Have you ever thought about how much data is generated for consumption on the internet? To be honest, I have a hard time comprehending these numbers: Try 988 billion Gigabytes of digital information, all created by the end of 2010. This includes user-generated content by some “1.6 billion internet users.” (See “How much data do we generate?”. Also check out the running counter here).

In addition to the digital content that we generate for consumption on the web, consider all of the data that is generated for science, engineering, finance … and so forth. For example, according to an InformationWeek article, research at CERN’s new Hadron Collider will produce “roughly 15 million Gigabytes of data annually.” Think about the implications for storage and bandwidth. It’s amazing.

Rick

Photo: bionicteaching

Yesterday I attended the Crystal Classic Show Choir contest in Fairfield, Ohio.  (I had a great time, but that is another post). It was a 90 minute drive each way which allowed me time to listen to a few presentations from TED.   One that hit the mark for me was a recent presentation by James Cameron. It was excellent and had me scrambling to take notes:). Before I share a couple of my thoughts on this, I recommend you listen to this one:

- Far too many people do not accomplish their dreams. Perhaps the most significant barriers are self-imposed. Yes, society and those around you may tell you that ‘you can’t', but the reality is that we usually limit ourselves. Mr. Cameron’s curiosity lead him to live his dreams. He asked questions, then followed the path that ensued to live his passion.

This reminds me of Gary Vaynerchuk’s comments about ‘listen to your gut’ and that you ‘don’t have to settle.’ See his book: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion (affiliate link).

- Speaking about not putting limits on yourself, he said that you should, “take risk”.  He spoke of NASA’s “Failure is not an option” philosophy and said that, “failure has to be an option” if we are going to take a “leap of faith”.  He said, “failure is an option, but fear is not.”

Failure is a great teacher; pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on. Taking the approach that failure is not an option kills innovation. More on that in a future post.   

- Mr. Cameron talked about trying to ‘understand the world and the limits of possibilities’. Instead of looking for why you can’t, ask what you want to achieve and how you go about it. 

- I enjoyed his comments about creating technology to make his dream happen. He was speaking about the need for new technology to make his dream happen when exploring ‘the deep’.  Listen, you may not create ‘new technology’, but you may need to innovate and re-engineer how you go about your life and your business. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the walls of your current life in your effort to live your dream.

- He said, “Curiosity it he most powerful thing you own; imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality. I love how he did this … you can too.

Perhaps technology has robbed us of ‘creativity’ and ‘dream’ time. Turn off the TV and find time to dream and consider goals and possibilities.

- On leadership, Mr Cameron said that he learned the importance of respecting your team. He said that this respect is more important than all of the laurels of the world. 

What did you take from his presentation? 

Rick

Over the weekend, I listened to the latest ecorner podcast (Standford University Entrepreneurship Center). The speaker was Steve Case, the founder, former CEO and Chairman of America Online (AOL). He is currently the CEO of Revolution, a holding company that helps build companies. Mr. Case’s spoke about three keys to be a successful entrepreneur: People, Passion and Perseverance. I believe these are not only key to entrepreneurs, but to businesses of all sizes. Here are a few of my thoughts:

People: In the book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t (affiliate link), Jim Collins points out that “leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with “where” but with “who”. They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” (You can read more here).

I remember the 1st time I read Mr. Collins ‘bus’ analogy. It hit me between the eyes. I was in the middle of a management, pursuing an MBA. A few years earlier, in one of my first management assignments, I feel into the trap of thinking that I could ‘fix’ a problem employee. I tried, but was not successful. In the end, I had to let him go. He did not belong on the bus. As is often the case, he found a job that was prefect for him.

By the time I was in this class, I had managed for a few years, but was facing a similar situation with an employee that was not meeting expectations. I am a big believer in coaching employees, but there are times where you need to face reality and recognize those that do not belong on the bus, as well as those that are in the wrong seat. It is not fair to ignore the problem: it is not fair for the organization as a whole, other team members and the employee. Deal with it. 

We often say that the most important asset for any company is people. The reality is the most important asset is ‘the right people‘. People will make or break your team and your company.  Get the right people in the right seats: that can make a big difference. It can be the difference between success and failure for your venture.

Passion:  While I was in the gym today, I listed to a another ecorner podcast (I am a little behind). The speaker was William Hagstrom, CEO of Cresendo Bioscience. He spoke of an experience that occurred when he was working for a large corporation where he ran a large $1B division of a $6B company.  He was attending a meeting with a group of sales executives. As part of the discussion, Mr. Hagstrom expended a great deal of energy trying to persuade the leadership team that they need to move in a different direction. During the next break, one of the participants commented to Mr Hagstrom, “It’s just a job, it’s not a crusade.” This turned out to be an important moment for Mr Hagstrom. It changed the direction of is life and career.

How do you feel about your ‘work’? Is it just a ‘job’?  I can recognize passionate in a few minutes. Passionate people are infectious. They tend to energize a team. They care, but more than care, they are energized and engaged. To them it is not a job, it is a crusade. 

If you want to be successful, do the stuff that you are passionate about and hire passionate people. Start a crusade.

