myview

SOBCon07 Speaker: Mike Sansone, CEO of Converstations

Build relationships and create long-lasting friendships is the reason everyone should attend SOBCon07 according to Mike Sansone, CEO of Converstations in his conversation with myself and Mike Wagner.

Mike  was our guest Thursday in our SOBCon07 Speaker Series podcast. Mike Wagner, CEO of White Rabbit Group and I interviewed Mike about his plans for speaking at the upcoming SOBCon07 event in Chicago, May 11 - 12.

Listening...is why he's attending. He plans to go and learn from all the other great bloggers. That's saying something coming from such a passionate exponent of blogging as Mike. 'Course that's how you build relationships and create long-lasting friendships.

There's more to Mike's very articulate discussion of his passion for blogging, what he hopes to learn, the people he's looking forward to meeting, Christine Kane's music. All that.

( You can subscribe to the podcast with the link in the graphic to the right. Here's the MP3 if you want to listen to it right now or download manually for later listening.)

It was difficult interviewing Mike Sansone. Why? Mike's so CONTAGIOUS. His term. But it's so accurate. His enthusiasm and energy and creativity and passion for all things blogging and connecting is...CONTAGIOUS.  And we end up free-forming, blue-skying, coming up with all kinds of ideas...and then you add Mike Wagner, who's a champion of ideas and creativity and getting people engaged and excited...whew. We kept it under control.

Build relationships and create long-lasting friendships. And that's what blogging really is all about. And that's what SOBCon07  is all about.

Employee Snitches

You know the ones I'm talking about. They're the adult version of the kids that always ran to the teacher to succor the teacher's support, gain priviledges undeserved, and the teacher unwittingly created a divide within the classroom losing the trust of the students.

Patterns learned in grade school...

We've turned all that on its head here in the company. Here's how:

I actively seek snitches. I tell everyone I'm looking for snitches. Tell on each other. The catch is...I want to know what GREAT things people have accomplished...things I've missed completely or overlooked or forgotten. AND...I'm going to share these stories each month...right in front of everyone...and I'm going to tell who told me those stories as well.

It's a corporate version of Becky McCray's Brag Basket. (Becky blogs at SmallBizSurvival.)

And anyone can join in or add stories of recent victories.

And every other month...I'll be quiet and let everyone else snitch, right there, right in front of everyone on their colleagues. 

The dynamic is the same as with tattle-tales exposed to the group. First one story, then their story back at the first person, then another...with  a key difference...it was  oh yeah?...well, you did [insert something amazing, helpful, beyond the call of duty, made-my-day] so-and-so and such-n-such....We spent half of y'day's meeting sharing little stories of victories, great and small, some already known, some newly recognized. It became a feeding frenzy...of positive reinforcement and recognition of a job well done, done by all.

I'm a firm believer in celebrating successes...big or small, yours or someone else's. It's a choice, really, of you want to spend your day. Me? I'd rather spend it talking about victories. There are always plenty of failures to learn from in growing, innovation, daily life, our competitive world. I don't worry that be spending time celebrating what's good with each other, how we've helped each other, what moments of inspiration we brought...that somehow we'll lose our edge or stop learning from our mistakes.

What's too often missing are people willing to look silly and superficial...not serious as I've been called...by celebrating a victory or a success or a huge accomplishment or a small step of progress. Gotta do it. It's deserved. If the learning lessons are deserved...then so is the celebration when you reach a goal.

I can only barely describe the smiles and enthusiasm as everyone left the meeting celebrating each other, where they work, how they help each other, the boost in their self-esteem and what they look forward to in the future.

Be a leader; be a degenerate

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. -Peter Drucker

Link/quote from Bob Walsh, ToDoOrElse.

Lights Out for Climate Change in Sydney

Outback darkhorse at Daily Grist blog showcases the efforts of Sydney, Australia in managing climate change.

Last month, Australian officials announced that traditional incandescent light bulbs would be phased out by 2010 and replaced by compact fluorescents and other efficient lighting technologies...[And] this Saturday, bulbs across the city will be going dark for one hour. More than 30,000 Sydney households and 1,000 businesses have pledged to turn off their lights at 7:30 p.m.

Sydney's a great city. Very fun, creative, energetic, innovative. This only reinforces this very pleasant and accurate stereotype of the city. 

Maple Syrup to Make BioPlastics

Must be a theme this week. Thursday is my day to riff on innovation. I turned to my feeds today on 'social change'. And up pops the most recent post from TreeHugger blog called Using Maple Syrup to Make BioPlastics.

"We're not talking about plastic to replace the petroleum industry, we're talking about biopolymers with unique applications in the food and medical industry," says Jalal Hawari, a senior researcher at Canada's National Research Council.

The implications, he adds, are potentially enormous to an industry with vast potential for expansion and far more supply than it can sell.

They're biodegradeble, too.

As long as there's enough for my maple syrup on pancakes and waffles, I'm ok with this diversion...

Biodegradeable Batteries Powered by...Sugar

As we move sugar out of our diets we can move it in to the batteries we use for our portable electronics. According to an article in the Environmental Protection newsletter:

Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri said they have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source -- from soft drinks to tree sap -- and has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium ion batteries.

Oh. And the battery would be biodegradeable unlike the amounts stored in that tube by my belt.

Innovation. Now it's good for the waistline, too.

