentary lapse, but a complete mindset shift for me. Thankfully lunch with an out of town friend, time in the yard chopping wood and getting ready for winter and being surrounded by my family helped me get through all of this. Bob, I miss you and I’m sorry we didn’t get to see each other more. The world lost one of the GOOD guys. noC.C. Chapmanmarketing,public,relations,management,pr,media,new,media,business,cgc,consumer,second,life

Human nature fascinates me. I made a decision months ago to take the day after the election off. No matter who won, I knew that emotions would be raw and I didn’t want to be part of any of it. I chose yesterday morning to post two simple words on my social profiles and then turned away from all live media for the day. Instead I watched movies, spent quiet time in contemplation and played outdoors with my dogs. It was the best decision I made and this morning as I scrolled through my feeds I hated what I saw. The simple two word phrase I posted on my Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook was “Hate Won.” For me, it made sense. It didn’t have to make sense to anyone else since these were my spaces. There was an ongoing Clinton campaign slogan of “Love Trumps Hate” and with the results what they were obviously hate had won out. It was as simple as that. Yesterday as I reflected, thought and planned I realized how much hate I have in my own heart. How much hate plays a role in our country and in the ballot boxes. Many people’s votes were driven by their hate of Hilary Clinton. Didn’t matter who they voted for as long as it wasn’t for her. I hate that my vote was one against a candidate. I would have preferred to cast my vote for someone I was genuinely excited about being in the White House. I hate Donald Trump because of his elitist, racist and demeaning views. The endless list of things he has said and done gives the racists, bigots and hate filled people in our country the green light to continue to do and say what they want and that scares me. I hate our two party system. It is broken and needs to be fixed. The Democrats decided that Hilary Clinton was the only choice they wanted in this election and did everything in their power to make it that way. The Republicans have been imploding for the last eight years and couldn’t put up a viable candidate that held their true beliefs. Both parties have become rotten from years of the same people in power and the constant influx of money into their wallets. We need better and more options in our country. We need youth, diversity and new thinking at all levels of government. I hate how blindly some people vote along party lines. I’ve never understood blind allegiance to anything. I hate that the majority of the media played into the hands of both parties rather than acting like the unbiased journalists they are suppose to be. Most care about ratings over anything else. I hate that billions of dollars are spent on campaigning. That money could have been used to fix an infinite list of things. There is no reason for campaigns to go on for as long as they do and all it does is divide us further. I hate that every small business owner and middle class family I know is struggling to deal with the rising costs of the Affordable Care Act. I have yet to talk to any friend who is not seeing the costs go up or being forced to change their doctors. I hate how many people are calling anyone who voted for Trump racists and bigots. That is not the truth at all. Yes, a sadly large number of people who voted for him are, but not all of them. Many of them somehow looked past what the man says and believes and voted for a change to a broken system. I could never do that and I don’t understand it, but many did. There are bad apples in every cart, but you can’t say they are all bad. I do hope that those that are angered by this exact point will stop and realize that some of them have said the exact same generalizations of other groups of people. Good, honest, hard working people voted for all candidates. Please don’t forget that. I hate how broken our government is. How stagnant is has become. How little it does for our country lately. We do need change at all levels and I hope that happens. When I post something online, I choose my words carefully. I don’t seek out or look for reactions unless those words end with a question mark. Good people took those two simple words in so many ways and the way they chose to react was sad. Less than a handful of friends reached out yesterday directly. To those who did, thank you. Our great country is broken and divided. There is an endless, ugly soup of hate boiling over on the stove and turning down the heat even a little would help. Last night after having drinks and heart felt catch up with friends, I walked across the Boston Common where a protest was ending. They were happening all over the country and will continue to happen. No matter who won, I expected them. I hate that our ever connected world has turned so many into scroll and click zombies compelled to always voice their thoughts rather than ever being silent. I said “hate won” because that is what I believe. You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to like it. I’m not looking for anyone’s reaction. I need to get words out of my head and these are my outlets. America is a great country, but the only way it will continue to be so is if we get away from our screens and work together. This isn’t the high road, it is the only path that ever leads changes. You don’t have to hug those you hate, but why can’t you talk to them outside of a comment stream? I hate the results of the election, but I respect the Office of the President and plan on doing my part to be an active and engaged citizen to fix what is broken. I hope you will do the same. noC.C. Chapman