Fast Company

Vosges Unwraps Chocolate's Wild Side

David D. Burstein — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:31:47 EST

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, chocolate lovers across the land are anticipating heart-shaped boxes of Russell Stover, Godiva, or See's chocolates.

But those whose tastes run a bit more to the wild side are really in luck. There's a delicious new world of innovative, artisanal chocolates out there creating new tastes, experiences, and sensory perceptions. And among the new generation of chocolatiers, few are as consistently daring and innovative as Katrina Markoff, the founder of the exotic luxury chocolate line Vosges.

Markoff studied in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu and later with the legendary Ferran and Alberto Adrià of elBulli--which, before it closed last year, was considered by many people to be the best restaurant in the world, one that elevated and popularized the concepts of serious molecular gastronomy.

Markoff was inspired to bring what she thought was much-needed innovation to the world of chocolate. Since its launch in 1998, Vosges' chocolate bars, truffles, ice creams, and other specialties have regularly been mixing the sweet taste of chocolate with exotic ingredients from around the world including hot chilies, olives, wasabi, wattleseed, Himalayan sea salt, curry, and bacon, to mention just a few. In addition to a strong web presence and e-commerce engine, Vosges has opened retail boutiques in Chicago, New York, Beverly Hills, and Las Vegas.

As the company's products and locations have diversified, sales have boomed to an anticipated $30 million for 2012. Markoff also launched a new chocolate line last year focused on the theme of "American heritage." Branded as "Wild Ophelia," this product line emphasizes local ingredients and is now featured in many Walgreens, Fresh Market, and Wegmans stores.

Fast Company spoke with Katrina Markoff about the power of chocolate and her worldwide search for the perfect ingredients. We learned what she means by "an experiential realm of storytelling through the medium of chocolate."

And as a bonus for all you chocolate addicts out there, we found out what she has in store for Valentine's Day--so email this story to your better half.

FAST COMPANY: People have been eating and enjoying chocolate for millennia. Why does chocolate need or benefit from innovation now?

KATRINA MARKOFF: I went to culinary school after college at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I worked at elBulli in Spain. I traveled all over the world and studied indigenous foods. I went to these amazing restaurants where the meals had all this innovation in the ingredients, the combinations of flavors, and the presentation. But there wasn't really much innovation on the dessert side. When I came back to the U.S., I didn't want to open a restaurant, so I went to work with my uncle at a mail order company. One of the things he asked me to look for was really great chocolate. But when I started looking into chocolate, I realized that there was nothing really innovative and nothing particularly high quality. Everything was loaded with preservatives or some kind of weird flavoring. There was this huge hole in the chocolate space that called out for innovation. I came home one day and I had this necklace on that was made by the Naga tribe in India. I was researching a little bit about the culture. Then for some reason I went into my kitchen and made a curry and coconut milk chocolate truffle and called it Naga. That's when it hit me that I could use chocolate as a way to tell stories about cultures, art, people, and the world.

How do you tell a story through chocolate?

On the simplest level we tell the story on the chocolate bar itself. There is finite space on the chocolate bar's packaging, of course, so rather than putting marketing fluff on the wrapper, we use that space to give you tips on how to taste the chocolate. The first thing it says is close your eyes and try and take three deep breaths. We don't want it to just be a sugar fix, we want it to be a deep experience. We do these experiential collections that focus on big ideas. We did one called The Groove Collection. That collection was focused on the influence of African-Americans on American music genres from the field songs to hip-hop. For each genre we looked at what foods and flavors were relevant during the time period of each genre's popularity. The collection has 12 different chocolates that correspond to each genre. A vintage LP with all the music comes in the package.

Where do you get your new ideas and recipe inspirations from?

I travel a lot. I read a lot. I buy lot of old things. I buy a lot on Etsy and eBay. I go to new places and go to grocery stores and markets in those places. I try and meet people around the world who will cook for me so I can learn even more. Something usually catches my eye because I'm curious about an idea, or because it looks beautiful. Inspiration for me usually comes through a cultural or visual experience. It's not really about taste in the beginning, it's about sharing an impression of a place I fell in love with. But I am also very open to finding the best products out there. Nothing is totally sacred to me. If I find a wattleseed supplier who has better wattleseed than Australia, I'll gladly go there. I'm constantly trying to innovate. I want to evolve. The recipe today will probably not be the same recipe 10 years from now.

Most of your inspiration has historically come from exotic global destinations. But now you are "telling chocolate stories" in an American idiom.

We'd received a lot of offers from stores like Walgreens and Target to sell there. So I created a new line that was more moderately priced. It's called Wild Ophelia. I like to think of it as the spirited younger sister to Vosges. It's focused more on American heritage and agriculture. There's been this big movement towards local and organic food, but it hasn't connected with the chocolate space yet. We're working with a peach farmer in California, a banana farmer in Kauai, a baker in Michigan. We're getting our cherries from Traverse City, Mich. and our pecans from New Mexico. We hope that this line can help connect people with their food and help them understand where it's coming from.

So you are pushing people to try new experiences through chocolate.

If people try something for the first time, if they appreciate it and enjoy it, I think that they are more open to trying new things in life, whether it's new food or new people. The foodie movement has helped to create a new sensibility. People still want their comfort food but they are much more willing to explore new kinds of food. How many items have bacon in them now? You have bacon in popcorn, cinnamon buns, everything! How does that happen? I think Vosges is part of that evolution.

You were early to the "bacon trend." What inspired you to make the bacon bar?

When I was little my mom would make chocolate chip pancakes. The bacon would be on the same plate. I'd pour the maple syrup all over it and invariably the maple syrup would run into the bacon. Years later, we were opening our Vosges store in SoHo. We were planning our press party and I was trying to think of some savory hors d'oeuvres. I made a maple syrup milk chocolate pudding. Then, I stuck some well-baked bacon into the pudding which functioned as a spoon. Then I thought, I wonder if I could just put the bacon in a chocolate bar? Could I do that? We did, and it just soared. It's eclipsed every other bar we've made. People really have an affinity for bacon! Apparently chocolate and bacon are the perfect duet.

Why are people drawn to counterintuitive mixes of chocolate with ingredients like bacon and sea salt?

A lot of people give our chocolates as gifts because they are adventurous spirits. In a way, Vosges represents a part of their spirit. I think people are also less inhibited now. The digital age has made people so open about expressing their opinions. Now it's important to be different and express your own opinions. As for the chocolate itself ... I think chocolate is the most powerful word in the food dictionary. If you were to run down a list of food words: caviar, wine, beer, scotch, chocolate, pastries, bread, chocolate would elicit the strongest reaction. It's the most complex food in the world--that has been scientifically proven. It has a rich history. It was used as currency and it was used in rituals. It's immensely powerful. I think that will always excite people.

For all the last-minute shoppers out there, what do you recommend from Vosges this Valentine's Day?

We have these chocolate masks made with aphrodisiac ingredients. They are on dowels wrapped in leather. You can wear them and you can eat them. We have a smoked tomato flaming heart lollipop. Some of the smoked tomatoes are from California and the rest are semi-dried Sicilian tomatoes. We mixed the tomatoes with poppy and smoked salt and put it all in dark chocolate.

What about someone who just wants a gift box of chocolates for Valentine's Day?

I think on a really straightforward level, you walk into our store and you'll see gift boxes and heart-shaped boxes for Valentine's Day. One is called the "Sweet Coquette Collection" and if you read deeper you can see a whole aphrodisiac story... but maybe you just open it and eat it. Or you'll see some of the chocolate bars with ingredients like bacon or olives, and you'll understand there's something different here. But we also have comfort foods like caramel marshmallows and peanut butter bonbons. There is definitely a range. Our story is one you can access at different levels. If you go deeper into our creative process because you talked to me or because you read something about Vosges, you will see the deeper story.

Note: This interview has been edited for content, clarity, and length.

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David D. Burstein is a young entrepreneur, having completed his first documentary 18 in '08. He is also the founder & executive director of the youth voter engagement not for profit Generation18. His book about the millennial generation will be published by Beacon Press in early 2013.

"Words With Friends" Board Game Coming From The Makers Of Scrabble?

Kevin Ohannessian — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:14:31 EST

Hasbro and Zynga announced today that they have entered into a global partnership. With this license, Hasbro will be making a variety of toys and board games using Zynga's brands, with the first products expected to be released in the coming Fall. There will also be co-branded merchandise.

"It's exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in a statement--funny, since much of Zynga's success has come from Words With Friends, a game that incorporated changes to scoring, a heavy social aspect and other differences in part to avoid similarities to Hasbro's venerable game Scrabble. Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro, said in today's press release: "Hasbro is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Zynga's immensely popular social games to life."

Zynga's social games have 227 million monthly active users, with 14.9 million monthly active users on Words With Friends alone. Hasbro is counting on that sizeable group to make these new products successful. And the possibilities inherent in this partnership are almost staggering: Words With Friends the board game, Lego-esque FarmVille playsets, Zynga Poker card game sets, CastleVille the RPG from the Dungeons and Dragons creators, and even MafiaWars action figures.

[Image: Flickr user Warren]

Ford's Nancy Lee Gioia On Leading Where The Rubber Meets The Road

Lydia Dishman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:05:07 EST

In her 30 years with Ford Motor Company, Nancy Lee Gioia’s learned a thing or two about teamwork, sparking innovation, and being a driving force in what was once considered a man's industry.

Nancy Lee Gioia’s been with Ford Motor Company since 1982, when she was hired as a graduate trainee in the electronics division. In the 30 years that followed, she’s held a variety of positions in electronics architecture, manufacturing, and engineering in different divisions.

Now, as the company’s director of Global Electrification, Gioia drives strategy and planning for the next generation of Ford’s global electric vehicle portfolio, touching all aspects of electrified transportation, including product planning, supplier partnerships, and collaboration with the energy industry and the government.

Though planning for the future keeps Gioia busy, she recently sat down with Fast Company to share tactics of a different kind. Here are her leadership strategies to apply at the helm of any industry.

Pay It Forward

You never forget your first job. For Gioia, that meant delivering newspapers in fifth grade. Just like the mail carrier, Gioia was out there every day, in all kinds of weather, lugging a sackful of papers on her bike. But she earned more than mad money (and tips) for her toil. Gioia says she learned some valuable lessons that she still uses in her career today.

