I am always amazed by the people that tell me I am “stupid” for sharing my home phone number on Twitter, FaceBook, etc. My job is customer experience – I NEED customers to find me for me to win. What is crazy about making it easy for them? My home number is 210-370-3861. My cell is 210-845-4440. Anyone could find that by digging into a simple Google search.

I am not afraid of my customers – especially the unhappy ones – those are the ones I can learn the most from, and drive the best change based on their feedback. Of course, I also love talking to customers that think we are amazing. I don’t discriminate between the two though – I need to hear from both sides to see where we really are at – to understand where we need to apply resources.

I love customers – I love working for a company that appreciates how much I care for my relationships with customers. I love that I am allowed to work when my customers expect me to work, and not on a schedule mandated by 9-5ers.

I’ve been a customer of +Rackspace Hosting for more than ten years, in one form or another. And an employee for 3 1/2 years. I prefer being an employee that has been a customer, and can honestly understand things from a customer perspective.

And I trust us to do the right thing by customers. So why would I shy away from them?

I currently run the Social Media team at +Rackspace Hosting and my team is all engineers – people that can actually drive change within the company.

I need customers like Lindsey Lohan appears to need court dates. Like Tom Cruise needs a sofa to jump on.

If you are in customer support, or Social Media, and you are evading and avoiding your customers – I feel sorry for you. I WANT to know my customers. I want them to know how to reach me.

rob@rackspace.com
@kr8tr
rlagesse on Skype
rob@lagesse.org on GTALK

I had two friends next to me. guiding me.  I was riding a Honda 440 Super Sport – a bike I loved.

So why was I riding with a blindfold on?

The easy answer is that I was young and stupid.  The more complex answer is that I did not know where I was going, so I did not care what direction I took. I just felt I needed to head somewhere – so I did.  With the added burden of a blindfold.

I made it the mile.

It made me smile.

In the 25 years since then I realize that was a very easy mile.  I had no fear then.  I had little responsibility then.  I had no voice or audience then. Nobody counted on me.  I was as free as a human could be.  I was free to risk it all – in any fashion I chose.

It was an easy mile back then because I had nothing to lose.  Nobody depended on me.  I did not have two kids in college.  The times, my friend, they have changed.

As I matured, people started to depend on me – so I grew up – a little. Now I have two kids in college, customers that I love, employees that depend on me.  Life is more complex.

I don’t walk 5 feet without having my eyes open the entire time now.  I have grown up. I owe people stuff (more valuable than money).  I need to live a while to pay it back.

I am not risk adverse now – I am just a lot smarter – I see more, listen to more – find ways to help more. Without risking everything. I am looking for ways to invest instead of ways to risk. And I don’t mean investing with money – I mean investing with, “Dude, I have been there an done that – don’t do that”.  Advice.  Mentoring.  Friendship.

Taking risks without risking everything is what people my age should be doing right now – investing where they can – in a business, in family – in crazy perhaps.

Dying with money in the bank seems like total fail to me.

My kids are in college – and will graduate without debt.  Why should I not gamble on other people’s kids at this point?

Why would I not gamble on people at this point?  I am where I am because of people.

So I will be investing in young people – a wide variety of young people. Any class, any space, any race, any IQ, any that even tell me “fuck you”.

Look out kids – I got an agenda.  And you are it.

I know there are millions of posts like this on the Internet. But this is the only one of them that is my post. About the things I have learned that I think are really important.

And just to prove how much of a screw up I was when I was younger – I owned an Alfa Romeo before I owned a house.  I owned a MG MGA convertible before I had money in the bank.

I owned two houses once and could not afford either one of them.

I won custody of my kids when they were 10 and 12 and learned a lot about what is important.

Dying poor is not a bad plan.  Living poor is.

I will leave my kids with college educations, and a lot more advantages than I had when I was their age.  I doubt I leave them much money though.  Today I can afford the stuff I wasted money on 25 years ago.

Looking for another Alfo Romeo.  One I can buy without feeling guilty about it.

And that is the difference between where I should have been spending money 25 years ago, and where I *can* spend it today.

Today is my payoff for getting my shit together ten years ago.

