Joel's Mutterings

Below is a email I sent to the boys and parents of Troop 33 of Beverly Hills which I am the Scoutmaster of and Pack 100 of Beverly Hills which I am the Charter Organization of.

I am pleased to say today that the National Board of Boy Scouts of
America lifted the ban on gay youth in scouting.

This is a big step forward for scouting and I and others have long
been pushing for change on this issue.

While Troop 33 has a long and significant history of not
discriminating on any basis (with both notable gay scouts and scout
leaders) the national policy has always been a disappointment and
something that has hurt scouting significantly.

The troop was for decades proudly chartered by the Rotary Club of
Beverly Hills and we lost that support over the former policy.

I hope this change will prove to those who had doubts that an
organization as large as the Boy Scout of America could change and
become more enlightened even if it did take a long time.

There is still a restriction for gay adult leaders however I am
confident in time this will change as well.

Change in any large organization comes slowly as there are many
factions and opinions on any issue.

Much will be said and debated in the days, weeks and months to come on
this issue. Those who had strong opinions against this decision will
struggle to adapt to the change. Some troops may loose their support
of their faith based charter organizations just as we lost our charter
support when the policy was to discriminate. Some who’s beliefs do not
allow them to be accepting of gays will struggle to justify their
continued participation in scouting.

I urge everyone to stay focused on  and help focus other on the
valuable mission of scouting which in truth has nothing to do with
these issues.

Scouting must be available for any and all who want to participate.

We must stayed focus on the good of scouting and work to not let this
positive change force those on the loosing side to withdraw as that
only hurts the boys involved and the organization as a whole.

There is yet more change needed to be an organization that is
completely non-biased but forward motion will lead to more change in
the future.

Most of us adults are to young (and certainly you scouts are way to
young) to have been part of the great and historic changes for
equality that swept through this country in the past. Today we are
proud of the equality that exist for all people in this country yet it
was not so long ago that this equality we take for granted did not
exist.

Change came though the efforts of many who did not abandon the
institution but worked for change from within.

This is a historic step for Scouting and a significant step forward
for equality and we all are part of that change. Be proud of this step
forward and never forget that you as leaders must always be willing to
lead for change and not turn your back when the going gets tough or
the vote goes the other way.

Scouting is a great organization for all that it has always been and
for being able to make a change that makes scouting available to all
youth regardless of their sexual preferences.

Have you noticed?

Communication has changed.

It is still about the giving and getting of information and certainly the standard barriers to communication still exist.

But otherwise things are very fluid.

Once upon the time your options were limited to face to face, written letters, phone calls and possibly a telegram.

Today there are forms of instant written communication like texts, direct tweets, IM’s and even emails. There are visual options like video chat, teleconferences and face time.

Not to mention the wealth of communication platforms including Linkedin, Facebook, Twtter, Cell Phones and Tablets.

One must consider speed, receivers preferred medium, senders/receivers present environment, requirement for response and desired timing of said response when initiating communication.

Both parties expectations both inferred or implicit only deepen the complexity and opportunity for miscommunication or unintentional friction caused solely by the medium and not the message.

Text messages have suddenly become more personal than phone calls implying that one can get a message through no matter what the circumstances. A phone call be shunted to voicemail but a text is received.

Expectations are raised and assumptions are made based upon timing of reply as well as medium of the initial communication.

If your boss texts you verses emailing or calling does that mean something in and of itself. If you fail to respond in a timely manner will that communicate something other than what you intend.

Services like Facebook and Linkedin extend access to an extended network of people. Now more people can access you and while on the whole this is a good thing (yes naturally I do not agree with the make yourself hard to reach theory) it can create expectation in people you barely know.

So how do you communicate your preferences?

What should you do if you are a type A person who prefers the immediacy of voice communication while your desired recipient is more likely to be reached quickly via a text?

Can having someone as a follower on Twitter or a friend on Facebook not only open more communication options but possibly give you more direct and immediate access to some people?

A book that was and is fundamental to my life, The Boy Scout Handbook, while not available on an e-reader is available for the iPhone.

Some of my other favorite books:

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill: Yale graduate, prosperous ad exec: Gill has it all. Then he turns 60 and finds himself precipitously bounced from his job and saddled with the triple threats of a ruined marriage, an unexpected newborn, and a brain tumor. A book of transition and re-discovering ones place in life.

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni: In his sixth fable, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can relate to: the causes of a miserable job. A must read for everyone.

Winnie-the-Pooh on Management by Roger E Allen: Basic management principles, including such fundamental communication concepts as, “The information should be meaningful to the individual who is receiving it.” Basic and sage wisdom dished up with the aid of a favorite stuffed animal.

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson: If things are going wrong or the rules have changed then maybe someone moved your cheese. A must read book for anyone who has ever suddenly noticed things are not as they once were and wants to know what to do about it.

Self-Made Man Norah Vincent: In this interesting and very unique view of male and female roles former Los Angeles Times op-ed columnist Norah Vincent trick dozens of people into believing she is a man and during an 18 month experiment in which she joined a men’s bowling league, visited strip bars, and dated women. Along the way, she found that the freedom and privileges enjoyed by men were counterbalanced by a constant testing and severe limits on emotions. She also found women to be distrustful, ever ready to criticize men for being emotionally distant yet clearly preferring men who met stereotypical images of strength and virility.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett: “THEY SAY that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully” This fictional book is fun and is filled with indirect sage wisdom for anyone trying to get the impossible done.

