iOpener

This past week finished off on Friday with the "iOpener" event, one of the city's biggest annual technology executive events, hosted by ic stars at the Chicago Cultural Center downtown. Among the topics at the event was the need for creativity in technology, especially its value in the new high-tech workforce.

Peter Drucker said there are only two real functions of a business; marketing and innovation. Innovation is the point where creativity stops being a clever idea and starts showing a return on investment. But creativity is where the initial value lies in a world where access to technology resources is becoming increasingly ubiquitous.

Michael Krauss, President of Market Strategy Group and member of the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors, moderated a collaborative discussion through the audience at Friday's event to create message points on why 18-25 year olds should choose IT as a career. The results of the discussion will be published in an upcoming paper entitled, "Move the Future," in response to the continuing decline in enrollments for technology-related education and the increasing difficulty in finding people for IT positions.

The tools to make the next facebook or a photobucket or a digg are out there for anyone with a laptop, and the value of creativity to see them in a new way is the new trump card. As an executive at Apple said a couple years ago (pre-iPod), "We want to be the ones who come up with new ideas -- not the ones who snap the pieces together..."

Bill Gates Meets Napoleon

Some people hate Microsoft. Some people hate Bill Gates. Some people hate the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." If you're in one or more of those groups, don't watch this video. You'll hate it.

Otherwise, you might think it's pretty funny... maybe even download it to your iPhone.

Marketing Yourself

A friend asked me to review a resume recently and it struck me how much time is sometimes spent on format for a generic resume vs. content for a custom resume. Format is great -- it's good to show attention to detail and the ability to present well.

But for every job you're really serious about, your resume should be different, not changing any of the core components, but emphasizing the strengths that are appropriate to the position. Depending on your versatility and how far along in your career you are, no two of your resumes should be the same and some could look very different. It takes some work to find out just what the job entails and why you are the best qualified candidate -- which is what both sides want to know, right?

An e-mail blast of the same resume to ten or twenty or fifty companies is likely to get a response that is just as generic (if not moreso).

The End of Airline E-mail Blackout

An update on in-flight broadband -- American Airlines just announced they will team up with service provider Aircell to offer the internet on domestic flights early next year, picking up where Boeing left off, using cell towers rather than satellites. Blessing or curse, you'll be able to keep up on e-mail and access the web, rather than just updating spreadsheets and powerpoints.

100 Degrees of Confidence In The Shade

We all like type A's on our side. Someone who carries our own opinions with a little extra swagger. Someone who can propose a strategy, or suggest a solution or give advice with blazing bravado.

Especially once they develop a loyal following.

And are paid well to do it.

Would you prefer a champion like Wharton professor Scott Armstrong who's willing to put up, say $20,000 to demonstrate his certainty about global warming -- or one who declines the challenge -- especially if that amounts to about 10-15 minutes of his normal speaking fees?

Bottom line: pick good champions.

ASiQ Inflight - Just in Time for the iPhone

If you've been wondering what the holdup is in getting inflight internet access, here's an update in anticipation of ASiQ's low-cost solution within the next couple months.
Just in time for you to try it out on your new iPhone, depending on where you stand in Rogers' diffusion of innovations -- and your current contract with Verizon (whose service wins hands-down over AT&T but where Steve Jobs couldn't agree on the terms of the deal).

Two Ways Of Looking At It

I remember when Katherine Hepburn died a couple years ago, the quote she left the world with was that she was "looking forward to oblivion." For anyone with this kind of aspiration, it's got to affect the way you live as well as the way you die.

Ruth Graham died earlier this month after a life of some celebrity and personal accomplishment as well. She was described as a spiritual giant by her best friend and husband of almost 64 years, Billy.

Like Kate, Ruth also wrote of her passing: "And when I die, I hope my soul ascends slowly, so that I may watch the earth receding out of sight, its vastness growing smaller as I rise, savoring its recession with delight."

I'm sure it did, so that she could. What a great way of looking at it.

The British Talent Invasion - This Time In Opera

On the few occasions when I've watched these shows, I've been disappointed with the waste of time. This is a remarkable piece from "Britain's Got Talent" (a stateside version of American Idol) about real talent apart from showmanship and pop-culture sellability.



Part of the win is obviously in the surprise element from Paul, the cell phone salesman from South Wales. Something to keep in mind when you're making your marketing pitch (and we're all marketing something...).

Tearing Down Walls - Twenty Years Later

It was twenty years ago today - June 12, 1987, that Ronald Reagan made the speech that became the tipping point for the direction of the western world -- JFK's "world of freedom" -- in the end of the twentieth century.

It was my privilege to stand there in Berlin that day and hear President Reagan, at that time my Commander-In-Chief, make his stunning delivery in front of the quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate.


He didn't have to say it. It was a great speech without it and in fact, his advisors all told him to leave it out. Twenty years later I can still tell you firsthand the cold war was very real.

But making the challenge based on his conviction that it was the right thing to do changed the world. "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Freedom has a cost and we stand on the shoulders of great men.

The Business End of Technology

Here's an article I contributed to recently by John Hazard of eWeek on business service management and the best practice meme ITIL. -- Notable prediction by Forrester for 23% growth in the BSM market this year!

Spinning the Big Donor

Reality TV is a little different in the Netherlands. While our shows have become more bizarre and more-luck-than-talent based, the "Big Donor Show" can win savvy contestants a kidney through persuasive appeals to its donor.

Even the Dutch aren't entirely happy with it, admitting it is "controversial." The wishes of the organ's donor override the order on the current four-year waiting list while the donor is alive. But the education minister says his hands are tied as freedom of speech keeps him from "interfering in the content of programs." ...Every education minister's conundrum.