If you are under 50, have credit card debt, don’t have money in the bank and only own toys – you need to reset everything.

But stuff.  Stuff you can pay for.

Seems easy.  Takes a huge comittment.

Rob

But it had been months and months since I had ridden (was a brutally cold winter).  So I went out today.  For a couple hours. Nothing amazing happened. I did not meet a field of bluebonnets, or a majestic owl.  I just rode a bit.

The thing I like about riding is that I seem to somehow be able to think about things that I am not actively thinking about – much like I sometimes do when I am sleeping.

Problems seem to get solved in the back of my brain while I focus on the road, the smell, the machine and the now.

Very few people that I know like for me to ride.  Most of my friends, almost all of my bosses, and my kids.  None of them really like it.  None of them really get it either.

When I am riding my bike, slicing through the wind, and leaning into the curves – when I am not thinking about kids, or work, or friends, or anything – I come out a better something after.  I come out a better friend, employee, parent, and boss. And a better me.

Riding a bike is something that escapes a lot of people. The freedom.  The sense of release – having to focus enough of your brain on the moment… it lets you forget the stress, the deadlines, the commitments. It lets you find that freedom, for as long as it lasts.

Interestingly enough, a 2 hour recharge can last many months. The promise of the next ride gets me through the times in between.

Not suggesting we all ride motorcycles.  Am suggesting we need something that rejuvenates us this way.

We all need a recharger.  And we all have different ones.

But now it is becoming a Customer Service blog of some sort, which is cool with me.  I love talking to customers.  They are amazingly brilliant (usually).  They make me seem kinda smart, because I work hard for them, and win more than I lose.  When I help them win, it makes me look like a winner.  More important, they make me feel like I am winning.  I feel losses just as much though – so I never get cocky. (Well not too cocky, I hope).

I get paid to help customers win, and the most cashable paycheck I get is when I help customers win.  It also puts a huge smile on my face.

I’ve been thinking of what I’ve been able to do in the last year.  Helped dozens of events happen because Rackspace lets me sponsor really amazing stuff – sometimes even stuff that seems odd.  I have met the most amazing people – and built closer relations with many that I had already known for years.

I have been to a lot of great events.  SXSW, of course.  Big Omaha, which is a newfound favorite.  TechStars.  Too many to name, and I apologize for leaving people out.  Between me and my employees we have done well over 80 events this year.  That is pretty amazing.  And I am not even counting Tweet-ups,  or Rackspace centric events, Rackspace Recruiting Events, etc.

I helped build HostingforHaiti.com which for the very first time brought companies in our industry together to do good.  We did VERY good, but we aren’t done (feel free to go donate, the link is still valid and Haiti still needs a ton of assistance!).

I added a couple more amazing Rackers to my small team – which currently consists of five (4 Rob’s and a Rocky) but will grow to nine by the next year.

I’ve had the pleasure of hiring a cartoonist.  Sponsoring a beer festival.  Giving a child a chance to live. Or at the very least, live the rest of her life better.

I am a very lucky man, and it means a great deal to me that I have all of these opportunities.

I love that I can do all these things.  I love my company doesn’t just LET me do them.  They encourage me, and reward me  for doing good.  Not for just “making money”.

But I am also extremely happy with how many customers I get to talk to every day.  And pleased I can help many.  And very pleased that my team is growing, so I can help even more customers.

So yes, this blog has turned into a customer service blog, of sorts.  It is still about me, but much less about my stories than about my experiences dealing with customers.

It is more about customer stories now, even if I don’t name them.  It is about what they have taught me, and what I hope I can teach through my experiences.

I know they have a real value – and a better value then a proposed customer. A bird in the bush, and all of that.  I get it.  Customers are valuable.

But what are they really worth?  What relationship do you have with them?  What they spend is often a big factor, but do they know you?  Do you know them?

Who really cares?

A customer is a customer, right?  Don’t they all have the same value?

It would be great if I could say yes. Would give me more credibility in how I talk about customers.

But at the end of the day, no employees or customers are the same.  They have unique value and ROI.

Finding it, and making the best of it – is magic.

