Monday Morning Melodies

I'm hanging at SBX, getting some writing done while I wait for the afternoon meetings to commence. It's a glorious day--misty and fit for fireplaces, chili and pots of tea (can you tell I'm feeling a little peckish). Keeping me company--my trusty Sirius radio. Listening to Alex Bennett (Sirius Left) and an otherworldly discussion on the merits of Michelle Obama's badonka donk, they redeemed themselves by playing some acoustic Amy Winehouse.


In spite of--or sadly, because of--her much-storied personal struggles, she still ranks up there as one of the singular talents of her day. My fear is that, like Billy Holiday, she'll be gone too soon. Still, when I listen to her sing, I think about my mother, who, though still at the beginnings of her life as a woman, loved Billy's ageless voice. Here's a sample:


Beneath their personal dramas that played/are playing out in the tabloids, these women suggest a vital link to my business life: Each in her own way, they crafted their own, singular sound...and sang it. Looking forward to next year and the current climate of fear and scarcity that abounds, I'm struck by the opportunity to, like them, further explore my singular sound--really find it--and sing it to those people whose ears are attuned to listen.

The work of working and living "Like Nobody's Business" isn't as easy as it might seem.

Monday Morning Melodies -- Tribute to Isaac Hayes

This week isn't starting off well. First, it was Bernie Mac and now we find that we've lost Isaac Hayes. He died Sunday afteroon after collapsing in his home.

Mr. Hayes was known for his sulty baritone, smoking orchestration and driving beats on such tunes as "The Theme from Shaft."

Here's a sample of what made him great.

Travel safely home, Black Moses. We'll see you on the other side.

 

There Are Things Bigger than Us All

I saw this and couldn't stop weeping at the love and faith of these men and this big cat.



This is just right on so many levels.

Wonder If He Got a Gold Pen (or a gold mine): Bill Gates Retires from Microsoft

Today marks Bill Gates' last day in his office digs at Microsoft. And while he will continue on as advisor and Board Convener (if we can add EVOO to the lexicon because Rachael Frelling Ray uses it over an over and over, we can come up with gender-neutral language), he'll focus his energies on his foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A Computer in Every Home

Gates et al (see the picture of the original 11 Microsoft employees) didn't create the personal computer. However, their efforts were energized by their commitment to have a PC in every home. Mr. Gates wanted to facilitate communication between computers so that they spoke a common language and could easily pass information from one computer to another. Decades later, this vision helped to inspire MIT's One Laptop Per Child project, which seeks to put a computer into the hands of the world's poorest children (see Seymour Papert's groundbreaking Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas).

The Evil Empire
Not so happily, Microsoft was involved in one of the largest anti-trust suits in the nation for its anti-competitive and exclusionary practices. In May 1998, the U.S. Justice Department charged Microsoft with having operating practices that helped it maintain its monopoly in personal computer operating systems and Internet browsing software. This from NPR:

"The evidence presented in court today demonstrates that Microsoft used its
massive monopoly power to harm competition and to harm consumers," said Joel
Klein, head of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, outlining the
government's case against the company in 1998.

In the HR world, Microsoft's use of its own recently-downsized staffers to return immediately to work...and do exactly what they'd been doing before, working in temp roles indefinitely, gave us a new term--"Permatemp"--and had HR departments scrambling to create policies to routinely release temps before they set down roots (or expectations) and limit their opportunities for direct hire.


Bill's Second Life


While he's ramping down from his former day job at Microsoft, Mr. Gates will shift his efforts so that he will be spending only one day a week at MS and the bulk of the rest of his time at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on eradicating poverty, illiteracy and diseases such as TB and malaria. And having traveled and consulted in malaria and AIDS riddled parts of southern Africa, I can tell you this: Maslow was right when he said that higher order needs become subsumed by efforts to handle lower order, hide-bound safety needs.

Africa and other parts of the developing world will simply not be able to add their unique contributions to the world if the people have to keep burying their children.

For all the promise and challenge of Mr. Gates' tenure at the helm of Microsoft, his has been a story of vision and passion.

Star Trek's Pevney Dies

The Trekkie in me mourns. Joseph Pevney, who directed some of the very best episodes of the original "Star Trek" has passed away on 18 May in his Plam Desert, California, home. He was 96.

"The Trouble With Tribbles"

In "Trouble" the Enterprise is infested with the cute, fuzzy vermin (who don't seem to like the Klingons).

"The City on the Edge of Forever"

In "City" Kirk and Spock travel back in time to the Depression.

Pevney directed episodes of such TV greats as "The Hulk" (OK, I have issues) and "Fantasy Island" (I really have issues).

The series, in its original run, was a failure. It was cancelled after three years and poor interest and has lived for the past 40 years in syndication, having spun off 5 additional series and eleven motion pictures, books, comics and games.

The series has taught me to fundamentally alter my relationship with failure.

Just Had a College Flashback

This revelation hurt almost as badly as learning several months ago that the inventor of Ramen noodles had passed away:

All Things Considered, March 4, 2008 · Imagine a mournful horn echoing across thousands of fantasy worlds: E. Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, died Wednesday morning. He was 69.

Listen Now to the NPR report.

I remember holing up in the Off Campus Student lounge at Purdue on Sunday evenings with a character, some dice and several people--many of whom I wouldn't recognize in daylight.

I'll miss you, Gary G. What an incredible contribution to collaboration and imagination.

Naked Air Flight 402

OK, before I head off to get some other work done, I just had to post this. Actually, I didn't have to...

A German travel agency has begin offering nude flights (note: not swinger's flights) from Germany to Travel agency. OssiUrlaub.de has already start taking bookings for a "trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing $735."

And I thought offering in-flight cellphone use was going way out there!

The Grammys--God Love 'Em

I didn't watch the Grammys this year. I found myself tad bit burned out from the Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday CNN Marathon I participated in. OK, I got a little carried away. Still, I was very heartened to learn that two music greats, Herbie Hancock and Angelique Kidjo won.

Grammys Shine on Winehouse, West, Hancock - British singer Amy Winehouse, of "Rehab" fame, wins five Grammy Awards. Rapper Kanye West wins four. But Herbie Hancock's Joni Mitchell tribute -- River -- is the surprise winner for album of the year.

If you don't know Herbie Hancock's work, you'll remember his jazz-hiphop tune, Rockit, which, coupled with its stunning video, has become one of the best known jazz pieces in popular culture. It's the tune that backs up the Visa Check Card commercial where the presence of a check (gasp!) winds down all the hip hopping shoppers.

The video, made when Herbie was entering his 40's, set the video music industry on its left ear.

Covers are hard, particularly if the cover artist just creates a verbatim send-up of the original. Angelique, a singer from Benin, did something great with her cover years ago of Jimi Hendrix' classic, Voodoo Chile with her Afrobeat rendition. I was flipping channels on my way to the kitchen during a commercial break when I found her on a PBS special. I stook there with the remote in my hand and my mouth hanging open.

Jimi, I think, would smile and say "Now, that's f-ing something."

What I find so very very nice about these artists and the videos presented here is the quality of staying power they represent: Herbie's Rockit is just as hip today as it was in 1983 and Jimi's Voodoo Chile stands the test of time and culture. Leaves me wondering how enduring some of the brands we see today are.

As a side note: Amy Winehouse, whose ditty Rehab was just too prescient, got a pass from rehab to attend the festivities remotedly.

(Cross posted at American Values Alliance)

Sony Bravia Ad -- Very Nice

Don't even know what I was supposed to be doing when I stumbled in this Sony Bravia ad.

Still. Damn!



Can anybody tell me what the deal is with the clown making a clean getaway? He looks a little, um, sinister.

Early Mentor Passes Away

I have been trying for quite some time to get a letter back to Dr. Mose Tjiterdero, the Namibian House Speaker who encouraged me to "stop playing it safe" and start my long dreamt-of company when I returned to American after a summer in his country. The recent article from my hometown newspaper spurred me to again try to reach him. Today, I found out why he was so difficult to reach: he'd unexpectedly passed away.

Still, his influence touches me. When I insisted I didn't know enough to start a company, he casually asked me if I knew what his occupation was before becoming House Speaker: He was an educator with no government experience and least of all, no legislative experience. He told me that when tasked, we find we already have what we need.

And I did.

Queen Bassist Made Chancellor

You know how there were bands and artists from your youth that you followed throughout your life? For me, one was Queen. Fat Bottom Girls, Bohemian Rhapsody and all the rest were anthems to me. Almost orchestral, with lyrics that had me looking stuff up in the enclopedia (Scaramouche, like Freddie, was "born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad") I remember where I was when I hear that Freddie Mercury has died and it struck me more than the passing of John Lennon or Elvis Presley.


Now, Queen's guitarist, Brian May has continued to amaze me. Before joining the group in 1970, May had completed a Baccalaurate degree in science (with honors) had already started work on a PhD at the Imperial College London departments of Physics and Mathematics, "studying reflected light from interstellar dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System." Um, damn!