Developing a Culture of Innovation

Here's video interviews with 5 executives that discuss how they encourage innovation.

My favorite was with Ariane de Bonvoisin, CEO of The First 30 Days, talks about the way that comparison and second guessing a decision kills innovation. Yes, it does.

Inspiration Can Come From Anywhere

I mean anywhere. Renuka Rayasam at Small Biz Scene writes An Unlikely Entrepreneurial Inspiration:

Toilet paper seems like an odd inspiration for a company, but it's what started Tamara Monosoff on the path to becoming an entrepreneurial mom....

When her first daughter started pulling toilet paper off rolls, and Monosoff got an idea for an invention that would prevent it...

Good story. Good reminder that inspiration for innovation comes from anywhere. AND...it's the hard work, determination to work through failures that brings this inspiration from 'clever idea' to 'money-making idea'.

Radio Options

While mainstream broadcast radio pins its hopes on digital-radio (as if listening to hits of the 80's-90's and today would be more interesting with crystal clear lyrics...) others are out innovating listening experiences customers want. (By coincidence, these innovators are the ones growing...)

Pandora, LastFM.com, Napster and slacker evaluate your musical tastes, then serve up a continuous stream of programming to match. They mix familiar songs with new material you might like. They all do it by harnessing the technological forces of social networking, data mining and music analysis, though each uses a slightly different technique...A Radio Station Just for You.

My favorite remains Pandora. It never ceases to amaze me what they offer, how they offer it, how they ceaselessly improve it, provide more content...and how easy and clear are their layouts and functions. The content they provide on each song...amazing.

Here's my Pandora Profile. It leans a little towards the r&b, soul and blues. Hey. If that's what moves ya, let it groove ya.

Blogging is about power,...

and shifting it from them to you.

That's the sole sentence in the 2nd paragraph of Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them by Bob Walsh, managing partner for Safari Software.

Let's read that sentence again: Blogging is about power, and shifting it from them to you.

BAM! I love that sentence. That's why the number of blogs are doubling every 5 months. Blogging starts the shift of power from institutions to individuals. Hell yeah, it's chaos and anarchy at times. And ain't that great! Look what it's done! Given everyone a voice that can be heard around the world before they turn off their lights and shuffle off to bed after posting a rave, a rant, a question, a story, a request for help...all in their voice about what matters to them. And lo and behold, writing in relative silence they find others, a few, then hundreds or millions of people with the same concerns or different ones or conflicting ones...WOW!

Bob continues with: Blogging is all about attention, and attention is the coin of the blogging realm. True.

I've read 7 pages from this book, Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them by Bob Walsh, and I love it. What's got me even more anxious to skip through the book are all the bloggers he's profiled, interviewed and screen-shot their site to share in his book. (Warning: we're one of  the bloggers profiled. That's how I find out about Bob and his blog and his company. And I found out his book was published when I saw his online profile updated with the news. )

Get the book. Tell Bob we said 'hi'. It's not a secret code for a purchase discount. Just a friendly thing to do.

WOMBAT #3: April 16 - 17, New Orleans

WOMMA's 3rd annual WOMBAT happens in New Orleans this year, April 17 - 18. And it looks like an even greater event than WOMBAT's 2 and 3. Here's why:

Great Keynotes:

* Chip Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die" (It's a great book. I'm reading it now. And my copy was free as a member benefit from WOMMA. )

* Dave  Wineberger: Blogger and author, articulate and honest rebel. He's a great, great speaker.

A Day of Case Studies. (Hooray. Finally...)

* Day Two is devoted to WOM Case Studies. Thanks in great part to WOMMA's efforts, we've all got the power of word-of-mouth. Now...WOMMA is pushing the discussion one step further with case studies...the application of WOM...by real companies.

New Orleans in Spring.

Link reminder of this event from Jackie Huba, current Board member of WOMMA, at her post Next WOMMA conference is coming up. She's got a special code to use when you register. It'll save you some money.

Jackie and all the board members deserve a ton of credit along with the staff at WOMMA for taking this event and the development of Word-of-mouth one step further with this event's great keynotes, great case studies and...great food. Were it not for a scheduling conflict, I'd attend.

Death threats to bloggers?

One of my all-time favorite bloggers is Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users (aka Headrush...love that name). At anytime, night or day, I can turn to her blog for inspiring, motivating, hopeful, clear, positive, solutions-oriented, outraging, creative, well-written with outstanding graphics, articulate, concise...content. Every post. I've never seen a filler post; never anything but thoroughly enlivening, uplifting, content. Day-in, day-out.

And for that she gets death threats...? Death Threats Against Bloggers are not Protected Free Speech. And they're from some leading bloggers and attached to their posts are vile photos?

A breeze over a shallow pond only stirs up tiny ripples of mud and sludge. . Kathy's content is just that: a powerful wave of innovation, and openness, and collaboration and clarity. She, her writing and speaking and leading, inspires others to connect and find their own brilliance and solutions and strive for reaching their goals. She brings truth to the Dilberts of corporate policymaking. And she's a woman; yep, that's how that gender thing works. And sadly in our day, that's how our gender thing works: for women who offer this...breath of fresh air for everyone...the sludge is stirred in the surroundings and they're rewarded with death threats and vile photos and giggles by those who post such filth.

It seems some bloggers have exceeded their depths to show us their true colors and post death threats and vile photos as the reward for her generosity of spirit and inspiration. And one seems to be a fellow leader at the blogher event. Definitely out of their pond...they should be helped to return.  For their sake, really.