"You have a responsibility and a set number of things to accomplish every time, in the most efficient and best manner that you can," Gioia told Fast Company. "I took extra care to deliver papers to the door, not just throw them on the driveway. I was a chubby kid and I wanted to get fit. So I would run to the door because it really didn’t take any more time and that customer focus helped earn me bigger tips. It also reflected pride in my neighborhood. I carry that forward because everything we do can touch our broader goals. To be successful, you can’t depend on others. You have to bring your own energy and expectations.

Get a Mentor--and an Advocate

There’s a big difference between the two, says Gioia. But both are necessary for anyone who wants to achieve senior role. A mentor will guide you and provide an experienced point of view, and advocates will go to bat for you when decisions are made about new positions, roles, or assessments.

"There tends to be an over-emphasis on mentors, but advocates--especially for women--are even more important. Advocates see you are growing your capability and talent and adding to the organization as well as your own skill set," she says.

"I have mentors at all levels of the organization, outside the company, and the industry. I have actively pursued meeting and learning from them. The best mentors are the best students. You can’t lead unless you have knowledge and understanding. When I mentor I always start with 'Don’t tell me what you want to be, tell me what really inspires you,' so that the whole day goes by and you don’t even notice. The more time you spend in that zone the greater your contribution to the group and the results.

Let Your Leadership Style Evolve

A 30-year career in the same company while holding in a variety of different roles, including a stint as a manufacturing and quality engineer at the Engine Control Electronics facility in Lansdale, Pa., management for the launch of Ford’s facility in Cadiz, Spain, and chief program engineer for the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, has taught Gioia how important it is for leaders to evolve as they take on new responsibilities.

Your style--how much you contribute individually vs. shaping a strategy for the larger organization--changes depending on your role, she says. Early on in her career, this meant she was very hands on so she could develop the expertise necessary to deliver results.

"Now [my role is to] set strategy for the next five to 10 years, all the way up to 2050, for where are we going and how we will evolve our customer focus, talent, attributes, resources, spending and commitment," Gioia said. "The more you need to deliver strategy, the more collaborative your style needs to be. This is not just for large corporations, but also for startups. Getting big things done requires you to bring everyone along. The style I have now is clarifying the questions, using a process of logic to take disparate information for a group and drive for consensus--without everyone getting paralysis of analysis.

"A big part of leadership is recognizing what level of detail you need to be engaged in versus becoming an expert. My job is to enable to right discussion, support the team, and push them beyond where they think we can go."

Make It a Woman’s World

Gioia’s thoughts on being a woman in the male-centric world of auto manufacturing and engineering has evolved over time as well. From avoiding the issue early on to embracing it as a role model to recruit more girl power to the rank and file of auto manufacturers, Gioia says one thing remains constant. “You don’t have to be a car geek to love the auto industry. I am not a gear head; however, I love working on products that make a difference in people's lives.”

As she rose through the ranks, she saw her role as doing a good job, being accepted by peers, and contributing and learning. But she avoided taking on what she though of as "women's issues," because she didn't want to be perceived as self-serving or represent unwanted stereotypes.

"Now [I realize] I have an important role. I have an opportunity to talk to people inside and outside the company and see how many people look at me as a role model. As a senior leader you are a role model. In a male-dominated industry you are even more so seen as someone who stands out. Recognizing that [I thought] how do I want to contribute to excitement and interest for women in automotive?" she said.

"I’ve done so much in my career--how many industries give you those opportunities? It is global in nature--what a cool opportunity. If we can change the car, we can change the world."

Encourage Innovation Without Killing Ideas

It is possible, says Gioia, to support the development of innovative products among teams of scientists and engineers who are, by necessity, focused on minutia. It all starts with questions--namely, what problems is a product trying to solve, and what are the issues that need to be understood?

"You keep thinking about that and somewhere in there is a kernel that may result in the next big idea," she says. "You have to be able to explain where we have to take a decision in the next five years. In the meantime, show when you can implement an idea and bring it forward in a bigger way. Nothing is ever cast in concrete, though. I have a little trick. I keep a journal and when I have 'aha' moment, I make a little picture of a light bulb. I keep them all and I think [later], 'You know, this one is not ready. But I keep putting things back on the plate."

The ideas that are ready come forward, she says, and the others--while unused for the time being--are not dead, they're just waiting for their time.

Everyday Wisdom

Gioia is an avid equestrian, and for the past 14 years has been riding dressage regularly with her daughter. Though she admits that her colleagues will probably be eye-rolling at the prospect of “another manure story,” Gioia maintains that some profound learning all comes back to horses.

"It’s been a revelation that no matter how long you work at something, you can always do it better and have more fun. The peak is higher, the challenge is further out, and the journey can be enjoyable or it can be work. So make it enjoyable while you work."

[Image: Flickr user Adcuz]

Mentors Are Useless--But They Don't Have To Be

Michelle Randall — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:01:18 EST

I am a lousy mentee. It’s a funny admission to make as someone who makes her living as professional mentor. Sure, I train my clients on how best to leverage my expertise. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I follow my own advice very well.

It’s not that I don’t know the results that mentoring can create. How else can you access the smarts of someone who has led companies, made mistakes, picked themselves back up, and learned how to be really successful? The best part is that mentors are outside of your business, so they can see the forest for the trees, and question both the assumptions, and taboos, that stealthily drive decision making.

Even knowing this, I’m a lousy mentee, and I’m not alone. Many of my friends and colleagues share that they make the same mistake. While I usually mentor businesses, I’ve also been a mentor for the Haas Business School’s Global Social Venture Competition for the better part of a decade. There have been teams who used my services well and others who (how do I put this delicately?) didn’t.

I’ve compiled the varied experience of lousy mentees into something of a hall of fame. Here’s how to make a mentor completely useless.

1. Underutilize them

I have to admit, this is me big time. I’ll recruit a mentor, then won’t reach out. I do prepare to make the call, then answer my own questions along the way. While this is a worthwhile process, it’s pretty insular.

The beauty of a mentor is that they have opinions and insights that you don’t. They’ve also committed themselves to the process and want to be a resource. One mistake that mentees regularly make, is thinking that they’re a burden to their mentor by calling on them.

In a recent and completely unscientific poll I made of mentors, every single mentor I asked said that they were underutilized by their mentees and would welcome more engagement. So do it!

2. Do everything they say

The surest way to undermine a mentoring relationship is to keep your mouth shut. You know your business best. That makes it your job to push back when you don’t understand something or if you think your mentor just isn’t getting it.

By engaging in a real conversation you’re likely to expose the flaws in somebody’s thinking, discover gaps in your own, and likely explore previously unconsidered opportunities.

So how do you push back? First off, remember that it’s your business. That makes you both the resident expert and the only person in the conversation who is responsible for the results. Second, listen for understanding; ask any and all questions that come to mind; and if you think your mentor’s advice is on the wrong track tell her and explain why. Then repeat these steps.

3. Keep your cards close to the vest

Yes, your mentor is probably a well-established professional with a network that you’d love to be able to access. No, looking like you’ve got everything under control will not make your access to that network any more likely.

Here’s why: if everything is peachy then you don’t have much need for a mentor. If you don’t need a mentor, you’re unlikely to build a meaningful relationship with one. If you don’t have a great relationship, the mentor isn’t likely to make introductions to his trusted colleagues.

Business is messy. All mentors know that because they’ve been there, too. Share the mess and the unknowns to get battle-tested advice on how to clean it up. Your mentor will be judging you on how you develop far more than where you started.

4. Expect them to act like you

Startups and students have many things in common. They have back-breaking workloads; are extremely deadline driven; and think that a seven-day work week is normal. This is not always the case for mentors.

The first group I mentored for the Global Social Venture Competition introduced themselves at the outset, then I heard nothing until the plan was due. They sent their plan for my review at 10 p.m. on Saturday night when it was due that Monday morning.

Look, I’m happy to go the extra mile for people I’ve committed to support, but mutual respect goes a long way. This wasn’t respect, it was perfunctory. As it turned out, the team didn’t advance in the competition.

Another team I mentored, who ended up winning first place, sent me their plan with plenty of time for my review. We had back-and-forth discussions about changes I felt they needed to make to their business model, and they had time to alter some of their plan. It was a very fruitful collaboration.

Which just goes to prove my point. Mentors are completely useless--if you make them that way.

[Image: Flickr user Jillian Stewart]

Private Spacecrafts Are Your Transportation, Your Scientists, And Your Real Estate Brokers

Emma Haak — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:27:33 EST

In the absence of NASA's Space Shuttle Program, private companies are left to fill the black hole of space exploration. Now, 50 years after John Glenn orbited the Earth, some very different kinds of explorers are leading the way.

1. Virgin GalacticRichard Branson's space line is prepping its SpaceShipTwo for commercial passengers, and private citizens are lining up to reserve their seats at $200,000 a pop.Mission: Make space accessible. Says CEO George Whitesides, "We want to enable people all over the world to experience what only about 500 people have seen: Earth from space and the surrounding universe."

2. Xcor AerospaceNASA has chosen Xcor's Lynx rocket to provide suborbital flight services for scientific missions. A flight-test program will launch in 2012. Mission: Fuel new research. "Society needs citizens to believe we can expand opportunities," says CEO Jeff Greason. "Space transport can be a moneymaker."

3. Armadillo AerospaceA leading developer of reusable rocket-powered launch vehicles, Armadillo focuses on vertical liftoff and landing. Mission: Find new real estate. "We must expand beyond our birth planet," says Neil Milburn, VP of program management. "Asteroids or a virus could wipe out life on Earth."

4. SpaceXThe first privately funded company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, SpaceX has inked a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to carry out 12 resupply missions to the International Space Station. Mission: Add ease. "We must create tech that has a positive effect on space access," says Tom Mueller, VP of propulsion.

5. BOEINGThe aviation giant (together with NASA) is building a craft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015. Mission: Keep the U.S. in the game. "It would be unfortunate to cede leadership to others, then look longingly at their accomplishments," says space exploration VP John Elbon.

