Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living

Brilliant Ideas from Google, Pamela Slim,and Maybe You

I was struck today by two ideas that harness the power of recognizing your clients/customers.  And it's not a holiday card with a thank you, which works, but isn't very exciting.

Last August, I took a four-day workshop with Pamela Slim and Charley Gilkey for creative entrepreneurs.  This morning, Pamela invited me, along with other clients, to submit a sentence about one thing that I'm proud to have launched this year.  She'll add this to a blog post that is a collage of proudest accomplishments from a whole lot of people who have worked with her over the course of a year. Many of these sentences end up being a mini-story, as in this sentence from last year's blog post:

"Abigail Keyes quit her full-time job with the Federal Government and became a successful full-time bellydancer, www.asharah.com"

Don't you just love it?

Pamela is a master at finding a win-win-win.  Clients get the visibility on something they've worked hard on.  Readers get inspired by what fabulous things people are not just talking about, but doing. (Notice it's about having launched something, whether it's a new career or a product.)  And we all love Pamela a little bit more for who she is and what she does--a generous, kindred spirit who helps cool people do cool stuff in the world.

The other example of putting your customers front and center comes from Google.  I've experimented with using Google AdWords to sell my recordings of the Networking Naturally Program at my site, www.naturalway2network.com. An email arrived this morning with the subject line: "A video thank you from Google."  The video goes beyond the normal YouTube humor to add in personalization, and a bit of surprise to connect with customers.  I won't give it away, but watch it for yourself to see what I mean.

And finally, brilliant ideas come from everywhere.  Civic Ventures, the organization that put encore careers on the map, is holding a contest for five brilliant ideas that transforms communities.  The prize? A cool $5K.  Submit your idea soon. The deadline is December 20.

What brilliant ideas have you run across lately?  Add to the conversation...

 

Springtime in the Rockies

Tulips seem to be pretty hardy, even with a recent snowstorm that left a foot of wet snow......

Humanity on the NYC Subway

A wonderful video find from my Twitter feed (thanks @SharnAtlanta) led me to a group called ImprovEverywhere. Based in NYC, they "cause scenes of joy and chaos in public places" by enlisting thousands of "undercover agents." To date, they've completed over 80 "missions." These missions are the millenial version of Candid Camera, only using a crowd of volunteers instead of a few hand-picked actors by Allen Funt. Several missions have taken place in or near the NYC subway. I suspect that there's no better place to cause a scene, among a mass of humanity.

This first video, titled High Five Escalator, creates joy among subway riders (no small feat!):

This second video, titled No Pants 2009 (apparently so successful that it's an annual event) tips the scale in favor of chaos. I love the opening lines: "This is the 8th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. This is for participants only. If you didn't come to take off your pants, you are in the wrong spot."

 

These videos bring back fond memories of being on the NYC subway during a visit a few years ago. I rode the subway from the Bronx, where I was staying with a friend, all the way down the length of Manhattan  and over to Brooklyn, to meet a friend for lunch, and then back up north again to Columbia University, where I was speaking at a conference. My friend in the Bronx thought it was completely normal. My friend in Brooklyn congratulated me for experiencing the real New York (and the kindness of a stranger who helped me figure out how to switch lines at Ground Zero.) And later, a friend in NJ thought I was crazy.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the diversity of human beings, from A to Z, coming and going, in the space no larger than a modest living room.

Check out more of ImprovEverywhere's videos and be sure to read their "agent reports" on the blog. It can turn a bad day into a good one.

Fact is Stranger Than Fiction

Seen in the local Boulder, CO paper last week. I've removed names to protect the innocent:

"Errant Shot at Med Center.  Man accidentally shoots self in leg at hospital. A man visiting his family at a [local hospital] accidentally shot himself in the leg at the hospital cafeteria around 12:30pm Tuesday. No one else was injured.

Hospital officials and local police characterized the incident as an "unfortunate accident." [Man] accidentally pulled the trigger on his .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol in his right front pants pocket as he stood in line at the cafeteria.

"Our visitor prepared to pay his bill, reached into his pocket and unfortunately discharged a gun," said a hospital spokeswoman. "It was terribly unfortunate.""

The bullet struck [man] in his right thigh, and the man calmly limped to a nearby men's bathroom before the hospital's private security guards responded and took the gun away..."

