Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .
IN OUR WORLD
I’m coming to you live from “kind of wintery” Minneapolis in week two of my 17 cities in 7 week tour. This week had me in Los Angeles, Costa Mesa and now Minneapolis. It was wicked fun as I had the opportunity to share ideas with entirely new groups of sales professionals.
The travel is a real challenge but as a seasoned road warrior, you get sort of used to it. The problem is that as you get into winter season travel and both packing and problems will tend to increase in size. The schedule is tight and any change in the weather that delays flights will throw a real wrench into the works. So far, so good.
In between jet setting around the country, I have a ton of other stuff still on my plate:
- Curriculum Design: I have two 2011 curriculum projects for two different clients that I am honored to be involved with. Both are in content development phases with incredibly challenging delivery models due to over 30 offices involved in the training.
- Idea Integration: I have a large Repeatable Successful Acts integration project that has the possibility to have a huge impact on 2011. We just in the integration discussion part of the project.
- Creative Ventures Projects: I have a lot of stuff going on internally with a new web site getting ready to launch, new videos in post production mode and the development of my 2011 plan needing attention.
All in all, it’s busy, exciting and fun times!
HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE
AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
I thought I would “scatter shoot” about some interesting stuff, so here is a hodgepodge of tidbits:
- US Air is gear up for a rush of predicted business. They are hiring 500 pilots and flight attendants. Couple that with Delta’s getting ready to add a 1000 flight attendants and pilots and this could point to resurgence in air travel.
- Chrysler, once the poster child for bad autos, just behind GM is riding the success of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee to find its way within sight of profitability. They cut losses in half in the 2nd quarter and by year end the project to triple operating profits. Not bad Jeepsters. I miss my Wrangler!
- Ebooks on the rise. I have written a number of times about the rise of electronic books, so it’s no real news that the numbers are still booming. Here is the interesting thing about the evolution of the Kindle age; publishers won their fight to get higher prices for their ebook editions and this actually made companies like Amazon more profitable as they had been eating a huge hunk of the reduced prices of their ebooks. With a little money in their pockets they applied their new found gains to reducing the price of their readers. The web based Kindle is now $139 making it a must buy this holiday season.
I know I get accused of being an optimist when it comes to American business, but I am blessed with seeing the picture from a much larger frame than most. Every week I am working with a variety of businesses ranging from financial services to food services. This expanded view provides me a different perspective and I am seeing distinct signs of positive business movement.
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES: Unstoppable : I’m a big Denzel fan and though this looks like a mindless action movie, I think that will fit the movie going bill!
NetFlix Fans: Sherlock – Season I: If you missed the updated Sherlock (Holmes in modern day London) that I have been RAVING about, this is your chance to watch all three episodes’.
TV: The new season of the USA Network shows hit the TV screen this week with Burn Notice and Psych, both worthy of your DVR!
BOOKS: Hell’s Corner – Baldacci: I continue on my favorite author fiction tour as Baldacci gives us the 4th book in the Camel Club series. I love these characters and the 3rd book in the series was one of the best books I have read in recent memory.
MUSIC: I was listening to Paul Simon on my way back from Southern California and thought you might enjoy this version of Still Crazy After All These Years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bkXgxb66E
WEB SITES: Want to think like Sherlock Holmes? This is a good starting point.
http://www.wilywalnut.com/sherlock.html
SOUTH OF NORMAL
Hard to believe that watching a card game would become a major TV event but the World Series of Poker has become a watching phenom. ESPN had 25 Hi-Def cameras (including lipstick cams that showed each players “hole” cards). Those cameras were manned by a 71 person production team. The stakes are high with the winner, 23 year old Jonathon Duhamel walking away with $8.9 million. This has become a young person’s game with most of the players in their 20’s.
The internet has created an entire population of card sharks by providing great opportunities to learn and play.
Poker is a REALLY BIG DEAL!
Drop me a note with your comments at steve@creativeventures.com
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.
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