Help!It’s easy to step out of sync with the modern world and find yourself lost in a sea of terms, tools and technologies that are foreign and even intimidating.

I’m working with more and more mid-life individuals interested in reinventing themselves in new careers, and I’m finding that a fair number of them are wholly unaware of or just plain frightened of the ever-increasing array of tools and media for networking, communicating, learning and collaborating.

I empathize with these individuals a great deal.  If you’ve been laboring somewhere in mid-management for the past few years and you’ve become accustomed to the tools of your job, chances are you’ve not been pushed to understand and embrace the new methods for connecting and communicating.

You’re to be excused for the moment if you find Twitter silly.  After all, who wants to know what you’ve had for dinner.  And what’s the big deal with blogging?  I hear you when you are quick to indicate that no one cares what you have to say.  And why would you share your Rolodex of contacts with the world on something like LinkedIn?

Yes, I empathize with you, and now you must get to work!

WAKE UP!

In this most competitive of all environments, it is easy to become technology road kill somewhere on your journey to oblivion. Everything about this world is different now as compared to when you graduated college.  If your degree date doesn’t have a 2 as the first digit, chances are you are technologically obsolete.

While I am by no means a technology whiz kid, as a 48 year-old professional, I’ve forced myself to learn a host of technologies that I now incorporate in my practice everyday.  Two years ago, I wondered what blogging was all about, and I’ve been thrilled to reach thousands daily at my Management Excellence blog.

Two years ago I wondered how anyone could have a good education experience in an on-line setting.  I’ve now taught on-line courses at the MBA and undergraduate levels and recently launched this site and business, Building Better Leaders, to offer on-line professional skills development blended with personalized mentoring.

I’ve met some of the greatest professionals of my career via blogging and twitter, and I’ve learned that the old world of marketing along with old style marketers now belong to the ages.

If I can manage a good part of my professional life from my iPhone and engage thousands daily via a variety of social networking tools, you can certainly bring your skills and knowledge up to speed.

Some Guidance on Joining the Modern Era

  • Find some favorite blogs and discover RSS and feed readers. Don’t know where to look for a blog?  Visit Alltop.com and Guy Kawasaki will help you.
  • Got something to say?  Sign up for a free wordpress or blogger blog and experiment.
  • Get a twitter account, but don’t sign up and then do nothing. You have to build a profile, seek out people that share your interests and engage them in discussion.  I know people that signed up and then gave up because nothing happened.  Of course, they didn’t put anything into making something happen and the outcome was predictable.
  • Build a professional profile on LinkedIn and help past colleagues and customers find you.  Learn how to use the power of LinkedIn for professional networking and brand building.  Again, you have to provide input to get output.
  • Sign up for an on-line course and learn how to use the tools of a Learning Management System and the benefits of adding the vast resources of the web in real time to the learning experience.
  • Sign up for a Building Better Leaders course and discover the power of on-line learning plus professional mentoring! (Shameless plug, but it’s true!)
  • Buy and use a PDA or mobile phone with the ability to access the internet and to take advantage of applications.  Hint: they’re not just phones anymore.  They are pocket computers.
  • Buy a Mac and discover how enjoyable and powerful and stress free the digital experience truly is.

The Bottom Line for Now

If you are fearful, take baby steps on the above and build your confidence.  Beware of the potential for the wrong technical activities to suck you into the black hole where time moves on but you don’t. Focus on gaining new skills to help advance your education, build your brand or network your way into a new job. And in the process, you’ll enjoy almost catching up to your kids!