Passionate Endeavors

There is a great post today at "Creating Passionate Users" (check it out at the link below):
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/07/avoid_cliches_l.html

Kathy Sierra starts to talk about cliches but the best idea I got out of the post was the "trap of professionalism". We have all seen it. "Professional" work that has all the passion and soul beaten out of it (usually by a committee or managers). And "professional work" is never "risky".

Take a chance. Push the boundaries. You will find out that someone might actually pay attention to what you say !

One other thing about Kathy's article ... it had a link that led me (indirectly) to this site:
http://www.quatrifolio.com/graphics/buildingletters.html

Where I found the following quote ....

"Whatever you do will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it." - Gandhi

The next thing you do, whether it is a personal note to a friend or a brochure for your company will certainly be forgotten in a hundred years but it will be forgotten much sooner if it is not done with passion. Passion for doing important work!

That's my point. Create passion in your work and your life! It is so much more fun than the alternative!

Write On!

Dave Wheeler

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food

First, let me say that this post falls in the category of "Do as I say, not as I do" (but I am working on changing).

The article at the link below by Jess Halliday, editor of NutraIngredients-USA.com, is brief, but based on a strong idea. Check it out:
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=61206&m=1FPD711&c=tmfmbffmoptxhrw

NoteWordy Summary:
If Hippocrates (famous for the "Hippocratic Oath" that all doctors take) said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food", why don't doctors treat ailments with food more often than drugs? The short answer... drugs make money. Food is cheap. Drugs are the fast answer. The magic bullet. Food takes preparation and work. Food takes planning and discipline.

The article goes on to explain some legislation being introduced as well as other background. I recommend taking a look ... and thinking about how your life could be improved by better food choices.

I know I will be thinking about it !

Write On!

Dave Wheeler
www.NoteWordy.com Founder

The Leadership Vector

Leadership. Without it, nothing happens. With it, groups of people can move heaven and earth. What makes up Leadership?

The best way to really understand Leadership is as a "Vector", but let me explain what that means. Back when I was in engineering school, I learned about vectors as part of the physics and dynamics of objects.

Definition of VECTOR: From http://physics.about.com/cs/mathsforphysics/g/vector.htm
A quantity in which both the magnitude and the direction must be stated. Force, velocity and field strength are examples of vector quantities.

• Note that distance and speed are scalar quantities whereas displacement and velocity are vector quantities. Vector quantities are often denoted by boldface type for with an arrow above or a bar below the symbol.

Examples: While speed (like 30km/hr) is a scalar measurement, velocity (30km/hr North) is a vector, consisting of a speed and a direction (north).

Clearly as a leader you must have a Direction ...

• A leader must have a strong vision. A goal is needed to generate desire by painting a picture of the results that are possible through action.
• Difference between Speed and Velocity .... speed is only a measurement and it does not have a direction.

Secondly, a leader without Motion is simply one of the crowd ... A leader must

• take Actions,
• Get out of the crowd,
• Boldness counts, especially in your chosen direction.

The last element of a Leadership Vector are the two C's ... Credibility & Confidence.

• You gain both through Experience and by accumulating Results
• To achieve results you need Personal Discipline and Tenacity to bounce back when, not if, you fail.

As A.L.Williams said, "If you want to be great, you first have to be good. If you want to be good, you have to first be bad. If you want to be bad, you first have to TRY." Greatness breeds confidence, but it all starts by TRYING.

TRY the Leadership Vector. It can be used by anyone can use in their life, no matter whether you are leading a Fortune 500 corporation or just yourself.

Decide where you want to go. Set a Direction.

Take Action. Put plans in Motion.

Build your credibility and confidence through results.

You have the leadership in you. Find your VECTOR and it will make your dreams come true.

Write On!,

Dave Wheeler

Present to WestConn Toastmasters, Danbury, CT

July 6, 2005 at the Wooster School.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

From a recent Seth Godin blog post:

To date, with the exception of easy (and juicy) black and white scandals,
consumers of all stripes have been resistant to taking action with their
dollars. Part of it is laziness, part of it is selfisness and part of it is
a long history of a laissez faire disconnect between what we spend and what
we believe.

I think that's about to change.

Why does Seth think we are going to change and react to the companies that we find objectionable in the marketplace? Seth even acknowledges that consumers are resistant to change.

From my perspective, "the more things change the more they stay the same" seems more appropriate than Seth's last sentence.

Many people can remember boycotting products at one time or another when we heard a story about how the company had acted inappropriately.

Examples include the use of child labor by a prominent clothing company (can you name the company?) or the conviction of a household diva for securities infractions (can you name the celebrity CEO?). Both examples (temporarily) impacted the companies involved, but the business continued and, given time and distance from the "story" have been able to remain a strong business entity.

