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

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

Finishing up my first week in London.  Not only did I get some typically tourist stuff done, but started a new client relationship with strategy meetings.  Both my client and I had the same trepidations about a culture clash.  The mitigating aspect is that they do most of their business in the States so they are looking for the type of ideas I was bringing.  The key is the right application.  I hope to have the opportunity to work with their management team on building the traction that will give the type of impact they have the potential of achieving. 

 

We are getting a break in the weather and after a few meetings I will get some time with Laura to take in a few more sights.  We are headed to the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon, Westminster, London Tower and a few more on Laura’s master list.  It seems we have walked across the country as everything is a combination of a tube ride and a long walk.  I love the combination.

 

London is wonderful during the Holidays.  Every night after dinner (food is not the #1 attraction in London, but we have found some favorites) Laura and I walk through the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London) and the other hot spots.  They are jammed with holiday activities and the strange combination of a modern city with its Victorian aspects creates kind of a magical feel.  The famous “Black Cab’s” are fantastic.  Clean as a whistle and the cabbies are highly trained to know every street in London.  They also give you a great social/travel dialog with the ride.  It takes about 1 minute to catch one.  The Tube is the best mass transit system I have ever seen and a way cool iPhone app that shows you exactly where you go and where you catch a train.

 

Back in the States on Sunday.

 

 

 

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

 

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

As you know I am in the idea business and I always focus on the key aspect of value – their application.  Ideas are looking for traction, that elusive aspect that makes an idea take off.  Here are a few traction ideas:

• Do it.  The old Nike motto is as applicable in idea application as it is in running.  What holds back a new idea is the fear of DOING IT.  You need to get started.  Leadership is about movement.  The application of doing new ideas is the actual movement of their application.
• Accountability:  I am amazed at the number of times organizations lack the hardnosed attribute of holding people accountable for their actions.  If, a new strategy is put into play and no one is pushing the idea, checking on it, making sure it is in play, its ability to create impact is very limited. 
• Measure:  Find the scale that makes sense for the idea.  How will you determine impact?  Have you provided the right space between the cause (the new idea) and effect (the impact)?  Ideas are measurable; they simply need the right methodology.

Those are the 3 key steps in the APPLICATION of ideas, in the creation of traction and most importantly, in the potential of IMPACT!

 

 

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOVIES:    The Fantastic Mr. Fox will make my Top 10 list for sure.  It is a wonderful film.

 

NetFlix Fans:  Amelie:   During a dinner in London, Laura and I started listing our favorite ‘small” movies.  You know those small, little treats that kind of snuck up on you.  Amelie was a ‘drag to” (your significant other drags you kicking and screaming) but I fell in love with this little gem.

 

TV:    I swear to you, my only BIG complaint is TV in London.  I am working here and so I don’t stay out drinking pints with my new mates.  I like to watch a little telly before I snooze off.  Our hotel gives you four channels.  YEP, four channels.  All are BBC stuff.  The highlight of their TV is Frasier re-runs.  Man, I miss my sports and my House.

 

BOOKS:  A Study in Scarlett – By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  I got to visit 221 B Baker St. the mythological address of the most famous detective of all time.  Great book to introduce you to the master of “inductive and deductive’ thinking.

 

MUSIC:   David Gray started out as a Tube musician in the underground in London.   I have heard some great folks playing during my trips on the subway and I thought I would give you a taste of one that made it big.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPCMsl9tOIU         

 

WEB SITES:   One you will want to bookmark.

 

 

 www.visitlondon.com     

 

 

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

 

In the US, the newspaper business is dying, but here in the UK there are so many daily newspapers I can’t even keep up.  Some are “rags” that read like the National Enquirer, while others are conservative regular style papers.  Here are a couple of British South of Normal Stories:

 

• Famous British actors leaving the great schools of London to attend university in the US.  Emma Watson of Harry Potter film fame is headed to Brown University in Rhode Island. 
• The paper reports on a French book – La Face Cachee des Fesses (The Hidden Side of the Bottom), that is the result of a “highbrow” study on the impact of the derriere on society.
• The papers are filled with Tiger Woods stories, so much that I would not be surprised to hear he has met with aliens.  It is unbelievable the speed with which Tiger has fallen in the social/ sports circles.  But as the news quickly reminds us, the price of celebrity is an up and down ride.

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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