tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-128582452024-03-07T13:13:10.714-08:00Will PriceA personal blog sharing ideas and observations on start-ups, the vc industry, technology, and life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526077009135142958noreply@blogger.comBlogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858245.post-11010782402183971602013-02-19T10:27:00.002-08:002013-02-19T10:27:35.461-08:00The Leadership Challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading Kouzes and Posner's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Leadership-Challenge-4th-Edition/dp/0787984922/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1361298160&sr=8-14&keywords=leadership">The Leadership Challenge</a>. I enjoyed the Practices of Leadership and Commitment to making overcoming the Leadership challenge.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 Practices of Leadership</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">model the way</span></span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inspire a shared vision</span></span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">challenge the process</span></span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">enable others to act</span></span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">encourage the heart</span></span></b></li>
</ol>
<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Commitment</span><br /><ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clarifying values by finding your voice and affirming shared ideals</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set the example by aligning actions with shared values</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community</span></li>
</ol>
</span></b></div>
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Here's my list of 2012 all-star books to read.</div>
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<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hall-ebook/dp/B002UZ5K4Y/ref=la_B001HCYP56_1_2_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1338501729&sr=1-2" href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hall-ebook/dp/B002UZ5K4Y/ref=la_B001HCYP56_1_2_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1338501729&sr=1-2" style="color: #444444;">Wolf Hall</a>, Hilary Mantel's book on the rise of Ann Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Bring-up-the-Bodies-ebook/dp/B00779MU6O/ref=la_B001HCYP56_1_1_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1338501729&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Bring-up-the-Bodies-ebook/dp/B00779MU6O/ref=la_B001HCYP56_1_1_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1338501729&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">Bringing Up the Bodies</a>, Hilary's book on the fall of Ann Boleyn</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Thief-ebook/dp/B000XUBFE2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501778&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Thief-ebook/dp/B000XUBFE2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501778&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">The Book Thief</a>, Zusak's WWII story of two teenagers in Germany</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Hangmans-Daughter-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501800&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Hangmans-Daughter-ebook/dp/B003P9XMFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501800&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">The Hangman's Daughter</a>, Potzch's medieval German mystery</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501924&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338501924&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">The Wolf Gift</a>, Anne Rice's werewolves in Sonoma </li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Templar-Knight-Crusades-ebook/dp/B003H4I5TO/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502055&sr=1-4" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Templar-Knight-Crusades-ebook/dp/B003H4I5TO/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502055&sr=1-4" style="color: #444444;">The Templar Knight</a>, Guillou's classic recount of the Crusades</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Child-ebook/dp/B002E7ARUU/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502141&sr=1-4" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Child-ebook/dp/B002E7ARUU/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502141&sr=1-4" style="color: #444444;">The Last Child</a>, John Hart's fantastic mystery</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dissolution-Matthew-Shardlake-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B002TZ3EPM/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502240&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dissolution-Matthew-Shardlake-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B002TZ3EPM/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502240&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">Dissolution</a>, Sansom's Tudor mystery</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Snow-Leopard-ebook/dp/B004LROPRM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502358&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Snow-Leopard-ebook/dp/B004LROPRM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502358&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">The Snow Leopard</a>, Leston's tale of a European-born, Mongol general</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Regeneration-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0023SDQB2/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502434&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Regeneration-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0023SDQB2/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338502434&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">Regeneration</a>, Barker's story of Sassoon and the psychological costs of WWI</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Giants-Century-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0052RDHTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1339020666&sr=1-1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Giants-Century-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0052RDHTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1339020666&sr=1-1" style="color: #444444;">The Fall of Giants</a>, Follet's tale of the demise of the ancien regimes of Europe and all they stood for</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Noir-Violets-Criminal-Requiem/dp/0140231706" href="http://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Noir-Violets-Criminal-Requiem/dp/0140231706" style="color: #444444;">Berlin Noir</a>, Philip Kerr's brilliant trilogy of 1930s-1940s Germany. His hero, Bernie Gunther, is fantastic. Think murder mysteries at their best.</li>