It’s Your Ship by D. Michael Abrashoff: As commander of the highly acclaimed USS Benfold, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff irrefutably demonstrated how progressive management can succeed at sea; in It’s Your Ship, he translates his methods into an approach that can also be applied by land-bound captains of commerce and industry.

Copy This! by Paul Orfalea and Ann Marsh: The now-retired founder of Kinko’s mixes autobiographical anecdote with large doses of business advice in this candid, conversational account of his entrepreneurial rise.

I hope this note finds you on the verge of a great 2012!

Another year has passed and I want to encourage you to increase your networking in 2012.

Bill Barnett in this recent Harvard Business Review article on job hunting spoke of the importance of massive, structured networking.

Bill wrote, “The way to succeed at networking is to reach out broadly to people who can help. The way to fail is to limit your contacts to the few people you know well. Massive outreach is the only reliable path to victory.”

I want to encourage you to follow this wisdom in 2012!

Many of you join networking groups like my own group ExecTec looking to increase your networking but never really took the next step of interacting with the group.

Networking is the one thing you do for yourself in your career.

As I am fond of saying a problem is something for which there is a solution and an excuse is that which there is no solution for.

So the question to ask yourself as we enter a new year is do you have a networking problem or a networking excuse?

Networking is not just about finding your next job although for many of you that is or will be the issue that drives you to network most. However, networking is the thing that empowers and makes what ever you do easier to accomplish.

Most of us loose so much time looking for the right resources or putting up with a problem or lack of a good resource or key information when having a robust and massive network would solve this issue connecting us with the right person and or resource more quickly.

Set aside your networking excuses in 2012 and commit yourself to a level of networking. Whether that is getting to an event every week, month, or quarter the key is to just do it.

Obviously I would love for you to drop in on an ExecTec Dinner or if you are out of the area comment on our topics or interact with us on the group Facebook page.

I hope everyone has a fantastic and prosperous 2012 and I hope to see and interact with many of you in 2012!

TOPIC CROSS POST

When a companies business model falters many business perform what is now called a business pivot.

While the pivot is most often associated with the dot com startups the likes of twitter, insta-gram, Flickr and Paypal, even companies like Sony, which started making home goods as a rice cooker and heating blankets, have pivoted.

“Pivoting” according to Steve Blank in this post Business plan not working? Time to pivot
is when you change a fundamental part of the business model. It can be as simple as recognizing that your product was priced incorrectly. It can be more complex if you find the your target customer or users need to change or the feature set is wrong or you need to “repackage” a monolithic product into a family of products or you chose the wrong sales channel or your customer acquisition programs were ineffective.

Ken Kaufman Founder & CEO, CFOwise in this post outlines the 10 most common cash-flow pivots  in hopes of helping find the most scalable and repeatable way to offer your products and services to help maximize the life-blood, or cash flow of a business.

While Ken’s focus is clearly financial companies would not be looking to pivot if their monetization model was working.

Need something less financial to inspire you to a pivot? Check out Business Insiders 10 trends that could change your business for 2011.

Pivots are all about taking a new direction while still keeping one metaphorical foot in the original business. In 2003, Cheggpost.com offered free classified listings for college students. By 2006 one of Chegg’s co-founders, began rethinking the company’s business model. He noticed that  most of their activity was at the start of each semester and revolved around buying and selling textbooks. Ultimately the pivot became about renting books to students rather then helping them buy and sell to each other. Chegg now rents more than one million books a year and has 150 employees.

Is your company due for a pivot?

Are you offering the right solution to your target market? Is your profit model as effective as it should be? Are you to focused on your product and not your customers needs?

Related articles

• Everything in Business is a Test (businessinsider.com)
• It’s time to reinvent the boardroom (venturebeat.com)
• HootSuite’s pivot: Introducing Happy Owls (thenextweb.com)
• What is a Pivot, and Does Your Startup Need One? (stealthmode.com)

There are many who will claim that social media and all this Internet 2.0 stuff is bad. Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains fears that all this online activity is making our brain operate like the Internet itself—with faster, ever-more distracted multitasking.

Clifford Nass, a Stanford professor, went further. He talked about how multitasking—walking and talking, eating and reading, texting while watching TV—is making us inefficient, distracted, and hurting our memory.

Of course there is no end to the list of things that were destined to destroy society and business but did not.

Professor Robin Dunbar at Oxford asserts you can only really have 150 friends defined as people with whom you have a personalised relationship, one that is reciprocal and based around general obligations of trust and reciprocity. If you asked them to do a favour, they would be more likely to say yes than those outside the 150 (what we at ExecTec call the Bronwyn Ride to Airport Test or BRAT for short).

To all this I say balderdash! Further, I propose that listening to any of this drivel is sure to do you harm. They said the four minute mile could not be broken and they said we could not break the sound barrier, these are sell imposed constraints and we will believe them to our detriment.

Consider in a report released today by public relations firm Edelman which asserts of all entertainment sectors, only social networking sites have retained their value in the eyes of consumers over the past year. The report shows that the perceived value consumers are getting from the entertainment industry has fallen by 68 percent in all areas, and only 17 percent of all respondents feel that entertainment sources today provide “very good” or “excellent” value.

The answer to some degree is in Professor Dunbar’s research which explores why gossip is good for us.  His view is that language allows us to integrate a large number of social relationships and one important means of doing this is through the exchange of information about individuals who are not present.

Ultimately the draw of real interactions out weighs the value of static entertainment to some degree. Time spent on interacting with a broader if necessarily less likely to reach BART status is still more fulfilling.

