Observed

George H.W. Bush understood the importance of superficial impressions. In 1988, he used this picture of a hapless Michael Dukakis to win the presidential election. Bush's fabled campaign ads featuring escaped felon and murderer "Willie Horton" drove the final nail in his opponent's coffin.

We’re hard-wired to judge others.  And situations.  Some of us (e.g., parents of young children) seem to acquire this urge under the right circumstances.

Judging others factors into how much we trust and feel safe.  This is one reason why chemistry and even small, tangible details seem to figure into the hiring choices clients make and whether they remain satisfied with a vendor’s performance.

So, too, it seems when picking presidential candidates.  A recent story in The New York Times vetted several Republican favorites with an eye toward how they present the qualities it takes to win as opposed to govern. (more…)

There are a ton of conference calling platforms out there. Let me know if you find one better than FreeConferenceCall.com.

For those of us still doing business with the telephone, there’s a tool which seems too good to be true.  Here’s how FreeConferenceCall.com describes itself:

Free Conference Call With Free Recording Only normal domestic long distance rates are charged by the participant’s long distance carriers for the length of the call. Teleconferences can have up to 96 participants for 6 hour period of time per session. Each FreeConferenceCall account remains safe and secure and is never shared or sold. Our free conference call service provides you a great opportunity to connect to many people on a conference call. Loaded with great features, our phone conferencing service has revolutionized the way in which national and international teleconferences are organized.

In addition, you get a report via e-mail when the call has concluded, detailing who participated and the like.

I’ve used it.  It works.

"O envy! envy! thou gnawing worm of virtue, and spring of infinite mischiefs! there is no other vice, my Sancho, but pleads some pleasure in its excuse; but envy is always attended by disgust, rancour, and distracting rage." -- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Part II, Chapter 8.

In the last couple of days, both Seth and The New York Times have taken a look at the connection between on-line technology and envy.  It’s not clear who coined it, but the Times uses an acronym to describe the way Facebook, Twitter and the like have tormented those of us stalking a better offer — FOMO…or, Fear of Missing Out.

Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun.  It’s been ages since Envy was added to the Seven Deadly Sins list.  The ancient Greeks invented Zelos (god of envy and the root for the word zeal), and Cervantes wrote Don Quixote around the end of the 16th Century.

So, I’m reluctant to further demonize our gadgets and apps and how they abet our addiction to connectivity and the inevitable quest for something other than what we have.  Technology is, after all, partly a solution in search of a problem.

In a way, we set ourselves up.  When we open a Twitter account or create a Facebook page, aren’t we giving some part of ourselves permission to act on whatever innate urge might reside in us to compare our lives to the lives of others…and, perhaps, to despair?

A buddy of mine said it really well when he called out Facebook years ago.  He called it invited voyeurism.

So, really.  Who are we kidding?

Who hasn't acquired an electronic device and felt that it was obsolete the minute they opened the box? The feeling that someone has pulled the rug out from under you? The feeling many got when Cisco announced the sudden and disappointing demise of the Flip video camera. Willy Loman -- played here by Brian Dennehy (with Elizabeth Franz as Linda Loman) in the 2000 production of Arthur Miller's Pulizter Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949) -- knew the feeling.

I couldn’t help but think of Willy Loman.  When I read the news last week about Cisco’s decision to shut down the enormously popular Flip video, I remembered the scene with Willy and his wife, Linda, in their kitchen at the beginning of Act 2 of Death of a Salesman:

LINDA

Well, you got one more payment on the refrigerator….

WILLY

But it just broke again.

LINDA

(Laughing it out of him.) Well, it’s old dear….

WILLY

I told you we should’ve bought a well-advertised machine.  Charley bought a General Electric and it’s twenty years old and it’s still good, that son-of-a-bitch. (more…)

"Another virtue is simplicity. Typewriters are good at only one thing: putting words on paper. 'If I’m on a computer, there’s no way I can concentrate on just writing,' said Jon Roth, 23, a journalist who is writing a book on typewriters. 'I’ll be checking my e-mail, my Twitter.' When he uses a typewriter, Mr. Roth said: 'I can sit down and I know I’m writing. It sounds like I’m writing.'” -- The New York Times, March 31, 2011

“It’s about permanence, not being able to hit delete,” he explained. “You have to have some conviction in your thoughts. And that’s my whole philosophy of typewriters.”

That’s what Louis Smith, a 28-year-old hipster from Brooklyn had to say about laying out 150 bucks for a refurbished typewriter that was nearly twice his age.

He and others are [re-]discovering the beauties of keys, ink and paper, according to an article in this morning’s New York Times.  About how having something to touch affects humans in ways that the abstract or digital cannot. (more…)

The recent incident with Steve Martin at New York City’s 92nd Street Y might hold several lessons.  In this morning’s Times, he suggests that things could have worked out better if people had shown a little more patience with their mid-interview e-mailed questions and suggestions.

I have a slightly different take.  I wonder, Why do we give so much power to the digital? (more…)

According to some, "computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning."

Maybe all of us have a touch of ADHD in our hard-wiring.   Maybe that’s what helped keep us safe from the sabertooth or the tar pit or the whatever.

Fast-forward several eons.  The average amygdala is getting a real work out in the Digital Age.  We’re bombarded with stimuli, constantly shifting and sorting — alert to threats and opportunities — and feeding our addiction(s).

This morning’s New York Times suggests we’re paying a price for this innate urge, particularly among the young.  Consider: (more…)

When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he realized he needed help while he was away.  So, Odysseus asked his friend, Mentor, to be in charge of his son, Telemachus, and his palace until he returned.

While the meaning has changed a bit, we still seek and offer mentoring.

What’s the best platform for such a trusted relationship?  According to my friend, Nick Gargala, Ed.D., the best results occur when the mentoring happens face to face.  In interviews for his recent dissertation, Nick found that over the phone is a distant second, and e-mail mentoring is the weakest.

Where trust is important to a relationship (e.g., in business development), the more personal the better.

The irony of the Andon cord is that its overarching purpose is to keep the production line moving. As in, How do we manage this process to keep from ever HAVING to pull the Andon?

The idea behind the Andon cord is central to Toyota, Opel and other Deming-esque management models.  It’s the cord you’ll find throughout the factory and at each work station, ready to be pulled if the production process must be immediately stopped.

Who may pull the Andon cord?  Anyone may, even the lowest-ranking member of the team.

That’s part of the beauty of the system.  Anyone is empowered to pull the cord.

The real beauty of the Andon cord, however, is that it’s so very there — whether it’s used or not.  By its physical, tangible presence, everyone is constantly reminded that they matter.  The Andon cord is a clear and constant tangible symbol that they are part of.

Which, Toyota’s recent troubles notwithstanding, seems to work really well.

Back when I was in-house, I got hundreds of messages a day and was striving to stay connected to a couple hundred clients.  And that was before Twitter and other social media.

There were often times I felt that a shovel would have been more effective than my keyboard.

Know what I mean?  Was any of that promoting intimacy?  Or, was I doing more good by putting on my suit coat and taking a partners’ walk?