I needed a change, so I have moved to bethinkr.com. Look for me there.

At the end of October venerable publication The Christian Science Monitor dropped its century long tradition of daily publications to move nearly completely online.

A few years ago, I attended a marketing course that was also attended by a large contingent of Clarke American managers who were trying to find a way to save their dying check printing business. They wouldn’t accept that their entire industry was dying. At least not in it’s present form.

Now they no longer exist. Not as Clarke American anyway.

But it looks like the The Christian Science Monitor will.

The Belarus “powers that be” has recently released an ill-thought out directive. Reuters reports:

Belarus’s central bank said on Wednesday it had advised commercial banks to inform the police about anyone who approaches branch customers expressing doubts about the business in a way that could cause panic.

Belarus, where much of the economy remains in state hands, says it has suffered few effects of the world financial crisis, but the ex-Soviet state has requested a $2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund as a “security cushion.”

“We are asking the banks’ security service to monitor the behavior of customers inside their branches,” central bank spokesman Anatoly Drozdov told Reuters.

“If they see someone is speaking loudly to other customers about whether the bank is in a critical position or advising against making deposits, they can ask the police for help. That person may then be detained for an identity check.”

If the customer was found to have had no intention of undermining confidence in the bank, he would be released.

There is an old knock-knock joke that I like:

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Soviet border control

Soviet border control w…

DON’T ASK QUESTIONS!

The world is getting tougher for these regimes. Never could they completely suppress the freedom of the mind and soul, no matter how they punished speech and actions. But now, every time they try to crackdown, eventually, they are exposed as the domineering institutions of which they are. As I have written before, our modern world has no place for these groups. There is simply too much power in the common man’s voice. Guy Kawasaki straightforwardly remarked, when discussing Twitter,

But mark my words: [...] Nobodies are the new somebodies

That is, we are. All of us. We are the somebodies. And no matter which totalitarian machine tries to stop that, whether it be governmental, political, educational, cultural, or corporate, we will fight back with the weapons of discourse and dissent, founded in the freedom-seeking characteristics inherent in every man and woman.

Maybe one day, Belarus can be like America, where it’s okay for even a Senator to undermine a bank.

One of my first jobs included the responsibility of acting as the initial screen for aspiring inventors wishing to add their product to our company’s product line. As you would gather in such a situation, I told a lot of people “No.” Most simply didn’t pass the basic framework that I’d set up for what was needed for us to have a successful product launch. And most of those who did found other ways to dissuade me from pursuing.

When I did turn down these queries, there was hardly ever a question asked about my rationale. And, on the off chance that my rationale was read, I was usually congratulated for my thorough refusal of the potential vendor. In one refused case in particular, when it was discovered that the proposed product turned out to be harmful, I was publicly complimented and compensated.

There were a handful of times though that I said, “Yes … this is perfect for our customer base”; or “Yes … we can beat a major competitor to launch with a better product”; or “Yes … this is a little bit different than what we currently do, but it is a wonderful opportunity.”

When that happened, I was excited to propose such a great addition to our product line. The inventor was excited, product tests seemed to go well, marketing figures checked out, and then, usually, someone felt that it was politically harmful, or it was too different, or there wasn’t time to look at it. And then, slowly, any support that the project had would ebb away and finally die.

It’s not about how “Yes” is inherently better than “No.” Sometimes, saying “No” is the best thing to do. But it does take courage is to say, “I know this is against the current way we do things, but we should change.” And I am not saying I was courageous; I had nothing to lose by recommending these changes. But for those in the power to really make decisions (which I find myself more in now than then), that is where you have to be willing to occasionally swim against the corporate cultural and strategic stream. Because, if you don’t, you might find your business slowly ebbing away and eventually dying.

There are two places that have a pretty slick design that you ought to check out. First was discovered (to me) by Rhiannon Bowman, an Obama and iPhone fanatic whose blog I have quietly followed for the last few months. It’s called “DailyLit“.

DailyLit has embraced new media (and attention spans) with their distribution model. They send books, in part, day-after-day through RSS or email. It’s brilliant. They include free old classics and new, for-pay books. I’m in a Dickens mood right now, and he is, thankfully, one of the freebies.