So what does this mean to the individual executive or business as far as participation in the current social media expansion?

Related articles

• It’s Not Just Rude, It’s Ruining Your Brain (motherjones.com)

Is 2011 the year that will tip the scales and media will make the paradigm shift to new media?

300,000 people canceled their cable subscription in 2010 and it is estimated that 30% of Netflix subscribers aged 18-24 are using Netflix in lieu of cable.

Hulu is airing first run original content like last year’s reality series If I Can Dream and has more recently launched the Morning After hosted by Brian Kimmet and Ginger Gonzaga which is the first show where Hulu originated the initial idea.

iPads, Kindles and Nooks provide access to an endless list of magazine like Readers Digest, People, Wired, Time, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and The New Yorker just to name a few, one wonders if print journalism will ever be the same. Virgin recently launch an iPad only magazine that it promotes as “a revolutionary multimedia magazine built specially for the iPad.

Share your thoughts on Quora

Is 2011 the year that will tip the scales and media will make the paradigm shift to new media?

What company will take the “social” out of professional networking? 1 answer on Quora

What company will take the “social” out of professional networking?

So this week I wrote for my next ExeTec networking dinner the following topic: 

The world is listening and Google never forgets. These are important things to keep in mind no matter if you are an army general stuck in an airport with a Rolling Stones reporter during a volcanic eruption or a lawyer pondering if you can blog about a subject in which you represent a client.

One of my former media colleagues George Merlis wrote some good wisdom on his blog today: “In media training we teach the following: Always treat a microphone as if it is a gun. You treat a gun as if it is always loaded. Similarly, treat a microphone as if it is always on. Never say anything in proximity to a microphone that you don’t want the whole world to hear. And treat a reporter as if he is a microphone. Reporters are always working, always mentally recording, always looking for a story.”

Now I recently heard Arvind Puri VP, Data Platform at MySpace speak at an event and he asserted that one should be posting to ones blog or twitter feed once a day. As much as I agree with this wisdom for the sake of presence if nothing else, I must say I find doing so a bit of a challenge.

It is not for a lack of ideas, clever quip, or even interesting articles I could re-tweet however often professional discretion, a myriad of non-disclosure agreements and or just good common sense keep me from sharing to much.

Now for those who are intentionally promoting or marketing products, saying something is not the issue but saying to much or not finding a good balance between valuable content and promotional content can be the issue. Marketing people should beware that the best crafted marketing message can and will back fire.

Now for those of you feeling safe and secure in your disconnected executive existences don’t think message control does not apply to you as well. As a fellow executive said to me the other day, if you say it, write it or share it in anyway you loose control of your message and it might end up with distinctly the wrong person.

So how can we be the master of our messages without putting at risk communication misdirection or even collateral communication damage so much that we do not regret our messages or ongoing online presence?

Join me as we explore communicating in a flat and connected world where anything we say or do can and will be seen by anyone and everyone.

This AM I wanted to find some material for Tuesdays dinner (which anyone is welcome to join in at either this week or on any other Tuesday) and perhaps something I could use for a 140 character promotional tweet so I Googled “what to say what not to say” and found some interesting things I thought I would share.

Top listed was certainly off point and a bit to colorful but still illustrative:

101 Things Not To Say During Sex

I think I will let that one speak for itself but note there is also 10 Things Not To Say To A Co-Worker Crush and this chart of what to say during sex safely illustrates the point in a more positive light.

The next item titled Say not Say opened with an illustrative quote from Marshall McClune which was fascinatingly written in 1964, “We live today in the Age of Information and of Communication because electric media instantly and constantly create a total field of interacting events in which all men participate.”

The article was a bit complex for my taste but I liked the opening question very much:

“Communication has come to be regarded as a symbol of the age in which we live. Talk is frequently of “communication explosion”, of “communication technology” revolution, even of “communication society”. But what is communication and how can we make sense of it?”

Now if I could get that into 140 characters it would make a very evocative promotional tweet

In my search I can across several examples of what not to say during a job interview. I think this is something that plagues the minds of many. Not only because we do not often get interviewed for jobs but also because we so rarely understand how we did unless we get the job.

CareerBulider What not to say in a job interview

Hub Pages 10 things you should NEVER say during a job interview

Of course the contrary point to that would be this oh so very 6 months ago (and lets hope it stays that way) Business Week article, Ten Things Not to Say When Firing an Employee.

Newsweek steps in with a very timely and to my original topic with What Not to Say When Your Company Is Ruining the World.

There were links I discovered of a more personal sense that they addressed what not to say to people dealing with pregnant women, new mothers, people with eating disorders and Someone With Depression. There also was this personal account of what not to say when someone has died by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen.

It seems we are very much aware of our faults and ability to mis-communicate.

Obviously communication must always overcome the ever present barriers to communication:

1. Cultural or Gender differences
2. Emotional Payload or issues
3. Fear
4. Closed Receiver
5. Defensiveness
6. Failure to adapt message to target audience
7. Preconceived notions
8. Unclear purpose or message
9. Inappropriate medium for message
10. Lack of confirmation the message was received and understood as intended

The question is given that the microphone is always on and the messages are always loaded (even when not intended) how can we shift our focus from not saying the wrong thing and more towards saying things that are positive and effective?

Related articles by Zemanta

• 13 Words Marketers Should Avoid on Facebook (marketingvox.com)
• Top Ten Management on Communication Barriers: An Overview of Communication Barriers (bizcovering.com)

I have for sometime been sharing my new theory of networking for transitioning executives. Since I know that driving oneself to network is a challenge for everyone, I thought this week I would outline my theory of the 15 slots.

