Beyond Frequency

Act, React or Interact?

2010-03-08T16:08:07-05:00

I had the great pleasure today to meet and have lunch with an amazingly talented group of people here in Philadelphia around the topic of ‘Missioneurship’. While the details of the definition and community objectives will be worked out in time, the core value system is to combine the mission-oriented objectives of the ‘non-profit’ world with the business sustainability practices of the ‘for-profit’ world, especially for new ventures, groups, organizations and initiatives.

While this lunch was just the beginning, a core theme came out for me…action. Around the table we all had varying degrees of experience with, or within, the non-profit or for-profit sectors. But the common thread was that we all were people who wanted to drive forward, to act.

That led me to ponder the role of action and its counterparts, ‘reaction’ and ‘interaction’. When is the right time for each and what are the benefits of each at those given times?

I fully admit I do not have a clear answer, but I do believe the question is an important one for any person who must both work with and rely on people to move a program, initiative or organization forward. For me, the question forms another cog in the thought process for my own activities.

Action

- Pro: It is certainly good to move forward; to have an idea and put it into the ‘market’ for scrutiny, praise so that it can add to the positive forces of the world.

- Con: If the action is bourne out of a vacuum or without thought to its direct or indirect effects on others, it can be shortsighted and the immediate benefit may be outweighed by long-term costs.

Reaction

- Pro: Your actions are certainly in context, that is they are not bourne out of thin air and have a direct impact on something that is in the market or zeitgeist already.

- Con: You risk the loss of individuality essential to ensure the idea, the action, is one that is not simply a restatement of another’s thought but truly a new, complementary or revolutionary concept of your own.

Interaction

- Pro: By absorbing the thoughts, beliefs, ideas and counterpoints that exist, you certainly create a well-rounded process to move forward.

- Con: Sometimes too much thought can lead to inertia and nothing gets done…there is no ‘action’.

All three points of the world of ‘action’ have importance, I believe, in all decisions. I guess it is a matter of what is the right mix for any given decision.

Google Moving Quickly On Changing The Buzz

2010-02-15T19:41:31-05:00

Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:53 PM Originally Posted by Todd Jackson, Product Manager, Gmail and Google Buzz
We've heard your feedback loud and clear, and since we launched Google Buzz four days ago, we've been working around the clock to address the concerns you've raised. Today, we wanted to let you know about a number of changes we'll be making over the next few days based on all the feedback we've received.
First, auto-following. With Google Buzz, we wanted to make the getting started experience as quick and easy as possible, so that you wouldn't have to manually peck out your social network from scratch. However, many people just wanted to check out Buzz and see if it would be useful to them, and were not happy that they were already set up to follow people.
This created a great deal of concern and led people to think that Buzz had automatically displayed the people they were following to the world before they created a profile. On Thursday, after hearing that people thought the checkbox for choosing not to display this information publicly was too hard to find, we made this option more prominent. But that was clearly not enough.
So starting this week, instead of an auto-follow model in which Buzz automatically sets you up to follow the people you email and chat with most, we're moving to an auto-suggest model. You won't be set up to follow anyone until you have reviewed the suggestions and clicked "Follow selected people and start using Buzz.
"For the tens of millions of you who have already started using Buzz, over the next couple weeks we'll be showing you a similar version of this new start-up experience to give you a second chance to review and confirm the people you're following. If you want to review this list now, just go to the Buzz tab, click "Following XX people" and unfollow anyone you wish. If you don't want to share the lists of people who are following you and people you are following publicly on your profile, you can opt out at any time from the edit profile page.
Second, Buzz will no longer connect your public Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader shared items automatically. Just to be clear: Buzz only automatically connected content that was already public, so if you had previously shared photos in an "Unlisted" album or set your Google Reader shared items as "Protected," no one except the people you'd explicitly allowed to see your stuff has been able to see it. But due to your feedback Buzz will no longer connect these sites automatically.
Third, we're adding a Buzz tab to Gmail Settings. From there, you'll be able to hide Buzz from Gmail or disable it completely. In addition, there will be a link to these settings from the initial start-up page so you can easily decide from the get go that you don't want to use Buzz at all.It's been an exciting and challenging week for the Buzz team.
We've been getting feedback via the Gmail help forums and emails from friends and family, and we've also been able to do something new: read the buzz about Buzz itself. We quickly realized that we didn't get everything quite right. We're very sorry for the concern we've caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We'll continue to do so.