Ms. Sierra. We've never met in person. Likely never will. That's too bad. Really. I understand completely. Support it. I understand if you choose never to write another blog post. Support that, too. I wouldn't be happy about it. Doubt others would as well. Some would, maybe. They'd consider it a victory, perhaps. In a sense, it would be. As much as I'm screaming in my head don't let the bastards get you down...it's a truism often ignored: Discretion is the better part of valor.  You've never offered a bad post. That makes me think you'll make the right decision for you, your family. And if you decide to disappear for awhile, I support it. I haven't read all your posts, yet. But after awhile...man, I'll miss your inspiration...Take care. 

PS: She keeps her comments and trackbacks open...

SOBCon07: Podcast Series with the Speakers

Liz Strauss and a merry band of forward thinking bloggers have created an event on May 11 - 12 in Chicago called the SOBCon07: Take Your Blogging to the Next Level.  It's a day-long event by bloggers for bloggers. It's a day-long conversation, a mastermind group of like-minded forward thinking bloggers, a public skateboard park but with bloggers helping-pushing-inciting each other to take their blog to the next level.

Besides the great speakers...the thing I like is there are no keynotes.  This isn't a top-down event where a few experts spoon-feed  content into a passive audience, most of whom will take notes and be awed by what they saw and forget most of it 'for they pack their bags for home. No. This event is bloggers helping bloggers. Bloggers speaking about blogging. Bloggers taking each others' blog to the next level by...peer2peer, person-to-person inspiration and examples and helping and inspiring and challenging. Kinda like a bunch of skateboarders as Mike Wagner, CEO of White Rabbit Group, described them.

I love it! It's what blogging and its community of passionistas are all about. Grassroots, DIY, helping the next guy, sharing their skills, sharing their techniques and resources and hints and just plain ol' support...a hand to hold when the lights go out temporarily on inspiration and motivation and raison d'etre.

Mike Wagner, CEO for White Rabbit Group, is a speaker at SOBCon07 .  Lucky for them. Mike's a great speaker and a great blogger. He asked me to interview about this event and his presentation.

Lucky for me!

Kinda scary too as Mike is the kind of person that incites crazy ideas that tend to freak people out (especially in established companies that don't realize their brand is a commodity now).  And I got to thinkin' (which is scary in itself sometimes...)...what if...Mike and I interviewed the whole bunch of skaters, I mean bloggers, who are presenting at SOBCon07? And...and...what if we created a podcast out of that series of interviews? That way....people could subscribe and have the interviews uploaded, as they're prepared, to their respective rss reader (mine's newsgator) or iTunes.

So we did. And here it is:

Here's the podcast feeds if you wish to subscribe with:

* iTunes

* RSS Readers

Visit the SOBCon07 site for the list of speakers we plan to interview. Here are the 2 interviews completed so far:

* Mike Wagner, CEO of White Rabbit and Own Your Brand blog

* Rodney Rumford, CEO of VideoSticky

(Click their names for the MP3 file to download or listen in streaming mode.)

Our next interview is tomorrow afternoon with Chriss Cree of SuccessCreeations. (Posted here and added to the feeds the following day.)

* Mike Sansone, Converstations fame, on March 29

* Starbucker, on April 3rd.

* And others as their schedule allows ( and...ahem...as they reply.)

Close Ties Between Doctors and Drug Manufacturers

In a nutshell here's but one of the curiosities of our current health care system: the close financial ties between doctors, research foundations and pharmaceutical companies that seek to earn billions from the successful marketing of their ever higher-priced drug creations.

Minnesota is the first of but a handful of states that have begun to require drug makers to disclose payments to doctors. Nothing like a clear window to show you what's going on inside...And as everyone in this cozy relationship have nothing to hide, it's all appropriate and patients are well-served when technically trained pharmaceutical research company representatives work with health care professionals to make sure medicines are used properly then it should be a celebration for the public to see how well they and their families have been served.

NY Times article link.

Middle-Class and Uninsured

HealthLawBlog offers this post: To Be Middle-Class and Uninsured. According to the article in the NY Times, Without Health Benefits, A Life Turns Fragile:

[T]he uninsured are not necessarily the poor, the unemployed and the undocumented. Solidly middle-class people like Ms. Readling are one of the fastest growing subgroups...

Today, more than one-third of the uninsured — 17 million of the nearly 47 million — have family incomes of $40,000 or more, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a nonpartisan organization. More than two-thirds of the uninsured are in households with at least one full-time worker.

And as HealthLaw blog points out, the lack of regular and routine treatment to chronic conditions only increases the costs...to everyone.

The principal's no different with your car. Take care of your car with regular maintenance and your car lasts longer, is safer and repairs are caught BEFORE they become expensive.

It's not rocket-science. Granted, it may appear callous to use that analogy. But..you take care of your body, it takes care of you.

We want universal health care coverage

HealthLawProf blog points to a recent article in the NY Times that reports:

A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it.

And he ends with this: [It] is good to have this issue on the frontburner - especially since life isn't getting any easier for the 47 million people without health insurance.

Yes it is; no, it's not. Yes, it's good to have this on the front-burner. No, life isn't getting any easier for people without health insurance.