Simply put in any given week there are 15 slots or opportunities to connect with others, 5 breakfast/AM coffee, 5 lunches or mid-day drop-byes and 5 dinners or drinks.

Now I am sure your boss, significant other, lending institution and or off-spring planning on spending their inheritance keep you well motivated to get done a plethora of tasks and projects, however no one (baring a retained executive coach) truly keeps you accountable to yourself.

Now I know lots of fantastic executives and many of them are very good at networking however everyone struggles with being consistent about their networking endeavors. While transitioning executives clearly must amp up their networking the truth is that if we all maintained a consistent level of networking then being in transition would not be as much of an issue. Clearly few of us are digging our wells before we are thirsty and many who have a well forgot where they left it.

I clearly remember one member of my networking group who went into transition for the second time in the 5 year history of the group and showed up saying, “yep I know, I know I blew it, I got a job, stopped networking and now I have to start up my networking efforts again.” Are you doing the same?

Now naturally you could not fill all 15 slots with one on one networking opportunities even if you had nothing else to do. Even if we allow 1 out of 4 slots to be filled with networking “events” like ExecTec or association meetings there is a limit.

The slots are meant to give you a away to measure your performance.

Those looking for work should be targeting 3-8 slots a week with 1 to 2 being group networking functions (which will be critical to finding new people to fill the other slots). Working executives should be filling 1 to 3 slots with one group networking function (anyone should be able to fill 1 slot out of 15 per week).

You are looking to connect with anyone and everyone. Get outside your circle, vocation, industry and meet with people you might not otherwise meet. You never know, that unlikely executive that seemingly has no direct value might be the person to connect you with the person who will fund your dream or open the door to that great job.

During these interactions don’t go straight for your elevator pitch or corner your contact and demand the name of three more potential victims. The goal is to establish a relationship and connection. What you must do is ask what you can do for them. Specifically transitioning executives have a fantastic opportunity to invest their time in being of aid to others. Trust me nothing will make more of an impression then your doing for someone else. They will remember and they will look for ways to assist you now or later. Even working executives can and should ask how they could be of aid to the other person. This approach will almost assure that no one will ever turn down an opportunity to meet with you another time.

With a relationship established you are clear to make plain your goals and when the time is right to seek direct aid for those goals.

Lastly establish a presence that keeps you in the peripheral vision of those that you have connected with. This means finding ways of interacting with your contact on the social networking sites where they exist. This helps keep you in their minds between in person interactions. When was the last time you RSVPed for ExecTec? Doing serves to create a presence that reminds those you have met at dinners that you are out there. Anyone who has been a part of the group for any length of time knows that the one of the most notable member of the group is someone who has never joined us but religiously RSVP’s to every event.

The goal is to connect and establish solid ties with other executives, whether you measure sucess by how many of the 15 slots you can fill or make every Tuesday night a night where you gather in Westwood with other great executives the key is to set aside the excuses as to why you don’t and start networking. After all you can loose the job, have your company bought out, change careers or move cross country but you can not loose a strong network and armed with that anything is possible.

If you would like to discuss networking and humor me in my theory of 15 slots (hey it fills one slot). Feel free to join me Tuesday night in Westwood at my ExecTec Networking dinner, I promise if nothing else the conversation will be interesting and the people you met will be some of the best networkers you could ever want to meet.

You have not known me long and not realized that I am more then a little passionate about networking. For me the goal of networking is to help the people I know and meet get the maximum potential of the rest of the network.

I truly believe we all know someone we can help or who can be helped by someone else we know or who is known to someone else we know.

My networking group ExecTec has been and always will be about creating an environment that promotes getting to know others well enough to engage in helping each other and often that is as much about helping other friends as helping each other.

I was reminded of this when this evening I noticed via a Foursquare push message to my iPhone that my good friend and executive coach Steve Zuback (@zexeccoach) was dinning with another friend and ExecTec member Garic Chan (@ilovegarick). I was pleased that two great people who met through ExecTec were getting together beyond our Tuesday nights at D’Amores.

Mark Suster (@msuster), who refers to himself as a 2x entrepreneur gone to the Dark Side of VC as a General Partner for GRP Partners, in this blog post talks about how twitter has distinct advantages over traditional social networks which are more restricted to people whom we already know and that their information and updates are less discoverable.

In making his point, Mark highlights the idea of really getting out and discovering and meeting new people. If you network just with the people you know then you really are missing out on the boundless potential of others. It is interesting to see how Mark used twitter to reach out to people he barely knew and the connections he made as a result.

Mark’s article reminds me of a breakfast I had with Michael Trup (@miketrup) back in early 2006. Michael was in from the UK to attend a convention in Las Vegas and would be in LA for a day or so and had put out an open call to meet him on a networking site we both frequented. While to date (over 4 years later) not much more then an interesting breakfast has come from that contact, I remember Michael and our connection and I dare say that I am confident that Michael would openly accept contact an offer what assistance he could if someone reached out to him at my suggestion.

I also remember with fondness a contact from now good friend Bill Sobel (@bsobel226) who reached out to me through Linkedin pitching a product that was not a fit for my company but that contact and a follow-up breakfast months later would lead to a friendship that has last years despite our being being geographically separated by the bulk of the country and has resulted in many positive things for us and our friends.

Now while networking is often focused on meeting people or introducing yourself to others the above inspires me to suggest people try the concept of introducing others to each other. There are always those people you know who you would not think twice of introducing to others. These are people that it is easy to be passionate about and who invoke/inspire you. Simply put they are well worth knowing.

