You know what I like best about working in employee communications?
It’s not the work—though, when I get involved in a good project with good people and have a real chance to make a difference at an organization, that’s pretty cool.
And it’s not the money. I spend whatever money I make before I even make it, so money doesn’t really drive me.
It’s the people. I love communicators. Yes, I know it sounds corny. But there you have it.
Why? Because communicators are interesting. They have secret lives, many of them. Nobody goes to college and says, “I am going to be an employee communicator!” Little kids are not walking around saying, “When I grow up I want to edit a company publication!”
No, we go to college for other things. We had dreams of being something else. I was always going to be a globe-trotting freelance journalist. It didn’t work out, so I went into employee communications.
And it’s those dreams of what we were going to be, or going to do, that make communicators so interesting.
And I just met maybe the most interesting one of all.
I’m in southern California right now. Yesterday, I taught an all-day, in-house seminar for Southern California Edison (I normally don’t like to name the company I just worked for, in case they are secretly ashamed of hiring me, but in this case it’s okay).
The guy who brought me in is named Jacob Frank. He’s a veteran communicator and a longtime IABC member. I’ve seen his name around for years, but never actually met him until he came up to San Francisco last December for the Master Class.
Anyway, Jacob hired me to come in and do the seminar, and before we got started, we got to chatting. In the course of the conversation, he reveals that he’s only going to be at SCE for another month.
“Oh, are you retiring?” I said, as a joke. Jacob is only 51, after all. And communicators don’t make enough money to retire until they’re . . . well, 94.
“Sort of,” he said, laughing. And then he filled me in on his Great Plan.
Jacob and his wife, who is also a writer, are retiring. At least they’re retiring from corporate life. They’re getting out of the rat race. They are going to spend the next two years seeing the world.
“We can actually live cheaper per day in South America, India, Africa, and Asia than we live here,” he told me. So that’s what they are going to do. They sold their house, selling almost everything they own in an estate sale, packing whatever is left into two backpacks, and taking off.
First, they’re going to tour California by car. Then they’re going to ditch the car and get on their motorcycles. Yes, their motorcycles. They are going to ride across the country, and up into Canada, 300 miles north of Toronto, where Jacob’s wife Doris has family.
Then, it’s back on the bikes for a ride to Chicago, where Jacob has family, and where they are going to store the bikes.
From there, it’s the world. They fly to Mexico City, and then go down the west coast of Central and South America. After a couple of weeks in Antarctica, they head up the east coast of South America, then head for Africa.
They’re going to go all over Africa, but the highlight might be when they stay on a wildlife preserve for four weeks, helping to raise baby orangutans. From there, they take a couple of weeks “off” (they’re going to be living hard, out of their backpacks) on a Mediterranean Cruise.
From there, they follow the old Spice Road to China, head down to Southeast Asia, and then over to India. They have no hotel reservations. They’re only bringing what they can carry. The only modern convenience they will have is a laptop, so they can blog as they travel.
And somewhere along the way, they are going to figure out where they want to live for the rest of their lives. Could be Africa. Could be Guatemala. Could be India. They don’t know. And they don’t care that they don’t know.
They are, in a word, my idols. They’ll be doing a travel blog on the road, and as soon as it’s up and running, I’ll link to it from here, so communicators everywhere can live vicariously through them.
I love communicators.
Comments (20)
Great. As though I didn't despise my loser cruiser, er... cubicle, enough already...
Posted by Jim Harris | March 2, 2006 12:00 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 12:00
I know, Jim. I know. I went through the whole jealous/self loathing/you're wasting your life you fat bastard range of emotions, too.
Then I went out and had a double rack of Colorado lamb, with creamed spinach and garlic mashed potatoes, washed down with a bottle of Judd & Sons Cabernet from the central coast, in order to celebrate Jacob's adventure.
He wasn't there, of course. But that didn't stop me from celebrating.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | March 2, 2006 12:07 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 12:07
What is it about Communicators? David Hammond - another IABC stalwart over here in the UK - sold up his consultancy to go and run wine tours in the South of France.
See http://www.burgundydiscovery.com/
What's wrong with these people - don't they know that pleasure is bad for you. Get back to that inbox...
Posted by Marc Wright | March 2, 2006 12:52 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 12:52
Marc:
My GOD, are you serious? Wine tours in the south of France? Thanks for nothing. I had just gotten over my fit of self-loathing that first hit in Orlando when I talked to that super achieving business guy, then got worse talking to Jacob.