FAST COMPANY ASKED BY EMAIL: maSDaq bIyItlaHchugh, nuq 'oH Doch wa'DIch Data'bogh? tera' Hur yIn DaqIHchugh, nuq 'oH Doch wa'DIch Data'bogh? veH Qav 'oH'a' logh?

Reply from Tom Mueller, VP of propulsion, SpaceX: "SpaceX Public Affairs would not allow me to answer this question, as it would be poor form for a SpaceX executive to be quoted in the language of an enemy of the Federation."

Illustration By Andrea Manzati

A version of this article appears in the February 2012 issue of Fast Company.

Fast Talk: How This Bartender Is Rebooting The Condom

David Zax — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:41:25 EST

Meet Richard Pessall, a 20-year-old British entrepreneur who wants to take the condom where no man has gone before (no, not space).

Richard Pessall, 20, lives and works as bartender in Shropshire, England. He spent nine years living in the United States, but when he ran out of money to pay for college in North Carolina, he was unable to renew his visa and was forced to return to the U.K. He’s decided to make his fortune before attempting to return stateside. His big idea? Reboot the condom.

Forplay, the condom company he's been bootstrapping with his barman’s earnings, has grown to a staff of four by focusing on the student-rich towns like Oxford, Bristol, and Liverpool. Pessall, who hopes to expand to London and Edinburgh by June, recently spoke with Fast Company.

FAST COMPANY: So this all began with a series of bad dates...

RICHARD PESSALL: I went out with a couple of friends and I met these two twins, who were absolutely gorgeous. One of them really hit it off with me, and the next week we went out to a club. I used to breakdance with my friends back in high school. So I go down on the floor, I go to a handstand, and my heel connects to her face, and I knock her onto the floor. I’ve never felt so bad in my life. Her twin comes over and takes her to the bathroom, and while she’s in the bathroom I go to the bar, and this girl says, “I saw that, are you alright?” I end up getting her number as well. We ended up going on a date, and things were going really well. But then she got a phone call. She said, “Richard, I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go.” This girl was 19, and she’d already had a child. She had to go back and pay the babysitter. I thought, “This is a joke, this can’t be happening.”

That set you on a mission.

I went home and started researching teen pregnancy rates in England, and they’re just atrocious. This related to work I did when I lived in New York back in 2010. I sold “Obama Condoms.” They had his face on the front of the condom, and they’d say, “Use Your Good Judgment” or “The Ultimate Stimulus Package.” I’d sell them in Central Park, Times Square, and Columbus Circle, wearing a backpack with a sign that said "Obama Condoms, three for ten dollars."

So what’s innovative about Forplay, your condom startup?

When I’ve gone into a pharmaceutical store to buy condoms, I’ve always gotten heckled by someone in line. “Look at this guy, buying three packs of them.” I want to change the way they’re bought. I spoke with my father about it, and we were thinking about different ways we could make condoms unrelated to sex, and bring them into different markets. We came up with the idea of selling them in relation to drinking. In a couple of bars, our condoms are sold in the bathrooms--but also at the actual bar itself.

So I’d order a pint of Guinness and a condom?

If you order a Screaming Orgasm, the price of the drink is incorporated with the condom itself. Every couple of weeks we try to come up with new names and new cocktails. The last one I made was the Cherry Turnover, a shot that incorporates amaretto, cherry brandy, and lemon juice. It was originally called Pop My Cherry, but some people didn’t agree with it.

What are some other condom-bundling drinks you’ve made up?

I’ve got a whole list... I made one called The Icebreaker. There’s one I’m making now, that we’ll see how it goes, called The Queen’s Legs. In the bottom right, it says “Always Open” in neon lighting.

So the main idea is to bring condom sales out of the pharmacy and into new channels.

There are so many different ways to sell anything, but condoms in particular, people want generally to get them out there but don’t know how to do it. You can buy off our website, which is fully integrated with PayPal. We’ve also made novelty ranges. I’ve designed condoms that are quite fashionable, with nice patterns on them, that are sold in clothing stores. This month I’m releasing what I call condom cards, which are greeting cards that have a quote on the front, and inside, instead of “Happy birthday,” there’s a condom. For cards that are congratulatory for a pregnancy, it’ll say, “Here’s for next time.”

You’re not the first to want to reboot condoms. How can you compete with, say, TheyFit, which basically offers custom-tailored condoms?

Obviously size does matter and all that, but for--excuse my language--but for penis sizes, there’s a general bell curve that most people fit in. In the European market, and the American market as well, everyone seems to use the same size condom. Only about 5% use Magnum condoms; the other 55% who buy them use them to impress girls. Creating and manufacturing a condom for the general need of a country or continent is not difficult to do. Custom-made condoms are completely unneeded.

You’ve really read up on your penises.

Unfortunately, I know quite a lot about penises.

This interview has been condensed and edited. For more from the Fast Talk interview series, click here. Think you'd make a good Fast Talk subject? Mention it to David Zax.

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[Image: Flickr user quaziefoto]

The Google Wallet Hack Is Not The End Of The World (Or Even NFC) As We Know It [Update: Google Reacts]

Kit Eaton — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:30:31 EST

Stay calm and carry on, people: It's way too soon to say that NFC should stand for Now Fatally Corrupted. Yes, Google's breakthrough NFC payments app Wallet is being mentioned all over the news thanks to a flaw--it's vulnerable to a hack that gives nefarious types access to your secure PIN number. But don't believe any doomsayers or fearmongering that you may encounter on this matter; it's not as evil as it seems and, believe it or not, it's actually a sign that the future of wireless mobile payments is probably more secure than your current credit card.

As reported over at the blog of security firm Zvelo, Google's Wallet app has a wicked flaw right at its core. Wallet works as a three-way system, you see, with the official app running on your smartphone, a hardware chip inside the phone called the secure element, and the participation of the banks at the other end of the data pipeline (ready to check it's all legit and say "okay" when you swipe your phone at a merchant and say, in effect, "please pay this store $X amount").

The security loophole that Zvelo uncovered comes right at the point that the app talks to the secure element, because as an additional security feature--extra to those in place when you actually pay for something--the secure element requires you to enter a PIN number when you activate it after an interval. Thanks to what looks like a bit of sloppy coding by Google, this PIN is stored in an encrypted form on the phone, and if your phone is rooted then a malicious app could use the phone's own prodigious mobile computing power to crunch the encryption and work out your PIN, in a matter of moments:

[youtube P655GXnE_ic]

This means that if someone got ahold of your phone illegitimately, they could fairly swiftly have direct access to your PIN number and thus activate all the goodies hidden inside Wallet, including your stored credit card numbers and transaction history. That's an opportunity to be pretty evil, right there--though it's worth noting it doesn't affect the wireless payment system security itself.

But here's the thing: Your phone would have to be rooted, meaning you'd adjusted its Android code to allow you deep access to the operating system (not something every, or even most, Android users would ever do). And the thief would have to have direct physical access to your phone for a decent space of time to root it if you hadn't, and to run the special app. Google has already begun work on a fix, subject to a tricky battle with the banks over where responsibility for the encryption should lie (our question: why can't Google just show the numbers in the app as **** **** etc., as many online stores would do? It would deter this access). Even Zvelo itself notes that if you're a security-aware Android user you can put many barriers in the way of a thief performing the hack by encrypting the device and by making sure it has effective homescreen password locks.

If you think about it, this is actually an endorsement for the future security of wireless payments. If someone stole your current-generation plastic credit card, then there are none of these "extra" barriers in the way of the thief using it. Google around for news about "credit card theft" and you'll see endless examples all over the world of theft by cloned cards, faked signatures, stolen PINs for chip-and-PIN cards (something the U.S. will have to worry about soon) and so on. A single case in a single U.S. city--New York--in late 2011 involved $13 million in theft using stolen cards over a 16-month interval, and the crime is so common that credit card numbers are sold on the black market through a bizarre criminal "bazaar" for as little as $3.50 a pop. In 2009, it was found that card fraud was the number one fear of Americans, above terrorism, partly because of memories of the global economic crisis.

Your current plastic card, you see, is pretty vulnerable to fraudulent use. Yes, there are plenty of security protocols in place, and the tech to keep them safe is getting better--with chip-and-PIN being perhaps the best at the moment. But as criminal tech exploitation advances, the implications of physically losing your card or having it cloned at a merchant are getting bigger (we won't talk about online fraud--that's a separate issue, related to how we process payments over the web). Even the brand-new NFC credit cards are a little at risk because although they are more secure, if they're stolen then they're more or less as vulnerable as a normal card.

But if your payment data is wrapped up in an app on your smartphone, then thieves have to make a whole paradigm leap in tech savviness to get at the information and then make fraudulent payments. And if you do lose your phone--something that's perhaps harder to do than lose a tiny sliver of plastic card--you're more likely to notice, and with many of the over-the-air security systems now available you may even be able to wipe its contents and remove all data before the thief can access it. It's easy to imagine Apple, for example, beefing up the "find my iPhone" app to include a "nuke my card data" button if it ever enables NFC payments. Plus if there is a vulnerability exposed in these smartphone-based system in the future, it may be fixable by an over-the-air update, which is a feature that simply couldn't happen with current card tech.

You may have to become a little more tech-aware yourself to make the most of all this security, but that shouldn't be a problem--after all, we're the Facebook generation, right?

Update: Google has been in touch directly with us at Fast Company to talk about their position and clear up misunderstandings about the information (is that a sign of a company acutely aware of the power of online news?). Google would like to point out that

"The zvelo study was conducted on their own phone on which they disabled the security mechanisms that protect Google Wallet by rooting the device. To date, there is no known vulnerability that enables someone to take a consumer phone and gain root access while preserving any Wallet information such as the PIN. We strongly encourage people to not install Google Wallet on rooted devices and to always set up a screen lock as an additional layer of security for their phone"

That's all perfectly reasonable, particularly the bit about not messing with the pre-installed OS systems lest you upset, or completely bypass, any security that's installed to prevent this sort of mishap. Google also took pains to point out that the notion that someone could access your data on a stolen phone if it hadn't already been rooted by the owner. If such action is taken, however, Google points out our assertion is wrong and assures us that "all data, including the Wallet is wiped." That's a particularly potent way of ensuring your precious credit card information is zeroed before anyone malicious can get their hands on it. We stand corrected, but as we suggested, this actually means your Wallet virtual "credit card" is actually more secure than a plastic one.