via gmailblog.blogspot.com

I have tested out Buzz and it may be a great service, but I am more impressed here with the speed of Google's response to the feedback and criticism. I hope I can instill that level of responsiveness in my own company as we grow and mature.

Pushing the envelope of innovation is beyond necessary and, as a result, mistakes will happen. It is the lessons learned and, more importantly, the speed by which those lessons are implemented that is the key to a successful enterprise.

New Economic Hitmen & New Targets

2010-02-14T10:22:09-05:00

In 2004 John Perkins published the book Confessions of An Economic Hitman, which described the tactics employed by economic super powers like the United States to make developing countries indebted to them and, therefore, dependent on them.

Soon after I read that book I came across World On Fire by Dr. Amy Chua of Yale, who described through a case study approach how ethnic minorities become economic majorities within largely developing nations. She includes examples of both small and large countries and the sects within them that lead economic disparity to conflict.

The two of these books taken together, both of which I highly recommend, paint a powerfully poignant picture of the institutional difficulties that developing countries face in trying to establish a viable economy. In the recent years, however, it seems that developing nations are not the only ones that are subject to the forces of economic hitmen.

Today New York Times reports that the recent financial turmoil in Greece was partially exacerbated by US-based investment banks who helped shift billions in debt around outside the scrutiny of the Greek citizens and the EU. It is this type of activity that serves as further proof of our absolute need for financial reform.

I am 100% for innovation. As an entrepreneur 3 times over, that is in my DNA and the lifeblood of our country.

But new products that result in less forward motion or, in the worst cases, backwards motion are not innovative, they are just new. Technology and math theories have fueled this economic crisis and it is time to employ those tools to ensure we are safe going forward both in public and private financial sectors. I am with Paul Volcker on this wholeheartedly.

At the end of the day, they both hit us hard.

Seth's Blog : The problem with cable news thinking

2009-10-15T10:14:39-04:00

[I agree with Seth Godin's blog today wholeheartedl!]

...from Seth Godin

The problem with cable news thinking
Not only the networks of all political persuasions that come to mind, but the mindset they represent...
When I was growing up, Eyewitness News always found a house on fire in South Buffalo. "Tonight's top story," Irv Weinstein would intone, "...a fire in South Buffalo." Every single night. If you watched the news from out of town, you were sure that the city must have completely burned to the ground.
Cable news thinking has nothing to do with fires or with politics. Instead, it amplifies the worst elements of emotional reaction:
Focus on the urgent instead of the important.
Vivid emotions and the visuals that go with them as a selector for what's important.
Emphasis on noise over thoughtful analysis.
Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind.
Xenophobic and jingoistic reactions (fear of outsiders).
Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform.
Things become important merely because others have decided they are important.
Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel).
Ill-informed about history and this particular issue.
Confusing opinion with the truth.
Revising facts to fit a point of view.
Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time.If I wanted to hobble an organization or even a country, I'd wish these twelve traits on them. I wonder if this sounds like the last board meeting you went to...

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Five Reasons It's Tough For Us To Be Redskins Fans?

2009-10-13T15:41:22-04:00

...the five last place teams that have made up the Redskins' schedule. As the article below points out, every team the Redskins has faced this year has been win-less.

I am leaving the Giants out since that was the first game of the season and they are of course not the dregs of the NFL as the other teams are...including my beloved Redskins. It is painful to write, but you cannot run from your past or your favorite team.

At least the Phillies are bringing some happiness!

