A Sad Conclusion…

Image via Wikipedia

I recently finished an article in Commentary magazine by Danny Gordis about the existential threat to Israel which Iran poses. (Sadly, the article doesn’t seem to be available online yet).

After reading it, I’ve come to an upsetting conclusion.

First, the assumptions:

1. Iran is actively seeking to build a nuclear weapon
2. Iran’s leadership is comfortable with the idea of using a nuclear weapon against Israel, even if it means a retaliatory strike

Now, the conclusions

1. the “international community” will not be able to create sufficient pressure on Iran to abandon its goals through sanctions or other diplomatic means. Some will want to avoid conflict, some will want to profit from dealing with Iran anyway.
2. the US, at the present time, does not have the courage/willpower to engage Iran militarily to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure
3. Israel has the most to lose of any country in the world if Iran gains the bomb
4. Israel is going to have to strike Iran militarily and suffer the self-righteous condemnation of others for its actions (and there’s no guarantee that the strike will be successful.)

Scary, I know.

Nothing like some light reading for Monday morning.

Even if you’re not 88 or Canadian…

You will love this story about the mayor of Mississauga.

Thanks to Nancy for the link.

Every Moment of Strategic Importance…

Cover via Amazon

The line that has stuck with me for the past few months from Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle is the one where the authors say that a key driver of Israel’s ability to innovate is that “every moment is one filled with the utmost of strategic importance.”

Now, an existential threat to your life and the growth of a business hardly compare in real terms, but in nominal terms, I’ve started to look at every interaction that way.

Perhaps that’s why I get so tense sometimes.

I look at the upcoming month of October and think about the number of deliverables which are coming due and how each of them represent, in some way, the culmination of many months of work.

And, the results of those interactions will, at least in some part, be the verdict of whether (at the moment), the Never Stop Marketing voyage is on the right track.

That makes every moment leading up to the 1st two weeks of October one of "strategic importance.”

And while that is nerve-wracking, it also forces a prioritization which may not otherwise occur. It puts you in the moment.

And that’s really life-affirming.

Travel and Kids…What’s the balance?

This isn’t about travelling with kids.
It’s about traveling without them.
I’m very fortunate at the moment to have a lot of business opportunities and in my role as co-provider, I feel an obligation to take advantage of them.
On the other hand, when you go to places like Delhi, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, and Seattle, it means you are gone for a few days.
And, with time zones, it’s not always easy to connect for bedtime, etc.
It’s exciting, of course, to have the chance to travel, but I don’t want to be an absentee father. I want to be involved.
At the same time, this is the business life I have chosen (for now) and I kind of have to go where the business is (don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but you know what I mean.)
It’s that eternal search for balance. Tough as always.

The Value of Books…

Image via CrunchBase

As I shared last week, I am really in love with the Amazon Kindle platform.
But, at the same time, I’ve read about studies that say that the number of books in a house are a key determinant of a child’s future academic success.
So, the question then is: what’s the balance?
Clearly (at least to me), it’s not all or one.

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Jew’s Ear Juice…and the Secret of Jewish Success

I’ve long heard that the Chinese equate “Jew” with “business acumen.”

Heck, I actually thought that Jews could run seminars in China teaching the key components. Thing is, we don’t know. Or do we?

Well, in China, there’s a drink called “Jew’s Ear Juice” which is kind of like Gatorade for business, I guess.

On a more practical level is a recent gift I received from my buddy, Jeremy Lustman, called Jewish Wisdom for Business Success: Lessons from the Torah and Other Ancient Texts

Now, you’ll probably get faster results drinking the beverage from China, but for sustained performance, you may want to consider some of the ideas offered by Brackman (a Rabbi) and Jaffe (a business writer).

They demonstrate how many of the traits that are rewarded in business are actually the morals of stories in the Old Testament.

How we learn to deal with failure (from Moses’ mistake of hitting the rock in the desert instead of talking to it) is just one of them.

They further expound that much of the knowledge extended from the Torah and the teaching of the Rabbis build off of that, such as one of my favorits, “The whole world is a narrow bridge. The important thing is to have no fear.” (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov).