<li><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Prisoner-Birth-Jeffrey-Archer/dp/0312944098/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6/191-6382102-7489160">A Prisoner of Birth</a></u>, Jeffrey Archer's modern day retellingn of the classic the Count of Monte Christo</li>
<li><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloodletters-Daughter-Novel-Old-Bohemia/dp/1612184650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359758018&sr=1-1&keywords=bloodletter%27s+daughter">The Bloodletter's Daughter</a></u>, Linda Lafferty's very clever 17th century mystery set in Bohemia. </li>
</ol>
</div>
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I recently noted the book <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Conversations-Achieving-Conversation-ebook/dp/B000P28V2M/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344286649&sr=1-1&keywords=fierce+conversations" href="http://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Conversations-Achieving-Conversation-ebook/dp/B000P28V2M/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344286649&sr=1-1&keywords=fierce+conversations" style="color: #444444;">Fierce Conversations</a> as a very useful read.</div>
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One gem is the book is the decision tree model of delegation. Nothing is more damaging to moral than starving employees from autonomy and accountability. The challenge is how to draw clear boundaries around the areas where the team can act autonomously versus areas where management approval is required. In banking, credit limits serve as boundaries, junior bankers can extend $5m loans, senior officers $10m, and corporate approvals for >$10m.</div>
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The Fierce Model Decision Tree Follows:</div>
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<li>Leaf Decisions - make the decision, act on it. do not need to report on action you took.</li>
<li>Branch Decisions - make the decision, act on it, report the action you took on a calendar basis.</li>
<li>Trunk Decisions - make the decision, report the decision BEFORE you take action</li>
<li>Root Decisions - make the decision jointly, with input from many people.</li>
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<img alt="image" data-mce-src="http://www.mechanicsburgborough.org/images/tree.jpg" height="606" src="http://www.mechanicsburgborough.org/images/tree.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="610" /></div>
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The airwaves today are filled with contrasting visions for the future of government. Obama is arguing for greater resource allocation to government in order to safeguard the middle class and to restore jobs, while Romney is arguing for less capital allocation to government via lower taxes and the ability for the free market to allocate resources to their highest and best use. More government! More free enterprise!</div>
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One camp appears to have no qualms with massive public organizations while the other no qualms with massive private organizations.</div>
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Like many debates, such a view is too simplistic and in fact the actual villain may well be size of organization and monopoly power. Be it government agencies (DMV, USPS), banks too big too fail, United Airlines, Novell or MSFT - a common model of failure is the absolute size of the organization. </div>
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<img alt="image" data-mce-src="http://www.passportmagazine.com/blog/uploads/dmv1.jpg" height="150" src="http://www.passportmagazine.com/blog/uploads/dmv1.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></div>
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It seems axiomatic to me that monopolies and massive organizations are prone to waste, terrible customer satisfaction, and too big too fail syndrome whereby the political process is vested in the propagation of the too large entity in question - bailing out Citibank, the USPS, the Osprey - and blindly supporting continued funding of such entities independent of reason. What scares me most about monolithic organizations is they appear impervious to the concerns of people vs the concerns of the organization and its own idiosyncrasies. </div>
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Go the DMV and then ask do you want a single-payer system? Get on a 1-800 Large Company help line and then ask if you want too-big too fail?</div>
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Silicon Valley is tied to Schumpeter's vision of creative destruction and Clay Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma.</div>
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Organizations appear to fail once they reach a certain size, drift away from original mandate, and destroy capital. And...importantly this failure is viewed as both a necessary and good thing. Human, financial, and physical capital is freed from the constraints of too-big, too-slowness and flows to smaller, newer, more rewarding entities.</div>
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I suppose the piling of talent out of Facebook (ex Path) and Twitter (Square, Medium) is just an example of human capital flowing to the next small new new thing. The movie Something Ventured chronicles the serial connection of talent from Shockley, to Fairchild Semiconductor, to Apple...and on. </div>
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<img alt="image" data-mce-src="http://www.metroactive.com/movies/images/02.24.10/Real-Revolution.jpg" height="242" src="http://www.metroactive.com/movies/images/02.24.10/Real-Revolution.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></div>
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The market does serve a vital force in allowing such a flow to happen - ie in the Valley financial and customer capital seems to follow human capital. However, in banking, government, automotive, etc - there appear to be constraints to end of lifing things that are too big.</div>
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Clearly, not all government is per se bad (man on the moon, DARPA Internet, etc), but there appears to be a point when government orgs, like Citibank and its private brethren, grow too big to evaluate, manage, understand, and, therefore, to be able to reasonably decide whether to continue to fund.</div>
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In many ways, the core question of this campaign may not be public vs private but instead a question of size, quality of output, and tolerance for eliminating non-performing and failed programs.</div>
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Moreover, the biggest organizations then rig the system for capital and resource allocation, frustrating the "failure" process to return us to equilibrium.</div>
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<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
As an example, in let's look at the growth in the Department of Education</div>
<ul style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<li>1965 $1.5bn</li>
<li>2000 $33bn</li>
<li>2008 $68bn</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
Similarly, Citigroup has grown to $1.9 trillion in assets and 260,000 employees from $800bn at the time of its formation in 1998. I defy anyone to manage that beast.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
How do we feel about size rather than public vs private as a more nuanced debate?</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
Are our organizations architected to allow failure?</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
In my mind too big to fail is as important a discussion vis a vis government as it is our banking system. </div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
How do we build a smaller, more nimble, shorter lived set of entities that we can count on for energy, results, and human-centric execution? How to explain failure is the expected state of being versus a symptom of national decline?</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">
Government needs to tolerate failure and reallocate the massive capital to better uses, while too big to fail private enterprise should be viewed with equal suspicion.</div>
</div>
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The Navy Seals are examplars of discipline, achievement, and overcoming adversity. The Navy studied the difference between the 25% of Seals who pass training and the additional 10-15% who should have passed but did not.<br />
<br />
The difference? Mindset.<br />
<br />
Here's a quick read from the blog <a href="http://oneminutemindset.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/what-the-navy-seals-know/">The One Minute Mindset</a> that highlights the learnings from Seal training success and failure.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Goal setting</li>
<li>Visualization</li>
<li>Self-talk</li>
<li>Arousal control/anxiety management</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
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How happy are you at work? On a scale of 1-100, how would you rate your marriage, your friendships, your relationship with your children, your career satisfaction?<br />
<br />
Imagine for a minute that you are happy in your marriage 90% of the time. Is that good? 90% sounds pretty good to me. How about at work, happy 80% of the time? Is that good?<br />
<br />
Another way to think through the scores is to translate the numbers into days. For example, if you have a great marriage and are happy 90% of the time, mathematically there are 36.5 days a year that you are not happy. 36.5 days, or more than entire month.<br />
<br />
Similarly, if at work you are fulfilled 80% of the time, there are 74 days a year where you are not fulfilled. <br />
<br />
What's the point? The key idea, hat tip to Marv Wenger for sharing this perspective, is that a happy and fulfilled life is full of days that simply aren't that good.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, rather than being surprised by a tough day, it is important to be sufficiently self-aware to not only expect tough days, but to recognize that having a tough day does not fundamentally challenge the quality of your relationships or work.<br />
<br />
As an entrepreneur, there are plenty of challenging days. It pays to realize that is both normal and that a bad day, or 36.5 tough days, still means that 90% of the time things are really good.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
I write to share an article we published today on iMedia, <i><a href="http://bit.ly/sOPZU1" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank">Why You Need to Consider Daily Marketing Messages</a>.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
The article introduces<a href="http://bit.ly/sOPZU1" style="color: #2a5db0;" target="_blank"> best practices</a>, including a look at Gatorade's command center, for agile brand marketing. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Agile marketing allows brands to become more iterative, relevant, and responsive to the lives, interests, and trends impacting the customer.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
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Today, I am 40. I write this from a small village in Baja, where I am celebrating the milestone with my wife and best friends.<br />
<br />
40 is an iconic birthday and an occasion for reflection.<br />
<br />
40 years ago, I was born to a US Air Force Captain and his wife, Kent and Marian, in Wiesbaden, West Germany. From birth, my life has been peripatetic. Six days after my birth, we moved to a small village on the Czech border. By the time I was twelve, we'd lived in Germany, Ireland (sister, Elizabeth, born), Northern Ireland, Nigeria (brother, Richard, born), the Ivory Coast, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. My father's job with the military and then with Citibank required frequent moves. True to form, at 14, I left London for boarding school in Connecticut. The moves averaged one every eighteen months and left an indelible mark on me.<br />
<br />
First, I became very good at being the new kid. Adapting, making new friends, and dealing with the trauma of change. Second, my body adapted to the rhythm of major change every eighteen months and I suffer from wanderlust.<br />
<br />
The "risks" associated with change were blind to me, as evidenced by my equally peripatetic educational and professional experiences. High school in London and CT, college in LA, China, and Cambridge, banker in NYC, HK, and Singapore, teacher in Indiana, business school student in Chicago, and the last twelve years in venture capital and start-ups. My childhood blessed me with the ability to adapt, while leaving me with a true sense of restlessness.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, my wife, Caroline, helped me understand what I'd missed growing up - the power of community and consistency. While my email address continues to change, I've lived in the Bay Area for twelve years and my children have attended the same public school for seven years. My oldest son, Jack, is 11. By his age, I'd moved eight times to seven countries. I now see through him the importance of reinforced, persistent human relations and my wanderlust has dimmed as I enjoy long-term friendships and a feeling of connection. <br />
<br />
In fact, over 40 years, I've come to believe strongly in the following:<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>the value of investing in community</li>
<ul>
<li>I love being part of the Bay Area start-up community, mentoring, coaching youth sports in the Los Altos-Mountain View, playing my Sunday morning soccer game, running into friends at local restaurants, and building rich relationships born of years of common experiences and context.</li>
</ul>
<li>being present for my wife and children</li>
<ul>
<li>While I struggle with presence and mindfulness, I work hard to be fully home and to really listen, hear, and understand the lives of my sons and wife.</li>
<li>Nothing gives me greater pleasure than time with my family.</li>
<li>Thich Nhat Hanh's book, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Power-Thich-Nhat-Hanh/dp/0061242365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319045670&sr=8-1">Art of Power</a>, is a great book to read and reread to help reinforce the value of mindfulness.</li>
</ul>
<li>pets</li>
<ul>
<li>I've come to love the presence of animals...a hike in the hills with my lab, Sierra, or hanging at home with our bird, Storm. Caring for animals grounds you and children simply love them.</li>
</ul>
<li>routine exercise</li>
<ul>
<li>I work out every morning from 6-7am and then have coffee with four guys. Its a ritual and commitment that makes the start of every day magical. Every Sunday at 7am, I play soccer with the same eighteen guys, hit Peet's after the game, and head home tired and happy.</li>
</ul>
<li>never acting in fear</li>
<ul>
<li>Being new every 1.5 years at school is a lesson in overcoming fear and insecurity. As I studied mindfulness, I came to realize that I let fear limit my joy of live, which led to poor decisions. Being afraid to fail, to try new things, fear of looking foolish, ignorant, silly....these fears are self-defeating and something I've worked really hard to overcome.</li>
</ul>
<li>nature</li>
<ul>
<li>Simply put, I love being outdoors in the wilderness and work hard to find time every year to spend time with my family off-the-grid. In my secular life, the church of nature fills a spiritual void and provides solace, energy, and peace. </li>
</ul>
<li>redefining risk</li>
<ul>
<li>In my early 30s, I was diagnosed with a kidney disorder. At the time, I was told that my kidney would fail by the age of 40 and I would need a transplant. Thankfully, I am in remission and have been for six years. Nevertheless, for a few years, I lived with a heightened sense of mortality and a revitalized commitment to make every day really count.</li>
<li>The modern economy is volatile and life-time employment a quaint memory. As I've worked on start-ups, my friends at McKinsey, Merrill, HP and other pillars of stability often remarked that they found my career path too risky. Many of them were later laid off as the economy soured.</li>
<li>I've come to believe that greater risks lie in not finding out what you are truly capable of, in seeking safety at the cost of possibility, and in thinking that there will one day be a "good time" to take a chance.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Here's to the next forty years and to my parents, wife, family, friends, teachers, and colleagues for making my first forty simply wonderful. I love you and thank you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_412903190">The Way Forward </a><br />
<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_412903190">Moving From the Post-Bubble, Post-Bust Economy to Renewed </a><br />
<a href="http://growth.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/NAF--The_Way_Forward--Alpert_Hockett_Roubini.pdf">Growth and Competitiveness </a><br />
<br />
by<br />
<br />
Daniel Alpert, Managing Partner, Westwood Capital<br />
Robert Hockett, Professor of Law, Cornell University<br />
Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics, New York University<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Good read.<br />