Candidates Outline Ideas for Health Care

Candidates Outline Ideas for Health Care (Blog-friendly NY Times link)

Seven Democratic candidates for president promised Saturday to guarantee health insurance for all, but they disagreed over how to pay for it and how fast it could be achieved.

Of course, it's campaign speeches. Details, where specific, seem to change over time. On the other hand, the message is getting out, slowly, that a solution is needed for affordable health care.  And it's a good sign that more candidates are finally joining the conversation with something more than platitudes.

California's Identity Theft Starter-Kit

....wh-u-u-u-p-p-ps.

Vying for longest running internet breach ever...California secretary of state's Web site... had been posting uniform commercial code filings, which are voluntarily provided by banks, with "enough information to open a credit card in someone else's name." [State Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento] said the state was selling Social Security numbers for $6 each, an Internet connection, and a credit card. As a test, Jones bought 20 public records, 14 of which he said contained enough information to enable him to open credit cards in someone else's name, had he wanted to.

The state secretary of state, Debra Bowen, has said the 2 million files, which were available for at least three years, will be taken down until her office can figure out a way to hide all but the last four numbers of each person's Social Security number. She also says there have been no complaints of identity theft filed.

Yeah. And how many people know how their identity is stolen...There are so many ways to have it stolen, it's so difficult and time consuming to clean up the mess, and who would you tell anyway and for what purpose?

....wh-u-u-u-p-p-ps. If I was reading  this story as a news anchor would I add a laugh track or just silence...

Here's a tip for the Sec'y Bowen: Check your receipts from restaurants. You'll see the credit-card number has been x-'d out...except for the last 4-digits. That'll work.   And here's another novel idea: don't share social security numbers on web pages. At all. Not even the last 4 numbers. 

More coverage by Patricia Keefe at Information Week.

A Look At Planet Earth

The Discovery Channel and the BBC have create an 11-part series filmed in high-def titled Planet Earth. 

Go to the site at Discovery Channel. Roll your cursor over the scene until it rolls across the snow leopard center-lower right. Then click to see the video...breathtaking.

Bookmark this site. Show it to people when they talk about all the dangers on the internet...

As David Weinberger said in his keynote at the New Comm Forum...(paraphrasing, now) Have you ever seen anyone who's business card shows their title as Manager, World Wide Web? (Not even Al Gore claims that title...) And look what's been achieved when give people a resource and stay out of their way. This is but one example.

Stifling the Conversation: U of I Athletic Department Style

We have a mini-meme here today about storytelling, its power, what it means for upheaval within established institutions, what it means for connecting with communities.  University of Iowa Athletic Department under the visage of Gary Barta, its Director, has acknowledged in a backhanded way the power of storytelling among its most passionate members. According to a story I heard on Colin Cowherd's show on ESPN Radio this morning, they've acquired 6 of the domains with names related to the firing of their men's basketball and football coaches.  Mr. Barta has turned the phrase if you can't beat 'em, join 'em into if you can't give 'em sump'n positive to talk about, then try'n take away their means to talk about it.

Mr. Barta, resistance is futile. Fu-TILE.  You'll be buying up domain names F-0-R-E-V-E-R. Regardless of how great a coach you have (Coach Ferentz, men's football coach) or how bad your current men's basketball coach (Steve Alford) is...people are talking, the experience you deliver, the story you create with these two leaders...is being told every day, at every water cooler, email, blog, website, videoblog, podcast, gas station, living room.

Here's my suggestion: stop trying to stifle the conversation. It's happening and as The Supremes sang...and there ain't nothing you can do 'bout it, whoa, whoa. Take the money you'd spend on buying domains ('cause you're going to be spending a TON 'o money on 'em with no impact) and direct towards:

1) Buying out the contract of Steve Alford. It ain't getting better. Attendance is going up next year. Wins are going down next year. You've seen the best. This is what you got. The word's out. Players aren't coming to Iowa with him as coach. Shoot, I'll donate $10.00 to the buyout. Leave a comment and directions for the donation specifically for his contract buyout.

2) Giving Coach Ferentz a raise. He's delivered. He's delivered wins and a quality program, national exposure every year, increase in donors and attendance, something to be proud of.

6 domains...really, Mr. Barta. 

Links to this story:

Wizard of Odds

Des Moines Register

“It’s a pretty good insurance policy,” Rick Klatt, associate athletics director of external affairs for the school, said today, two days before Ferentz holds his first spring football news conference.

Hawkeye State. Love the title of their post: Is "Keep - Kirk - Ferentz - but Fire - His - Offensive - and - Defensive Coordinators.com" taken?  and their suggested means to a solution: DOMAIN NAME STEEL CAGE DEATH MATCH. Yeah!

My Birthday Video

Apologies for the grainy quality.

Paying Advertisers for Results: Novel Idea

Paying advertisers for results [that matter to you]. Now there's a novel idea. Google's on to it with their new PPA or Pay-Per-Action program. ( NY Times article link; not blog-friendly) That action is a desired result from the ad...a result desired not by the advertiser, but by the client.

And that's a nice change from the PPC or Pay-Per-Click program. That was a also a Pay-Per-Action program. But the actions resulted in  benefits enjoyed primarily by Google and its affiliates, not the advertiser.

There are some other programs that offer cost-per-action or pay-per-action programs. Snap and Turn are 2 such programs.

We use a pay-per-call program called Ingenio. That's really the only action result we want from an ad: a call from a prospect.

