Ouch!

Sometimes, mass personalizations and their associated algorithms just go awry…

Email Without Causing Rage

Now, I know that all "Here’s The Thing" readers are hip to email ettiquette, but (cough) just in case you’re not, the always wise Guy Kawasaki has laid it out for us. If you don’t need this, pass it on to someone who does. I know you know at least one such person… My favorite… Continue reading →

Paying For Time

So a lot of people ask me why we have fixed fee pricing at Ripple. After all, we come from an industry that bills for time. And bills a lot. Like $150 per hour. But what is the value of time? How can I put a price on the time it takes to fix a… Continue reading →

Sloooowww Dooowwwnnn

This should probably just be included in my six-week course, but allow me to remark briefly on voicemail etiquette. First of all, for me personally? I hate voicemail. Hate. I procrastinate returning it, and it always falls to the bottom of my list. The problem is, it’s linear. I can’t just go to the information… Continue reading →

Cell Phone Use and Mother Nature

Hi There. I’m not sure how this became my responsibility to mention; how this ever came to be. But… You cannot use your cell phone in the bathroom. No. Bad dog. President is on the phone? No. You’re bored? No. The big sale? No. Please help me spread the word. No-cellphone-use-in-the-bathroom. Thank you for your… Continue reading →

Make some change

A gentleman we know, Scott Hampton, wrote a nice post about change. In it, he offers sort of a workplace parallel to the Broken Windows Theory. His words are indeed wise. Sometimes I use this as an example when I’m at client sites. I tell them the moral of the story, too: "If you can’t… Continue reading →

Yessir, it’s people

Seth Godin riffed this morning about The two obvious secrets of every service business. I would add an extension to number two. One of those details is people. People with passion and compassion; folks who actually care. Those are the people who will naturally follow through. Hiring these people doesn’t happen by accident, and it… Continue reading →

Just hang up

There is a new cultural divide in America. It is cross-generational, cross-gender, cross-race. And it is inflicting a new rudeness into our culture. It is interruptive cell phone use. Now, a lot of the other cultural "decline" issues are in actuality, meaningless. Language for one is always a moving target. The word "humbug" used to… Continue reading →

Death of a singular musical force

Chris Whitley died this week of lung cancer. He was 45. Most folks don’t know much about Chris. And that’s a shame. His music was singular, individual and smoldering. Perhaps more people will explore his music now that he’s gone; that always seems to be the way. But it is unfortunate, because nothing he’s ever… Continue reading →

Atlanta Secrets Unveiled

Having suffered through months of lumbering, senseless posts about nothing, I thought I would take a break and hip you to a few of Atlanta’s best kept secrets this weekend. Best place for a great beer.Most of you already know what a great place Octane Coffee is. But what you may not know is that… Continue reading →

CEO Afterward

After correcting my many grammatical errors, my friend John had this to say about my CEO post. I thought it too pithy to languish in "comments." Oh yeah, he works in advertising. This is so very true. Here’s how you can tell if an ad agency is bad at what they do: They think that… Continue reading →

The 6 week course for CEOs

I figure if I can rant about doctors, lawyers and a lot of other people smarter than me, then I should probably weigh in on my own job. It’s a pretty fancy title. And it comes with some pretty unique responsibilities. Ultimately, it’s a job you can do just about anyway you want. That of… Continue reading →

Six Week Course For Lawyers

There’s an incongruity between what lawyers are taught in law school, and what they ultimately end up doing. Lawyers are taught to seek a position, stand their ground, fight, attack the other position and basically act as an unwavering advocate. And this works great in mock trials. Hell, it probably works pretty well in real… Continue reading →

Wrenching Sadness

No pithy commentary today. Just sadness, awe and wonderment at the frailty of human civilization. Click here and give money to The Red Cross. Don’t give in to the temptation to click away and not give money to The Red Cross. Someone has to help. And who better than you and me?

I Love Apple

Here’s the thing: In the 6 months that I have written this blog, I have had a total of 3 comments posted. I posted a semi-negative post (and quite possibly a logically flawed one) about Apple 4 hours ago, and I have had a rash of comments and email. Impassioned I might add! It is… Continue reading →

Apple Dissent (gasp!)

An email from my friend John: I was just pricing a new laptop. I like the new G4 12" iBook. Bump up the HD from 40 to 80 gigs for 100 bucks and that’s a very useful machine. Here’s where Apple falls down for me: The Apple Care package is $250! That raises the price… Continue reading →

6-weeks for doctors

One small addition to my previous post. It has to do with medical school. Please God, let someone at Harvard or Emory be listening… A few days ago I was hanging out with my friend who is a doctor. A brilliant, ridiculously smart doctor. She is out of medical school and in her residency. I… Continue reading →

The 6-week course

You know, I’m a believer that there is more to college than simply vocational training. I believe that the arts and humanities mean something. That critical thinking skills are the cornerstone of a good education. But folks, there just certain things one should know as a college graduate. Things that don’t need to be pondered… Continue reading →

Brand

I have had a number of emails about the word brand. I use the word “brand” a lot when I talk about things that companies do. Good for their brand, bad for it, out of sync with it etc. There are many people more qualified than I to delve into all matters brand (my esteemed… Continue reading →

Time For Change

Folks, nothing destroys a brand more quickly than disrespect. I will put up with lousy food that comes with great service, but not great food that comes with lousy service. Anybody else? I thought so. Doctors often seem unwilling or unable to recognize that they are a Brand of One. Not all doctors, mind you…. Continue reading →

Well sir, I just don’t give a sh*t.

