Random Articles

• Stinson Auto Brought the Neon Back to Normal Back when Saint Paul the Auto Repairman fixed my tie rod end, he noticed the front brakes needed to be done and warned: “You’re going to lose a caliper.” He also warned the alignment was off. To go straight, turn the steering wheel 60 degrees off normal. No, Jen didn’t want me driving the car until both
• Real Value vs. Useless Veneer Doc Searles comments that expensive hotels aren’t offering valuable amenities to their guests. Reminds me of my previous thoughts on how Hotels could improve the guest experience: If a Sign is Needed, Something is Wrong. Cost of Stolen Towels Comes Out of Marketing Budget
• Opportunitize, Not Monetize 30,000 feet up, on my way to a 3-day client meeting I took a tip from Doc Searls and stared at the landscape. That altitude provides a pretty good view of the roadway branding our country like a waffle iron. While I speculate most of these stretches of pavement are unused most of the time, without
• Camp Shoppy? So, Camp Snoopy is leaving Mall of America. I think the Mall has a huge opportunity to develop their own cheesy mascots - like the Olympics does. Problem is, they need a new name as well. Hmmmmm. Here’s an easy fix: Turn the ‘n’ into an ‘h’ and the second ‘o’ into a ‘p’.
• How to Stifle Teamwork - Part 2 “Rating and ranking engender competition, not collaboration” - Esther Derby, An Alternative to the Yearly Performance Review I always felt annual performance reviews existed for disconnected management to reinforce hierarchy. To know that their prime purpose (in employees’ minds) of securing an individual salary increase actually incents people to not collaborate is doubly disheartening. Compare this