Good and great

Music comes naturally. After two years of saxophone lessons, my instructor said, "there's nothing else to teach you." A very Karate Kid moment.

Basketball was of equal interest, but I wasn't great at it. I was good enough to make the freshman high school team, but I also averaged the most travels in a game. I did get to do the pre-game chant though. I was great at that.

In my early years of elementary school, I remember leading groups. For some reason, my class or group would pick me to lead. I had no idea what leading meant except to form a straight line. I had the occasional, "what do scissors do" trick, but all in all I kept my ducks in a line. I was great at it.

Forward decades into the future and I found myself running a software company. Prior to managing the business, I programmed. I was good. I maintained code, fixed bugs, etc, but had very little contribution on moving the business forward.

It was then after I took on the role of second in command where I was mentored by our chief. I learned how to deal contracts. I renewed 40% of the contracts which at the time were expiring. I was great at that. We even managed to scout a few new leads.

Working hard at what I was good at kept me from things I was great at.

Finding out what you're good or great at requires time. It requires asking the right people (those closest to you and most objective) questions regarding performance, personality, passions, etc.

So, what are you good at?

What can you be great at?

As Jim Collins states in "Good to Great", good is the enemy of great.

Seth Godin's Alternative MBA Program

No brainer here.

Marketing guru, Seth Godin recently posted a FREE alternative MBA program. Applications are due before December 14. The program starts January 19th and will run for a duration of six months.

Please pass on to interesting people. Here's the link with more info.

Oh and hey -

"Seth Godin is a best-selling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. Seth is the writer of one of the most popular blogs in the digital world. Find more about Seth Godin at www.sethgodin.com."

Thanksgiving Turkey Talk

This is creative. Who wouldn't want to talk to Turkey experts? The folks at Butterball are providing the technology to do so. Here's your opportunity to speak with Talk-Line Experts.


For more info, go to http://www.butterball.com/.

Butterball Turkey Talk-Line® Ready to talk turkey?
Don't miss your chance to talk virtually with the Talk-Line Experts!
Join the Butterball Web chat November 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CT.

Olive Garden and the User Experience

My wife and I, with several friends visited the Olive Garden yesterday conveniently located in Wayne, NJ. Servers were kind and courteous, always checking up on me to fill my water glass. Get this - even without me asking! I love that!

Orders arrived on time. The meal was delicious.

Now how many websites provide the same user experience?

I'm all for creative layouts, fancy 2.0 buttons, and AJAX, but please, keep it simple. Whether online, print, and/or an event, people like predictability. Users like left to right. They don't like getting kicked out of their sessions. Second guessing means the back button.

If you come back and take my order, please don't let the refresh time return after 10 seconds. Don't worry, I'll buy your java after that amazing meal. Yes, I'll take that special offer, but does my experience matter before you sell me something else, because if I trust you, I'll drink your coffee. I'll eat that cake.

Design with the user in mind and keep it simple. Thank you Larry!

Give Thanks

The past several days reflect how thankful I am to live in a great country founded by diversity, governed by democracy, a canvas of opportunities, and a land defended by the bravest to provide us security.

Whatever your views are of tomorrow, or how you are motivated by today, stop and watch this video to put things into context.

November is a great time to reflect and give thanks. What are you grateful for?

Social "knitworking"

Of the many colleagues you do have on your networks, about how many do you "knitwork" with? There's a difference between networking and knitworking. Networking throws the net out with hopes to find common ground.

"I remember you. We went to school together."
"Remember so and so from company x, is she still there?"
"Great seeing you the other day, how's business?"
"You know, we should grab some lunch (a year later) You know, we should really get together."

Add as a friend. Click. Sayonara!

Networking expands contacts. Networking broadens our territory, but knitworking tightens the strings of existing networks.

What are you doing to strengthen your knitwork?

Hit the brakes

Your Edward Cullen won't pay attention to you. The deadline was moved. You don't have enough resources to finish the project. She won't go out with you (dude, take a shower). Your kid won't listen to you. Why won't he pop the question? The list goes on and the deal, goal, relationship keeps moving forward without you.