<br />
Abstract of how to fix the problem. Read the paper to better understand their diagnosis for how we got in this mess.<br />
<br />
5-7 year plan - a Marshall Plan, if you will, is required<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>We face an oversupply of capacity and a "demand hole as as the private sector de-levers</li>
<li>Requires sustained and strategically concentrated public investment in infrastructure, domestic energy, and technology. Need to provide businesses confidence that demand will return.</li>
<li>Need to restructure private sector debt - reduce relative debt burdens. Major program of debt restructuring, refinancing, and relief. Will require recapitalizing banks but will avoid Japanse problem of "zombie banks" with billions in loans where LTV is upside down</li>
<li>Rebalance global trade and address structural deficiencies (best reflected in the US current account deficit), whereby China and growth economies begin to consume. Requires currency appreciation of the Renminbi.</li>
<li>Specifics</li>
<ol>
<li>US Public Infra Spending</li>
<ol>
<li>$1.2 trillion/5 year public investment program targeting high return investments in energy, transportation, education, R&D, and water-treatment infra</li>
</ol>
<li>Debt Relief</li>
<ol>
<li>Debt restructuring and regulatory capital loss absorption. Drive resolution of trillions in impaired debt where the nominal value of the debt is > asset value. ex. mortgages that are underwater</li>
</ol>
<li>Increasing domestic demand in current- account surplus nations</li>
<ol>
<li>Global Rebalancing - currency realignment, domestic demand growth, reduction of current account surpluses. China, Germany, Japan, and petro-dollar economies need to spur domestic demand, allowing local currencies to appreciate against the USD, letting wages rise, etc. Requires China to develop social safety net, reduce export subsidies, pay out dividends and incomes, and increase wages, and most importantly, allow for currency appreciation</li>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
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The financial services industry is growing its proportional share of national GDP and has done for decades. The best and brightest flock to Wall St with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, #hedgefund iconic names that call like sirens to our graduates. Literally, tens of thousands of our best minds work on Wall St inventing new methods of securitization and instruments.<br />
<br />
While there are many reasons for our best minds to join Wall St, I believe that universities are failing to prepare students for the real-world and in faling to do so leave them vulnerable to bright shiny objects and paths of least resistance.<br />
<br />
Since 2008, we've come to rue the size and power of Wall St - the leverage, financial instruments, and too-big-to-fail institutions that have been bailed out but not fixed. Moreover, there is an acute sense of resource misallocation. What are the long-term costs of so many talented young people investing their talents, drive, and innovations in finance?<br />
<br />
I graduated from Harvard in 1994. Shortly after graduation, I reported for duty at 1251 Avenue of the Americas, the then-home of Morgan Stanley. Along with scores of my classmates, we descended on Manhattan to begin work as analysts, junior traders, and future financial mavens. Why did so many of us join Wall St?<br />
<br />
I see three key drivers:<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Path of least resistance</li>
<ol>
<li>Banks run incredibly efficient recruiting processes. With young alums driving the process, the banks make it incredibly easy to interview, visit, and ultimately accept banking offers.</li>
<li>Dinners, lunches, senior banker discussions...the recruiting process hoovers up talented young people, mostly unsure of what to do next</li>
</ol>
<li>Money</li>
<ol>
<li>Finance companies pay materially above the mean and provide cash-strapped graduates with ready income and a path to income growth</li>
</ol>
<li>Failure to Educate</li>
<ol>
<li>Lastly, most colleges to a terrible job preparing graduates for the real world. At Harvard, the career counseling center and the College do very little to educate graduates about options, choices, and career paths.</li>
<li>Education demands preparing students for life and giving them the intellectual tools and frameworks with which to develop and grow. Little emphasis, however, is formally placed on preparing college graduates for life as working professionals.</li>
<li>The liberal arts bias makes such mercenary education an anathema, however, in hindsight the lack of real-work preparation is inexcusable.</li>
<li>The completely random nature of how most people choose their first jobs is shocking. Think of the preparation we place on SATs, AP exams, GPAs, majors, and yet we don't work with our kids to lay out, explore, and select vocations with equal verve and discipline.</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
Recent research suggestions that the human brain does not reach maturity until ~25 years old. College students are early on the development path, often aimless with respect to major and vocation, and leave school book-smart but far from educated with respect to the super-set of career paths and vocations possible. This lack of education and preparation leaves students vulnerable to the siren song of corporate recruiting processes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As a father of two boys, I talk to them about gap years - allowing them to live, work, and experience the real world, while continuing to reinforce the importance of education. We are, I am afraid, not providing a balanced approach to education and the imbalanced focus on academics leaves young graduates truly ignorant about life as working professionals and how best to map their interests, passions, and talents to the wide variety of possible career paths our economy offers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How can we better prepare students for a life of work? How can we balance liberal arts educations with greater insight into vocational choices and possibilities?</div>
