Tour de Force: Adopting New Technologies

Blog I wrote for HireVue:

http://new.hirevue.com/company/blog/tour-de-force-adopting-new-technologies/

Interested in your thoughts.

Rusty

The Cost of Cheap

I loved this sketch and article by Carl Richards in the New York Times.  See: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/the-case-for-spending-a-little-more-sometimes/
Mr. Richards' thesis was that waiting until we can afford to buy good things that will last, or that we will use for a long time, is a better economic decision. The old adage, "We're too poor to buy cheap things" was quoted and it reminded me of the many times in my own life when I have forgotten the power of delayed gratification and I purchase out of impulse because of the catalyst of a sale or seeming bargain. Of course some businesses are built on the principle of cheap, available and disposable, but I'd prefer to think that after time the "Old Navy's" of the world become something else.  We have a store not far from our Rhode Island home called "Benny's".  Our best friend's twin girls over the years (they are 16 now) have come to call the store, "Broken Benny's" because whatever you buy there seems to break or wear out within a few week or months of purchase.  And when you add up the dollars spent, you find that you ended up overspending versus buying quality the first time. As I once told a professional services vendor, "Look, I'm an American consumer, and that means I want it now, I want it perfect, and I want it free or at least cheap".  What Mr. Richards points out so well is that we can't have our "cheap" cake and eat it too.

"It's Not. But It Could Be"

"It's Not. But It Could Be"

If these words don't mean something to you then you missed the premier of what could end up being the next best thing on TV; "The Newsroom" on HBO.  I am unabashedly a fan of Aaron Sorkin; pretty much everything he has written.  The opening monologue of anchor Will McEvoy, while I don't agree with all he said, does indeed strike a chord with me and where we stand today as a country. If you happen to have watched, will watch, the opening monologue, I'd be interested in your take.

Thank You Harry Levinson

This last week the business world lost one of the most influential thinkers and writers of our time.  Most people wouldn't know the name Harry Levinson but they have likely benefited in their jobs from his thinking and writings.  All across America and the world there are positions in corporations called, "Chief Learning Officers".  This position emanated from Levinson's 1968 book titled, "The Exceptional Executive".  Quoting from this obituary in the New York Times, "Dr. Levinson argued that a psychological contract existed between employees and employers, laying out the expectation each had of the other.  Employees who feel that their employers have violated that contract will feel depressed, he said, and may well become underachievers".  Probably the most influential CEO to adopt Levinson's teachings was long-time General Electric CEO, Jack Welch.  Welch built a powerful leadership team and modeled Levinson's theories in how he set up the HR philosophy and practices at GE. Dr. Levinson's passing is a reminder of how influence can occur for generations when the most of us would have no idea where that influence started.

The Upcoming Debt Ceiling Fight - Part 2

We can expect that the next fight will be just as bad as the last one. I found this in Wired Magazine and it certainly shines some light on the historical models/examples that get drawn upon:

"It's not like the debt ceiling hasn't been raised before. The percent change during the following Administrations:

Kennedy - 5%
Johnson - 18%
Nixon - 36%
Ford - 41%
Carter - 34%
Reagan - 199%
George H.W. Bush - 48%
Clinton - 44%
George W. Bush - 90%
Obama - 34%"

2011 Highlight Reel

In 2011 I started recording in Evernote those events that I thought would belong on my annual "Highlight Reel" (I know, a reel is an antiquated term but it still works for me).

Enjoy.

-New Years Eve 2010/2011 @ midnight in Catania, Sicily watching the fireworks over the city - looked like Baghdad on CNN

-Attending the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Awards seeing George Beverly Shea receive his award

-Spring Training in Phoenix - getting to go into the Reds Locker room, meeting Bronson Arroyo and talking with Johnny Bench

-National Theater Live screening of Frankenstein in San Francisco

-Dinner at The French Laundry with Tom, Liz and Patti

-St. Patricks's Day celebration with Patti at the White House

-Visit to the Kennicott Mine in Salt Lake City with Mark Newman and Chris Hollenbeck

-Seeing War Horse (the play) at the National Theater in London with "The Frepps"

-Hanging with Garry Maddox in his suite at the Phillies vs Red Sox game during our visit to see the Murabitos

-Patti and I Riding out Hurricane Irene and the Reynold's Pre-Hurricane Party @ their house aptly named, "Landfall"

-Patti and I attending the White House Holiday Reception with President and Mrs. Obama

2011 Reading List

Well, 2011 turned out to not be my most productive year of reading, but here it is, with comments:

Book that I was glad I read even though I didn't expect I would say so: Decision Points by George W. Bush

Best written/best use of language:" Pacazo by Roy Kesey

Book I listened to, but wish I would have read instead:" Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

Book that made me think the most about the future (tie); The Next 100 Years by George Friedman and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Most creative and I wanted more: How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive by Christopher Boucher

Book that has changed my life (at least for now): Eat to Live by Dr. Furhmann

Book I would like to see made a movie: Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Had I seen the size of the hardcover first, would I have read the digital copy?: Hero: The Life of Lawrence Arabia by Michael Korda


2011 Reading List:

(d) Decision Points - Bush
(d) The Next 100 Years - Friedman
(d) Room: The Novel - Donoghugh
The Company's Man - Battista
You Think That's Bad - Shepard
Deus Ex Machina - Altschul
Tales of the City - Maupin
(d) The Immortal Life of Henrietts Lacks - Skloot
(d) Hero: The Life of Lawrence of Arabia - Korda
Breakfast with Buddha - Merullo
The Edge of the World - Hamburg
Once Upon A River - Campbell
How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive - Boucher
The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastard - Boswell
Eat to Live - Furhman
Pacazo - Kesey
The Convert - Baker
Show Up, Look Good - Wisniewski
(a) Ten Thousand Saints - Henderson
The Orientation - Orozco

(d) = digital
(a) = audio

Another Good Reason To Go To Church On Sundays

This past weekend Patti and I weren’t scheduled to teach Sunday School so we decided to go to church on Saturday night and spend Sunday morning reading the New York Times and watching the Sunday morning TV news programs.

I should have gone to church.

The Sunday morning talking heads were about the SuperCommittee and their lack of being able to find common ground to come up with a debt reduction deal.
What was most frustrating was that this was a group of people who were hand-selected to perform a task within a specified timeframe with a defined outcome. They knew what they had to do, and as of the writing of this have not done their job. But the representatives from the committee who were all but resigned to not having a deal come together, refused to call their inability to find a resolution as a failure. Where I come from, they have failed. I had a hard time believing that they were trying to pass their work off as anything else. With their failure they have once again told the American people, and the rest of the world, that our government no longer works.

I should have gone to church.

They also were saying that their failure would not affect the financial markets. Can they really be that out of touch? A few weeks ago I was invited to the White House for a Business Forward and White House Business Council session on job creation. One of the economists who spoke showed us the effect on our GDP when Congress was unable to reach agreement on the debt ceiling. The statistics shown were that the negative impact on GDP was greater than even 9/11. To think that such a visible indication that we cannot govern past our differences wouldn’t have an impact on the financial markets is beyond naïve, it shows how out of touch our representatives with the real world. As of this writing, the Dow is down 300+ points.

I really should have gone to church.

This morning the news headlines are now saying that Congress will try and repeal the law will automatically enact the $1.3 trillion in cuts that the SuperCommittee couldn’t handle. If that is the case then the Supercommittee should be known as the SuperDuperCommittee. I am appalled that we have let it come to this.

Next time I will definitely go to church!

I have tweeted or written to each of the SuperCommittee members to express my displeasure in their failure. If you are so inclined to do so, here they are for you to reach out to as well:

Democrats Republicans Senate members:

• Patty Murray, Washington, Co-Chair @PattyMurray
• Max Baucus, Montana
• John Kerry, Massachusetts
• Jon Kyl, Arizona @SenJonKyl
• Rob Portman, Ohio @robportman
• Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania @SenToomey

House members:

• Xavier Becerra, California @ RepBecerra
• Jim Clyburn, South Carolina
• Chris Van Hollen, Maryland @ChrisVanHollen
• Jeb Hensarling, Texas, Co-Chair @RepHensarling
• Fred Upton, Michigan @RepFredUpton
• Dave Camp, Michigan @RepDaveCamp

I'll definitely see you next Sunday in church!

Consumption vs. Reading

This is a copy of an email that I sent to music and entertainment pundit, Bob Lefsetz:

A few months ago you wrote of the book, “Ten Thousand Saints” by Eleanor Henderson. After reading your positive review I put the book on my Evernote “Books to Read” list. (Yes, I am one of these guys who make lists of what I want to do, when I did it, and what I thought of it).

A few weeks ago I found myself having to drive from LA to San Francisco and decided that I would download Ten Thousand Saints from Audible/itunes onto my ipad and listen to the book on the drive home up I-5. When I went to itunes to download it, it looked perfect at 5 hours and 40 minutes (I later learned that was only part 1 and there was another 5 hours plus in Part 2).

After all these years of audio books being available, having friends who were investors and on the Board of Audible at their beginning, and having bought and disposed of plenty of devices to listen to them on, and having many instances where they would be great diversions and entertainment like marathon long training runs, I had never listened to an audio book and Ten Thousand Saints was to be my first.

After paying the same as what I would have paid for a first-run hardback version of the book, it took a while for the book to download. Not as long as movie or TV episode, but not the nearly instantaneous download that I have become to expect from an e-book on my Kindle or ipad. I was glad that I had downloaded the book from my hotel room the night before with high bandwidth and hadn’t waited until I was in the car on 3G.

After receiving the book, the first thing that told me I wasn’t reading a book was hearing that the book was going to be “performed” by Steven Kaplan, not “read”. That one small word changed the tone for what I expected. He said, “perform” so I expected a performance and of course, now a good one. Not having taken in an audio book before ( as you can read, I am struggling with what to call what I have done. I haven’t read the book but I have done more than listened. So, let’s say I have “consumed” the book) I can’t tell you whether or not is was a good performance or not. Let’s just say, he did what he was supposed to do and I got the story.

What I also don’t know is if my consumption was as good as your read. There were certainly many times that I had to “rewind” (scroll back) to listen over to what had been said. A traffic jam warning outside of Bakersfield messed up a chapter for example. Distractions had me re-listening at least a dozen, if not more times throughout the book.

I never felt like I got to know the characters like I would have if I had read the book. I never got my own picture and voice in my head of any of the characters like I think I would have if it had been my mind’s voice talking to me.

The other perplexing thing to me about the audio book is when do you consume them if not in your car? I ended up finishing part two while on multiple plane rides, but even then I found myself doing email on my laptop at the same time. I never multi-task when I read a book and if I do have music on at the same time, the book comes to the foreground and the rest fades away. With the audio book I found just the opposite. It was easier to not concentrate on the book and it too easily became the background.

I also don’t recommend trying to listen to an audio book before you go to sleep. When you wake up you have no idea where you fell asleep and the book is still talking to you. At least with a paper book or an e-reader it can’t turn the page on its’ own.

Bob, like you, I like to stretch myself with technology and was there at the Napster and BitTorrent moments, and still here (feeling better about respecting copyrights and creators) at the Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu times.

But call me now old fashioned, but to get the most from a book I think it’s about using my eyes and not my ears. But maybe, I am selling it short and before I give up on the multi-sense consumption I need to try adding the new scored soundtracks to my e-reader.

At the end of each year I publish on my blog the books that I read for the year (somewhere in the upper 20’s to low 30’s on average). The last few years I have put next to the titles, a “d” for those that I read digitally. This year, I will add the “c” for the consumption of an audio book. But, I predict that unless someone who I really respect tells me I have it all wrong, or I end up having to drive across America anytime soon, that this will be the only “c” on my list.

Thanks for the recommendation. I just hope I didn’t miss out on a good book that was actually great.

Rusty

Choice

Choice is a very powerful tool. I just had to rent a car for a one-way driving trip from LA to San Francisco and National Rental had the best one-way drop-off deal. It had been a long time since I had rented from them and I expected the same old routine as any other car rental place, but when I got the to the counter in LA, I was very surprised. Within 30 seconds of me giving them my driver's license and credit card, they handed me back my rental sleeve and directed me to an area called, "The Aisle" and said I could choose any car that was parked under that awning. Around the corner and out the door, there was that section with at least 50 cars/SUVs, etc. to choose from. After asking a very nice attendant who was standing near the cars, which car got the best gas mileage, I was choosing from three different colors of a Honda Sonata. As I drove out of the lot, I was a satisfied customer and it was all about choice. I am sure I am not alone in having been assigned a rental car and being disappointed because I would have preferred the car style next to the one I was going to rent. Choice is a powerful force and in our businesses we should remember that giving the consumer a choice, even if not a big choice, can be the difference between satisfaction and not.