In Memoriam

The click-rates are high on articles about the rising number of casualties lost in Iraq or a mother camped on the lawn outside the president's house because her son was killed.

When you think of the government in the 21st century, you may think of the postal system, government schools or social security. The framers of the constitution had a primary emphasis on one purpose and it wasn't the redistribution of wealth. The central government provides for the common defense.

They knew there was a cost to freedom. And there still is. Happy Memorial Day, particularly to you veterans. Eyes right.

A Big Little Book from Seth Godin

Do you remember Big Little books when you were a kid? I must have had twenty or thirty of them (Gentle Ben, Johnny Quest,...) and dog-eared the pages on every one. There's something handy about a pocket-sized version of a good book.

Seth Godin's new book, The Dip is "a little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)," although it would require a hip-hop size pocket in your britches.

The house was packed this morning for Seth's Chicago installment of the book tour at Maggiano's. The point of Seth's presentation, although he says it's not meant to be motivational, is to encourage you that the "dips" you find yourself in from time to time may be cul-de-sacs where you need to recognize a lack of potential, but more often are setbacks that real visionary success doesn't often come without.

For example, Seth predicts the Zune's failure for not doing what something with real vision, something that's worth the investment of sticking through the dips, does - being the best in the world. It's objective is to be an iPod challenger, but not to be the best. Microsoft is destined for a cul-de-sac on this one, even with the new Halo-3 version.

So pick something you can be the best in the world at and stick to it and work through the dips. Good advice from someone who's the best in the world at writing powerful big-little books on marketing!

Wii Would Like To Be The Next iPod

The Wii is an innovative twist on videogaming -- no question about it. I had a chance to try it out recently with some friends and it is immediately obvious that in the words of another marketing pitch, "this changes everything." The next thing begging to be built into the package is foot controllers, which will make things even more interesting as the most popular video game of all time is FIFA Soccer.

But as great a product as the Wii is (too great in fact; Nintendo is now doing their best to "fix this abnormal lack of stock") their punchy marketing story certainly played a big part in its success. This is a great ad. Even after seeing it a few times, it's still fun to watch. It's got different levels of humor -- the smartcar, the stereotyped characters, the men on mission, and a bringing-the-world-together message. It's all about you. No wonder.

Are You A Real Ketchup Fan?

If you're a real ketchup fanatic -- here's an opportunity for you to put your marketing skills and your video camera to work a la Nick Dimondi and his $12 "Crash The SuperBowl" Doritos commercial. The catch? You've got to be a diehard Heinz ketchup fan (or possibly a great lawyer).

This time around, the "Top This" challenge is worth $57,000 (get it?) to the winning thirty-second video entry, which can be submitted on YouTube's www.topthistv.com web site. What a great opportunity for you creative marketers to get some breakthrough exposure. I'm predicting more of these yet to come.

The Amazing World of Jeff Han

Some of you may have seen Jefferson Han's video from last year's TED conference with his amazing work in transforming the way we use computers -- specifically using an intuitive touch interface. It's reminiscent of the comment in one of the early Star Trek movies, "Ah, a keyboard -- how quaint."

If you think differently about the way you organize your photos with Google's Picasa, and you thought you saw a glimpse of the future of computing in "Minority Report," take a look at this new video of Jeff's "multi-touch" manipulation of ideas around a screen at this year's conference. The i-phone touchscreen was interesting, but collaboration by throwing things back and forth on a giant computer wallboard changes things to a new order of magnitude.

How to make your product popular? Make it free (or dirt cheap).

Microsoft has just announced a plan to bump its user base up to about a third of the earth's population in the next eight years by offering its suite of office, academic and e-mail software at $3.00 a copy in developing countries, where the current versions are most often pirated.

The plan goes into effect later this year. Possible catch: will these third-world users have to apply for a MS credit card to purchase online?

How Does Offshoring Affect You?

Here's a striking discussion by Princeton economist Alan Blinder on the nature of offshoring and what it means for the flat world. Blinder is the author of "The Quiet Revolution." He compares programming and other currently "offshorable" jobs to farming in the late 18th century --

"Let me give you a large-scale analogy: suppose you were privileged in the year 1802 to walk into President Jefferson's office and say, "You know what, President Jefferson? Right now, 83 percent of Americans earn their living on farms. In 150 years, that'll be about 3 percent." You know, Jefferson might have asked you, "Well, what will the other 80 percent do?" And of course, you wouldn't have known, and nobody would have known. But they found better things to do than working on farms. And so in the end, I think we're gonna have huge gains from this process. What I'm worried about is getting from here to there..."

Next month's i.c. stars CIO event "Capitalize on Illinois" in Chicago focuses on offshoring and I'll include a summary of that discussion here.

Hi-Tech Easter

In our hyperindividualized culture, technology continues to push us further down the path - personal videos, customized controls, hundreds of channels, niches of people with your specific interests, good or bad. On the other end of the spectrum from the ubiquitous white earplugs dangling from a head bowed under a hooded sweatshirt was this spectre of 12,000 people standing simaltaneously to acknowledge the opening strains of the Hallelujah Chorus yesterday morning at the Sears Centre. All the more stunning to think of higher truth in its universality and ability to meet all our needs at once. What a great way to start the week.

Cursor Security

I haven't had this happen recently but evidently if you're on a web site that changes your cursor to an hourglass or other animated figure, you should be thinking security. The good people at Microsoft weren't, until about December. Now they've thought about it enough to put out an emergency patch, including one for the newly released Vista, to keep hackers from being able to install malware through the breach. If your computer downloads updates automatically, you got the patch this week. If not, you're still vulnerable to this risk and should do a manual download from the Microsoft site.