Smith College Doesn't Get It

Last summer, I wrote a long letter to the editor and the associate editors of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly urging them to consider blogs as a way of promoting community among their alumnae. I didn't even get the courtesy of an acknowledgment which I thought was quite rude.

They did decide to commission an article about blogs and that's where Trish Grier came in. She was given my name as an alumna who blogs, someone to interview.

i spent some time talking with Trish about blogs in general, my blogs in particular and I urged her to come to Blogher which she did. I even reviewed her part about me for accuracy before she submitted it.

So you can imagine my dismay when what appeared in the magazine was riddled with so many inaccuracies. Somewhere between Trish and the editors, something happened which only demonstrates how little Smith College understands blogs and how poorly they fact-check what they do print.

1. While they list the blogs I write and contribute to, they didn't list the urls except for one. Bad form. Even online, the link is to the wrong url.

2. They say I have community boards, articles and resources. Well I don't. I have a blog. I have a blogroll. I have comments. I link to articles. That's what blogs do.

3. My site(s) are not a comprehensive resource. it's just me. I put together the links over a year ago and they all need some updating.

4. My product is only now in prototype, it was not done in 2003 when I started writing Legacy Matters. I had the concept and a plan that included blogs, but no software was developed.

5. I didn't begin posting regularly on Legacy Matters until 2004 and I started Business of Life a month later. I now have about 5000-8000 readers a day from around the globe.

6. I don't use my corporate site Estate Legacy Vaults to promote my software because it's not done yet. I will though. What I do write about is the legacy market and the potential market for my product among women and boomers.

You would have thought that the person who changed what had been written would have looked at the blogs or called me.

Not their fault, but my book has been retitled to Legacy Matters.
Not their fault either, but I'm changing the name of the software to iSol - Integral System for Organizing Life and Legacy.

Which is why I no longer write about either until book and software coalesce into a permanent form. Things change too quickly.

Our new banner

It began with my search for an image that could represent the whole of a human life which I wrote about in Ship of Pearl, Coils of Time over at Legacy Matters. 

I wanted the image to show different stages of life spiraling into increasing states of consciousness.  I wanted it to represent entelechy  - that vital force that directs an organism toward full realization of its potential, a force that drives us all.  I wanted both the acorn and the oak.

The first image I used was a neutron radiography by W.Fecych which I found at the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory.  The new images come from From Earth to Sky, a gallery featuring the watercolor works by physician artist Zen Chuang.

I was so impressed with his watercolors and his story that I wrote about him at the Business of Life in Fill Our Lives with Beauty.  Zen lives an integral life, combining art and medicine, science and humanism.  He's an example of someone who's found his purpose and meaning in life and is living his legacy.   

Someone once said that the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.  Living a life of meaning and purpose, living a legacy and making your legacy a gift to the world is what Estate Legacy Vaults is all about.  Organizing your vital information and documents in ESOL is the first step, freeing you to focus on your purpose in life and the legacy you will leave.

I am so pleased Zen Chuang has kindly given us permission to use his images in our banner. 

Naked Conversation and Interview

Transparency is one of the things I love most about blogs.  You learn about the writer, what he or she cares about, whether they correct mistakes, how they respond to feedback, those little things which are everything when it comes to building trust.

Shel Israel  is one of those people I've come to trust without ever having met him, simply through his blog and emails.  Since I'm going to the  the Blogher conference at the end of July, I'm looking forward to meeting both him and Scobel, who will be attending and easy to spot in a room full of  women.

I first came across the Red Couch, now named Naked Conversations, when he and Robert Scobel posted chapter one, Blog or Die, in their new book, now title Naked Conversations, how blogs are changing the way businesses talk to customers.    The book itself is being posted chapter by chapter online for feedback in a remarkably transparent, real time experiment in publishing with each chapter only whetting my appetite for the whole thing.  Feedback, conversation and promotion all at the same time.  There you go, another reason for blogs.

I was pleased, honored and delighted to take part in an interview for the book when Shel contacted me.  I'm even more honored  and pleased that he's posted the interview even though it's not going to fit in the planned structure of the book. 

You will learn a lot more about me and what I'm doing and what I think about blogs, if you read the  Interview: Jill Fallon.    If you get the sense that I'd rather talk about other people than myself, you're right, so that's why you should read the interview.

cross-posted at Legacy Matters, Business of Life and Estate Legacy Vaults.

About Jill Fallon

Jill Fallon is a lawyer, entrepreneur, widow and passionate communicator. 

A graduate of Smith College and Boston University School of Law, a member of the Massachusetts, New York and U.S. Supreme Court bars, Jill has worked in politics, government, law and business. 

She has worked on presidential campaigns, as a media consultant to law firms, insurance companies, senatorial and gubernatorial candidates and health care providers, settled law suits to add over 400 species to the endangered species list, established a task force to oversee Indian gaming and a non-profit to promote aquaculture, negotiated with salmon farmers, the Department of Justice and Indian tribes.