Storytelling in A Digital Age

A great post is up at AlwaysOn from David Deans titled SXSW 2007: Digital Storytelling Phenomenon. The comments are good, too. Here's some text that caught my eye:

Since the beginning of time, storytelling was considered a core human trait for conveying events by combining gestures, expressions, sounds, images and words. Sharing stories was an essential part of culture and a means of instilling tribal knowledge...

Independent bloggers dare to write narrative, un-schooled videographers boldly capture and arrange imagery, and others are using their imagination to mash-up musical content in willful abandon. All acts of self-publication, performed without permission or approval.

Is this the work of radical heretics or anarchists? No, it's the empowered common people, for want of a better expression, choosing not to conform to an established attitude or doctrine that they believe has proven to be obsolete in the 21st Century...

This phenomenon is called unprofessional by the big media establishment, as they discount the unwelcome surge of independent creative inspiration.

You gotta love it. And ever this shall remain to be true...that when institutions no longer serve their constituents...the constituents create something that does serve their needs. And the incumbent, entrenched institutions but play their violins with a satisfied sneer as their world goes up in flames.

Andrea Learned at MarketingProfs has a take on  storytelling in the conceptual age. Marketing via Stories: The Selling Power of Narrative in a Conceptual Age.  A couple of points from her article caught my eye:

In this more full-service, conceptual age, storytelling—in its many forms—is one of the most powerful tools for presenting the truths of your product, service, or brand...

As marketers, we need to present universal truths with which our customers can more easily identify. Sharing the stories of our customers, employees, or related communities (people who benefit from our brand's philanthropy, for example) is how consumers discover those Truths with a capital "T," as screenwriter/Story author Robert McKee so aptly sums up:

Fact—no matter how minutely observed, is truth with a small "t." Big "T" Truth is located above, beyond, inside and below the surface of things, holding reality together or tearing it apart, it cannot be directly observed.

She's on to something. Direct advertising is but a nuisance we all strive to ignore. Like the Beef Industry ads that promised real food for real people, we, as people and not just consumers, want real stories FROM real people. The Holy Grail here is when your employees and customers and communities...they all rise up and share their stories...on their own...because they're compelled to share them....you've dazzled them so much, so high, so well, so wonderfully, it's a spontaneous need to share that story with others.

Andrea Learned offers a 90-minute webinar  tomorrow at 9 AM Pacific on Marketing through Stories: The Selling Power of Narrative.

Digressing here ('cause it's my blog and I can...) I'm not sure I agree that we're entering a conceptual age, nor that we're able to do so in the future. An educational system built around delivering high scores on standardized tests doesn't move its students into a conceptual age. It moves them into a take your spot on the factory-floor age.

Governor Signs Cigarette Tax Increase

Sigh...at last. RadioIowa reports: Governor Chet Culver signed into law Thursday a bill raising the tax on cigarettes by a dollar a pack.

I never understood why a product that causes so much harm to so many, both directly to its users and indirectly to their friends and family and their community, could be so difficult to raise a tax to pay for the social burdens shared by all who don't use the product. These burdens being lost production time at companies, higher health care costs, higher social costs from their impact on family's incomes, etc.

The tobacco industry was masterful in positioning this as a tax matter and one of freedom of choice. Their customers thrilled at these logic crutches, not realizing they were pawns. It's amazing so many bought into those delusions.

The freedom remains. Now there's some accountability, too.

Reforming or reorganizing health care

State Senator Jack Hatch offers some thoughts on the growing discussion on how to reform our current health care system here in Iowa.

The DM Register's Editorial Board offers A Better Way to Fund Kids Health Insurance. From the editorial:

Good news.

Hawk-I is Iowa's version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), created by Congress a decade ago and funded with state and federal dollars. It provides coverage to more than 30,000 Iowa children in low- and moderate-income families. Better yet, it opens the door to other health-coverage opportunities...

Bad News.

The bad news is an estimated 43,000 Iowa kids are eligible but aren't enrolled in Hawk-I or Medicaid.

Even worse news: The federal government is pulling the funding rug out from under states.

At the very time Iowa should be expanding Hawk-I, the state faces a shortfall of about $13.3 million in federal dollars for the program. Unless Washington comes up with the money, about 13,000 Iowa kids could be dropped from the program. This is the third year in a row Iowa has faced being shortchanged.

Need to cut back on that care and compassion thing. I mean what would happen if all the children had proper health care? The next thing you know their reading skills could improve...

Health Care System: Personal Story

Funny stuff.

I got a note from my health insurance company outlining the services they provided for my wife as part of our joint health insurance plan. Made me laugh. And it explained why health insurance and the health care industry in general see spiraling out of control costs.

My wife went to the doctor, a GP (general practititioner) recently. A little bit of the flu and bronchitis, etc, needed some prescription help one Saturday AM. Cool. We got an appointment quickly, drove over to his offices. He's a nice man; his staff is friendly and helpful. She was able to see him nearly immediately after we arrived as his office was almost empty. She spent maybe 15 minutes with him.

Cool. Like that. Efficient. That's a nice benefit, especially on a Saturday morning.

Now, come the costs: $75.00. Yep. A $75.00 charge was generated for 15 minutes on a Saturday morning according to the report from our health insurance company. Here's how it was itemized:

* Network Savings. Something called a network savings generated a phantom expense/savings of $6.00. There was no exchange of funds. No money changed hands. But we saved $6.00.

* Provider Payment. Our provider paid our doctor $39.00 for the visit. Cool. I guess. We see GP's here in town charge $25.00 for a visit for those without insurance or who choose to pay directly. \

Ok. Good, I guess. It's no sweat off my brow; What do I care, right?

* Co-Payment. We were charged $30.00 co-pay for the visit. I think, ok, cool, we were charged $30.00. Not too bad. We could have paid only $25.00 to the other guy, but he's another mile away.

But you know, $30.00's not too bad. Certainly not bad enough to really complain about.

That last point is the whole point.

$30.00's not enough to complain about. Shoot, we saved $6.00 from network savings...And why should we complain about $39.00 paid to the doctor from our provider? It didn't come out of our pocket, right? ( Oh, but it did in the form of higher premiums. )

Who's incentivized to change this system?

* Those with coverage? Nope, we're not. What's there to complain about with a $30.00 co-pay? We can live with it. It seems like a good deal.

* Doctors? fuhgedaboutit. They love this program. they get paid twice: once with co-pay and once from the provider. He gets $69.00 for a 15 minute visit. Granted he has to hire others to help process the payment claims, but at $39.00 per quarter hour...he can afford someone and still come out way, way, way ahead.

* Health Insurance Companies?  Cue laugh track. Play it long and loud. The health insurance provider gets to charge higher premiums and they spin it with marketing collateral that touts the network savings.... and make it sound like they're such a pal of ours.

When everyone's making money, well 2 out of 3 of the vested interests (and theirs total billions compared to ours of tens or hundreds of dollars), nothing's going to change.

Cisco Acquires Webex

There's been a bit of a buzz lately over the news that Cisco has agreed to buy Webex, one of our competitors.

What's it all mean for the telepresence markets, and social media and online collaboration markets?

Here's what I think: It's great. It's particularly great for us.

1) Big corporate mergers historically add little value to any stakeholder except the M&A firms that structure the deal; they're the ones that profit.

2) Webex is a service company; Cisco is a hardware company. Never the twain shall meet.

3) Cisco's the dominant player...so webex's brand is the loser. That means...their customers lose. ( Many industry rags talk about Webex's brilliant branding skills...whatever. Based on the recent spike in calls we receive from current webex customers looking for another alternative...they haven't experienced that brilliance.)  

As the web conferencing and online collaboration services become more commoditized, indistinguishable, there remains only one way to distinguish your company from the masses: that's service to the customer. And long-term fixed contracts with early departure penalties isn't how you create brand value for your customers.

Benefits Are Missing the Mark

From Management Issues: Benefits Programs Missing the Target.

Most American workers are unhappy with the benefits offered by their employer, believing they are being failed on even the basics of healthcare and retirement provision, in turn fueling a worrying negativity about their companies and leaders.

No doubt all companies are being squeezed for profits, for revenues, to cut costs, to innovate more, to drive more R from their ROA equation.

The article points out that while we recognize it's up to us to shoulder the burden of healthcare costs and retirement planning...our companies aren't doing enough to help us meet those goals. The financial and healthcare industries have done a better job of communicating the need for their products than companies have done communicating what options are available and why for their employees to satisfy their desires for those products and goals.

I'm willing to bet a great portion of the problem is communication, not commitment. No one's sat down with the company leaders and said...THESE benefits are critical to us...not the ones you provide us right now. And company leaders aren't paying attention to the changing needs of their community, their employees and families and the competitive marketplace for talent.  My advice: talk to them. Ask the employees are we taking care of your needs in healthcare, retirement? Is there something else we can provide? Does what we provide meet your needs? Here's what we can afford to provide and why.

It's just a conversation...granted it's fraught with emotional landmines. But these are already being stepped on now if your benefits are communicating indifference, a lack of care or concern and they're creating doubt, resentment and negativity towards your leadership. Factor in that cost. See if the pain of that cost is more than the pain of starting a conversation on a delicate topic. Factor in the lost talent from your benefits package no one wants. Then see if it's worth an open conversation with your crew, asking for them to help you provide the benefits they need.

Note to self: I need to double check with everyone here by having that conversation this month.

Podcast Interview with Andy Grove

I'm listening to a fascinating interview with Andy Grove, former CEO and Chairman of Intel, posted at iinnovate. 

Iinnovate is a podcast series conducted by Matt and Julio, students in Stanford's Business and Design schools. Their list of interview subjects is quite good. I'm subscribing.

A few points:

Andy describes Intel, during its heyday, as a dictatorship with a strong belief in the first amendment, freedom of speech. He described his leadership style as an emperor with a firm belief in freedom of speech.

He describes his meeting style as: Didactic, he doesn't pull punches, depending on your blood type it can be intimidating...and when you realize you can survive it, you'll be stronger for the next one.

Matt and Julio excerpt his discussion on Microsoft into a short video. It's good.

And how did I find this...? I shared a quote of Mr. Grove's that I've seen before but was most recently shared by my friend, Shawn Frey at Broom Wizards. I shared it on my business life blog at Duct Tape Marketing Blog Channel. And Min Liu, on behalf of the iinnovate team, dropped me a note. Thank, Min. It's a great site.

Before social media...this would never have been possible.

