Last week, coincident with starting a new business venture, I was visited by a magnificent bird. A raptor landed in my backyard, a Peregrine Falcon, with its lunch!  Quite amazing for suburban London. As I contemplated what to call the venture over the weekend that name came to me, Peregrine.  A Peregrine Falcon is not only the fastest bird in the sky, but the fastest living thing. While far from being the biggest of raptors, it’s blazing speed gives it an essential advantage. Organizations look for a similar advantage in bringing new products and services to market. Innovation is about speed isn’t it?  Being the first to recognize new market dynamics, generating ideas quickly and getting into a new product

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Since lauching this new venture on Thanksgiving Day, I’ve realized that while I have an idea, I have more questions than answers. In days past I would have worried about this, but really, it’s a good thing.  Why pretend to have all the answers? I’m breaking new ground here, how could I have all the answers. This will be open business plan development Here are the questions, please jump in and participate.  Transparency is going to be a watchword at…this..Social Media Newco Panel Thing.    First question: What to name the venture.  Haven’t started developing a list of candidate names yet, so please send them in.  Looking for a name that is broad enough to encompass using all social media

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Perhaps it was reading Guy Kawasaki’s inspirational Reality Check that got me started thinking. The recent Motrin fiasco added to the mix. Maybe the realization that a once adequate personal pension fund is looking a bit less than adequate now played a part.  Or, maybe I’m just in love with the idea. I’ll go with that! In any event, I’m starting a new venture, as of Thanskgiving Day 2008, and that venture is about using social media for market research.  I’ll say it generally like that because this will be an evolving business plan.  It’s starting with something more specific, a Twitter-based consumer panel.  The panel, which I haven’t named yet (looking for my community to help) will be a

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Note to self: Post a Thanksgiving blog about…Thanksgiving. Okay here’s what I’m thankful for, in no particular order, and with an effort to be creative in my thinking about thanking. Everybody around the globe who’s bought Jack’s Notebook. It’s been gratifying to hear from many of you and get a sense of how it’s helped people. I’m thankful for all the reviewers I’ve found through Twitter and this blog, thanks for posting about my book. An author with no marketing budget depends on people like you, I’m thankful for the mostly kind words. My wife Caroline, who is simply nothing but good to me. Love is a lot to be thankful for. Love is what supports creativity. For my homes,

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Over the weekend I was monitoring Twitter friends and was surprised to discover a bit of a dust up with regard to the Motrin brand. Motrin, it appears, had put up an ad suggesting that mothers who wear those slings to carry their babies are slaves to fashion, and that it hurts their backs. Depending on how you interpret the ad it can also be perceived as calling mothers “tired and crazy”.  It also subtly suggests that the sling is not really as much of a bonding experience as it’s purported to be.  One would guess the original intention of the ad would be to suggest that Motrin is the answer to all the neck, back, and shoulder pain a

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I’ve been reading, or I should say digesting, Guy Kawasaki‘s new book, Reality Check, the Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.  I’d suggest a deep red wine while reading, something to complement a meaty book, perhaps a Cotes du Rhone. It’s a book destined to become a classic vintage, a book about being an entrepreneur, written by an entrepreneur, for entrepreneurs. Its content is the nitty-gritty detail of what it takes to make a start up happen and work.  It’s practical, it’s concise, it covers a lot of bases, and yeah, it’s irreverent.  I think irreverent is true, but more accurately, the advice it gives is often not the classic BS (“Bull Shitake”, Guy’s term) you might

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My wife says this is a secret wish that can’t happen. Still, what I imagine is a secret wish is a secret wish and that’s it, I’ve got to go with it. 

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I’m a bit of a doodler. I often draw a character based on someone I see on the train, then, attribute to them a Secret Wish.  I’ve decided to post a few of these “Secret Wish” cartoons, here’s the first.  Would love to hear reactions!  

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I can’t let the moment go by without saying something about the recent death of Studs Terkel. Studs was 96 years young when he died October 31, 2008. I have one degree of separation from Studs — I have Chicago friends who actually know him. I’ve heard him speak, only a few years ago when he was “only” 91. His lunch keynote at the QRCA conference was as lively and relevant as any speaker you could wish for. If you are unaware of this man, read his bio here.  I have a few comments to make about him related to creativity and innovation. Briefly, Studs was an award winning writer, broadcaster, actor, and a civil rights/civil liberties activist. He interviewed the

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I just returned from spending a couple days in Liverpool, the city of  The Beatles.  I stayed at the new Hard Days Night Hotel, sleeping below a huge air-brushed portrait of George Harrison. I’ll write more about the hotel, it was, to use a 60’s phrase, a trip. In the meantime, I have a lot of things to say about The Beatles, and their relationship to creativity and innovation. I spent an afternoon at The Beatles Story museum at Albert Dock, which had a great audio tour and memorabilia. The anecdote that struck me was one told by their producer, George Martin. He recounted hearing the first tape of The Beatles and thinking it was awful. Brian Epstein, their manager, was insistent

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