A.I.-generated image by DALL-E of a mentor mentee discussion

Last fall I took a non-credit certificate course through the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay on mentoring. Why did I do this? Long time readers of this humble blog may vaguely recall me writing in the past pessimistically on the lack of mentorship in the technology field and the fact that I did not have a formal mentor at that time.

Where I’ve had many informal mentors that have been valuable to me throughout my life and career, I have never been in a formal mentor/mentee relationship. That being said, I’ve been told by many people specifically that I have been a mentor to them. In those cases it was not in a formal mentor/mentee relationship nor was I necessarily seeking that with them. Through all of this I knew there was more to mentoring and this was the catalyst for me taking the certificate course.

My greatest takeaway from the course was learning the optimal structure of a mentoring relationship between the mentor and the mentee. From the goals of both the mentee and mentor (yes, the mentor should gain much from this too!) to a formal mentoring agreement to the cadence and format of meetings the course gave me a true 360 degree understanding of mentoring. The course was organized into 3, 2-hour virtual sessions, with some attendees being local to northeast Wisconsin and others from around the US. There were guest speakers in each session sharing their experience on topics from process to ethics. Each session had pre-work including articles and exercises which lent to a great overall learning experience. I left with the tools to properly initiate and sustain a mentoring relationship. There was no exam at the end, however upon completion I was awarded a certificate suitable for framing and the following verifiable digital badge – click the badge below to see for yourself.

Now What?

So what do I do this? Of course I’ve added the digital badge to my LinkedIn profile, the About page here at The Hot Iron and my resume. My employer has no formal mentorship program so it is nothing I will be officially applying there but will continue to informally mentor staff and colleagues. There are mentor programs out there – for example, UW-Green Bay has one and is seeking volunteer mentors – however with my current schedule I decided not to pursue it, yet. Where I haven’t looked into mentoring programs a little closer to home (I prefer to meet people face-to-face whenever possible) that will be the path I will likely take to get into formal mentoring.

I decided to pay for this course myself, and at around $300 it was good value for the return. More information on the course is available on the UW-Green Bay Web site. As of writing this there is not a date listed for a future offering, however I’d recommend contacting them as I did to be in the know when another is scheduled. And feel free to tell them that I sent you.

Deconstructing Mentoring Education

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. As I felt this way about mentoring, I took this certificate course to get the tools and right mindset should the opportunity present itself, either as a mentor or a mentee. It was an enjoyable experience that has inspired me, at the right time, to pursue an activity I feel I will be good at.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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The expression “I’ve got your back” is one of great support. I first learned this early in my work career when I worked in consulting. It was never a good practice make a colleague look bad in front of the client, and fellow consultants would have someone’s back – they would try to smooth the situation, and deal with it later on out of the client’s purview. Over the years it evolved to where co-workers or managers would purely support you. I have always been aware of who these people have been and have greatly appreciated their support.

This expression also came up several years ago when I was active in improv comedy. The idea behind improv is not to make jokes rather to “build and heighten” a story, to “yes, and” your fellow performers on stage and support them. It is through this that the funny comes out and the humor comes to life. Just before I and my fellow improvisors – whether the entire troupe we called Blue Shampoo or just a few of us – hit the stage, we would always give each other a hug and tell each other, “I’ve got your back.” It was a reminder to them, and most importantly to ourselves, of what we were about to do.

One shining moment when someone truly had my back was a short scene between myself and another improvisor I remember to this day like it was yesterday. As many say improv is “throw-away” comedy, for the reasons I will retell here this moment was so memorable.

See What I Saw

One night myself and a couple of members of my troupe, Linsey and Christopher, decided to sign-up for “barprov.” As you might guess by the name, it was improv at a bar – we would perform on stage at the back of a bar in Chicago on a week night when there normally wasn’t a band playing. We would perform for free in exchange to practice our craft. The audience was mostly other improvisors, and the bar made out from our consumption of libations over the course of the night.

When it was our turn, we did a number of short scenes – sometimes it would be all 3 of us, sometimes 2 of us. When we got as far as we could with a scene, one of us would shout “scene” to end it and we would mix it up. Occasionally if a scene was going nowhere one of us who was off-stage could also shout it to keep the night moving.

On one change of scene it was myself and Linsey on the stage. He turned sideways and looked at me, and I turned and looked back at him. Linsey then swung around one of his legs and put it back down, at which he gave me a look with a raised eyebrow and a slight nod. I took this as a cue to do the same, which I did. Many times in improv we would let someone take the lead, not necessarily knowing where they were going. After I swung my leg, Linsey then squatted down, giving me the same gesture as before. So I squatted down, and as I did, Linsey stood up. Getting that same nod again, I stood up and he squatted down again.

Then it hit me... we were on a see-saw!

What I don’t remember from this scene was the dialog, but I recall it had nothing to do with being kids nor an acknowledgement of the see-saw. We continued the scene until one of us called it and we continued along with our time on stage. Afterwards however, we were ecstatic at how the scene turned out and all of us were hugging and laughing. We were on a see-saw – it was brilliant! As we often would critique our performance and highlight the positive, we couldn’t stop talking about the see-saw. And it wasn’t just that night – the see-saw would come up time and time again. For me it was a pivotal moment – it was a great and funny scene, but it was also the epitome of Linsey having my back, yet pushing me forward as an improvisor. It was a highlight of the time I was active in improv.

