It’s game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight, and our Red Wings have a chance to repeat for the second time in 11 years.  So if this post seems haphazard and aimless, it’s because everyone in Detroit is either planning a gigantic party tonight or learning how to tie a respectable noose, depending on what their lucky shirts are telling them.  I’m no exception.

Anyway, in the more mundane news:

• Via a technique known as gravitational microlensing, scientists may have found the first planet located in another galaxy.
• Want to know what it’s like to be a LearJet repo man?  It’s actually pretty fascinating.
• A nice reminder about how simple business can be when you don’t make it complicated.
• Who can name the bigger number? (Note: math geeks will rejoice; non-math geeks will flit the scroll wheel downwards for about five seconds, then go back to reading about the iPhone 3GS)
• Why teaching your kids to argue doesn’t make them contentious, but rather more considerate of alternate points of view, especially those held by others.
• Leo Laporte has a rare blow-up during a Gillmor Gang broadcast.
• Dan Dennett on consciousness (TED talk).  Key takeaways: we really don’t have a grasp on our own minds, our memories are usually incorrect and our brains do their best to fool us when it comes to our perception of the world around us.  Hooray.

There are many other interesting links to share, but quite honestly I’m already really nervous about the game tonight and I need to focus my energy on helping the Red Wings win, which means making anagrams out of Pavel Datsyuk’s name.  I will, however, leave you with this video of a well-meaning WGN reporter dunking on a small child, who immediately considers the reporter a horrible monster.

I lied.  The Wings won’t win unless I leave you with this video:

I’ll begin with Bud Caddell’s smart Venn diagram illustrating how to be happy in business:

…to which Caddell appends the following:

Over the years, I’ve found myself facing the following scenarios. (and I’ve added my two cents on how to move forward)

We can’t determine how to make enough money from the things we want to do, and do really well. I’m constantly surprised at what can be monetized. And on the web, there’s a market for almost anything. But this problem requires you to rapidly iterate your positioning and the type of clients you serve. Often, we’ll get transfixed on a single direction early on (because we’re desperate to solidify our business) and we’ll miss our chance to radically experiment with the market.

We’ve found things we want to do, and can be paid for, but we’re not the best game in town. Mediocrity is not a sustainable strategy. Being able to recognize your own weakness is a profound strength, and acting to improve what you do is key to any kind of long term growth and stability. Find the best talent and steal them. Learn how your competitors run their businesses, and copy what works.

We’ve come across things people want us to do, that we do well (or at least better than the competition) that we really don’t want to do. This is perhaps the most fatal trap for any business I’ve worked in. These are the sirens calling you to shipwreck. You’ll hemorrhage your best people, you’ll stop loving what you do, and you’ll lose the passion that built your business in the first place. Start saying ‘No.’

Finally, an assortment of random thoughts and links, in no particular order because it’s Friday and who really orders lists on a Friday?

• Looks like the Palm Pre won’t be available on Verizon within six months.  I knew it sounded too good to be true.
• “Meet the Command Line” is about the best UNIX primer/screencast I’ve ever seen for those who have never used the UNIX command line before.  (Thx Daring Fireball)
• Dave Eggers, one of my all time favorite authors, waxes visionary on the surprisingly bright future of print media.
• An illustration of free markets at work, this time in a labor-retaining flavor. (Thx Tyler Cowen)
• 37 Signals on how job applicants should forget the resume and start killing on the cover letter.
• Since it’s the weekend and I know you really don’t want to sweep the garage, I inflict upon you the  nasty pox known as Crush the Castle.  Have fun, and remember that your dirty garage isn’t my fault.
• The Big Picture has a fascinating photojournal about sulfur mining in Kawah Ijen.  Then again, I’m the sort of geek who sits around and watches Discovery all night.  Your mileage may vary.
• Larry Cheng discusses Jeff Bezos’s question during an MFG.com board meeting: “How can we double down?

Really, truly finally, I leave you with two videos that squarely insult the intersection of human capability and Newtonian physics.  Happy Friday.

Inspired Bicycles — Danny MacAskill

Damien Walters, freerunning showreel, 2009

]]> http://www.miproconsulting.com/blog/2009/06/friday-nonsense-how-to-be-happy-in-business-plus-assorted-but-very-useful-links/feed/ 0 http://www.miproconsulting.com/blog/2008/08/wrokday-idol/ http://www.miproconsulting.com/blog/2008/08/wrokday-idol/#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:10:46 +0000 Jeff Ventura http://www.miproconsulting.com/blog/2008/08/wrokday-idol/

Internally, we’ve talked about doing videos of things ranging from the instructional to the campy.  Check out what our partner Workday did with their American Idol spoof, below.  The editing is actually very good.

Dave Duffield is a master of culture-building, among many other things.  Good to see the PeopleSoft-in-its-glory energy resurfacing here.

Eppendorf develops products and systems for use in life-science laboratories worldwide.  By any measure, you’d think this is not the sort of company that would have serious marketing chops.

But you’d be wrong.

For its latest product, Eppendorf spent significant money on a viral video that is doing exactly what it was designed to do — make its rounds via word-of-mouth and the social web.  It’s linked everywhere right now, and this post just adds one more node to the pile.

Here you have a company that sells and messages to a scientific community Purple Cowing something so remarkably well that it’s a perfect illustration of how you can really get a product/company/service name to spread.  It’s cheesy and campy, and that’s what people love about it.  No brochure, web page, or whitepaper could ever cast such a wide net.

I don’t know what epMotion is, but that’s not really the point.  The name is out there en masse.

Just because you work in what’s perceived to be a dry or conservative industry doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun.