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

Dealing With Information Overload : If This Happens Then Do That

We all seem to suffer from information overload. The channels and amount of information we are expected to absorb, analyze and react to in real-time or near real-time seem to just keep increasing exponentially over time.  We're overwhelmed.

So what do we do?

Clay Shirky is famous for saying that the problem isn't information overload - it's filter failure.

I just started playing with the beta of ifttt.com ("If This Then That") which seems to offer an elegant, automated solution to at least a portion of the problem.

The site takes the cause-and-effect function we find in code (IF x condition is true [trigger] THEN do y [action]) and translates it into a human tool to manage our information channels and link them causally in an intelligent way.

Ifttt.com lets you track activities in the following channels and build automated trigger-action rules:

For example:

• If [AAPL stock exceeds $350] Then [Send me a text message]
• If [someone mentions me on Twitter] Then [Call me]

You get the idea.

I love the simplicity of the ifttt experience and look forward to seeing how they evolve their offering.

What do you think?  I have a few invites available so if you want one, leave a comment.

Rediscovering The Human Connection In Your Business

We all talk about how powerful social (media) is and how it's changing the world.

I recently gave the following presentation at a workshop where we explored how rapidly social and business have merged and are now effectively the same thing.

The presentation shows the journey taken by seven major brands as they rediscover the human connection with their customers and staff.

If your company is currently exploring how to embrace social, how to best build a social entreprise and operationalize human connections, we're available to help you on your journey.

(Thanks to the Slideshare editorial staff for featuring this on your Business and Management page)

Group Buying Frenzy Continues For Groupon, LivingSocial And Now Google : Update

I wrote about why I'm excited about Groupon last month and it's become the most read blog post I've ever written - Thank you!

Time for a quick update on the whole group buying frenzy:

Lots of activity, lots of deals, lots of hype ...

I wonder if Google will be successful?

What do you think?

Why I’m Excited About Groupon: Lessons For Businesses

Groupon's recent rejection of Google's $6 Billion acquisition has certainly raised many eyebrows. Has the Chicago-based startup drunk too much of it's own Koolaid? What's the big fuss all about? It's just a coupon company, right? Its huge valuation is just a symptom of the current frothy Twitter-Facebook-Zynga social mania. right? It's just Google's hunger to finally have success in the social web, right?  Let's peel back the onion a little and examine what all the fuss is all about.

Here's a company that, in two years, is reported (by Forbes) to be the fastest growing company ... EVER!

In two years it has accumulated 35+ million subscribers, will have reported revenues of anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion in 2010 and has spawned hundreds of clones across the Globe (yes, literally hundreds of clones).

So, why am I excited about Groupon? Well, not for the reasons that you may think:

It's Not A Tech Company

Groupon has 3,000 employees.

It uses old-fashioned email lists and email distribution to reach its 35 million customers.

Yes, it does use Twitter and Facebook and certainly leverages social to drive it's business but it's not a tech company.

Who are these 3,000 employees? What do they do?

They aren't all sophisticated PhDs building proprietary algorithms.

They aren't all Silicon Valley engineers building cool apps or cool social media code.

No.

The majority of them are ...

"Old World" Sales Reps

The vast majority of their staff are focused on selling, not coding. Groupon has at least 2,500 sales reps calling local merchants across hundreds of markets across the Globe.  Compare that to Twitter, Foursquare and even Facebook.

It's a classical business doing the hard slog of sales the old-fashioned way --- using the phone to build relationships with local vendors one at a time.

It Has Revenue And Profits (and lots of both)

The press has reported that Groupon will book $500 million in revenue in 2010.  What emerged from the Google acquisition, it that the revenue numbers are closer to $1 billion and will likely be $1.5 billion in 2011.

It has created an incredibly profitable business model that delivers significant bottom line profits.

Why Has It Grown So Fast?

1. Insight

When you look at the "hyperlocal" market, you see a lot of competition - Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages and others - all going after small business advertising. It's a crowded market with search services, listing services, SEO services and coupon services all vying for the same small business advertising budgets.

For Google, this market is forecasted to slow their spend in the future.  The majority of small vendors in local markets cannot afford to spend $1,000+ per month buying Adwords on Google.

Here's the genius of Groupon:

What Groupon offers its merchants is exactly what they want --- Customers. Period.  Especially in these recessionary times. Not expensive monthly advertising that hopefully generates leads.  Not complicated programs.  Just customers walking through the door of their respective establishments. And Groupon delivers customers in droves, via the power of group buying and discounting.

From the consumers' perspective, Groupon is offering huge discounts + a big incentive to spread the message (you need a minimum group of people to buy before the deal "fires").  The offers are pushed out in a combination of push and pull vehicles : via email, on iPhone apps, on the web and via social networks.

2. Simplicity

The "Daily Deal" is simple for vendors to understand and simple for customers to understand.  Its simplicity is a major contributor to its success. Vendors know how much it costs them and how many customers they get out of the deal.  Consumers love the simplicity and the ease with which they can share it with their friends.

3. Sense of humor / humanity

Groupon's use of humor and its humanity are key differentiators for its business.  From their whacky cat to their humorous and witty copy in their emails to the whacky things they do at their offices, the team at Groupon is leveraging their humanity and sense of humor.  Once again, this reinforces that they are not a boring tech startup of old but a group of highly energetic, smart people with superb businesses brains.

4. Social leverage

Groupon is leveraging the social graph to drive sales in the local market.  It's one of the first times we've seen social being leveraged at this scale to drive sales - not just connection, conversation and engagement.  It's the holy grail of social leverage.

Groupon's Future

So, what about the future?  Is the whole group-buying coupon thing just an Internet fad that will fizzle out?  What about coupon fatigue / "deal" fatigue and the long-term detrimental effect of discounting?  A lot has been written about the negative effects for merchants who use Groupon. Are the stories true that Groupon isn't seeing a lot of repeat business?  Will the growth of all the clones eat into Groupon's share or is the market growing fast enough to allow all to benefit?  Lots of questions.

Groupon is adapting it's business model to address some of these:

It recently announced "Groupon Stores" where vendors will be able to create their own programs and manage them via self-service. How this will affect Groupon's margins is to be seen.

It is actively acquiring competitors in Europe and Asia.  According the latest stats, it currently owns approximately 80% of the market despite having 200+ known clones across the Globe.

What This Means For Businesses Of The Future

Regardless of whether Groupon continues to dominate, it has taught all of us a great lesson. A lesson that applies to all business today, not just the tech startups of the day.

For me, Groupon is one of the first new wave of companies that synthesizes the old world and new world of business.  They have taken the best of the old world (sales reps, push marketing, clever copywriting) and married them successfully with the new world of social / group dynamics in a fun and insightful way that scales profitably.

I believe it's possible for any business today to use these same techniques to its advantage to drive sales and transform its business model while retaining the best of the traditional ways of doing business that exist in companies today.

Shark Attack! The New Reality of Hyper-Competition In the Internet Age

The classic image of Netflix's attack on Blockbuster, seen above, can be viewed as the poster child of the disruptive force of new business models and the power of the Internet to shake up dominant players in industry after industry.

It reminds me of a sketch I used in a business pitch to a major retailer back in 1998. They were the dominant brand in their marketplace. They sold their products exclusively through traditional bricks-and-mortar stores and were "somewhat concerned" by the emergence of online stores.

The naive drawing conveyed the disruptive force of the Internet --- Prior to the web, industries typically operated in silos with their own business models, power structures, sales cycles and ecosystems. Each industry had their unique combination of Michael Porter's Five Forces

and companies within each industry competed to maximize their market share and profitability.

The Internet has turned this neat picture on its head.

It opened up channels between industries and shook up each of the five forces.

Let's go back to the Netflix - Blockbuster example.

Netflix has innovated it's business model again, once again changing the nature of it's business and establishing itself as a major competitor to a new group of companies.