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Abstract: worker autonomy, sufficient resources and learning from problems = happy workers.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/do-happier-people-work-harder.html?smid=fb-share">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/do-happier-people-work-harder.html?smid=fb-share</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Will Price" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WillPrice"
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I spoke today at a <a href="http://www.churchillclub.org/LandingPage.aspx">Churchill Club</a> Event: <a href="http://churchillclubconference.eventbrite.com/">Igniting Innovation and Mastering Change</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My fellow panelists were:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Randy Komisar, partner at Kleiner and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Plan-Breaking-Through-Business/dp/1422126692">Getting to Plan B</a></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ujjal Kohli, CEO, Rhythm NewMedia</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sudhakar Ramakrishna, EVP & GM of Unified Communications Solutions, and Chief Development Officer, Polycom</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The panelists and the subject matter were wonderful. A few insights follow:</span></span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Intellectual honesty</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All the panelists agreed that mastering change and pivoting requires intellectual honesty. The courage to confront hard truths, face challenging topics head on, and to share the truth up the chain is fundamental.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Given that businesses are funded on Plan A, Randy noted that too many teams and boards hide the truth in fear of admitting the fallacy of plan A. The expectation, he noted, should be that Plan A is simply an hypothesis and that is is to be expected that a Plan B will be required.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ujjal noted that team members are too oft afraid to share bad news across departments and that too many CEOs fear telling the board the truth</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ujjal made the excellent point that Series A investors need to build a culture of absolute trust with the CEO and to stress to him/her that the truth is paramount and no one will ever shoot the messenger.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Agile, data driven, rapid cadences</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All the panelists stressed the need for speed and agility. The movement from water-fall to agile development is driven by a need to quickly incorporate real-world feedback and signals into the product, strategy, and company.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Randy noted the need to ask the right questions and to validate or disprove hypothesis as quickly as possible.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Processes, cultures, etc that thrive on agility, metrics, and clearly stated assumptions win.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When to Pivot</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Randy stressed the need to avoid waiting for a near-death experience to change. Change should be assumed and too often it takes a disaster to shake a start-up from complacency and intellectual dishonesty.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Pivot early and avoid running the cash balance, team morale, and credibility with the board down to zero.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I really enjoyed participating and it reinforced my conviction that the entrepreneurial process demands comfort with ambiguity, agile execution, absolute intellectual honesty, and a process of vigorous debate, insight, and, vitally, realignment across the team.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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Just got off the phone with a CEO friend of mine. He'd just finished a board meeting that left him exasperated and frustrated. Yes, I played therapist.<br />
<br />
The root cause? <br />
<br />
His investors are surprised by pivots, are focused on the downside, lack political will in their partnerships, and inject insecurity and fear into the company rather than serve to relieve it.<br />
<br />
I am very lucky to have investors (Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Hummer Winblad, NCD Investors) who are committed to building durable, stand alone businesses, who recognize that all overnight successes are born from years of hard work, persistence, and obstacles over come, who are comfortable with a large envelope of risk and volatility.<br />
<br />
Too many venture investors focus on plan A and are shocked to hear there is a need for a plan B - the best are surprised if there ISN'T a plan B or a need for one. Too many investors shrink from risk and encourage safety and certainty over ambiguity and daring.<br />
<br />
Mindset...find out the mindset of your investment syndicate and recognize that their ability to live with risk, ambiguity, and change may well be a key determinant in whether you create a stand-alone, enduring business or are forced into a quick sale or, worse, liquidation.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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The Venture Capital industry is ripe for disruption. Too many firms, too few returns, and an industry predicated on investing in disruption that fails to disrupt itself.<br />
<br />
Over the last few years, super angels offered new capital to the market and groups such as Y-Combinator provided young entrepreneurs new avenues to success. The venture industry, however, lacks a very common model that the hedge fund industry has mastered - the emerging manager strategy. <br />
<br />
