I was supposed to be Jessica.

My parents were expecting a girl all along.

Which makes total sense, considering how girlie I’ve always been:

I cry at movies. I’m ultra sensitive. I’m touchy feely. I don’t care about sports. I hate beer. I’m not macho. I love shopping. I’m obsessed with my hair. I have way too many shoes.

I’m the daughter they never had.Still, I’m proud to be Scott every day of my life. I’m proud to be a man everyday of my life. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. Considering women are the most oppressed minority on the planet, I think I lucked out.

Besides, there aren’t as many branding possibilities with, “HELLO, my name is Jessica.”

Turns out, the name Scott actually translates to “painted warrior.”

Considering the tattoo, I’d say my parents made the right choice.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Isn’t gender strange?

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* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2011-2012!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

My whole life, I never quite fit in.

I was always just a little different.

Not so different that nobody wanted to be friends with me. Not so different that I felt excessively entitled or self-righteously appointed. But different enough to feel like an alien wherever I went.

And then I moved to Portland.

The city where different is the default.Everybody fits in – because nobody fits in. It’s so fantastically unique, so delightfully weird and so endearingly eclectic, that you can’t help but acknowledge and applaud people’s differences.

The place is so weird, I almost felt normal. That says a lot.

I remember my first day. I was riding the bus when a guy asked, “You’re not from around here, are you Scott?”

“How did you guess?”

“Nobody uses umbrellas here. When it rains, we either celebrate it or ignore it.”

That’s when I said to myself: “These are my people.”

I fell in love with the city. Had some of the greatest times of my life. Made lifelong friends I’ll never forget. And learned lessons that changed me forever. And although I only spent fourteen months there, the spirit of Portland will always remain under my fingernails.

You have to understand, I grew up in suburban St. Louis. I went to college in rural Ohio. So it was a nice change of posture to live in a community where accepting people’s differences is a given – but celebrating them is the gift.

Can you imagine if more places adopted that mentality?
Can you imagine if we stopped holding ourselves hostage by our intolerance?

Sadly, our society still operates on the outdated, close-minded cliché that the nail that sticks up should be hammered down. That being different is the enemy.

I don’t care how open we claim to be: We still actively avoid contact with people who are not like us because of a fear of social contamination.

It’s time to adopt a different philosophy about being different.

Not only that it’s acceptable – but also that it’s encouraged and edified.

Fit out.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you put yourself on equal footing with the people around you?

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* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2011-2012!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Not to brag, but I hold the world record for wearing nametags.

Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

But as the world’s foremost expert, I am uniquely qualified to give an opinion on how nametags should be worn. Here’s my theory:

No last names. No company names. No logos. No titles. No acronyms. No designations.

First name only. Nothing else.This levels the playing field. This restores the balance of power. This eliminates competition. This prevents pigeonholing. And this stops people from being better than others with a lesser tag.

By eliminating unnecessary labels, by stripping accumulated adjectives and by boiling people down to their human essence – their names – it’s harder to judge each other and easier to get to know each other.

I wonder how different our planet would be if we were willing to put values before vocation, humanity before statistics, personality before position and individuality before industry.

I wonder.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you put yourself on equal footing with the people around you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “31 Questions to Test Your Listening Skills” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2011-2012!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

The road less traveled isn’t just foggy – it’s lonely.

Whether you’re a writer, freelancer, artist, entrepreneur, or part of a mobile workforce, there are more people going it alone that every before in history.

Our culture encourages it, our technology enables it and our economy demands it.

Which is great for productivity and flexibility.

But we’re still human. And human beings are social animals.

Creativity without community, isn’t.And don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t trade my job for anything on the planet.

The fact that I get to make my own schedule, make my own decisions, make my own money and make a measurable difference in the world – all while doing what I love – is an honor and a privilege.

But.

When the inevitable loneliness starts to creep in like a toxic mist, we need every ounce of our creative capacity to stay connected, stay supported and stay afloat. Otherwise the isolation will drive us insane, and will drive our businesses into the ground.

Thank god for the nametag. It keeps me connected. It sustains me. It’s my constant spark for human contact. And every day I get to interact with cool new people from all walks of life that I never would have met otherwise.

It’s my analog friend request.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s yours?

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For the list called, “58 Questions about Questions” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.

Now booking for 2011-2012!

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!