I have been thinking about the see-saw scene again recently as I got word that Linsey Falls died late last year. It was a complete shock to me and others very close to him, especially Christopher Donaldson, the other improvisor whom we were performing with that night for barprov. The 2 of them became great friends from improv and for years performed together including as The Gentleman’s Follies, where they played time-traveling vaudevillians. Yes, it was as funny and enjoyable as it sounds.

Sadly I hadn’t been in touch much with Linsey in recent years, occasionally connecting over social media. He was a member of the company at Playmakers Laboratory, which was called Barrel of Monkeys when I was in Chicago, and it was through knowing him that I was asked to serve on their board of directors which I proudly did for 2 years. Though it was infrequent, whenever we did connect it would be like old times, and I look forward to that reconnection someday in that better place where he is now.

There was an outpouring of love and thoughts about Linsey on social media, and a tribute to Linsey was written in the Chicago Reader. Christopher is quoted in the story along with a photo of the 2 of them. As a result of this sad news I reconnected with Christopher, a brilliant actor, writer, improvisor and human being in his own right. Our exchanges were about a man who had a lasting impression not only on ourselves but on the Chicago theater community as a whole.

I recall one night at a Chicago bar after a practice or show and the topic of fame came up in the conversation among our troupe. For myself, improv was a creative hobby but for the rest it was their calling, especially as many like Linsey had moved to Chicago to do improv. I remember Linsey saying that he didn’t want to be famous, rather he wanted to be known in the improv and theater community. To this he was more than successful, and Linsey Falls will be dearly missed.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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City living. It’s not for everyone, but for those that appreciate it being in the heart of it all is where to be. From entertainment to restaurants to parks to shopping, the right location matters. When it comes to Chicago, there’s no better place than in the Loop, and no better place than Five North Wabash and this 1-bedroom and den condo now for sale.

Here’s your opportunity to experience city living at its finest in the right location. Located on Wabash Avenue, around one block to Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park and the other to State Street and great shopping and dining. A few blocks beyond Michigan Avenue is the Lake Michigan lakefront, with trails extending for miles north and south. Back on Wabash, right outside the door is the CTA “L” train stop which can connect you north on the Brown Line and the Orange Line to Midway Airport, or a few blocks away for the Blue Line to O’Hare. And don’t forget food, as within steps is great Chicago-style pizza, sushi, coffee, Raising Cane’s and more.

This is an ideal location for working professionals, people looking for a getaway place in the city or college students. It’s a few blocks to the heart of the Loop and most offices, and the Green Line and buses can take you to the West Loop. Looking to spend the weekends in the city? You can walk to most downtown theatres and restaurants and the rest of the city is a train or shared ride away. Not to mention the ease of getting to every major sporting venue in the Windy City. For students it’s in close proximity to the urban campuses of the School of the Art Institute, DePaul University, Columbia College and Roosevelt University.

But don’t take my word for it – check out the complete listing here complete with photos. See the large, high ceiling 1-bedroom, den which can be made into another bedroom, spacious living room, furnished kitchen, in-unit washer/dryer, and enhanced closet. Don’t forget the large storage room just down the hall too. If you’re interested, please contact Will and Lisa Barroso, out real estate experts – all contact info is on the listing.

My wife and I have decided to sell this condo we have owned in the Loop as it’s clear we are sticking around Wisconsin for a little while. This was our home for many years. Where we miss the Second City and will miss this place, it’s now time for others to make memories in this unique space just as we did.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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What better a way to celebrate a birthday than with a cake? As these days I am not eating the ingredients you typically make a cake with, I went to OpenAI’s DALL-E AI image generator to make one. As you can see from the accompanying image with post, I have some major work to do on my prompt writing in the new year.

That being said, I didn’t put much time and thought into my prompts, which are the natural language queries you enter to get an image. Of all of the prompts and adjustments to them, this image was the best of them all.

Where I don’t have plans to use AI to create major portions of the content of this blog, you the reader should expect to hear more about it as I – and most of the known world – will be thinking and acting on AI in the future. If something is AI-generated, I will also note it as such. I do hope to have more timely topics that live up to the genesis of the name of this blog, along with takeaways and giveaways of the books I read. That being said I don’t want to get ahead of myself as I suck at predictions, especially when it comes to my productivity with my humble blog.

Happy 17th to The Hot Iron and a Happy 2024 to you!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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To all those who believe Christ the Savior was born today, Merry Christmas! To those who do not, Happy Monday!

With all of the hustle, bustle and unnecessary anxiety over the holidays, it’s always nice to see a sign that makes you stop in your tracks, pause for a bit and get a positive emotion from it. For myself, one of them (yes, I have been blessed to have had a few) was on the flight back from the Microsoft Azure and AI Conference I attended a few years ago. On the flight down I turned off the seat-back entertainment screen so I could read an actual paper book, but on the way back I decided to peruse the options from Delta Air Lines a bit when what to my wondering eyes did appear.

That was when I had the moment, which I captured in the picture accompanying this post. It’s a yule log video. It brought back memories of watching the yule log burning on WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City as a kid. For some reason the cable system in my town in western Massachusetts got the New York City independent TV stations, WPIX being one of them. Every Christmas 11 Alive, the as the station’s tag line was at the time, would air the yule log, ideally to give the Christmas spirit of a roaring fire for people living in apartments in the Big Apple. It was nice for us to watch as our chimney was capped and thus our fireplace wasn’t a working one. Of course I wondered how Santa got into the house, but I digress. It’s nostalgic to watch this video these many years later, especially as when I started watching it, we had a black and white TV. I have linked to the yule log video here and have embedded it below.

From my home to yours, wherever you may be, have a wonderful holiday season!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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