Meatball Sundae, By Seth Godin

Once again Seth Godin captures a point of view and presents it in a clear way that just about anyone can understand. In fact the points made in this book are articulated in such a way that I will be forwarding the book to some people I know that could benefit from understanding the 14 trends that are changing advertising.

A big part of this new book - Meatball Sundae - discusses the impact the Internet has had on Advertising and Marketing. As Godin's describes it however it's not the Internet per se that has changed advertising it's more about how people use the Internet to communicate.

It is all kind of Web 2.0 but his point is that new communications have to be engaging. It's about stories, not messages. So what is your story?

Thought Leadership: The Singularity is Near

Thought Leadership: The Singularity is Near

The Singularity is Near

The Singularity is Near is a book by Ray Kerzweil that discusses the time when man and machine (computer) will merge into one entity. The book makes the "singularity" plausible. The problem I had with the book is that it's so dense. This is not a book for the uninitiated. You really have to be interested in the subject matter to plow through its contents.

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point has been a significant best seller since its initial publication. Much of this is due to Gladwell's clear prose and his cogent expression of how change can occur in society - and it would appear that the timing was right on the button: being launched in the late 1990s at a moment when society - through the arrival of internet, mobile phones - began an enormous process of change. It might be fair to say that where our generation regards 1968 as a pivotal year in modern social history - 1997 has produced an even bigger moment of change.

Gladwell's thesis is that a small idea can spread to become a contagious 'epidemic' if it is sticky enough as an idea, and if it is lucky enough to be championed by a good mix of Connectors (people who know a lot of other people), Mavens (people who know a lot about a particular thing or things), and Salesmen.

The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson

The Long Tail took form over nearly two years as an "open-source research project" on Chris Anderson's blog at www.longtail.com. This experiment in book development, where he shared data and ideas in progress and many smart readers helped improve them, fleshed out the theory and stress-tested the analysis, which made the book far better than it would have been if he had worked on it in isolation. It also suggested applications in industries he never expected, from beer to fashion, which has hugely expanded the scope the research.

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? by Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis

We are going to try a new thing here on the Thought Sponsor blog. I will be creating posts about a book I have read and then inviting feedback on the book. I'll be posting two books in rapid succession and then one every few weeks. Think of this as a virtual book club of sorts.

This weeks book is - Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?

Good marketers know that customer-centered marketing is mandatory. However, we are not the customer. What the customer perceives as relevant is the thing successful marketers must anticipate, plan, and deliver on. Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing offers Persuasion Architecture, a proven Persona-based methodology. Persuasion Architecture enables marketers to anticipate different angles from which customers frame their questions and then coordinate messaging across multiple channels so that marketers can create predictive models of customer behavior.

The Speed of GOG

The evening ski at Blue this weekend was wonderful...new snow both days and many happy faces. The new Monsters were more than I could have wished for - so little remains in the way of these amazing instruments of free riding luv........ r u air aware ?

On a special note - a new acronym in the alphabet of mountain survival was established. GOG.

Goddess of Gravity. Defined in Newtonian terms as 9.8m/s/s.......that is in a vacuum according to freeride fraternity member KM.

is everyday the same ? Nope.

Everyday is just a repeat of yesterday - by and large - of the basic experiences in your life - some variation from time to time .... but for the most part regular habits on a regular day following the formulamatic trajectory of the master plan.........

.....except when the new mountain rippers' show up via UPS from Idaho. Big mountain Idaho - next door to big mountain Wyoming where these babies got their training.....this is where the proverbial electron jumps an orbit and realizes it is no longer the same old spinnin' top - it has morphed into something new and spiritual............

Ahhhh.....big mountain rippers.....the true and gnarly boards of gravity defying wonderment.......and now the big question - can I drive 'em ?

Answering for the click

So what is one to do when someone makes a play for your attention and then sends you to a place that could cost you your job ? Is it your responsibility to ensure that all doors opened are safe ? If not me - then who ? I cannot see behind the wall - deception - deceit - purposeful - or not - I am constructively sent along path of discovery that may yield nothing more than vapour trails and a void of coherent thinking and utility......

So here is where we put down the gauntlet and stand for something and mock and ridicule and make embarrassed the worried and empty minds that corrode our precious inventory of time with - tick tick tick............moving towards the line and wondering if the purpose of life is to be held accountable for discoveries found unwittingly and corrosive - or once uncovered do the needful and rage against the machine for goodness and enlightenment everywhere.......

Business Units as Tribes

My brother in-law believes that business units shouldn't be larger than what our brain can accommodate within our "tribe". He thinks 40-80 person units are the optimum size. He found an interesting article from Thinking Managers that seems to reinforce his hypothesis.