Past Week's Offers | June 2007 | May 2007 |
The inBubbleEnd
We started inBubbleWrap with no fanfare - no important announcements or press releases. Heck, we never put a single marketing dollar into this wacky endeavor. So it is only fitting that we end in the same fashion. That's right, inBubbleGuy has lost his "inBubble," so from here on out he's just "Guy" as today is the last day of inBubbleWrap.
Since I've always been overly revealing and self-deprecating, I figure it's only fitting to tell you the story of this here final post.
Keep Reading...especially to find out what is today's offfer!
HOW!
When they say, "Things aint like they used to be," they really mean, THINGS AINT LIKE THEY USED TO BE. Unless of course, by "used to be" you mean "the Kansas City Royal are in last place," or "Ted Danson Rules," or "Tricky Dick Cheney is obsessively and dangerously secretive," or even, "Root Beer is the best soda pop ever." Ok, so some things ARE like they used to be. But this world of business that we live in, it sure aint like it used to be. Now, I understand that the phrase, "Things aint like they used to be," is usually used to mean something negative. But in the case of "business aint like it used to be," or more appropriately, "business can't operate like it used to," the phrase's intention mean good things for the rest of the world. Why?
All the Tea in China
So I was working in a bar at nights and we just got a new manager. His plan was to essentially liquidate the inventory to gauge sales so as not to over order beer and liquor. You wouldn't believe how insane the bartenders and wait staff became, having to constantly tell customers, "Sorry we're out of that." The whole place was freaking out! But one night after close, I was sitting with one of the veteran barkeeps discussing how to best handle the situation. We decided that this was the bar's chance to expose customers to new drinks similar to what they were used to.
"Can I get a Bud?"
"I'm really sorry, but we're temporarily out of Bud, but if you want something similar, we have a local lager that I think really blows Bud away. It's a tad bit more expensive, but the taste difference is really worth it, and it's local."
It didn't always work or please the customer, but quite often it did, and ultimately it allowed the bartenders to develop better relationships with the customers. And to top it off, sales increased on nights this veteran bartender worked.
No Solitary Genius
Creativity can be daunting. If you're like me, you have all these crazy ideas floating around in your head, but most of them just sit there undeveloped. Sometimes it feels like there's some form of outside pressure bearing down on my brain, not letting ideas flow or flourish. I've tried to pinpoint the cause of this on many occasions and come up with no answers. But thanks to a new book, I now see things a bit differently. Keith Sawyer has helped me realize that creativity is "not an individual gift; solitary genius is a myth." Keith's new book is, Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration, and if you or your organization feel creatively stuck, perhaps it is because you are too much like me - you place the burden of creativity on yourself instead of letting it be a collaborative process.
The Clean Tech Revolution
Sometimes it takes us United Statesians waaaay too long to get on the ball. Until recently, one southern city (can't remember which) still had a law on the books making it illegal to carry an ice cream cone in one's pocket. Whuh? That's ludicrous. The best example, though, of being dangerously slow to the punch is the current "clean tech revolution." Seriously, how long have really smart people - you know, SCIENTISTS - been telling us that business-as-usual was totally wreaking havoc on the environment and jeopardizing our future? But since it was just a "social" issue championed by "environmentalists," nothing got done. But guess what? People FINALLY realized that being "green" resulted in more "green" in the wallet. That's right, clean tech is now a moneymaking enterprise. Well, better late than never I suppose. So, since clean tech is pushing into the mainstream, ready to explode, you might want to know how to get in the game. If so, Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder have the resource for you. It's aptly titled, The Clean Tech Revolution.
A Definition for the Ages
Sometimes, we the 8cr crew become seriously involved in the advancement of intellectual causes. We think this world is too stuck in generalities. So many words have lost meaning due to overuse, misuse, and abuse. That's why I, inBubbleGuy, and my younger inBubbleBrother, spent the last two days very specifically defining a word that gets thrown around more than Paris Hilton stories do in the mainstream press. For two and a half days now, the 8cr office has been heated in debate, conjecture, deductive reasoning, circular reasoning, philosophical understanding, and brilliant analogy. So what you ask is the topic at hand?
SPORT
Seriously folks, when the word "finance" has been called by one man, "our true national sport," it's time somebody takes a stand. Dylan and Ryan Schleicher are up to the challenge. George Carlin had a great bit on this a while back, but he's a funny man looking for a laugh, which caused him to used flawed logic.
