Polly Pearson's Blog

Timeline: Workplace 2.0

How do you get started with a 21st Century approach to workplace culture and behavior norms?

I was part of an industry advisory type forum recently where I actually got a bit frustrated with how professional communicators were getting so caught up ("constipated" might be a better word) in the minutia, that I thought I would die.

It took the frustrated plea from a person representing a company that was likely 80 years old or more, and headquartered in the Midwest, for me to begin to see their key point of frustration.

The breakthrough concept:

"Every company (management team) is at a different point in the spectrum of readiness."

For high-tech companies, it could likely come faster and easier. For others, not necessarily the case.

It was suggested that a timeline, noting different stages of deployment, be put together.  Such a timeline may help people show their management teams, or visualize for themselves, where they could start the journey, and how systems could move forward, at whatever timeframe works best for that particular company or industry.

With that motivation in mind, I put together a slide to represent EMC's journey, from my vantage point, toward a state that has been referred to with terms such as:

• Web 2.0, or Social Media-Savvy
• Workplace 2.0
• Open Culture
• The "Connection and Collaboration" culture
• The 21st Century model for employee engagement (or organizational communication)
• Employment Branding, leveraging open/transparent behavior norms

As I started to write this post, I quickly realized that this will have to roll out in a series, as the discussion for each year, while only a snapshot, is long enough to be considered a full post.

Here is a look at just Year One of our journey -- that is, the first year in which heat got into the organizational system on the subject.  Don't be fooled for how it began. Key people were at the table and watch out -- YEAR TWO was a HUGE year of activity!

 
 

Disclaimer: The timeline reflects just my poor-memory look at the some of the steps we took from a vantage point of the Employment Brand Office. This slide is one we could and likely should build-out to show the the richness of approach, reflecting the priorities from many organizations at EMC.  If you're reading, Len Devanna, Chuck Hollis, Mark Twomey -- have at ... add to its bounty and truthful depiction!

Talk Track:

2006

"SOMETHING IN THE AIR:"

There was a now-famous Board of Directors meeting (which I did not attend) around November of 2006. At the meeting, there was a powerful sentiment that "there was something in the air" with social media for business.  Marketing was tasked with "looking into it."  Jack Egan, a member of our Board and an exec with deep roots in the IT industry and with VCs, was a key player that day.  Whether he knows it or not, he helped provide a type of encouragement, and likely air-cover for current and future storage industry bloggers.  How? With this simple sentence, "Chuck, I like your blog."

EMC had about three "mainstream bloggers" at that point -- bloggers like Mark Twomey (aka Storagezilla),field tech out of Ireland; Mark Lewis (Mark's blog) an EVP (now divisional President); and Chuck Hollis (Chuck's blog), Marketing VP & CTO, come to mind.

Where was I?

During 2006, I had just moved into HR and was at the starting gate of understanding what comprised a desirable place to work, and what EMC needed to work on.

By way of workplace collaboration tools, we had eRoom, and e-Mail. We had in-person meetings, web conferencing numbers, and Webcast ability -- and just as often, we forgot to Webcast our internal meetings, so that our colleagues on the West Coast or in Europe could see the presentation as well. Our tools and face-to-face behavior were an increasing source of frustration for many of our workers. (Examples: College students joining EMC expected more than we had to offer in terms of collaboration tools, web access, and telecommuting. Acquired companies and operations outside of Massachusetts had to remind us all too often to consider time zones, and the virtual sharing of content to be discussed.)

I had been reading the early blogs, and advocating for more social tools (ala IM) inside of EMC. I was love/hating the prodding we were getting from our recently acquired West Coast companies/divisions. It seemed, to me, that they were ahead of the game with regard to workplace collaboration. I was concerned EMC wasn't moving fast enough.

NEXT POST:  YEAR TWO

-------------------- Talk Back ----------------------

What do you recall about your workplace norms in 2006?  Where were you/your company?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson

Workplace Trend Spotting: "15 to 30 Minutes is the New Hour"

If you booked an internal meeting with someone a couple years ago, how long was it, usually?

An hour, right?