While "and" transitions the idea to product. "And" is the process in between. With process comes progress. If there's anything that makes me cringe, it's the lack of progress or delaying progress. Whether the delay is hindsight, intentional, accidental, constructive or any combination of those, delays can ruffle feathers. The lack of progress sure have ruffled mine. So what good can there be of delays? Well, the next time you drive or ride in a vehicle, think about the importance of your vehicle's brakes.

Here's what Wiki says, "A brake is a device for slowing or stopping the motion of a machine or vehicle, or alternatively a device to restrain it from starting to move again." Brakes prevent most accidents. There are another set of restraints called safety belts, otherwise known as seat belts. Knowing that these brakes are in place provides security. These "delays" save lives - every single day.

While the "and" in between is a process which produces progress, which delays irritate you the most? How have hitting the brakes changed your perspective in areas of delayed progress? What have you learned?

The "and" in between

I get responsibility. Really, I have the visuals. Yes, I can see the big picture, but "and" gets in the way. "And" means work. "And" is hard. "And" means asking difficult questions. "And" asks me to constantly rethink my strategies and take criticisms.

"And" is the in between of creed and deed. "And" turns the big idea into a product. "And" is the story of how the first date lead to the big date of I do's. Great teams function within "and" while others are intimidated by it. "And" motivates students from freshman to senior year. "And" is your story.

"And" may very well delay ideas from becoming reality. "And" may ask for another round of discussions. Don't let your "and" be your "end". Move and adapt with "and".

Gmail's Advanced IMAP Controls

I'm thrilled when something that is supposed to work actually works.  Especially on my iPhone. Thanks to Google's Gmail team, I can now filter what labels to display on IMAP.

1.  Login to your Gmail Account.

2.  Click "Settings" on the top right side of the page.

3.  Proceed by clicking on "Labs".

4.  Navigate through the list of "Labs" features to "Advanced IMAP controls".

5.  Click on "Enable".   Yes, it really is that easy to turn on or off.  Then click on the "Save Changes".

6.  Now comes the fun part.  Once your changes have been saved, Gmail will redirect you back to the Inbox.  Click on "Settings" then navigate to the "Labels" tab.  

  

7.  Check or uncheck the labels you'd like to display.  No need to save as each check or uncheck is automatically saved for you.  

8.  It also works wonders on the iPhone as shown below.  It will also help put your kids to college and make your evenings wonderful. 

Cheers to all you IMAPPERS!

Catalyst 2008 - Together

Put technologists, entrepreneurs, the fight against social injustices, management, music, marketing, entertainment, and the Great Commission into a giant auditorium and ask the question, "Will it Blend?"

The answer.

Absolutely!

Catalyst has revolutionized the word "together" and is calling on agents of change to help support this great gathering. Memories from the event still reverberate in my ears! They've got an unbelievable line up of speakers this year.

C'mon - Jim Collins, Seth Godin, and Andy Stanley? You can't get any better than that!

Catalyst on Vimeo.

New Gmail Features - Updated

If you're a Google fan like me and have your very own Gmail account, you'll love the new features Gmail engineers recently rolled out.  To name one function, the buddy list and labels can now be moved to the right of the screen allowing for easy scrolling.  To access this feature and more, follow the instructions below.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

1.  Go to gmail.com and login into your account.

2.  Click on the Settings link.

3.  In your Gmail account’s Settings, click the Labs tab.

4.  Scroll through the list and enable any one of the new functions.

5.  Click "Save Changes" button and you're done! Why can't other apps be this easy?

Read up on the Official Gmail Blog

Happy rearranging!

William Yuan 12 year old solar power revolutionary

Call it pure entrepreneurial genius. William Young has has my attention.

William Young's invention of a highly-efficient, three-dimensional nanotube solar cell for both visible and ultraviolet light has been rewarded with a $25,000 scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

A few quotables:

Yuan said that, "Current solar cells are flat and can only absorb visible light. I came up with an innovative solar cell that absorbs both visible and UV light. My project focused on finding the optimum solar cell to further increase the light absorption and efficiency and design a nanotube for light-electricity conversion efficiency."