Yesterday, it was announced that he had been selected Chancellor for Liverpool John Moores University, succeeding Cherie Blair (wife of the former PM).

He's written Bang! The Complete History of the Universe and a host of scholarly articles in astrophysics.

Certainly May and Queen have challenged conventional wisdom. They're role models to me of working from a uniquely inspiring vision and having at it!

Innovative Leader Dies

Body Shop Founder, Green Movement Pioneer, Dies -
Body Shop founder Anita Roddick died of a brain hemorrhage Monday. Ms. Roddick started the environmentally friendly cosmetics boutique in 1976, long before the green movement became mainstream. She didn't wait for her marketing division to tell her that there were imminent profits to be had before doing what she believed was right.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven called Roddick an "incredible woman" who would be "sorely missed."

"She was so ahead of her time when it came to issues of how business could be done in different ways, not just profit-motivated but taking into account environmental issues," Sauven said. "When you look at it today, and how every company claims to be green, she was living this decades ago."

Love...Hope...Family...Pride

I was just listening to more news from NPR (which I keep running as the soundtrack of my business day) about the collapse of the mortgage finance market, and was just about filled to the brim with cynicism. Following a link to TED, I found this amazing artist. We I wind down my business day, I thought I'd share it with you.

He runs through a three song set with about as much fire and sweetness as one person can. A South African, he's managed to keep his sould while generating songs that have become anthems. I was in Namibia for several months just after apartheid fell (yes, there was a Namibia pre-Angelina) and took weeks for me to get the funk off of me so I stopped eyeing my fellow man and women with some measure of fear.

Don Heckman of the LA Times writes that "Despite the fact that his songs are frequently filled with political subtext and despite his personal familiarity with the horrors of apartheid, his performances are optimistic and soulful, delivered with an intensity that captures the attention and embraces the heart."

I'll say.

He sings about love, hope, family and pride--all the things I have at stake in the development of my business. You probably have some pretty heady stuff at stake, too.

My Darling OQO Has a Wart!

Weekend before last, I got to hang with my extended family: Garland; his cousins, who I just met; my friend Gigi (Garland's first wife), her gentleman friend; Addai (Garland's oldest) and his wife, Egem. We'd gotten together in Chicago the night before to see stepdaughter Shani's Broadway debut in The Color Purple.

She was amazing.

Anyway, before I start waxing braggadocios about that girl, let me get back to the piece that's critically important: Addai's OQO US Model 02 (and yes, I've got issues!). As it turns out, Egem, his wife of less than a year, had ordered one for him and he wanted to show it to me. As I held it in my hands and looked at it with shining eyes, he explained how he had it set up to "talk" to his desktop computer at his SOHO...How it was easier to carry and that it was a dream to use...How he'd upgraded the hardware to better serve his needs.



I could hear angels singing. That is, until I tried using the mouse. It was waaay over on the right hand side. No matter what I did, I couldn't easily get my left thumb over there. Forget using my right thumb. I just didn't have the fine motor control (you try using your other hand to mouse over to something before you scratch your noggin and mutter at your screen). Other than the fact that they'd set up the form factor for a right-handed populace, it was perfection itself.

Of, of course, I wrote to the people who'd created the object of my lustful tech affection. Here's what I wrote (with shaking fingers) to the good people at OQO:

I was so excited I was almost giddy when a family member showed me his OQO model 2. I'd been following the OQO's for months and was convinced that I would replace my company laptop with one when it came time.

You can't imagine my surprise and disappointment when I learned that the mouse was on the right hand side. I am one of the estimated 8.4 million left-handers on planet Earth (14% in the general population...more when you consider Asian populations or creative professionals which tend to have higher instances of left-handedness than in the general population). Using the trackball mouse was torture. Try switching the mouse buttons on your computer and then putting your mouse on the left. It will take about 30 seconds to see what I mean and, more than likely, you'll use your right hand to use the mouse on the left side. This is what I ended up doing: putting the machine down and using my left hand to use the mouse button. Frustrating and unnecessary.

Nick Merz, your VP of Design should have known better than to design a product that so obviously excludes roughly 14% of the possible market share for this subnotebook market. Please centrally locate the mouseball on the keyboard. I will purchase one immediately.

Period.

Now, I don't expect to hear from these good people beyond the automated response and I don't think for a moment that they'll change the button placement after hearing from little ole me. But I can hope.