Perseverance: Newt Gingrich was reported to have said, “Perseverance is the hard work you do have you get tired of doing the work you already did.” Starting a new venture, running a business, being a parent … it all takes effort. If you want to generate long-term results, you will have to persevere. You have to endure.

Note: Had I written this a few years ago, I would have said that you should ‘never give up’. There is a difference between ‘giving up’ and ‘moving on’. I recommend reading Chris Brogan comments: Never Give UP- No, Give Up. Even better, after your read his blog post on this, read Seth Godin’s book,  The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (affiliate link). Both offer some excellent advice. 

In conclusion, if you want to be successful in your endeavors, remember these keys: People, passion and perseverance. 

Your comments welcome!

Rick

Yes, Google has launched a new social media platform called Buzz:). I know, you have heard all about it. In fact, maybe you are tried of hearing about it. Well, have you heard the legal buzz about Buzz?

Let’s back up a bit. Two days after the launch of Buzz, Todd Jackson, Product Manger for Gmail and Buzz wrote this in the gmail blog:

We’ve had plenty of feature requests, and some direct feedback. In particular there’s been concern from some people who thought their contacts were being made public without their knowledge (in particular the lists of people they follow, and the people following them). In addition, others felt they had too little control over who could follow them and were upset that they lacked the ability to block people who didn’t yet have public profiles from following them.  {The italics were added by me for editorial purposes}

I am sure many people were caught by surprise when their contact were made public. That would be a bit upsetting. How could this happen?

Part of Google’s development process is to launch new products and then tweak the product based on user feedback. It is a crowdsourcing strategy that has generally served them well. Frankly, I like it, but not at the sacrifice of the consumer privacy.

Google now faces potential legal action. On Tuesday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.  A couple days ago I listened to Clayton Morris interview Daliah Saper (Today in Social Media #88). She is an Attorney that handles cases involving social media. Listen to the interview. It is very.

So, what do you think? Careless or just an oversight?

Rick

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Yes, that was the name of a edutainment computer game in the mid-80′s. A few years later, in the early to mid-90′s there was also a children’s television game show by the same name. Who cares, right?  Let me explain why we all care. 

Recently I was discussing the various social media platforms and their implications on marketing, advertising and culture with a good friend. We also discussed the future of social media. Twitter and Facebook are the ‘hot’ platforms today. Is Twitter a ‘fad’ or something more? Recent headlines certainly make it sound like Twitters growth may be slowing.

What is tomorrows hot platform? Predicting the future of technology is not easy, at least not if you try to be too specific.  If you look at the bigger picture and at major trends, it is much easier to see what is coming.

One social media trend to watch is ‘location awareness’. I have been experimenting with platforms such as  Foursquare. This service allows users to: 

” … ‘check-in’, which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we’ll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places – cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.

You’ll find that as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you’ll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you’ll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover which  Other popular platforms are adding simular capabilities. (More about Foursquare)

Other services are following adding like service. For example, Yelp now added a ‘check-in’ as an extension to the already popular service. Twitter added geotags this past fall and is now launching location-based trending topics.

If you think about it, adding location awareness makes great sense. Let me give an example that may make my point. This weekend, I listened to a radio show that originated in Pittsburgh (The American Entrepreneur via podcast). The host, Ron Morris, shared his experience from a recently meet-up with a group of followers (on-line followers that participate in the show via TalkShoe).  I have seen this many times – groups that meet on-line tend to become a ‘community’ and a ‘live’ meeting usually occurs at some point. We are social creatures and we don’t just want to know what you are doing, we want to know where you are and if you are close.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Of course, you also have to think about the applications of this technology for advertising. It may seem intrusive, but it certainly is intriguing.

Rick

Have you ever thought about the cost of disorganization? Seriously, have you ever considered the cost to look for that misplaced document, deal with all of those useless emails, and handle endless interruptions? The reality is that the cost to your business is significant. More importantly, you can do something about it. 

That was the message at the New Media Dayton meet-up on Saturday afternoon. I was very impressed by Lori Firsdon and Barbara Warner of Encore Speaks!. The material was top quality! Being organized builds a sense of control, and improved productivity. It sure made me think about the ‘stuff’ I keep that I don’t really need. I mean, if that pile of magazines was to disapear, would I miss it?

So, what does it cost your business? If your employees annual salary is $40,000, an hour of nonproductive (email, interruptions, searching for lost ‘stuff’, etc), cost your business about $5,000 each year. An hour a day … that happens all the time.

One of my goals out of this meeting is to remove some of the clutter in my life. I have magazines that I have still not been able to move to my Kindle. Sometimes I get behind on my reading. When this happens, they begin to pile up. The question from the meeting was, “What happens if they were to go away? I plan to toss them .. in the trash if I have not read them in a week. Seriously, at that point it is old news. Of course, there is other clutter .. I need to deal with all of it.

I recommend Encore Speaks!. No, I am not getting a kickback for this recommendation. I recognize value and believe this material can be of benefit to most of us.

Rick

What is holding you back from achieving your dreams? Fear and self-imposed limitations often keep individuals from achieving great things. Sometimes seeing someone else reaching for the ‘impossible’ inspires greatness. Perhaps ‘impossible’ is just a state of mind. Check out this video from the July 2009 TED conference.  What’s holding you back?  

Rick

I read an interesting article in InformationWeek today. You can check it out yourself: “7 Things Microsoft Must Do In 2010“. The author, Paul McDougall, begins the article by noting that “… 2009 was a tough [year] for Microsoft. Overall sales slumped, and the core franchises like Office and Windows were hit doubly hard.”  The trend on the OS side of the business is nothing new. Gregg Keizer reported in COMPUTERWORLD that, while Windows 7 is making strong gains, the overall market share for Windows OS was down for the the last eight consecutive months of 2009.  It is interesting to note that rival desktop operating systems were flat while mobile operating systems picked up those losses.

Think about this for a minute: Microsoft still controls over 92% of the OS market. That is amazing. As a point of reference, Apple’s OS X share is only 5.1%. I guess having 92% of the market is part of the problem. Of course, the trend is alarming (at least if you work at Microsoft, or like me, you are a shareholder). Google, while a recent entry to the market, is aggressive and seems to be willing to ‘buy’ share.

Let’s bring some perspective to the conversation. In a quarterly investor presentation, Microsoft reported revenue for various business units as follows:

*Includes adjustment of $1.5 billion Windows 7 diferrals

A significant portion of the revenue for ‘Entertainment and Devices’ was reportedly generated by Halo. Windows 7.0 is generating new business, but much of that is conversation form XP or Vista.

What should Microsoft do? I am not going to list all of the suggestion made by Mr. McDougall. I agree with most of his ideas. For example, he suggest that they discontinue the Zune. I tend to agree. It is a distraction (sorry Zune fans).

Given the likelihood of lost revenues from OS and business software, Microsoft needs to find other sources of revenue.  Perhaps, as the author suggest, they finally acquire Yahoo. Perhaps it is a also a combination of services, new game-changing products and advertising.  Can they do it? It should be exciting – and it will definalty be a case study for a future MBA class or two.

So, what do you think? What would you do?

Rick

I read a recent Fast Company article about Apples decision to censor apps that relate to the Dalai Lama in China. Many of you will likely remember that in October of 2009, Apple pullled out of the US Chamber of Commerce because the Chamber had been critical of plans for reducing U.S.greenhouse-gas emissions.  Kit Eaton, author of the first article noted that apple has enjoyed a ‘rosy-tinted PR glow’. Does this decision change your view of Apple?  Are these decisions consistent?

I am not going to use this blog to rant or otherwise pontificate regarding my political views. Those close to me know my conservative viewpoint.  What I would like to consider here is how leaders make decisions. 

Apples decision regarding pulling out of the U.S. Chamber appears to be consistent with their publicly stated environmental and sustainability policy.  Like many other companies, Apple has found that being ‘green’ can be ‘green’ (as in, it can make economic sense to use environmental friendly policies. Just look at some of the news in 2009).

Regarding the decision to censor the Dalai Lama, I suspect they made this much like Google, Yahoo , Facebook and others. If you want to do business in China and access this large, and potentially lucrative marketing, you have to dance with Chinese authorities.

Leaders have to make many decisions. Some of these decision are easy, while many are difficult. As a leader, you hope that you make decision that will have a positive long-term impact on stakeholders. There are many economic considerations in decision making, but also ethical and moral factors.  Perhaps a long-term view is responsible for the Apple decision regarding China. Arguably, technology has the ability to spread information, knowledge and even economic prosperity. Is accessing the Chinese market worth a compromise? If, in the long-term, the compromise brings more human rights to China, does that make it ‘right’ in the short-term? I am certain that most people would see this a giving in just to access the market and increase revenues. What do you think?    

RickTechnorati Tags: technology, china

In June of 2005 Steve Jobs delivered the commencement address at Stanford. I keep a copy on my laptop and read it now and then. It’s not that I think of him as a role model. His leadership style is very different than mine. He shared three stories from his life to make the following points:

1) Connect the dots: Live is not always easy to read. Be patient and ‘connect the dots’ of your experience. Jobs said,  “… you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”  Sometimes we get too caught up in all of the ‘noise’. Be patient and connect the dots!

2) Love and life: What is it that you are passionate about? Jack Welch talks about knowing what ‘turns your crank’. For Steve Jobs it was technology, specifically computers.  It’s that ‘thing’ that you are passionate about. Find it and take a ride. Jobs said, “You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”  That’s really important .. don’t settle!

3) Jobs reference a quote he remembered from early in his life: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” He went on to say, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”  Very well said.

Jobs closing comment came from the back cover of the final issue of ‘The Whole Earth Catalog”. It said: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”.  Perhaps when we were ‘young’, we just don’t know any better. To the outsider it looked like foolishness. The reality is that we were not fettered by the limitations that we accept as we age. Can you bring back the hunger and restore some ‘foolishness’? I think so. Connect the dots in life, find your passion and don’t settle!