How long do you book meetings now? (in 2010)

I asked this question to an administrative assistant a few minutes ago.  Without hesitation she said,

"15 to 30 minutes. It is the new hour." 

Then she said, "Oh, and I schedule lots of 5-10's too.  They love those best!" She continued, "The new model seems to be, come by when something is on your mind. Life is moving too fast for long meetings. And if something is on your mind, you sure as heck better come by!"

-------------- Talk Back -----------------

I couldn't agree more, you? 

Are you still booking 1-hour internal meetings?  Especially for one-on-ones  -- is an hour really necessary?

I suspect that looking for 1-hour time slots for stuff that could take place in 30 minutes or less could be a new "dinosaur indicator."

Thoughts?

What about sales calls?  Any changes to those (yet)?

And to add another potential Trend Spot ... last night I said the word "Admin" in casual conversation with my teenage daughter.  She said, "Admin. What is that?"

On the note of my daughter's observation, Futurist Jim Carroll's prediction comes to mind. When I saw him speak this week, he said, "65% of preschoolers will work in a job that does not yet exist."

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson on Twitter

Your People (employees) As Your Best Brand in Action

Today I had a pop-in visit to my office by Steve Todd (photo below).  We caught up on a few subjects and, like most of my visits with Steve, our time ended with new ideas and execution plans.

Some time after he left, I glanced at the Tweet stream about EMC today, and saw a post he wrote for Vault.com being promoted like crazy (by entities not affiliated with EMC.)

I wondered what it was all about and found this (excerpts pasted below the photo). It is filled with words people like me love to read.  And yet, funny enough, Steve never mentioned it to me. 

THAT, is how it works in the ideal world!!  "That," of course, being the notion that it becomes second nature for your people to comment favorably on their jobs and their workplace culture.  ... Nothing to write home about. Nothing special enough to call attention to the "Polly" at your company.  Just another day ... 

[Photo: EMC Distinguished Engineer Steve Todd. EMC's CTO Barry Burke in background.]

The following is an excerpt from a blog post by Steve Todd on career site Vault.com:

How to Find Engaging High-Tech Careers

One of the long-held stereotypes of high-tech engineering jobs is that of a cave troll typing away in a basement cubicle, sacrificing personal time in order to hit impossible deadlines. This image extends to the large corporations that value productivity, obedience, diligence, and intellect above all else.

Contrast this stereotype with the 21st century view of how to stimulate innovation in large corporations: passion, creativity, and initiative. According to Gary Hamel, these traits do not necessarily replace obedience, diligence, and intellect; they complement them.

When interviewing for a high-tech position, you would do well to uncover how far your potential employer has come in the practice of stimulating employee initiative. ... Corporations need productive employees to generate revenue. They also need creative employees that take the initiative to guide their teams into the future while simultaneously delivering upon their commitments. There are two lines of questioning that will help you assess the culture of your potential new team.  [Go to Vault to read these!]

... I work for a large, multi-national corporation (EMC) that is currently in the midst of a shift to a 21st century management style. My company sponsors global idea contests for all employees. I am also starting to see contests held within individual business units. Coding challenges are a part of the corporate experience. Knowledge transfer across geographies is emphasized. Employees and local universities are also encouraged to lecture on their area of expertise.

Beware the answer that rings of “we work hard, all day, all the time”, and/or “we don’t have time for that stuff”. If you have your mind set on the practice of innovation, this particular company may not be the one for you.

However, if you find ready answers to your questions, you have likely found a corporation that “gets it”. There’s a good chance that accepting a job offer will result in the opportunity to combine productivity and initiative.

-Posted by Steve Todd, EMC Distinguished Engineer. Read more of Steve’s posts on careers in the tech field on his Innovate with Influence blog on Vault.

----------------- Talk Back -----------------

I've blogged before that I think "employees are the new brand spend."  All we have to do is get out of the way a little. Stop attempting to control it all, approve it all, and let them speak.  They might just do a really great job.

(Your people are, after all, well educated adults who really don't want to be fired, or to say something you would absolutely hate. )

Yes?  No? Thoughts?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson on Twitter.

