This Weeks CAP & TRADE Debate

The measure, as proposed, would reduce American production of climate-altering gases by nearly 70 percent from current levels by 2050. It would provide billions of dollars in subsidies for energy conservation and environmentally clean technologies, creating millions of jobs, proponents say. The sale of the permits would raise more than $5 trillion for the government in the coming decades, money that the bill proposes to distribute to affected industries, consumers and local governments in one of the biggest programs of redistribution of American wealth in history. The bill’s proponents say the money would help pay for a technological leap that would create millions of new jobs while cleaning the atmosphere. The measure, as proposed, would reduce American production of climate-altering gases by nearly 70 percent from current levels by 2050. It would provide billions of dollars in subsidies for energy conservation and environmentally clean technologies, creating millions of jobs, proponents...

Google Gets Renewable Energy

Every year the founders of Google write a Founders Letter and publish it. It's meant to be an "off the cuff" look at the business and industry, what's working, what's not. You can read the entire letter here. What is interesting in the letter is how this now very large, and very profitable company is committed to the environment and addressing global warming. They use a very clever term of RE

NYC takes the Lead on GHG reduction

We typically view New York City as a lumbering giant metropolis that has to continually address problems that occur within it's infrastructure. Mayor Bloomberg has been instrumental in transforming the perceptions as of late with his forward thinking PLANYC2030 and his recent comments regarding a tax on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emitters. He is insistent on having New York take the lead against Global Warming. With tremendous political backlash, Mayor Bloomberg is taking a stand and calling for a national carbon tax on those companies/industries that are contributing to global warming and crediting those who don't. If we’re going to remain the world’s economic superpower, we have to create predictable incentives that will drive technological innovations and allow us to lead the world in developing clean, reliable and affordable energy and a national carbon tax can lead us in that direction. In 1993, President Clinton persuaded the House to adopt a...

Is 350ppm of Carbon Dioxide the "Tipping Point"

Last month was big regarding the fight against Global Warming. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. finally made some commitments at the summit in Bali, and Congress felt the pressure and went against big business and raised the gas mileage standard for cars. But perhaps the biggest single event was when NASA scientist James Hansen proclaimed that the new tipping point for our planet is 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. All other rhetoric pales in comparison to this finding. Why this is so important is that 20 years ago Hansen testified to congress that the planet was warming and that people were the cause. In the 60's (post the industrial revolution) the concentration of CO2 was roughly 275ppm. So most all focus was on what would happen to the planet if that number doubled to 550ppm. So 550ppm became what all studies...

China is hitting on all cylinders

I don't think it's any secret that China is growing fast - we all read the news. One of the hidden secrets is just how fast they are growing and, can they keep up the torrid pace for exporting products. With the westernization of their culture just starting, the lower and middle classes are getting a taste of the good life. Spending and making more and more money in a vicious cycle and 10% GDP growth per quarter could go on for quite some time. Where I'm perplexed is just how they will meet their own needs for products and services as the manufacturing base peaks production. Plants can only be built and expanded so fast and the labor component will eventually demand more money and become scarse (ala U.S. manufacturing in the 70's). Will they curtail exports and drive up prices here in the U.S. and around the world?...

CFO for Construction Business needed

A couple of weeks ago we (Axiom Equity Partners) bought a Road Striping and Safety Services business here in the Denver area. I didn't know much about road striping but Colorado Strijpe Wright (yes that's how you spell it) and American Barricade are two of the largest and best Road Striping/Safety Services companies in the Rocky Mountain region. Like most small businesses that have grown fast over a short period of time they have quite a few challenges with financial controls, policy and procedure. We're now looking to place a CFO to be part of the management team. Given we're talking about a business with revenues in the $10m to $20m range there's a lot of day to day tactical work (cash flow management, AR/AP, payroll, etc) along with administration responsibilities and banking relationships. Ideally we're looking for someone that might currently be in a Controller role that wants to...