Yuan continues as he stated that his "next step is to talk to manufacturers to see if they will build a working prototype," Yuan said. "If the design works in a real test stage, I want to find a company to manufacture and market it."

Congratulations to you William Young!

Read more at http://www.katu.com/news/local/28432984.html

KISS, Keep It Simple [ fill in the blank ]

Did you read the instructions? Well yeah. Of course I did. It said to put this piece over here and nail in that part there. Ok done. Oooh. Ahhh. You step back and marvel at your work. That's the best looking table I've ever seen. Possibly, but too bad it was supposed to be a chair.

During the .com era, it was about the Internet hype of javascript rollovers, oooh, ahhh, flying banners, tons of heavy imagery, and what we now call obsolete use of style elements. The good news is, after every trend comes refined processes and protocols.

The user interface is now riding shotgun while flashy, busy designs take a back seat. When I was in manufacturing, I remember an application which our customer service team used for order and customer management.

The application was a monster. Back track and drill down every order item from last year. Easy.

Ask it to do your laundry.

No problem.

The only catch was it took about twenty minutes to find anything. The user interface (UI) looked like a dashboard of a Boeing 747 aircraft. All I wanted to do was view an order, not fly an airplane. Similarly, existing and new applications online are following the trend of "design with the user in mind".

If you had a chance to voice out your suggestions to the manufactureres of your favorite gadgets or applications, what would you ask them to change? What would you suggest to make the gadget or app more user-friendly? Looking forward to your comments.

A Day to Remember

When you hear the emergency broadcast test on the radio, it is usually just that - a test.  Seven years ago on this very day, that same emergency broadcast sounded the alarm to one of history's greatest tragedies.  

To all those we've lost, we'll always remember.  To our colleagues who selflessly serve in the military,  our prayers and thoughts are with you and your families.

Take a few minutes to honor those who have passed, serve, and use their stories to help others remember that as individuals we can do great things, but together we can do exceedingly more! 

Back to the Future

If you're anything like me, I get excited about new technology. May it be a new social networking site or a new 2.0 app, whatever it is, it's got my full undivided attention.

Today is one of those days.

At 5pm AEST today, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex will have its switches turned on. Stay tuned to see what new discoveries will be found.

For more info, take a look at the resources below:

• Science Daily
• On Youtube
• Wired

Google Chrome's Smoke and Mirrors

After reading up on countless articles smashing Google Chrome, I've come to realize that people do not understand what a BETA release is.  Sure it doesn't have all the add-ons like Firefox, but remember Google Chrome is in its BETA form.

BETA.  

Beta is the pre-release version of a software product.  In this case, a very savy 2.0 software product.  It's a working prototype on steroids which means yes, there could be bugs.  Even the best systems we use today have bugs.  

If you're looking for a great new intuitive browser, try out Google Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome. 

West Side

Newark to San Francisco.  San Francisco to San Jose.  San Jose to Sacramento.  I enjoyed every minute of it.   California is a beautiful state.  Not much of a blog today, but thought Cali needed some praise.  Kudos to the folks that allow shorts as business casual.  The west coast family will be missed.  Thanks for all the trips to "Jollibee" and "Goldilocks"!

Marvel, Digital Media, Comics and the Internet

Blockbusters like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron man, and most recently the Incredible Hulk have catapulted the comic book genre into an entirely new category. Even with the amount of television and print ads, the Internet via online games, prizes, trailers, clips, and even personalized text messaging have sparked huge returns by selling out movie seats several weeks prior to a movie's launch.

What's interesting is the demand for more content. Fans are asking for more. Well, there's good news. Publishers like Marvel Entertainment are providing the technology to view all-time favorite comics on the Internet.

Read Businessweek to see how Marvel Entertainment is providing digital editions.

Gmail Separation Anxiety

I like free. Gmail is free. I like Gmail. We’re close. It keeps track of my email when I’m on the road. It does my laundry. Walks my dog, not to mention that it’s also very user-friendly. I’m a nicer person. I’ve become a friendly-user. Gmail has removed the pain, use and abuse of bad usability. I can love again.