If you can talk to a $10/month customer the same way you talk to a $50K a month customer  - well, you might know a bit about social media.  Which is basically, “I get people”.

There is little magic here.

It is really mostly just giving a shit.  Which is hard for many to manage. Or even realize is really important..

It is real though.  Customers love to listen to people that have been there, and walked in their shoes.

People follow leaders.  No matter the discipline.

Lead, you tech freaks – I know you want to!

And I trust you to.

Then we became a big company with Outlook, and managed desktops – and all that other evil crap. I was moved to Windows.

I took a new job with Rackspace and they asked me, “Windows or Mac?” – I was honestly surprised – I didn’t know many large companies that gave you a choice. I chose Mac.

But that is the story of how I got BACK to Macs – not why. The why is pretty simple.

As a PC user I bought new hardware several times a year – and every time something significant changed (CPU, graphics, motherboard, RAM etc) MS ASSUMED I was trying to steal from them – and made me jump through hoops to prove that I was not. I’m sorry – that shit wore on me. I got really tired of “starting over” every time MS decided I had done something stupid – like buying new hardware, or, for goodness sakes – installing one of their betas!

I do run into some of these issues with MS products on my Mac right now. I can’t upgrade the office 2008 copy I bought because MS thinks someone else owns it (or something – hard to tell).

With my Apple OS’s I buy them. I install them. They work. I might even sometimes bend the rules and install the new OS on an extra machine – one I don’t have a specific license for, but want to test it on different hardware. And it works. These are normally older machines that I don’t use often/at all except for testing – so it isn’t like Apple is losing anything. But under the same circumstances MS would label me a thief – and even disable the functionality of my computer – they cripple their own product!

Microsoft treats me like a thief – which causes me a huge loss of productivity even when I absolutely have the right (per their terms!) to reinstall my SW – *MY* SW – I bought it – remember (and yes, screw the BS about “renting it – that is lame)

Anyway – upgrades work on my Mac. Betas work and upgrade easily. Windows makes it hard and accuses me of being a thief with no justification whatsoever.

So in the last 18 months I have added 7 new Macs to my household, including iPhones and an iPad. I’ve added a couple of Windows virtual machines. Because as long as I only have virtual trust with you, I’ll only run virtual instances of you.

And the way Microsoft has treated a 20+ year customer is virtually criminal.

But people like me are a real pain in the ass.

We tend to want things to happen now, and get bitchy when they won’t happen until tomorrow.

We tend to demand more than even we can deliver – so we question ourselves a lot – even as we publicly state we don’t need a lot of internal “support”. The truth is that we do – we need to know that we are pushing the right directions, and that roadblocks will be removed from our paths quickly, and efficiently.  It takes a team, and a corporate commitment to make people like me effective.

I’m not sure how to even describe what high-maintenance people like me do – we just push, and keep pushing. And when we feel pain, we tend to push harder.  It is painful for everyone.

We aren’t trying to cause trouble – we are trying to do something new, we want to help – we just … well, we are demanding, and that means we are trouble

So if you run a company that has an employee like me, what do you do?

Most companies get rid of “troublemakers”.

Is that wise?

Why people cause “trouble” is the first question to ask.  Is it because they are disgruntled?  OK, get rid of them.  Is it because they are passionate and know you can do better, and should be doing better?  Hang on to them – encourage and empower them.

Why?  They love your business and are your best spokespeople.  Why would you marginalize them?

Businesses that will succeed over the next decade are those that realize everything is changing.  Everything.  Hell, it has already changed.

Embrace it, or run from it.  Do the latter your own peril.

I’m interested in people that push me, make me think differently, and challenge everything I thought I knew.

I’m interested in tomorrow, not yesterday.

Companies that get this will win.  Others will fade away, perhaps because they fire people like me.

I’m damn near 50, so I know what I suck at.  I suck at math, and metrics. I suck at writing documents and I hate presentations.  I have a large list of what I suck at or just hate doing (which means I will suck at it) – and in the last 5-10 years or so, I haven’t been afraid or ashamed of sharing that with my bosses.  My future employers, employees, significant others, etc.

