Unsolicited Advice to the Candidates

 I usually don’t like to weigh in on my blog on controversial topics like politics, sex, drugs, religion or (anything else worth talking about),  but after watching the VP debate and more election ads than I can tolerate…

I’m fed up with the rhetoric and fluffy noise of all the candidates,

Republican or Democrat, Green or Independent, etc.

That inspires me to offer Unsolicited Advice to the Candidates

Including what  they should stop saying in the debates, in their annoying ads, etc…

Here in the spirit of bipartisanship… my 2 cents, take it or leave it:

1.   Stop telling sappy personal stories about Americans in hard times….we’re smarter than that…

2.   We’re electing our leaders… kill the sappy anecdotes about your spouses, parents, past bosses, a steel worker you met in Toledo, an unwed mother in Tampa don’t score points with thinking people…. So contrived it makes me sick.

3.   Answer the questions that are asked of you, Answer the questions that are asked of you, Answer the questions that are asked of you…

4.   Make sure that the POTUS/VP, Senate, Rep candidates aren’t using the identically same catchphrases in their TV ads

5.   “My percentages are better than yours are!!! Nannny, nanny, boo, boo!!” C’mon, the electorate aren’t statisticians!

6.   Know your stuff but don’t preach, don’t teach…

7.   When you smile and laugh, make it genuine….

8.   Wanna show bipartisanship?  How about honestly and publicly admitting when your opponent has a good idea?

9.   Don’t OVEREXECUTE during debates by sending out tons of Tweets from the @FauxCandidatesTwitter Accounts during the debates… it smacks of inauthicity… be honest and responsive, not robotic.

10.                 Don’t claim you’re better…
Instead, tell us how we can come together to fix the most important problems facing the country (in no necessary order):

The Debt, joblessness, economic conditions/business conditions, healthcare, longterm competitiveness (through education), poverty, affordable healthcare, cost of living.

Catchphrases that should be stricken from all discussions:

American families

Middle class

Wealthy people

Billionaires

Working people

Fighting for you

Many more I don’t have time for….

What do you think?

Respect.

Let’s fix our country, together.

Everything I needed, I learned in New Bedford

Great Ideas from TEDxNew Bedford:

While the TED conferences usually take place in trendy locations like Palo Alto and Long Beach (CA) or Portland (OR), participants in this week’s TEDxNewBedford conference (http://www.tedxnewbedford.com) gathered in the resurgent town of New Bedford, unofficial capital of Massachusetts’ burgeoning SouthCoast region.

Once the city that boasted the highest per capita income in the world, New Bedford fell on hard times in the decades that followed the replacement of whale oil with petroleum as the principal form of illumination. Recently, under the leadership of its new Mayor (Jon Mitchell), New Bedford is increasingly seen as a place where "ideas come to life," as Mayor Mitchell said at a reception that capped a full-day of ideas.

This week’s event was organized by SouthCoast native and business innovator Chris Rezendes, whose consulting company INEX Advisors (www.inexadvisors.com) is sets a good example of helping tech companies to conduct biz in a more thoughtful, community-minded way.

I was inspired to participate in #tedxnewbedford, because my own business (Valuecasters) tries to follow Chris's example by "doing well by doing good," connecting people together for mutual advantage, and encouraging clients to give generously (because generosity is not only the right thing to do... it's smart business)!

As you’ll see in its Agenda, this day-long event featured a fascinating smorgasbord of thought leaders who shared their thoughts, innovation best practices examples and a consistent theme of rallying attendees to think and differently, by running businesses that don’t focus solely on the bottom line.

TEDxNewBedford Attendees connecting together beneath
a massive whale skeleton (at the New Bedford Whaling Museum)

Attending the conference myself, I learned a lot and walked out of the event (onto the picturesque cobblestone streets of historic New Bedford), feeling energetic, inspired, and re-invigorated.

While my “lessons learned” are too numerous to include in this post, here’s a sample of some of the excellent quotes, factoids and thought-challenging observations that struck me:

Chris Rezendes:      
Chris kicked off the event by saying something to the effect of “Modern business requires us to consider and master complexity, value & time,” and quoted these sage words Guru Neem Karillia Boba made circa 1600:

“To know and yet not to do is in fact not to know.”