Me....as a Dad

Fathers Day is this Sunday. The only reason I know this is because it's the U.S. Open golf championship weekend. Not something I keep on my calendar or want any special recognition for. Don't misunderstand, I absolutely love being a dad, but being a "good dad" seems to be getting tougher and tougher. Thinking back to when I was growing up, it seemed to be pretty clear cut. In an age where men knew their roles and were happy with them; go out, get a job, make money, put a roof over the kids head, have a martini after work, read the paper after work and do yard work around the house on the weekends. Occasionally there was the obligatory throw of the baseball for a half hour or so. Now, in the age of enlightenment and expanded consciousness with the help of Dr. Spock, there are parent teachers conferences,...

Keeping Score

We have this on-going debate in our family about being competitive vs. having fun and, at what age is it OK to actually "want to win." It seems that a lot of organizations, schools, county sports, etc. are intent on having kids participate in sports for the joy of participating. A lot of parents have bought into the concept as well. I'm not quite there. Last time I looked, the world is a pretty competitive and un-forgiving place and personalities are molded at a very young age. I grew up in an ultra competitive environment and learned to win....and lose, and from what I remember I had a blast playing all kinds of sports. I also remember being cut (not making the team) for J.V. basketball as a freshman. That was the last time I was going to get cut in any sport. I learned more from being cut than...

Fear of Failure - The Aftermath

There have been a lot of great posts in the blogesphere lately around failure and the fear of it. Brad Feld wrote a piece a while ago, and there have been several others offering their perspectives. Although we use the term "fear of failure" a lot in our every day language, I'm not so sure it's actually the failure itself that most people are afraid of, but rather the fear of the aftermath of the failure. While we go through failure after failure in our everyday lives, both professionally and personally, I'd suspect that most of us are more worried about what the failure will actually cause and how we're going to handle that. It's inevitable that you're going to screw up, I don't know anyone that hasn't and if we all admitted to it, I'm sure that there are a ton of failures in our lives that we just...

Viva Las Vegas

Last week my bothers and sisters and I spent three days in Vegas with my mother celebrating her 75th birthday. She loves Vegas and so do I. Names are being withheld to protect the guilty. We had an absolute blast! I'm so glad Vegas has found a way to transform from the horrible idea of making itself into a kid friendly destination resort back in the early 90's. In all of it's decadence, Vegas has found a way to attract the best restaurants, entertainment and nightclubs in the world. Obviously all coming with a price. I can't imagine anywhere in the world, with maybe the exception of Dubai, that packs as much money, entertainment, glamor, food and every vice you can think of within 1 square mile. We stayed at the Bellagio in a couple of suites in the new Spa Tower which was perfect - four brothers in one...

The Fray was Fabulous

Made our way to Vail this weekend and caught The Fray concert with some good friends of ours. I love this band, I love the whole story. Just a bunch of guys from Boulder/Denver, CO that started jammin together a few years back, got a MySpace page (most people don't know it but the original premise of MySpace was to host web sites of bands to promote themselves) and the rest is history. How to Save a Life (from Greys Anatomy) propelled them to the spotlight and it's been a rocket ride ever since. They only have 12 songs, played them all plus a couple of new ones that they wanted to "try out"....all good. The crowd went crazy during She Is, Over my Head (my favorite) and of course How to Save a Life, but the whole show was just really great. We saw them at the Dobson Ice...

Kyoto Protocal or Bust

Our Government made a conscious decision not to adopt the Kyoto Protocol framework through the United Nations for climate control in 1997. While most other leading nations from around the globe quickly moved to adopt policies outlined in the mandate, the U.S. took the position of "voluntary reductions" in CO2 and NO2 emissions. This resulted in an actual increase in the level of emissions throughout the U.S. as our economy and population continues to grow. There's been a lot of rhetoric around the subject of global warming, nay-sayers, doom-sayers, it seems that most everyone has an opinion. WorldWatch Institute has a good, albeit dated synopsis regarding Kyoto and Climate Change. Mounting evidence tells me, we need to at least pay attention to data and leading scientists. Recently I watched the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" which was produced by Al Gores team. If 10% of what is portrayed in this movie...

Yellow Pages Debacle

I came home today to find a plastic bag on my front walk with three huge phone books inside from Qwest. A "residential" directory, a "yellow pages" directory, and a new Qwest Dex "plus" portable yellow pages directory (slightly small than the other books). Probably close to 10 lbs in all. I can't remember the last time I used a phone book. Note to those that buy space in the yellow pages - you are wasting your money on me. So I got on the phone to Qwest and asked them to put me on a DO NOT DELIVER EVER AGAIN list to which I got a response of, and I'm not kidding here, "we do not have a list like that sir and we have to deliver them out to all of our customers. But I don't want them. I'm sorry sir they have to be delivered to you."...