Setting expectations is important.  Before I joined my current company I told them exactly why they shouldn’t hire me – the stuff I sucked at.  They still hired me.  They liked that I knew what I sucked at, and they liked what I thought I was good at.

I hate rules that make no sense anymore, but are still enforced.  I don’t do meetings well. I work better when I want to work then when people normally work.  I work VERY well at home.

I’ve had a number of bosses since I joined my current employer – and the first conversation I have had with most of them is about what I suck at.

Once we get past that, we can focus on what I do well.  And that lets us focus on how to help me do that even better.  And if my company knows how to help me get better at what I love, and what I am naturally good at – well, that helps us all take best advantage of my unique contributions.

If you are in finance, I don’t recommend you tell your boss you suck at math.  Don’t be suicidal, unless you want a drastic change in your employment future. But do be honest with yourself, and if what you do falls into the “I suck at this” category, find something else to do.  Usually you know this better than your bosses do.  You’ve probably known it for some time.

But I am a people person – my employer wins (so do I because it is what I love) when I talk to people.  So we found a way to make that happen.  Sure – there is accountability – but not overbearing rules that slow me down, or make me start to feel that my employer is asking me to do what I don’t like doing. Or what I suck at doing.

We worked together to find a way that we are both rewarded for doing what makes sense – putting me in a role that is targeted at my natural strengths, and minimizes the “I suck at this” parts.

Don’t be afraid to tell the world what you suck at – but know what you are naturally good at.  And make sure the good is good enough.  Actually – make the good great.

Then magic happens.

Why didn’t I sleep?  Because I was surrounded by amazing people that had amazing stories to share.  And I may have shared a few of my own.  They were willing to sit in the courtyard of the Magnolia with me from dusk until dawn and share what they knew (and a bit of brew!)

I made many great new friends in Omaha.  It is an interesting city – much more interesting than I thought it would be, in fact.

But the conference was awesome.  How do you get Matt Mullenweg, Gary Vaynerchuck, Tony Hsieh and others to a second year event in Omaha, Nebraska?

I don’t know.  But Jeff Slobotski does.  It took him over a year, but Jeff got me and Robert Scoble and Rocky Barbanica to Big Omaha.  And I am thankful that he did.

And I really can’t explain why people were willing to stay up all night and talk to me – and have fun with me.  But they did.  Perhaps it was because we were in Omaha, and they loved having us there – they loved some freaking attention.  And they deserve some.

I’ll be in Omaha again, at least annually.  And before this event there probably was little chance I would ever say that.  Because I knew nothing of Omaha before this past week, except Omaha Steaks.  Oh – Jeff made sure we met the family behind Omaha Steaks as well, and that we got to be friends with them is an additional “Wow”.

Thanks Jeff.  Thanks Omaha.  And thanks to everyone else that forgave sleep for conversations and new-found friendships.

I am no longer in Omaha, but Omaha is now in me

The rapid growth in the Interactive Festival demands some changes from SXSW.

(I started this post before I saw this one, by Jolie O’Dell – but I agree also with most of what she says.)

I’ll take each area individually.

SXSW -

This is no longer a little conference.  It is one of the major “tech” conferences in the world now – and while well run and well managed, there is always room for improvement.  SXSWi could start by defining what “interactive” means to them today and who the target market is.  Interactive could certainly include the “Social Media Gurus” that others have complained have taken over the stage.  Interactive could also refer to the proliferation of real-time data exchange applications that now exist and the real geeks that are building off of them.  Like apps built on the Twitter API, etc.  I don’t think it can be both.  Perhaps you need to add another block.

Let me pay an extra ten dollars and have my badge and shit mailed to me – the cattle-chutes are untenable.

And for the love of what makes sense – get the city to close East 4th Street between Red River and Neches, at least.  The Hilton is “Convention Center Two” even for those not staying there and the number of people trying to cross 4th to get to the convention center, along with the bikes, bike-cabs, and autos is just begging for trouble/gridlock.

Austin  -

See above on the street closure.  GET MORE CABS OUT LATE AT NIGHT/EARLY IN THE MORNING.  Borrow some from San Antonio if you must.  But the cabs are all focused on what seems to be a ten block area downtown.

Attendees -

Know what you are getting in for – don’t carry huge backpacks around with you – you block sidewalks and hallways.  Austin is a walking city – plan to walk!  Travel light. Don’t have your own mini-convention in the middle of hallways and crosswalks.  You are NOT that important – move to the side!

Stop spitting on the street, pissing in the bushes, throwing your trash anywhere you damn well please and otherwise acting like a moronic twelve year old with a doting mother.  Be a decent human being (even if just for a few days).

Remember the people who live in Austin were there before you, and will be there after you.  Respect them and their property.  I saw three arrests in Austin this past week.  I probably saw two dozen more that should have been arrests.  And I am not talking minor things, or even drug related things – I mean property damage, assaults and basic ass-hat-isms.

Venues (bars) -

Please learn to say “NO”.  You do NOT need to get everyone in every event drunk.  Really.  Tell them they have had enough – BEFORE you send them out into the streets to get into trouble.  I can’t believe how much over-serving of alcohol I saw.  People who could not stand or walk were getting served.  I know the party sponsor is paying for the booze – but the venue is responsible for serving.  Act responsibly.

Don’t pretend you hold 500 people when only 300 can fit. (Oh – this should also be under the notes for the City of Austin – re-examine your “maximum occupancy” codes – they are fucked up).

Oh – and at least have SOME plan for rain.  Like mats you can put on slippery spots where stairs meet wet concrete.  An dwhile you are at it – spray some of that adhesive grip stuff on your staircases.  You make a fortune during SXSWi – spend a little of it preventing that one lawsuit that will reverse your fortunes.

Venues (Hotels) -

Our hotels cost a LOT during SXSW – and honestly, my hotel is my sanctuary.  I would prefer that my hotel limited admission to the hotel bar and restaurant to hotel guests and their guests.  Yep – sorry, but I said that out loud, and I mean it.  Not being able to get breakfast in my own hotel because it is full of people from other hotels sucks.  Why pay so much to stay in downtown Austin if I don’t have any advantages?

There are more, and I could go on – but I’ll see what if anything you do with this simple list.

I would love to “Keep Austin Weird” – but you also need to “Keep SXSW Useful” and “Keep SXSW Safe”.

Some random pictures I just wanted to stick up here.

	My New Hobby: I wasn’t really looking for another motorcycle but a co-worker pinged me about a bike he was selling.  It reminded me so much of the first bike I ever owned that I just had to buy it. This is a 1978 Honda CX500.  Unlike my 900 pound BWM R1200CLC, this is a light little bike weighing in at just under 500 pounds (dry). It needs some work to make it road-worthy, but it is mechanically pretty sound!
Geoff Livingston, author, blogger and really nice guy.  He came to a Tweetup I organized.  This is on the San Antonio Riverwalk, not far from my office.
	Rocky Barbanica is a  Senior Producer at Fast Company.  He is also the camera genius behind Robert Scoble’s work at Fast Company TV I’ve had the pleasure to meet Rocky on 4-5 occasions now, and he’s a great guy to hang out with! Also, in the background you can see John Engates, CTO of Rackspace.  The pictures were taken at the Austin City Limits during the Rackspace Cloud Event
Backstage at Austin City Limits you can find some interesting stuff – including a few cans of Bud Light!
	Bob and Esther Cole with their daughter Melissa/  Melissa had just graduated from Texas Tech University. I’ve known “Mo” almost her whole life, and she’s like another of my own children, so I was very proud of her!
A couple weeks ago we went to New Orleans.  We took a trolley out to the cemeteries.  On the way there a car crashed blocking the tracks for about 15 minutes.  As we boarded the trolley to return I joked, “I wonder what happens on the way back”. Well, this is what happens – this car cut in front of the trolley and we nailed it.  We decided to leave before the police showed up as we were sitting in the back of the trolley and didn’t really see what happened anyway.  We walked the mile or two back to our hotel

They “borrowed” what they knew they could pay.  And they paid back everything they borrowed.

I can’t say that I have never owed more than I could repay – once, I did.  For a brief time.  But it’s been >2  years since I owed anything more than a house payment (ZERO down, 15 year note, fixed interest loan, thank you very much) and several years since I had a credit card.  I am seven years into the first home I ever bought and I own more of it than the bank does.  A few hundred extra dollars on the mortgage a months makes a difference.

If I still had a wallet full of credit cards I would never have been able to buy a home.  Credit cards make it easy to spend today’s dollars at tomorrow’s prices.  If you don;t understand the future value of money, you really should.  The goal is to save today’s dollar and cash in at tomorrow’s prices – instead, we do the opposite – and as a country we are failing.

And as some have said on Twitter and elsewhere, “Don’t blame us – it isn’t our fault.  They are showing a bright and shiny lure, and we cannot help but strike at it”.

The lack of personal responsibility in this nation now scares me.  Almost as much as the lack of personal privacy/rights.

But our Government spends more than they take in, as do many American’s.  And MANY businesses.  There are too few of us not living on credit to sustain the rest of you.

Be it Governement bailouts, or insurance subsidies to live on the coastal region or in a fault zone – too many of us are paying for the ways of others.  How is that fair?

To any of us?

You need the cloud!

People often ask me what I do. Cloud computing is hard to describe. But basically, I help stop this from happening. You write something that is popular and nobody can access it – cloud computing helps to solve that problem. Traditional shared hosting solves it by cutting off access to your product when the demands of your product outstrip the ability of the service to deliver – to you, and to everyone else sharing that “box”

At some point, the product has enough value that you want to ensure it is delivered. That is what I help do – deliver product – even product that is in high demand .

By using VMware Fusion in Unity mode I can run WLW on my Mac just like it runs on Windows.  Amazing.  And it makes me Sooooooo  Happy!

I took it in to the dealer and was told that I might not get it back until “tomorrow” – that was yesterday. Today they called to tell me that someone had tried to steal my catalytic converter – it was actually partially cut off from my car!  And that I wouldn’t be getting it back today.

But after dropping the car off I came home to a house that was NOT being cooled – it was 86 degrees in here!  So I called the A/C people, and they came this morning.  What they found was pretty scary – the unit in my attic is so rusted they locked the gas supply – basically condemning my furnace.  I need to replace the entire system.  Ugh.

And this morning, first thing, I sat down to see where Hurricane Dolly was going to hit and my power went out.  I heard the familiar beep, beep, beep sound that trucks make when backing up.  A truck had backed into my utility pole.  Two hours without Internet, phone or cable.  Great!

Then a very mild storm hit (part of the hurricane, I am sure) and my Internet, phone and cable went out again – for over an hour.

So far this hasn’t been my week   I figure $2,000 for the car (insurance and warrantee cover most of that) plus who knows how much for new heat and A/C ($13K is a ballpark estimate – ductwork needs replaced too).

Most of all I was just frustrated that I couldn’t get to the office – or even talk to the office for much of the day!

And tomorrow I will go in late (even if I have to take the bus – gads!) and then on Friday the A/C company is coming in the morning to give me an estimate on replacing my entire system.

And my Internet went out again for 20 minutes while I was writing this post. I should just go to sleep

I have always followed his advice, and it has served me well.

He also had a lot of other advice like, “I am not afraid to spend money to make money – when it makes sense”

Random thoughts…

I AM happy

I am loving Mosso – the people are pretty amazing and I have a lot to learn. I love learning!

I am also adjusting to working in an office again – it has been a LONG time (close to 7 years, I think) since I routinely went into an office for a full day (and to me a full day is 8 hours – not 9, or 12!)

And when someone wants to have a 1:1 conversation at Mosso that usually means taking a stroll along the River Walk. Our offices are located right on the river, which is nice. But there are a lot of stairs, which my bum ankle and bad back are having trouble adjusting to. I am sure in the long run that I will be better off for all of the exercise – but for now, it is just a lot of pain!

The people I have met make me want to walk through the pain and wake when it is still dark. I never realized how much I missed working with bright people – especially bright, young people.

And I write this post using my new MacBook Pro, which is really a wonderful piece of engineering.

I will miss Windows Live Writer (the best blog publishing tool I ever used by far) – but I will adjust.