Emerging managers are young, smart, and successful analysts or portfolio managers who cut their teeth with a major hedge fund. After 3-5 years of stellar returns and performance, they often leave and raise small funds from their former employers, hedge fund leaders, or limited partners who specialize in identifying and seeding up and comers.<br />
<br />
For example, Julian Roberston is not only the founder of Tiger Management, but he is also the "father" of the so-called Tiger Cubs. Many of today's hedge fund leaders got there start working with and then being seeded by Julian Robertson - including, John Griffin, Lee Ainslie, Andreas Halvorsen, and <a href="http://howtogetahedgefundjob.com/2009/07/julian-robertsons-tiger-cubs.html">40+ others</a>. Paul Tudor Jones, another leading investor, continues to seed deserving managers, including Two Sigma.<br />
<br />
Why don't we see a similar model at play in the venture industry? Having spent six years in venture, I know there are many talented young investors chafing to rip up the playbook and disrupt the market. <br />
<br />
Sadly, it is virtually impossible for them to raise capital. Why?<br />
<br />
Venture returns take years to produce, while the hedge fund industry is marked to market daily and over a year or three, one can build up a track record and demonstrate "alpha," the holy grail of alternative investments. Moreover, given venture investments are illiquid, redemption and getting your money back is much, much harder than in the hedge fund asset class.<br />
<br />
Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Tiger's NYC offices and spending time with a senior executive. Tiger, you see, does not solely rely on alpha. Over the last twenty years, all hires and prospective Tiger Cubs have been given a IQ, personality, and logic test. With twenty years of results, Julian is able to benchmark any new candidate against the industry's very best. The combination of investment strategy, results, test results, and in-person interviews allow him to allocate capital to an emerging manager with a system and then to measure and watch.<br />
<br />
So, in order to pull of an emerging manager strategy, one would need to be able to identify talent independent of cash on cash returns and solve the redemption problem. I believe that both limitations are solveable.<br />
<br />
We all know who the rising stars are in the industry and I am confident that a decent share of them would be willing to hang their own shingle and create their own destiny. Moreover, with the rise of secondary markets and innovations that I can only imagine exist, the liquidity/redemption issue seems workable as well.<br />
<br />
Will we see an emerging manager strategy work in venture? Will a lion of the industry emulate Julian Robertson and seed the next generation of top firms? There is a capital allocation problem in venture today - bad firms are getting allocations at the cost of new firms starting with hungry GPs ready to kill it.<br />
<br />
Until the industry can allocate capital to the future stars and not to a 10 year old investment track record, I don't think we will see the disruption in our asset managers that the technology industry deserves. <br />
<br />
Thoughts? </div>
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How broken is politics in this country? <br />
<br />
After weeks of reading about Iowa and the Republican Iowa Straw Poll, I wondered how many people actual vote in the poll.<br />
<br />
Pick the right # from the list below<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>1,600,000</li>
<li>160,000</li>
<li>16,000</li>
<li>1,600</li>
</ul>
<div>
Any takers?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The absurd amount of press coverage for Michele Bachmann suggests a hugely important event. As the winner, she won 4,823 votes out of a total of ~16,000.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Read that again, 4,823 votes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The fact that 4,823 mid-west voters are able to massively and disproportionately shape the debate regarding Republican Presidential politics is not only undemocratic but also absurd.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why do we allow such small numbers of people such undue influence?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While I have nothing against NH or Iowa, I believe we have a fundamentally skewed process for selecting candidates and one that rewards extreme positions that cater to an absurdly small number of people.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bachmann won less than 5,000 votes. This is a non-story and yet another example of how bizarre our political and news cycle systems are and how little they map to the reality the vast majority of us live.</div>
</div>
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<br />
<iframe width="499" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1mD50IDayjM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Will Price" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WillPrice"
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Guest post on eMedia Vitals regarding how publishers can compete and stay relevant in today's digital media landscape.</div>
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<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="434" height="415"><param name="movie" value="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/19/tuneWidget.swf?twID=artist_1613088&posted_by=fan_1244278&shuffle=true&autoPlay=false&blogBuzz=buzz"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="all"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="opaque"></param><param name="quality" value="best"></param><embed src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/19/tuneWidget.swf?twID=artist_1613088&posted_by=fan_1244278&shuffle=true&autoPlay=false&blogBuzz=buzz" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowNetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="opaque" quality="best" width="434" height="415"></embed></object><br/><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk" onclick="javascript:window.location.href="http://www.reverbnation.com/c./a4/19/1613088/Artist/1244278/Fan/link"; return false;"><img alt="Digital Press Kits" border="0" height="19" src="http://c2sostatic.reverbnation.com/widgets/content/19/footer.png" width="434" /></a><br />