Now it's worse then ever. God DAMN the in box.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | March 2, 2006 1:13 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 13:13
Wow . . . I just went to David's web site. It says this:
We are David and Lynne Hammond, an English couple living and working in the beautiful and historic Burgundy countryside. Burgundy Discovery offers you the opportunity to share our deep passion and boundless enthusiasm for this part of France and its lifestyle, food and wine.
We offer personal, small group wine tasting tours, in English, to carefully selected wine cellars and vineyards in Burgundy.
We take you to meet winegrowers, visit the cellars and taste their wines.
Our tours are informal, informative and fun.
I am so in love with David and his wife that my teeth hurt. My eyes hurt. My heart hurts.
Cindy, if you are reading this from Chicago, cram your cost-cutting initiative right up your spreadsheet. We're going to Burgundy in the fall.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | March 2, 2006 1:16 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 13:16
"...Why? Because communicators are interesting. They have secret lives, many of them. Nobody goes to college and says, 'I am going to be an employee communicator!' Little kids are not walking around saying, 'When I grow up I want to edit a company publication!' ..."
Ain't DAT de trute, Mr. C!?!?!
I have a corollary to this as re: corporate communicators and sex appeal.....Background info is that my two best friends are a nurse and a teacher. The teacher friend said she read a survey in which guys named their top sexiest professions for women....teachers & nurses at the top of the list. Quickly followed by my observation that "corporate writer" was probably somewhere on that list, but way way WAY down there---like 356th or something.
So, just as "Nobody goes to college and says, 'I am going to be an employee communicator!'" and " Little kids are not walking around saying, 'When I grow up I want to edit a company publication!'" ... nobody is likely sitting around saying "Corporate communicators REALLY turn my crank, make me smolder with desire. Man, they make me so HOT when they insist on subject/verb agreement when I talk dirty."
And if such a person IS out there, I'm not quite sure I'd WANT to meet the freak. Oh, the conundrum.....
Posted by Laurel | March 2, 2006 1:44 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 13:44
Africa? Guatelmala? Are you kidding me? Am I the *only* materialistic, pop-culture-consuming shallow son of a gun here whose dream is to retire, move into a vegas suite (with running water, thank you), and do nothing all day but watch people go by and plan which restaurant and which Cirque show to go to that night?
Well, I know Im not the ONLY one.... not as long as Steve C is still kicking...
Posted by neruda | March 2, 2006 3:30 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 15:30
I have often thought of retiring to some isolated ranch somewhere where I would raise my own sheep and plants to harvest and dye my own wool to spin into my own yarn to knit, grow my food, raise chickens, etc. etc. etc. ... It sounds lovely.
Naturally, of course, I'll need to install high-speed satellite internet, digital cable, WiFi, a projection television, ... Oh, and a ranch hand or two to help with the necessary mucking about -- most of it's fun, but I do need time to do knitting and genealogy and gaming and such. Not to mention the regular grocery deliveries.
/nodnod Sounds like paradise ... living outside civilization like that ... only running into town a few nights a month ...
But it's too expensive. Do you know what satellite internet *costs* these days? :P
Posted by DeAnna B | March 2, 2006 4:06 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 16:06
Funny, Steve...I have the same feeling of envy when I read about your latest rack of lamb. But we all have chains we'd like to shed, don't we? Or at least most of us do.
An old friend of mine, Rick McCharles, is a leading gymnastics coach and judge. Many years ago he decided to lead the life of an adventurer. His lifestyle is to work like crazy and live like a monk until he has a big enough pile of money to travel. Then he hits the road, seeking out the world's great hikes and writing about them in his online journal, until the money runs out, and the cycle begins again. Very few shackles on this guy. And he's not a bad writer, either. Check out his blog, http://rickmcharles.com.
Posted by Ron Shewchuk | March 2, 2006 10:31 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 22:31
I have a buddy who did the whole world travel thing for years. She got to live out a lot of wild experiences. And then she got to live out dysentery.
She's never been the same, since.
Posted by Meredith | March 3, 2006 8:05 AM
Posted on March 3, 2006 08:05
Just yesterday, my 3-year-old daughter told me that she wants to be a mermaid when she grows up. I like the way she thinks. You can bet I didn't say, "have you considered employee communications?"
Posted by Eileen | March 3, 2006 10:37 AM
Posted on March 3, 2006 10:37
THAT'S IT! I GIVE UP.
