Moments of Clarity

Kirk to Spock, "Let them Die!"

Image via WikipediaRant-Observation compilation:

Have food prices come down now that gas prices are less than half of what they were when the experts said, "Expect these prices for the rest of our lives here in the USA?"  No.  Are the providers trying to leave things where they are to recover from their plummeting margins over the last year or so?  Sure, and as Al Franken would say....."And that's.......OK."

"We'll never seen oil below $100 in again."  Really.  $1.00/gallon gas is not that far off it seems and oil is barely hanging around $40.  Again the experts are simply part of the "sensationalization machine" that our media has become. E85 was $1.41/gal last night locally.

"Too big to fail"  Really?  Imagine the innovation and market opportunity that could arise from the failure of companies that have had crap leadership and let themselves hemorrhage to death.  Let the car companies figure out how to make things work right and let Obama spend our $150 billion in clean energy research.  I think in 10 years we could be out of the oil hole.

We should absolutely take a lesson from James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country regarding the Big 3.  In his dialog with Captain Spock, he is sage. (Yes.  Seize any opportunity to leverage Star Trek to make life points)

Capt. Spock:	There is a historic opportunity here.
Capt. James T. Kirk:	Don't believe them! Don't trust them!
Capt. Spock:	They are dying.
Capt. James T. Kirk:

Let them die.

Blogging for Business - class 4 (the last hoorah...for now)

I had a great time teaching Blogging for Business in Des Moines.  We had a wonderful class filled with robust QA and fantastic people.  Our last class was held at Mars Cafe on University where we had wifi drinks, and a much cooler environment to conduct class. 

A special thanks to Rush Nigut for stopping by and impressing the class with his #1 business blog talk and pointers for our newly indoctrinated students.

It was a pleasure and privilege to teach the class. It was very pleasing to hear those "aha moments" and some oohs and ahhs :)

We can probably lobby for a 201 level course or simply make this one longer if we build some momentum.

Thanks to all!

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Ignite Des Moines - Promotional Video from create WOW media

The create WOW media team crafted a nice promo/recap video of the Ignite Des Moines event hosted by Daniel Shipton at Impromptu Studio in Des Moines.

Enjoy.

Ignite Des Moines Promotional Video @ Yahoo! Video

Joel Kotkin Writes another Home Run Piece

Joel Kotkin has a piece appearing in Forbes called, "The Triumph of the Creative Class".  In the piece, Kotkin deftly explains the implications of an Obama Presidency as our economic and cultural leadership has shunned a more conservative industrial economy in favor of a more liberal brain based society.

The term "creative class" was popularized by former George Mason professor Richard Florida, who used it to describe those with both brainy business acumen and a very liberal cultural agenda borrowed from the bohemians of the '60s.

I swear that Kotkin must have accessed the part of my brain remotely that stores my "favorite words and phrases list":

Today the traditional business leadership, like their Republican allies, present a spectacle of utter disarray. The commercial banks have been effectively nationalized. Many traditional manufacturers, notably automakers, also yearn to suck on the federal teat. Reduced to supplicants, these companies have surrendered their standing as independent players. At the same time, the traditional energy companies, long the whipping boys of Congressional Democrats, will be fully occupied trying to survive the onslaught of anti-carbon regulations now all but inevitable.

The article is a telling and realistic analysis of where we're headed and how lost the Republican party is for now.  Today someone pointed out a website from the Republican challenger to an incumbent Senator in a blog post.  Can't find the link but will if my fellow Des Moines'ian chimes in to tell me who it was. 

The commentary that followed was tragically true and I paraphrase:  OMG.  This website looks like a student project from the nineties.  There was a link to a blog on the site.  Last update:  Early September.  There were a few YouTube videos but they were canned political speak.  Unreal. 

The creative class social liberals "get it" with regard to leveraging their economic power and their online power.  I was the FIRST to sign up for Obama's "Text Message alert to be the first to know who his VP pick was".

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Blogging for Business Class 3

Another great class.  The QA continues to be the most valuable piece of the puzzle in our 2 hours together.  I show some material, relate it to reality and practical examples...and the flood gates open.  Good stuff.

Our last class is going to be held at the Mars Cafe on University...east of 42nd if anyone is interested in hanging out with us.  We have the stage area reserved and will have projector/screen on hand.  Thanks to Cory Garrison for coming out to provide his take on blogging/social media for the class coming up too.

Our class will be a "free form" class with no prepared material.  I got permission from the class to actually dive in and just type type type.  We may even come away with a "hooked up blog" that night.

If you're interested in taking the class somewhere down the road, West Des Moines will be offering the class again in February in a compressed 2 week format (4 total hours of class time).  That format will take some dedication/modification/revision but I think it will get more people to say yes and get exposed to blogging for business.

Hope to see you at the Mars cafe for great conversation...and a couple of malt elixirs.