Shark Attack! The New Reality of Hyper-Competition In the Internet Age

Industries have morphed and increasingly we've seen a merging of industry forces and business models. The competitive advantage a company has spent decades building in its industry can evaporate almost overnight. Companies in unrelated industries can suddenly enter and emerge as significant competitive threats to the current industry leaders. Business models from one industry can be applied very effectively to a previously unrelated industry.

Netflix initially innovated the movie rental business by attacking Blockbuster clients' key pain: late fees. No more late fees.  Next, they used the US Postal service as their major distribution network.  No more driving to and from the video store. Next, they used the Amazon "long-tail" concept and provided movie lovers with a huge inventory of choice, more than you would typically find on the shelf in your local Blockbuster store.

Blockbuster tried to replicate the Netflix business model but couldn't.  Walmart entered the space but they haven't been able to disrupt Netflix's rise.

Now we've seen the next step in Netflix's innovation : unlimited online streaming of movies for a fixed monthly fee ($7.99!). They first tested their online streaming in Canada (where it consumed up to 95% of total online bandwidth) before launching in the US. Netflix represents more than 20% of downstream Internet traffic during peak times in the U.S. -- and is heaviest in the primetime hours of 8 to 10 p.m., according to a new report from bandwidth management equipment vendor Sandvine.

Who's enabling Netflix to stream all this content? Akamai took the Netflix distribution business away from Level 3 at the beginning of the year.  NetFlix just announced that Level 3 And Limelight will now be their vendors of choice to get you your latest and greatest movie.

Netflix has now jumped into a whole new competitive space competing with cable companies and the batch of "new TV" players like Hulu and Boxee. In addition, they are now competing with Apple and Google for ownership of the digital HDTV in our living rooms.

Netflix is effectively cannibalizing its own hugely successful DVD business, disrupting itself and fundamentally changing the economics of the game as it goes after a whole new group of competitors.

According to Sandvine, "Netflix, which had approximately 16.9 million subscribers at of the end of September 2010, provides its “Watch Now” Internet streaming service on more than 100 devices, including TiVo DVRs, Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation3, Nintendo Wii, and many Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray Disc players."

Reed Hastings, Netflix's CEO, has been voted the "Business Person of the Year" by Fortune Magazine.  The secret of his success? "He never stops looking over his shoulder."

Good advice to all in this new hyper-connected World.

If you're not looking, you'll see blood (most probably your own) in the water before you can shout "Shark Attack!"

Simplicity

Business Ecosystems And The Evolution of Social Networks

We've just launched our new startup called JazLife and I'm excited to introduce it to readers of this blog.

JazLife is a multi-sided online platform targeting the multi-family, multi-unit residential market.  It's designed to break down barriers, connect people socially, promote discovery, increase accessibility, add convenience and build trust within your chosen condo/apartment building and the surrounding ecosystem.

The three key constituents of the ecosystem are:

• the residents of the building: The nature of condominiums as secure buildings tends to create barriers between residents and all the members of the community. Paradoxically, it is socially isolating to live in a multi-family, multi-unit building. How do local businesses communicate their services to you? How do you know what great services exist in your community? How do you meet, connect with and communicate with other residents or your property management representatives? Typically, it’s via snail mail, handwritten signs taped on walls, multiple trips to the property management office to see if they are there, mass flyers in your mail box that local businesses hope are seen. It’s not a great experience. JazLife solves this problem by creating a platform for connecting, communicating and managing your condo life online easily and efficiently. No more thick document “packages” from your condominium corporation or property manager. No more trips to the property managers office --- reserve guest parking/building facilities online. No more tattered posters in the lobby selling furniture.

• the building management staff: Managing a building is fast paced and multi‐faceted. Building Management are critical teams ensuring condominium communities thrive in a supported and positive environment. However, the equation is unbalanced – there are usually only a few building managers assigned to meet the needs of hundreds of residents. Building managers can’t be everywhere at once. JazLife recognizes this and has built a system that will enhance their ability to communicate and manage your building with a simple and efficient online administration tool. No more notices posted in the elevator. No more paper maintenance request forms in the lobby. No more frustrated residents who work during the day and can’t get to see you during regular business hours.