Gmail. You complete me.

So what happens when friendly and free becomes an unusable commodity?

Yesterday a huge number of Gmail users were without email for about an hour. Gmail users literally cried on Twitter’s shoulders. Here's what some said, "How could Gmail do this to me? An entire hour? Gmail’s not allowed to do that. I checked my mail, but it wasn’t there. It even caused me to be unproductive." Tear.

So to remedy the monstrosity, Gmail engineers scrambled to get their services up and commented that it was due an upgrade of a feature in Gmail. They even offered an apology in hopes to mend hundreds of hurting users. Double tear.

When my grampa’ told me we’d be dating robots, I thought he was crazy. My how the tables have turned. Don’t believe me? Check out twitter and see all the comments against Gmail. Goes to show how dependent we as a society have become towards technology.

What do you think?

Name Brands Part 2

Thanks to all the people that sent in your votes. Seventy percent said they purchased luxury brands for quality and durability. Twenty five percent said it felt good to have while five percent said they purchased luxury brands because their peers had it.

UI design by Albert Einstein

Everyone turns into an artist once the art is done.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein

Motivational Money

Show me the money. Follow the money. Opposite of those statements are thoughts from marketing guru Seth Godin on motivational money. I have to tell you, this is a gold mine. Here's a snippet from Seth Godin's blog.

"People need to understand motivation in order to make sense of a story. When we see a person or a business take action, our first move is to try to figure out their motivation.

The why. The what's in it for them.

We want to know why someone is acting the way they are. Your customers or your friends or your investors or your boss want to know what makes you tick.
And the reflex explanation is: money."

Read the rest here...

Seth Godin is an American author of business books and a popular speaker with appearances at Google, TED and a number of charities. His blog is one of the most popular blogs in the world. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.

Name Brands

A few weeks ago, I found myself in a conversation about name brands. The question was "why do you purchase luxury brands?". To let you in on the answers, I've posted a survey so you can participate. Enjoy!

Other forms of creativity

So you land a huge web contract and can't wait to get your hands dirty. Your ideas procreate like bunnies with a range of beautiful imagery, white space (not MySpace) layouts and fancy 2.0 buttons with a duplicate layer shadow opacity set to 45% or by applying a gradient. Product requirements take a secondary role in your design phase because quite frankly, this new design will blow away requirements. A few tweaks here, left navigation there, and there it is. You step back mesmerized by the contemporary Mona Lisa.

A few days later, you submit the proposal. Greetings. Hand shakes. Smiles in anticipation, then the ball drops. The designs are completely out of the realms of corporate branding, the yellow does not match the client's yellow (although it's really close), the layout is all wrong - gasp, and the list goes on. Meeting adjourned. One more chance and back to the drawing board. Where did I go wrong? What's wrong with my design? In your frustration, you take a day off and watch Dr. Phil with a bag of popcorn and head towards depression.

OK, OK, put down the popcorn. Let's say you have a good eye. No, let's say you have an excellent eye for design. You are what people would call creative. In your innovation, you whipped up what you and other firms would probably call the "perfect design". I'm sure it was, but for this particular client, it wasn't. Why? Well, creativity is often times misunderstood. It's usually categorized within the realm of art and design, but there's a little more to it than that.

It also takes a lot of creativity to review and communicate product requirements, define development time, resources, and identify next steps to complete a project. You need to see the bigger picture. One element which designers lack is the balance between creativity and client requirements. Again, I'm sure you are talented, not doubting that. The point is, your design must be within the bounds of what your client needs. Think about it, your client may very well have identified their niche market. They may also have contracted with another vendor for layout and theme selection. All you had to do was style the thing with CSS!

So don't limit creativity for just new innovative designs. You'll get your shot at those. For some projects, you may only be one component of the bigger picture. That's fine too, but it also takes creativity to design and work within the bounds of client requirements. Being creative doesn't always have to be design. Resourcefulness in itself is creativity birthed within the limits of what others would call a wall or road block.

