by Diane Tate

SMH defined

Alternative title: How Not To Do A Cold Introduction

Note I am often asked to help out people and it’s because I love to. I love making connections and facilitating introductions whenever I can. To that end, I just got an email from a colleague I met at an event 1.5 years ago. Great guy and introduced me to a great company that will be visiting SF from their home base in Eastern Europe.

So imagine how it felt to have him direct me as follows:

“Will leave you [as in, me] to coordinate something [for this person I don’t know] and it would be awesome if you can help him [this person I don’t know] fill up his email list with people who could be customers and should be notified the day the Kickstarter campaign launches.”

Lest you think I’m just a hater, I have already offered some practical tips to doing email intros. Some stuff never gets old!

by Diane Tate

Neologisms: not so Neo

I always relished the concept of Sniglets as a child, watching first-class ’80s television. I distinctly remember the way the permutations made me giggle so I guess I’ve always been a language nerd.

Of course, there is a fancier term, “neologism” which clearly refers to a phenomenon as old as language itself: “a newly coined term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use but that has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.”

As you read about Sniglets, you’ll see that they provide real educational value. I posit there is also business value as well. For instance, this week I identified what I now realize is a mirker: someone who creates tasks at meetings but shirks all action items related to those tasks.

At the bottom of my heart, I believe there are many more sniglets out there, just waiting to be discovered, like a statue buried deep inside a large chunk of clay (realizing I’m actually nearing another ’80s classic).