Redskins are first in history to play six straight winless teams

By Chris Chase

If the Washington Redskins' schedule was any softer it would be on a package of Charmin. If the Redskins were a college team (which, at times, they resemble), pundits would mocking the team's strength of schedule.

As the great Joe Posnanski pointed out this morning on his blog, when the Redskins host the 0-5 Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday, it will mark the team's sixth consecutive game against a winless team. I'll repeat that because it doesn't sound as impressive the first time around: So far this season, every team the Redskins have played has been winless at the time of the game. According to STATS LLC, it's the first time in the history of the NFL that this has happened. The last team to have faced five winless teams was the 1954 Giants.

According to my dad (whom I had to call to get help with the equation), the odds of this happening are 1 in 32,768. (Feel free to check this and let me know if our numbers are wrong.)

Here's the way the Redskins schedule has broken down so far, along with their opponent's record at the time:

Week 1 -- at New York Giants (0-0)

Week 2 -- vs. St. Louis Rams (0-1)

Week 3 -- at Detroit Lions (0-2)

Week 4 -- vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-3)

Week 5 -- at Carolina Panthers (0-3 -- Note: Carolina had a week 3 bye)

Week 6 -- vs. Kansas City Chiefs (0-5)

Obviously, the Giants were winless because they had yet to play a game. Since then, the Redskins have faced the dregs of the NFL but could only muster a 2-2 record against them. (Which is pretty much all the evidence one should need to pass judgment on the future of Jim Zorn.)

New York excepted, the current combined record of the rest of the 'Skins opponents is 2-22, with the only two wins coming against the Redskins themselves (by Detroit and Carolina). After Sunday, last place Washington will have faced every of their last place peers in the NFC, as well as one in the AFC too.

The streak will end in week 7 when the Redskins host the Philadelphia Eagles, a team with a whopping three wins to its credit thus far.

What Does A Daily Show Body Slam Feel Like? Just As CNN!

2009-10-13T07:14:10-04:00

If you look at the opening segment from The Daily Show Last night, you will learn as John Stewart simply blasted CNN for dropping stories, failing to focus on facts of legitimate news items while focusing on 'fact-checking' Saturday Night Live.

The SNL fact-check earned CNN backlash from a wide range of organizations, but launched a well-deserved tirade from Mr. Stewart and The Daily Show crew.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

CNN Leaves It There

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Ron Paul Interview

I have made no secret of the fact that I believe that CNN has generally abdicated its role as a hard-hitting news organization in favor of fluff and soft ball insight. That is not to say that there are not stories that are worthwhile, but for a group that has 24 hours in the day and a strong international presence, the quality of the 'news' here in the US is mediocre at best.

The most disturbing part of the Daily Show piece is their display of the CNN's lack of fact-checking when it really counts; on little things like health care statistics.

I have finally stopped watching the sporadically relevant CNN American Morning and will now be tuning to BBC World News in the morning.

GCECS Follow Up And Social Network List

2009-10-05T22:37:31-04:00

Innovation Philadelphia deserves a note of congratulations for a successful Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit event today at the Convention Center. The session that I was fortunate enough to lead, "SaaS – It Takes A Village To Raise A Venture" was filled with a great, inquisitive audience, which made or a dynamic, interactive workshop.

It was a pleasure.

In response to one of the questions from the audience to me about social networks that our platform supports, the links below give a few lists of them. Because we are able to integrate any social networks under a single sign on environment through a personal homepage and dashboard, any of those listed below can work.

As we discussed in the session, our goal is to give the most power and flexibility to our clients. We provide the value-added tools like semantic search, business intelligence, widget builders and personal homepages to tie everything together, but the selection of the tools can be with you; just as you can choose the apps you want on the iPhone.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. It is my pleasure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/

Futurity & The Growing Importance Of Niche

2009-09-21T10:47:22-04:00

Last week the Mercury News reported that because of concern that journalismf's economic problems are reducing Americans' understanding of science, medicine and other research, 35 of the nation's top universities announced that they will supply their own news accounts of their discoveries directly to top news sites on the Internet.