Sue 'em if you can't innovate

Viacom Sues Google Over YouTube Video Clips

Media conglomerate Viacom Inc. said on Tuesday that it filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google Inc. and its Internet video sharing site YouTube over unauthorized use of its copyrighted entertainment.

When the pace of innovation surpasses your skills in benefiting from it...sue somebody.

When your competitors are more innovative than you, sue 'em.

Force them to stop. It's so unfair...

Some companies compete on innovation. Some with attorneys. What the latter don't understand is that their customers ultimately choose the former.

It's the age-old victim's mentality. It's their fault that our company is left behind. It's their fault we chose to ignore this market for a few years as it became huge...and now they owe us what they built. And we're going to sue to get it.

Oh. And a useful tip from this case study...wait to sue until your target has a corporate parent with lots and lots of cash....Basically, suffer in silence until the target of your lawsuit has cash. Then cry foul...

What You Should Know About Customers

Marketingprofs offers a premium content article titled: 5 Things Every CEO Should Want to Know About Customers. ( no link as it's premium content.) It offers wisdom from Starbucks and Warren Buffett and others.

I chuckled when I read it.

There's only one thing I think everyone in a company should know about customers. Here it is. It's not original....(drum roll, please.)

HAPPY customers reward you.

That translates into money in your pocket, food on your table, a roof over  your head, gas in your car (maybe electricity in coming years). They pay for your kids education (and their food and gas when they move back home...)

Happy customers pay your mortgage, put food on the table for your family, heat and cool your home; they pay for health care (possibly).

Happy customers create positive self-esteem; they provide a sense of accomplishment. They keep you sharp and focused, crisp and clear, a value to your family and community.

Happy customers are smart. Smarter than you, I don't know They chose your company, as you did as an employee...so just as smart may be more accurate.

Happy customers will with gusto and enthusiasm, and with no need for compensation, sell your product to their friends and neighbors. They will volunteer to be your salesforce and marketing department. It's the ripple effect: make someone [happy], they'll make others [happy] for you. (Note: you can insert any emotion into that sentence and it remains true.)

Happy customers are patient, forgiving. They're happy 'cause they don't waste time with companies that make them unhappy. See main point: happy customers put money in your pocket. Ergo, unhappy customers don't.

Other than that...HAPPY customers reward you...there's not much else anyone needs to know.

New Comm Forum: 4 for 4

I'm at the New Comm Forum right now.  I've seen 4 presentations. I've seen 4 excellent presentations. 4 for 4. 

Shel Holtz, blogs at A Shel of My Former Self and host of the FIR, For Immediate Release. podcast.

Dave Weinberger, co-author of ClueTrain Manifesto, blogger at Joho the blog and Personal Democracy and Corante.

Steve Crescenzo, fellow at SNCR, blogger at Corporate Hallucinations

Jeffrey Treem, works for Edelman, blogs at Inside the Cubicle

All great.

Right now I'm watchingJD Lasica of OURmedia talk about CGM, grassroots media, homemade video...And if it's really good (signs are it will be) and if I'm really good (signs are....?) I'll post a video of his presentation on grassroots video.

To-dah! Here's the link to the 2-minute video of JD Lasica.( Right now, there's a brouhaha about the video of JetBlue's CEO apologizing for the mishap of a few weeks. ) You can play the video here.

UPDATE: 5 for 5. JD Lasica's presentation was very good.

Ever work with these people?

Made me chuckle.

Part of a direct mail piece from a company called Acronis, maker of backup software products.

Ted Goff's the cartoonist.

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

Doc Talks Muni Wifi, Net Neutrality

Doc Searls posts concisely on the issue of municipal wifi, free access, net neutrality. ( He posts in an open, engaging style, yet still gets his message across with the help of some timely, spot-on links to other sources on the subject. ) Here's an example:

Just to illustrate how hard it is to come to an Understanding here — not only about what the Net is, or what the Web is (the headline, fwiw, confuses Web with Net and both with wireless), but about exactly what roles governments and businesses should be playing here. Read the comments to find much the citizens also know. One should think carefully before making new laws here.

Just some thoughts, not ranting. Some helpful hints. It's a much more productive writing style than rants. Mine included.

Another reason to live in Iowa

People are helpful. Seriously. And a high percentage of them, too.

Friday was a snowy, icy day for us out here in Iowa. Friday morning the main roads were clean of any snow, ice, glaze. But...that's not where our offices are. Nope we have offices outside of town, down a 2-lane road, round the corner of a hard-packed gravel drive. It's quiet, secluded, calm.

But getting there Friday morning...well, as I turned in the drive or made my first pass at the turn my car started to slide. No problem, I thought, I'll just let it go, keep going and turn around and come back for a 2nd try with a creeping pace. Being impatient I thought it would save time if I turned around in a field service drive. It looked solid. I could see it was hard packed across the ditch.

I pulled it; fine. I backed up. Not fine. Tires started to spin and after a few minutes...there I was stuck. 100 yards from the entrance I needed.

In the next 30-45 minutes while I waited for the tow truck, there were 4-5 people that stopped, asked if I was ok, offered to use their vehicle and their chains to help pull me out. And that's out of about 10 cars that drove past. 50% help rate.

That's Iowa. People help. Strangers. Helping strangers. But out here, it's neighbors helping neighbors.

What's important: Anna Nichole's Burial Ground or...

