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

IN OUR WORLD

Coming to you live from tropical Minneapolis where the temps are a balmy -3!  I am looking forward to introducing my Repeatable Successful Acts platform to a new audience!

This week was a blur of creative work and meetings.

• I finished the design and production of 7 new programs that debut (believe it or not) all at one meeting next week in Las Vegas.  I love the process from idea to production to presentation.
• I had a series of local client meetings around everything from existing strategies to brand new ideas.  I love that organizations are now pushing new ideas to the forefront in efforts to create differentiation.
• Last Friday night I held a Creative Ventures roundtable dinner party for some of my close Dallas clients and friends to give me an honest assessment of what they think of my business plan and the direction Creative Ventures is headed in.  It was a fantastic evening of open discussion filled with ideas.  A lot to digest and I will need to take some REAL and HONEST time to find what does and doesn’t fit.

I’m not sure if I am actually a film critic, but I sent out the 320^th movie list to people who have requested it.  Love the idea of fun!

Next week is INSANE for me as I have 7 new programs debuting, including a cutting edge look at TRUE impactful trends moving success in 2010.

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

I recently sat through a meeting where an organization was discussing a series of ideas that were being considered for application.  I was there to add to the strategic impact of each.

As usual, I was amazed at the level of complexity involved.  One idea involved a 17 page survey.  17 PAGES!  Another involved three core ideas (loved it), expect each core idea involved as many as 20 steps to make it happen.  I called that “the complexity disguise” where something on the surface looks simple but in reality is very complex.

The discipline that leads to simplicity is called; thoughtful reduction and it IS a discipline that requires a focused roughed determination.

To help my client continue their journey in learning the art of TRUE simplification I suggested we leave the warm confines of the conference room and go for a little walkabout of their corporate offices and campus.  Impact begins at the beginning.  Here are few ideas around the first step in a true impact strategy:

• The Client:  Take a critical eye to the actual perspective of the client first.  Do a walkabout and see things like a client sees things.  What does your greeting area look like?  I want you to see everything, because the client IS.  Does your first point of contact send the message you want to EVERYONE that comes into contact with it?  Attack an improvement plan from point of contact.
• The Team:  What does your workspace say to those who produce your work?  Your team is the only way you impact your customer.  The walkabout shifts the perspective from the buying client to the internal client.
• DO SOMETHING NOW:  Making a change to the point of contact makes an IMMEDIATE impact to everyone.  Keep the action simple, something you can do right now.  Make sure that action connects to the simple strategy of impact.

The walkabout yielded three immediate impact steps that were completed within 24 hours.  These impact ideas were simple.  They sent a powerful message and with the right accountability plan, they will gain a life of motion and impact!

Need a little help with the thoughtful reduction discipline?  Give me a shout.

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES: I gave The Book of Eli about a 6 on the 10 point scale.  This week I can’t wait to see The Edge of Darkness.

NetFlix Fans:  Whiteout: A murder mystery in Antarctica.  Way cool!

TV: The Aussie Open got my full attention though I made time for the new Fox series; The Human Target (which I love).  My regular shows are in full swing and though I may often miss their original air date I catch them thanks to the DVR.  These include House, The Mentalist, Burn Notice and a few others.

BOOKS:  (Re) Organize For Resilience – Gulam:  The key to being ready for change is to find ways to not only knock down the traditional silos, but to make their walls permeable.

MUSIC: Here is a blast from the past.  The great Richie Havens!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah7d-sP7rDQ

WEB SITES: A FANTASTIC site that sends you chapters of a book via internet that allows you read at your own pace.

http://www.dailylit.com/

SOUTH OF NORMAL

Yep, it’s still not weird enough for me!

• Think those Burger King commercials are creepy?  Just wait until they launch their first franchise in Miami the will serve beer.  Their first alcohol restaurant will open in March.
• Most trusted celebrities – Top 3:  James Earl Jones, Tom Hanks and Michael J. Fox.
• The animal rights groups have set their sites on good old Punxsutawney Phil or the weather predicting groundhog.  They want him replaced by a robotic groundhog.

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

IN OUR WORLD

A fortuitous quirk in scheduling gave me a whole week in the office!  Boy, did I need it.  I have 6 completely different custom programs to design and produce for delivery starting next week in the winter wonderland of Minneapolis.

My design and production process is time consuming and takes a ton of focus.

I create a series of storyboards, followed by a master deck of images and content.  I then engage the critical mind, the editor, and thoughtfully reduce the content to core connection points that meet the time frame allocated.  This process is for a “presentation”, but I use similar approaches to the development of a strategic platform or an education course.

Tonight I am hosting a Creative Ventures strategic roundtable where a group of trusted advisors will meet to help me look at new ideas for the future of Creative Ventures.  This is a great process to add to your planning strategies.  It provides a reboot of your thinking and opens the door for new ideas!

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

There certainly has been a huge emphasis on change as a core element of strategic planning and process design.  I am honored to be working on a wide variety of “change initiatives” while also studying the trends that will be “real and true” players in 2010.

With the talk show wars currently being waged, I thought I would use TV as a good example of the chaotic environment we all find ourselves in.

Recently Fox decided to draw a huge line in the television sand in its dealings with Time Warner Cable.  This stance may well be painting a very clear future of our boob tube future.

For 60 years network TV has broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free, making money on advertising (those damn pesky commercials).  This model is the foundation of the big 4, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox.

But, as change is consuming our entertainment choices, the traditional model may well be on the way out.  The choices available have fractured audiences siphoning traditional ad revenue that with a recession driven economy has potentially doomed free TV.

It’s pretty simple.  Cable, and satellite TV have two avenues of revenue, traditional advertising and user fee’s.  This is a HUGE factor in the profitability for the network.  Not rocket science right?

These user fees vary from about $.26 to as much as $4.00 for a channel like ESPN.  To give you a feel, ESPN saw revenues grow from $1.4 billion to $6.3 billion in less than 10 years!

Fox illustrates this trend perfectly.  Their standard broadcast operations dropped 54% in operating revenue but the cable side of Fox, Fox News for example grew operating revenue by 41%.

With advertisers dropping their ad sales to network TV while they search for the best bang for their buck, the traditional networks are left with a real problem.

This is a great example of the impact of change and how its ripple effects are felt through a wider and wider section of business.

Think simple but flexible planning and you will be prepared for both the potential benefits and random craziness that is bound to happen.

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES: :  There are lots of choices out there this week, The Lonely Bones,  Youth in Revolt, Daybreakers, but none of them will get me into the theater this weekend.  The Lonely Bones got a good review from my oldest son (the product of a movie family and thus has an experts eye for cinema.

NetFlix Fans:  Moon: A one man show with Sam Rockwell (whom I love) about an isolated worker on the moon.  A wonderful psychological sci-fi thriller.

TV: Despite the looming temptation of only watching the Australian Open (my tennis addiction knows no boundaries) I did manage to watch the new Fox show The Human Target.  It was fantastic and will be added to my DVR list.  Great characters and fun plot lines.

BOOKS:  10 Laws of Career Reinvention – Mitchell:  This book gives you a vision of your career life and provides tools for you to evaluate your work future.

MUSIC: Bottom line is that I am a singer/songwriter fan and John Gorka is one of my favorites.  This is a great video that gives you TWO high sound and video quality songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42BEduQbOk

WEB SITES: A reminder of a good site.

http://www.trendhunter.com/

SOUTH OF NORMAL

The disaster in Haiti has brought about an outpouring of international support.  The need for aid is also a mother of invention for the wide variety of fundraisers that are going on:

• World’s tennis #1 Roger Federer did a quickly organized tennis exhibition at the Australian Open that raised over $100,000.  In addition to the ticket revenue many of the players opened their personal wallets and chunked in an average of more than $10,000 each.
• Now, here is a fundraiser that is right there with sports ideas.  Supermodels are playing a ping pong marathon in New York.
• Not to be outdone in out there ideas, the former Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher will strip for Haiti.  I kid you not!

As odd as they may seem, they speak a world about the true nature of our species.  We are quick to help.

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

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

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

IN OUR WORLD

Coming to you live from San Francisco, The City by the Bay.  This beautiful city remains one of my favorite places to visit in the world.  Though I have an insanely busy schedule, I still enjoy being here.  Walking to meetings with 3 different clients is a treat!

Had a fantastic day of meetings where I had the honor of introducing the Repeatable Successful Acts platform.  Judging from the response this strategy received immediate traction and I hope to have the opportunity to drill down on the idea and get into quick and impactful applications.

