Changing the rules

Have you ever gotten directions from someone with descriptions of one mile, two left turns, three stoplights, but no street address? And the ending address is what you really need to plug into your map application or GPS. The rules about giving directions have changed.

In business, you can adapt to the new rules like Verizon is doing with its rollout of 500 downloadable applications for their phones, (although new iPhone apps like copy & paste or a radio player came loaded on Verizon's Palm Centro last year). You'll also see the new rules about using your database to create most-popular and recommended lists, as well as offering text updates.

Or (sometimes) you can change the rules. Amazon changed the way we think about customer data, reviews and feedback. Now they're changing the way we think about books, as Adam Penenberg points out in the latest Fast Company, to adapt to the kind of rules Apple has already introduced for music.

The other option of course is to ignore the rules, as in the company formerly known as GM (of which you are now part-owner) and the major newspapers.

Skiing In July (not just in the Alps)

If you're a summer skiier, get ready to save your plane fare to Zermatt this year. Briton Engineering has already built several of their "Snowflex" runs in Spain, France, Scotland, England and Denmark. Now for the first time in the US, you can ski or snowboard year-round at this new synthetic-surface slope in Virginia. (It's also pretty cool that the guy promoting it in this video is my son Axel.)

photo credit: plasticsnow aka Kat

Inflight Wi-fi - still disconnected?

Last year I wrote a piece for TechRepublic about wi-fi on domestic airlines. I'm still suspicious that encroachment into this last haven of being disconnected may not be welcomed across the board, but inflight web access continues to expand its reach every day.

The Gogo Inflight offering by Aircell is at eight dollars for mobile access and ten for normal wi-fi on flights of three hours or less. American Airlines and Delta have this now. United has a plan in the works. Here's a link to the corporate video from Aircell's CEO.

Tip: you can also save 25% by using promo code "wifi25" through 7/3/09.

Making IT visible at Accenture

Here's an interview I just did with Bob Kress of Accenture that was published today in TechRepublic. Bob is a very interesting guy and has streamlined their technology at the same time the company has been going through phenomenal growth. His philosophy of showcasing the efficiency of his IT operation at Accenture is a model other companies should (and Bob says they can) emulate.

A Nation's Gratitude

"Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from his honor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."

- General John A. Logan, from the general order proclaiming Memorial Day on May 30, 1868.

Logan echoed Abraham Lincoln's words of three years earlier calling on our divided nation to "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan," of which there were many at the time.

Earlier this month, the three young men below died in battle near the village of Nishagam, in Konar Province, Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. William D. Vile, 27, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas
Specialist Ryan C. King, 22, Dallas, Georgia, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas
Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas

As a soldier and the son of a soldier, I salute you and your sacrifice on this day of remembrance.

The Price of Security

This three-part "free security suite" is touted by Consumer Reports as being "on a par" with the ones that will cost you, and better than last year's versions. 

(links to free downloads)

1. Avira - Antivirus Personal 

2. MS Windows Defender
(If you're running Vista, this is already included.)

3. Spamfighter Standard

Beats complaining about it.

Unthinking Marketing

OK, so the KFC Grilled rollout on Oprah didn't work out so well.

Many locations were quickly out of any kind of chicken, and now that it's back, it's for paying customers only. (Is this the best path to new customer acquisition?) Your coupon is still good for about another week, you just have to mail in the accompanying form.

Wow. Grilled chicken is just not that revolutionary for me, and a form to fill out is the wrong response. If you're thinking like I am, you're unthinking KFC. A bad marketing plan has the potential to leave your business worse off than you started.

On the other hand, how about this deal: would you move up your scheduled plan to buy a new car if you had a chance to get it free? What if whether you pay or not were entirely dependent on the weather?

Weld County Garage in Greeley, CO is giving away their cars and trucks if it rains more than an inch on Memorial Day. If they do end up giving away cars, you can bet the publicity will be enormous, maybe even better than a spot on Oprah. There's something fundamentally intriguing about the outcome being based on the weather - kind of like the Spanish Armada.