Think the coverage of Anna Nichole's death and the discussion of her burial plot's location was...what...macabre, obsessive, unnecessary, a sign of skewed priorities? For 8% of us and our neighbors, it wasn't enough. They felt her death warranted more coverage. 14% felt that the coverage was...not too hot, not too cold, just about right. 11% followed the news of her death in the middle part of February as the number one news story. That's right up there with...2008 presidential candidates (13% thought that was the top newstory).

Did the networks feed the frenzy? You tell me. CNN/Fox/MSNBC mentioned her death 400+ times during the same time period they mentioned the Iraq War less than 40.

At the same time, Frontline News offered a different perspective on this shift in our news coverage priorities. In a 3-part series on NewsWar they interviewed 50 media types and chronicled the shift in our new coverage priorities over the past years. As my friend, Andy Brudtkuhl at Get A News Browser said...

This is a Must Watch for anyone in the new media industry — which means any blogger reading this is required to watch

Andy. I think you understate the importance of this discussion, with this show being a catalyst for it to start.

Junk news is the media equivalent of Soma from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It keeps the population sedated, easily managed, content with their lot and literally unable to question the obvious or even remember why you would.

Woody Allen once stated his brain was his 2nd favorite organ. I'm not arguing with his sensibilities here ( which is neither endorsing nor questioning them) . But I am saying use it or lose it. Garbage in; garbage out.

Or just lie back and turn on the news:

And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts.

PRWeb: You WOWED Me

PRWeb: You WOWED me. As I wrote in my reply to Terry Kaye at PRWeb:

Terry:

Your sight’s pretty impressive. The reporting’s pretty thorough and well-presented. The podcast experience was well-organized and crisp and the pre-call reminder was a nice touch….Very impressed.

But now you’ve WOWED me. You sent a handwritten thank-you note…personalized with references to the content of my initial press release. THAT…THAT is something we can follow here in our company.  THAT took you over the top and gets a shout at my blog later this morning. [Here's that blog post]

You guys run a great business. Thanks for the great experience.

Zane Safrit
CEO
Conference Calls Unlimited

PS. I feel like I ought to hand write YOU a thank-you note back…in a No, no. Thank you for thanking me manner. It was such a delight to receive your handwritten thank-you note.

I found this service, where else?, but at John Jantsch's blog, Duct Tape Marketing.

You're not their parent; they're not your kids

I LOVED this post by Mike Wagner at Own Your Brand. The post is Stop Using the F word! The f-word  here is family and it's use by owners and managers:

Owners and managers use it because they need to be needed. You’re not Moses and employees are not your people. You’re not responsible for their motivation or their happiness - they are adults. You are an adult. You partner together to get the work done. Calling your business a family, thereby making you a parent, is dead wrong. If you need to be needed, get a puppy dog.

( How did he know I had a puppy...? )

I could share every bit of his post; it's that good. Here's one more snippet.

The family mindset generates a feeling of entitlement. Say it often, sincere, and persuasively enough and pretty soon people believe you. They figure you’re the parent so they’ll be the child. That’s when you find yourself complaining about employees who need to be micro-managed, can’t think for themselves, and show no initiative.

Mike. You rock.

Frankly, I'm not entirely sure my actions haven't communicated in some sense this same parental-type attitude in the past. Much less now than before. That's a sign of growth for me. And it's a near infinite circle with its ripple effect from its impact through the company with everyone's expectations/interactions and performance and at the same time...expanding our roster of adults here in the company.

How bad's my day?

(Nothing revelatory here.)

Sometimes it seems the hour/day/week just goes swimmingly. Sometimes it doesn't. Maybe it's real; maybe it's just perceived.

Regardless, my petty challenges are never of this magnitude...Tunisian Prison Map is a mashup site that uses Google maps to purpotedly show the location of all the prisons in Tunisia. Now those folks are having a bad day in ways we'll never know, hopefully.

Link from Doc Searls.

Maybe bookmark this site. Re-visit it when you think your day just...isn't all that grand.

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, February 2007

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, February 2007  from Read/WriteWeb.

I love the 2 criteria for inclusion:

1) the Search Engine should exhibit superiority to Google - not as a whole, but in just one particular area.

2) Secondly, what ultimately gets a particular search engine into the Top 100 (as opposed to the hundreds and hundreds of "also rans") is my evaluation. It is a subjective, personal judgment from an SEO - not an independent, statistical measure.

You can work with that: simplicity, honesty, full disclosure.

The choice this month is Goshme.

Another item on my to do list: Check out the ever-evolving list of Top 100 Alternative Search Engines.

The Swiss are brainstorming the future

Lunch over IP talks about Brainstorming the future a la Swiss. It's the story of the Swiss government's initiative in innovation. It includes innovation consulates (his term) in Boston and San Francisco, an office of Science and Tech at their DC embassy and a new initiative called Think Swiss - Brainstorm the Future.

And what are we doing...?

[Google] can you hear me?

Endless Innovation shares the story of one man's quest for making a pitch directly to Google. Gotta love the chutzpah, drive, innocence, will,...even demand by the author/innovator of this quest. And he shares the story at his blog, Can Google Hear Me?

I love this comment from Can Google Hear Me:

Every once in a while you have to give an idea a shot, or you spend your entire life passing up ideas that seem just beyond your reach.

There you have it. Every once in awhile...you just have to stand up and let the world know you're alive, you were here, you tried, you took your shot. And who knows, every once in awhile...that idea isn't beyond your reach.