I hate to interrupt my healthcare special, but this one deserved my attention. We have a client. They bought some software. 25 licenses. When my team installed the software, the software began to give errors after 2 licenses were installed. So we went to their website, found "contact customer support," did as instructed and explained… Continue reading →

Sticking to your core is hard. And dumb?

You know, everyone in business has these two pieces of conflicting advice being hurled at them every day: 1. Stick to your core. 2. Read the trends. It’s tough. Just ask Starbucks. This is arguably one of the most successful brands in the world, but they have had some huge failures. 1. The "lifestyle" portal…. Continue reading →

Just pick it up!

I have a package that I need to send out. It has a prepaid FedEx Ground label on it. So, when the FedEx guy came by today (how is it that I know my UPS guy by name, but FedEx sends a different person every day?), I gave it to him. He told me he… Continue reading →

Playing his role well!

I am going to lift this right from my friend John Moore’s blog. John Moore, by the way, is right a lot of the time. Here he contrasts the difference between the new CEO of Burger King (who is playing his role with gusto) and the CEO of public radio/TV (see below). The difference is… Continue reading →

Wear the uniform

I had an experience at the dentist today that was disconcerting. There is a rant coming here, so if you’re not in the mood, just click away. I won’t be hurt. I will preface this by saying that the procedure I had today (sort of a fancy filling) went just fine. No pain. Very little… Continue reading →

Yes, you can do better

After a while, we get to a point where we say “this is how it’s done in our industry.” Lawyers charge by the hour, cars run on gas, businesses use Windows, pill bottles are pill bottles. Well, you gotta love Target! They decided that pill bottles suck and set out to fix them. Here’s what… Continue reading →

Exactly!

This may be one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Here’s the article, but basically Trent Reznor aka Nine Inch Nails just released his latest song open-source. You can download it, and you can remix it to your hearts content. While record companies are scrambling at a fever pitch to keep you from… Continue reading →

People get stuck

People assign value to things illogically. There are examples everywhere. In my job, we often have to tell people that they would be better off scrapping the expensive legacy hardware/software solution they use for something completely different. They don’t want to. We show them on paper how it will improve their business while saving money…. Continue reading →

Building Apple

Apple is the big deal now. A bloggers favorite company to rave about because Apple has done what bloggers and marketers alike are in love with. Built a dream brand. A brand based on customers who do the selling for you. Where no matter what your sin, your customers stick around. Better yet, they make… Continue reading →

Self Destruction

Have you been to Google Maps? If not, go there now. You see? They blow away Mapquest and Yahoo Maps. Today they added satellite imagery. Satellite imagery! They are bigger, easier to read, and far easier to use than Mapquest or Yahoo. How is that possible? Mapquest has a 10 year head-start on Google! Complacency…. Continue reading →

Who’s the real marketer?

I received a testimonial from a client today; it nearly brought a tear to my eye. We’ve had some nice things said about us over the years (and some not so nice things, I’m sure). But this was the nicest. And here’s the thing: He told the story we’ve been trying to tell. He noticed… Continue reading →

Wooden Chopsticks?

Details matter. More than you might think. Last Friday I ate at Silk, a very upscale Japanese restaurant in Midtown Atlanta. Overall it is a great restaurant. Great food, dramatic setting. But for Gods sake – wooden chopsticks? This is a place with a $58 six-ounce steak. $36 sushi. A Japanese owner and a Japanese… Continue reading →

The answer is Quickbooks.

A few months back, I was sitting on a panel for the Entrepreneurs Network at Georgia State University. The basic topic was "Starting a Company" or something to that effect. On the panel were 3 or 4 reasonably successful entrepreneurs, and two business professors. One prof in particular was just massively qualified, and I remember… Continue reading →

Its my WiFi?!?

Seth Godin posted a rant the other day about how much he hates "locked" wireless access points (WAPs). Then a bunch of really smart people responded to him waxing on about why it’s stupid to leave your WAP wide open. So, who’s right? Everyone. Here’s the thing: 1. A business that does not find a… Continue reading →

Lose a bet, start a blog

Universal remotes. They don’t work. Oh sure, they can reduce the clutter from 5 to 2, but they just can’t get you all the way there. One remote that controls *everything*? No way. And that is what brought me to you. In the blogosphere. A week ago, a coworker told me about a remote that… Continue reading →