So I visited a friend’s parents for Memorial Day, for an afternoon of grilling and such. They live in a lake community out in the country. It happens to be a gated community. After approaching the gate guard, explaining that we were on a list, and answering some questions, we were handed a slip of… Continue reading →

So crazy it just might work! Well, no.

A colleague forwarded me this story today. It’s a great tale of crossroads at a startup. We have had many such moments here, although perhaps none so seminal. My favorite nugget: "Hope is not a strategy."

I wish I could say Kathy Sierra and I were friends. We’re not. We have had some contact, a few emails shared. She owns one of my T-shirts. But I wish we were friends. Because Kathy is one of the nicest, smartest, most intuitive people I am aware of. She makes the world a better… Continue reading →

The reality is really twofold here:1. The evolution of diverse technologies has chipped away at Microsoft’s lock on the desktop.2. Vista took too long and ultimately sucks too much. Given that, leaders are starting to question the "no one ever got fired for recommending Microsoft" mentality. clipped from www.macnn.com The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)… Continue reading →

Corporate double-speak is a serious problem. It creates confusion, wastes time, and reduces people to babbling idiots. I don’t really understand the phenomena actually. Here’s the thing: It seems to me that the larger a company gets the clearer its communication needs to be, simply because there are so many more people to communicate to…. Continue reading →

Brands get dumb. They get self-inflated, forget what they stand for, and do stupid things. Like Coors Water.And now, Hummer cellphones.

Some companies simply lose their ability to understand customers; they misplace the relevant language somehow. Microsoft is really a case in point. They are the GM of software. Wow is certainly appropriate here, but not really the way that’s intended. Thanks Seth. wow.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Steve Balmer. Today. And 15 years ago.

Last night I was at a new restaurant. I got up to use the restroom, and, well, it wasn’t that easy. A quick glance should tell me which door to choose. An "M" would be nice. Or even that little Weeble guy with the legs (ladies, you apparently self-identify when you see a skirt). Why… Continue reading →

Look no further than this smarmy, inaccurate, and entirely condescending article in The New York Times. It’s peppered with nifty backhanded insults like this: "…a city so transient it barely recognizes itself, where more than half the adult population is from somewhere else, and where every urban fad, from underground parking to savory ice cream,… Continue reading →

As part of a webwide effort to help the plight of Compact Florescent lightbulbs, I am adding my 2 cents. I think Seth probably has it right. At least partially. Compact Fluorescent (CF) light-bulbs do have a marketing problem. I’m not sure that problem is perceived difficulty of use though. I think it’s a name… Continue reading →

This is perhaps the best illustration I have ever seen of someone unwilling to go the extra mile. Thanks Seth!

Umm…wow. This is pretty cool. Training bees to save human lives. Bomb-sniffing bees. Maybe I can train my cat to find my car keys.

I’ve not personally held a Zune. I’m not really inclined to. But this article in The Chicago Sun-Times perfectly chronicles what happens when you put the customer last in any product (or service). The customer loses. If you’re a monopoly like the airport, that works OK. When you’re going against the entrenched leader in MP3… Continue reading →

It’s not like that’s particularly sage advice – most people don’t want to be assholes (except for assholes, of course). But what I like about Guy’s book review is that it has some good tips for dealing with people that are assholes.

As demonstrated by Small Dog in this post on Consumerist, you can be human *and* kick ass. Bravo Small Dog, bravo.

Although not really the point of his post, something in Seth’s riff on marketing fear struck me: “Fear is an emotion and it’s impossible to counter an emotion with logic.” I think that is probably true in the opposite as well.

I use a Mac. I like Macs. Now, the last time I criticized Apple , I was lambasted. I’m OK with that 🙂 This isn’t really about Apple. This is a quote from PC Magazine praising Apple’s high quality: “Last year, Apple’s score on units needing repair was an impressive 11 percent—well below that of… Continue reading →

Until you make them care. We all know this applies to personal stories. That’s why one person’s story about their 2 year old learning how to pick their nose is cute and funny, and another person’s is an eye-roller. But it applies to business too. Kathy Sierra makes the point most eloquently as usual. What… Continue reading →

Seth Godin has an interesting observation about customer service this morning (it’s amazing how many lessons about what NOT to do can be learned at the airport!). The basic point is this: Do you treat every interaction you have with your customers as an opportunity to further the relationship you have with them? EVERY opportunity?… Continue reading →

I have been writing this blog for nearly 2 years. Sure, I think I’ve captured a gem or two about business. But this gentleman nails it. Read this and you will have a pretty good idea of what doesn’t build a great business. Top Ten Geek Business Myths

This is some email back and forth between a couple of my coworkers. I think there is a lesson in here about storytelling, strategy, and hubris. The Zune. Is This A Joke?I’ve got an idea. Let’s make a product to go up against the most successful consumer electronics product in the history of man. Then,… Continue reading →

I hope so. I think so. Ripple is in the middle of a buildout designed to do so, and it’s nice to see someone else making the same case that we do: Design matters, tools matter, environment matters. It’s especially nice to get some vindication from someone as sharp as Kathy Sierra.

Sorry to keep writing about this… but this slide is perfect. Perfect Really Bad PowerPoint.

People who know me know that I hate voicemail. But my friend Suizo puts it in a nice perspective: Where is the intersection of technology and “human behavior change”?   I always thought it was a short gap between the introduction of a world changing technology and the evolution of how we use it. Apparently not… Continue reading →

Ripple’s own Rob Haag, talking about the Open Prosthetics Project in Wired.