Your Boss is a Nut Job
You think you have a crazy boss? Take 2 minutes and 16 seconds to watch THIS GUY.
Seriously, did you watch it? How freaking awesome was the rosin bag grenade toss that landed perfectly at the feet of the umpire??? Wow!
Or maybe your boss is more like THIS NUTJOB...
There are a lot of whack job bosses out there. Sometimes they even disguise themselves as normal people. But get them in a hairy situation and watch out. And who better to write about insane managers than the always entertaining and insightful Stanley Bing. Nobody! That's why today's book is Stanley's own,Crazy Bosses.
The Hughtrain
Every month I take a night to myself, get a bottle of wine, and curl up next to my laptop in order to take in the latest set of ChangeThis manifestos. I created this ritual for myself because if I don't devote one night to hammering through them, they probably get lost in my information shuffle.
Anyways...
I like ChangeThis for a lot of reasons. First off, it's free. A whole lot of smart people write engaging pieces that I don't have to pay for. Secondly, it's democratic. Anyone can submit a manifesto proposal, and if it's good enough, it can be published...again, for free. With the advances of Web 2.0, we've come to realize that there are a lot of brilliant people who get overlooked by the mainstream press and publishing goliaths. ChangeThis provides an outlet for some of these people.
Hidden in Plain Site
It's rather astonishing how many companies have blown the opportunity to stay at the forefront of an industry. One crystal clear example comes from today's book, Hidden in Plain Sight. The company in question is Sony. For years they were great because they realized people wanted music on the go. The Walkman was a smash hit, and they followed-up with portable CD players. But guess what happened? They stopped innovating. They were so blinded by success that they stopped paying attention to the "how, when, and where people wanted their music." And we all know what happened from there - iPod domination.
Like You Are Staring At Death
There are thirteen train tracks on the chemical plant grounds. Some tracks have filling stations, others repair houses, and one is the scale track. Here's the thing, when you are switching rails, you are basically leading a blind train conductor. When he's pushing a line of train cars, he has no idea where the last one is, or how many cars he's pushing. Through radio communication, the switchman is the conductor's eyes. What this really means is that the switchman has the lives of an entire chemical plant in his hands. If he loses focus for even a couple seconds, train cars full of chlorine, caustic soda, and a whole slew of other deadly chemicals, could crash or derail. Quite often it's the switchman's job to stop a line of 15 train cars within 10 feet of a car that is hooked up to the filling tubes. The slightest bump of that car being filled could have grave repercussions. One drop of caustic soda will burn straight through a human arm. On slow chlorine leak can destroy human lungs in no time.
When you are a switchman on chemical plant grounds, you are quickly forced to become a strong leader. Perfect, not good, communication is required. A broad understanding of the environment is essential. You have to have the absolute trust of the conductor, the filling station operators, and everyone else working nearby. To sum up, when you are leading with lives on the line, you quickly learn how to lead. This is similar to the message Thomas Kolditz put forth in his new book, In Extremis Leadership: Leading As If Your Life Depended On It.
Who's Your Business Daddy?
When you first had a child, how many times did you refer to your own parents for advice? How about when you were picking a college or learning to hit a baseball or trying to grasp religion? Woven into the essential fabric of society is our need to learn from those who came before us, and parents are essential within this process. Maybe one of your parents taught you how to cook while the other showed you how to milk a cow or drive a car. Sometimes we learn from our parents' successes, and other times parents help us avoid the pitfalls they encountered. Either way, the progression of humankind has relied strongly upon two people pair bonding, reproducing, and distilling their wisdom to future generations.
The same kind of cycle is evident in business. I ask you this, "Who's your [business] Daddy?" Well, in some sense, inBubbleWrap is your daddy!!! Like your sweet mother teaching you how to tie a shoe, a lot of the books we feature are written by business folks who've been through the grind and want to dispense their wisdom for all inBubbleHeads to read, absorb, and practice. Today's book is the perfect example. It's called Leadership Without Borders, and it's all about leaders who have faced the relatively new and unprecedented challenges of leading in today's global marketplace. These people are your mommies and daddies!