Ex-Google engineers debut 'Cuil' way to search

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press

Rather than trying to mimic Google's method of ranking the quantity and quality of links to Web sites, Patterson says Cuil's technology drills into the actual content of a page. And Cuil's results will be presented in a more magazine-like format instead of just a vertical stack of Web links. Cuil's results are displayed with more photos spread horizontally across the page and include sidebars that can be clicked on to learn more about topics related to the original search request.

Check it out

What do you think about this?

Familiar Places

A few months ago during a huge pow-wow Saturday morning teleconference, I started getting antsy. No, it wasn't from bad pizza. It was too early for pizza. Forward march to our deadline, resource, and budget analysis - meeting adjourned. Shortly after I asked Gladys what our plans were for August 3. Shrug. I threw out another random date, how about Nov 15? Double shrug. We had no idea. More in a second.

In a recent talk I heard (don't know where the survey is from, but thought it was interesting), fathers were asked, "if you could do it all over again, what is the one thing you would have done differently?" The majority replied with, "I would have spent more time with my kids". That answer has echoed countless comments and advice from the most brilliant folks I've worked with. "You'll always have business opportunities. You'll always have a chance to be innovative and inventive, but at the end of the day, you'll only have one family. Invest your best years into them."

So in response to my post meeting queries, our family has become more proactive about how we spend our time together. It's not enough that I get home from work on time or be physically present with them. We are constantly trying to find creative ways to connect with each other throughout the day when I'm working, home, or wherever. You're right, easier said than done, but we remind ourselves that it is a process.

Thanks to all those who have been constantly drilling into my head, family first!

If you're looking for an inexpensive weekend getaway, Shepherd's Lake in Ringwood, NJ is always a good time. It's a place to kick back, relax, turn your gadgets off and enjoy infinite amounts of authentic quality time. They've got a great beach area, boat access, and hiking grounds. My greatest investment is and will always be the time I spend with the two most beautiful and important people in the world. Row row row your boat...smile Gabe!

Clouded Communication

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”, dissects the core of human communication. Hemingway’s use of verbal imagery through dialogue strikes a common vein with all readers. The characters’ play on words evoke thought provoking realizations that people find it difficult to communicate the essence of what needs to be said. Unlike most stories, Hemingway builds the story from simple discourse drawing the reader deeper into the context of communication. If you've never had a chance to read this story, read up!

Thanks to Alan Mitnick for sparking the need to dive deeper into literary dialogues!

Talent, hard work, and determination...

When someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good? What separates a good organizational contributor from an exceptional one? We gain some insight on the subject as Christopher Percy Collier from Fastcompany.com interviews Anders Ericsson.

Read more on this article and find out more
Here's an additional article from the New York Times

Ericsson has spent 25 years interviewing and analyzing high-flying professionals. He's the coeditor of the 918-page book Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2006), in which he says elite performers aren't genetically superior. They just do things differently.

Pitvertising

Gotta love it. Advertisers have taken a whole new approach to advertising through the use of pitversing.

Check out what Darren Murph journaled from engadget.com.

Now that's creative advertising!

iPhone gone wild

So I waited the next morning for Santa to make his full delivery of presents like a good boy should. Wrapped with all the hype from 364 days of waiting, Christmas morning is about the anticipation of something you've waited for. Imagine getting a present that looks like a million bucks from the wrapper. You break through the ribbons. Your eyes begin to illuminate from a shine that glistens through the packaging. As you open to find your newly found obsession, you're shocked to find that the box is empty. Huh?

Santa came in the form of Apple this morning. A firmware 2.0 was all I needed to transition to the new exchange features, and tons of other useful UI tasty iPhone apps. I was able to backup my first gen iPhone, install the 2.0 firmware, and then it happened. Soon after I was able to press my fingers on the face of my smart phone, the box was empty. After reading through the Engadget posts and a pool of disgruntled iPhone customers, the voices were synonymous. Everyone's boxes were empty.

So let's get this straight. Everything in moderation right? Well, apparently for Apple's servers, it was assumed that they would be able to take the hits. Lesson learned, plan accordingly. I now hold what some call, an iBrick, gasp!