Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .
 

IN OUR WORLD:  WOW, there is so much going on!  First, we have a new podcast posted.  Simply click on the link to the right and click on the 4^th part in our Journeys Series.
 

You can also access our internet newsletter by clicking on the newsletter button on the Creative Ventures home page.  Thanks to John Peterson for making that happen.
 

One of the articles in the newsletter struck a cord with one of our past clients and they re-engaged us for the development of skill enhancement programs.  The article mentioned that if your sales team knows EVERYTHING there is to know about your product, but can not put together a cogent sentence or construct a simple presentation, you are in deep trouble.  Marry great presentation skills with product knowledge and you will have a formidable sales team!
 

We are beginning the architecture of a new Stephen Harvill Presentations program with a working title of Trend Bending.  It’s about how the emerging trends can help springboard the way you approach your business.
 

We are off to Washington DC this week to teach CRITICAL THINKING skills and to introduce a custom designed program for their customer base.
 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:  The bastion of the morning’s first stop, Starbucks, will open their 10,500 caffeine and sugar emporium this month with 1,800 opening scheduled for 2006!  From Dublin to Shang Hai, San Francisco to Des Moines, this business model continues to boggle the mind. 
 

They appear almost overnight and the morning queue forms to the right! 
 

The Starbucks of your corner hardly resembles the original store in the Pikes Fish Market in Seattle.  Now the stores not only serve up every imaginable coffee and tea combination, but have a complete collect of coffee paraphernalia.  From thermal mugs to drip coffee makers you can build your own little Starbucks in your kitchen.  You can get coffee from countries you couldn’t find on a map.  You can buy custom CD’s of coffee music and satisfy your sweet tooth with a great piece of marble cake.
 

People bring their laptops, their novels, their homework and their damn cell phones.  They stop for coffee, conversation, business (I was sitting next to a guy who was firing the guy he was sipping with).
 

What is there to learn?  Starbucks appears almost as often as Apple in every business article that studies success.  The key is leverage.
 

Starbucks leverages their connection to their customers on an almost unheard of level.  The lesson to learn is that the leverage between you and your customers if full of untapped potential.  Take some real strategic time with your team and focus on the creative and substantive ways you can expand the “sphere of influence” that exists in your world.
 

MOVIES: Try to find the French action thriller, District B-13.  It is simply the best action movie of the year.  Imagine that, a French movie that may become the model for U.S. film makers. 
 

NetFlix gang – The Interpreter is a great adult thriller with a strong mystery woven in.  Thought I am not a huge Sean Penn fan, he did a great job.  This movie was #3 on my Top 10 List last year.
 

BOOKS:  The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki is a book that will help you understand another level of thinking and action as it connects to our wonderful human condition.
 

For fiction, James Lee Burke has brought back his ex – Texas Ranger, now small town attorney Billy Bob Holland, in In The Moon Of Red Ponies.
 

MUSIC:  This week I picked up another great Van Morrison song, Days Like This.  A wonderful version of this song that I heard on an old episode of Boston Legal.
 

Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint have a new CD called The River in Reverse and it is FANTASTIC!
 

SOUTH OF NORMAL:  I usually write about a business idea here but today I couldn’t resist writing about Parkour.  Parkour (http://www.parkour.com/ ) is an amazing sport that combines the martial arts with the acrobatics of a circus performer.  Add a dash of insanity and unbelievable athletic prowess and you might begin to describe this activity.  Started in France by the Sebastien Foucan and David Belle (who is the star of that French movie I mentioned earlier) it is growing in popularity world wide.  It is gaining some momentum in the US with Parkour teams on the east and west coast.
I was amazed at these guys who occupy the South of Normal sports locker room.  They view obstacles with a sort of detached challenge that, of course, made me think about how that perspective can build business strategies. 
Keep your ears to the ground and when you get a chance to attend a Creative Ventures workshop, don’t be surprised to see guys flying through the air and discovering a new way to view your business.
 

Drop me a note with your comments at creativeventures@nova1.com.
 

Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.