Even If You Initially Disagree, Listen and Think
As you all may have been able to ascertain, I'm a huge proponent of what has been dubbed "Web 2.0" and the increasing availability and spread of free information. However, it would be foolish to blindly accept these technological and social advances as simply "good." Almost all progress comes with drawbacks. For instance, when the internet became the internet, it allowed more people than ever the access to valuable information. On the flip side, more worthless garbage was available as well. I'll take the garbage if, as a whole, a technology benefits the common good (at least until that technology becomes, or should become, obsolete - see petroleum fuel automobiles).
That's the question at least one man is asking of Web 2.0: Do the benefits of 2.0 outweigh the threats it presents to society? Andrew Keen doesn't think so, and I happen to think that hearing his side of this issue is extremely important, so I want to give you all two ways to access Keen's view. The first obviously is the book he wrote called, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture.
Andrew Keen also wrote a manifesto just published on ChangeThis called Against You: A Manifesto in Favor of Audience. You can read it online or download the PDF for free.
Do read what Keen has to say. Perhaps it will make for a better Web 3.0.
Be Unreasonable
Watching the recent round of Democratic "debates," you'd think all the candidates have Best Friends Forever tattoos and spend their free time making Friendship Bracelets for one another. I understand that they want to present a unified party, but presidential debates really should not be a rainbowed cotton candy lovefest showcase. I'm not proposing they start slinging wet dirt, but how are we supposed to differentiate the candidates without any substance. Nobody is willing to stand out from the pack. Well, almost nobody.
It started when John Edwards said something like, "But there are differences between us candidates." But John John made the mistake of using the Iraq situation to differentiate him from the others, because when it comes to voting records, Edwards hasn't exactly been consistent. Obama, on the other hand, has been opposed to the invasion and occupation since day one, and sort of made Johnny boy look a little silly for bringing it up.
What's the point of all this? While most of the candidates were busy playing the unified party game, Barack, at least on this occasion, put on display his willingness to go against the grain, even if it may at the time be politically damaging. This is how candidates become memorable. This is how they differentiate themselves. And this is a good lesson for all business people. You don't succeed by sticking to convention and playing it safe. Paul Lemberg has a great new book that speaks to this idea. It's called, Be Unreasonable.
15 Books
Jeesh, the books are piling up on my shelf faster than the cicadas on my parents' back yard garden, and taking up more space than the slugs on inBubbleLadyFriend's dill plant. Whatever am I going to do? I'm running out of precious room. How am I supposed to stretch out and relax with my floor strewn so slovenly with Selling Power and Sales Tips? And what about my coworkers and bosses? Todd has more floor, but more books too. Jack has a table, or at least I think there's still a table under that pile of books. And let us not forget the corners of Becka tha Wrecka's desk. Folks, we need help, and who better to help than inBubbleNation?
I'm going to gather some of these piles into cardboard containers. Each container is going to contain 15 books. I will say for now that 3 containers will exist, but that might change depending on how many books me office mates expunge from their work spaces. Finally, I will send these containers to a few of you luckies.
But wait, I think I want you all to do something with the books. Whoever wins, I want you to pick one book from the cardboard container that you think applies most to your every day responsibilities. I want you to read that book. Then if you would be so kind, I would really appreciate a review of that book. If you don't have time, I totally understand. I just think it would be cool to hear what y'all think about the stuff we're giving away.
That's all! Be neat and stay swell.
Unearthing Among Destruction
I haven't done it in a while, but I absolutely used to love "Freelance Cooking." Freelance cooking is when you look in the fridge, in the cupboards and pantry, and improvise a meal with what little you have. I taught myself this skill out of necessity. A long long while back, I had an unexpected financial downturn - the kind where you have to make $7.00 last five days - and at first glance, didn't seem to have much food in the house. Within a half-hour, I was eating some sort of noodle cheese salad sprinkled with something I'm not sure was officially still considered "edible food." But it was good, and I didn't get sick, so I was inspired to continue freelancing for the next several days...even after I got paid. All in all, I became better acquainted with how to make things happen in the kitchen due to a sudden and negative financial change.
In the business world, if leaders don't become versed in the equivalent of "freelance cooking," there's a fair chance that their companies won't succeed. Sudden change happens all the time, and sometimes with great severity. What leaders have to realize is that change, even if it is negative change, creates opportunities. Gary Bradt has written a great book on this subject called, The Ring in the Rubble: Dig Through Change and Find Your Next Golden Opportunity.
