Monthly Archives: March 2011

Drawing The Line

Grumpy old man on a Scottish island (wary of p...

Image by Ninian Reid via Flickr

Maybe I’m getting less flexible as I get older.  Not the kind of flexibility that might affect my golf swing, thank you.  No, I mean my willingness to consider other points of view.  Maybe I really do want to become, or HAVE become, what the Mrs. sometimes accuses me of being: a grumpy old man.  An Altacocker.  Could be.

Here’s why I raise the issue.  I asked another consultant yesterday if they’d ever fired a client, either as a consultant or during their previous career in the corporate world.  His response isn’t material for a family blog such as this.  But it did get me thinking. Continue reading

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Filed under Consulting

Won’t Get Fooled Again?

There are so many things about which to write this morning and yet I find myself reverting to a few common themes expressed in this space over the last few years.  It just amazes me that Santayana‘s maxim about the past is given so much lip service and yet ignored in practice.

I’ll apologize upfront if I sound kind of angry but I kind of am.  You see, things such as earthquakes, which we can’t control, are very different from things such as knee-jerk reactions to malicious underhandedness, which we can.  In this and other cases it costs people their jobs and embarrasses their organizations for absolutely no reason.  I’ll also tell you upfront that this is NOT a political rant because in this case although the incident was politically motivated the business implications could not be more clear. Continue reading

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Filed under Reality checks

The Food Court

La Feria del CCCT, Chuao, Caracas

Image via Wikipedia

For today’s Foodie Friday Fun post I want to talk about what the food court tells us about media.  I know – exactly what you were thinking about yourself.  But there really is an analogy in there.

I’m sure you’ve wandered around the mall and as you get to the food court you’ve had folks come up to you with samples of food.  Maybe you had the same experience at the supermarket or Costco.  Sampling isn’t exactly a new strategy, even in media.  Movies have been giving away samples – the “coming attractions” – for as long as I can remember.  So what’s different and why is it important? Continue reading

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Filed under digital media, food, Thinking Aloud