Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

 

Two cities were on the agenda for me this week; San Francisco and Austin.

 

I had a great time in my favorite city in America, San Francisco where I taught the Jump Start program to the Communication Link (our presentation skills program) and then off to Austin to have a meeting about an idea I pitched to the State government.  I know what you’re thinking, government, you hate politics.  This is absolutely true, BUT I believe our strategic platform on simplifying the core planning process for any type of organization will provide a great benefit.  So, I almost always pursue any direction our module ELEGANT SIMPLICITY takes me.

 

The strange nature of weather has made travel in and out of Dallas an adventure every time you hit the road.  Our drought of the last few years has been quelled by daily thunderstorms for over a month, some of them, the old Armageddon style. 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

Lots of interesting stuff going on.  Here are a couple that made me think.  My son, Colin (the senior at the University of Arkansas and now in Seville, Spain for a semester abroad) enjoys talking international business as his education has again made him aware of his surroundings.  It is a great parental joy to see your children grow.  He will be reading this in Spain and I hope he learns something new!

 

• Advertising on the Internet:  The movement of cash from major advertisers to the internet is always in constant motion.  Everyone knows that the traditional avenues of advertising such as print media and TV are loosing capital (money, creativity and intellectual) to the internet.  Microsoft made a huge commitment to the future of internet ads by making the largest acquisition in its history.  They bought aQuantive for $6 Billion and are now in the heart of internet advertising.   Add this to their discussions with Yahoo and who knows where you will end up!
• The good old treasure hunters:  You always read about guys on the hunt for buried treasure.  Adventurers in search of pirate plunder make for great reading, but have little success, until Odyssey Marine Exploration.  They just found 17 tons of 16^th century gold and silver, which could be worth over $500 million.  These guys are the only treasure hunters on the Wall Street Exchange.  Their stock went up 80%!
• Computer market share:  Though technological breakthroughs, out side of increasing speed, have not appeared in the personal computer in recent years, the market is still very active, though not as explosive as it used to be.  Everyone is competing for upgrades and market share.  Apple has made the biggest in roads and is selling more models than ever but the PC’s still rule the roost (despite the fact that Mac’s are 10 X the machine – oops and Apple ad).  Dell, in an effort to increase its market share just signed a deal with Wal-Mart to sell two Dimension desktop models beginning in June.  It is an interesting relationship and should provide a boost to their sales.

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  – The blockbuster season is getting in full swing!  I will be heading to the #1 movie theater in America (according the Men’s Journal) the Drafthouse in Austin to see the third chapter in the Pirates trilogy. 

 

 NetFlix Fans:  Becket  is now on DVD.  This is an amazing film with Peter O’Toole in one of his best roles.  The features on the documentary side of the DVD are fantastic.

 

TV:    This is the time for season enders and they really pulled out the plugs with Heroes and Lost.  WOW, great TV entertainment and I already am longing for the Fall.  Look for both House MD and Boston Legal to knock your socks off on Tuesday.  Also, the French Open starts on Sunday and tennis will dominate the TiVo.

 

We just got the new U-Verse entertainment package from AT&T in our neighborhood.  Holy Cow, it is the next generation of in home entertainment.  Give AT&T a call and see if you can get a look in your neighborhood.

 

BOOKS:  Bad Luck and Trouble  by Lee Child just hit the market and it is the best Jack Reacher adventure to date!  I finished it in two days of airplane rides and am disappointed I have to wait a whole year for the next book. 

 

 

 

MUSIC:  I am a big Pink Floyd fan and I stumbled upon this video which is a great piece of David Gilmour’s AOL Session:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75w7EwMeYU

 

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.lonelyplanet.com      Travel stuff and info on the world.

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

From the South of Normal food files:

• The richest man in Asia is a high school drop out and now dominates fields as diverse as plastics, real estate, construction, banking, cell phones and transportation.  His name is Li Ka-Shing, kind of sounds like Ka-Ching!
• Proctor & Gamble now sells a filter for your household sink that will infuse flavor in your tap water.  Yep, for $49.99 (notice, not $50 – don’t you just love the power of the .99) you can have peach tap water.
• Guerilla marketing with a twist is always interesting.  In LA (Where else?) you will notice small temporary bake sales stands popping up in high traffic locations selling the best cookies and baked goods you have every eaten.  It is a “viral” way to send a business message.  You go to www.treatst.blogspot.com  to find clues to the next location.  Interesting way to do business.