[Image: Flickr user boliston]

Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter and Fast Company too.

Inside INTERPOL's New Cybercrime Innovation Center

Neal Ungerleider — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:09:36 EST

INTERPOL, the international policing agency, is opening a massive innovation center in Singapore in 2014. At the center, law enforcement will learn all about the latest cybercrimes... and have access to cutting-edge forensics laboratories and research stations.

INTERPOL, the international policing organization, is building a law enforcement tech geek heaven in Singapore. The INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation will function as a R&D lab, training facility, and forensics lab for all things cybercrime. Slated to open in 2014, the Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) will be part of the larger INTERPOL Singapore Center. Staff at the IGCI are expected to work on everything from combating child porn to creating low-cost cybercrime research databases for poorer nations.

Michael Moran, INTERPOL's Acting Assistant Director for Cyber Security and Crime, told Fast Company on Wednesday that the main focus for IGCI would be digital security and innovation research for police officers worldwide investigating cybercrime. Moran appeared on a panel the day before at the Kaspersky Lab Cyber Conference in Cancun, where he claimed that most cybercrime-investigating cops worldwide had inadequate budgets, overwhelming workloads, and talent problems. As Moran put it, “recruiting long-haired geeks is not easy for law enforcement.”

[youtube lRvNlGqGj2M]

Beyond cybercrime, police officers and researchers at IGCI will also be developing experimental strategies to combat environmental crime, counterfeiting, corruption in football/soccer, and Asian criminal syndicates. The complex will include laboratories, conference space, and a museum-like space for tours geared toward the public. INTERPOL being INTERPOL, the whole organizational process behind the center is highly bureaucratic and intricate [PDF].

INTERPOL has not yet formally announced what products and tools will be developed at the IGCI. However, Moran mentioned to Fast Company that a heavy emphasis would be placed on developing and enhancing open-source forensics tools for local law enforcement. These open-source tools would aid police departments in poor and developing nations--who normally don't have funds for expensive software licenses--in solving more crime in less time. Moran noted that for law enforcement, recent technical innovations have transformed the nature of crimefighting. While his examples--computer-aided crimefighting, tear gas, and tasers--might give civil libertarians pause, they also signify how law enforcement depends on gadgetry just as much as any other industry.

The decision to place the IGCI in Singapore is part internal politics, part deliberate strategy. INTERPOL's current president, Khoo Boon Hui, is Singaporean and helped land Singapore the IGCI. However, locating the lab in Asia was deliberate; police officers and researchers at IGCI will work in shifts with their cybersecurity counterparts at INTERPOL HQ in Lyon, France and at another facility in Buenos Aires--guaranteeing daytime coverage of most of the globe.

Apart from developing tools to fight pirates and malware developers, the Singapore facility will also feature a high-tech forensics workshop for disaster victim identification. Following natural or man-made disasters, INTERPOL researchers will use the lab to provide on-call assistance for local police and first responders.

Returning back to cybercrime, Moran claims that obtaining accurate statistics is INTERPOL's greatest difficulty in the field. Rather than getting most of their information on cybercrime from local police departments--which, by their definition, includes everything from viruses to credit card theft to destructive hactivism--INTERPOL receives most of their information from cybersecurity firms. These private companies, of course, can sometimes resort to hyperbole when describing the latest online threats. Meanwhile, law enforcement worldwide is often confused when dealing with the online world... as the recent Homeland Security hubbub over “Tweeter” proved.

As Internet giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter mature, they are increasingly assuming the roles of non-state entities. In the wake of the Arab Spring, the American SOPA protests, and other events, tech megafirms now have their own foreign policies for all intents and purposes. According to Moran, Google and Facebook have become much more open to collaborating with law enforcement over the past few years. This has been a sea change for police investigating online crime--in the past, even with a subpoena, companies were much less likely to disclose information involving users' identities.

For INTERPOL, who are prohibited from investigating “political” crime--placing a large amount of hacktivism outside of their bailiwick--the big question over the next few years will be playing catchup with criminals using the latest tricks from torrent sites, message boards, and even academic computer science journals for financial gain. Building a large-scale cybercrime research center isn't just smart policing; it's a necessity for police who want to catch the crooks.

For more stories like this, follow @fastcompany on Twitter. Email Neal Ungerleider, the author of this article, here or find him on Twitter and Google+.

[Image: INTERPOL]

5 Ways To Put The "Pro" In Profile Pics

Amber Mac — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:29:36 EST

Your profile photo is an important part of your online image, so if you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar or a blue-and-white silhouette for your Facebook page, it's time to step things up. (Hint: This photo is a "don't.")

If you still have an egg as your Twitter avatar, it's time to step things up.

Your profile photo is an important part of your online image. Not only is this pic the first thing people see when they look you up on the web, whether you're using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, this image is now regularly transported into people's in-boxes and pulled onto their phones as users rely on services such as Xobni to put faces to their digital networks.

It's worth noting that these images have also moved well beyond tiny digital squares. Facebook, with its Timeline feature, gives you two opportunities to promote yourself--a large cover image and a smaller profile pic. Google+ gives you the option to insert a main image and then a series of images across the top of your account. LinkedIn is more traditional, with room for one photo, but you can manage who can see that picture to include your connections, network, or everyone.

Here are five tips to put your best face forward online.

1. Go pro. You can't go wrong with a professional headshot. Use a solid-colored background and ask a photographer friend or hire a professional to capture your image. For example, Ford's head of social media has a professional picture with the company's logo embedded in the bottom corner. He also includes his business information beside his photo, and his background image extends his brand, portraying the same look and feel.

2. Be your brand. If a professional headshot is too stuffy for your business, try to capture the essence of what you do in your profile pic. Travel expert JohnnyJet (@johnnyjet) does just this on his Twitter page. He shares a close-up shot of himself in travel gear on one of his many adventures. His background image is composed of dozens of thumbnails of his many travel experiences, making it very clear that he's not a banker, but a jet-setter.

3. Animate yourself. While I've seen animated profiles go horribly wrong, there is a place for these moving images. Take a look at technology blogger Cali Lewis's banner image. This sequence of professional photos, including the logo from Lewis' online show, help to give her entire page a more professional feel. Also, these moving images make her page stand out from other, plainer-looking pages. To animate your Google+ banner, check out this post on Ghacks.

4. Have fun. There is no shortage of creative profile pics, but some of the most interesting work in this space has been done within Facebook's Timeline. A copywriter from E3, a web design agency in Italy, shows off some extraterrestrial love in his cover art and profile image. This clever photo integration helps to give his Facebook account a quirky and interesting look. If you plan to use your Facebook account for building your brand, it's a good idea to figure out how you plan to use both of these image opportunities to promote what you do.

5. Avoid the "MySpace pose." As whimsical as it may seem, there is nothing professional about a profile photo you snapped in the mirror on your smartphone. While there is a time and a place for self-portraits, your avatar isn't it; in other words, don't waste this precious real estate on a crummy image. If you want to take your own profile pic, ensure that you use a decent camera, shine light on your face so you're not backlit, and allow for some headroom so your hair isn't cut off. Also, wear clothing that reflects how you would dress in your professional world.

Now it's your turn--say cheese, and don't forget to smile!

For more tips on building your personal brand and working smarter, see Amber Mac's Work Flow series.

[Image: Flickr user Lintmachine]

Apple May Sell iPads To Air Force, Groupon Reports Surprise Q4 Loss, Foxconn Servers Hacked

Nidhi Subbaraman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:17:53 EST

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.

Rumor: iPad 3 Announcement In March. The latest buzz on the iPad 3, this time from AllThingsD, is that the new device will be unveiled at an early March event. Sources, per usual, are anonymous, but their tips confirm what's already expected of the device--a faster chip, Retina Display, and better graphics. --NS

--Updated 9:15 a.m. EST

Apple May Sell iPads To Air Force. The Air Force is on the lookout for about 18,000 new tablets, and chances are the iPad--the only device mentioned on their recently spotted notice--may fit the bill. Late last year, airlines started buying iPads for their pilots, with Delta and American Airlines leading the switch from flight logs on paper. --NS

--Updated 9:10 a.m. EST

Glam Media Launches Foodie.com. Glam Media's new social network for food lovers, Foodie.com, launched in beta today. For now, users can update their statuses, post recipes and connect with other members. Other tabs--chef profiles and restaurants are yet to fill out. --NS

--Updated 9:00 a.m. EST

Flipkart Acquires LetsBuy. Two of India's biggest web retailers have joined forces. Flipkart, India's biggest ecommerce brand, has acquired LetsBuy.com, a company that's taken the lead in sales of electronics. The deal comes just a week after Amazon.com launched their aggregator site Junglee.com in the subcontinent. --NS

--Updated 7:30 a.m. EST

Groupon Reports Surprise Q4 Loss. Groupon reported a net loss for its first Q4 earnings report, blaming it largely on high starter international taxes ($34 million) on the new operations it set up outside the U.S. Groupon's CFO said that those costs that would go down in time, but it was a factor that analysts had missed, Bloomberg reports. The company dipped 16% in late trading yesterday. --NS

--Updated 6:45 a.m. EST

Google Launching Cloud Drive Soon? Google's Drive, a cloud storage service powered by the search giant, may be close to launch, the Wall Street Journal has heard. Such a cloud storage service (if free) could directly challenge reigning Web store bin, Dropbox. However, it would have the advantage of possibly integrating with the slew of other Web products Google has up, like Documents, Calendars and more. --NS

Foxconn Servers Hacked. A hacker ground called SwaggSec infiltrated servers at Foxconn and seized sensitive information including the logins and passwords of workers who worked there. The hack gave access to order information, allowing the infiltrators to potentially place fake orders as Apple or any of its other partners. According to 9to5Mac, Foxconn seemed to be shutting down outside access to the servers. --NS

Google Wallet Hack Demoed. Google's NFC payment system Google Wallet has a security snag that allows its secure PIN storing file to be potentially accessed by anyone who gets their hands on the phone. However, the flaw only applies to devices that are "rooted," a process that's somewhat similar to jail-breaking an iPhone. Google responded to TheNextWeb about the issue, saying that rooting disabled builtin Android security features, and that they discourage users from installing Google Wallet on a rooted device in the first place. --NS

--Updated 6:15 a.m. EST

[Image: Flickr user dannysullivan]

Yesterday's Fast Feed: Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom, Sprint Announces iPhone-led Q4 Highs And Lows, Japan Targets 30% Cut In Rare Earth Use, and more!

Showtime's "House Of Lies" Turned My Life As A Consultant Into A TV Drama

Martin Kihn — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:07:51 EST

When TV writers rewrote this MBA's life, they changed everything but the truth.

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The writers wore T-shirts showing their tattoos. I'd dressed in Brooks Brothers non-iron French cuffs and a Hugo Boss jacket. It was the dawn of our partnership, one in which they would translate my life into television drama. "So, Marty," one of the writers began. "How much sex did you have . . . in your office?"

I revealed the horrible truth: none.

"None!?"

"Consultants eat badly and often," I said. "We're not an attractive bunch. And it would have been a career-limiting move."

"A what?"

We were off to an interesting start.

In 2005, I wrote a book, House of Lies, about my four years as a consultant at a top Manhattan firm. It was a cynical guide to an unpleasant world, but Showtime saw something else--the seed of a comedy series of the same name (which debuted January 8). Don Cheadle plays me, or sort of: His character is named Marty Kaan.

And me, Marty Kihn? I'm back to being a "consultant," helping Showtime's writers portray the business. Selflessly, I also offered to spend long weekends with Cheadle, perhaps at his place, helping him get to know his character. "Mr. Cheadle prefers," replied a sensible voice in his office, "to work organically."

So I spent days yodeling on to the writers about recruiting events, evil partners, felonious expense reports. Then I saw the translation. Cheadle's Marty is a devious, driven, elegantly dressed partner at a thriving L.A. firm who is irresistible to women. His apartment has a spectacular view of a painted L.A. skyline and is populated by a sassy cross-dressing son I don't have (yet), with occasional booty calls from a pill-popping ex-wife I also don't have (yet).

Consulting "We will accept only engagements for which we are qualified by our experience and competence."

Code of Ethics, Association of Management Consulting Firms

Consulting on TV "Guy in meeting: That spending figure--where did you get that? Marty Kaan: That's FMA. From My Ass."

House of Lies, Showtime

I was surprised at first. What an odd creative process--to keep the setting but change so much within, a standard consultant's office that someone suddenly has sex in. But for all its extravagance, the show nails consulting on an existential level. It's a brutal, nomadic, exhausting, morally dubious profession glued together with false intimacy and double-talk. People say things like "We'll leverage these strong-form learnings into an impactful deliverable going forward," rather than "We'll use this info in a document." Consulting burrows into your psyche. It harms your ability to be straightforward with anyone. With their roving sexual pain clinic, the writers employed Hollywood and advertising's shared storytelling trick: They heightened power and imbalance. They showed people reacting to desire, not needs. But the core, amazingly, remained.

In the pilot episode, a client asks Marty Kaan a question he has no answer to, so he falls back on what I've called the "consultant's panic button"--turning a question around, to ask what the client thinks. As I watched Cheadle perform as I once did, I recognized the frailty, the realness in the fake. There's a poetry there, when actors pretend to be management consultants. Consultants have been pretending to be actors for years. We survive on stories.

A version of this article appears in the February 2012 issue of Fast Company.

How To Find Your Next $140 Million

Shawn Parr — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:26:35 EST

I recently spent the day with author Andrea Kates, who was challenged to connect the relevance of the working philosophy found in her best-selling book, Find Your Next, with real solutions that can help move businesses forward.

Working with the executive team of a national restaurant chain on this particular day, Kates asked herself, "Which single metric could they focus on to yield the most growth for the company?"

Her conclusion was that of all the metrics and contributing factors, it all boiled down to a dogged pursuit of increasing guest frequency. She learned that an increase of one visit per year per guest would lead to more than $140 million in revenue. Kates's analysis convinced her that "increasing guest frequency by one visit per year" could become a rallying cry for operators throughout the country, with initiatives designed to move that needle over the next 12 months.

What I thought was most interesting was her ability to zero in on the one insight amongst the many over the two days that could galvanize their entire team.

Leaders who drive transformation need to measure what matters most.

If you were able to focus the attention and efforts of everyone on your team on one set of goals that can drive significant results for your company, what would you use as the one metric to measure progress? How would you know you are on the right track? What would you champion?

A colleague of Kates's who runs a large financial services company answered those questions when he visited with the head athletic trainer of the Houston Texans and posed the questions, “What is the acid test for fitness?” The answer came back as a single word: “Squats.” The trainer said, “If a player can squat twice his body weight, I know that the other aspects of training (cardio fitness, drills, and discipline) are all in line.”

Seasoned, transformational leaders come to understand which measures reveal the most powerful indications of organizational progress and health.

Kates believes that the same approach works for business. Transformational leaders--the ones who can make the biggest impact on forward momentum--know what to look for and know how to focus their teams on what matters most. They know the secret “squat” for their business--that single metric that proves they’re on the right track.

Kates spent a lot of her professional life walking through the doors of organizations in virtually every industry--consumer goods, technology, manufacturing, health care, energy, entertainment, hospitality, financial services, and nonprofit or government agencies--and over time has become convinced that every leader needs to master the skills that an outsider can bring to capture the essence of the strategic equation. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Create a movie trailer.

Look at the company where you work with fresh eyes and challenge yourself to develop the equivalent of a movie trailer--a short synopsis of the plot of your organization. Synthesize the complexities of the important issues into a basic strategic story line that describes what it takes to hit the next level of progress.

2. “Net up” your insights.

Construct a single metric that reflects the impact of the core business drivers. How will you measure progress? What are the "squats" for your business?

3. Develop a focused rallying cry.

Connect the dots from the squats to the aspects of operations, marketing, product innovation, talent development, and financial management that will drive most powerfully toward your goal. When leaders clear the clutter and stop to reflect on what it really takes to get to the next level of performance, they bring clarity to the process of transforming their organizations.

A single metric that is the main indicator of performance can rally everyone in the organization to a focus, so leaders figure out what they need to do to accelerate progress toward that metric. Find Your Next covers examples of key moments at every level of an organization where people understood what was required to hit the mark. Transformational leaders at every level of an organization need to understand what matters most and how to measure it.

4. Find patterns in your DNA.

Kates's book is based on the premise of the Business Genome, and that tapping into new patterns that have been proven to drive business growth can drive success. In genomics, scientists are able to identify, map, and learn from patterns of an organism’s DNA. In business we can do the same thing by breaking down the core DNA of a company into several basic elements and learn from the patterns. With that insight, we can see how all companies are the same, and what patterns they create, regardless of the industry, and where that learning is applicable.

5. Find your next

Find Your Next offers a process based on mapping a new perspective of the future, on scanning innovation across industries, and combining them together to create new possibilities. The business genome approach is designed to allow everyone in business to follow their hunches, look at the world in a new way, and craft ideas for growth by following a genomic process and finding patterns. Pattern recognition is the first required fundamental skill in the genome-transformation process. Business leaders must learn how to spot patterns within the business universe, looking beyond their company’s own industry for insights into their future, and then working to interpret what they see.

The business landscape has changed, no matter the industry, which means everyone needs to adapt and evolve just to keep up. The Find Your Next process is designed to balance the strength of traditional models with the flexibility of intuition. Find Your Next is not just a great read for a company revamp, but to also help assess and enhance current product offerings. By recognizing the new realties, shifting our focus to new questions, and tapping into the patterns that are evolving today, we can shape our “next.”

Shawn Parr is the The Guvner & CEO of Bulldog Drummond, an innovation and design consultancy headquartered in San Diego whose clients and partners have included Starbucks, Diageo, Jack in the Box, Adidas, MTV, Nestle, Pinkberry, American Eagle Outfitters, IDEO, Virgin, Disney, Nike, Mattel, Heineken, Annie's Homegrown, The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, CleanWell, The Honest Kitchen, and World Vision. Join the conversation at www.twitter.com/BULLDOGDRUMMOND.

3 Ways To Deal With A No-Win Situation

Mark McNeilly — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:41:43 EST

If you're a Star Trek aficionado, then not only have you heard of the "Kobayashi Maru Scenario" but you can recount it easily to others.

For those of you who may not be familiar with it, the Kobayashi Maru Scenario is a no-win situation cadets encounter at the series' Starfleet Academy. In it, the cadet is in command of the Federation ship, responsible for rescuing another Federation vessel (the Kobayashi Maru) from attacking Klingon Warbirds. If the cadet chooses not to save the ship in distress, it will be destroyed with all hands. However, if he goes to the ship's aid, he will precipitate an all-out war with the Klingons. Furthermore, if the cadet attempts the rescue mission, he not only finds himself being unsuccessful in saving the Kobayashi Maru but he and his crew end up dying in the attempt.

The goal of the simulation is to test the cadet's character and presence in the face of an impossible situation and certain death. However, one cadet, James Tiberius Kirk (the central character of the Star Trek series) refused to accept the no-win situation and reprogrammed it so that he could defeat the Klingon Warbirds.

While few of us live lives as exciting or dangerous as that of Captain Kirk, in our business and personal lives we all face no-win situations. These could include bosses who are impossible to work for, companies that are in a hopeless downward spiral, or jobs that are a terrible fit. The question that confronts us then becomes, "what course to take?"

There are three broad options: Retreat, wait, or advance.

RetreatMany of us in the business world, trained as we are to always be driving hard, are reluctant to withdraw from a fight. However, as wise general Sun Tzu once said, "Therefore, the art of employing troops is that when the enemy occupies high ground, do not confront him; with his back resting on hills, do not oppose him." I was in a job once in which my boss and I didn't see eye-to-eye. The situation got increasingly negative and it became clear that it would not improve. And since I could read an org chart, I knew if there would be a winner, it wouldn't be me. So I chose to "retreat" by moving to a different position with a better management team, one that could see and use the value of my skills as well as being on the same page as me in terms of work style and beliefs. To successfully retreat, one must accept that some situations are irredeemable and it's a better use of your time and energy to move on to bigger and better things.

