Mold-breaking! That’s my new job description. Actually it has been one of my life-long missions.

Why try and fit into a box when there is far more space outside it?

Many of you will have you own molds that you will have come from or even be trying to fit. Now you may say “Oh no, not me” but I would challenge that every time you try a new “easy ways to succeed in business” program or buy that “10 ways to a new you” book you are actually trying to fit into a mold. The mold is the way of working that worked for someone else (sometimes it didn’t actually even work for them but they are just writing/talking about it).

There may be things that you can learn from the way others did it but it is still their way. And the same goes for what has worked for you in the past. The past is past and just because it worked then doesn’t mean it won’t now. Even if all other things are equal you are a different person today than you were then.

I comes across small business women (and men but to a lesser extent) that like in a mold that says “I’m no good at technical things so I will never learn this computer stuff”. That may have been so in the past, but why now? Maybe it was a lack of time, information or not having the write teacher that contributed to a lack of confidence and understanding about technology. Technology is just like language, if you learn the basics, hang out with people that speak the language and use it regularly then you will become proficient at it - over time.

You don’t need to buy into the stereotypes about what it is to be technically confident (and competant). Those of us who are fluent in technology are far from fitting into the “geeky guy” mold. (I have been battling this stereotype since the mid 80s when I was a 20-something girl and after 20 years I still haven’t turned into one).

And this afternoon I came across another mold-breaker in the technology world. Sister Judith , editorial director of the Holy See, runs the team that builds the Vatican’s Website. As you can see she looks nothing like the stereotypical Internet manager.

This image is from a wonderful 25 minute interview that Robert Scoble did with her at the recent LIFT conference in Geneva. If you are looking for some inspiration to break out of your mold, or just an interesting insight into how the Vatican’s Internet manager approaches technology then checkout the Podtech.net interview.

You know what happens when you stay in your mold? You get moldy