Just a little something for  the pain

Patch me up and send me home

Don’t tell me bad news on the phone.

David Gray

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

 

Sorry for the long delay.  This posting was done on Friday, but I had some blog software problems that just were solved  today.

 

Thanks John!

 

 

Coming to you from the windy city of Chicago.  I am here on a Narrative Arc project and have to share with you a quick story from the wonderful world of travel.

 

My normal 2 hour flight to Chicago was lengthened to 6 glorious hours due to mechanical problems on our plane.  No big deal there, you don’t want to fly on a damaged plane.  The big deal was the horrific customer service provided by the airline. 

 

The airline industry is plagued by the apparent need to consistently lie to its customers.  This happens ALL the time and I know this because I travel ALL the time.  It is common practice for a pilot to announce to an already somewhat disturbed audience that; “we have a minor mechanical problem and we should have it fixed and be on our way in about 15 minutes”.  HUH, 15 minutes!  Hell, it’s hard to make toast in 15 minutes yet alone fix a damn jet.  Everyone knows this is a lie.  This was followed by 1 hour and 15 minutes of total silence from the Captain.  The only thing anyone knew was that 15 minutes was a typical airline lie.

 

Hey American Airlines (oops) try this:

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a mechanical problem with our plane.  Our top engineers are working on it.  I’m not sure how long the repair will take, but I’ll update you every 10 or 15 minutes as to our estimated departure time.”  We are working as fast as professionally possible to get us on the way”

 

Then come back and give us a simple update.  That’s all we want, timely and honest information.  Instead we had a classic tale of service deceit as we had to deplane (great word) and hike 15 gates down to another plane that apparently was working.  Guess what, when we all got there (looked like a mob scene, hey, I guess it was a mob scene) the desk staff let us all stand there for about 15 minutes without saying a word as to when and if this plane would leave.  Add to the fact that the guy behind me was so sick I thought he had the Ebola Virus as his cough was constant for our 6 hour relationship.  GEEZ!

 

To top off the adventure, my cab driver asked me if I minded sharing a ride downtown.  It would only cost $20 instead of $45.  No problem with me.  He then went outside and like a good entrepreneur he hustled FOUR other people to cram in the minivan, each promised a ride for $20.  So this industrious cabbie turned a $45 trip into a $100 fare with tips to follow.  This was a warm day in Chicago and one of the passengers in the back asked him to turn up the air conditioning.  He apparently thought that was some type of insult and angrily tore out the air conditioning conduit from under the dashboard and jammed it through the small Plexiglas screen, while screaming in highly accented English, “I hope you now cool”.  He then took the credit cards from those paying with plastic and ran them through his little machine while driving at 70 MPH.  When the guy sitting next to me got his back to sign he noticed the guy put a $5.00 tip on the slip.  The guy next to me went berserk and screamed he would decide to tip him or not, all the while the plastic tube is spitting cold air and flying around the cab like an Anaconda.  The cabbie responded to the angry passenger by screaming in a language I could not recognize.

 

When I finally arrive at my hotel I gave the cabbie a large tip all the while laughing out loud about how damn entertaining the ride had been!

 

 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

I received a ton of email from people with their opinions and ideas on the section I wrote about time.  THANKS!  I loved the input.

 

Such big news;

 

• It only took 9 years for the divorce to happen.  Daimler and Chrysler finally hit splitsville.  Private equity firm Cerberus gets Chrysler and I’ll be damned if I know what they plan on doing with it.  Daimler gets to shed its struggling American partner and can look ahead at a promising future of truck and luxury car manufacturing.
• Let’s see if I can get this straight.  The scientists at CERN (the physics lab in Geneva) are getting ready to operate ATLAS.  This is the mother of all super-colliders, measuring 17 miles in circumference underground the device will collide particles to produce tiny fireballs of primordial energy, recreating conditions that prevailed when the universe was a trillionth of a second old!  WOW.  It takes 14 trillion electronic volts of energy to smash together protons, a cast of 1,000’s to operate and a miserly $8 Billion to build.  Oh, and a 128 tons of liquid helium to cool the superconducting magnets that keep the particles whizzing by.  Hey, I’m pretty smart and even a scientist by education, buy this goes a little above my intellectual pay grade!
• It’s not about the information; it’s about what you can do with it.  Thomson Corp. just acquired the Reuter Group (global news and financial data group) for $17.2 Billion.  This gives the new Thomson-Reuters group 34% of the market for financial data.  The continued morphing of the internet has turned news and data into a commodity.  Thomson is one of the few that transformed itself from a sleepy newspaper chain into a financial information powerhouse.  Keep an eye on this one.

 

The world is getting bigger, so pay attention.

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  – Nothing out there to make me say – “wow, let’s go see that!  I hate when they give us an early blockbuster (Spidey 3) then follow up with a big zero.

 

 NetFlix Fans:  First Blood  is the first and best of the Rambo movies.  I put it here because a lot of the movie sites are filled with stills from the, yes, it’s true, fourth Rambo adventure.  I believe he escapes from an assisted living center to hunt for his missing hair dye.

 

TV:    A lot of the new shows for the fall season have been announced.  Here are a few highlights:

 

• Pushing Daisies:  ABC, about a detective that can raise the dead or send them back with a touch of his hand.
• Jim From Cincinnati”  HBO, a quirky drama set in the surfer community about a man who arrives with really weird powers.
• Eli Stone:  ABD, about an attorney who is either crazy or a prophet.
• The Bionic Woman:  NBC, yep, the return of the 1980’s show with a few updates (I hope).
• Journeyman:  NBC, a sci-fi show that will follow Heroes and is about a time traveling reporter.

 

Some look interesting!

 

BOOKS:  Unstuck   by Yamashita and Spataro has come recommended from a good friend of Steve’s Corner.  I ordered it immediately.

 

Try Louis Armstrong New Orleans  by Thomas Brothers.  A moving story of one of the pivotal musicians of our time.

 

 

MUSIC:  Here is something from guitar god Mark Knopfler:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWo-51v-SFA

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.swivel.com      Interesting statistical news.

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

From the South of Normal food files:

• We eat over $3.9 Billion in hot dogs every year.  The best selling ground for our fabulous tube steak?  Baseball parks.  The #1 selling ballpark is Shea Stadium.
• Yum Brands, who own Taco Bell and KFC showed a strong earnings increase last quarter, DESPITE the fact that Taco Bell had an Ecoli breakout and had a couple of sites closed down due to rat infestation.  “I’ll have a taco with, oh heck, surprise me!”
• Rats destroy an estimated 1/3 of the worlds food supply every year, apparently including the stuff at Taco Bell
• The only candy bar ever used as real currency was the Hershey Bar during WW II. 
• Choking on food is the 7^th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• And finally, a can of Spam is opened every 4 seconds somewhere on Earth.

When the road gets dark

you can no longer see.

Let my love light far

And have a little faith in me.

John Hiatt

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

 

Yes, I know I am really late posting, but sometimes travel gets in the way of keeping a normal schedule.

 

Coming to you live from steamy Atlanta, GA, where I am traveling with my videographer, Doug Via.  We are here to look at another potential application for our Rich Media strategic platform.

 

Rich Media is the use of a medium that engages the sense’s and allows for shortened connections points and immediate influence.  It takes the form of video, still photo slide shows, podcast’s, HTML “one minute reads” and other media forms to meet a clients communication needs.

 

Doug is one of the most talented videographer, director and post production wizard in the business.  It’s always exciting to collaborate on the creative process.

 

I just finished two new articles for a couple of magazines; one is about our infatuation with statistics to the excess of loosing our perspective into what really drives organizations towards their potential, the successful behaviors of their people and the second is on our aversion to risk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

Do you ever struggle with finding enough time,  outside of the daily grind of your business, to plan, to study, to create the future of your company?  It seems that our days fill with the regular stuff needed to keep going.

 

Time is a funny thing.  We often think of it as linear.  From the time we are kids we write reports based on “time lines”.  Our project management systems show lines that pierce a string of days.  Our calendars line the days into groups of seven.  We become trained to look at time as a ridged, structured management tool.  We have lost the idea of flow.  You know what I mean, we talk about the “flow” of time.