If I were Brackman and Jaffe’s marketing advisor, I’d tell them to get the book translated into Mandarin.

I enjoyed it as it gave me yet another angle on the books of the tradition and proves that, even on the Sabbath, it’s ok to never stop marketing :-)

The Crib Milestone…

We’ve lived in our house for almost 6 years.

Every single night we’ve lived here, there’s been a crib in the corner of the room which is still called “The Nursery.”

Until last night.

Nadia is used to sleeping on a mattress now and so, the time has come to bookend the Crib chapter.

For a few minutes, I just stood there, looking at the room sans crib. Taking in the moment, recognizing its significance and appreciating this buena vista of the journey.

Yom Kippur

Image via Wikipedia

Strange as it may seem, Yom Kippur is my favorite holiday.

I love the intensity of it. The forced introspection.

And, despite the fact that I haven’t eaten, I usually find myself uplifted by the end of the day.

This year, though, I had a hard time.

For most of the day, I couldn’t get my mind off of a nagging business problem.

It troubled me greatly. I felt pretty shallow that I couldn’t focus on my spiritual improvement as I felt like I should.

That made me angry with myself.

Around 6pm, I knew that time was literally running out and I thought back to the numerous sporting events where I had seen one team pull out a “fantastic finish” to win the game in improbable fashion.

I realized that this was precisely what I had to do.

So, instead of berating myself, I started to ask: “well, what is the spiritual opportunity for growth within this business situation?”

And, you know what? I found it.

Well, more than one, in particular, but I think I came away with a greater appreciation for rumination and reflection (instead of reflexively fast reaction) and empathy for the other person on the side of this issue.

Still…not the typical “high” I was hoping for, but an interesting (and satisfactory) conclusion.

The Power of a Women’s Education…

Image by candyschwartz via Flickr

My mom is a graduate of an all-woman college and swears by it.

On my flight to Boston the other day, I met a fascinating woman, Lauren Brisky who is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of Simmons College.

To say she is a passionate believer in the value of the education she received there is a major understatement. She really sold me on the benefits of all-women colleges (maybe Tonka and Nadia will go there?) and I found myself a believer.

Hey, being the father of daughters has changed my worldview.

What’s more, we had a fascinating conversation about the future of higher education in the US (she’s the former CFO of Vanderbilt), American competitiveness, and some of the disturbing trends we are seeing.

The video interview I made her do (heh, heh) is a good one. I hope you’ll take 4 minutes to check it out.

In Harvard Yard…Without a Car

The Never Stop Marketing express took me to Boston this week.

A beautiful city, particularly this time of year, and as is my travel requirement, I was determined to do ONE thing that was unique to the city.

So, I took the “T” to Harvard Square and walked through Harvard Yard.

They have lawn chairs out and I sat there (hoping the brainpower would rub off via osmosis) doing some work in the afternoon sun for a few hours.

Here’s my picture of the Yard with John Harvard himself on the left side (well, his statue).

When I was in high school, I applied to Harvard…and was waitlisted. Glad to know that I finally got in ;-)

How convincing is this video?

I’m trying to convincingly convey the idea of “Never Stop Marketing” in a video. This is the first whack at it.
I’d love your feedback. It’s (currently) 5 mins long.  Brutal honesty is appreciated.

Tennessee on my Mind…

Over Labor Day weekend, the NFO and I took our first trip together sans kids since having them.

A short jaunt to Nashville, aka Music City USA, for the bat mitzvah of the daughter of one of the NFO’s best friends.

Now, my philosophy on travel (adopted from my dad) is that you must do something unique to the locale you are visiting.

On business trips, I set a goal of at least 1 attraction.

On personal trips (though after generating at least 1 lead in Nashville, I suppose there’s no such thing), I aim for 2 or 3.

Well, on this one, I made it to the Hermitage, home of America’s 7th president, Andrew Jackson.