• local businesses in the neighborhood: The local market potential is large but what are your options for communicating with the thousands of condominium residents living in their secure towers? You are a local business that doesn’t have a huge marketing budget to pay for mailing lists or bombard condominiums with flyers, competing with the national chains. JazLife is the first community based online social media system that connects your business directly with residents of condominiums in a more meaningful way, with built in performance measurement that will help you reach your market potential efficiently. No more flyers in the mail room. No more wasted time using outdated, expensive marketing techniques. JazLife is a targeted, efficient approach that will ensure you maximize your potential to reach customers in your local community.

I want to expand on some of the major megatrends that have influenced and will continue to guide our design and development of the platform:

The Evolution of Social Networks

We've all witnessed the explosive growth of social networking and know that Facebook has a reported 500 million users and a valuation of $28+ Billion. Everyone is Twittering, Tumbling and Facebooking (me included) but this is not a new human endeavor ... Our collective desire to connect with each other has existed since before recorded history. Social networks existed 10,000+ years ago in neolithic villages.  So what's next?

I believe we will move away from generic, mass-market social networks like Facebook and Twitter.  It doesn't make sense to have 1,500 "friends" on one network or platform like Facebook. There's simply too much noise. Let's get real. This does not mirror the nature of our offline social networks.  In the offline world, we have multiple personas, multiple interests, multiple networks and we communicate and connect differently within each of them. We don't have one group of friends. Who we are and how we communicate at work vs. at home vs. with close friends vs. acquaintances vs. business contacts  is very different. The nature and depth of all of these relationships differ.

The same thing is going to happen online.

With JazLife, we believe that there's value in creating a niche, private social platform that is focused specifically on one single ecosystem tied to your lifestyle --- the ecosystem that surrounds where you live.

Today, living in a condo or apartment is often a lifestyle choice and residents are actively looking to enhance the experiences they have within their community on a number of different levels.

Convenience, social life, night life, local amenities and shopping all rank very highly --- People want to be "close to the action".

Traditional mass-market social platforms don't necessarily add value to this World. It doesn't make sense for me to notify or publicize to my 1,500 friends on Facebook that I've booked the party room in my building; that my refrigerator is leaking or that I've reserved guest parking for my sister who is visiting from out of town.

Similarly, I don't want every business in the World trying to "friend" me or getting me to join their fan page. It's a many-to-many relationship which is impersonal and mechanical. It's not human.

I do want the convenient, simplicity and ease of communicating in an informal way with my neighbors, property management and local businesses using the online social networking paradigm, only this time it's local, niched and private.

Which leads to the next three trends ...

Ecosystem Marketing

JazLife provides the infrastructure for residents, building management and local businesses to discover, connect, communicate, interact, manage and optimize within the community based on social connections and opt in relationships.

We have built a hyper-local marketing platform that enables local businesses to connect to residents in condominiums using social media, detailed profiles, advertising, exclusive specials and coupons. it's opt-in and private. It's focused and targeted. It's human and at the one-to-one / one-to-few / few-to-few level. It's not a many-to-many, mass-marketing machine that is impersonal, inefficient and un-targeted.  Mass marketing still has it's place in the marketing mix - TV and mass media are not dead  - but mass marketing and traditional paper-based marketing may not be the optimal option for small businesses trying to reach a niche audience in the condo buildings surrounding their stores.

Performance metrics are available to help local businesses grow their customer base and make the most of their marketing dollars.

Local business become part of an ecosystem that is installed in participating condominium buildings. They connect with residents on a human scale.

Now there's a choice to generic flyers and newspaper advertising. it's cheaper, faster, more convenient and more human.

Merging Conversation and Utility

JazLife goes beyond what is offered in the typical social network. We've gone beyond conversation to what we term "social utility". We have built tailored and task-specific apps and tools that work in a social way. So you get the benefits of a social network and the ability to manage your condo experience online without the need to call the front desk, fill in paper forms or get those annoying flyers under your door. We believe it's a unique value proposition in the market today.