The universities have formed their own non-profit wire service called Futurity to provide articles to popular Web sites such as Yahoo News and Google News, along with MySpace and Twitter.

The schools saw the reduction or elimination of science and technology staff at larger organizations like CNN, Mercury News, Boston Globe and others so they realized that the only group that would ensure their work reached the public was them. With that in mind, I think their is another lesson here for both 'for-profit' and 'non-profit' media, information & content providers.

Not everyone cares about everything.

The power and necessity of targeted, niche delivery, or narrowcasting, is not a new one but it is quickly becoming the rule rather than the exception to viable media business models. Futurity came into being because the broadcast based organizations could not find an audience of enough size to support the operations.

That is not surprising.

In our 'pull-based' world, those who are interested in a topic can find it much more efficiently than a non-specialized source can provide it. There is a reason that Triton bought Ando, that Search dominates advertising growth and that Price Waterhouse Cooper projects a 10% shift in spending from non-digital to digital media that can support "more targeted and tailored models that will differ widely within and across segments and geographies.

With the NAB conference in Philadelphia this week, I am excited to catch up with a lot of people and talk about the growth of niche. We, as consumers, are very demanding and increasingly device and platform agnostic as long as we can get to the information or entertainment content that is most important to us.

Broadcasters have a tremendous opportunity to leverage a large audience and break it down by behavior, location and content and eliminate the barriers between platforms to please both the consumers and advertisers.

The New York Times and the universities in Futurity have learned that lesson and are passing it on.

Braveheart Inspiration - All Media Is Social Media...

2009-09-20T13:28:24-04:00

It was with that in mind that I reflected on Brian Rich's piece in Forbes, "Traditional Media's Revenge".

Mr. Rich believes that Web 2.0 companies are "even weaker than traditional media", but I think he did not address the most important point.

All media is social and the next critical inflection point for media is not traditional companies adopting Web 2.0 concepts and methods or battling them for turf. It is providing a means to eliminate the barriers between media platforms, which will let traditional media leverage their audience to unleash the social power it already holds.

Traditional media has always been social, just with a time lag. That is a point that is often lost in the ongoing and accelerating debate, discussion, merging of and between "traditional" media and "interactive" media (digital & mobile).

Before Facebook, Twitter and blogs, the water cooler, telephone and lunch debates represented our social interactions around content. The core differences between these tools and our Web 2.0 tools of today are 'time' and scale. They have merely made our thoughts and opinions immediate and extended their reach.

As a consumer, I do not care about platforms; I care about my content, information and communication. If there is a video, product or place that interests me, I should be able to acquire it as easily through SMS as my Bebo profile...and they should be connected.

Difficult? - 'Yes'; Impossible? - 'Not at all'

As William Wallace may say to all media companies (my apologies to the purists for the quote paraphrase):

Why is that impossible? You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from the table that you've missed your God given right to something better. There is a difference between us. You think the people online exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with FREEDOM. And I go to make sure that they have it.

The capabilities exist now to make these connections, we need only look at the picture through the eyes of the consumer. We must.

Government Apps

2009-09-19T01:43:39-04:00

This is my first post from a mobile phone and I think it is appropriate given the topic. The federal government annunced below that it has jumped into the cloud computing and app pool in the name of time and cost efficiency.

I applaud it in the loudest way possible.

The Obama CIO Vivek Kundra blazed the trail for open data and open government apps during his days as the CTO for Washington DC through the popular Apps For Democracy project. I am excited to see that work moving into the federals sphere and I am doing my best along with a passionate and talented group to launch a similar project in Philadelphia.

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelId=-24825&P=&contentId=28477&contentType=GSA_BASIC

Collaborative innovation has a place in both the public and private sectors and I do believe it is a cornerstone of true democracy. I look forward to the discussion on October 6 at the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit.