David Feldt Proud father. Entrepreneur. Builder. Catalyst. Accelerator. Guide.

Twitter Updates for 2008-03-20

• Seeing patterns and discerning the opportunity to transform and break from the trap of the routine #
• I'm fasting today in preparation for tonight! #
• Neil Turok at TED and his dream and plan for Africa http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/232 #
• 10 Ideas That Are Really Changing the World http://tinyurl.com/38q9yx #

Twitter Updates for 2008-03-19

• Very strange behavior in the office today ... I guess people are getting the moving jitters or something ... #
• @Armano I enjoyed being a voyeur at the AdAge conference today - thanks! BTW, what's up with the hat? #
• @angelorganic You guys get free Starbucks coffee. Which do you prefer - free soda or free SBX? Why don't you come visit us in TO? #
• I'm enjoying the early Spring cleaning that going on in the office today as we prepare for our move this weekend. #
• How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong http://tinyurl.com/yoekso #

Words of Wisdom from the Headmaster of St Stithians College

The headmaster of St Stithians (my old school in Johannesburg), Dave Knowles, delivered the following speech to the boys recently:

I wanted to spend some time with you today reflecting on the last two or three months we have experienced as a nation. Some commentators have called this the "post-Polokwane Syndrome", after the events at the ANC National Conference in December, the outcome of which many have seen as negative.

Added to this negative feeling, has been the electricity crisis, now seen as a result of poor planning by the state and acknowledged as such by President Mbeki in his State of the Nation address in Parliament, where he apologised to the nation.

Also knocking us have been higher world oil prices; higher interest rates in SA and the start of a world wide recession, particularly in the UK and the US with their major housing crisis. Added to these have been the on-going crime situation and negative press articles.

So, it is quite easy to fall into the trap of feeling and thinking negatively about our country.

In 1948, Alan Paton wrote his famous book "Cry the Beloved Country" and that title is perhaps still appropriate today, 60 years on, for obviously different reasons. How do we as passionate South Africans, react to this mood of despondency?

Well I cannot speak for you or tell you what to think but I can give you my perspective.

First of all, I make no apologies for being passionately South African.

Twitter Updates for 2008-03-18

• Game on! NCAA March Madness!! #
• Why do we still have IT people who think they control the world like it's 1960 at IBM? Wakeup people! Its 2009 and you've lost control! #
• Winter's dying pangs ... #

Visa IPO largest in US history: $17.9 Billion

Perfect timing by GS and JP Morgan to launch the Visa Inc. IPO on the day that the Fed cut rates by 75 basis points. Bizarre for the world's largest credit card network to raise this amount of money in this doom and gloom equity market spooked by global recession, sub-prime nightmares and fears that the next nightmare to hit is a credit-card meltdown. I guess the two underwriters can't do anything wrong in these markets: Goldman Sachs continues to shine and JP Morgan Chase wins again following it's bargain-basement rescue of Bear Stearns. On a day like today I really miss my old trading days ...

What’s the fastest way to get from the UWS to Park Slope?

I love the New York subway and bus system! When I lived in the city I used it every day to get to and from work and it's still a favorite way for me to traverse Manhattan and Brooklyn when I visit. The MTA is a vast network of subways, buses and railroads - According to the MTA website, it provides 2.4 billion trips each year to New Yorkers — the equivalent of about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders. MTA bridges and tunnels carry more than 300 million vehicles a year — more than any bridge and tunnel authority in the nation. This vast transportation network — North America's largest — serves a population of 14.6 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut.

So, with all the lines and options, how do you choose your route? How do you decide the fastest route? Which trains are local vs express? Back in the 1980s before Giuliani had cleaned up the city, it was often scary to use the MTA and I used to be nervous that I'd accidentally end up in the wrong / bad part of town. Although the city is now much safer, it's still an intimating process for a lot of people.

The MTA has come to the rescue - it has launched a highly intuitive trip planner that is also available in a mobile version so you can use your Blackberry or iPhone to optimize your travel time.

Which company is rated #1 for consumer satisfaction in the US? You’ll be surprised.

[image via boopsie.daisy]

Heinz was rated top of all US marketers by the University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Huh? A ketchup / pickle / condiment company that is over 100 years old?

When you read AdAge's analysis, you find something intriguing - Heinz is a leader in innovation - it produced 200 new products in 2007, all in the ketchup / pickle / condiment category.Prof. Fornell, the University of Michigan head of the ACSI study, says, "a solid marketing strategy is the key to high consumer satisfaction. The best companies, he said, offer a plethora of products (brands, packages, sizes and prices) to suit customers of varying tastes and financial means.""Marketing is the most important part of it," he added.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

I received this via email from a friend in Australia ...

How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a Bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly one can get back their focus on what's important.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab.

Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.  My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!

The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean...he was friendly.

So, I said, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck."

Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.

You'll be happy you did.' I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said,

"I'm not going to do it anymore."

 Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.

Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe that everything happens for a reason.

The Return of the Expert

Image via Dosh Dosh.

There appears to be a swing away from the mass of UGC and the Wisdom of Crowds back to a more balanced world of content generated by "experts" and/or curated/edited by experts. Check out the Newsweek article for a whole bunch of examples of this trend.

The best line from the article:

"Nobody wants to advertise next to crap," says Andrew Keen, author of "The Cult of the Amateur," a jeremiad against the ills of the unregulated Web.

Pepsi and Starbucks Saving the World? B-S!

You're not fooling me. You've launched a wonderful new campaign that shows such empathy and concern for those less privileged in Africa. So, what's the bottom line (in the super tiny small print)? You're going to donate 5c for every bottle of water sold? How generous! I'm sorry, I'm calling B-S on this one ...