The second design that I have enjoyed is less obvious. My favorite dictionary site is The Free Dictionary. The definitions are more comprehensive, the synonmyns more accesible, and the ability to dive deeper into the copy is wicked. You know how you can double click a word to highlight it? Well, on this dictionary site, it takes you to the definition of that word. Any word in the copy. Say you look up pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, and you are unsure what is meant with the use of “siliceous”. Just double click and you get the definition:

Containing, resembling, relating to, or consisting of silica.

Silica?

A white or colorless crystalline compound, SiO₂, occurring abundantly as quartz, sand, flint, agate, and many other minerals and used to manufacture a wide variety of materials, especially glass and concrete.

Of? It’s pretty long.

In addition to starring in a singularly scary photograph (Wall Street Journal)—

Not only does Alan Mulally look like the nicest of the bunch, but it also appears that his organization has the most concrete plans for action in this crisis. Specific benchmarks, both in terms of time and result, evidence of current action, and a willingness to scrimp with the rest of us; these steps win out. Mulally is by no means without blame, but he does appear, both in this article and others to be changing his tact in light of the new economy.

We need a lot more “This is what I will do” rather than “This is what I will consider” in times of crisis.

The Church of the Customer blog echoed some of my thoughts and then added a few greater insights into the current requests for bailout money for Detroit. Instead of rehashing, I am reposting and giving credit where it is due:

Detroit is finally showing it’s a bit smarter in how it asks for bailout money.

Instead of traveling by corporate jet, GM CEO Rick Wagoner will drive a Malibu hybrid for the 520-mile trek from Detroit to Capitol Hill; Ford CEO Alan Mulally will drive an Escape hybrid. The travel plans of General Bob Nardelli of Chrysler are secret for “security reasons” (guess he’s flying). All three are to present their plans for $25 billion in taxpayer-backed loans on Thursday and Friday.

If they were very smart, the CEOs would drive unreleased, next-generation cars that get 100 MPG. They’d stop in a half-dozen towns along the way and invite a newspaper editorial board writer to ride shotgun for a dozen miles. They’d update their status on Twitter. They’d write a few posts for the company blog. They’d shoot video on a Flip camera and talk about how they screwed up at their first appearance, how they’re selling their fleet of corporate jets, and their plans for the future. If they behave like real people instead of CEO machines, they might arrive in D.C. backed by some pretty good word of mouth.

In other words, they would prove that in these recessionary times they know what it means to be entrepreneurial, not imperial.

You probably have already seen this video of Johnny Chung Lee and his Wii; if not, you should.

This is someone that has figured out how to do what he loves (and has found an audience that appreciates his work). After seeing one of his new projects today, I took a look at his CV. Turns out that this Carnegie Mellon PhD has not only created a following on YouTube (Top Rated Video, Dec 2007), but he also was the Project Creator on:

A large scale community art project for the City of Pittsburgh for the urban renewal initiative of the East Liberty area. The project involved the construction of a 45 foot tall slingshot to launch paint-filled balloons fired by community to temporarily transform a condemned apartment building into an 18-story tall piece of artwork.

There are a few lessons here—and I wonder if it is a coincidence that another life lover and Internet sensation, Randy Pausch, also claimed this university—in the same department and field of study even?

Is there something we ought to learn more about when we discuss human interaction (the area of study for both these individuals)?

I think so.

While on my Thanksgiving holiday, I noticed the today the front page of the small town newspaper at my wife’s parents. Take a look:

It is heartening to realize that in many less well-known areas, the “simple life” is the norm. There is also a lesson here about understanding your audience. A large city editor sent to “save” this paper may demand a focus on more mandarin matters. In doing so, the editor ought to be most aware of how his community currently and wishes to communicates, rather than how the saving editor thinks they ought to converse.

I am not advocating always pandering to the lowest level your audience. I am simply stating, sometimes people care more about cats than wars—and if that is your target group, you should be well aware.

Today we at Zions Direct, along with a few of our sister institutions, launched our “Think” blog.

Well, it actually begin a few days back with an inchoate posting by yours truly, but today—with more substantial commentary by those who have the expertise to offer it—we can safely say it is official.

I am quite happy with how this has worked out and have great hopes we be able to facilitate better conversations through this medium.

Disclosure:

You may see that I like Zions Direct Auctions. I also work in marketing on that product, which means I may be a bit biased (but it also means I do something that I believe in).