Check out Brett Rogers and see how following your passion can open doors

I saw this video piece on Brett Rogers and was really impressed.  I've seen the art from his phone...I'd NOT actually appreciated that he was creating his imagery on such a small "canvas".  Wow.  For those of you who've not seen what Brett does....he creates artwork using the drawing pad feature on an LG Dare cell phone.  Mind you the screen is roughly a 2 inch square.  Fascinating.

Take a look and see what a passion for the "artsy" side of cell phones can do for you.  I hope you end up not only with free cell phone usage...but as a paid marketing consultant who discovered a brand new niche market by following his passion.

Nice work.  Keep it up.

http://www.kcci.com/video/17849448/

Brett's blog found here.

Fun with chainsaws!

My wife has chronicled our felling of a dead birch in our backyard.  She's getting pretty good at this blogging stuff.  The pics tell all.  I've waited all my life to use the word "fell" in this context.  I hope I spelled it correctly :)

Longing for a blow out election

Image via Wikipedia

Are you like me...hungry for an election that doesn't have a law suit ridden nail biting conclusion?  We see daily polls now for both state and national election preferences and they're vacillating between the candidates with no clear trends.

I want a serious blow out that will relieve some of this pressure.  I'm beginning to think that all elections will be challenged on the basis of "disenfranchisement" and "voter intimidation." Are there really throngs of Republicans that gather to browbeat voters?  Do Democrats really sign up illegal immigrants and dead people to vote?

Are we going to come down to 1 state again?  Will there be literally sub 1k votes separating the candidates in many places?

Once the courts were invovled...chances are....

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Stay at home moms: is social networking becoming your unpaid fulltime job?

I just had a brief conversation with my wife after overhearing her 45 minute conversation with a good friend from CA about how "the friend requests, pokes, food fights, virtual flowers, and other miscellaneous facebook crap has become "overwhelming" and how "She's ready to shut it off due to spam and 20 friend requests a day".

I don't think she's alone.   For the purposes of this post, I'm talking about stay at home moms.

Stay at home moms need connection.  I think the toughest job in the WORLD is managing the emotions and daily tribulations of a couple of youngsters.  I know in our case, moms get together frequently to let the kids play and do things.  Of course that's important...but I don't think the moms would disagree when I say it's as much for them as it is the kids.  They need to commiserate and relate to decompress and understand that what they're feeling is not unique. 

Enter social networking.

Now, moms can get this connection at home during whatever downtime or time that can be carved out while kids are playing, sleeping, chilling at home.  Not only can they connect with their current friends.  Now they can connect with the multitude of connections gone by the wayside through the years (high school friends, moved away friends that were not close enough to keep up with permanently, etc.)  In other words, their network can expand exponentially in a matter of months.  With that expansion comes all of the associated connectivity that social networks provide.

It seems Facebook has no lack of means to annoyingly enter someone's day.  If you're like most friendly mom's, you may feel obligated to respond/answer/participate/propagate these little "pokes" (or superpokes...huh?)  Before long, mom's may find that these activities and "just keeping up with their social networking platforms/email/groups/etc. is an obligation.....and not a pleasure.

The recommendation.  Don't feel obligated.  Don't accept all friend requests (or suggestions).  If you haven't talked with "Jane Doe from high school" in 20 years, you probably don't need to connect on this or that and share flowers/pokes/or otherwise.   

I'm not suggesting that these platforms are bad ( you can see all of the bazillion things I participate in by checking out my friend feed).  Just be selective and don't feel the pressure to be all things to all people.

By all means when it's too much, just pull the plug on the bells, whistles, alerts, and pare back your social networking activities to a less stressful level.

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Blogging For Business Class: Schedules Arrive in Des Moines Register August 31

The West Des Moines Community Schools/Community Education class catalog is going into the Des Moines Register on Sunday, the 31st of August.  It's also going home with your kids in WDM Schools this week (we got ours today).

You can get a complete PDF of the class listings by clicking here

If you'd like to join their mailing list to get class schedules emailed to you 3x per year, click here.

On page 5 of the class listing, you'll find "Blogging For Business" along with an "Instructor Spotlight" on your humble author. 

The class is 4 weeks and costs a mere $39!
The class begins on September 24 and ends on October 15.
The class runs from 6:30PM-8:30PM each time
The class will have guest speakers and lots of Q&A.
The class will NOT use any paper, but will use a collaboration workspace to share and communicate.
The class is offered at Indian Hills Jr. High, 9401 Indian Hills Drive, Clive

If you have specific questions, please let me know.  Please send this on to any business leader, friend, or colleague you have that is interested in learning the basics about blogging for business.  The class will be fun, provocative, and exciting every step of the way...especially when talking about RSS feeds ;) Just kidding.

Sign up fast to reserve your spot.  I think this class is going to be a hot one!