The Corn Broom Story

I was watching one of those home improvement shows on cable yesterday. During a shopping expedition to furnish a log cabin, the TV Host came across a vendor who crafted corn brooms from scratch.

"How long does it take you to create a corn broom?" was the first question.

"Five months and 45 minutes." came the reply. "Five months to grow the corn and 45 minutes to attach the handle."

A small country vendor thought of his broom making processes in the same way that some of the most sophisticated manufacturers think about theirs - from the generation of raw materials through finished goods.

Many of us might have just answered "45 minutes".

But thinking in terms of the overall process is what will help us generate "green goods" - with environmentally low (or no) impact. It will force realistic accounting of all the energy and environmental impact of the end to end process. It also helps identify process "waste".

For many of us, it's a whole new way of thinking.

Dissed by YouTube

I recently uploaded my first video to YouTube.

I'm working with some partners on a new software company and we thought we needed an instructional video. Somehow I was volunteered.

At any rate, I recorded and narrated a Powerpoint presentation and uploaded it to YouTube. My relationship with the popular video site was going well, until I took a look at my account and came across this message.

Now that's a bit judgemental.

Would it have killed YouTube to say something a little more positive? Like "Tell your friends!" or "Invite your friends!"?

I'm just saying......

Lessons of our Forefathers

I hope we all learned a lesson yesterday.

Despite 24 hrs of almost universal condemnation of Columbia University for inviting the President of Iran to speak to a group of 750 students, the event went off as planned.

Outside the venue, were thousands of protesters; some protesting Iran's poor record of human rights, some protesting Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, some decrying Iran's support of terrorism.

The University's president opened the speech, highly critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The university staff and students were able to ask pointed questions of the leader and to listen to his vague, evasive, rambling responses.

They allowed him the opportunity to expose himself for the fraud he is. And this event made a much more convincing argument against his beliefs and actions than would have been made had he been prevented from speaking at all.

America was extremely lucky to have founding fathers that understood this lesson and had the foresight to embed Freedom of Speech into the Bill of Rights. It's no accident that this freedom is contained in the First Amendment.

Perhaps it's time we revisited the beliefs of our forefathers. They were pretty smart.

Rinse and Repeat

Need to sell more shampoo? Add the instructions "Shampoo, Rinse and Repeat" to the label. In spite of the fact that these actions to not make your hair any cleaner, a certain portion of consumers read and follow directions.

And the result is, you sell more shampoo.

In Government, if you want to make a case for a position or promote passage of a new law, the strategy is eerily similar. Make up a number and repeat as required.

Don't believe me?

How many illegal aliens are in the country? If you answered 12 million, you're right.

And you're wrong.

You're able to quote the number that the media and Government keeps repeating. In fact, no one actually knows how many illegal aliens are in the country. Not the governement. Not the media. Not me. Not you.

They're illegal, remember? It means that they've crossed the border without documentation. Unnoticed, uncounted.

Yet somehow, we know how many there are. Because the number is quoted and repeated, over and over, by politicians, by media "talking heads" - without any scrutiny of the number's origin. Repeating it makes it "fact". Once it becomes a "fact", then you can justify building a huge 2000 mile (or 720 mile, or 15 mile - how long is it supposed to be?) fence across the border with Mexico. Or you can use the fact to villify all hispanics, both legal and illegal.

Rising crime. Blame it on the "illegals". There are 12 million of them, don't you know. Long wait in the Emergency room? You're waiting behind 12,000,000 "illegals".

Making up numbers isn't the sole pervue of the United States.

In Canada, the RCMP, in an effort to draw attention to software piracy estimated the cost to the country at $30 Billion dollars. They now admit the number was made up.

I finally understand why my 7th grade English teacher was so insistent about essay footnotes.

It's time we learned that before we can begin to solve a problem we need to understand the problem. We need actual facts. And we need to hold those "number quoters" accountable for their accuracy.

Thank God for O.J.

In case you've just awakened from a coma, O.J. Simpson is back in the news. Apparently, in an effort to recover sports memorabilia, he invaded a hotel room, complete with armed thugs. To his surprise, the police were called, and he, along with several accomplices, were arrested.

In an ironic twist of fate, he faces more years in prison than he did during his last brush with the law, when "someone" murdered his wife and her companion.

The media circus is back in town (well, Las Vegas). Even Marcia Clark (remember her?) has been seen lurking around the proceedings. Local news has aerial footage of Simpson and lawyer driving to the airport, where he departed for a little R&R in Florida.

And so the mindless 24 hr "news" coverage begins. I fully expect a new evening cable show to be spawned as a result. Conan, Letterman, Kimmell, Leno, Stewart are wringing their hands with glee. More comedy material!

And I say "Thank GOD for O.J."!

Finally we get a break from that boring war in Iraq, with all those people dying. No more stories about "out of control" Blackwater security consultants (aka mercenaries) killing those pesky Iraqi civilians.

No more stories about GM on the verge of a major strike (and on the verge of bankruptcy) as a result of soaring health care costs.

No more stories about our government treating our troops like crap - with their extended tours, short leave time, lack of up-armored vehicles and poor health services upon their return.

No more stories about that boring Presidential campaign, with all the talking heads berating each other instead of solving our country's problems.

We have illegal immigrants pouring over the southern border. We have a financial crisis in the mortgage markets. We have China poisoning our pets and our children. We have Iran making a nuclear bomb. We have a 50% dropout rate in our high schools. We have a vanishing middle class. We have tens of millions of people without healthcare. We still have a dysfunctional New Orleans not yet recovered from Katrina. We still have a big hole in the ground where the World Trade Center used to stand. We have massive debt. We have a government and a President with the lowest public opinion ratings in history. We have weekly examples of government leaders' scandals. We don't even have an Attorney General!

Thankfully we don't have to worry about all that.

Because now, we have O.J.!

Lessons Not Learned

By 7:00 am yesterday, the news was spreading like wildfire. Both my kids were awakened by their cellphones - a highly unusual event, since their crowd spends most Sunday mornings sleeping. So we knew the news wasn't going to be good.

And we were right.

For the second time in nine months, a classmate was killed in a single car drunk driving accident.

Seb was one of those kids who was liked by everyone. But he had a problem that no one addressed. He was a big partier.

He had just turned 17.

The circumstances of his accident were almost a cliche. Drunk. Speeding. At night. Not wearing a seatbelt. Lost control. Crashed into a tree. Ejected from the vehicle.

It's a story that is repeated over and over in the United States every night. It barely gets a mention on the news. Ironically, it happens too often to be newsworthy.

And so, all yesterday, Seb's classmates gathered to console one another and to share stories about what a great kid he was. An impromptu memorial was conducted at church. Last night, about 60 kids held a candlelit vigil at the place where he died.

As parents, we resisted revisiting the standard lecture about drinking and driving - opting instead to wait until the immediate sorrow cleared... Until the message could be absorbed.

I think every one of us went through the same list of questions in our minds... Where were the parents? How did he get the alcohol? Why didn't a friend stop him from driving?

It's easy to be critical of the circumstances when the tragedy happens to someone else. Until you've raised teenager's, you can't appreciate the challenge. You hope that your lectures are heeded. You hope that the kids can't get their hands on booze. You hope their friends would take away his keys. You hope that everyone would learn from the tragedy.

But it seems not to be the case.

I mentioned that this is was the second time this happened in the last nine months.

The very same story played out last January. And that time, the victim was Seb's best friend.

The Experiment

Just over a year ago, I started writing this blog. I started it as an experiment. I've always been interested in technology and especially interested in knowledge management, sharing and innovation. I wanted to find out more about what Web 2.0 was all about.

And so I signed up for a free Blogger account and started writing.

I've learned a few things about the experience.

First, my writing sucks. But I think it's getting better. I'm trying to use 5 words where I used to use 10. I check my spelling. And I've learned that errors jump off the page only after I hit the "Publish" button.

Writing a blog (on an almost daily basis) is a selfish thing to do. It's my alone time. This is my time to reflect on the day's events, what's going on in my life and what's going on all around me. It's time set aside for me to reflect - to assess what I've learned or observed that day. Frankly, it's a habit I've only recently developed. It's for me.

As I write this, I'm the only one awake at our house.

As a product of the TV generation, I've invested a large portion of my life in front of a television. While much of that time was enjoyable, it was time spent emotionally reacting to content, laughing, crying, getting angry - not much time spent thinking or analyzing. Blogging has helped me appreciate the power of reflection and introspection. (I call it Webtrospection.)

Maybe I'm just getting old.

At the same time, blogging is a selfless act. I'm sharing these thoughts with subscribers and anyone else who happens to trip over my blog. I don't have any expectations. I don't expect anything in return.

If someone finds a thought or observation useful, fantastic. If this entry encourages someone to start blogging themselves, that's terrific.

Our grandparents used to relax on the front porch, observe their world and converse with neighbors as they walked by. To some extent, blogging is today's equivalent of sitting on the front porch. You meet some new people, enjoy some old friends, share some stories.

I've also learned that the blogosphere (I hate that word) contains some fascinating characters with radically different lives and disparate points of view - an infinite number of "channels", waiting to be discovered. My number of RSS feeds grows with each passing week.

There are a lot of interesting people out there.

And so the experiment I started a year ago, to better understand blogging and the Web 2.0 experience will continue.

It's been an interesting experience with many unexpected benefits.

Video Doesn't Forget

I watched in stunned silence.

Last night, the President announced he was going to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq to pre-surge levels. The "talking heads" on one of the cable news networks summed up the move by saying that George Bush was "kicking the problem down the road" - to the next President, in an effort to shape his legacy.

Are you kidding me?

Perhaps this might have worked 35 years ago. Not in the digital age.

The problem with trying to shape one's legacy in the digital age.... Video doesn't forget. Digital content doesn't "forget". The internet has seen to that.

Bush 43 has been the most digitally documented President in history. The blogosphere exploded on his watch. The government is run on email. More citizens are weighing in (pro and con) on the internet than ever before.

Individual blog content links to online news articles, which links to MSM (main stream media) digital news content which links to online video sources. All the news shows are being archived in digital form.

Now leaders' legacies will be shaped by email, blogs, DailyKos, VoteVets.org, YouTube, all the major networks, the cable networks MSNBC, CNN, FOX, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show and on and on..... all just a click away...

For this President, these impressions and images can't be muddied with time.

The Iraq War may be a "comma" in America's history. But it will be a well documented one.

Bush's strategy to leave office with head held high, ensconced in the belief that the war is just and "winnable" and that history "will treat him kindly", is completely out of his hands.

Certainly there have already been a large number of books written on his Presidency (pro and con) and there will be more to come, but the digital archives will remain universally available. His legacy, perhaps for the first time, will be left to future observers of massive digital archives, rather than be shaped by kind autobiographers, failing recollections and time.

Like never before, all of our descendants, will have first hand access to mountains of digital forensics with which to interpret a President's legacy.

And all future Presidents would be well served understanding that.

Breaking News: Assholes Bad for Business

Okay, this may be one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse....

A Harvard Business Review article states that Assholes are bad for business. As reported by 1-800-CEOREAD, The book based upon the article has just received a Quills Award (Business category).

Who knew?

Google and Amazon to the Rescue?

This report by the BBC describes how Google and Amazon are participating in the search for adventurer Steve Fossett.

As you may recall, Fossett's single engine airplane has gone missing since Sept 3rd. So far, land and air searches have come up empty.

And so Google recently updated the Google Earth satellite photos of Nevada. And with Amazon's Mechanical Turk project, are enlisting volunteers to scan the photography searching for plane wreckage, which should appear as a 21x30 pixel size on your computer screen.

People can simply do a better job of recognizing potential clues better than computers, at least for now.

Suspicious images can be reported to Mechanical Turk for followup analysis and investigation.

Kudos to Google and Amazon for coming up with the idea.

Christmas Morning with HP

I bit the bullet the other day and bought replacement ink cartridges for my HP Officejet printer. I've tried those ink refilling places but (maybe it's me) the ink never seems to last that long - and the cartridge electronics don't work when they're re-filled, so when you're out of ink, you're OUT of ink.

After taking out a small loan, I made my purchase of both a black cartridge and a combo color cartridge.

If you haven't purchased printer ink recently, be warned: Each cartridge costs about the same as a tank of gas.

Built into the price of the replacement cartridges is HP's cartridge recycling program. I was pleased to find within the cartridge packaging, a self addressed, postage paid envelope, with which you could return the used cartridge to HP. I don't know what HP does with them when they get them, but at least they leave their customers with the impression, they don't end up in a landfill somewhere.

The "green" message is somewhat muted however, by all the excessive packaging that surrounds the cartridges. First, the external packaging is at least twice as large as it has to be - suggesting to the consumer that the package may contain two cartridges (and at that price, who wouldn't expect two?)

Nope. It's just air.

Perhaps the Marketing department wanted better shelf visibility. Perhaps the size of the packaging is designed to intentionally mislead. Either way, using extra cardboard is hardly eco-friendly.

Also contained within the packaging is a separate piece of paper with instructions on how to replace the cartridge (at least I thought that's what it was - I just tossed it.) Why not print the instructions on the inside of the package itself?

Finally, the cartridge came sealed in an airtight aluminum foil wrapper - to preserve the freshness of the ink.

By the time I had my hands on the cartridge, the table was filled with garbage. It looked like Christmas morning at our house. Wrapping everywhere.

I commend HP for their recycling efforts, but if HP is really serious about being a good environmental citizen, I'd suggest they revisit their packaging.

Coaching All Aspects of the Game

Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers talented rookie 3rd baseman, hit a home run last night, in the 12-2 Brewers drubbing of the Houston Astros.

And the Brewer's Manager, Ned Yost wasn't too happy about it.

Certainly he was pleased with the 3 run homerun, but what didn't impress him was Braun's "swagger" just after he hit it.

Normally, after a hit, Braun takes off for first base, head down - all business. But last night something else happened. In a very uncharacteristic move, Braun walked towards first base, showing very little respect for the opposing team and calling more attention to himself than was necessary.

And Ned Yost let him know it as soon as he returned to the dugout.

Ryan Braun is a very talented player, but he's a rookie. Ned Yost wants to groom a great player and wants to build a winning team, which means that egos aren't allowed. He appreciates that Milwaukee is a midwestern city, where people work hard and appreciate the work ethic of others - a place where we're all a little uncomfortable with big egos.

And so Ned did the right thing and brought him down a peg or two.

Let's hope that twenty years from now, as they're putting Braun's name and number up on the wall at Miller Park, he remembers the lesson of Sept 5th, 2007 that taught him the difference between being a good player and a great one.

And that he credits Ned Yost for teaching him all aspects of the game.

The Cost of Indifference

When I call my local Pizza place, they know a lot about me. They know the last pizza I ordered. They know my favorite pizza toppings and they know where I live. The pizza's good. The delivery is fast. They treat me pretty well.

Over the last 10 years our family has probably spent $5000 on Pizza.

Contrast this with my car dealer. Whenever I walk into the dealership, they have no idea who I am or what car I drive. They don't know how many times I've been in for service. The routine is always the same.

"May I help you?" the salesperson asks.

"I've purchased cars from here before. I thought I'd check out the new models."

"Do you know who your salesperson is?"

"I have no idea. They seem to change every time I come in".

"I'll go and look it up. [returns after a minute] Your salesperson is no longer with us. You've been assigned to Mr. Jones, but he's not here right now. Can I help you?" (oblivious to the irony of me being passed around yet again.)

Apparently, "being assigned" to someone at this dealership, means that they get to write up the order, should you happen to walk in and want to buy a car. They don't call to introduce themselves. They don't advise you when the new models are in. They don't remind you to come in to get your oil changed or to schedule maintenance inspections. In fact, they do absolutely nothing. Except wait.

Over the past ten years, I have either purchased or leased six vehicles from this dealership. My guesstimate is that the value of these purchases was around $180,000.

And they still have no idea who I am.

Which is why they are now my former car dealership.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't have a big ego. If the dealership had just managed to call me by name ONCE, after ten years and $180,000, that would have been nice.

I didn't fire them overnight. In fact, it happened gradually over the past 4 years. Four years ago I strayed into a Lexus dealership and they convinced me to purchase one of their vehicles. Their sales and services teams are spectacular. When I show up at the dealership they recognize me and call me by name!

I've never really looked back.

Both my kids now drive cars from sister dealerships (to the Lexus dealer), where the sales and service are also excellent.

So, now my former car dealer has lost not only my business, but have also lost two new consumers who have begun their car ownership experiences, with the competition.

And it all started with indifference.

My Umbrella Story

What kind of idiot goes shopping for patio furniture in late August?

This kind.

Last Wednesday, someone, (okay, it was me) left our patio umbrella up. A brief, but strong storm rolled through our neighborhood later that day. Our glass topped table, powered by strong winds (and that damn umbrella) was tossed into a very hard stone retaining wall in our backyard - with predictable results.

The umbrella was unsalvagable (good riddance) and the table was a write-off.

Our patio set had given us a solid decade of service and so off we went to find a replacement.

We tried all the usual haunts - big box stores, brand name outdoor stores, but found very little selection and outrageous prices (especially for this time of year). Out of ideas, we tried the Internet. There were surprising few patio furniture stores in the area (we live just north of Milwaukee).

One search result was a store called On The Deck, located in Oconomowoc, a 40 minute drive away. Frankly I wasn't very impressed with their website and I had low expectations, but it was a great day for a drive to lake country. And so, off we went.

We found the store, located in a very old building, on the main street, perhaps 50 yards away from the lake. We almost missed it because the space they occupied looked like it was originally designed to hold three (relatively small) adjacent stores. I guess I was expecting a more modern single story commercial building.

As we entered the dimly lit store, the old wood floors creaked. We were greeted by a treasure trove of patio furniture and accessories. We wound our way through the rabbit's warren of rooms, created by the unmodified floor plan of the three original stores. Each room revealed more selection, more surprises.

And then we discovered the best thing of all.

The two ladies who ran the store.

Pleasant, engaging, knowledgeable and patient - they walked us through the choices and spent way too much time with us, scouting the entire store for just the right umbrella to match the set we were interested in. About an hour later, we finally completed our purchase.

The whole experience was a flashback to a time when all the stores in your hometown were run by their owners (who were also your neighbors). Back to a day when product quality, good value for money and personal service were business cornerstones.

Even if you aren't searching for patio furniture, I'd recommend paying them a visit. You'll certainly enjoy the ride to Oconomowoc and the trip down memory lane.

Now, if I can just remember to close that umbrella every night!