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Just made my post-lunch pilgrimage to Starbucks for some refueling and encountered two oddities. First, they were prominently displaying a new plastic beverage bottle with an attached screw-on cap. Printed on the accompanying tag was, "Not intended for hot liquid." Do they mean like...I don't know...coffee? Huh? Second, my horoscope (displayed on the counter) told me, among other things, to "keep my hands clean." Double huh? I mean, what the hell kind of horoscope is that?
Lifehacker points to an academic paper by a professor at the University of Baltimore on the science behind, and dos/don'ts of, leadership decision making. There's something in there for all of us, I'd say.
Brand Autopsy points to a strategic planning, branding and communications consultancy called Just Ask a Woman that has a very interesting twist on the traditional focus group. They create a talk show environment populated with "audience members" (rather than respondents). This shift of perspective seems like it could lead to a very interesting and valuable dynamic. Check out their site for a more detailed overview and clips of some actual "episodes."
AP reports, "A man convicted in the nation's first felony case against illegal
spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday for bombarding
Internet users with millions of junk e-mails." They believe he was responsible for 10 million emails a day and through fraud and deception grossed up to $750,000 per month.
To me though, this is not a case of someone going to prison for sending "spam" or "junk emails." This is someone going to prison for fraud and theft. Not that I'm defending spammers, but to me spam is an email, that I didn't ask for, soliciting a product that will supposedly enlarge my undercarriage or whatever. When an email tries to bilk me with a scam, that's fraud. Does the fact that it came to me via email, and not by phone or in person, classify it as spam? While spam is unsolicited bulk email and technically that's what this guy sent, what he did is really much more than can be neatly characterized as spam.
As much as I've been advocating that junk food stop being pushed on our kids (more here and here), I'm not sure how I feel about Sesame Street's Cookie Monster eating less cookies and instead opting for fruits and veggies, even going as far as saying "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food." I mean, his name is Cookie Monster - they kind of made that bed a long time ago and for good reason...who would love a character named Eggplant Monster?
Seriously though, I'm sure this kind of messaging will help with the lessons I want to teach my son. I'm just not sure they need to mess with Cookie Monster.
Excellent post by Seth Godin on taking responsibility and thinking about how your customers (and people in general) feel when something doesn't go quite right (or even terribly wrong).
I read a very timely post today from Creating Passionate Users. I have been looking for a way to better document both existing projects and product/strategy brainstorming sessions. I have been familiar with the concept of mind mapping, but never really tried to use the technique. Creating Passionate Users linked to some great tools for executing that type of note-taking and brain-dumping. I'm going to try both the free java application called FreeMind and the free trial of MindManager to see if this process works for me.
I'll give feedback once I get into them and welcome thoughts from anyone on the pros/cons to mind mapping as well as alternative techniques.
Had a great time last night in Portland getting to know Bren (the Slacker Manager) and Jon (the Business Evolutionist) in person. We had really interesting discussions about balancing life, work, blogging, etc. We are all at different places with those challenges, but each knew what the other was talking about. We are three really different guys with really different backgrounds and interests, but also had a lot in common. If you are not familiar with them, check 'em out and learn a thing or two.
Here's to new friends...