After watching the film narrated by Martin Sheen and certainly updated to cover Jackson’s less than glorious treatment of women, native Americans, and blacks, we learned that “Jacksonian Democracy” and the birth of the Democratic party was actually the language utilized by all of these groups to ultimately advance their own causes….so I guess he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

I was reminded of some of the aspects of Jackson from my 10th grade US History class with Mrs. Powers and the fact that, shall we say, not everyone thought that Jackson’s “urbane savage” and “autocratic democratic” styles were the best.

Still, I enjoyed the hour or so of American history.

One puzzling moment was at the entrance. The fee was $17 and, if you go to the Hermitage, you are there because you wanted to be. It’s not like it’s in a strip mall.

Well, the family in front of me got into a heated debated about whether the money was worth it or not. Now, certainly, I have NO idea of their financial standing, but I do know that they were on vacation and HAD gone out there.

And, well, especially with your kids (theirs were teenagers), I kind of feel like…if you are already there, better to suck it up and just pay. I, too, hesitated at the price tag, but figured I probably wouldn’t be back for a long time (I had been there once before about 20 years ago), so at less than $1/year, it’s paid off for me well.

I’m not trying to judge them at all, but I did take note of it.

The other two stops were the campus of Vanderbilt University, founded by Commodore Perry with a grant of $1 million (in today’s dollars that’s $18.5 million today or more, depending on how you compare-see here),

and Centennial Park, built to celebrate, you guessed it the 100th anniversary of the state of Tennessee.

The main attraction is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon from Greece, in part, I believe because Nashville is known as “the Athens of the South” for its commitment to education/knowledge.

I also discovered that it is the “silicon valley of healthcare business,” but that’s a topic for another day.

Special kudos to the NFO for her willingness to go.

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CD Serendipity..

The NFO and I were in Nashville over Labor Day weekend.

We rented a car. Nothing special there.

Then, we found that the previous renter had left a homemade CD of his/their music in the car.

It was pretty good (or so I thought at least—the NFO did not concur) and I thought that it was a nice, little random moment that sometimes happens.

I left it in the car for the next person…pay it forward, I suppose.

Being the footnote..

Now that I’m a notary public, I have the distinction of being a footnote in the lives of others.

I helped a teenager get his first car (title transfer from a grandparent.)

Helped an infant get a passport.

Helped a young woman process the estate of her recently deceased mother.

In a chat with a dear friend the other day, he questioned whether his line of work really, truly had meaning.

I asked him to peel away the layers of the day-to-day and determine what it was that he was REALLY doing.

In that, by solving people’s problems, there is a noble calling.

I suspect, if we all look deep enough, we can find that purpose within our own work.

What my wife looks like…one perspective

We were at lunch the other day with some friends and a couple we had just met.

The husband of the new couple turned to me (everyone else was listening) and said:

“I hope you’ll excuse me if I say something offensive. It’s just that your wife looks EXACTLY like my least favorite person in the world.”

May you be inscribed…

Image via Wikipedia

in the Book of Life.

Shana Tova and Happy New Year.

Benefits of digital notetaking…

A few weeks ago, I shared how the Livescribe smart pen was starting to impact my life.

Well, as I’ve continued to use it, I’ve found another benefit, which I share in this video. I’ve found it to be pretty helpful when composing proposals and summaries for clients.

How I fell in love with Amazon Kindle…

Here’s a video explaining why I (finally) got my eyes opened to the power of Amazon’s Kindle platform (not device, as you will see).

I think iBooks on the iPad is good, but what I can do now is truly amazing and it’s finally enough to push me digital on my book purchases.

I had held out primarily because of the fact that I like to read the books, mark them up, and then give them away as gifts (while admitting that I read them, of course), but the benefits of what I can do now are so superior.

There is a small twinge of pain as I think the idea of the book carries so much power with it, but I’m a Schumpeterian….

When kids talk like adults…

Last week’s carpool was the first time I had driven this school year.

Somehow, along the way, I asked our neighbor’s kids (15 and 13) about procrastination among their classmates.

It led to a serious, philosophical discussion about the nature, benefits, and causes of procrastination.

I knew these guys were smart, but we hadn’t really had a chat like this.

