Fun, Twitter now has code that can create a “follow me” Twitter button on your website. Don’t have a twitter account? I was a late bloomer as well.
http://twitter.com/about/resources/followbutton
lets see if it works:
want to hide the follower count?
Follow @shawnlgrubb
Another amazing TED talk that got my attention. Yesterday I taught another “Corporate Athlete” session where we explore the power of connecting purpose and values with daily habits and rituals. After reviewing this TED talk just before I sent it off to a friend, I am reminded that if you have not found your purpose in life just yet, let’s hope the clarity comes when you still have time to do something about it.
Two articles captured my reading at lunch today… one was from Alexandra Samuel titled “Social Media in 2011: Six Choices You Need to Make” and the other was from Peter Bregman titled “The Best Way to Use the Last Five Minutes of Your Day”.
Now, I purposely look for connections between unrelated topics but this one was so obvious it cried out for a spanking.
First Alexandra got me thinking with her reminder that research shows that we need downtime to deliver the “ah ha” moments that can change the game. Her article articulates that our brains actually use the unplugged wander-moments to make uncommon connections that can easily be overlooked in our hurry-up-and-get-it-done VUCA world. As we use technology and social media to fill these gaps, our downtime moments disappear and we become “always on”. Think about it: you used to sit in line at the airport and your mind could wander; now you check your email. If you are engaged at all moments of the day, is your window for mind-wandering shrinking? Mine is!
Second, Peter Bregman builds on the “after action review” concept, but brings this to a daily format. His input is that at the end of each day, we should take five minutes to take stock of the day by asking these questions:
How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?
One fish-farmer I knew when I was growing up in Northern California used to end his day by asking himself “Am I better man today than I was yesterday?” With a daily ritual like that, it’s no wonder I found the guy inspiring and wise beyond his years. I bet he doesn’t have an issue unplugging.
Posted in Business | Tags: career, e2.0, Management, social media, VUCA, web 2.0
Last weekend I was intrigued by a discussion post in the “Cincinnati Social Media” Linked In group. The question asked, “What are your top resolutions for your professional social media efforts?” Seriously, my first thought was…. Well never mind. But then I started thinking about the power of social media in the enterprise and how social media is an obvious harbinger of change (see the HBR article “Six Social Media Trends for 2011” to learn what short term changes are coming). Being plugged into social media is seriously easy way of “bringing the outside in” (a common Proctoid term) and since I have not been happy with my external connections over the past 6 months… I see this as a venue for fixing that problem.
Most resolutions make for interesting conversation, but don’t typically amount to much action. To combat this, I am starting this off with “I will”. To add further credibility, I will be specific, actionable, and time bound.
Posted in Business | Tags: change, e2.0, Environmental scanning, Future, thought leaders, weak signals, web 2.0
Technology giant Google has been at the center of attention in several privacy cases based on their popular “Street view” mapping capability that gives you a street level view of most paved roads in several countries. Here in the US, the company was brought into court in Boring v. Google where the plaintiffs (Aaron and Christine Boring) filed a four tort complaints against Google alleging invasions of privacy, trespassing, negligence, and conversion[i]. After years of litigation, Google was indeed found guilty of trespassing and through consent agreement, was ordered to pay the Borings $1[ii].
When I first heard this case, I instantly gravitated to the worst case scenario for Google, what if they have to pay $1 for every complaint? Or worse, $1 for every house captured on Streetview? So far, I have been in three conversations where someone brought that rationalization and suggested we all line up for our complimentary Google Buck. The objective of this post is to look slightly deeper than the 15 second sound bite and figure out if a windfall is in our future.
The Case and Dismissal:
The case was first filed in 2008 in the US District Court Western Division Pennsylvania in 2008. In summary, the case alleged the following five charges:
The court categorically dismissed each accusation resulting in the court granting a motion to dismiss. Of specific interest is the Trespass charge. In the case, the District Court argues that the Borings did not sufficiently argue that they suffered damages due to the event other than “mental suffering” and the diminution of property value, of which, the court said that neither claim was substantiated. The ruling did not state as to IF Google trespassed, but just that there was no solid argument for harm done as a result. Also of interest, the court noted that the Plaintiff did not submit a complaint for Nominal Damages, only compensatory damages.
Motion for Reconsideration:
The Plaintiff opened a Motion for Reconsideration suggesting that the court made a mistake in dismissing their claim to of Trespassing. The court countered suggesting no mistake was made and it reiterated that the plaintiff never showed damage (even nominal) as a result of the action. The Opinion by the court continued to state that since the plaintiff failed to file for nominal damages (since compensatory damages were never shown), it had no duty to consider nominal damages and thus the court denied the plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration. [iv]
On to Appeals:
Unhappy with this verdict, the plaintiff moved up to the Appellate court. Here, the Appeals Court upheld the lower court rulings for all counts, save the Trespassing charge. The court ruled that the Pennsylvania law did not require nominal or compensatory damages to pled for the Trespassing charge to upheld. While it did not articulate a specific remedy, in its opinion it did signal the potential value of the nominal damages:
“..it may well be that, when it comes to proving damages from the alleged trespass, the Borings are left to collect one dollar and whatever sense of vindication that may bring, but that is for another day.”[v]
The Appellate court upheld all the findings but the trespassing charge for which it instructed the district court to reconsider the claim.[vi]
Lower court reconsiders:
Back in the US District Court Western District of Pennsylvania, the court led to a consent judgment between Google and the Borings. As foreshadowed by the Appellate court, the agreed damages were set at $1 payable to the Boring couple.[vii]
So, my house is on Streetview, where is my Dollar?
Even if the original filing had been successful, it would be hard to suggest that many people other than the Borings would be entitled to compensation. At the very heart of the issue, was a fact that most news outlets seem to ignore. The case found that the Google Car drove up the Borings private drive, on their private property, up to 1000 feet and ignored the “private drive” signs that were posted on the road.
So, to answer the question “Does Google owe me a Dollar”? If I had a 1000 foot private drive, and if I post up a “private drive” signs if my drive way and if my house still showed up on Streetview then yes, I just might be able to get that Google Buck after three years of litigation.
[i] Boring v. Google, Pennsylvania., 589 F.Supp.2d 695, Dist. Court, WD Pennsylvania (2009)
[ii] Joe Mandak, Google admits trespassing in Pa., pays couple $1, AP, December 2 2010, (Retrieved 12/10/2010) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jxqiM05O2j672TQnYMip6jx4bl_w?docId=778eb8d2c71144d3ba90a821e81ee3aa
[iii] Boring v. Google, supra note 1
[iv] Boring v. Google, Pennsylvania., 589 F.Supp.2d 695, Dist. Court, WD Pennsylvania (April 2009) Motion for Reconsideration
[v] Boring v. GOOGLE INC., Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit (2010)
[vi] id
[vii] Joe Mandak, Supra note 2
I decided to do an MBA so that I can collect information that would lead to insight and ultimately to some kind of action. Occasionally throughout the program I received information that was exceptionally insightful, but I had no idea what the action to take. In cases like this I blog the topics in hopes that I can retain it for some future time and turn that insight into real action (Thanks to Bob Johansen and IFTF for the insight-into-action model).
As part my International Economics course, I watched a lecture by Kasturi Rangan of Harvard Business School titled “Business at the Base of the Pyramid”. Aside from being an exceptionally engaging speaker, the topic discussed was right on with my expectations of the MBA,
In short, the premise was that business historically focus on the top of the consumption pyramid representing 2 billion people on the planet and 80% of the consumption. The remaining 4 billion people were just too costly to reach and their disposable income not worth searching out.
New models show that those 4 billion people (incomes below $2000 per annum) now represent 35% of consumption and that their consumption is growing so fast that by 2030 those who today represent the middle and base tiers will represent 50% of consumption.
What?!?!? 50% of consumption will come from the developing world by 2030??! Of course I knew that growth was in the developing economies, but these numbers are seriously mind blowing! Seriously.. this means Western Economies are going to tumble in economic importance in our lifetime!
This was not even the main point of the presentation, but Professor Rangan already delivered insight to me. He continues to argue that if you are to do business in the developing world, you first have to recognize that rational behavior and market expectations just don’t work there. If your target consumer is worried about clean water and shelter, they are not going to care about how nice your shampoo smells.
He suggests that you to do business in the developing world and win, you need
If 50% of consumption will come from the developing world by 2030, why am I still sitting in the US? Perhaps that is the action?
Other resources:
Professor Rangan Bio: http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=bio&facEmId=vrangan
HBS BBOP Knowledge center: http://www.library.hbs.edu/references/bbop/links.html
HBS BBOP Knowledge center summary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shUemKrxG6I
Buy the video I watched: http://hbr.org/product/business-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid/an/1486C-MMC-ENG
Compelling article by Garry Emmons on the base of the pyramid: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5656.html
Posted in Business | Tags: change, development, Environmental scanning, Future, Globalization, marketing, thought leaders, weak signals
Shawn Grubb
The Critiques