Early on, she created and produced Boston WalkAbouts and later Mass Fax, both innovative communication tools that won the attention of the national press.  Her career thread is one of persuasive communication that brings demonstrable results. 

For the past few years, she's been an enthusiastic supporter of blogs, for families, businesses, non-profits and universities.  She's also a passionate advocate for the people in their middle ages who are doing the work of business and caring for children and their elderly relatives.  The needs of boomers, especially women, are neglected by the marketplace and some of their needs in taking care of the important business of their lives and their legacies are unmet.    On the edge of the coming age wave, Jill founded Estate Legacy Vaults to bring attention to these great needs and solutions to market.

Team

I've had a wonderful group of people who have made up the Estate Legacy Vaults extended team over the past few years.  They are smart, they know their stuff, they believe in EstateVaults™ and our purpose -helping people take care of the business of their lives and enlarging their legacies for those that follow.

Karen Roche acting CEO brings considerable executive experience in managing software and professional services, especially financial services while establishing partner alliances and building revenue.  She tells the truth even when it hurts and couldn't be nicer about it.

Julie LeMoine has been an Internet security architect for over 20 years and has worked with military and intelligence agencies and Fortune 500 companies.  Today, she's CEO of UCHow selling the secure collaborative technology she's developed and providing high level umbrella security consulting.  Her product - secure digital environment (SDE server) has been called 'best of breed' by Forrester Research and she's one of the few female tech stars of New England.

Susan Foley seems shy but she's a star at business development.  Her prior experience at Standard & Poors, Digital Equipment, DMR, HP and ADL make her a veteran at the intersection of finance, health care and technology. 

John Fanciullo's 25 years of experience in financial services, as a bank president, consultant to insurance companies and accounting firms makes him invaluable in understanding how bankers think and don't.

Jim Jordan is a rising star, co-founder of Venture Advisors, bringing part-time first class accounting, legal and sales development expertise to smaller businesses.

Dick Buckingham is giving to promising young companies the benefit of his operating and financial management experience in technology, education, services and consumer products.

Linda Moulton is an international banker, now at BankNorth,  is always working on some new great deal and is one of the ultimate connectors.

Anil Khosla is a wonderfully kind lawyer (this is not an oxymoron) at Eckert, Seamans, Cherin and Mellott with 22 years of legal experience representing emerging growth companies and venture capital firms

Buz Allen is corporate and personal financial strategist in San Francisco with clients around the world who once built, owned and ran a radio station which was a natural given his wonderful voice.

Phil Doherty,  a database expert with a scottish brogue and a cheery smile.

Beverly McKie is one you turn to when you want to make sure something gets done right and on time.

Others who've contributed are

Carol Mofford helped me in the very early days at Initial Stage Consulting, but has relocated to Boca Raton, Florida

Deloitte and Touche is extremely supportive of early stage companies and has generously allowed us to use their conference rooms from time to time.

Holland and Knight, our corporate counsel has been extremely responsive and patient and for that special thanks to Richard Yanofsky

Brian Williams lives in Virginia and is a wiz who continues to help me with Moveable Type

Codi Traver, a technology wiz who started CIO Global to provide part-time CIO services has since relocated to Washington state.

Paul Lazay, a lovely man whose good advice in the early days is still appreciated.

Ann Christensen whom everyone knew at Fleet and Baybanks because of her skill and success in bringing in revenues through call centers has been most supportive, even though she's now in Phoenix with Charles Schwab.

The emerging high tech start-up group of The Commonwealth Institute has given me great support and better advice, especially Linda Kanner  and June Rokoff

No one knows more about marketing to financial planners than Lyn Zurbig and she's been very generous with her expertise and her insights.

Ann Kaplan, a long time college friend understands the importance of financial education, especially for women, and her 25 years at Goldman Sachs make her insights especially valuable.

Derek Sanderson, a hockey legend whose bad experiences make his financial advice really mean something to his client athletes, believes that EstateVaults™will make his services even more valuable.

Sydney Rice knows more than anyone how people can navigate both corporate and personal transitions if they pay attention to their top ten and how Prime Time opens up a whole new stage in people's lives.

Linda Crawford knows about good energy, how to get it unstuck, how to give it and she does.

Ellen Bender's contagious enthusiasm and willingness to help is more impressive than her remarkable experience at the intersection of health care policy and the law.

Pat Lentell's desire to really know his clients and their lives makes him a financial planner and advisor you can only wish you had.  From the earliest days, he's been one of the biggest supporters because he understands what EstateVaults™ could mean for his clients' lives.

There are many others who have encouraged me along the way, too many to mention, except by group, the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Technology Capital Network, my Prime Time group and even my Smith College book club.
Did I mention my Mom?  A bedrock of quiet support.