It reminded me that when I was in 10th grade, I too, had opinions which I could express.

I had somehow forgotten that, but enjoyed being reminded of it.

Solo Fatherhood Declaration of Victory

Image via Wikipedia

As I shared, the NFO was away for a bit last week.

My task (which I did choose to accept) was to be “on point” from about 6pm on Wed. night (after the Nanny left) until about 9am the next morning (after dropping off Nadia at school).

The evening was pretty straightforward. I’m experienced in that department.

The morning (and those who know me know I am not a morning person) was about getting EVERYONE up and ready, driving carpool for Tikkanen and Jokkanen, coming home and coaxing Lakkanen to get ready in time and then take her to school.

It began at 6.35 (did I mention I’m not a morning person?)

It ended, successfully, at 9:12am, when I entered the house after returning from dropping Gianni off at school.

Those 2 hours and 37 minutes were non-stop intensity and, as I walked through the door, I literally raised my hands in the air and danced a jig (Irish, of course).

From the mouths of babes…

The NFO was away for a day and a half this week (Wed-Thurs), so I was “on point.”

Thursday morning, it was my responsibility to drive carpool and because the NFO was away, I had to take Nadia with us to drop off Tikkanen and Paco.

Thing is, for reasons I won’t go into right now, the TWO car seats that we have for her were not in our house or available.

I wouldn’t say I panicked, but I started to get concerned. I started thinking how I could make this happen and hatched a somewhat crazy backup plan.

While I was scurrying about, Tonka said to me, “I want to tell you something.”

“Not now, princess, I have to figure this out.”

After a few more minutes of phone calls and machinations, she said, “hey, why don’t we just take the booster seat that nobody likes and attach the part from the basement?”

I stood there shocked.

She remembered what I had forgotten.

We actually HAD a car seat that would work for Nadia, but it had been disassembled to a booster for so long that it didn’t occur to me (or the NFO, whom I had consulted.)

Sure enough, that was the best answer. We did it. Problem solved.

I kicked myself…and reminded myself (after the kick), that “you know, my kids are pretty damn smart.”

Kindergarten Memories…

On Monday, Paco went off to Kindergarten.

Kid #2 going to school.

And it made me emotional (just as much as when Tonka went off to school last year), but also because I realize that my kids are fully into the “age of memory.”

I have some clear visions of Kindergarten in my head and still have many, believe it or not, friends who were in my class.

Ironically enough, the day before, I went to a baseball game with just such a friend, Mark Spira.

We’ve been friends for 32 years and the night before, because I had been looking through my scrapbook for the picture of Bill Clinton with me (see yesterday’s post), I found a picture of the two of us from then.

Wonder if they get many takers?

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My Kids and Presidents…

My kids are ENAMORED with the Presidents of the US now.

They both can name them all in order.

Ask them a question, say “who was the 27th President?” and they will tell you.

It’s ridiculous.

They go around saying, “I really want to go see the house of John Quincy Adams.”

In the car ride to the beach, they were quizzing my sister on Presidential trivia.

When she failed to answer correctly, they just plainly stated, “Aunt Kira, you aren’t very good at this.”

I had the chance to be a hero to my son the other day, as we went down the list of Presidents (again!) and he asked me if I had any connection to any of them (a visit to a memorial, a presidential library, an inauguration, etc…they all count. Even Mt. Rushmore counts).

But, when I said, “well, I have a picture of me standing next to Bill Clinton,” he said, “Let’s go look at it RIGHT NOW!!”

And so, digging through my scrapbooks (pre-digital), I found the picture from when I met Clinton while he was Governor of Arkansas, right before he went on to give a long-winded 35 minute speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1992 in Atlanta.

My son was impressed.

My Son and Cheerleaders…

Image via Wikipedia

Jokkanen is 5 years old. Going into kindergarten.

The other day, we were flipping through the local Jewish community paper and there was an article about a woman who is a med student and is also believed to be the first Jewish cheerleader for the Houston Texans.

Accompanying the article, was a picture of her wearing her cheerleader outfit.

When I flipped the page, I didn’t even notice it (really!) and Jokkanen said to me, “why is her tummy showing?”