So who do you know that other people should really get to know either virtually or perhaps in person? When you meet someone new how often do you think of who you know who might be a well met addition to that persons network?

In the past, I have at an ExecTec dinner had members shard with each other their favorite books. Those books that they felt they could without hesitation recommend to each other. So taking off that experience I suggest that people share contacts that they would recommend others taking the time to get to know.

You never know you might tell someone about just the right person to help both of them achieve great things together and that is truly what networking is about.

I woke up this AM to find two new Twitter follower notices. This was not uncommon but what was interesting was the the difference in these two specific followers.

As a general rule, I review each new follower to see if they are wroth following back. I feel it is the least I can do. I am looking to see if they are authentic in what they post to twitter and for someone who talks about things I would be interested in following.

Obviously, I pick up followers in a variety of ways myself and so their is a large diversity in the type of people who chose to follow me. Very often I get the impression that I am being followed as part of that persons SEO or presence efforts and that was the case for both of this mornings new followers.

What was interesting is both these new followers presented themselves as SEO or Presence experts. What was even more interesting was the dichotomy between the two in their efforts and apparent results.

So here is my thoughts and opinions on both their efforts on twitter.

My first follower was

His basic information shows as:

User Name: Gil Corner
Friends: 1799 
Followers: 1289  
Location : San Diego CA
Description : Dad of 4, love dogs, skiing, music and living life on my own terms. Fascinated with social media. How about you?
URL : http://www.gilscorner.com

Ok at first snap I am a bit wary of user names that are more about their business or website then themselves but it is a minor issue I looked past. I like the real name and personal information so I moved on to the twitter feed to see if there was value there and what indeed was being tweeted about.

Looking at Gil’s last 20 post it seems all the content was quotes and or blatant plugs for his website. This was a big red flag and for that matter the lack of conversation here was significant. But something more was odd in the feed in that all the posts came out in closely spaced mechanical chunks. Also none of the content on Twitter was actually his other then the attention links to his blog.

• The shortest distance between two points is under construction. -Noelie Altito #quote - Dec 25 6:07 am
• i’m over here —— http://www.gilscorner.com - Dec 25 6:06 am
• In unix there are no morals, only determinism. -Faisal N. Jawdat #quote - Dec 25 6:05 am
• Here’s a good rule of thumb; Too clever is dumb. - Ogden Nash Too clever is dumb. - German proverb #quote - Dec 25 6:03 am
• Foreign Aid - the transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. #quote - Dec 25 6:03 am
• We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. -Aesop #quote - Dec 25 6:02 am
• if you want the goods on internet marketing from a normal guy that’s making normal money -> http://www.gilscorner.com - Dec 25 6:01 am
• Current American thought has its underpinnings in the past 30 years of bad TV. -Gabe Underwood #quote - Dec 25 5:59 am
• Health is simply the slowest possible rate at which one can die. #quote - Dec 25 5:58 am
• Be sober and temperate, and you will be happy. - Benjamin Franklin #quote - Dec 25 5:57 am
• Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hand and at whom it is aimed ~ Joseph Stali #quote - Dec 25 5:56 am
• Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good. It would be the end of everything we know. - Marvin Minsky #quote - Dec 25 2:25 am
• so? have you read the new blog post over http://www.gilscorner.com ? have you added your comment yet? - Dec 25 2:24 am
• The first step to solving a problem is to be a bastard… -Faisal N. Jawdat #quote - Dec 25 2:23 am
• pardon me for being crass but: who cares. -Kate Cronin #quote - Dec 25 2:23 am
• We ARE as gods and might as well get good at it. - Whole Earth Catalog #quote - Dec 25 2:22 am
• I know what art is. and I AM NOT TELLING. -deathpunkassbitch.org #quote - Dec 25 2:20 am
• Life is a forge, and the purest metal comes from the hottest fire. #quote - Dec 25 2:19 am
• We neither get better or worse as we get older, but more like ourselves. #quote - Dec 25 2:18 am
• Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. - Pablo Picasso #quote - Dec 24 11:08 pm

Clearly Gil is looking to drive traffic and in some senses in a very effective way. Despite having no desire to follow Gil, I decided to check out this corner he was pushing so hard.

The first post on Gils Corner was SEO part3 – The Tools I Use which was very telling. Here I found that the authors SEO belief includes this brief recap of his theory:

“SEO is all about getting great rankings in the search engines, which in turn drive traffic to you. You will then need to build your list with that traffic and start email marketing.

Those are your 3, and only 3, pillars to succeed in internet marketing – Traffic,
building your list, email marketing.

Focus on them and you’ll be well on your way to success in this industry.

Move away from these 3 at your own risk.”

Gil’s message show a strong passionate belief in a traffic centric SEO effort. However the tools he recommends shows somethings that were a problem for me as a potential follower. It seems he uses a service which in his words “automates everything twitter. It will find relevant things and tweet about them, it will grow your follower list by thousands on autopilot, it will add promotional tweets to the mix with your affiliate links in them. It does it all and it’s hands free. WOW is all I can say.” Well NOT is all I can say. Here is the heart of what bothered me about his twitter feed which is generated by a machine and is really little better then fly paper trying to drive traffic to his web site.

His website is either promoting him and or the book which is clearly shown in the right sidebar of his blog.