A Business Vitality Cocktail for the 21st Century: Brand, Employees, Social Media, People Management

Sometimes it takes a 3rd party to prompt you to state your thesis of sorts.

This recently happened for me, with the results published today in an article titled, "People are the Best Brand."

HR Summit, a member organization for HR pros, put out the article. It does a great job:

• providing a view on this new-fangled job I hold, "Employment Branding and Strategy Engagement,"
• outlining my personal views that put branding, employees, people management norms, and social media into a blender for a 21st Century business vitality cocktail*, and
• the approach EMC is taking with regard to all of the above (kudos to EMC EVP of HR, Jack Mollen, for having the courage to take this approach -- and to EMC's Marketing, Products & Quality organization, under the leadership of EVP Frank Hauck, to see that this need does not fall on HR's shoulders alone).

A peek at the article follows.

*Note, the cocktail term will not be found in the article.  That analogy just came to me now -- I rather like it! A health drink with some Zing for today's businesses!

----------- Talk Back --------------

What do you think about this model or approach?  Did you see Jack's line about "leveraging the global genius?"  I love that one.

Or does it all sound a bit too liberal nicey-nice?  That potential argument has been nagging me a bit.

As luck would have it, a colleague and thought leader in this "Business 2.0" space, popped casually into my office the other day to discuss a meeting he and I are going to have with an EMC customer on the 2.0 subject. He threw out this line, in a matter of fact way:

"This is all about the right model at the right time. 2.0 is great in most cases -- such as for 'innovation,' and there are also instances where it won't be the right model, such as legal compliance.

Right-oooohhhhh.

The norms of the 20th Century were likely 75% plus  "tell the employees what to do, police them, and share business information on a 'need to know' basis."  Never 100%. The same "not necessarily 100%" formula could be used in this 21st Century, collaboration and connection model.   Yes?

Where do you, or your company stand?  Read the article. Can you see the vision?

--Polly Pearson

http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

What do you think about Glassdoor.com?

Yesterday Glassdoor.com sent me a notice saying they are now showing relevant company awards for the companies on this "best place to work" site where employees share opinions about company strengths and weaknesses, and rate the CEO (among other things).

When I clicked through, I thought Glassdoor picked a couple cool awards to call out for EMC -- World Most Admired, by FORTUNE, among them.

I then noticed the latest CEO rating for our Joe Tucci -- 81%.  Pretty cool.  When typing in a few other companies to scan CEO ratings (such as IBM, and HP), I felt pretty psyched that our CEO was blowing their CEOs out of the water.  (Wink and a smile. Know the company I represent is competitive about just about everything.)

--------------- Talk Back --------------

What are your latest thoughts about Glassdoor.com?  

I've written about them a couple times on this blog.  The first time, I blasted them a bit for promoting ratings when the site was just few weeks old, and most companies only had a handful of ratings.  That said, I was favorable to the concept at scale.  I think it is a rather natural evolution of transparency.

I haven't thought that much about it since -- other than, of course, enjoying seeing EMC moving the up the Top 50 Best-Places-to-Work rankings, as well as feeling proud when they release the top CEO ratings.

What has been your experience?  Is it at the scale yet where the ratings have any merit?  

Or, do you think it is a profit-seeking, scam-type venture which adds little to no value and penalizes people and companies for no good reason?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Humor: Employee Engagement Gone Bad

Saw these photos today via @DailyCareerTips's link to this blog  post on JobMob, and thought I'd share the laugh:

 

Posted with full respect to the value of McDonald's employees --  the details posted on the sign is the indication of engagement gone bad.

The photo below has nothing to do with Employee Engagement gone bad, but was certainly funny in a Dilbert sort of way.  At EMC, we continue to pray to the cost leverage God, and are making our facilities more  efficient at all times.  On that note, I sent this photo to our CFO with a suggestion that he is perhaps, still a bit too easy on us:

This office must stink.

------------------ Talk Back -----------------

Any employee-engagement-gone-bad stories or photos to share?  

- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson

The Future and Today ... Where Excitement, Value Creation and Cool Lives?

This video from TED is a cool look at the future of our consumer lives and how we will interact with information.

Thank you to EMC Consulting's Matt Bagwell for bringing it to my attention (via his blog).

Viewing this was timely as I've recently engaged Mark, a college hire circulating through my group, to work with us on putting together a storyline geared to touch people's imaginations and make an emotional connection between the general public (a not-necessarily-technical audience), and EMC's opportunity.

Some elements of the storyline:

Add this digital calculator (shows us how many digital bits are growing in the world by the nanosecond today),

with

how we will depend on information tomorrow (see the above TED video as a starter); you might also want to read the recent special report from The Economist on this subject, or our ON Magazine on the web of the future

with

the need for 21st century information infrastructure -- like the railroads and even  seemingly simple elements at the turn of the 20th century,

and the story unfolds where we can all see ...

the potential for awesome value creation, contribution to every day lives, and the enabling and sustainable foundation of the most terrific breakthroughs of the day.

That is where the opportunity for being part of EMC -- the company Where Information Lives -- sits today, as I see it. 

--------------------- Talk Back ------------------

How would you paint the story of EMC's opportunity? A story that your neighbor could see and feel as well?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson on Twitter

New, New, and New! A Day at EMC.

A few highlights crossing my life and in-box at EMC:

• New 52-week stock price high.  Let's start with the money.  Ahhh. Up feels a lot better than down, now doesn't it?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• New  Vision.  While EMC's vision was announced on Friday, all the write ups are flooding the "in-box" today.  To know more, here's the must read blog, Go Big or Go Home, by EMC's Chuck Hollis. It is bold, and buzz-worthy. All in, pretty cool, too. Here's a recent view of the tweet stream -- comments or RTs coming in about every 30 seconds today:

• New CMO. Welcome Jeremy Burton! Jeremy is our first major-wager-C-level marketing hire ... ever.  Jeremy has has an EMC-like execution track record, a business-centric demeanor, an innovation and thought-leadership bent -- and the ability to build a brand such that it major-ly irks larger competitors.  (Trust me on that. First-hand experience.) I love that we did NOT hire a fancy-pants, color-centric marketing person who thinks that branding equals advertising. I love that we did NOT hire a marketing person who is on the early stage ramp of understanding web 2.0.  I love that we DID hire a marketing person whose most recent job was a CEO -- only a marketing person with a CEO-headset would thrive, I think, in our C-suite.

[PHOTO: Jeremy Burton, EMC's new CMO]

So What?

Here's my so what:

1. Such stock trends -- break-throughs on the upside -- indicate the market is in favor of your company's future. They understand where you are going, they believe you have a competitive lead that is likely to grow, and that you have an earnings profile likely to expand. Oh, and they believe they can make money by investing in your stock. All good!
2. When the market writes about your vision, this is good. When your vision is so bold they use the word "crazy" in the headline, this is even better.  It begets more buzz. And, let's face it, the tech market hasn't had enough "crazy" in the headlines for the past 10 years.  Things are getting exciting in tech!
3. Net new investments in marketing, in high-tech, in this market -- whoa, that's "let's secure this win!" confidence. Personally, I love that we have another in the C-suite who seems to share the beliefs of many of the 2.0 trailblazers at EMC.  Beliefs like:
   
   • leveraging -- not fearing -- 21st century business management models, inclusive of use of social media
   • leveraging -- not fearing or minimizing -- the strengths and passions of your people ("employees") as the genuine brand.
   
   

------------------ Talk Back ----------------------------

Have you ever considered joining the EMC community?

If so, there are many ways to be part of this story.  Some ideas: 

• Consider applying, or telling someone you care about, to apply.  (http://www.emc.com/careers.)
• Consider connecting with any of the many EMCers on Twitter, Facebook, and our Customer/Partner Network, ECN.
• Consider using our products (Mozy and VMware for the home rock! As do, of course, our big business powerhouse products.).
• Look to see if EMC is already in your investment portfolio. That could give you a reason to cheer (and to join us) as we execute our crazy good vision!

If not, please tell me that too.  

-- Polly Pearson
@PollyPearson on Twitter

 

Crazy or Cool -- You tell me. Bold posts.

Some fabulous finds for "brainfood" in the blog-world tonight on subjects circling  leadership, organizational dynamics, the future of education, truly living the brand, the knowledge era, and stuff like that.

This is more than notable, from Jeff Jarvis -- notes from his TEDxNYed presentation, titled, "This is bullshit."

Loved this one by David Meerman Scott: "Social Business Beyond Just the Marketing Department."  

(Be sure to click through to the Peter Kane post that David calls out.)

----------- Talk Back --------------

Crazy or Cool?

- Pollypearson

@pollypearson on Twitter.

Career Advice and the Job Interview: The Blue, Yellow and Red of Job Search Today.

 

[Words from Polly Pearson; Color block image from About.com]

Could these potentially be the new basics -- the Blue, Yellow, and Red -- of job search today?

Dice.com today ran an interview with me covering just three questions.  As I considered them in their most boiled down fashion, the image of three primary essentials -- Be Found; Be Relevant; Be Heard -- came to mind.

Here are the questions asked:

1. How can IT people build their brand?  ( 0:51)  BE FOUND.
2. What can set you apart during a job interview? (1:16)  BE RELEVANT.
3. How important are soft skills? (1:21) BE HEARD.

Thank you Sonia Lelii

for coming out to EMC to do the interview.

The tips  I mention in this interview, and more, can be found in the free eBook we published recently, containing real-time views from tech recruiters themselves. 

---------------- Talk Back ----------------

What are other key tips from your vantage point for the 21st Century seeker of productive connections (sales, marketing, job search, etc)?

-- Polly Pearson

http://www.pollypearson.com

@PollyPearson

Our next eBook, geared to helping the careers of professionals in IT

So last quarter we published a free eBook geared to help people find jobs in this market. We called it, "100 Job Search Tips from FORTUNE 500 Recruiters."   It continues to be forwarded around and well received.

What's next?

Serving the "other half" of the employment coin, those who have a job and who wish to further their careers.  We first envisioned,

"100 Career Tips from FORTUNE 500 Executives."

We still may do that -- but not this time around.  On discussing the idea with my colleague Chuck Hollis, Chuck made this suggestion, "Why not make it even more relevant to our key audience, and feature our customers in the book, thereby honoring them?"

Love it!

After talking it around a bit more, we're now looking to feature people who are working in some of the hottest areas of IT.  The notion being that the world of IT is forever changing. Let's share some relevant and current career stories and tips -- so that others in IT can consider these insights in relation to their own career paths.

Once again, "Why do this?"

The most common desire among workers is to make progress on the job, and further their careers (so says research I've seen).  I've noticed that any forum I attend which offers a session on career tips or mentoring is always packed. There is pull for this subject. 

Let's give these tips to people dear to us, professionally -- our customers, employees, and prospective customers and employees. For those on the IT career management journey currently, it should be a nice find.  For those who aren't interested in thinking about career growth or development today, it might be a nice feeling just knowing it is there and that EMC offered it.

------------------- Talk Back ---------------

If you're in tech, would you like to read one page profiles with tips and insights from IT pros who are working in hot areas such as Virtualization, Security, Cloud Computing, and HealthCare IT?  Would you like to read their views on key tips for success and career mis-steps they've observed?

What would you like to know?

We're currently thinking of these 10 questions:

(As a potential reader of this book -- do these hit the mark for you?)

1 Share 3-5 key positions you've held in IT:

2: How old were you when you decided you wanted to get into IT? What inspired this decision?

3. How did you break into your current specialty area?:

4. What do you see as exciting opportunities in IT today?:

5. What are your top 3 tips for how to be successful and/or remain valuable in your profession?:

6. What advice do you have for someone who feels stuck in their current IT position?

7. What resources (training, publications, networks, etc) do you find essential to stay current in your field?:

8: What is a common career mis-step you've seen others make in your profession?:

9: How would you define a great day on the job?:

10: What is your favorite business communication tool today (phone, email, social networks, IM, other)?

If anyone would like to test drive these questions, please do so! Share your answers or suggestions of any kind in the comments section, or email me at pearson_polly@emc.com.

THANKS!

-- http://www.pollypearson.com

Reality TV communication for Employee Engagement and Connection to Strategy

Today we issued the third "episode" of Reality TV-Meets Employee Communication -- Web 2.0 style.

[A screen shot, this of Frank Hauck, from one of the clips.]

Called "Leadership in Action," the intent is to better connect the people of the company with the culture, the strategy, the values, and the leadership of the company.  And by leadership, I mean "leadership at every level."  While most of the clips are of the C-suite type leaders, not all are.

The content is presented as Infotainment that can fit "inside a cup of Joe."  Meaning, the video clips can be consumed quickly and are short. All the content is housed on our internal "collaboration network" (aka social network), where employees can comment on the videos, ask questions and even rate the content with Amazon-type stars.  Every clip is indexed, tagged, and searchable.

[Pictured: Frank Hauck, EVP, and Joe Tucci, EMC CEO share a laugh while I interview them for this "Engaging," web 2.0, employee communication.]

In this edition, we included a casual, high energy exchange between CEO Joe Tucci and EVP Frank Hauck on the day we announced earnings. It was the end of the day, and they were casually leaning against the stage where our record results were just reviewed.  (You read that right. Record results. Recession year; Record results.) They talked about the vibe at the company, the position we were in for the year ahead, and what got them excited as we looked forward.  Best of all, I think, is what wasn't said in words. It is the body language, the laughter, and the clear comfort they had with each other.  In other words, the stuff people generally don't get to see when left to see just the business-as-boring type of corporate communication.

[Pictured: Famed blogger and EMC VP, "VirtualGeek" cracks a joke on stage in the reel made for our Board.]

Also in this edition was a 'fly on the wall' view of what happened at an 'exclusive' series of strategy meetings to frame the year 2010 execution plan. This video was actually created, on request of our Vice Chairman and head of global sales, for our Board of Directors.  The Vice Chair gave us the okay to share it with all 43,000 employees.  (What? You let your employees see content that was exclusively created for your Board of Directors?  Content from a company strategy meeting no less?  Yup.)  What did it contain, exactly?  A highlight reel of sorts from presentations and panels, and even cocktail parties  -- inclusive of friendly peer-to-peer joking. Only by including the Full Monte, could everyone be able to feel (and reinforce for those who were there) the energy and optimism that oozed from these sessions.

[Pictured: EMC Vice Chair/Head of Global Sales Bill Teuber discussing international go-to-market strategy with AsiaPac President, Steve Leonard.]

What else? Really cool clips of our "theater leads"  the people who own the revenue and profit plans for each major geography.  The Sales organization made changes this year to its market coverage methodology and it is important for everyone to know the what and whys of these changes, at least at the highest levels.  Each leader provided facts, figures, context and stories -- of the type you might get if you had a cup of coffee with them, and they knew you well. They were straight-talking business, yet of a personal and trusted nature.  Like-able candor was a take away for me.

Here is a screen shot of how the list of offerings looks, about 6 hours after being announced to the workforce:

You can see that one of the videos has over 400 views already -- and that the full "video collection" has almost 4,000 views.

Our model isn't perfect yet -- and the video clips never will be perfect.  But they are real, and that is our commitment to the people of EMC.  Nothing fake. Just real, the way you want want to get the information if you worked here.  That's the goal anyway.

Here's a link to a prior blog I wrote about our second edition, with more photos and color.

Here is a sample of one of the clips from our second edition, this of our newest President, Pat Gelsinger, discussing his first 45 days on the job. My peer, Chuck Hollis, called it out on one of his blogs as a way to introduce Pat, now the guy behind EMC products, to the tech readers who frequent Chuck's writings.

------------------ Talk Back ----------------------------

What do you think?

Thoughts to improve the model?