To give you at taste of the insanity of my regular schedule, let’s look at Tuesday:

• 3:30 AM start to the day with email response and clean up.
• 6:00 AM to 9:00 workout.
• 9:30 – 10:30 client conference call.
• 11:30 – 1:00 PM  Sprint like a “bat out of hell” to a lunch presentation on the Elegant Simplicity platform.
• 1:00 PM – Apologize to the group for having to sprint out of the meeting upon the completion of my program, BUT, I have a 3:00 flight to San Francisco.
• While waiting to board my flight I run into my British clients who through the sheer coincidence of a small planet, are heading to San Francisco also.  We visit about the impact of the work we started in 09 (they showed me their notebooks and they were using the Elegant Simplicity forms for their meeting planning – a sure sign of my ideas gaining traction).
• Take a 3 ½ hour flight to San Francisco.
• Rush to the hotel and change for a client dinner from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.
• Return to hotel to answer email and watch a House MD re run.

Ta – Da !

The weirdest part is I am totally at home in a day like that!  I actually love it.

Next week will have a quick trip to Houston, but most of it will be building upcoming programs.

Thanks to almost 300 of you who have asked for my movie list.  What started out as a joke almost 10 years ago has now turned into something of value.  I wonder if I can deduct the cost of movie tickets???

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Chris Ryan (my managing agent) recently shared with me a meeting he attended where one of the speakers had just returned from touring Asia and had some observations to share with the audience.  Chris thought they were interesting and he gave me the low down.

The speaker said that while we are watching TV, using social media instead of working and allowing entertainment to replace productivity the world is kick our business butt.  HUH?  WHAT??  Put the brakes on those thoughts.  I said, hmm, interesting perspective, but kind of WRONG.

How about a few facts?

SOCIAL MEDIA

Though we are the leaders in the innovative fields of constant connection, we are not even the key player.  QZone, the Chinese version of Facebook is way bigger and more active.  They already exceed 200 million unique postings per month compared with the 175 million of Facebook and are growing at an almost exponential rate.  This is not a productivity anchor, but instead a staggering business opportunity.

TV

We waste our lives watching TV and the rest of the world is working.  Here are the hours of TV watched per country according to Neilson Ratings;

• United Kingdom  -     28 hours per week per individual
• USA                            28 hours per week per individual
• Italy                              27 hours per week per individual
• Ireland             23 hours per week per individual
• France                        23 hours per week per individual

These numbers are impacted when I watch a House MD marathon.

Thing about this – most of the other worlds TV sucks and their still watching almost as much as we are.

The entertainment industry is approaching $500 billion in business.

PRODUCTIVITY

Using a study by the Boston Globe dated 12/31/08 and the United Nations Study dated 1/31/09 here are some interesting facts;

• The United States is second to only Norway (hey, what else is there to do in Norway).
• We achieve more in an hours work than any country but those damn Norway folks.
• We LEAD the world in overall labor productivity.
• Divide the GNP of a nation by the number of people employed and factor in wealth created per hour worked and compare us to the 27 European Union Nations, Switzerland and Japan and guess what.  Yep we are #2 next to those pesky Norwegians.  Damn, I better start a Norway study.

So, I’m not sure what the speaker was talking about, but if you simply THINK you can tell when something doesn’t sound right.  So, THINK!

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES: :  The Book of Eli  - First fun looking movie of the year.  Why is our future always depicted as a bleak, ravished world (except for Star Trek).

NetFlix Fans:  The Brothers Bloom: Quirky but really fun.

TV: Yahoo, new season time.  New House episodes, the Human Target on Fox this Sunday night looks entertaining.  NFL playoffs are raging.  The Simpson’s 20^th anniversary show was hilarious and drew 14.6 million viewers.  American Idol is still going strong.  It was the most non-sport watched show of the season.

Wait a minute, maybe we do watch too much TV.

BOOKS:  I, Sniper – Stephen Hunter brings back Bob Lee Swagger for a new adventure.  If you are not acquainted with Bob Lee start with the first book – Point of Impact.

MUSIC: I have been listening to Greg Trooper lately and really like his sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRHi_X87V0

WEB SITES: Looking for someplace to find real statistics.  This is a good source.

http://library.csun.edu/Find_Resources/Government_Publications/stathtml.html

SOUTH OF NORMAL

Since I spend a ton of time on the road and most hotels are kind enough to put a newspaper (remember what those things are?) on my door every morning, I get to see lots of colloquial news.  I, like Jay Leno, enjoy the occasional headline, so these are from only ONE WEEK of travel:

• Washington Blood Mobil Offers Beer to Blood Donors – way better than a cookie.
• Surgeon General Benjamin Wants A Healthier USA -  Shocking!
• Turkish Camel Wrestling Outlawed – There goes my reality TV idea.
• Chefs Create Largest Dish of Hummus -  This is news worthy?
• Boy Recovering From Chopstick Removed From Brain -  I was at a Chinese restaurant recently and saw a guy really struggling with is chopsticks so I understand how this happened.
• Country’s Only Hippo Escapes From Zoo – Those hippos are stealthy little critters.

I kid you not, all of these from one week of reading!

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

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

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

IN OUR WORLD

Here we go, a brand new year!  I love the opportunity it presents.

My 2010 started with a quick and very cold trip to New York where I had my second meeting on the idea of a new set of project s that would stretch throughout the year.  It would be a fantastic opportunity and forum to share my ideas around the Repeatable Successful Acts platform.    Then back home to Dallas where it is colder than New York!

My 2010 calendar is getting full and I had the first conflict on a date.

Next week I am off to San Francisco for a new project and I’m staying an extra day to touch base with my other Bay Area clients.

Wow, thanks for all the requests for my movie list.  I think I have sent out almost 200 hundred.  That’s really weird, since this whole idea started as a request I had from a client over 10 years ago.  Now I start getting requests for the list at the first part of November.  Recently at a party someone asked me; “what makes you a critic?”  I said; absolutely NOTHING.  She asked if I was paid for my opinion, that would make you a real critic she commented.  I said no, I wasn’t paid, BUT I get about 300 requests a year.  She said, DAMN, you are a critic!  Ha!

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Have you sat down and thought about this yet?  What can I do to make an impact on my career, on my company?  First things first.  I’m sure you figured out the key filter for this type of thinking;  you make an impact through the things you have a sense of control over.  Thus, market conditions are not a player in your impact decision.  You have NO control of any major bubble burst or market collapse.

There are three key measuring points to consider:

• Experience:  This is a tough one to control.  You only have as much of this as you have.  You may think of it as a time related point.  My son is just starting his career in insurance and he doesn’t have a any real experience.  But by looking for a mentor, someone WITH experience they can accelerate your learning.  Now, not only do you begin your time journey, but you have someone who can ADD their experience to your time.  Organizations that have actual mentoring programs can accelerate the experience curve.
• Knowledge: How much do you know about what you do?  Want a test?  Define what you do in 15 words.  This gives you a feel for how you describe what you know.  Now to gain more knowledge.  Some comes from experience but you can aggressively pursue the acquisition of knowledge.  Start by thinking outside your industry.  True, you need industry specific knowledge and that needs to be an element in your pursuit, but mix in some general business info.  Use Google Alerts or follow people like Guy Kawasaki on Twitter.  Build real time in your schedule to learn.
• Skills: How are your “chops”.  Do you spend time and money on getting better at what you do?  How are your communication skills?  How are your thinking skills?  Your skills are the foundation of your career and most people don’t make it a key mission in their life to just plain get better.  Take advantage of seminars offered by your company.  Go to lectures.  Make it your mission to find opportunities to learn.

Create a three part career plan for 2010 based on these components and you will have a simple, powerful leg up on the competition.

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES: :  We are in the typical first of the year movie phase.  Nothing to drive me to the theater.

NetFlix Fans:  The Informant: Quirky and goofy but Matt Damon does a great job.

TV: It’s football time with the NFL playoffs starting (come on Cowboys).  Most of my favorite shows resume next week.  New House on Monday!

BOOKS:  Influencer – By a bunch of authors.  This was a Christmas gift and it is written in a very readable fashion.  It is about how the power to change things.

MUSIC: The Boss doing an acoustic version of Blinded by the Light. Yep, he wrote that in 1973 (I think).  Though Dylan first recorded stream of consciousness songs, this it Bruce’s version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQoftsnFoxY&feature=related

WEB SITES: Interesting stuff, leaning to science.  You have to remember I am a scientist by education.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/

SOUTH OF NORMAL

One of my favorite writers is the clearly weird, odd, creative genius, Neil Gaiman (http://www.neilgaiman.com/ ).  Neil recently wrote a piece on where ideas come from.  In keeping with Neil’s kind of blunt answer he said; I make them up out of my head.”  Now that may seem obvious, but if you have studied the creative process like I have you would find that answer refreshing.

