Oh, canada...

after tuesday's discussion, i had to post this as well. this is what i immediately think of whenever anyone brings up canada....

My Grandma's myspace Page

It amazes me the vast bridge between some individuals electronic/internet savvy. Some people can build websites, 'twitter' while they're on the bus, and spread new chunky pics of Jessica Simpson at a chili cook-off worldwide. Other members of society are either a) convinced they can and will never be up to speed with the WWW or b) are plain frightened of it. Either way, they are markedly inept when compared to their peers. As this new generation ages, and eventually becomes the main core of the workforce, an ability to search, find, create, manipulate, etc. any information available will no longer be a skill of the elite. It will turn into an expectation. Students and professionals alike will expect to have streaming video at their fingertips. They will expect all websites to be interactive and state-of-the-art. Any business out there that offers their services electronically (will be an expectation of everyone sooner than later) will need to be up to speed with all of this, lest they lose costumers or hits or whatever you want to call it, to their competitors. It will no longer be 'who has the best services to offer,' and it will turn into 'who has the services that are the easier/smoothest/coolest/quickest to access.'

Bedtime Reading

I feel asleep soundly reading GIE Foreign Affairs. It was glorious. This morning, with coffee in tow, I pounded through the rest. There was one line that stuck out the most to me from that first piece. It was talking about how innovation today is more than coming out with a new product. Innovation could be a better way to get said product to customers, or a better way of working with partner firms to create products more efficiently. From the consumer point of few, this isn't something you would typically think of. High-school and college kids are more concerned about when the Y-Box or PS4 is going to be released, and not so much about how Sony may have improved their factory efficiencies so that a product cycle that used to take 4 hours now only take 20 minutes.

I had a meeting with my high school's Chief Trust and Compliance Officer after I got caught smoking on campus.

"Did you know that last year the world produced more transistors than grains of rice, at lower cost?" This blew my mind.

Sam Palmisano made a comment that I spoke on in my paper that was due today. His fourth challenge was winning over the hearts and minds of employees of all levels. Change needs to be bought into before it can be implemented. People have a natural tendency to fear what is different and shy away from change. One's comfort zone or security blanket is very difficult to let go of, and it is and will continue to be a great challenge to convince people that change is necessary.

Value 2.0

First off, the fact that craigslist only has 24 employees is mind-boggling, but I guess when you look at the layout/format of their site, you can see where they have scrimped.

In my previous job at Mayo Clinic, we had a little different spin on Pareto's Law. I worked as the Assistant Supervisor of the outpatient desk training program. We hired and trained Clinical Assistants and Patient Appointment Coordinators. Because of the vast number of outpatient desks (70+), we hired over 200 new employees a year. We figured (tweaking the numbers a bit) that we spent 90% of our time taking care of/disciplining/giving additional training to 10% of our hires. I still honestly think we should have incorporated the European soccer rule that if you finish in the bottom 3 of your division that year, you're out, and some new folks get a chance. Anyway...

Full disclosure- I paid $0 for In Rainbows. Worth every penny.

I think one of the difficulties of the Embracing Customers rule is that it would be difficult for start-ups to find their customers first. They could have a top-notch interactive, easy to use site, but if they have a small number of hits, its all for naught. They have to rely on other sites to provide commercials and advertisements for their new sites. Its not like going to the mall and walking by and into a new store you've never seen before.

Being flexible with your company, and in other words utilizing forward-thinking is in my opinion one of the most difficult tasks of a growing business. You need to know when to cut losses, and you need to have some sort of insight into where your customer base is headed. You don't need to be able to see the future, but it would help.

You have to think that there may be some businesses that may be too eager to jump into the virtual world and social software. Some customers out there love the routine of going to the same place, at the same time of week, to get the same sort of goods. Is there a way they can be reached? Obviously, they can't be ignored, and if they are your most reliable customers, they deserve the most attention.