Steve - I could keep up my miss-mary-sunshine routine for your last Orlando blog. But now...NOW you're bringing me people who are retiring to travel the world AND people who have retired to the Burgundy country IN THE SAME BLOG, while I sit here in my little office looking into the back of a motorcycle shop?!?!?!?! Thank you for dragging me into the depths of envy, self-loathing and coveting that I despise. Wine country is my dream. Just VISITING ... and these people are running tours? OMG. I now have to call my husband and add a new plan to our vacation fund.
I now officially have to break up with your blog. It's too depressing.
Posted by Rebecca (the token IT person) | March 3, 2006 2:12 PM
Posted on March 3, 2006 14:12
All this "pinin' for the fjords" talk reminds me of my brother-in-law, who fancies himself an outdoorsy type whose only motivation to work is to fund his intention of eventually take the nest egg and move to montana to live off the fat of the land.
But the thing is, he'll NEVER do it. He's incapable of shutting off or slowing down. He lives in the city, for chrissakes - the sure sign of someone who feeds off of a certain amount of kinetic energy. If he REALLY had the personality makeup to downshift and live amongst the granolas, living in the city would be driving him NUTS. But he thrives on it.
If he wanted to drop out, he could have done it years ago. What he likes to do is DREAM about it. And that's just fine. But don't try to convince me that you are really, really gonna do it someday.
Ive been to something like 17 or 18 countries so far. Ate kangaroo in australia. Played golf at the Royal and Ancient St Andrews. Seen the Blarney Stone and the Pope and Rush in their home town of Toronto. These days, I just want to go home to bed (or to vegas, baby).
Posted by -Neruda | March 3, 2006 4:02 PM
Posted on March 3, 2006 16:02
Neruda: You're a buzzkill.
Posted by David Murray | March 3, 2006 4:24 PM
Posted on March 3, 2006 16:24
Rebecca:
If you break up with this blog I WILL SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN I SWEAR TO GOD.
A N: You know, you're right. I always SAY I don't care about money because I don't have any, and I owe everybody, and I don't have an IRA or even a savings account.
But I DO care about money, in that I have to make enough to afford a boat and wonderful wine and meals.
So I care about money, yes. I just don't care about saving it.
Neruda: Does kanga taste like chicken?
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | March 3, 2006 4:39 PM
Posted on March 3, 2006 16:39
David - yeah. But I've been called worse!
Steve - nah. More like venison, but a little "mustier" if that makes any sense.
Posted by Neruda | March 3, 2006 9:02 PM
Posted on March 3, 2006 21:02
Steve, yeah, okay, I'm here. I'm such a big faker. I can't break up with your blog...I'm all talk. Here it is Monday morning, and like a junkie to her dealer, I come a callin...
Posted by Rebecca (the token IT person) | March 6, 2006 9:55 AM
Posted on March 6, 2006 09:55
Rebecca . . . thank you. Thank you so much. I'm wallowing in a sea of self-loathing this morning, because I am a HUGE FAT MAN. Having you break up with the blog would have been enough to send me scurrying to El Jardin's for four margaritas and a plate of steak tacos.
Thank you for coming back.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | March 6, 2006 10:41 AM
Posted on March 6, 2006 10:41
Of course, now you'll have to scurry off to El Jardin's for four margaritas and a plate of steak tacos to CELEBRATE my return, yes? I'd like to think of myself as an enabler....
I am actually feeling quite good this morning. Our good friend Julie is taking a wine class and sharing all of her knowledge with me and we're trying to come up with some good wine-related activities to do this summer/fall. She gave me a new pinot noir to try...must.go.shopping.
My oldest son and I completed what I think to be an illuminating science fair project on collecting light to benefit plants, and I picked most of the Oscar winners dead on. Off to the bagel shop for lunch...buck up little camper. The satellite office calls!
Posted by Rebecca (the token IT person) | March 6, 2006 12:02 PM
Posted on March 6, 2006 12:02
Hello,
I came across your blog as I was trying to refind Doris and Jacob's travel blog on a search engine. I met them in 2006 in Guanajuato Mexico, and have been thinking about them ever since I moved to Spain a few months ago. You wouldn't happen to know what their blog website is?
Thanks a billion,
Kelly M.
Posted by Kelly | April 7, 2008 8:34 AM
Posted on April 7, 2008 08:34