 

The dynamics of flow are quite different from the dynamics of a straight line.  Flow drives our understanding towards liquid.  Liquids are fluid, they move around obstacles, they fill gaps, they find opportunities, and they follow the avenues of least resistance.

 

In order to take advantage of time, to make it an ally, you need to sift the way you think.  Here is an example of “time think”.

 

• “I don’t have time to read.”   That’s typical “time think”.
• “I choose to spend my time doing something other than reading.”  That’s “right time thinking.”

 

Time is ALWAYS a vehicle of choice.  We ALWAYS choose how we spend our time.  WHAT?  Are you crazy Steve?  I have to go to meetings.  I have to go to the PTA meeting.  I have to mow the yard.  I have to answer mountains of email.

 

Hate to tell you this, but WRONG.  All of those are really choices.  I can choose to watch House MD or read a book.  I choose where I work and most of the time, how I work.

 

Successful organizations are embedded in “right time thinking”.  It’s how they not only get things done (the regular art of running a business), they also grow and change.  They look to the future and realize they have the power to shape it.

Southwest Airlines, who last year moved more flyers than any airline in the world, spent TIME focusing on developing a cutting edge set of metrics to allow them to improve their performance.  Google manages a staggering amount of data, yet develops new services like G-Mail to keep them as the industry leader.

 

Change the way you think about time and watch the opportunities you are missing appear like a stream of water creating a new path!

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  Spiderman 3 –  Nothing out there to make me say – “wow, let’s go see that!

 

 NetFlix Fans:  The Searchers  is one of the greatest movies of all time and was brought up during a recent dinner conversation.   Made me go out and rent it again.

 

TV:    We are heading towards the season finales for just about every one of my favorite shows.  Most will hit their peak of interest either this week or next week and as my travel schedule is booked solid, my TiVO will be working overtime!  Look for mystery revealing episodes of Lost and Heroes’  as well as dramatic surges in House MD, Numb3rs and Boston Legal.  Love this time of year, because once the season’s end I can choose to spend my time on other things!

 

BOOKS:  New Ideas From Dead CEO’s   by Todd Bucholz is really interesting and you can read it in bits and pieces based on what interests you.

 

Try The Second Saladin  by Stephen Hunter.  He is one of my favorite authors (he created the character on which the movie Shooter was based).

 

 

MUSIC:  I love Joni Mitchell.  She reinvented guitar with her designs of open tunings and her lyrics sing of depth and meaning.  Here is a video of Joni Mitchell and one of my favorite jazz guitarists, Pat Matheny. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hee8rkPd5PI

 

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.quirkology.com  

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

Last week I talked about the latest inductee’s into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.  This week I thought I might point out those who didn’t quite make it, in fact they were rather to the rear of patented ideas:

 

• Pogo-Copter:  Take a standard pogo stick and add a wheel powered propeller and you’ve got one dangerous toy.  Up you go and down you quickly come, landing in the emergency room.
• Airbag Undershorts:  Yep, these are inflatable underwear.  They detect a fall in progress, sending gas into balloon-like pockets and your pants inflate.  Stops you from breaking your ass.  I would have loved a pair of these when I first learned to walk on icy walkways in Sun Valley.
• High-Speed Track Trainer:  This is a two wheel cart that attaches to the rear bumper of a car.  As the car drives, you hang on the device and run, trying to keep up with the car.  You may want to invest in a pair of those Airbag underwear!

 

We are never short on ideas, even when you are working South of Normal!

           

Does Satan wear a suit and tie?

Does he work at the Dairy Queen?

Does he listen to rock and roll and feed the need of mean?

To all our saints here on earth

Who are hypnotized and over analyzed

Until we’re numb at birth

Singing Hallelujah

Martin Sexton

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

Finished a FULL WEEK at home!  I got tons done, but never as much as I had hoped.  It’s funny how you choose to allow “things” to fill your time.  Within a day and a half the rest of May was filled as well as a good hunk of June and July.  Today will have a big piece of time spent booking travel.

 

We just moved our offices (closer to downtown) and this week had a huge hunk taken out by the nightmare of moving.  The office space is nice but it looks like a nuke hit it.  At least I got my office to look like home with pictures and other stuff.

 

We are moving along with the preliminary work of developing our first new presentation in almost 15 months.  All the incredible new information into the behavioral traits of top business performers based on the Narrative Arc strategic platform will make for one of the most impactful presentations in our suite.

 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

I just finished being involved in a round table discussion on the creative process, which naturally lead to a conversation on innovation.  Jonathon Huebner recently published a much discussed article on the death of innovation citing the decline in the creative process of world changing innovation since the industrial revolution.

 

HUH?   What? 

 

I love academics that make statements as though handed down through a burning bush. 

 

In 1899, Charles H. Duell was the director of the US Patent office and he proudly wanted to eliminate his job to help with budget circumstance and started his presentation to Congress with this prophetic statement:  “everything that can be invented has already been invented.”

 

In the U.S. alone, patents filed today are at the 95% of the peak recorded in 1914.

 

Here are a few of the recent inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame:

 

• Peter Goldmark:  Invented the 33 1/3 recording process allowing long pieces of music to be listened to uninterrupted.  Thanks’ Peter, you filled my childhood.
• Godfrey Hounsfield:  Invented Computer Assisted Topography or the CAT scan.  How many lives has Godfrey saved?
• Maurice Hilleman:  Developed more than 3 dozen vaccines, 8 of which have saved the lives of countless children.

 

We are the only creative creature in the universe (based on current knowledge) and our unique curiosity will continue to drive us to innovation.

 

The future is a bold place where the development of new ideas will accelerate based on our ability to share thinking at a pace unlimited by traditional communication restraints.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  Spiderman 3 –  Duh!  NO BRAINER.

 

 NetFlix Fans:  Planet Earth – The Entire Series  is out.  This is one of those DVD sets you should own and not rent.  It’s like Band of Brothers or Lonesome Dove.  Just go buy it.

 

TV:  Wow, I had no idea how many House MD fans were readers of my blog until last weeks post.  Geez, I got tons of email with people wanting to fill me in on the part of the show I missed due to thunderstorm coverage in Dallas (damn Spring weather).  If you don’t follow Heroes on NBC you are really missing some great entertainment (of course, as a comic book guy this is right up my alley).

Try this to get a feel:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMb38fdaQo0

 

BOOKS:  The Art of the Start  is new from one of my favorite business writers; Guy Kawasaki.

 

Try Jesus Out to Sea by James Lee Burke.  This is his first collection of short stories in over 20 years.  He writes one of my favorite characters, Dave Robicheaux.

 

 

MUSIC:  I get lots of email from readers on where I hear about all the music I use in presentations or fill my iPod with.  Its from lots of sources, you all send me stuff and I get lots of ideas from www.Pandora.com as well as just hearing something that sounds good. 

Here is a vid (yep, I’m the new MTV) from one of my favorite “small time” singer songwriters, Vance Gilbert.  Just listen to his voice!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wddf51-R-k4

 

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.boredomhurts.com    Kind of fun site.

www.youtube.com    This is the ultimate playground when time is yours to burn.  Just type in your favorite musician or TV show and get ready to spend some time.

 

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

I know people love their pets.  In fact, most personify them by added human characteristics to their behaviors.  Heck, I have seen the devastating impact of a pet death on my family, BUT I do struggle with those pet owners that have their lives consumed by their pets, that is until I read the statistics for the pet business:

 

·        It annually grows by over 6% and reached $40.8 billion in 2006.

·        Most is spent on food and vet visits, but $1.9 billion is spent on acquiring pets.

·        New Zealand now has an on-line pet dating service.  I’m sure, soon to be thriving in the U.S.

·        A Japanese firm has created a patch for your animal that will eliminate stress, though its application for your goldfish is a little tricky and who needs it more than the poor aquatic pet whose whole universe might be a small bowl.

·        Eli Lilly has developed a drug for your pet to help with separation anxiety.

 

So there you go, may just a little South of Normal????

           

Does Satan wear a suit and tie?

Does he work at the Dairy Queen?

Does he listen to rock and roll and feed the need of mean?

To all our saints here on earth

Who are hypnotized and over analyzed

Until we’re numb at birth

Singing Hallelujah

Martin Sexton

 

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

 

 

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