Perhaps Seth means that stories can travel faster nowadays and if a story is sufficiently impactful, it could shake consumers out of their "laziness" or "selfishness" or "laissez faire disconnect" and get them to take action.

I'm not sure I agree. I think consumers are becoming more and more fragmented and a story that impacts one group won't necessarily impact others. Are consumers going to "care more" about issues that might not directly inpact their well being? I don't see a trend in this direction, but perhaps Seth sees something that we are missing.

It will be very interesting to see how Seth develops his idea and since he is the leading expert on the spread of ideas, I will certainly be paying attention to his blog over the coming months!

Write On !

Dave Wheeler

Founder, NoteWordy.com

Did you forget to send a Father's Day Card?

Hopefully you at least gave him a call on his special day!

If you did not yet send a note, you are not lost. You can still send him a message. Below are some of my thoughts on the subject of Father's Day...

I found a couple quotes that really made me think of my Dad ...
A father carries pictures where his money used to be. - Authur Unknown
Who hasn't "borrowed" money from their Dad? Who actually paid their Dad back? I don't know your relationship with your Dad, but I'm sure he deserves a holiday in his honor.

We need to be sure we take this opportunity to say Thanks to our Dad for always being there for us.

For example, I was thinking back to when I played high school basketball and my Dad made it to nearly all of my games. Now that I have many years in the working world myself, I can really appreciate the amount of effort and scheduling it took to get to those games. It meant alot to me then and it means even more to me now. Thanks Dad.

On Father's day, we shouldn't forget about our Grandfather too. I found a quote that made me think of my grandfather ....
My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.—Clarence B. Kelland

My Dad's Dad ("Grampy") was a man of few words, but if you watched him long enough you could tell what type of person he was. I miss him and I'm a better person for having known him.

Happy Father's Day,

Dave


Here is some background links on Father's Day...
History of Father's Day:
http://wilstar.com/holidays/fathers.htm
Quotations on Father's Day:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art20797.asp

David vs. Goliath in the Greeting Card industry !

USA today had an interesting article about the impact that "the small guys" are having on the Greeting Card industry. See link below:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2005-06-16-greeting-cards-usat_x.htm

The one thing that was missing in that article was the parallels between the book publishing industry and the greeting card industry. Books are the typical example for the creation of "The Long Tail" where small, low volume books are able to be offered via online retailers like Amazon.com while the traditional retailers are limited by their overhead to "high volume", "best selling" "successful" books.

When will the big guys in the greeting card industry realize that their market is fragmenting at a dramatic rate? If the book publishing industry is any example, probably NEVER or at least not until it is too late.

What does this mean? It means a super opportunity for card designers, especially card designers who make UNIQUE cards that appeal strongly to particular, specialized audiences.

Enter NoteWordy.com. (Hopefully) we will fill that void and be part of the next USA Today article about the demise of HallMark and the rise of the independent greeting card designers.

Write On!

Dave Wheeler

When Marketers REALLY ARE Liars...

I had the opportunity to read a prerelease copy of Seth Godin's new book called All Marketers are Liars which is now in bookstores and it got me thinking ...

If All Marketers are Liars (and Seth's title is a bit "tongue-in-cheek") why aren't more of them being sued? Isn't it illegal to make outrageous claims that you can't back up? (Even if it makes for a good story)

These questions made me pull out my notes from something I learned at a recent marketing law seminar that dealt with with the difference between how the legal system deals with "Puffery" and "Truth in Advertising".

The marketing law seminar was presented by ThirdWay Marketing in Manhattan, NY USA and featured Nancy C. Dowling, former Sr. Counsel for P&G for 10 yrs. and in-house counsel for Sears.

Nancy suggested the following rules for [legal] advertising:

• Ads must be truthful and honest (unless they are clearly "Puffery"- which will be defined later in this entry).
• Ads must have evidence to back up the claims BEFORE it is published/broadcast.
• Ads cannot be “unfair” or “denigrate another brand”.

She also emphazied that "substantiation of claims" is not only required but can also be expensive. Examples of substantiation include:

• Double blind comparison test with at least 300 consumers
• Geographically dispersed tests to account for regional brand / category variation / usage patterns.

The seminar went on to talk about other related legal topics such as the NAD, FTC and trademarks but the point I'm trying to make is this .... where does Seth address the legality issue? Especially when Marketers REALLY ARE LIARS!?!

The answer was also provided in that same law seminar and it is called "Puffery".

The American Marketing Association defines "puffery" as:

1. (advertising definition) An exaggerated advertising claim that would be generally recognized as such by potential customers.

2. (consumer behavior definition) An advertising term implying gross exaggeration but usually not considered deception because it is assumed not to be believable. Examples are the mile-high ice cream cone or the world's softest mattress.

3. (sales definition) The exaggerated statements made by a salesperson about the performance of a product or service.

I have to assume that Seth feels that every Marketer who read his book already knew the distinction between puffery and legal advertising claims, but if not, hopefully this entry will put Seth's ideas into a little better perspective.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Seth's books and I wholeheartedly agree with the ideas in his new book (the importance of stories and living the story). In fact, I encourage everyone to read it, as long as you keep in mind that there is more to the story than just what you make up ... there are legal implications if you truly are a LIAR !

Write On !

Dave Wheeler

P.S. Here is a link to a 5 page preview / excerpt of Seth's book in case you want to check it out.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/marketing/articles/0,15114,1053410,00.html

Soft Obstacle .. The New F word

The link below is an interesting article about the new F word ("fine").

http://www.marketingprofs.com/5/arruda19.asp

Being "fine" is another way of saying that you are "OK". You don't want to be OK. (Or at least I hope that you have not settled for "good enough".)

You want to be AWESOME! And this brief article talks about how you can focus on your strengths to move beyond "fine".

Write On!

D.Wheeler

"Soft Obstacles" are holding you back ...

What is a "soft obstacle" and how does it compare to what we traditionally think of as "obstacles" to our success?

We can all recognize "traditional" obstacles - things that are between where we are and where we want to be. There is a whole "success" industry built around these types of obstacles. These obstacles are obvious, well defined and concrete. Hence, we call these "hard obstacles".

A hard obstacle can be anything that clearly and obviously stops your progress toward your goal. Examples in business could be:

• A lack of funding (which means you have to either find more funding or find a way to get it done with less funding).
• A lack of support from management. Again, you figure out what you need to do to convince the organization that it needs to be done.

Now, SOFT OBSTACLES are much different.

Soft obstacles are when we "let ourselves off the hook" or don't push ourselves to the level that we know is possible (or beyond what is even possible). Soft obstacles are a result of wasted time, limited ambitions and lazy thinking.

You probably won't know when you hit a soft obstacle. Things are moving along and you seem to be making progress toward your goal, but the seeds of your defeat are already planted. You have eased up and not pushed as far as you should. You have settled for "good enough" instead of "the absolute best in the universe".

Examples of soft obstacles are "denial of reality" (so you don't deal with the problem) or "limited thinking" (so you don't go far enough and end up as a late entry to a crowded market without any compelling reason for existence) or just plain laziness (this is OK, we don't need to do anything better).

If you think about it, you will see that a "soft obstacle" is often more deadly to your success than any "hard obstacle". You often don't recognize that you missed the boat until it is too late ... your product is already in the marketplace or the opportunity arises ... and passes you by.

A hard obstacle is always easier to deal with for one simple reason ... you see it and recognize it as an obstacle. This way you can begin figuring out how to overcome it.

In addition, if it is an obvious (hard) obstacle and your goal is something that someone else has already achieved (such as starting a business) then the odds are that you simply have to search out an existing solution to your problem.

The moral of this story....

Don't let yourself (or your team) get taken in by soft obstacles. Fighting them is difficult and it must be done EVERY DAY. Are you doing enough? Are you pushing hard enough? Are you far enough ahead of your competition?

Answer NO to all of these questions and start to plow through soft obstacles. Banish soft obstacles from the culture of your organization !

Write On!

Dave Wheeler

Where's the Bull (part 2)?

For more information on the book titled, "On Bullshit" that was featured on 60 minutes last night, Sunday 5-15-05, (and my previous blog entry), you can visit:
http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7929.html

This is a simple web page. Just some text about the book and the author with his photo and a link to download a video of an interview.

There is also a link where you can download the first chapter of the book, but I must warn you ... it is only 3 pages long. And the first page is a copyright notice !

Now THAT IS BULLSHIT !

Where's the Bull?

Did you see the 60 minutes show last night (Sunday 5-15-05)? There was a segment on a bestselling book by a professor called "On Bullshit" and they interviewed a number of people to explain how the world was getting deeper and deeper in BS.

A few comments....

1) 60 minutes missed a PERFECT opportunity to interview Seth Godin. I just finished reading a preview copy of his new book called "All Marketers are Liars" and it was BY FAR superiour to the people that 60 minutes interviewed. Plus, who are the biggest suppliers of BS? Marketers!
And Seth explains the good, the bad and the ugly of Marketing in his new book ... but unfortunately he did not call it BullShit (because if he did he would have been on 60 minutes).

2) I am skeptical of an academic review of BS. I expect I would learn much more useful information from someone in the "real world", but since I have not read that the BS book, I will have to withhold final judgement until I get a chance for a closer look (with a clothes pin on my knows of course).

3) The optimistic part of me was reminded of a joke by the 60 minutes piece. Copied from the following link: http://www.ahajokes.com/sea13.html

A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up.

Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist. Just to see what would happen, on the twins' birthday their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.

That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly. "Why are you crying?" the father asked. "Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked. To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

I read somewhere that this joke was a favorite of U.S.President, Ronald Reagan, who many consider the "Great Communicator", but who could also be called a "Consumate BS'r" since he was so good that we ACTUALLY BELIEVED him !

Write On !

Reminiscing and Public Speaking

Seth Godin's recent blog post talks about how recalling good times can bring back shared memories (and help you learn a little bit more about yourself).
see http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/05/what_i_learned_.html

I would add one thought to Seth's post ... Toastmasters!

Toastmasters speaking clubs are a great (and inexpensive) way for people to improve their public speaking skills. There are clubs all over the world and in nearly every major city ... check out http://www.toastmasters.org/ to find the club near you!

And then invite an old friend to join you as a guest at the next meeting. It could be the beginning of a whole new shared adventure for both of you!

Write On!

Three New Note Cards Released by NoteWordy.com

Norwalk, CT USA(May 17, 2005) NoteWordy.com releases three limited-edition notecards featuring art by "Wheels". These cards bring the total number of available designs by Wheels to four with each limited-edition design consisting of less than 115 prints.

"Our first NoteWordy card, Artist's Brush, has been well received," said NoteWordy founder, Dave Wheeler, "and we are excited to be able to offer three more very unique, limited-edition cards for art collectors and note writers."

NoteWordy limited-edition cards are sequentially numbered and randomized after sealing to ensure that the odds of a purchaser getting Card#1 in the series is as likely as it would be to get #58 or #103 or even #115.

All cards carry the NoteWordy Limited Edition Certification seal as well as a brief "vignette" or mini-story based on the art on the cover of the card. This added feature expands the artistic experience for the purchaser as well as the connection to intent of the artist.

These cards can be purchased online at www.NoteWordy.com or through selected retailers. Visit www.NoteWordy.com for more information.

NoteWordy.com is dedicated to improving people's lives through art and handwritten notes. The art featured on NoteWordy cards is from new, up-and-coming artists with high potential and NoteWordy.com provides insights for improving relationships through note writing. Dave Wheeler, the founder of NoteWordy.com, produces a blog focused on note writing, art as well as his views on management/marketing.


The first 4 cards released by NoteWordy Cards featured art by Wheels.

Comics on Note Writing by Hospitals

Check out the Speed Bump comic at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050510/cx_crspe_uc/crspe20050510

It is good to see that hospitals can have a sense of humor too !

Write On !

D.Wheeler

Rewards and Incentives - for yourself and others

I got the following idea from a comment left on the Creating Passionate Users blog:
Link:
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/05/finegrained_tre.html

Comment:
In fiction writing, we call this feature gold coins. When you start out as a fiction writer, you learn that the easiest thing for a reader to do is to close your book and not pick it up again. The only way to make sure that someone finishes your book (and buys the next one!) is to "drop gold coins along the path," little moments that make the user gasp or laugh or get excited, anything that will jolt the user. It doesn't matter if it's a good or bad jolt so long as it's compelling. This tells the reader, "Look, I'm going to keep you entertained. Keep reading. And read the next one too."
If done at the right pace, you can almost guarantee the reader will keep reading, even if he violently disagrees with what you're trying to say.
Posted by: Elf M. Sternberg May 5, 2005 02:36 PM

How could this be applied to the relationships in your life? Do you "drop gold coins" to keep people interested in the relationship? I know it sounds like it could be considered "manipulative", but it can also add quite a bit of enjoyment to the lives of important people around you.

Consider for a moment how your life would be if you sent a handwritten note to someone important in your life once or twice a year. You would probably see some improvements, but how about if you sent a note every other month? or every month? Do you think that something good might develop?

And this does not have to be limited to your personal life and your friends and family. It could be used with business acquantances also. Of course the content of the notes would be different and they would have to be appropriate to the business relationship, but what better way to stay in touch than a handwritten note?

What about "gold coins" for yourself? Why not reward yourself with new experiences every now and then? Keep your life interesting and you will make it more interesting for everyone you meet !

Write On !

Dave Wheeler

NoteCard based on "Artist Brush" by Wheels

"Artist Brush" by Wheels
This is the first NoteWordy limited edition notecard !
Visit www.notewordy.com for more information and to purchase this card.

"Good Idea" by Wheels 

"Heart of the Rose" by Wheels 

"Lighthouse" by Wheels 

Preview of NoteWordy Cards to be released May 6th

Three new NoteWordy Cards will be released May 6th.

A preview image of each of the cards will be posted shortly.

Check back soon !