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<br />
For me, using Google+ hit me just as hard. Within an hour of using the service, I began to recognize not only the power of Google's social offering but value in the social layer over Google's incredibly rich product offering set - mail, calendar, video chat, IM, documents, search, photos, blog platform, Android phones, netbooks....<br />
<br />
The + circle metaphor maps brilliantly to a world I know alt-tab between: LinkedIn, Gmail, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, etc, while allowing me to design the appropriate filters and groupings of people I know, admire, keep to update from, etc.<br />
<br />
Moreover, Google+ instantly changed my sense of Facebook's value. Prior to the + launch, Facebook's ascendancy and victory seemed written in stone. 100s of millions of users, no competition, brands flocking to Fan Pages, etc. In my first + session, I realized how easy it is to switch from Facebook to + - outside of my contacts and the occasional photo, leaving behind Facebook, just like I left Blackberry behind to go to the iPhone, proved a no-brainer and truly easy.<br />
<br />
Google+ serves to further bind me to Google - mail, calendaring, photos, blog, social communication, video chatting...and when they tie in Google Apps, I will have my work colleagues, family, friends, and extended social circles all on a single platform. + makes me much more likely to buy a Nexus phone and dramatically increased the amount of time I spend with Google each day.<br />
<br />
As with my first iPad session, I fell in love with + on first sight and it opened my eyes to the power of Google's product portfolio and to Facebook's precarious position in our lives.<br />
<br />
Finally, I think + will put a major hamper on Facebook's IPO prospects, while revealing in a very tangible way how shitty Twitter is from a product perspective. Twitter is now in danger of being a $7bn company with a product offering virtually identical to the day it started.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Demoing Cloud Ads<br />
<br />
Click <a href="http://info.flite.com/gl-ppc-future-of-display-super-8.html">here</a> to see the ads in action<br />
<br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gQjAkwKAAFE" width="425"></iframe><br />
<br />
IAB Interview<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C9M_do2NpiE" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Will Price" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WillPrice"
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div><br />
</div><div>The diagram is an excellent architecture of how to think through Product Marketing's key deliverables.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJPwpqX8Y2ddIiLp3Ne3VweuI-buxHwamlYPxniM_B9cUoD8NASQRBJ5n056LkNRchQpUpe_gb7430rUXRFOewdILm7cGPj5k3nez6vw3Qh9udhXKEUWi48fRYqTGmA9UC1cv/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-06-24+at+9.27.31+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJPwpqX8Y2ddIiLp3Ne3VweuI-buxHwamlYPxniM_B9cUoD8NASQRBJ5n056LkNRchQpUpe_gb7430rUXRFOewdILm7cGPj5k3nez6vw3Qh9udhXKEUWi48fRYqTGmA9UC1cv/s320/Screen+shot+2011-06-24+at+9.27.31+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
iMedia Connection: <a href="http://bit.ly/dGbFdD" target="_blank">Flite delivers a cloud-based dynamic ad platform that may help restore the "big idea" to marketing</a><br />
<div>Yahoo! Scene: <a href="http://scene.yahoo.net/iwny-2011/the-sessions/sessions/ad-banners-becoming-miniature-website-destinations" target="_blank">Ad Banners Becoming Miniature Website Destinations</a></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">" I think it's necessary," Pixar Director Pete Docter says about the inevitable self-doubt that accompanies any creative process. "On Monsters, Inc, I really wore that. I would come home at the end of a difficult day in story and I would think, I'm a fraud, a failure. I don't know what I am doing. And now I realize, well, that's the way it is."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amen, the creative process forces one to confront the prospect of failure, a sudden lack of orientation where one is not sure what comes next. </span></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Will Price" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/WillPrice"
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<br />
Wiseman, a UK-based researcher, wanted to better understand why some people are lucky, while others appear to be doomed to poor luck and missteps.<br />
<br />
The distribution of luck follows: 50% think they are lucky, 36% neither luck nor unlucky, and 14% self-proclaimed unlucky.<br />
<br />
The book details the findings but here are a few concepts:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>lucky people tend to be open to opportunities or insights that come along spontaneously </li>
<li>unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine, fixated on certain specific outcomes</li>
<li>lucky people are open to mingling at parties, while unlucky people tend to cluster with like-minded people</li>
<li>lucky people have open, inviting body language, smile twice as often as unlucky people, thus drawing other people and chance encounters (ie luck) to them</li>
<li>lucky people invest in a network of luck - lucky people are effective at building secure, long lasting attachments. They tend to be easy to know and easy to like and form close relationships based on trust. This network helps promote opportunity in their lives - ie luck</li>
</ul><div>He concludes, "I discovered that being in the right place at the right time is actually all about being in the right state of mind."</div><div><br />
</div><div>If you consider chance a numbers game, he argues, then extroverted people simply have more chances to hit a winner.</div><br />
<br />
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