WaitAnother option, again difficult for those of us who are used to always working hard to make progress, is to wait for conditions to change for the better. Take the situation above; another option I could have opted for was to wait and see if the boss would move on to other things. It can also work in other situations, such as a business experiencing tough times, by waiting to see if things turn around. This can often be a viable approach, but one must be careful. By not taking a active approach (retreat or advance), you are at the mercy of events. You must perform due diligence to test the chances of things working out for the better. It's also critical that you have a backup plan in case your delaying strategy fails.

Attempt to AdvanceIf, like Captain Kirk, you refuse to accept losing a no-win situation, you can put it all on the line to try and achieve victory. But, by definition, a no-win situation will take a tremendous amount of blood, sweat, and tears to conquer. You really need to think through, even if you do win, will it be worth the cost? And don't forget, there's a high probability you may lose, which could be devastating. Although Kirk was able to reprogram the Kobayashi Maru scenario so he would win, as a result he was put on academic suspension and forced to face a trial for his actions. It was only by chance that he saved his career; his trial was put off by an attack on a Federation planet, which started a war in which Kirk redeemed himself. Fortune may not favor you so well.

So these are your options. Consider the odds, time, effort and potential payoff, then choose what you think will work best for you. By doing so intelligently, the better are the chances are you will "live long and prosper."

For more leadership coverage, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

[Image: Flickr user James Vaughn]

Relationship Guru Charles Orlando Helps E-Book Self-Publishers Help Themselves

Adam Penenberg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:04:47 EST

Too many do-it-yourselfers don't actually do anything--then expect to become the next Amanda Hocking. The author of "The Problem With Women ... Is Men" breaks down the economics of self-publishing and his own winning strategies.

Face facts: You're not going to become the next Amanda Hocking, the young doyenne of self-publishing who parlayed a series of Kindle e-book novels into a $2 million book deal. Hocking is an outlier (not as in "troll," although those creatures feature prominently in her paranormal young-adult stories). She hit the jackpot after uploading her stories to the Kindle store and over time watched sales take off with virtually no marketing on her part. You, on the other hand, will amost definitely have to fight for every download of your self-published book. If you're lucky you might eke out a few bucks.

Still, with traditional book publishers scaling back on the numbers of books they release and the size of advances to authors they publish, self-publishing is probably your only option. Hustle, and you can make it work, says self-published author Charles Orlando, who has written two volumes of The Problem With Women… Is Men: The Evolution of a Man's Man to a Man of Higher Consciousness. Orlando, a self-described former womanizer turned "author, relationship expert, social inspirationalist" has sold upwards of 15,000 copies of his work as a Kindle, iPad, and iPhone e-book, as well as a traditional paperback, generating around $130,000 since its release in November 2008. We asked for his thoughts on navigating the new e-book, DIY landscape.

FAST COMPANY: You walked away from a traditional book deal. Why?

CHARLES ORLANDO: My agent was successful in garnering interest from a division of one of the major publishers. As negotiations started, however, it became clear that my revenue percentage was going to be very low with nearly zero marketing/PR support from the publisher. Moreover, I would be lucky if my book would be released within 18 months, as it needed to be put into the queue. I released my agent and elected to self-publish, keep control of the process, retain more of the revenue, and get the book out on my timeline, not someone else's.

After you made the choice to do it on your own, what did you do?

I didn't just need the book printed. I could do that at Kinko's in a three-ring binder. I needed the finished product to look like a professionally published book--professional look/cover, professional illustrations, perfect binding, back cover quotes, etc. This was an effort to build the right perception and position in the marketplace, and I couldn't afford to have it looking like someone just ran a ditto copy off a 1979 thermofax machine. I looked at every possible offering, from DIY publishers like Lulu to small presses, but they all had the same problem: no distribution. I was going to have to buy hundreds of copies (read: order and hold inventory), create a website and online/offline advertising plan, set up an online shopping cart with merchant services and (uh oh) what about fulfillment, shipping, returns and chargebacks... oy! No. Way. I needed a real partner with real distribution.

Which self-publishing service did you choose?

BookSurge Publishing (now CreateSpace). BookSurge was partnered with Amazon.com, and once I was published, my book was automatically included on Amazon.com (this was 2007/2008, before there was a real e-book publishing effort). It was print-on-demand with really good quality, so I didn't need to hold an inventory and I didn't need to be part of the backend stuff: shipping, fulfillment, returns, chargebacks, etc. Plus, I would get all the benefit of being grouped with best-selling authors, receive reviews, and more. They had multiple levels of service--editing, marketing, public relations, custom covers, and much more--but I elected to go with a flexible offering (allowing me a custom interior, custom cover, and no more than 10 interior illustrations).

What did all this cost?

Editor: $500 (flat fee)

BookSurge publishing package: $900 (now priced lower)

Cover design and all artwork: $750

25 copies (for review): Free.

Total: $2,150

After you had a finished book to sell what marketing strategies did you adopt?

I started a blog: three posts a week. Simultaneously, I spun up my Facebook and Twitter efforts and started publishing my blog posts to my Facebook Page. But I could see that readers had to leave Facebook or Twitter to interact with what I had written. As a test, I just wrote on Facebook, using the Notes application on my Page. And... voila... increased engagement and interactivity; more comments, more sharing on individuals' Walls. I took down my blog at the end of 2009 and in an effort to meet my audience where they "lived" I transitioned all my efforts to Facebook (and some on Twitter). My Facebook Fan Page was now a few hundred strong.

Then it took off.

I built my fan base from 600 in March 2010 to a few thousand within a month. Fan Pages then went mainstream, and allowed for a ton of customization--custom tabs/pages, the ability to program in HTML for unique look-and-feel, the potential for lead generation, etc. With these capabilities, I got creative and even with my extremely limited knowledge of HTML, put up a basic tab on my Facebook Page to see if I could drive conversion to a purchase of the book. This basic "Buy Now" page led to my book on Amazon.com. Tested for a week: 47 books sold with two posts on the Wall to drive Fans to that area of my Fan Page. I decided to include short snippets of content none of which were from my book, all unique content they could only get from my Facebook Page. Some were funny, others serious and thought-provoking, others advisory ... but they all were in my voice and represented my thoughts/opinions on the subject at hand.

My fan base then went from 5,000 to over 59,000 fans in a couple of months, and kept growing, averaging 3,000 to 5,000 additional fans per week, and they were coming back to read and engage, as shown by my 70% monthly return rate (according to Facebook Insights).

This created more opportunities for you.

The part-time publicist I hired for 10 hours a month at $100 an hour started getting more traction, and radio and TV interviews continued to come. The proverbial Snowball Effect… to an extent. More writing and articles, more growth, more sales, but Social Media is definitely not a magic bullet for sales. Today, the book's fan page has more than 577,000 "likes," more than 14,000 Facebook users "talking about this" with each post generating 80 comments or more.

How much do you earn on each sale?

The retail price of my book on Amazon.com is $14.95, and I earn $6.23 per book. Considering I get all the benefit of Amazon's backend fulfillment, I feel it's fair. Other stores and sites are also distributing for me (Barnes and Noble, bn.com, bookdepository.com). The royalties are lower for these mainstream distributors. It's also available for the Kindle (on Amazon) and on the iPad/iPhone (through the Apple iBooks Bookstore), which I did myself.

Is it enough to live on? No, but there are many other benefits and it all leads to a bigger picture for me: screenwriting, a second and third book, a possible TV show and radio show, and more.

What advice would you give to other authors looking to replicate your success?

If you're looking to self-publish, the path I took is still clear and safe today but it takes time. Before turning to social media to further sales, you need to think twice. Don't bother unless you're serious and willing to put in the time. The overarching reason my efforts have proven successful is because I am personally engaged and dedicated to the process. I put in a lot of time and effort testing, re-testing, taking risks, and engaging with my audience. If you aren't willing to do the same, you will probably not succeed. And this holds true whether the brand you are looking to build is a person, company, or product.

Be wary of social media gurus who want to "help you" build your brand. Research shows that if the number of self-proclaimed social media experts keeps growing at its current rate, the number of experts will outnumber the number of actual social media users in very short order. Remember that it's a marathon, not a sprint, and social media will give you a platform, but it's up to you to find your voice. Don't sell using social media. Engage. Sales will come later.

Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor at NYU and a contributing writer to Fast Company. Follow him on Twitter: @penenberg.

[Image: Flickr user Andrew Bossi]

With "Lilyhammer" Netflix Wants To Destroy Traditional TV, Get You "Hooked" On All-At-Once Watching

Austin Carr — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:22:59 EST

There was no premiere episode. And not much fanfare. Monday morning the show went online, its entire first series watchable in one sitting. What is Netflix thinking?

If a show debuts without a premiere, will anyone watch it? That's the multi-million-dollar koan Netflix is looking to answer. And fast.

Earlier this week Netflix debuted Lilyhammer, its first original series. Yet there was no premiere episode. It went online Monday morning, almost at random and without much fanfare, the day after the Super Bowl. The series has not been promoted on Netflix.com's homepage, nor in its apps. Lilyhammer, with a grimacing Steve Van Zandt on its cover tile, isn't even found in the "new arrivals" section for TV shows.

And maybe that's because Lilyhammer isn't a television show. The series was designed for the web, part of a larger original content strategy to compete with networks such as HBO. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said the company will spend as much as 15% of its content budget on original streaming content; to produce House of Cards, for example, Netflix is reportedly sinking $100 million into the new David Fincher-helmed series. Lilyhammer, the first result of Netflix's new licensing game plan, demonstrates what a radical departure the show is from traditional television--not only in the way it's promoted but what it's intended to do.

Perhaps the most jarring (and pleasing) change from traditional TV shows is that Lilyhammer is available all at once. Rather than tease out the show, episode after episode over the course of several months, viewers can consume the entire first season of the series in about seven hours. "The Netfix brand for TV shows is really all about binge viewing," Hastings said in a recent earnings call. "The ability to get hooked and watch episode after episode. Our release strategy ... is to get [you] hooked rather than get strung out." It's like letting your kids ravenously open the Christmas gifts in one Tasmanian Devil-tornado of wrapping paper, rather than one by one, with a appreciative nod for each relative present.

There are pros and cons to this strategy. On the one hand, it's killed the traditional practice of weekly installments; premieres and finales are no longer anticipated events. That means it'll be difficult to build buzz and engagement for the show in any planned fashion. How will New York magazine's Vulture and other entertainment blogs roll out their TV recaps for Lilyhammer--all at once? How will viewers live tweet during an episode if nobody is watching at the same time? How will this affect water-cooler chatter if there's no common 'morning-after' for coworkers to discuss a particular week's episode? And how will any show released all at once ever build suspense with a national audience, if anyone can skip to the final episode? (Imagine, for instance, if Lost was available in its entirety. Eek. Spoiler central.)

On the other hand, there are benefits to this strategy. For one, it changes the traditional metrics by which a show's success is judged. Netflix isn't trying to win a time slot, and it's not keeping score by nightly ratings or worried about DVR recordings. The company has said it will judge a series' success based on cumulative views versus total costs; how much it attracts new subscribers; and whether or not it bolsters the Netflix brand. That means a show won't live or die by a the number of viewers who turn into a pilot--shows will be given more time to grow and build an audience. House of Cards, for example, has already been licensed for several seasons.

"What’s unique about this initiative is we’re not really wrapped up in having a big opening and a big debut in terms of ratings," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, told Co.Create this week. "It’s not differentially important to me that anyone watches this show at any certain time. People will be discovering this show for the first time over the next several years, the same way they’re discovering Mad Men for the first time on Netflix today.

It's a strategy partly influenced by Firefly, the extremely popular Fox series that was canceled to the disappointment of audiences after just 11 episodes. Netflix executives have repeatedly referenced the show as an example of how viewership is fostered over time--some have even surmised that Netflix might even resurrect Firefly, as they have with Arrested Development. (Here's hoping Deadwood and Friday Night Lights are next on that list. Personal note: I miss you, Al Swearengen and Tim Riggins!)

Most importantly, Lilyhammer shows how Netflix plans to promote the show: by marketing Netflix. The company isn't using the opportunity to promote some time slot or opportunity for advertisers. Paid media popping up around lower Manhattan have touted the show as a "Netflix original series." In the New York Times' review of the series, the Grey Lady, likely for the first time in its TV summaries, said the show would be available "on Netflix.com beginning Monday." (Compare that to ABC's new series, The River, which the Times said would be available "Tuesday nights at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.")

The idea is to use Lilyhammer as an opportunity to market Netflix's streaming offerings--to show off how subscribers gain unlimited, all-you-can-watch access to the series, as they can with tons of other shows and movies. It's a strategy that's been adopted by HBO, which now features just about every episode of every original series the cable network's ever created (with rare exceptions, so far as I can tell, such as House of Saddam).

The more series that Netflix adds--and the more seasons it adds on top of that--the more it'll rival HBO's and other networks' libraries of content, original and otherwise.

[Image: Thomas Ekström/Nettavisen]

Why Facebook's Daily Active Users Is Not The Number That Matters

E.B. Boyd — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:25:59 EST

A fracas emerges over the fact that not all daily Facebook users visit the company's website. Advertisers tell us why that's missing the point.

More Facebook Coverage

Be sure to read about the Facebook investors poised to make billions from the social network's impending IPO. And take a deep dive into our earlier profile of Mark Zuckerberg: Hacker. Dropout. CEO. Then compare the Zuck of yesterday with the Zuck who just penned a letter to investors. Plus, dig into all of the revenues and user numbers. Check back here for more to come in the days ahead.

In the new world, however, brand advertisers can order up exactly the audience they're looking for. "It's not like when you buy an ad on Facebook, it runs across all users," Matt Lawson, vice president of marketing for Marin Software, which places ads on Facebook, tells Fast Company. Instead, advertisers specify the specific people they want to see their ad--men aged 45 to 55 in Michigan who like NASCAR, for example, or women aged 25 to 40 on the eastern seaboard with at least one child.

In this world, once you've reached the scale of Facebook, size just doesn't matter anymore.

"Advertisers don't care how many daily uniques Facebook has," Lawson says. "They care about how many impressions to the right audience they get." And so far, Simon Mansell, CEO of TBG Digital, tells Fast Company, brands aren't having trouble reaching that audience. "None of our advertisers are capping out," he says.

What matters more, in this new world, is performance--how well the ads do in getting users to perform some action, like clicking a link or getting someone to Like a brand page.

Facebook is continually developing innovative new types of ad units, like Sponsored Stories, that leverage what it knows about who's connected to whom on Facebook to create word-of-mouth-type ads that simply weren't possible before a platform like Facebook existed. And they often work better than conventional display advertising. The social network is also continually refining its algorithms to match the right ads with the right users. As those ads deliver better results, Facebook will be able to charge more for them.

Because of that Marin Software's Lawson says, "If they didn't grow their users at all from here, they could continue to grow their revenue."

And it's those questions that preoccupy marketers today, says Adobe's Shah, not how big Facebook's audience is. Instead, marketers want to figure out the models for evaluating the ROI of individual impressions and actions. In traditional brand advertising, on TV or in magazines, there was no way to connect the dots between the display and consumer behavior. But now, increasingly, marketers are able to make those measurements. And it's those numbers that will count most going forward, at least on a platform like Facebook, not total reach.

In the meantime, though, one of the main reason why agencies have been interested in Facebook's number of users, Wildfire Interactive CEO Victoria Ransom tells Fast Company, was simply "directional," to underline to clients that Facebook is a platform they need to think about. Whether the actual number of eyeballs on the site on any given day is 483 million or a lower number, she says, "It's still a clear sign that Facebook is pretty dominant about where people spend their time, and that this is where brands need to be."

And as for the fact that some of the people that Facebook counts as daily users are actually off gallivanting on other sites? Marketers actually see that as a plus. Sure, they might not be able to serve up advertising to those people. But they don't have to--those users end doing their shilling for them.

"If someone purchases a product offsite, and they click ‘Share,' that goes to their [Facebook] Timeline, and then their friends see it," Adobe's Shah says. That's the holy grail of word of mouth. "It's a positive for us."

That activity benefits marketers (and Facebook) in another way as well. The more people share back to Facebook, the more the system knows about each individual user, and the more valuable targeting opportunities the social network can provide.

"They're collecting more information about what we like and do and our behaviors than anyone's ever been able to do before," says Wildfire's Ransom. "That's the unique and amazing opportunity Facebook has. It helps advertising in the long run."

[Homepage image: Flickr user Devar; Top image: Flickr user mandiberg]

E.B. Boyd is FastCompany.com's Silicon Valley reporter. Twitter | Google+ | Email

Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom, Sprint Announces iPhone-led Q4 Highs And Lows, Japan Targets 30% Cut In Rare Earth Use

Nidhi Subbaraman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:41:29 EST

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.

Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom For Video Streaming. Amazon has plumped up its Prime Instant video streaming catalog with a pile new TV shows, courtesy of its new agreement with entertainment hub Viacom. The deal brings up its video count to over 15,000, putting it in a stronger position to compete against the recently formed Redbox/Verizon double act and traditional TV destroyer Netflix. --NS

--Updated 9:50 a.m. EST

Sprint's Q4 Sees iPhone Led Highs And Lows. Sprint is announcing results coming off its first quarter carrying an iPhone. The good news is that the carrier sold 1.8 million phones, 40% of those to new customers. The slightly sour news though, is that the costs associated with the iPhone contributed to a net loss of $1.3 billion, compared to $301 million in the previous quarter. --NS

--Updated 8:30 a.m. EST

Toyota Aims High, Prices Low With Prius c. Toyota has high sales hopes for its cheapest hybrid, the Prius c, gearing up to launch in the U.S. in March. (A basic Prius c costs $18,950, $5000 less than the regular model.) The company's goal is to sell 40,000 units this year to "younger buyers." Honda tried to hit that sweet spot last year, with the Insight, but fell short of its goal of 90,000 units annually with 20,962 in its best year, Bloomberg reports. --NS

--Updated 8:10 a.m. EST

Japan Wants 30% Cut In Rare Earth Use In Two Years. To free the country from China's control on rare earths, Japan is planning a 30% cut in consumption of the heavy rare earth dysprosium that's used in electronics and hybrid cars. (The DOE has a plan too.) The government is budgeting $65 million to help companies scale back their needs by recycling the existing element or by developing methods to avoid using it entirely. --NS

--Updated 6:40 a.m.

Google's Chrome App-ed For Android. At long last, Google has announced an app version of their web browser Chrome, for the Google-made mobile OS, Android. Out in beta for now, the app only runs on the latest version of the OS, Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich. --NS

Anonymous Leaks Syrian Government Emails. Hacker group Anonymous accessed and published several messages from the the email inboxes of Syria's president and government aides. The groups also posted the passwords (most of them were "12345") of all the accounts. --NS

Nokia Moving Manufacturing To Asia. Nokia is moving much of its European assembly and manufacturing to Asia, after cutting 4,000 jobs in Mexico, Hungary, and Finland. The move is intended to speed up delivery and streamline manufacturing by being closer to their Asian suppliers. --NS

Pinterest Hits 10 Million Users. Pinterest is beginning to do wonders for retailers selling everything from yoga to yogurt, and just passed a milestone of 10 million unique U.S. visitors per month. According to ComScore, Pinterest's the fastest-growing single site to hit that mark. --NS

--Updated 5:45 a.m. EST

[Image: Flickr user Palinopsia Films]

Yesterday's Fast Feed: Yahoo Board Shakeup, Google Ready To "Solve For X," Brazil Petitions Twitter To Block Speed Trap Tweets, and more!

It's 10 P.M., Do You Know Where Your Employees Are? 4 Steps To Set After-Hours Work Expectations

Cali Williams Yost — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:51:53 EST

The other day I sat with three senior leaders from three different industries. One was the CEO of an international PR and communications firm. One was a partner of a professional services firm, and the other the president of a national not-for-profit. As it often does, our discussion about work and life turned to technology. I asked them how they used their smartphones and laptops to stay connected to work after traditional business hours:

”I keep my phone on 24/7, but I don’t respond to everything, all the time.”--CEO of the PR and communications firm.

“I sometimes send emails at 4 a.m., and on the weekends just to get a jump-start on my day and week.”--president of the national not-for-profit.

“My phone goes in my briefcase when I get home and I don’t look at it again until the next morning.”--partner of a professional services firm.

Three leaders, with three very different uses of technology. So I asked them, “How many of you have sat down with all of your direct reports and explained how you prefer to connect with work, and specified what you expect of them?”

All three shook their heads and said some variation of the following statement, “No, I haven’t done that, but they all know that I don’t expect them to do what I do.” My response was, “I’ll bet that isn’t true,” and I shared what I see too often in many organizations:

Leaders fail to clarify their personal preferences for staying connected to work with technology, and don’t share their expectations of the responsiveness with their direct reports. This leads to misguided assumptions that can wreak havoc on the work/life balance of their employees. And most leaders have no idea any of this is happening.

Here’s my advice:

Recognize that you have to initiate the conversation with your direct reports. They won’t because they don’t want you to misinterpret their questions as, “I don’t want to work hard.” For example, I worked with a senior leader who always caught the 5:00 a.m. bus to the office. On his ride, he did all of his emails and was so pleased that his team were "morning people, too--they get right back to me!" Imagine his surprise when I told him, “Actually, many are setting alarms for 5 a.m. to be awake and reply to you.” “What?!” he responded, “Why didn’t they say anything?” To the person, they all told me they were afraid he would question their commitment if they did.

Decide what you really expect in terms of response and connection. Part of the problem is that leaders are so busy using technology to manage their own work/life balance that they haven’t thought about what they actually expect from their team. The leader who emailed from the bus at 5:00 a.m. told everyone that if he really needed them he’d call their mobile phones. If an email was priority, he’d identify it. Otherwise feel free to respond whenever they can.

Have a meeting, state the parameters clearly, and then be consistent. People watch the behavior of leaders like a hawk. If there’s even a whiff of inconsistency between what you told them and how you actually behave, they will go back to assuming they need to follow your technology schedule. So if you state, “You don’t need to respond to emails at night, I’ll call you if anything is urgent,” don’t penalize someone who missed an important issue because they didn’t answer an email, but were never called.

Finally, keep the lines of communication open and encourage ongoing clarification. Assumptions people make about their manager’s expectations are rarely accurate, especially when it comes to connection and access to work via technology. Set the record straight. It’s an easy way to offer your people more control and consistency over the way work fits into their lives--something we all need.

If you’re a manager, have you clarified your expectations of access and connectedness with your direct reports? If you haven’t, why not? If you did, what did you learn? What difference did it make?

Cali Williams Yost is the CEO and Founder of the Flex+Strategy Group / Work+Life Fit, Inc., flexible work and life strategy advisors to clients including BDO, LLP, Pearson, Inc., EMC, the U.S. Navy, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Novo Nordisk. Yost is the author of “Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You” (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2005). Connect with Cali at the award-winning Work+Life Fit blog and on Twitter @caliyost.

[Image: Flickr user Amir Jina]

Going Out To Eat? Foodspotting Has Just The Dish For You

Christina Chaey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:28:04 EST

How do you create an app that helps users discover new foods? In this extended version of the conversation from our latest issue, we chat with Alexa Andrzejewski, the CEO of Foodspotting.

Photo by Toby Burditt

"When you recommend a restaurant dish, you're asking people to commit time and money to actually trying it. So there's a risk they will get mad at you if they don't like it. We get that. That's why, instead of telling users to eat one thing from one restaurant, our Foodspotting app gives them options, and we're transparent about our process. We explain, very clearly, why Foodspotting is showing each food to them--maybe a critic they like recommended the dish, maybe the flavor profile is similar to another dish they often eat--but what to eat is totally up to them. Eventually, we may be able to offer up single recommendations. But you have to wonder if people would even trust us. Maybe, with food especially, they like to have choices."

Fast Company: Where did you get the idea for Foodspotting?

Alexa Andrzejewski: I was inspired by traveling to Japan and learning about how many interesting dishes there are out there that I didn't even know existed. I came back and I wanted to share these interesting finds with people and also find them locally, but I realized there was no way to use existing apps to search for a specific dish. So if I was looking for Japanese curry, or even a milkshake, there was no way to find the best milkshake in San Francisco. So it just seemed like such an obvious opportunity.

What's tricky about recommending food?

Food preferences are something very personal. I don't even like the same foods that the rest of the Foodspotting team likes, even though we work together and see each other the most. I think a lot of apps focus on social recommendations above everything else; with food, social is just a part of it, so it's really important to not weigh social signals too highly, rather than finding out which people actually have the same taste as you.

So who else do people trust?

Expert recommendations have a lot more sway than you realize. In San Francisco, 7x7 publishes this list of "100 Things To Try Before You Die," which has been incredibly influential on the dishes that everybody [in San Francisco] knows and recommends. We realized that's an important decision-making factor, knowing that something is Michelin-recommended or Zagat-rated. So we try to surface that information as well. When it comes to deciding what to eat, people prioritize personal taste, celebrities, and then maybe friends.

How do recommendations from an algorithm play into that trust?

One of the big things our users have said is that they don't necessarily trust recommendations from algorithms; they trust word-of-mouth. And that was an interesting insight: that word-of-mouth is how most people make decisions about eating day to day. It's not by checking an app--it's about some shaved ice place that everyone talks about. We're trying to replicate that experience of word-of-mouth on Foodspotting. We're not trying to be "magically smart" with our recommendations--we're trying to use what we know about people to find good matches for them. I love ramen, for example, and I'm going to be impressed when Foodspotting says, "You like ramen? Here's great ramen," even though I know it's doing something relatively simple.

Read more Fast Talk

Romney Campaign: Square "Could Be Huge," And Other Digital Trends In Politics

Austin Carr — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:00:17 EST

If 2008 was the year that Facebook and YouTube cracked the mainstream in politics, then 2012 will be the year that most every other digital tool breaks the dam wide open on the campaign scene. It's no longer enough for politicians to just be on Twitter--now almost all serious candidates aiming for a seat in Washington must be on Tumblr, Google+, Foursquare, and more.

"I think people who vote for us will watch our videos, share them on Twitter or Facebook or elsewhere, and maybe never go to our website," says Zac Moffatt, digital director for the Mitt Romney campaign. "That's very, very different from any other time in our history."

When the Republican front-runner released his jobs plan, for example, he introduced it to the public as a Kindle Book. Using Pay With A Tweet, the social payment system, constituents could download a copy if they tweeted about it--an exchange to help Romney's jobs plan go viral. "It got us to No. 9 on the best-seller nonfiction list," Moffatt says. "And I'm not going to lie: A 120-page jobs plan does not normally become a top 10 Amazon Kindle read."

In other words, to reach modern-day voters, campaigns are more and more appealing to digital networks and advertising rather taking traditional routes. Here's how Moffatt sees the field shaping up in the rest of 2012.

Square: Empowering Mobile Fundraising

"We've been looking at this for a long time," says Moffatt of Square, the device that lets users accept credit card payments on smartphones and tablets. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns adopted the service in January for fundraising.

"The long-term goal would obviously be that you could have supporters download the Mitt Romney Square app, so that money routes directly to Romney's campaign--people can be empowered to do what they need to do," Moffatt says. "It could be huge. No one is going to argue that mobile is not going to be a massive part of the future, but the question is whether it hits critical mass in 2012."

Instagram: Still Too Early?

President Obama may have joined Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app, last month, but Moffatt has hesitated to sign up Romney. With 15 million (global iPhone) users on the service, the question remains whether it has enough reach to make an impact. The same could be argued of Foursquare, Google+, and other up-and-coming social networks. "I would love for us to do more with Instagram, but the challenge is what level of availability you could provide," Moffatt says. "I don't know if you'd get on Instagram and say, 'Okay, now I think we're going to win the election.'"

Twitter: It's About Engagement, Stupid

Much has been made about Twitter follow counts, from Newt Gingrich's peculiarly high 1.4 million followers to the massive reach of Obama's 12.3 million followers. The Romney campaign boasts just about 325,000 followers.

But Moffatt says going forward campaigns will pay less attention to the number of followers one has (though clearly that is an important metric), and more attention to the level of engagement. The Romney campaign pays attention to its average number of retweets, the percentage of its followers who have retweeted at least one piece of content, and the reach and influence (or Klout) of their own followers. "They are people who become a part of our community," Moffatt says. "So that's why when we talk about engagement--for me that would be the criteria--if I saw that start to drop, I'd start to get really nervous."

DVR And The "On-Demanders"

Roughly 75% to 80% of campaign advertising is on paid media and TV, says Moffatt, which is why DVR and TiVo are making it increasingly difficult for campaigns to effectively reach viewers through advertising. "There are people who no longer watching real-time television other than sports; we call them 'On-Demanders,'" Moffatt says. "Our argument in 2012 is: How do you find people who don't watch live TV? How do you talk to people who otherwise would be missed?"

Working with a digital advertising firm in Florida, the Romney campaign did what Moffatt calls "off the grid targeting," or advertising targeted toward constituents likely to fast forward through commercials. "We actually ran a massive online advertising campaign in Florida just at people who would otherwise not see our TV spots," Moffatt says. Who knows if the target group will ever be big as soccer moms were for the Clinton campaign in 1996, but it can't hurt.

Don't Forget The Importance Of Google AdWords

GOP hopeful Rick Santorum certainly knows why. But in all seriousness, Google AdWords is likely one of the most powerful tools for intent-based marketing. The Romney campaign has used it not just for basic keywords, but for contrast marketing.

In Florida, for example, a search for "Newt Gingrich" would've turned up ad results for the Romney campaign. "We do it all the time in different locations," Moffatt says. "We bid against people names. The balance you're going to find with the algorithm is the relevancy and what you're willing to bid for. It's always going to be challenging for someone to bid on Mitt Romney's name and to be above us in the bid because we spend a lot of time focusing on SEO, and we spent a year building this. But we find we can bid on other people's sites because they not have put that amount of time in."

Geo-targeting has become especially important, too, with ads customized depending on one's location and access point (whether via a laptop or mobile device). "If you're in Sioux City, Iowa, you're getting an endorsement message from Senator [John] Thune because he's in South Dakota, and his market rolls over in that area that supports Mitt," Moffatt says. "On mobile phone you're getting a different message, either 'click to call a caucus' or to get direction."

Adds Moffatt, "These are simple little things that make all the world of difference."

[Image: Flickr user Daniel Olines]