I told him that it was part of her outfit and made no further mention of it.

Then, I turned a few pages beyond it.

A few minutes later, I came back and he had flipped the paper back to her picture.

“Why are you looking at the picture?” I asked.

“Because,” he said.

“Because isn’t a reason,” I explained.

And then he said, “I don’t know why I want to look at it.”

But, he just did.

I just found that very curious.

The “Pick Your Brain” Conundrum

I’m a little bit stuck right now.

On the one hand, I LOVE talking with people about their marketing/career challenges.

I also have, in some respect, built the brand by a desire/willingness to invest in others.

On the other, I am extremely filled up with projects for paying clients right now…all the way through the end of 2010. Which is great.

Well, except for the fact that I will get 3-5 emails per week saying “hey, I’d like to pick your brain/have a call on topic X.”

Say each call is 20 minutes…that’s 1-2 hours of time. Which, when you factor in work obligations and all of the other stuff I want to do, is actually a lot.

Now, I don’t want to respond and say “sorry, I’ve no time for you.”

And I don’t want to just do a pithy 1 sentence response, like “good luck with that.”

Sometimes I’ll say “hey, I’ve blogged on this, did you search for it?” Or “hey, that could be a good blog topic.”

But, I don’t want people, those who believe in me and are willing to be my advocates to walk away and say “hey, he doesn’t really care about me.”

And, worst of all, I don’t want to appear arrogant.

I’m open to suggestions.

(Note: judging from Jason Falls’ post, there are others who have this issue)

DC: View from Above

 

It wasn’t surprising when the Park Ranger at the entrance to the monument said, in response to the statement, “I bet you meet people from all over world,”:

“Well, I can tell you where I don’t meet people from. Right here. Washington, DC”

But it was a bit sad.

And, that is precisely why we continue to make it a priority to explore this incredible city.

I think I visited the top of the Washington Monument once, maybe 25 years ago, but doing so and taking in the vista made me appreciate just how fantastic the layout of it all is. Pierre L’Enfant, who designed it, really did some magnificent work.

The kids, who are very much into all things presidential at the moment, loved it as well.

Tickets are free and you can order them in advance. For a small free, they will send them to your house.

Totally worth it.

I’m pretty happy with these two pictures that I took on my phone.

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Harley-Davidson’s Business History Lesson

I’m very excited about the evolution and growth of Never Stop Marketing and I hope it continues.

But, as a history major, I know that the reason we study history is so that we don’t repeat it.

Watching the Harley-Davidson biography from CNBC the other night, I was humbled and reminded by how things can go very well…and then, not so well.

A company that is over 100 years old and is, without a doubt, an American icon has seen its share of turmoil.

I think the lesson here is like the eternal lesson, be it the “7 years of feast, followed by 7 years of famine,” the “grasshopper and ant parable” or any other sage advice about preparing for lean times.

The good times don’t always last.

But I think there’s another lesson.

What HD did to survive and prosper was to not give up, keep innovating (dare I say ‘Never Stop Marketing’?) and to take smart risks when others were afraid.

The “Guru” BS detector

Disclosure: This post may cross the Self-Promotion/Arrogance line. If yes, please flame me.

When it comes to Web Analytics, few (maybe none) are better than Avinash Kaushik. That’s why he is one of the few folks I follow on Twitter.

I saw this tweet a while back and it got me thinking (actually a moment of self-doubt of being revealed as a fraud), since sometimes people do call me a “guru.”

I tend to shy away from the term (that’s why I like Marketing Navigator), but I think it’s important to do a self-check every once in a while.

In fact, that’s why we have the Todd Newfield Award on this site, since his rule #1 was “Never believe your own BS!”

While there’s no doubt I talk about marketing, community, and technology a lot, I took a look at myself and said “do I really do it?”

Here’s what I came up with.

