Was looking through FastCompany.com and came across this great article on leadership, here is an excerpt:
“It will come as no surprise to people reading this that we as leaders spend an inordinate amount of time in the “doing”. We gauge our effectiveness by how many things we get done as opposed to how we are getting them done. Tell me: when was the last time you were talking on the phone, answering e-mail and nodding to someone at your doorway – all at the same time? Probably 5 minutes ago, right? In those moments, you are not in the “being” at all, but in the “doing”. So you ask, what is wrong with that? I’m getting a lot done. Well, let’s talk about the fallout of this behavior with those you lead.”
From the monthly archives:
March 2007
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My wife posted a great article on her blog today, and it is a great thought.
Here is an excerpt:
Here is an excerpt:
Well, I’m taking that one step further. I think I’m still in beta myself. Personally. As a human being. Wikipedia describes beta as:
“Unstable and not yet ready for release.”
“Beta versions stand at an intermediate step in the full development cycle.”
“The testers report any bugs that they found and sometimes minor features they would like to see in the final version.”
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Every week I read more articles detailing the struggle newspapers and magazines are having in keeping their revenue up in competition with all of the web communications and services that are emerging.
Certainly services like Craigslist and others that take away the “classifieds” income from newspapers, and do it quickly and effectively are a significant piece of the current problems they face (I found, contacted, and bought my Xbox 360 on the same day it was posted for sale on Craigslist at Christmas!)
But blogging, YouTube, and the collective intelligence element of fact finding and journalism is certainly not helping them either. Blogging itself has flipped the standards of who a “journalist” is, and has challenged the laws protecting the journalism trade in many situations.
All of this signals the end of the print media as we know it now. I don’t think print media will completely go away - because no matter how convenient communication is through the web, there is nothing tactile about it. A newspaper, magazine and/or book engages more of our senses through its touch, smell and appearance - and that is true “interactivity”. Displays won’t ever replace that - but they will force how print media is produced, organized and distributed to redefine itself.
This thought was spurred from an excellent article by Michael Arrington on Crunchnotes, here is an excerpt that is “gold” for all you trying to figure out the mindset difference in writing for a blog:.
“When I write, I write to learn more than I write to teach. I am not preaching to the masses, I am inviting them to have a conversation with me, where I get to set the topic and have the first word. We go from there.”
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One of the strongest elements of this next evolution of how people interact with the web is the enabling and power of “collective intelligence”. It is the recognition that know one person or team of ten is smarter than thousands and millions of people. That is why Wikipedia is such an amazing resource. It isn’t just the refinement of topics, it is the number of them. The fact that if I want to know about anything, I can get a strong grasp of it from the refined first paragraph in Wikipedia.
This can apply to new ideas, products, technology and innovation itself. But this is extremely hard for the ego’s of research and development firms and design firms. There innovation has been what sets the standard for millions. It has been their brilliance and opinions that have matter, and there is a pride that goes along with telling people what they really need and/or want.
Seth Godin speaks to this in his book All Marketers are Liars, that the arrogance of companies who assume they have control over how people think are in for a shock in the near future. These are the same companies that demand respect, instead of realizing they are constantly earning it - especially if they are big/successful/#1.
This was all keyed from great article at The Future of Communities blog titled, “Communities Driving Manufacturers Out of the Design Space“
Here is an excerpt:
“In physical products ranging from snowboards to electronic microscopes, users have been shown to be the dominant source of functionally novel innovations.”
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Yes, I am a little slow…
But just today I figured out how to install and run Wordpress, a blogging platform, from my Apple computer. Apple computers come with most of the necessary server software already installed to run a blog, and I had looked across a lot of tutorials, but I could never figure out a couple of key elements - which for me is painfully frustrating.
But today I figured it out and have been playing with it a bunch.
Good times!
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Now that I have found “my drink” at Starbucks (which is a total California thing to have and say), I really like the experience. When you walk in the lights are a little lower, and it feels like life slows down a bit. Like you are stepping into a “visual” cup of coffee. But the service is fast, friendly, and just serious enough about your coffee that you appreciate their professionalism.
Everything has a place, but in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you are in grandma’s house.
But this morning that little environment was off. A mother and her child were in line, and they were completely irreverent of the Starbucks experience. The child knocking all the cold drinks in the front section over, the mother couldn’t decided what she wanted, the kid insisted on ordering his drink, and then they mother asked, “How to I make coffee with my coffee maker”.
Maybe because I have been reading so many marketing and messaging books, especially Seth Godin, is why this seemed so offensive to my senses. I felt like this lady was tearing down the curtain, the tender veil of the excellent Starbucks experience.
Final point here is that it takes a lot of thought, planning and effort to pull of a great experience for people. The cool part was that the Starbucks employees responded well and took the conversation with the woman genuinely, which even raised their “coffee expertness” in the eyes of the frustrated customers - but they did it on the side so the rest of us could move on. It showed the Starbucks experience is more than just an act, that it is a strong “story” as Seth would put it.
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Being a geek in 2007 is nothing to be ashamed of, the stereotype
that once existed is long gone and there are several characteristics of
geek culture that could almost be considered chic. Apple is a pretty good testament to this fact.
The picture I’m about to paint is of the ideal, I’m not implying that every perl programmer or 15 year kid who plays WoW all day possesses all these qualities.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE
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We went to Saddleback’s Walk and Worship. It is an event through out the week were members get together and walk for an hour and then have a time of worship together, and we love it!
Our girls loved the chance to roam freely with us as we walked, and they got the “wiggles” out, while Mandy and I had a great chance to talk about our day. There were loads of friendly people walking as well, and it was a good chance to meet people in the church we wouldn’t normally interact with.
We are going to try and do Walk and Worship on Mondays and Wednesdays, good times!
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I was in another awesome conversation this week and I stumbled upon a phrase / original thought that I like a lot. “Strategic Market Share”. It was in reference to a problem that some would think staff or money was the issue (or both), and my point was that it really just needed more of our attention when we were planning. That the solution might be found in just taking the “expenditure” of time seriously in regards to some excellent mental work, and strategic planning. I don’t know if that resonates with you, but rarely is more “staff” or “money” the magic bullet to solve a problem. It there is an issue to address, it is more likely that we just need to let that area have more of our attention.
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Roger Anderson wrote in with some questions about the original Purple Cow promotional strategy. Since it’s been so long, I thought I’d quickly recount it here, because there are some useful lessons for all products.
I self-published the book in paperback. I did this because few publishers were interested in a short book on the topic, and were dubious about the future of the web as a promotional tool.
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