In short despite the solid 2.25 score which twittfilter.com gave Gil’s twitter feed in recommending I follow him back I think it is clear that Gil’s theories are effective at faking out computers and even getting me to stop by his web site but it is not enough to capture my attention beyond a drop in. Maybe Gil has lost sight of the goal in the effort to drive traffic which in an of itself is not the goal. They may come but they will not stay if there is no value and even if there is value in his blog I was turned off by the method.

Now my second follower was:

His basic information shows as:

User Name: Dan Schawbel
Friends: 57748 
Followers: 62512  
Location : Boston, MA
Description : The leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. Author of Me 2.0, blogger, speaker, publisher & social media specialist at EMC
URL : http://personalbrandingblog.com

I like the use of a name or identity as the twitter user name (I use firqby which while not my proper name is an alias truly unique to me and easily tracked back to me) but I can immediately see that Dan is about personal branding and I am wondering if this will be another attempt to connect for purely SEO reasons. While I am a strong believer in the need for controlling ones online presence it must be about something worth while for the people you attract to your presence.

So that being said let us check out Dan’s last 20 tweets:

• Something to consider: Personal branding existed before social media. - Dec 25 9:51 am
• JOB SEARCH: The 5 Worst Excuses for Not Networking During a Job Search http://short.to/11nlf BarbaraSafani - Dec 25 9:44 am
• Thanks for reading Me 2.0 erikaverill DeanWagman willhardison - Dec 25 9:25 am
• RT dmscott Web Ink Now: 48 ways to explain Twitter to skeptics http://bit.ly/7ZSrPp - Dec 25 8:46 am
• plz rt Merry Christmas - Dec 25 6:33 am
• StudentBrandingBlog/ 3 Holiday Wishes for the Job Seeker http://bit.ly/5ILtcr - Dec 25 4:55 am
• My Blog / Recognition Breeds Interaction: If you have expertise that can help an entire community, how you approach… http://bit.ly/7zBlU4 - Dec 25 4:32 am
• ADVICE: 7 Ways to Clean Up Your Site For The New Year http://bit.ly/5FOtPC - Dec 24 5:41 pm
• RT BrazenCareerist: Gen-Y: What makes a company a great place to work? Join the discussion here: http://bit.ly/8xDzhr #Brazen - Dec 24 5:30 pm
• RT BrazenCareerist: Social Media and PB: Link Roundup and Advice for Nonprofiteers http://bit.ly/75Xj0u (via ajlovesya) #Brazen - Dec 24 12:53 pm
• RT: NWK_Jobbed - 5 Things Not to Say to a Job Seeker During the Holiday Season: http://ow.ly/Pk6H (via barbarasafani) - Dec 24 11:18 am
• My Blog / Free eBook: 100 Job Search Tips From Fortune 500 Recruiters: I hope everyone is gearing up for Christmas … http://bit.ly/6Ihtkf - Dec 24 8:15 am
• My Blog / Talk About Who You Are Not What You Do: When you read the title of this post it seems fairly simple right… http://bit.ly/4wfgyC - Dec 24 5:19 am
• How many people are taking today off from work? - Dec 24 5:19 am
• willhardison - thanks! - Dec 24 4:57 am
• StudentBrandingBlog/ Gen Y: Entitled, Unprofessional, Interpersonally Inept http://bit.ly/8FOaBK - Dec 24 4:55 am
• JOB SEARCH: Use the holiday week to career advantage http://tinyurl.com/ydlqxyc - Dec 24 4:23 am
• RT BrazenCareerist: New FortuneCity.com PB Post: The 5 Ps Of Marketing In the Peace Corps http://bit.ly/8fkSkk (via wendylee86) #Brazen - Dec 24 4:05 am
• JOB SEARCH: Secrets to Enhancing Your Resume http://tinyurl.com/yzvms33 - Dec 23 9:36 pm
• REPORT: $2.2 billion in social networking advertising in 2009 http://tinyurl.com/y9sqd6n - Dec 23 8:43 pm

Now I do not think that either of these connections was about much more then Dan and Gill promoting their brands, services and ultimately increasing their traffic with the goal of potentially selling their books, services or simply getting some traffic for their web sponsors.

Ultimately I followed Dan but not Gil and had it not been for this post I would not have ever expected to get anything more out of either connection other then potentially some interesting content (I am always in need of good ideas for future ExecTec topics) from Dan’s twitter feed. Given both Dan and Gil’s marketing backgrounds I fully expect both will notice this post however my purpose here was simply to point out the difference between the two and my reaction to both.

I will admit that this post itself by its very nature has a high SEO aspect and will have the mostly unintentional consequence of drawing a large variety of readers. If you have read this far and found anything I said interesting feel free to check back here for my occasional mutterings, follow me on twitter or if you are in Los Angeles and or are passing through some Tuesday join me and my networking group for dinner in Westwood.

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I have always been a big fan of the iPhone. Despite AT&T’s issues it is an excellent tool.

Despite an overwhelming development of applications for just about any purpose under the sun there are only a limited number of applications on the iPhone for the video professional.

With that said I thought I would create a list of those that do exist, I will also plan to maintain a google wave which I can update and add to here.

Designed as a fast and simple tool for audio and video professionals, AJA DataCalc can be used in the field during acquisition, or in the edit bay during post-production, allowing the user to effortlessly calculate their storage consumption and data capturing requirements.

AJA DataCalc supports a wide array of video compression formats such as Apple ProRes, DVCProHD, HDV, XDCAM, DV, RGB and YUV Uncompressed and more. Video standards supported include NTSC, PAL, 1080i, 1080p. 720p, 2K and 4K.

