Wander Woman

When I started blogging for the Huffington Post, I felt I had to make sure what I said was profound. Not that I didn’t think through all my posts on Burden of Greatness and Wander Woman. But Huffington is now the biggest site in the blogoshpere. I felt a responsibility to tie my opinions to current events and make important statements about social trends. Hopefully, this slant is reflected in my writing here as well.

Therefore, I put a lot of thought into my Huffington posts. I immediately received a lot of traffic. I was told that for an “unknown” my numbers were respectable. Yet the comments were mixed, from people adamantly agreeing with my views to people telling me I’m out of touch and calling me the f-word: feminist.

Most of the people that sign up for my own blogs are people I know and who like me or people who have heard me speak and who like me. They tend to see the world as I do. If they don’t, they respectfully offer an alternative perspective.

Although some of my friends have followed me to Huffington, many of my readers there are strangers. Some have become my fans. Others obviously see the world differently than I do. Some of these readers don’t like me.

At first this bothered me. My emotional triggers sparked with activity. I had cool, smart things to say. They should be praising my brilliance. I found that I wanted to explain myself and use my wit to blast them into compliance.

Then my logical brain kicked in. First, I rationalized all the remarks with “all press is good press” because I’m trying to increase my visibility. Then my trailing good sense finally had its chance to say, “If you are being true to your mission and message, then bringing out the naysayers is a good thing.” Maybe I’ll convert some of them, probably not most of them. But I have to allow for the full conversation to take place. I believe that’s the point of blogging.

Most of all, I realized I need to be strong in my resolve and my self-esteem to let these comments fly by me. I have been working on not getting hooked emotionally for years when I teach leadership classes to traditional managers in hierarchical companies. Now I have another chance to stand strong with my beliefs in the face of ridicule.

To top it off, some of these comments have opened my eyes to other possibilities. This means I am strong enough to be open to new ideas as well.

Even if you have your own blog, try guest blogging for other sites. Link your blog to Facebook. Share the link to your blog with discussion groups on LinkedIn (one of my blog posts has spawned a two-week heated discussion in a Women’s Leadership LinkedIn group). Get your ideas out into the world in new ways. Then be prepared to accept the flurry of comments with strength and grace.

Please consider sharing your comments and links to your blogs here. Then let’s all comment on each others’ ideas.