Week of April 14, 2008

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

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

WOW, thanks for the ton of email about my experience at the Masters.  I had no idea so many of you loved and played golf.  Also thanks for all the Masters facts you sent.  Sorry Tiger couldn’t pull off another win.

 

I spent time in New York this week working on a continued sales and management strategy.  It was a great trip.  Beautiful spring weather (though the sun does not hit the streets thanks to the skyscrapers), flights that actually flew and one of them even left ON TIME!  A great client with a true desire to push towards his team’s potential.  With that one, simple aspect of leadership, you can change the way you do business!

 

Monday will have me flying to the Pacific Northwest as the green gem of Seattle beckons.  Not only is it a great project and another chance to introduce our latest sales model based on the Repeatable Successful Acts research, but I will get to hit the Portage Bay Café for one of the best breakfasts in the world!

 

We finished a huge video project and the end result so far exceeded even my expectations that it has brought tears to everyone’s eyes who have watched it.  Rich Media drives markets and allows you to assume a leadership position unlike any other form of marketing.  And it’s dirt cheap!

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

Time for a little “scatter shooting”:

 

• In 1899, Charles Duell, the then Commissioner of the US Patent Office, recommended to Congress to close the Office down to save money; “Everything that can be invented – has already been invented.”  Lucky we didn’t take that advice!  In Geneva, some 750 inventors from 45 countries will be looking for a market for their ideas.  An amazing 43% of participants will have their invention picked up by distributors and investors.  Ideas never die.  Just think about music.  There are only 7 notes upon which music is based yet everyday new songs are created.

 

• We have always been a visual company.  We use graphics to depict ideas.  Our programs have a minimum amount of text; instead we communicate our ideas with startling images.  It seems to be a popular idea.  More and more companies are using pictures to help communicate complex issues and ideas.  The great UPS commercials with the guy sketching are exactly how we “storyboard” our ideas.    Facebook is based on a “social graph” – a visual model of how people interact.  More visual and less language strategies help communicates complex issues.  Learning to draw is simple.  Take a look at the “BOOKS” section of this blog for some help.

 

 

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOVIES:     88 Minutes with Al Pacino might get my money this weekend.

 

NetFlix Fans:  Shattered –   A spectacular mystery and one that made my wife famous by taking a challenge to figure it out before the end.  She did it in amazing fashion.

 

TV:    Not watching anything. 

 

BOOKS:  Rapid Viz  by Hanks and Bellisoton and Design Primer by Porter and Goodman  are fantastic books to teach you how to do quick sketch drawing.  Also try The Creative License by Gregory.

 

MUSIC:  I was visiting with a friend about this great Billy Joel song.  Hope you like it!

 

 

 

WEB SITES:   Great gadget stuff.

 

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

Yep, that big sucking sound you heard on the 15^th was everyone sending in their US dues to the IRS.  Here are few mind numbing facts:

 

• In 2006, $2.5 trillion tax dollars were collected.
• Over 140,000,000 returns were filed.
• The average refund in 2007 was $2,225.
• Surprisingly, only 10% of us wait until the last day to file our returns or extensions.
• The US has the 4^th lowest tax burden of the 30 OECD countries.  So stop bitching.
• The government estimates it fails to collect about $345,000,000,000 each year.

 

“It is the familiar that usually eludes us.

What is before our nose is what we see last.”

William Barrett

 

 

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

 

 

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