10 Degrees F, Feels Like 50 F

Most weather stations/sites have a little add to the daily temperatures, namely ..."feels like." The feels like temperature takes into account things like humidity, wind, etc, etc. I never really understood it. To make matters worse, temperature is always measured in the shade, that way the direct sunlight doesn't alter the temperature reading. I don't understand why they do that either. In a Colorado winter like we're having where the temperature is 10 degrees F the last thing I want to do is to be in the shade. On Saturday I was yet again snow blowing the driveway after 4" or so accumulation Friday eve. Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny, bright blue sky and I found myself sweating while maneuvering my snow blower under the sun in 10 degree weather, that is until I went around to the back yard to clear a sidewalk in the shade. I could...

Technology for Christmas

I've been a loyal Treo/Palm guy for years, working my way up to a Treo 650 about 6 months ago. Well...no more. I gifted myself a new Blackberry Pearl which blows away any Treo device (including the new 680). The user interface is what sealed the deal for me - very intuitive, fewer click throughs, great form factor. I love it! It has a really cool browser feature that updates a site every couple of minutes which is great for getting sports updates (confession here - I was getting updates on the Broncos/Bengals game during church. Hey it was a critical game.) They also use push technology that updates your emails as they come in vs. Treos pull technology that goes out and gets them on a schedule - even if there's nothing there. Hands down this new Blackberry Pearl is the best PDA out there. Christine got me a...

Management as a "responsibility"

A a fan of the Denver Nuggets, and in particular Carmelo Anthony, I was really disappointed in what happened the other day when the Nuggets/Nicks game erupted into a bench clearing brawl. Now it seems that everyone has an opinion on what happened, who's responsible, etc. But I think that Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks) is right on point with his blog about "management being responsible" and setting the tone for an organization. Coaching and management go well beyond honing a particular skill (in this case basketball). I'm sure that if management is 100% responsible for any and all actions of their employees (players) they would interact differently with them vs. being 100% responsible for winning and losing.

Milton Friedman - Free Market Iconist

Milton Friedman died today. I've always loved his approach to economics and social responsibility, I'll miss his writings. Friedman is an icon for free market economist. Long an anti Keynesian, Friedman was all about freedom of choice, freedom of markets, letting the pendulum rest where it needs to until the people choose otherwise - without government intervention. I loved his style, his beliefs - one of the greatest pillars of our society. He framed a lot of great minds through Business Schools that eventually went on to run some of the most powerful corporations in the world. He preached to have individual accountability within a compassionate society. Most thought of Friedman as the consummate capitalist where the strongest survive and the weak perish, but he was also known for his negative tax concept where the government would pay people making below a certain floating level of income. Supply and demand...

NBC Nightly News does Web 2.0

I TIVO NBC Nightly News - I like Brian Williams. Tonight they promoted the fact that podcast versions of the broadcast will be available at 10:00pm ET every night. How cool is that! Now I can subscribe to that podcast as an RSS feed, watch it on my video IPOD (if I had one - hint Christine. Christmas is coming up) or watch it on my PC. And soon my cell phone. Ah, no longer tied to my TV. Also - I was reading the paper (as archaic as that may sound to some) and there was a great article on Level 3 and CEO Jim Crowe talking about where Level 3 was heading. He indicated that "the future is all about delivery (bandwidth) and content." With companies like NBC getting hip to 2.0 he's right on point. Level 3 at $5.75/share and companies like Akamai that store and optimize...

Why I Love Colorado - Part 1

A few months ago I started to mountain bike as a park of my workout regimen. My mountain bike has been staring at me for the past few years every time I went into the garage to see it hanging from the ceiling. So I dusted off my mountain bike and started to ride. Less than a hundred yards from my home is an incredible open space area called "the bluffs" that includes a 2.6 mile trail that ascends and declines a few hundred feet as you go around it. It's such a great workout, especially at 6,000'. When I started doing this, as a newbie, I noticed the other bikers, all decked out in their latest gear. You know, the biking shorts, team Italia shirts, a camel back for water, head gear, etc. I was in it for the workout so I started with a t-shirt and a pair...

