In some of these great conversations, people have stated that they want to be a Tableau Zen Master (TZM). Someone asked me if I wanted to be a TZM. At first my answer was yes! I see it was a leadership role, providing the platform to help more people and being recognized as a resource would be awesome. I think so many of us have read/heard Jonathan Drummey's So You Want to be a (Tableau) Zen Master blog post. I love it (& you should definitely read it before continuing on...but please come back)! The challenge with it (as I see it) is that I'm pretty sure eeerrrrybody who reads it totally identifies with it and says, “Yeah, I'd keep doing what I'm doing even if I didn't get TZM.”
Your value is not tied to your TZM status.
The thing is, someone saw some value in them based on some criteria. It doesn't mean they are the nicest or the smartest, or the kindest, or the best people in the world, it means that they excel based on criteria. And just to be clear, this isn't some kind of down with the man post, it's simply to reinforce the fact that one person's value is not tied to a title). As much as I enjoy data viz and Tableau, it is not the only thing in life.
I think at some point we've all played the 'Why is X a TZM?” Usually followed by a game of comparison. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.
But what if people don't like what I contribute? Find no use for it? I'm choosing to ignore those questions. Not everyone will like or appreciate what I write or say. Not everyone sees my value...or yours. And that's okay. I treat my blog as though it's a viz diary that I've let the world read. It makes me happy and that's why I do it. Over this past year, I've been trying to embrace the concepts in Strengths Finder. I'm trying to key in and refine those strengths. Maybe learning a little bit about myself helps shape what I do, goals or no goals.