What's interesting is how we approach offerings like this. They don't come out and say that this product is for right-handed people only. They don't even offer an easy workaround (not even for more money). This kind of thing leaves me wondering: What are we thinking with respect to who our customers are. I don't reckon that OQO decided to make a product that's hard for leftys to use. I think it didn't cross their radar. Also, looking at the people who were doing the product reviews, I noted that they were all right-handed men.

What's this all mean? Heck if I know. I just want one.

TEDGlobal talks premiere online

I got this from the TEDTalks people. Worth a read (and a looksie).

Dear TEDizens,

I'm pleased to tell you that today we're premiering the first online talks from this summer's extraordinary TEDGlobal: "Africa: The Next Chapter." The talks from the conference have been buzzed about around the blogosphere, and we're thrilled now to offer them as they happened.

Whether or not you were with us in Arusha, you will want to check these out ... and then join the exhilarating conversation taking place about Africa's brighter future.

Four talks to kick things off:

Euvin Nadoo set the scene on day one, describing a continent poised to light up.

George Ayittey roused the audience, alternating from lacerating criticism of Africa's "hippo generation" to an inspiring appeal for the "cheetah generation" to rise.

Ngozi Okono-Iweala, the final speaker, provided a tour-de-force, telling powerful personal stories and showing how the different pieces of the aid vs trade argument, which had animated the conference all week, could be reconciled.

And 19-year-old William Kamkwamba won a standing ovation for his shy 3-minute interview, revealing how as a 14-year-old he had solved his parents' energy needs in a village with no electricity.

Over the coming months we'll continue to release ever more of these talks. These represent just the tip of the iceberg...

All best,

Chris Anderson, TED Curator
Emeka Okafor, Conference Director,
TEDGlobal

CNN Weighs in on the Presidential Debates with YouTube

Although it was a little like Presidential Debate meets American Idol, the first CNN YouTube debate wasn't as dreadful as I'd feared. In case you've been living under a stone, the questions came from the electorate (they were very direct) and the answers came from the candidates (they weren't quite as consistently direct) and was moderated by preternaturally pretty Anderson Cooper (he's kind of vampire prince handsome). At the end, we--the plucky viewers--are supposed to write in with our votes for the "winner" at CNN.com.

Do you think this debate will change the face of the presidential election? Further, what impact do you think this new format (clearly a winner in its own right) will impact business communications? How?

LNB #044: Where is a Mirror a Doorway?

Only in our fevered imaginations.

While on vacation, I observed my expensive (but not very bright) purebred cat checking out her temporary new digs. She touched everything in the hotel room and got poleaxed at the full-length mirror. Believing it to be a doorway to a magical new world, she began frantically digging for gold on the face of the mirror. Every few minutes all through the evening, she'd stop and gaze longingly at that mirror, expecting it to become something else.

Don't giggle at my simple beast: we do this all the time.

Expecting that mirror to really be a doorway, we...

• Try to retain problem employees (when we know they'll never work out),
• Pretend that our horrible jobs will be wonderful tomorrow (with exactly the same boss and business culture as before),
• Expect that a flawed business partnership will turn itself around (when we know that a little more pressure should set off even more pyrotechnics),
• and much more.

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? Several reasons. We find it hard to tell the "stank nekkid truth" to ourselves and others, instead pretending that we can put lipstick on that pig and pretend it's Nicole Kidman. In other cases, we're too into it to be able to judge whether we've gone beyond what a reasonable person would take (or do). Getting another head involved can provide the perspective you need to see things more clearly. Finally, we get so invested in forcing and outcome and making it work that we lose track of the end-game--what we're really up to.

Now, where are you treating a mirror like a doorway to that glorious new (but entirely fictional) dimension in your business dealings?

Listen Now: 14:52

"It's Not the Book that's Finished..." Beverly Sills

One of the most miraculous people I've ever had the privilege to see in my early life was Beverly Sills, an opera star, who passed into Glory earlier this week. She was just as comfortable on stage at the Met as in a comedy skit with Carol Burnett.

Her life is a testament to doing what you love with grace and passion.

In an age of divas, she simply wasn't one. Look at her sing with her hands gracefully resting on her dear friend's shoulders while he played. I remember watching her every time she hit the airwaves (quite a departure from the funk and punk scene I so loved). I could never get out of my head how joyful she looked.

In her last concert she said "It's not the book that's finished: there's just a new chapter." I'm sure her new chapter is filled with the music of the spheres.

My surest wish is that I approach my business and my life with half the love and passion she lived her life with.

Sing sweetly into that good night, dear lady.