Really. It makes my traffic violation over the weekend seem small by comparison. 

Photo by freeparking

25 Random Things About Me

I was recently tagged on Facebook by a friend to write down "25 random things, facts, habits or goals about me." I lost my first list, trying to figure out how to use the notes feature on Facebook and tag other people. So here's my second try at it:

1. I played flute in high school and off and on through my adult life in community bands.
   My most terrifying moment in my musical career was when a conductor asked me in front of the entire band whether I was flat or sharp. I guessed....correctly.
2. I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a town of 250,000. My family was one of a handful of Asian families in town. One uncle owned a Chinese laundry. Another uncle owned a Chinese restaurant.
3. I've been wearing glasses since I was ten years old. I tried wearing contacts as a teenager but could never get used to the idea of putting something in my eye, intentionally. Photo by striatic.
4. My first crush was in junior high. His name was Jon Newman and he barely knew I existed. I used to ride my bike past his house, thinking that it would somehow make us more connected. 
5. My second crush was in high school. His name was Kevin Erwin and he was known for doing a great impression of Johnny Carson.
6. I once threw up in a canoe, after becoming sea sick.
7. I've been married for 25 years, to my college sweetheart, Chip.
8. In the late '80s, I lived in NJ (exit 137 off the Parkway). The East Coast was not for me but I appreciated the opportunity to find that out.
9. I was 8 months pregnant with my first child in the middle of winter. I enjoyed the extra body heat. For once, I wasn't cold in winter.
10. Ten years ago, I tested as an ESTJ on the Myers-Briggs. A few years ago, I tested as an INTJ.
11. I'm the youngest of four children.
12. I didn't know I was a writer until after I was forty.
13. The number 13 is significant in my life. I was born on the 13th. I was married on the 13th. My dad died on the 13th, when I was 13. Photo by SideLong.  
14. I still keep in touch with my best friend from high school, Stacia.
15. I've been laid off twice. The first time, I had no clue. The second time, they had no clue that I had a clue.
16. I can't stand the texture of rice pudding. I hate oatmeal.
17. If I wasn't a coach and an entrepreneur, I'd make flower arrangements for a living.
18. I worked in a nuclear power plant for three years, in the radiochemistry department. I wore a hard hat and steel-toed shoes to get to my office.
19. I think unions drive the wrong behavior--reducing everyone to the lowest common denominator and squashing any individuality or differences in thinking that can lead to innovation.
20. I can be brutally honest with friends and family. I once told a friend when asked about his new toupee, "You look younger but you don't look any better."
21. After I graduated from college, I went around the world, from East to West, from the US to Asia to Europe and back to the US. 
22. I'm a good project manager. I'm an even better interviewer.
23. I'd like to take an improv class someday. Photo by House of Sims.
24. I can't sew worth a darn. In junior high, I had to make a t-shirt in home economics. It came out too short.
25. I buy most of my clothes at consignment and thrift shops. I have a value that says, "If you can get it for less, it's good." Must be the Chinese genes.

Tea Time: Good for Your Cold, Good for Your Prostate

I've been having a blast playing with a new Flip camcorder. It's about the size of a pack of cards and makes creating and uploading video extremely easy. I love the immediacy of online video, a way to document something that strikes me as funny or interesting in the normal course of my day. So here's a snippet of from today (with apologies to Pee Wee Herman for the poor imitation of his hairdo):

On the back of the tea package, was this:

"Enjoy this environmentally-friendly, round, unbleached tea bag--free of wasteful strings, staples and tags."

It made me wonder if the tea company (or at least their marketing group) was located in Boulder. (It's not.) Really, I could drink tea without worrying about wasteful strings and whether the tea bag was unbleached.

BTW--The secret ingredient in the quiche is egg nog (instead of heavy cream.)

How to Empower Your Team

A kindred spirit from my work on A Bigger Voice wanted her staff to push through barriers in the workplace. She had this saying printed on stickers, for distribution to her team:

"Proceed until apprehended."

I can't help but smile when I run across this kind of spirit. What's your favorite saying at work to challenge your thinking?   

Sackbut Serenade

When was the last time you heard a sackbut?

Say what? Don't worry. I'm not getting personal here. A sackbut is the precursor to the modern trombone.

And if you are curious as to what it sounds like, you're in luck. The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado is hosting a special performance this evening (October 4) in Boulder and tomorrow afternoon (October 5) in Denver, with a baroque trumpeter, organist, violinist, and sackbut-er.

See www.bcocolorado.org for more information.

I'll be the one in the front row.

Working Among the Lego Aliens

It's been almost two weeks since my computer died--a victim of my eagerness to "get it done." I was notified that a new Microsoft Service Pack was ready for installation. This was an hour before leaving on a business trip for three days, so mixed in with the installation was last minute packing. I made the mistake of unplugging the ethernet cable during the install (don't ask me why), which caused a fatal failure during startup. My laptop has been silent since.  Even the Geeks on Call guy couldn't get it up and running again.

I've ordered a new laptop. In the meantime, I'm using my son's computer while he's at school, and my husband's computer in the evenings. My office rotates between a teenage boy's room, a utilitarian basement, and the backyard patio, when the weather is nice. My calendar is on a pad of paper, sketched out by day for the next two weeks.

What I'm noticing is that I'm not as adaptable as I thought. Or maybe it's age. I've found it difficult to coach clients while sitting at the desk in my son's room. The desk is full size but the chair is from a set of children's table and chairs, when my kids were toddlers. You feel small when sitting in the chair, looking up at the computer monitor, hands raised to reach the keyboard.

It's not just the chair that's a distraction. Current inventory of the top of his desk:

• One gray Lego structure from the Star Wars series, a big robot like thing with turrets and guns protruding from the front and sides. If I look really hard, the front resembles a face with the guns coming out like a pair of cigarettes.
• Three dimes, two pennies.
• 4 packs of Pentel pencil leads for a mechanical pencil that is nowhere to be seen. Doesn't hurt to be prepared.
• Assorted dice, blue and silver, tetrahedrons and cubes, used for multi-player online video games and Dungeon and Dragons.
• One-inch high figure of a medieval warrior, holding a shield in one hand and an ax in the other, covered in armor. Small but hefty looking.
• Flash memory, bought at the beginning of the school year, after giving into pleas to upgrade to larger capacity.
• Another Lego structure, appearing to be the Star Wars version of a scooter.
• Pair of wooden chopsticks. I wouldn't suggest using these for anything resembling eating.
• The extension for our home phone. In a house with teenagers, the phone calls are never for me. 
• One of the books that's being discussed at school, Shackleton's Stowaway.
• School ID card from last year, 7th grade. Like now, it's a image that immediately makes a mother say, "You need a haircut, really, you do."
• Pocket knife/tool. A sign of being ready for anything, but rarely used in any constructive fashion.
• Mini-flashlight. I wonder if the batteries are still good.
• Manual for the video game, Command and Conquer with a green, menacing looking character on the front
• Multiple Lego figures, beige and human looking except for the longish head that resembles a beak gone wild, again from Star Wars. I can't decide if these are friendly allies or dangerous aliens.
• A small lamp.
• Not one, but two wireless mouses. The one in use has special stuff for gaming.
• A 21 inch computer monitor
• Wireless keyboard.
• Power strip with 6 cords plugged in.
• Electronic speller and dictionary, in a credit card sized blue case.

Everything is covered in a visible layer of dust. This is only the top of the desk. I haven't even described what's on the other shelves, the surrounding floor, the bookcase, the bed, the window seat (which has enough room for a few ants to sit down on) or the closet. I'd take a picture, but honestly, the entire room is best left up to the imagination.

Some of my readers, the ones who have already reached the empty nester stage, may be seeing this through the eyes of a parent missing the visible signs of their off spring being around. It may be a nice perspective for me--in 5 years. For now, I'm ready to get back to my home office, in one room, sans dust and Legos and dice and pencil leads, in my regular sized chair. If I close my eyes really tight, I can almost see me there, now.

In Praise of Joe

This week, I was in the car, listening to the radio, and just happened to catch Garrison Keillor hosting The Writer's Almanac. He always reads a poem, in addition to giving tidbits about writer's lives. Sometimes I find that I have to concentrate too hard to enjoy the poem while I'm driving. But on this particular day, the poem made me smile, chuckle, and appreciate the power of words. The poem is In Praise of Joe. While I'm not a coffee drinker, I do appreciate a hot cup of chai. I imagine it does the same for me as coffee does for others. Enjoy.