A Dreary Day at Ground Zero I walked down to the World Trade Center site early this morning before work, which I usually do on September 11 if I’m not traveling. It was raining and still dark out at the time, which made the scene a little more dreary and rushed (no one stopping as long to reflect) than usual. But something felt different this year that went beyond the weather. Obviously for those who lost friends or family six years ago, the day will always be one of mourning and memory, but for everyone else, though the day is still quite solemn, the vibe and focus seem to be more focused on “next steps” than in past years. Between…
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Current Affairs
Book Short: Blogging Alone?
Book Short: Blogging Alone? I usually only blog about business books, but since I read Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert Putnam, because of its connection to the topic of Internet community and social media, I’ll record some thoughts about and from it here. It’s an interesting read, although a little long. Putnam’s basic thesis is that America’s social capital — the things that have brought us physically and emotionally together as a country throughout much of the 20th century such as church, voting, and participation in civic organizations like the PTA or the Elks Club — are all severely on the decline. The reasons in Putnam’s view are television (you knew all those re-runs…
I Hope I Didn’t Make You Sick, Too
I Hope I Didn’t Make You Sick, Too Fellow entrepreneur and MyWay blogger Chris Yeh takes me to task for my post last week entitled Humbled at TED. Although his blog post was pretty harsh on me — saying essentially that I’d lost my brain and made him sick by fawning over celebrities (which I didn’t do) — his comment on my blog was a little more measured, just reminding me that people like Bill Clinton is human and puts his pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. I think Chris missed my main point, and since he decided to go public blasting me, I’ll repeat here what I emailed him privately before he…
An Execution Problem
An Execution Problem My biggest takeaway from the TED Conference this week is that we — that is to say, all of us in the world — have an execution problem. This is a common phrase in business, right? You’ve done the work of market research, positioning, and strategy and feel good about it. Perhaps as a bigger company you splurge and hire McKinsey or the like to validate your assumptions or develop some new ones. And now all you have to do is execute — make it happen. And yet so many businesses can’t make the right things happen so that it all comes together. I’d guess, completely unscientifically, that far, far more businesses have execution problems than strategic…
Humbled at TED
Humbled at TED I’m at my first TED Conference this week, and while I’ve watched countless other bloggers around me pounding out post after post summarizing different presentations (which I won’t do — feel free to see the site for official stuff), I’ve been struggling to find something to write about. Then it hit me today. I kind of feel at this conference the way I did when I started college. Totally humbled. I was #2 in my class in high school. Straight As, a few A+s thrown in for good measure. Then I got to Princeton and felt like an idiot. I was convinced I was bottom quartile at best. Everyone around me was either like me or better,…
Just Because You Can Do Something, Doesn’t Mean You Should
Just Because You Can Do Something, Doesn’t Mean You Should This has always been one of my favorite axioms for life and for entrepreneurship. Today’s example comes from Brad’s new running blog, and ultimately from an AP story reported in the Northwest Florida Daily News. The full story is here, but this teaser ought to get you hooked enough to click through, much as drivers slow down to see accidents on the other side of the road: Pain doesn’t defeat unshod marathoners Last month, after returning from an eight-mile run, Tsuyoshi Yoshino heated up a three-inch sewing needle until it turned bright red. Then, he says, he plunged the glowing instrument into the ball of his foot, puncturing a three-inch-long…
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Part II
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Part II Two years ago, when we got Vonage at home, I blogged raves about the service, which I continue to believe today (although I do hear mixed reviews of it from time to time, depending on the user-in-question’s internet connection). And I blogged about Skype when I started using that last year. The theme of both posts was a big “uh oh” to phone companies everywhere. So let me add another note on this theme. I spent some time yesterday at the offices of Skype, now a client of ours. From the minute I walked in the door, something seemed odd about the office. I couldn’t put my finger on it, there just seemed…
Book Short: You’d Never Run Your Business This Way…
Book Short: You’d Never Run Your Business This Way… I am an unabashed conservative, so you might wonder what I was doing reading A Country That Works, by union chief Andy Stern, the President of SEIU (Service Workers International Union) this weekend. Well, part of it is that my mother-in-law Carmen works for him. Part was that he was quite inspiring during his recent appearance on the Colbert Report a week or two ago. And part was that I always like reading about different points of view, especially with the current, somewhat dismal state of the Republican leadership in Washington. The book was very short and a worthwhile read. I may not agree with Stern on some of his illustrations…
Only Once, Part II
Only Once, Part II As many of you know, this blog is called Only Once because You’re Only a First-Time CEO Once — that’s the general theme of my writings on entrepreneurship and on the email marketing industry (read the initial posting which explains all of that here). As of today, I am entering into another Only Once because "You’re Only a First-Time Parent Once" as well! Mariquita and I welcomed Casey Joanna Blumberg into the world at 8:46 this evening. Everyone is doing well, and you can see our official announcement here.
Friday Morning Chuckle
Friday Morning Chuckle It doesn’t get a lot funnier — or weirder — than this. Harvard’s annual Ig Nobel awards, given by Annals of Improbable Research magazine for weird, wacky and sometimes worthless scientific research. Nails on a chalkboard, teenage repellent, and a somewhat unorthodox cure for the hiccups.
Doing Well by Doing Good, Part IV
Doing Well by Doing Good, Part IV This series of posts has mostly been about things that people or companies do that help make the world a better place — sometimes when it’s their core mission, other times (here and here) when it becomes an important supporting role at the company. Today’s post is different — it’s actually a Book Short as well of a new book that’s coming out later this fall called Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, published by Yale Press and written by Daniel Esty (a Yale professor and consultant), and a good friend of mine, Andrew Winston, a corporate sustainability consultant. Green to Gold…