Humanizing Business Interactions

Business is embracing social and vice versa. It has to happen in an organic, natural way that retains the humanity of the communication between residents, property management and the local businesses in your neighborhood. When it's done with a human voice and with simplicity and convenience, we believe it builds relationships and trust and grows your business with integrity.

So, in summary, JazLife operates on several levels:

• It's a practical solution for optimizing, enjoying and actively managing your life in a condo, an apartment, a loft or townhouse.
• It's also a beta platform in the evolution of the social business web.

We have just launched the beta and will now focus on:

• learning/feedback
• building the user base
• growing and refining the platform
• getting paying customers (JazLife is a SaaS product/service with tiered subscriptions from both building management and local businesses, respectively)

Find out more by visiting the JazLife site, watching the video tour and interacting with the demo of the platform.

Kulula Airlines : Break-through branding and corporate culture with a sense of humor

Kulula is a low-cost South-African airline that doesn't take itself too seriously.

It's name says it all. Kulula is a Zulu word that means:

Some great lessons for the majority of boring, unfriendly and darn-right nasty airlines across North America ...

Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced,

"People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"

---o0o---

On another flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said,

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

----o0o---

On landing, the stewardess said,

"Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."

----o0o---

"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane."

---o0o---

"Thank you for flying Kulula. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

---o0o---

As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Durban Airport, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker:

"Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

---o0o---

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo, a flight attendant on a flight announced,

"Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

---o0o---

From a Kulula employee:

"Welcome aboard Kulula 271 to Port Elizabeth. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

---o0o---

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, pick your favourite."

---o0o---

"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive.  Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Kulula Airlines."

----o0o---

"Your seats cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

---o0o---

"As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

---o0o---

And from the pilot during his welcome message:

"Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"

---o0o---

On Kulula flight 255 just after a very hard landing in Cape Town, the flight attendant came on the intercom and said,

"That was quite a bump and I know what y'all are thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault.  It was the asphalt."

---o0o---

On a Kulula flight into Cape Town on a particularly windy and bumpy day, during the final approach the Captain really had to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City.  Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"

---o0o---

Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing:

"We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

---o0o---

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline." He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment.

Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said,

"Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Why, no Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?"

The little old lady said,

"Did we land, or were we shot down?"

---o0o---

After a real crusher of a landing in Johannesburg , the attendant came on with,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.."

---o0o---

Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement:

"We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of Kulula Airways."

---o0o---

Heard on a Kulula flight:

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing. If you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

---o0o---

The Trader Mentality vs. the Builder Paradigm

When people ask me to describe myself I often say that I am a reformed trader who has become a builder. That may sound somewhat trite but for me it explains a fundamental paradigm shift / change that I've made in my life:

In my trading days, I bought and sold things (stocks, bonds, derivatives, information).

Trading was fun, entertaining, electrifying and exciting.

It was the ultimate thrill ride.

It allowed me to connect to many people, many markets and many events in the World.  It offered me the opportunity to profit from insights, knowledge and intuition. It offered me the opportunity to travel the World and sample the good life across four continents. It cut through all the bullshit and politics.  Each day was a new day with it's own P&L and with the joys of mark-to-market, my bank balance changed on a daily basis. There was no politics, no meetings, no drudgery, no BS.

So much for the upside! The life of a trader has a dark side too. My mood swings were legendary and my friends, family and colleagues began to read the state of the markets based on my mood.  Things lost their value. Everything in the World became a commodity that had a price. If I wanted a new car, a new house, a new ___, I thought of it in terms of how many points I needed to make on a trade.

I had lost my humanity to the market. It was time to step away and redefine my life.

It has been 16 years since my life as a derivatives trader.  Since then I have built companies, brands and teams.

