The remarkable wish

"Nothing is so common-place as the wish to be remarkable."

Who said it?

If you follow blogs and message boards related to the new CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, you'll see folks who claim Gideon quoted Shakespeare, and there are those who think it was Hotchner.

Checking a handful of websites, I find that the same quote is attributed to Shakespeare and Oliver Wendell Holmes. (I wonder if Holmes' appropriation is considered fair use?)

Regardless of which TV character referenced the quote by Shakespeare or Holmes, I'm not sure I agree with either of them.

If the wish to be remarkable is common-place, how do we describe the overwhelming shortage of anything remarkable? Mediocrity is common-place. We raise the mundane and average to undeserved heights of honor and cheapen those people, places and things that truly are remarkable.

If everything is a BIG DEAL,
Nothing is a BIG DEAL.

Googling books in the "TiVo Culture"

The debate continues and gets increasingly intense between Google and those who write, publish and sell books.

The search engine folks want to make digital copies of entire books so they can offer "fair use" portions on their web site.

The authors and publishers contend that copying entire books would violate copyright laws, and could lead to future misuse beyond the stated objective of "fair use."

My advice to the publishers: start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone.

Legal questions aside, this is something the consumer will eventually demand and the best course of action for those on the publishing side is to figure out a way to make it happen to their advatage.

Legislation may slow down the advent of digitized libraries, but new laws will never stop the shift in consumer attitudes and desires for the ability to "TiVo" every aspect of their life.

Consumers will want this, and they will have it. Look at the music business for a great example of mistaken trust in the legistative process.

More evidence of the TiVo Culture

Brand managers and marketers have always placed a feather in their cap whenever they find evidence of a consumer changing their lifestyle to fit a product. This has been the ultimate goal; create such a bond with the user that they are willing to change the way they live to use our product or service.

But that wind is changing.

Latest evidence is the story out of my area about the university student who is creating online repositories of retail sale announcements long before the sale ads hit the street.

Read more from the NYT

Score one more point for the TiVo Culture - consumers have one more layer of control over sellers and Dylan's words continue to resonate clearly:

You'd better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone.

It really IS the 17th

For those who use a Mac and iCal, today is a weird day.

As you know, the iCal icon in the Dock defaults to "17" when the application is closed.

I looked down this morning, saw the "17" and wondered why I had closed the application.

Lesson - Through consistent, subtle repetition, I have been trained to see the number "17" differently.

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

That's from Leonardo da Vinci and it's always intrigued me. Simple isn't stupid and complex isn't - necessarily - brilliant.

I've found a delightful podcast from the Australian Broadcasting Company that offers regular discussions on the need for simplicity in a variety of very complex situations.

Presented under the umbrella of Ockham's Razor, you may want to download these 15-minute segments and listen to them as you drive to work. My guess is that repeated exposure to the program may cause you to look for simpler solutions to issues you're dealing with.

Couldn't hurt.

Ockham's Razor Podcast

Words Matter

A story by NBC reporter Roger O'Neill provides a tidbit of hope for those who cringe at the sorry state to which our collective grammar has fallen. According to O'Neill, Fortune 500 companies are spending more than $3 billion a year re-training employees to properly use grammar. He quotes one Roger Peterson:

"How about this expression, 'for all intents and purposes.' What does that mean?" asks Peterson. "[Or] 'at this point in time.' What does that mean? How is it better than saying 'now?' 'That was an awfully nice dinner you just served me.' Well, was it a nice dinner or was it an awful dinner? Make up your mind. We simply, now, must salvage American English."

It's about time.

Words do matter, and not just to grammar snobs. They matter because it takes a bit of time to craft a well-turned sentence and in the extra span of a few minutes - or even seconds - you can actually THINK about what you're saying and present an idea worthy of the reader's attention.

If it's important enough to ask someone to read it - it's worth an extra minute of review.

My pet peave phrase is any with the word combination each and every, as in "A hearty thanks to each and every one of you." One of those words is wasted. If they thank each of us, they've thanked every one of us.

Favorite Drucker quote

"My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions."

Yours?

Innovation is Over-rated

"Nothing in the business world is more overrated than a "good idea". Nothing. I've never gone into an organization anywhere in the world that didn't have - with a little prompting and encouragement - more good ideas than it could possibly use. Indeed, most firms enjoy a surplus - a glut - of good ideas. As a rule, a glut of something makes it less valuable, not more. Economics 101."

Michael Schrage is co-director of the MIT Media Lab's eMarkets Initiative. I found this piece in the Australian edition of CIO.

Schrage makes an excellent case for his argument that resistance to change is far more responsible for corporate inertia, than any perceived lack of "new ideas."

Not having new ideas isn't the problem - having the guts to implement them is.

The whole world is bitchier these days

Tony Long writes for Wired News:

My expectations have been raised to [a] ridiculous level by technology running amok through my heretofore-bucolic existence. I used to be a laid-back guy. Now I'm impatient. I chafe. I get irritable when my gratification isn't instantaneous. And it isn't just me. The whole world is bitchier these days.

I'm not exactly certain how to process this, but Tony strikes a nerve with his commentary on my constant desire for more stuff:

You think technology benefits you because it gives you an easier row to hoe? Bollocks. The ease it provides is illusory. It has trapped you, made you a slave to things you don't even need but suddenly can't live without.

Hmmmm - read more

Weapons of MASHED Destruction

Found this "funny" on a National Park Service website:

Joshua Tree National Park (CA)
PVC Potato Cannons Seized from Scout Troop

On the morning of Saturday, October 29th, park employees received reports of a disturbance from visitors who were camping in the group campsites at Indian Cove Campground. Protection rangers responded. During the subsequent investigation, the rangers confiscated seven cannons constructed from PVC piping which were being used to shoot potatoes into the area of the campground through the use of a gas propellant.

The cannons ranged in size from two to six feet in length and are defined as destructive devices under the California penal code. Other miscellaneous PVC piping, which was used for making the potato cannons, and three five-pound bags of potatoes were also confiscated. A local California Boy Scout troop occupied the site. The site permit holder was issued a violation notice for possession/use of weapons. The Scoutmaster and group leaders were given multiple verbal warnings for disorderly conduct, sanitation/refuse violations, food storage violations, and miscellaneous traffic offenses.

Incestuous Amplification and the California Governator

What happened to Arnold?

Back in January, the California governor's approval rating was at 62% - this week he was handed a decisive kick in the political crotch when all four of his personally endorsed special ballot initiatives went down in flames.

I'm not going to argue the pro and con of the ballot measures, but I can't help but comment on what must have led to the overwhelming failure of Arnold's agenda.

There's only one way a team with such good numbers in January could land so hard and fast in November. They paid FAR too much attention to their own PR.

It's called Incestuous Amplification - when a group of people with similar opinions and interests exclude contrary views they have a tendency to arrive at outrageous conclusions regarding their own beliefs.

It's obvious that Arnold and his team were so caught in their January poll numbers that they stopped listening to anyone who disagreed.

Is there a lesson in this for your organization? If you're not getting REGULAR contrary input - you are destined to join the Governator in a feast of humble pie.

Demand Passion

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a recent seminar session led by Joel Fotinos who directs the religion category at Penguin Putnam, a major US publishing house.

Joel related how he had become frustrated by the lack of risk and excitement he saw evidenced in new book projects being proposed by his editors and those of his colleagues at other publishing houses.

Being a man of intense passion, Fotinos wanted to ignite a similar fire in his team so he told them to:

"go out and find a project about which you are so passionate that you will quit and go somewhere else if we don't [publish] it."

It's not necessary to share details of the results, but one of the projects that came from this Call for Passion is a book that is on track to sell over 600,000 copies in it's first year. By all counts, the book would never have even been written had the editor not been passionate about the project.

In my experience, too many organizations inhibit passion because it can create problems in the corporate environment. Passionate people - by definition - are not "reasonable." They demand that their ideas be heard and acted on. They raise their voices and pound their fists and "make others uncomfortable."

I'm with Joel - we need more irrational and foolishly passionate people on our teams. And the ONLY way you're going to take advantage of what they bring to the table is to DEMAND PASSION.

Godin on long-term perspectives

There's no need for extra commentary to this piece from Seth Godin.

If you or your organization has been suffering from a lack of excitement about the future - click here and read what could be one of Seth's best.