• Gretchen Rubin reached #1 on the NYT best-seller list (testimonial)
• JackBe became a Forrester “Groundswell” Award Finalist (CEO testimonial and VP/mktg and Commty Mgr)
• Microsoft pilot drove 20 deals/237 opportunities in 90 days for a new product-BPOS (testimonial 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• Microsoft project generated 559% ROI (testimonial)
• Global 360 creating a story that “sticks” and led to new opportunities (CMO and VP/mktg)
• Yes To Carrots increased average purchase price by 25% for 72% of their community members (CEO)
• Dan Pink went to top of Business Week best-seller list for Johnny Bunko (Dan's testimonial)
• and 5 WOM Slams 

Whether this makes me a “Guru” or a Guru is up to you, but if marketing is about perception (and it is), then having people perceive you as a Guru (or thought leader) and you being able to substantiate those claims with stories, facts, and evidence would seem to me to be a competitive advantage.

So, the Lesson:

1. Document your successes.
2. Get credible sources to validate your successes.

One idea: The Flip Cam has been one of my great acquisitions and I’ve been able to populate my YouTube NSM channel with authentic videos.

The Self-Promotion:Arrogance Line

Image by TCOYD via Flickr

This is a tough one.

On the one hand, if you don’t tell people about what you can do and have done (we’ll leave out the HOW you do that for the moment), well, no one will ever want to hire you, buy from you, etc.?

On the other hand, if ALL you do is talk about how bleepin’ great you are…well, then no one will want to work with you because you are so damn arrogant.

It’s a fine line and, like many things, I am sure it differs for many people.

After my post, LinkedIn Recommendations as Art, Kelly Close of Close Concerns, a Raving Fan (dare I say?) sent me this note:

This is good.

I'm amazed at all the self-promotion you do and it always just stops short of arrogance and is nice and teaches us all something!

That meant a lot to me and I started to wonder:

What is the difference?

I may be oversimplifying, but perhaps it is embedded in Kelly’s note.

Does the self-promotion also teach and share?

Or is it JUST self-promotion?

If you talk about what you’ve done AND help others see a new opportunity, that may be the balance.

Now, take a look at this “Am I a guru?” post and let me know which side of the line I’m on.

LEGO around the World: An Inspiration

In our latest family outing, we took the kids to a LEGO exhibit at the National Building Museum.

The exhibit entails replicas of world-famous structures all made out of Lego.

That’s for starters and, then, of course, the obligatory play area for the kids, followed by the LEGO gift shop…genius.

Reminds me of my tour of the Heineken brewery where they let you drink for 45 minutes for free…then opened up the gift shop, where you felt compelled to buy stuff you didn’t really need (and didn’t have the judgment to stop yourself).

Only in this case, your kids are what prevent you from saying no.

But, I digress…

The exhibit is around for a year and is definitely worth the visit. My kids really enjoyed it.

 

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The way we work isn’t working…

Image via Wikipedia

If you have ever trained for a race, you know the value of interval training.

You know that you run a bit, take a rest, run some more, take a rest.

Even for longer distances, you vary.

So, when I listened to the podcast from HBR called “the way we work isn’t working,” (article link, since I couldn’t find the podcast one), I found myself nodding my head.

Basically, the author says that you should work for 90 minute intervals, aligned to the natural rhythms of your body, and then do something to renew your energy.

I have tried this for 2 days so far and I like it. I set up a timer on my computer and it counts down. During that time, I am mega-focused.

When it goes off, I take a break; go for a walk, make a phone call, do some exercise, whatever.

In the quality vs. quantity trade-off, I can definitely see an improvement here.

Worth checking out.

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“Everyone has their shit”

Image via Wikipedia

I hate to be crass, but it’s just such an accurate concept.

My cousin, Leonard, introduced me to this philosophy a few years back and, while I know it to be true, I still struggle with it.

No one goes through life without hassles (see Lion King “Circle of Life”), but it’s just so difficult to remember when you are going through your own challengs that, no matter what, you probably don’t want to trade places with someone else.

It’s easy to see the surface, but we don’t know what lies below.

Better to invest the energy in solving your problems than lamenting the fact that your fate isn’t different.

iGenerations

Image via CrunchBase

On our recent family vacation to the beach, there were 3 iPads, two iPhones, and one iPod.

And these devices spanned 3 generations of users.

They were also present in many scenarios.

I had a laptop, but it stayed in one location.

One night, while seeing 4 people engaged in iPad reading (it’s about as anti-social as 4 people all reading the newspaper and occasionally sharing a tidbit or article), I thought about how the migration to touch screen devices was complete.

For serious work, for now, you need a keyboard. For everything else, the touchscreen will get the job done.

 

abundance and scarcity

Image via Wikipedia

I’m in the middle of a movie called “Welcome to Macintosh.”

You can guess what it’s about.

One guy was interviewed and he pulled out a price list from the original Apple computer. 16K of RAM cost $500.

Now, you can get about 1,000,000 times as much RAM for $30.

From the perspective of the digital revolution, we’ve moved from scarcity to abundance and our behaviors should change as well.

I thought about this as I looked at the way Tonka takes pictures on her iPod Touch. She keeps taking them. Doesn’t even think about the fact that she could ever “run out of space.”

I, on the other hand, still delete unnecessary files, since I came of age when memory was precious, not plentiful.

How this mentality of unlimited digital abundance will play out will be something to watch.

Recycle Your Cell Phone and Get Paid.

I just love when I see businesses that just MAKE SENSE all the way around.
And it’s no surprise that my longtime friend, Ben Gordon has done it again.
This time, with Eco-Squid.
What’s in it for you?
A way to recycle your old cell phones AND get paid for it.
Simple enough, right?
On opening day, they got a great write-up on the AOL Finance page and they created

• 900 trade in referrals worth a total of $48,000
• average trade in price- $55

Seems like everyone wins in this one.
Well done, Ben!

Rejuvenating Oceans…

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It had been a while since I visited the beach and while I had forgotten how sand gets EVERYWHERE, I had also forgotten another thing.

How rejuvenating it can be in only a matter of minutes.

Paco and Tonka joined me (and many of my family) for a few days and, in addition to feeling refreshed, I was given two types of perspective.

The perspective of the vastness of the ocean and my smallness by comparison.

The perspective of appreciating the pure joy of life’s little moments as my kids and their cousins squealed with delight in the waves.

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Polish Anti-Semitism, Helen Thomas, and Soccer

Through the wonders of Facebook, I saw ar article about Anti-Semitism in Poland and how it may/may not play out in the Euro 2012 Football (that’s soccer) Championships.

Bottom line is that anti-Semitism seems to be alive and well in Poland at least during soccer matches with historically “Jewish” teams.

Given the fact that there are next to no Jews in Poland, it makes you wonder.

(It also makes you wonder if Helen Thomas knew that part of the equation when she said that Jews should go back to where they came from, “Poland and Germany,” but that’s a separate issue)

Intrigued by this article, I forwarded it to two friends, both of whom live in Poland.

Elysa wrote back:

Thank you for forwarding this article.

IT explains the graffiti that I became aware of last year.

As you know, I'm neither Polish nor Jewish but have lived in Krakow for 3 years.

My understanding is that the Jewish population is very small and mostly made up of elderly who remained after the war and had nowhere else to go.

I make a lot of photos at www.elysasicard.com. The website needs work but there are some photos in Borek Falencki which is where I live.  There is a woman selling blueberries and on the wall behind her is this anti jewish slogan.

As an American who speaks limited Polish the graffiti is not obvious.  But once you start to recognize it there is quite a lot which I could never understand as there is such a small Jewish population here.  Now that I've read your article I realize that the graffiti is usually soccer-related.

I really don’t have any analysis on this one. Just putting it out there, looking for opinions and perspective.

The end of colleges as we know it…

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I suppose I’m on a kick right now…mostly for myself.

The objective: never let myself forget that NO corner of the old economy is going to escape unscathed from the relentless onslaught of the networking revolution.

Lawyers were one of them and today, Higher Education.

I’ve been saying for a while that the rising costs of education (college, that is), the questionable ROI on those costs, and the advent of new technologies means that the model is bound to break.

Well, now I’ve got some backup…Bill Gates.

Here’s the story.