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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Missing the Message for the Words

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The SMS text message screamed in all caps: SETH GODIN IS  A COMMUNIST! photo courtesy of minaka And that was only the beginning.  My cellphone vibrated with new revelations about Godin for the next seven minutes.  What started all this?  My friend – let’s call him “Jim” – just finished Linchpin by Seth Godin.  Jim was convinced that the book’s purpose was to inspire an overthrow of the US government and to replace it with a Soviet-style Marxist regime. I admit that Seth alluded to The Communist Manifesto a few times in Linchpin.  I also admit that the book talked about an economic revolution that would change everything about the way we work and make a living. Not to mention, I’ve disagreed with Seth Godin in the past. But I don’t believe Godin is a communist.  Actually, I think Linchpin is profoundly anti-authoritarian.  Here’s why. First, Godin doesn’t “call for” a revolution. Instead, he observes

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Top 100 Attributes of Favorite Loyalty Programs

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I’ve been asking people to name their favorite loyalty programs and what makes that program special.  Here’s the why in a word cloud. No surprise that the words “points” and “free” show up. But look how strong “experience” appears.  That’s because people value experiences. When a loyalty program delivers a meaningful experience, the dollar value of the programs becomes less important. Another word: connection. Connection was used with only one brand–REI–but everyone who mentioned REI as their favorite included the word “connection” in their description.  That’s because people have a drive to bond, Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria described in their book Driven. Taken together, people associate value, meaning, simplicity, ease, surprise, connection, and experience to things they like.  Well, duh. The trick is to consciously apply these attributes to everything we create. The profits will follow.

3 Sites You’ve Got to Read

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Sometimes life just serves up some great discovers.  I’m searching for some ideas for a project. I need to find out patterns in ecommerce. Instead, I’m finding some really great blogs and sites that I’ve never seen before. Or maybe I’ve seen but didn’t note.  Feeling particularly generous, I submit the 3 best new finds in the web: 99 Percent:  This blog validates all of my prejudices.  What drew me here was this amazing story about streamlining desision-making.  I will explore much, much more in this rich site over the weekend. Co.Design: Okay, I lied. Co.Design has been in my Google reader for months after it provided an idea for a web design. But I hadn’t really gone back unti today.  Wow. This one sentence in one story makes the whole site worth bookmarking: To me, and a handful of practical purists, design was meant to serve people and make life easier, not just better

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Standing for Something

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When you can’t muster the strength to right-click your mouse, it’s time to act. I arrived in that grim condition a few weeks ago.  Severe pain in my back and shoulder, numbness and weakness in my right arm.  About $10,000 in medical testing later, I still don’t know the exact cause. But one non-medical step I took has seemed to help. That got to me do some digging.  I posted a frightening infographic a couple of weeks ago. Then I decided to stand for something myself. But first, some more of my findings. Amazing Findings People who sit more than 6 hours a day are 40 percent more likely to die in the next 15 years than those who sit less than 3. Depending on your weight at the outset, standing for an hour burns 30 to 60 more calories than sitting for the same hour. Sitting raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol almost

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5 Signs of Abundance

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Scarcity sells. Scarcity is fear–the fear of loss, on the mild end, to the fear of death, on the extreme.   Modern society promotes the idea of scarcity in all things. Businesses stress scarcity—scarce jobs, scarce resources, scarce opportunities, scarce money. I say “nonsense.” The guy who sells you scarcity sells lies. Life is abundant.  The universe knows only abundance.  Only stupid humans can look around and see scarcity. Only governments and the UN would stoop so low as to create scarcity for political purposes. The idea of scarcity draws out the worst in people. Fearing shortages and limitations, we stockpile, we steal, we deny, we cheat, we hoard, we lie.  Scarcity inspires wars of conquest and the building of empires. Lisa Bloom, the Story Coach, reminds us today of a beautiful Jewish holiday celebrated today and tomorrow.  Shavuot 2011 runs June 7 through June 9.  In Bloom’s words: It is Shavuot, the festival that

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