Branding is something we are imprinted with at a subconscious level. I saw this guy at Hobgoblins, a quite ordinary guy, but with this poofy quiff. I asked myself why? The result is this drawing. Non-Americans might not get the Bob’s Big Boy reference, click here and you’ll see what that is.
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I have no idea who Steven Weber is, but I’m going to find out. He posted a piece on The Huffington Post today that I think is brilliant. In my view, it’s one of those things that needs to be said more often. The simple fact Steven brings up is this: creativity leads to prosperity. Value is created with creative thinking. Now, Steven actually said “Creativity and Prosperity: Not as Incompatible as You Think”. His focus is on the entertainment industry in the piece, but the broader truth is, it’s a cross-industry thing. Many managers believe that creativity is not something you want because it means a loss of control. And when creativity is suppressed they have the illusion of
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Thomas Friedman is one of my favorite writers in the political-economic arena. Probably because he’s a great thinker. When he writes a column you can be sure it is well thought out, well researched, and to the point. He also has ideas — he goes beyond reporting. Yesterday he wrote a New York Times Op-Ed piece suggesting that what Obama should do is create a new initiative to create millions of young entrepreneurs and jobs. Friedman calls it “Start-Up America.” It would be Obama’s “moon shot” It’s a great piece, and a great idea, read it if you have an interest in entrepreneurial visionary thinking. So many people get caught up in anti-tax, anti-big government BS that they forget you have
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Briefly noted, a quick from-the-field pop culture report. How many lives can a show biz cat have? I was shocked, and delighted, to see Mickey Dolenz featured on a poster in the London Underground. Apparently he has the part of Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray. Dolenz is well on his way to becoming the Mickey Rooney of his generation, at least in terms of longevity. He’s 64 and still doing new things. Mickey (now known as Michael) Dolenz is most famous for being the drummer and a singer in 60’bubble-gum pop group, The Monkees. The Monkees were crassly commercial but had some nice moments in spite of it. Mickey became a decent drummer and a very good song stylist — The Last
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Shout out to Black & Decker as they celebrate 100 years of innovation. What a marvelous achievement. This is something American (and European for that matter) manufacturers should take a good close look at. As we see jobs being shipped overseas and as we see the manufacturing base slowly ebbing away, Black & Decker is proof that American manufacturers can compete. And you compete by innovating. All…the…time. It’s a myth that American manufacturers can’t compete, and Black & Decker is proof. So is Harley-Davidson. Making high quality, high value products, means good jobs — and sustaining of a way of life. Black & Decker started as a small machine shop in Baltimore and now makes a broad range of hardware
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Meals from the Heartland (@MftH) is a charity with a simple purpose: send meals to people who are starving. Volunteers, mostly from Iowa where the charity is based, packaged up 4 million meals last year. Even before the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti, that troubled country was a primary destination for the packaged meals. In fact, two million meals were shipped in 2009 to Haiti, and thankfully about half of that shipment is available to Haitians now. It wasn’t good luck — it was the result of a generous effort that comes from a desire to change the world. Now, MftH is gearing up for a massive push to send more meals to Haiti in its time of greatest need.
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I try not to watch Fox News. First of all it’s not news, it’s entertainment. And certainly not my kind of entertainment, so I avoid it. I tuned back in recently and I’m here to report three new innovation lows at Fox. Fox is proof that doing the wrong thing sometimes gets ratings and money. Clearly, their new innovation initiatives are novel and useful to them, and — harmful to the industry, and harmful to viewers. That’s crap innovation, sad to say. Readers, this is a political opinion blog piece. And I’m a Progressive/Liberal. However, even if you are on the right side of the political fence you should be concerned about Fox. A propagandized electorate behaves like a swinging
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I’m a fan of the work of Richard Florida. Florida has written several books about the “creative class”. He examines why certain places seem to be hotbeds of creativity and innovation. Simply put, “creative” communities that are tolerant, and have an interesting arts scene, tend to also be communities that attract new business development. You don’t have to read Florida to intuitively know that some places just “feel” like better spots to start a business. Silicon Valley, if you’ve ever been there, has that feel. Austin, Texas has that feel. Apparently New Zealand and Singapore have that feel. And, those areas are indeed hotbeds for entrepreneurial development. Florida did the studies that proved this out. I’m going to go a
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