• Nobody really wants a three hour lecture on creativity.  They are simply interested in how creative people do it.  You watch a professional paint a room and you get it.  Read a riveting novel and you are thinking; how in the hell did he or she do this?
• Neil said he does not get ideas from his dreams.  Dream logic makes no sense at all.  Don’t believe me?  Ask someone to describe their dream.
• Ideas aren’t hard, it’s the connecting to a process that’s tough.
• You get a lot of ideas from being bored.  The difference is that some people actually notice the value of the thought.
• We ask questions, open ended questions – What if?  If only. . . .    I wonder what would happen?   If this goes on what next?

I loved Neil’s honesty.

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

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

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

IN OUR WORLD

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s time to make sure a few of those 2010 resolutions might actually take hold.  Make your plan is SIMPLE, yet impactful.  Apply the rule of 3.  No more than 3 areas and no more than 3 goals in each.  Even that is a lot, but manageable.  Be specific.  The classic, “loose weight” is a great example.  How much and over what period?  Make it specific.  Looking for categories, how about health, fun and growth.

I hit the ground running in 2010 and am off to NY the first week to look at the application of my strategic platforms within the existing culture of a potential new client.  A very exciting opportunity.

The first newsletter of 2010 is just about to launch and I will have it posted in next week’s blog as well as on my social network sites.

I have a fantastic opportunity with one of my favorite clients to present my ideas on the key trends that will impact business in 2010 to their entire production staff.  I have already started on the storyboards.

No time to rest for any of us.  Hit your 2010 plans hard and smart.  What, you don’t have a strong 2010 plan?  It’s not too late.  Give me a call and let me help you with the thoughtful reduction process to get a simple, powerful and elegant plan ready to go!

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

If you were to focus on ONE thing at the outset of a new year, what should it be?  The list could be a long one:

• Customer Centric Focus – Companies don’t go out of business because of the economy, they go out of business because they don’t have customers!
• Employee Skill Training and Growth – after all, what can have a bigger impact on your companies performance than team members with outstanding skills ready to apply them to your growth?
• Sales Strategies – Got to have sales and maybe a focus on tweaking your approach will yield better results.
• Ideas – Without a fresh supply of these your business becomes stale and flounders in yesterdays problems.

I believe one of the key growth areas will be defined by your focus on “connections”.  I know, you think I’m going to launch into a diatribe on social media, which by the way would not be a bad idea, but no, I want you to think about the connections that exist between you and your clients.  Take a few moments and map them out so you can see them.  Most of you will have:

• Client Facing – These are easy to see.  They are all the direct client connections you have.  Your sales force, your receptionist and anyone that comes into personal contact with your clients.
• Electronic:  Your web site, your blog, your newsletter any electronic media you use.

Take a few moments to think about all your connections.  Now that you have them listed, look for opportunities to strengthen them, ideas to increase their impact.

Connections will make things happen!

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES:    It’s Complicated:  Looking for a compromise movie for the weekend?  This is funny and well done.

NetFlix Fans:  Extract: Now this movie had a ton of potential, but fell just short of being great, but was still really good.

TV: Not much going on, but look for new seasons for a ton of great shows coming up in January.  Starting Sunday, HBO is again running, BAND OF BROTHERS.  If for some reason you missed this during its first run, don’t miss it this time.  It is a magnificent piece of entertainment!

BOOKS:  The Kill Artist – By Silva.  I am on my third book featuring the hero Gabriel Allon.  The Kill Artist is the first in the series.

MUSIC: A few words of wisdom for the new year from Pink Floyd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DODKTN3O2s

WEB SITES: As a new year dawns I am always driven to listen to Carl Sagan describe our existence in The Pale Blue Dot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJE_Ld-UyCk

SOUTH OF NORMAL

I don’t want to throw Tiger Woods under the bus any more than he has done himself, BUT I thought this was interesting.

Tiger WAS the perfect spokesperson, a deadly competitor, a breaker of racial barriers, a dominate world personality and many companies jumped on board.  Of course they are also jumping off with the turn of events that have not only impacted Tigers future but put a HUGE dent in shareholder value:

• An estimated $12 billion in market value has been lost to companies that had Tiger as a sponsor since his departure from competitive golf.
• The study compared overall market conditions and looked at a four year history, focusing on 9 key sponsors including Accenture, American Express, AT&T, Gillette (Proctor and Gamble) and Gatorade (PepsiCo).
• Taking into account regular market movement it was clear that Tiger was the main impact point.

Ouch!

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

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