In the past 8 months, I've been focused on building a new product / service that will be the first creation / "incubatee" of JazLabs and I've learned so much.  I've reawakened dormant skills and attributes within myself and discovered and developed new ones:

• Building takes time. It takes a lot of time and effort to create something of value - something that is exceptional and new.  Way, way more time than you may initially think.
• Building requires a team. I am lucky to have a business partner who is smart, hard-working and diligent.  We have complementary skills and interests and push each other to reach higher every day.
• Building takes patience. I'm probably the most impatient person you have ever met and I have really struggled to learn this one.  You need to prototype, test and rebuild if you want to get to that exceptional customer experience that is required for success and patience is a major key to success.
• Building takes focus. No more time for Twitter. No more time for continuous partial attention.  Only time to focus on the task at hand and completing it in the best way possible. (Dear David letter)
• Building requires getting into the details.  This is an obvious one and one where I initially struggled the most.  No room for the quick-fix. You have to get dirty and dig into the details but always within the context of the overall plan / 10,000 foot view of there you're going.
• Building needs to be done fast. Deadlines (self-imposed or external-imposed) are a vital constraint to bring out creativity and ingenuity. We're building a business and we can't afford to ignore market pressures / competitive pressures.
• Building takes you on a journey into yourself.  I've discovered untapped resources and abilities that I never knew I had.

Now it's time to take the best parts of the trader mentality and the best parts of the building paradigm and merge them together to take me to the next level of my journey of discovery!

Briefing on Gaza Flotilla by John Thompson

Having spent two days examining as much of the evidence as I could, there are two points that deserve to be mentioned.

Israel acted well within the confines of international law and maritime practice in enforcing a legitimate blockade of the Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, in halting the flotilla, the Israeli forces involved in the incident began with restraint. International Waters are of no account, if it is clear that the ship is clearly heading towards a blockaded area... the US Navy for instance, has been known to halt and inspect suspected North Korean ships bound for Iran on the high seas on numerous occasions.

Blockades and interdictions are common, and have been so for decades since the Second World War (where unrestricted violence was frequently used). The normal convention is to open communications and demand the ship 'heave to'; if it fails to comply a shot from a large caliber gun or a burst from a machinegun is fired across its bows. If the ship still refuses to comply; this is repeated -- albeit the shot is aimed more carefully and comes closer to the ship. If the ship still refuses to halt, it is warned once more before a shot is fired at its bridge. If it still refuses to heave to, the blockading force has the right to sink it. Once a ship has hove to or slowed down, it may be boarded by personnel from the blockading force.

The Israelis offered another choice to the flotilla (which was refused) and otherwise seems to have behaved with restraint. It is not clear if the ships came to a dead stop or proceeded towards Gaza and a slow pace, but it is abundantly clear they were not sunk!

It is also abundantly clear that the passengers and crews of the boarded ships offered potentially lethal violence -- using "improvised" weapons that had been carefully stowed beforehand. A crate of dishes dropped on someone's head from 6m overhead does not seem as malevolent as shooting them, but a crushed skull is a crushed skull regardless. High pressure hoses and swung chains directed at somebody climbing a rope ladder from a zodiac boat are also potentially lethal.

Canadian and US naval personnel boarding ships (as they regularly do) brandish submachine guns and shotguns; the Israelis came aboard with paintball guns only to be reminded of an unwelcome truth. Metre long metal rods and knives do not seem as lethal as modern assault rifles, but they are in close confines in the dark. This is a calculation that was made ahead of time by many of the so-called peace activists. Many police bulletins remind officers -- often using graphic photographs -- that somebody with a knife within arms reach is equally deadly to a man with a handgun; a man armed with a paintball gun is in very serious danger.

The restraint that the IDF personnel showed on boarding the vessels of the flotilla was directly responsible for the loss of life that ensued when the protestors' pre-planned brawl erupted. Next time, the IDF should behave in a manner more consistent with those used by other navies (including those of Canada) in similar circumstances -- display your firepower and don't hesitate to use it. It saves lives in the long run.

John Thompson

Director of the Mackenzie Institute

John Thompson is a Canadian military and terrorism expert who spent 13 years in the Canadian military. Thompson has been associated with the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, the Royal Canadian Military Institute, and is currently the director of the Mackenzie Institute, a Canadian think tank focusing on terrorism, political extremism and warfare.