The application features an intuitive user interface where most settings can be entered with a simple finger scroll through lists of the most common file format configurations. Durations can be entered in units of days, hours, seconds or even in a precise time code frame count. A ‘More’ button allows the user to further select and specify frame rates, frame sizes, compression type; or in the case of audio: sample rates and bits per sample. From the ‘More’ page, press on the ‘Information’ icon to get to a ‘Summary’ page to review results and have the option to deliver the data via email.

Movie★Slate is a digital slate, clapper board, shot log, and shot notepad— designed for use with film, television, documentaries, interviews, and home movies.

Movie★Slate provides an incredibly easy way to log footage and take notes as you shoot— saving you time later when you capture and edit the footage on your computer.

The entire Movie★Slate app works in either Portrait or Landscape orientations.

the perfect companion for any producer, post-production producer, editor, flame or After Effect artists and everyone who need to deal with timecode and frames.

Features include:

• supports 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50 & 60 frame rate
• converts between timecode and frame
• touch history
• offset utility
• duration utility
• vari-speed calculator - Great for producers who need to speed-up or slow down their shows to match the requested duration from the broadcasters.

• swipe backspace - Erase any erroneous input a-la-iPhone style!
• TRT (total running time) calculator
• very intuitive interface

Entry of comments is quick and easy by constructing clip names from predefined lists and use of the inbuilt keyboard.

All clips in a project can be emailed as HTML formatted log sheets sorted by reel name, for those who like to edit with printed logs in hand.

It’s slimline design and seamless connectivity to Avid and Final Cut Pro makes paper logs a thing of the past.

Features

• Unlimited number of projects
• One virtual recording device
• Synchronize devices that use time of day or free running timecode
• Quick to use logging system
• Incremental slate and take fields
• Easy construction of clip names from predefined lists
• Logging continues without the application running
• View and delete logged clips
• Built in SMTP email client
• Export to a HTML formatted log sheet

Connecting action from shoot to post production

actionLog Pro

The professional version offers seamless connectivity to Avid and Final Cut Pro and has the ability to have up to 25 recording devices.

Use your iPhone or iPod touch as a professional teleprompter for ultimate mobility! For field reporting, corporate video, commercials, video podcasting and speeches. Prompt anywhere you bring your iPhone or iPod touch.

Among its many features:

• Standard screenplay formatting – both on screen and in the exported file.
• Character name auto-complete – once you introduce characters into the script, you never have to type their name again!
• One click character rename throughout the entire script.
• Drag-and-drop scene reordering – keeps the contents intact!
• Lock the screen to either landscape or portrait mode – type comfortably in bed!
• Export the formatted script to a text file, which can later be imported effortlessly into many desktop screenwriting applications while preserving the formatting.

Manuscript is not limited to writing stories – you can use it for note-taking, project management, storyboard, mind mapping and much more.

• Create a manuscript from scratch or import from Google Docs (currently only Manuscript-formatted RTF is supported)
• Outline your manuscript using multiple levels:
• Pitch – One sentence tagline.
• Synopsis – A more elaborate description of the plot or article, covering major developments.
• Index cards – Serves as a repository for ideas, character development, reminders and more.
• In addition to Pitch and Synopsis, each chapter can be outlined individually. You can create empty chapters, outline them, and then pour content into them in any order you like.
• Use Wikipedia, dictionary and thesaurus from within the app.
• Export your finished manuscript to Google Docs as an RTF file that can be read by both Mac and PC.

• Step-by-step instructions about anything - what steps do I take to complete that task?
• Construction and renovation planning by sketching over on-site picture - make sure the contractor understands exactly what you want done.
• Help file layouts for apps - snap screen shots and describe your app, just like we do in “How to Use StoryPages”
• Quickly put together user guides to deliver instantly via email or MMS.
• Anytime you need to draw a set of images or annotated pictures and describe each one

Information is the currency of the decade and perhaps the century. Simply put, second to hard products (anything you can buy and hold) information is the second most lucrative market around. Companies pay for studies on just about everything under the sun and companies like Gartner, Forrester Research and many others have long realized this and put out lots of reports on a weekly basis to fill the need.

Privacy is a sticky issue and ultimately it is about control of one of the few things that is truly yours or at least it is till you give that information over to someone else.

We all learned these lessons long ago on the playgrounds of our youths when we told someone a secret and they found more power in sharing that secret rather then in building our sense of trust in them by keeping our confidence. However despite the lessons of our youth one can not seem to exist today without sharing some of their information with others and or systems which may or may not be worthy of our trust.

So where does ones expectation of privacy end and legitimate web commerce begin? Does the couple who buys a house on a private road have the right to sue Google Maps because the system host photos of a house that anyone of us could see just by strolling down their un-gated street? Should Google pay the price when even better images were already part of the public record at the local county assessors office.

Facebook and many social networking sites have faced their share of privacy issues however a lawsuit filed just this week which claims on page one to be about Facebook’s violation of California privacy law seems in the eyes of Eric Goldman, an Associate Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law, to be a, “rant-y complaint from users who seem to dislike all of Facebook’s product choices”. Mike Masnick of TechDirt is quick to point out that, “there’s an easy way to avoid any such issue. It’s called not using Facebook.”

Seems logical and straight forward enough, if you do not want your information shared do not give it out beyond trusted and or regulated systems. If you send an email you know it is going through other systems in route to its eventual destination. Want more secure transmission then encrypt, use the US postal service and or your trusted man servant to deliver it.

But despite the obvious insecurities and or flaws in the systems we all continue to be willing to trust or perhaps over trust systems and companies.

Simply put to not trust some of these systems puts you at a disadvantage. The US postal service is perhaps one of the most secure ways to send private information (backed up by federal law) however if we are both bidding on the same job and I email mine (using my trusty gmail account) my bid will get there faster. Likewise you can choose not to participate in social networking but to some extent you are only hurting yourself.

My brother in law, an author, got a good lesson in the potential and hence potential loss from opting out when this week he sent me a clipping of an article on his latest book, “Deep Travel: In Thoreau’s Wake on the Concord and the Merrimac.” Now despite the fact that my wife’s Facebook profile and post are protected by Facebook’s quite elaborate privacy settings the simple act of posting a link to the article above and my commenting on it has lead to several sales of the book from friends and friends of friends who picked up the link in their feeds.

Both my wife and her brother would be quick to point out their own concerns for privacy however at some point this issue of privacy can also leave you chained in Plato’s cave facing a blank wall where shadows projected are of things displayed but never truly seen.

Every entrepreneur knows nothing venture and nothing gained. You can not meet that girl, boy, person if you do not give them your name however the moment you do, you give up some of your privacy.

The question really is whether the risk is greater then the potential gain and are you really aware of your risk? Now I would argue that no one will safeguard your privacy as well as yourself and in fact allowing senseless waste of our legal systems time to protect you is not achieving anything.

We all give up some of privacy everyday in simple and common actions, the question is are you aware of your privacy and do you control it or does it control you. Facebook has some elaborate privacy settings (so does Linkedin and every other good social networking platform) but I am willing to bet that a vast majority of readers have done little or nothing to adjust these settings giving access to valuable private data like maiden names (mothers maiden names) and other facts classically used in security questions. For that matter most people still use a password that is clearly tied to facts found there as well.

So the question really is who issue is the privacy issue?

Will we chain ourselves and our providers of information services to a system that will regulate and prevent slips of private information or can we take charge ourselves by limiting the information we put out there and who we share it with?

Are you and your company looking to your privacy issues and what is needed to assure you maximize opportunities and limit exposure/risk?

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The social media buzz reached a fevered pitch today with Amazon’s acquisition of social media driven Zappos combined with the LA Time’s Terry Chay spinning up the subject in this post titled, “Friendster founder on social networking: I invented this stuff”. While even Jonathan Abrams felt the LA Times failed to make the distinction between social networking and friend requests which his company Friendster did spark, the real question is with the exception of having ones socially networking driven business bought out is there real value in social media/networking?

It will come as little surprise that those who frequent D’Amores on Tuesday nights that connecting face to face is both fun and in ways profitable. However the question is often raised how can one benefit from what many consider a moderate to extreme time sink.

Despite the negativity that sometimes surrounds social media and the lethargy that many people feel about one to one networking, every day there are more examples sprouting up of small business and individuals who are capitalizing on connecting.

Every great sales person will tell you a list of things that are critical in capturing the sale these things will include things like listen to your customer, surround yourself with people who support you, discovering your clients need, help others succeed, asking for the sale and get referrals. While no one would doubt that great sales people who follow these suggestion clearly enjoy what they do and profit from their efforts it is surprising that despite almost all of these themes being common to social media networking that many great sales people do not see the value in social media and would rather not network unless it is a direct lead.

What is great about the explosion of social networking tools is that it has made these key sales elements accessible in an enjoyable if not slightly addictive manner. Yep you do not need to be a disciple of Dale Carnegie to realize that by building creditability, generating interest in your ideas, providing solutions people are looking for and by uncovering unique but desired solutions you can convert your efforts into something that can be monetized.

Now if at this point you are thinking that either I had a little to much social media cool-aid with my dinner or alternatively am making a desperate attempt to justify my intervention worthy social networking habit, I would point out this NY Time article which highlight how not only the big and mighty are using social media tools but that many more small companies and individuals are finding ways to maximize their efforts as well.

More and more people and businesses are finding new ways to use tools like Twitter and Facebook to connect with others for fun and yes profit. No longer must one hirer a top sales person or marketing firm to help dirve their business. Mom and Pops everywhere are discovering power in getting connected.

I have mentioned several time in several places that I am a fan of Joe Stirt, Dr Stirt to some, who publishes the Book of Joe Blog.

Joe describes himself as the ‘World’s most popular blogging anesthesiologist’.

I would say he has one of the best well rounded blogs around and honestly I read a lot of blogs in an endeavor to come up with a weekly topic for my ExecTec Networking group.

Just coming up with the topics I do is hard enough, Joe must publish 8 posts a day and must consume quite a bit of contect on his own in order to come up with what he does.

With a mix of product, medical info, commentary on major publication such as the Wall Street Jounrnal, NY Times and so many other sources Joe provides something I really enjoy reading an which saves me the time following all of those publications.

Now you can enjoy the blog for free at www.bookofjoe.com but as one of the few (but now growing) followers of Joe on Twitter I will willing throw my micro payment down in support of Joe.

So before you run off and call me nuts for paying for that which I could just as easily get for free, the question is what are you willing to support despite perhaps not really having to?

Yes you can listen to all the free music you want via pandora but are you supporting them and or the artist they play by buying something once in a while?

Where is the line between enjoying something that is free and supporting a great product? Are you willing to put your micropayment where your mouth is and support those tools and things that you really enjoy and utlize?

If so what is the trigger that converts free to supported in your mind?

For my part I hope Joe keeps doing what he does and if nothing else gets the message that there are people out there that are willing to do slightly more then just say thanks and occasional throw out a suggestion.

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