Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .
IN OUR WORLD
What an absolutely, unbelievable fantastic week.
I jumped off the plane from Southern California on Sunday; hit the ground running with a full program on a new view on creating impact. It’s about decision making in relation to those actions that directly relate to impact. It’s about creating a filter to identify which actions are truly impactful. After that I had two conference calls to set projects for the 4th quarter. Quickly catching my breath I then jumped on a plane to Minneapolis for a full day educational workshop on “thinking skill sets” as part of a new visionary leadership program launched by a new client.
Arrived back home for a full day of meetings with 3 potential new clients.
I love the JAZZ created by the wide variety of clients I get to work within a myriad industries. I grow every time!
Next week it’s off to Colorado.
HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE
AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
This week I thought I would share some of the news stories that help me create examples for my programs. I am constantly studying publications for trends and ideas that support or even create new ideas in my work. Here are a couple that interested me:
- AMAZON: With the pressure created by the iPad on Amazon’s top position in digital readers Jeff Bezo’s has gone on the attack by launching the new Kindle (an updated version of the dominate digital reader). The new version is smaller, more powerful and lighter than the current model. More importantly it’s a hell of a lot cheaper. The two new models sell for $189 and $139 respectively. With 4 million Kindles already sold and digital book sales pushing out print books, this move should add a couple of million sales by year end. It will be interesting to see the impact a strong strategy like this has on rival digital readers like the Sony Reader and the Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
- BP & THE DISAPPEARING OIL: The latest twist on the environmental disaster of the gulf oil spill is that it seems most of the oil spilled by the huge leak has disappeared. Huh? What do mean disappeared? Apparently everyone else is thinking the same thing. It seems the spill has rapidly shrunk in size. No one seems to know where the oil has gone. 126 – 218 million gallons of oil has leaked from the BP Deepwater Horizon well with about 80 million skimmed, captured or burned off in containment efforts. Dr. Aixin Hou and environmental and pollution professor at LSU credits, summer heat accelerating the biodegradation process and help of oil eating microbes. Weird.
- PILES OF MONEY: It seems many big companies have been stockpiling cash created by the recent upswing in various parts of the economy. Yep, companies are behaving like us. Many Americans have been saving up cash trying to figure out what to do with it. It is estimated that there are billions and billions of dollars sitting with people too confused or scared to know what to do with it. They call it “sideline” money. Money not working for the individual or the economy. Well companies do the same thing. Non-financial companies in the S&P 500 could be sitting on as much as $837 billion waiting for some “sign” that it’s safe to invest in both the future and growth. They are just like us, kind of scared to spend. Most of the biggest holders of cash are technology companies. They hold piles of dough trying to prepare for big event shifts in technology. But they won’t hold on to this money forever and once they start releasing it jobs will grow.
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES: Dinner for Schmucks: Funny and a wonderfully odd movie.
NetFlix Fans: North By Northwest: Just saw a great documentary on Cary Grant and it made me think of how much I love this Hitchcock movie and how elegant Grant is in the starring role.
TV: CBS is re-booting the classic Hawaii Five-O this fall. The cast has obviously changed, but the names will remain the same as will the driving theme song that became one of the most memorable in TV history.
BOOKS: The Dark River – John Twelve Hawks: This is the sequel to The Traveler, a mystic, thriller mystery (great combination). The author’s pseudonym hides a person supposedly who live completely “off the grid.” Way cool!
MUSIC: This song popped up on my iPod during my flight home from Minneapolis and I fondly remembered how much I loved it. Loudon Wainwright III singing School Days.
WEB SITES: Interesting blog for any serious or casual athlete:
http://blog.80percentmental.com/
SOUTH OF NORMAL
I am very interested in South of Normal thinking. In fact I am going to brand this little corner of my universe and set up a South of Normal club you can join with logo material and all sorts of good stuff.
In a couple of the magazines I read I have seen articles about Felix Baumgartner (http://felixbaumgartner.com/index.php?id=8 ) and his goal of jumping out of a high altitude balloon and skydiving to earth. OK, I agree, kind of death wishy is you ask me, but when you read the articles you think, OK, still kind of death wishy!
He will ride a balloon to about 23 miles above the earth’s surface, jump out in a pressurized suit and free fall through the sky. In about 35 seconds HE will break the sound barrier and what happens after that, well, it’s all theory.
I have an interest in adrenaline junkies who seem to find their highest quality of life when their tiny little gland floods their system with this high test neurotransmitter. Most of these X style athletes are living in the high end neighborhood of South of Normal.
Check out Felix. I might send him the first t-shirt!
Drop me a note with your comments at steve@creativeventures.com
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.
Leave a Reply