Like Minds Think Alike

It seems that we're becoming more an more polarized on idealogical issues than ever. I don't get the "Us vs. Them" mentality. To me it's counter productive. I think we become more ingrained in our opinion when we have like minded individuals continually being with, collaborating with others of the same ilk. I guess that happens when you want to solidify your beliefs, to be more righteous in your conviction. There's been some great studies done of groups of people talking about and addressing issues when they tend to have the same mindset vs people with different mindsets in the same group. When you have people with the same mindset they tend to polarize and be more extreme in the views - it's commonly called "group think". When you have differing perspectives within the same group addressing issues the solutions tend to be different, generally because you learn from one...

Partners for Life

Just came back from a vacation at Disney World in Orlando. Hot, Hazy, Humid and I've never walked so much in my life. For the first three days it was Christine, me, Alec & Alexa and then all of my brothers and sisters (and their kids), Ashley, and my mother joined us for a big family reunion. Thirty one of us in all, (I have 5 brothers and sisters - good Catholics that we are :-)). We had a blast, stayed at the Grand Floridian, did all the parks, great dinners, a lot of wine, etc, etc. We also did something that we haven't done before, we took time out from the larger group and had a fabulous, elegant dinner one night, just the 6 kids and my mother. I have to admit, it was a pretty great experience, a really neat dynamic, sharing stories/experiences that we might not have...

World Cup goes Dry??

Last night while watching NBC Nightly News (TiVo'd of course) there was a snip-it about the possibility of Germany running out of beer during the World Cup. That they severely underestimated the about of potential consumption during the planning process. There was also a reference to the fact that the English soccer fans are consuming more beer than anyone - an average of 15 beers per day! Woah. But according to world beer stats, the Czech Republic wins hands down. They drink almost 2 times as much beer per person than does the US. And....Electronic Arts just ran a soccer simulation for the World Cup and the Czechs won!! But wait, there's even more beer/World Cup news. The tournament's clear favorite on the football pitch, Brazil, is a rank amateur in the beer world, registering about 47 liters per person per year, a pitiful 33rd place. Italy, whose national team...

This is Paradise, Radio Paradise

A few weeks ago I was reading Fred Wilson's blog and picked up a great link to Radio Paradise. I'm hooked, it's all I listen to now. This is what radio should be - great music, no commercials, free. For those of you that don't know, Fred's with Union Square Ventures and definitely plugged in! I gotta get a windows media center hooked into my entertainment system, there's just too much great stuff on the web not to listen too over a great sound system or watch via a HD plasma. Why would anyone buy or rent a CD, a DVD, a Pay Per View anymore? Everything you want and more, on demand.

My "Top Ten" Great Salesperson Traits

A couple of weeks ago, Terry Gold had a fabulous post on Hiring Salespeople. Terry is a great guy, an avid ongoing learner, committed to people and their success, and the CEO of Gold Systems. I've been a huge fan of Terry's ever since I met him 3 or 4 years ago. Brad Feld calls him the best "non-salesy salesperson" he knows. Terry outlines what he thinks are traits that have worked for him over the years in hiring salespeople, and what hasn't worked. I've edited his list and thrown in a couple of my starters/non-starters given I've hired and fired quite a few salespeople over the years. You could argue that companies in different industries and in different stages of maturity change this list somewhat, but it's still probably a pretty good litmus test for hiring nontheless; 1) Hire someone that, as Terry says, can "SELL STUFF". Do they...

Why not CarCast?

One of the downsides of being an early adopter of technology is that the hardware/software gets revised pretty quick and you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to either hold on to the device you have or spend more money and get the newer version. For about a year now I've had my eye on an IPod Nano. Both Christine and I have/had IPod Minis. Hers recently bit the dust, battery or something, and she took it in to the Apple store to get it fixed. They said $60, she said NO, and they gave her a deal on a Nano which she generously gave to me. I find myself using it (the IPod) now more than ever - because of its size. Anyway, I now subscribe to various podcasts through iTunes. If you're not using that area of iTunes you need to. It's amazing what's out there...

Sandy Hamilton - Perspectives