Is it likely to happen? Better odds than the lottery - or free grilled chicken.

Before there was Zappos there was Ben Stein

Ben Stein recently wrote this New York Times piece about the art of sales. I personally think there's actually more here about marketing than sales.

He writes about his first job in shoe sales which, as he says, "entailed selling shoes." It's not always glorious is it? But the way Ben describes it, he remembers it with a certain penchant for getting back to the drama/ballet/high-wire act of selling those shoes.

Interestingly, along with being a lawyer, writer, actor and economist, Mr. Stein is also a highly regarded commencement speaker.

Intentionality - Pointers and Filters

The transformation is all but complete. Ten years ago, for a given network's broadcast there were a certain number of viewers watching at any one time. Some were watching intentionally and for some it was just channel surfing. In some cases a show might be replayed again later and get a small second wave of viewers.

Now think about the huge change going on not just in the technology at work but in the social element and the reduction of randomness. A piece comes on somewhere in the world like Susan Boyle in this Britain's Got Talent from last Saturday, gets posted to youtube in various forms and has five million hits in three days. A posting of the same show's Paul Potts video from two years ago has over 43 million views. Most of the new viewers didn't watch the original airing, and almost all are watching it intentionally.

The link for a viral video gets sent to you (like it was to me), someone e-mails it, finds it in a Google search, or sees it in a school, club meeting or a church (i.e. the Jason McElwain basketball video). I probably wouldn't have come across Penn Jillette's videoblog about sincerity in your beliefs and being a "good man" if someone hadn't pointed me to it. The pointers, blogs, twitter, facebook, social bookmarks are ubiquitous (and they're all over the place too), and they have all but replaced cold-callers in qualifying an audience.

Whether it's the design of your car, the news you watch/read, or your presentation next week, there's a lot more intentionality involved - and expected in the details. "Leave nothing to chance" has taken on a new meaning. You get to choose, and with freedom comes... yes, responsibility.

Adapt, or be ignored.

Your audience expects it.

Technology and the 2016 Olympics

If you're interested in what kind of part is played by technology in the 2016 Olympics, and specifically the bid by the city of Chicago against the other contender cities, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid, here's an interview I did with Ellen Barry for TechRepublic.

Ellen is the CIO of the MPEA, which includes McCormick Place and Navy Pier. The level of technology, overall space and versatility Chicago offered to the International Olympic Committee in their recent visit is astounding. I'd say we've got a good shot at it. Be sure to check out the photo gallery link for some great shots - nice screensavers for Chicagoans (or former Chicagoans).

Apropos government, happy day between tax days! Today falls between Tax Freedom Day and Tax Day (the regular IRS one).

International Leadership at Siemens - Interview with David Edelstein

Overseeing IT operations for a global company in a flat world brings some unique challenges.

Here's a new interview that just came out in TechRepublic with David Edelstein of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics with some interesting insights and experiences.

David took over as CIO in 2007, following Siemens’ acquisition of Dade Behring, where he had served as CIO for nine years. He is responsible for leading the development of the advanced information and eBusiness systems that support the worldwide organization.

Idiosyncratic Marketing

When it comes to marketing (and general business) strategy, there's unique - and then there's idiosyncratic.

And the idiosyncratic can continue to be that way because they wouldn't be where they are if they didn't know what they are doing.

Classic: Spike Lee fires back to his more-than-gracious interviewer, "Hey, did you make 'Do the right thing?' Well, just how many movies did you make anyway?" For celebrities, automakers, bailout recipients, tenured professors, NEA bosses - success becomes its own hemlock. There are special rules for me because, well, I wouldn't be here if I weren't special.

With success, you can insulate yourself from the voices you don't want to hear. And there are always other voices seeking to curry favor. Don't fall for it Spike. Don't surround yourself with sycophants. If someone tells you you're still running your 5000-customer business as if it were 500, or that this kaizen thing is something you may want to look into, don't get miffed. Maybe you're just the last one to realize it.

If your marketing looks like General Motors "best resale value of any domestic truck!" because you get rid of the Jim Harbours (barred from GM property in the 80's) and surround yourself with people who tell you "sure, that resonates," get ready for the ode to the CEO.

It may take a few years. It took fifteen years at $7 billion a year being spent on GM pensions and retiree healthcare until CEO Rick Wagoner said before Congress in December, "If we had the $103 billion... it would enable us to be even farther ahead on technology or newer equipment in our plants, or whatever." (Pardon?) No, zero percent financing is not a sustainable marketing plan.

Being able to carry on with boatload of idiosyncracies can be the mark of someone who has enough success to insulate themselves from their critics, but it's not necessarily a badge of honor.

Hard Times

A lot of people are suffering these days. Not only because of unemployment and the troubled economy, although those are certainly a part of it for many. Responses to the suffering of others seem to fall into three major categories: 1.) the tabloids, 2.) the government and 3.) the widow with the mite.

The tabloids sensationalize the suffering of people we don't know and won't have any real response to, other than the consolation that other people are suffering too. It could be a sort of schadenfreude, but mainly it's just knowing we all have suffering in common, and some possibly even more than we do, and that some who don't seem to suffer really do after all.

The government sees a purpose in suffering. There is opportunity waiting when people are in difficult circumstances. The government can help. Of course, the government is ultimately not a benevolent creature - its motives are votes in the next election or an increased sense of dependence on its liberal largesse.

Then there's the widow in the New Testament with her coin. She gave all she had. Why? Well, the story doesn't say but it wasn't just her tithe because it was everything she had. It would make sense that she gave it through the vehicle of the church's coffers to help those less fortunate; the ones who were suffering. And she did it anonymously - no receipt, no tax deduction, no name on a plaque, no quid pro quo. She just quietly dropped it in the box.

Do you know someone who's suffering?

Three Steps In Your Job Search

Are you one of the 12 million Americans now working on a job search (a 25-year high today)? Here are three things to help you get started:

1.) After you take your best shot at making it simple but powerful, get a free professional review and recommendations on your resume from Executive Career Services courtesy of longtime resume expert Steven Provenzano (send it to careers@execareers.net).

2.) Take the information in the new version of your CV and update (or create if you need to) your profile on LinkedIn. Be sure to look at how it appears to the outsider as well as how your name comes up in Google/Yahoo/Altavista.

3.) Next Tuesday, take advantage of Fedex/Kinko's offer to print 25 free copies of your new resume.

- bonus tip: remember to go to sleep an hour early tomorrow and set your clocks to spring-forward this weekend, so your interview doesn't look like this.

How recession-proof are you?

This month the Illinois Chamber of Commerce is co-hosting a half-day seminar called "Recession-protect Your Business: strategies for survival and growth." If you're part of a small to medium ($500K to $20M) business digging in for the long haul in 2009, mark your calendar for this executive level event in downtown Chicago on Friday 3/20.

Presentations from Melissa Giovagnoli, Founder and CEO of Networlding, and Don Paullin, CEO of Hiring Firing Experts, Inc., will cover recession strategies and ways to build business in challenging times.

The cost to attend is $85 and you can see the agenda, invitation and speaker bios at this link.

Do you have a corporate slapper?

Back when I was working for one of the world's more bureaucratic organizations, there was a certain manager who was a walking bad attitude, obstacle to any progress other than her own, and certainly a candidate for a good slapping.

HR policy being what it is, she remained somewhat confidently insulated and managed a good deal of swagger up until the day she was finally ousted from her position as the team's resident paterfamilias. What we needed was Malcolm.



Malcolm Fry - the corporate slapper. Here's a video to explain exactly how this works.

Just how important is a smart healthcare IT executive?

Not many issues approach the universal concern over the healthcare situation (crisis?) in this country.  The changing role of the CIO at a hospital or other health service provider seemed like a great topic for a few questions.  

So I asked Patrick Moroney, who is among the best authorities out there in this area, for his candid opinions.  Here's the interview with Patrick that came out in TechRepublic today.  (Add your comment and/or vote if you like it.)

Thanks!

Have IBM and Google noticed the $20B ERP market?

If you haven't seen it already, I hope you'll take a look at my interview with Jeffrey Carr on ERP in TechRepublic.  If you like it, be sure to click on the "worthwhile?" voting button at the top right.  It's also portable in a free PDF download (link right below the intro).

* Speaking of free downloads, you can get a free sample of Starbucks new Via instant right here.  Not in time for this month's survey, but give it a try.  (thanks Jon -)

Detroit in the crosshairs at the auto show

Japanese steel was a different story than its car manufacturers. Under the Marshall plan after the second world war, the allies (mainly the US) rebuilt Japan's steel plants with the result that our own aging mills couldn't compete. 

In the auto industry on the other hand, Detroit started by ignoring Deming, then ignored Japan (and Korea), and now is looking for tax dollars to finance the effects.  With their very existence in the balance, looking only slightly more viable than Joaquin Phoenix's rap music career, you might expect they would emphasize a good showing in the annual auto show circuit, like the one going on in Chicago right now.  Not necessarily that they would make a record financial investment, but a smart one.

You might expect to see Saturn distance itself a bit from parent GM and its $30B request to the US taxpayer this month.  You might expect to see some vision for hybrids or electrics that trumps the competition.  Most importantly, you might expect a different presentation of new ideas and products than you could find on the internet ("this vehicle has six cylinders and has sunroof, leather and automatic transmission options").  No.  None of the above.

An expo is not a giant television ad. TV is more or less a scripted visual storytelling for the masses, punctuated by zero-interaction advertising that is increasingly blaring and increasingly ignored - or tivoed out entirely.  The internet makes a huge leap by providing more interaction, customization and selective content.  If you enter the right keywords, you can find it.  But a live event offers dialog and personal experience and should highlight the strongest presentation points you have to offer.  A car I can see in the parking lot outside the show is not extraordinary enough to be in the auto show.  Seeing a vehicle from behind a ropeline is not necessarily extraordinary either.  A display of a vehicle where you can't sit behind the wheel, or where the sales reps can only repeat the factory specs might as well be online.

There were a couple automakers with impressive concept cars you won't see on the street and reps who could compare different vehicles and knew enough about cars in general enough to ask you questions back, but they weren't from Detroit.  VW and Acura were the standouts in my book.  Saab's replacement of the Aero-X with a beautiful concept convertible was a show-stopper, and the rep had a wonderful Scandanavian accent while most of the reps were clearly hired guns.

I still enjoyed the auto show of course.  I'd just like to see the automakers, especially the ones in Detroit, make better use of our tax dollars with their marketing.  Only two companies asked for my e-mail address.  Auto marketers should be at least as good as the US Army's impressive display at the same show.  They did an outstanding job by comparison.

note: If you plan to make it to this year's show in Chicago, be sure to stop by a Shell station to fill up on your way and get their half-price tickets for admission.  If you have a couple people with you, it will pay for your parking.

Mark Cuban's Open Source Funding Rules

Feeling Mavericky?  This week's offer by broadcast.com billionaire Mark Cuban to provide stimulus funding for entrepreneurs offers a few guidelines that the public sector might do well to imitate.  

As the federal job-creation stimulus package rolls out with $30 million taxpayer dollars earmarked for Nancy Pelosi's favorite kind of mouse, Cuban's open source funding offer lays out a few ground rules worth noting:

- Your plan must be posted publicly - transparent and imitable

- 60 days to break-even

- 90 days to show a profit

- Flat organizational structure

- No guarantees of continuation

- Cash flow is monitored

- No Multi-level marketing

- (best of all) Any agreement with Mark will be published openly

Want to take a shot at the cash (no minimum and no maximum) for your current or startup business? You can see the full details of Cuban's offer posted in his blog here.