One idea came from an employee who viewed the videos. He pointed out that he was deaf, so he only "got" about half the content, and wondered if we could provide transcripts.  Humm. I never would have thought of that.  You?  (consider it done!)

http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Have you Ever Gone Night Hiking?

My family had a sleep over party at my best friend from childhood's house (Melissa Ruttle) over the weekend out in Princeton, Mass* (home of Wachusett Mountain.)

Before dinner, we toasted marshmallows in the cool 3-sided stone building they have on their property, complete with a big stone fireplace. While we were still filled with energy from a bright, sunny and snow-filled day, our host, Brian Ruttle, said something about possibly doing a night hike after dinner.

Fast forward ... amazing lasagna dinner, red wine, peanut-butter ice-cream cake (!), board games by the wood stove ... and someone (wait, was that me?!) said,

"What was that about a night hike?"

My 14 year-old Sophie perked right up, eyes bright, "Yea! Let's do it!!"

So at 10pm, we were all jumping into our snow clothes.  Sixth-grader Jake Ruttle said, "Better put your snow pants on. The snow will be deep out there." 

We all piled out of the house ... 4 year-old Oscar, included.

The Ruttles live on the edge of a mountain. It was a full moon. The white snow was glowing, even in the deep, deep woods.

In about 100 yards, the snow was over my kneecaps (and nearly over Oscar's head). We we took turns carrying him on our shoulders over the truly deep parts.

There were no trails. Only trust in our host -- hoping he knew where he was going!

At the top of one ledge, there was a very cool building made of stone and wood, with a porch. Inside, a grand fireplace and built-in benches along the other 3 walls. "They call this the music house," said Brian.  They used to keep a piano in here and the music would wash down the mountain to the Pond House below (yet another outbuilding, in front of a mountain-water pond.)

Gorgeous! Envisioning the perfect sunset spot, I said, "I want to spend my birthday here!"

From there, the Ruttle kids begged to go to the "stone table." 

"Don't know if I can find it," said Brian, as he headed Northeast, deeper into the woods.  I looked down at young Oscar and said, "Sure you want to head deeper into the woods?"  There was no going back! The troops were in motion.

Every tree looked the same. Everywhere there was DEEP snow.  A turn here, a turn there, a few more hikes up -- and they found it! The snow was suddenly a foot or so higher, popping up from the elevation made from a table the size of a VW bug. The table was a round sheet of stone, and was surrounded, conveniently by nicely crafted snow benches (or so it seemed. They were all crusted with a good foot or more of snow.) 

[Shown: Brian Ruttle, the Pearson kids (Oscar, Margo & Sophie), and Ruttle boys Jake and Wyatt standing on the "stone table".]

-- I had visions of people crafting these tables back around Roosevelt's day, when people had summer "cottages" (think Newport, RI "cottages") in these mountains for the quality air. --

After the stone table, we headed out to an old logging road for a bit. At some point, Brain pointed to a 4' snow bank and said, "behind there somewhere is the trail to the pond house."

Sophie took a turn carrying Oscar. Then Brian. We tromped through the mountain river to the pond, where we saw an old stone building with a Spanish-tile roof.

Then, the return home: back over the river, 7 year-old Margo now was suddenly sitting under the giant snow-covered trees -- saying "can't we take a rest?"  I looked at my watch. It was 11:06 pm.

We arrived back at the house around midnight. Oscar's cheeks were flushed. Everyone was buzzing with delight. 

"Gee, will we be able to get to sleep," I asked, (secretly envisioning a nightcap)?  "Yep," was the answer.

Fifteen minutes later the house was silent and the bright moon beamed into the guest room keeping me wide awake, for at least another minute or two!

* From the Town of Princeton's website: "In 1842, Thoreau and a friend walked from Concord to Mt. Wachusett, where he was stirred to write of the mountain, " who like me/standest alone without society."

--------------------------- Talk Back ----------------------

Have you ever gone on a night hike?

I imagine snow shoes would have made it easier on little legs. But it was GRAND fun, just the same.

There are lots of things I could be, should be blogging about today, but I'm still a bit tired you see. I was wondering why, when I recalled our little adventure and thought to share it here.