Respectable

I was watching a loser grinding to make a mark at a party. The more he tried, the worse he did. It was drunk and ugly.

Suddenly I got it. To gain respect, you have to be respectable.

Changed my relationship with the word. Previously respectable was nose in the air, Viennese middle class, not much use.

Now respectable is a lot less formal. Able to be respected. Familiar territory. Respectable has a lot to do with listening kindly.

Exploring Respectable will be a project this year. How do you see it?

Start the New Year right! Come join us for The Direct Economy - How Can You Benefit From The Strongest Economy In The History Of The World? At The Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) January 12, 6 pm, Chevy Chase RSVP Here

Science Is Making

 

I was introduced to Phil Justus of the Rockville Science Center by a friend who is both a volunteer for RSC and a judge for the Washington Academy of Sciences Junior Academy.

We are all in violent agreement, that the only reason to learn science is to do science, and the more science you do, the more you learn.

Phil had a lovely riff about transforming the typical playground into a physics lab, showing levers, pulleys, centrifugal force, gravity, and a host of other concepts that could get a five-year-old ready for advanced placement work. All it would take are some descriptive plaques near each piece of equipment explaining a concept and showing how to set up an experiment. (For instance, move the plank on a seesaw to compensate for different weight on each end.) 

The RSC organizes Science Cafes bringing knowledgeable speakers to present to interested citizens. They are organizing behind the scenes science expeditions to the Smithsonian, trips to Rockville area archeological sites, robotic science camps, and an upcoming geology camp.

Phil and the RSC are looking for people to celebrate science as participants, activity organizers, fundraisers, and almost anything else you might want to do. Think of the program as continuing education for the whole community.

As your New Year Resolution, why not put some science in your life?

Join us for The Direct Economy at The Association for Information Technology Professionals 6 pm on January 12^th

Consider: The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.

Did you ever notice, no matter how hard you do the wrong thing, it never quite works?

The Direct Economy will give you a better understanding of what is changing and how you can win at the new game. RSVP Here!

Disruptive Technology

Technology is the way we do things. Disruptive means we have changed.

Here is a disruptive technology story, from planning for the new year.

As a sales executive, I travel to client sites. For the Washington market, Alexandria Drafting Company (who Jack knows as “ADC” from when he was piloting cement trucks) had a great set of maps, either by county or the big book. I needed both since some government installations are pretty far out, like Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

Every year, first week of January, I would go to Price Club <dated> and get my new set for the year and move the previous year’s maps to my office for planning purposes. Old maps don’t hurt planning as much as they hurt arriving.

ADC was interactive. I sent them letters and later emails documenting changes in roads, and they responded in weeks and a year or two later incorporated the changes. I was part of their tribe.

Then Google Maps came out and I would chart my routes every morning. (Ignoring the first five directions. I can often find the nearest highway to home). ADC had been disrupted.

Researching this post I searched for the ADC website. Their inventory has been acquired by an aggregator, where I saw the maps I used in the New York area and New England. The last iceman always makes money.

My wife uses an iPhone. We were out in Virginia when they shut down Interstate 81. She interactively found us to our destination. My printer has been disrupted with the only compelling argument for a smartphone.

Smartphone went on my “want” list, which is pages longer than my “need” list.

How have you noticed you are effected by disruptive technology?

Join us December 13^th at the Capital Technology Management Hub Launching A Green Technology Startup for Sales Lab’s How to Convey Your Business Personality - Easily, Simply, and For Free! Good times! Great crowd! Sterling presenters!

Unexpected Value

I chair and attend a lot of meetings.

I attend a monthly meeting which is a huge frustration. We have an agenda, which I would rate at 25 minutes, which month after month takes over two hours.

The new leader, at his first meeting said, “I’ve never seen anything like this!” After a few months he’s been beaten into puzzled acceptance.

I got a new glimmer this week while doing some other work. If I look at the aggregate value for all the participants (even as they are decreasing), there is a big number missing. Then I figured out what it was.

If we figure in the value for “How do I look when I am saying this?” I can better see the total rewards, and they are exceptional.

What is the cost of “How do I look?” in your meetings?

Get More Value From Your Blog! Join us at BlogLab - Improve Your Blogs! Thursday December 8, 8:30 am - 1 pm. Learn more at http://bit.ly/WMRBlogLab