Mark Lovett asked “Will ‘happiness’ ultimately destroy our planet?” and introduce me to the concept of ‘collaborative consumption” in which technology and peer communities are favorably improving how we share, barter, lend, rent and swap ‘stuff’ with those we know.

Let your neighbor use that weed-whacker gathering dust in your garage

Brenda Berube of the Fall River Public School system pointed out that today’s public school education still share three principal challenges that were present for immigrant students 100+ yrs ago: Safety, technical skills, citizenship

Dr. Jack Shoykhet, an immigrant from Ukraine, impressed us with his real world examples of how government can achieve more with less through ‘relentless innovation.’ His work: Synching record systems of the Department of Defense with that of the Veterans Administration, using IT to slash the cost of tracking prisoners, unifying the massive Intelligence systems of various Fed agencies, and implementing telemedicine and blended learning to make healthcare and higher ed more efficient: very, very impressive. I joked with him at a break that Gov. Romney & Pres. Obama would both do well to follow his example.

Filmmaker Kevin Kertscher educated us on a broader definition of “diversity” and shared how organizations leverage and benefit from collective and performance diversity in business and government

Speakding on “Stewardship Through Participation:  Marine Ecosystems & Global Exploration,” Durval Tavares surprised me with the estimate that 95% of the worlds oceans are unexplored! He then shared stories on how SouthCoast companies are looking below the waves to see what lies in the oceans’ depths and discover sustainable opportunities might surface.

Local Physician Derek Hausladen, MD noted that Med School students aren’t taught anything about the relationship between patient care and time management, nor about economics, business. Yet with people now living 50% longer than our ancestors (not because of medicine but because of cleaner sewage), we need to examine our perceptions of the value of time in medicine and also to seek realistic and fair expecations of time in the doctor>><

Julie Fraser of Iyno Advisors, asked the audience to meditate on the thought “What if we were able to apply our work disciplines into our personal lives?” and then shared methods to repurpose processes and techniques she learned in the manufacturing industry to let people “have the life you want.” Her out of the box approach suggested how we could adapt the 6 Sigma approach to ‘continuous improvement’ in business toward persuing our personal passions improving our lives. As she reminded us: “All manufactured goods started with someone being dissatisfied who was moved to make things better.” Fascinating idea.

While I wish I could go on to summarize all the other ideas that other speakers shared at the conference… time doesn’t permit that today.

Suffice it to say… the first TEDxNewBedford (in September 2012) was a phenomenal event and the universal consensus of the attendees:  time well spent, and something they’ll want to do again.

Thanks to Chris and Team for their inspiration and hard work in making it a reality!

##

Boston: The HUB of Patient-Centered Healthcare?

This is the first post in a series on patient-centered health and wellness 
 

Correspondents + Co-Authors:  

Bill Fleming/extrovertic (Cambridge, MA) and
Patrick Rafter/Valuecasters (Wellesley, MA)

A cross-section of 50 of the “who’s who” of Boston-area healthcare gathered on June 25 for a spirited discussion around a rallying call to “Make Boston the Nexus of Patient Centered Healthcare.”  The evening provided an exciting perspective on how patients are managing their health outside of the formal healthcare system.

Extrovertic co-sponsored the event with North Bridge Growth Equity Ventures. Organized by Future Forward, the evening centered on a panel moderated by Scott Kirsner, Innovation Economist of The Boston Globe, comprised of entrepreneurs and policy-makers leading the trend in self-directed health and wellness:

David Dickinson, Zeo, an online sleep management company

Jason Jacobs, FitnessKeeper, focused on tracking, measuring and improving fitness

Joe Kvedar, Partners Healthcare's Center for Connected Healthcare, research in technology-enabled healthcare delivery  

Frank Moss, MIT Media Lab, new media medicine

David Rose, Entrepreneur and founder of Vitality, devices to improve medication adherence

Sonny Vu, AgaMatrix, the first iPhone blood glucose monitor

Ctr. For Connected Healthcare’s Joe Kevedar (l) catches up with David Rose (r)

The audience included representatives of the major players in patient-centric health:

• Digital and mobile health startups and later stage companies, such as OhmUniverse, PrescribableApps, Healthrageous, Humedica
• Payers and employers, including BC/BS of MA and AthenaHealth
• Academic medicine and policy, such as BU and MIT Media Lab’s New Media Medicine group
• Pharma, including Biogen-Idec and extrovertic
• Investors, including Rock Health and North Bridge Venture Partners
• Many others who deserve to be mentioned (but aren’t here/now)

The discussion focused on the opportunity to make Boston the hub of patient-centered healthcare, just as Silicon Valley is the nexus of technology-based innovation. Boston’s advantages in supporting this trend include:

• A strong digital technology community, including entrepreneurs and developers.
• World-class medical expertise and data, such as researchers, practitioners and Big Data from research and clinical trials.
• An active venture finance presence that has a strong track record in funding therapeutic, device and diagnostic companies.

Scott Kirsner/Boston Globe (l) and Bill Fleming/extrovertic (r) compare notes 

Participants also pointed out some barriers to continued growth for the Boston area, including limited access to medical researchers, clinicians and data; a shortage of technical talent; and a lack of experience in funding digital startups.

A sense of the eco-system that has developed in the Boston-area over the last several years emerged from the conversation, and was depicted in this graphic, drawn during the event: 

Graphical representation of the dialog. Scribing courtesy of Marsha Dunn of Collective Next   

For a sense of “Who Said What” we invite those who were present at the event to weigh-in with your comments:

• Which themes stood out for you?
• What/Who was most interesting and inspiring?
• What concerns were voiced or now come to mind?
• What take-away ideas do you have?

Let’s keep the conversation going.

We plan to do our part by publishing some related upcoming posts on The Extrovertic Blog which will focus on the substance and implications of patient-centered health:

1. What’s Goin’ On?   Who is managing their own health?
2. Rage Against The Machine:  Giving consumers healthcare control + independence
3. Love the One You’re With:   Opportunities for providers, payers and pharma

Editors' Note 
If you’re interested:

Feel free to volunteer to write a “Guest Blog” post on some aspect of the event.

On the Job with Steve Jobs

A personal Steve Jobs memory...

I've been selling/marketing/promoting Apple products and related tech since 1982-- the Apple II and Apple III days.

In 1985, I worked in Boston as a sales rep for Businessland and I understand I was one of the top salespeople of Macs among all the Businessland stores nationwide. I ate and drank Macintosh night and day and somehow got companies to buy the original dinky 128 Macs by wowing them with them with cut and paste in MacWrite and its wacky San Francisco font. Whenever someone came into our store looking for a Mac, they'd get sent my way...

One day (much to my chagrin), I was out of the store on my lunch break when a unshaven guy with dark hair, black turtleneck and jeans came walked into my place of employ. While I would have recognized him in a nano-second, my colleagues didn't recognize this ungainly character who said to the salesperson who went up to serve him:

"I'm looking for a computer for my business, what can you show me?"

The other sales guy replied:

"Well, if you're looking for a business computer.... you're going to want an IBM PC."

Steve Jobs looked him in the eye and said "Wrong answer!," and walked out of our store over to the Computerland store across the street where their Mac guy replied to the identical question with "A business computer? There's really no choice other than the Apple Macintosh."

The guy in the black turtleneck said "Right Answer," and promptly put in an order for 20 Macs.

I don't take lunch breaks any more.

Steve and the company he built has kept me employed, informed, entertained and engaged ever since.

Thus while I knew his demise was imminent, I can't help feeling "iSad"

For all of us who owe our jobs to you, thank you Mr. Jobs.

Patrick Rafter/Valuecasters (Wellesley, MA)

prafter@valuecasters.com

All I Needed to Learn about Biz, I Learned on Nantucket

Photo: Scott Kirsner + Bill Warner at #ACK2011

In an age where we’re using new technologies (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) to make personal and business connections, I was especially happy to be reminded this week that the old fashioned way to network is still the best.

For the past 12 springs (including last week), I’ve been fortunate to be able to attend and participate in the annual Nantucket Conference. For those who don’t know of it, The Nantucket Conference is a gathering of circa 100 tech leaders who choose live and work in New England.

An antidote to all those deadly events at the Newton Marriott (where there’s too much talking at people and not enough exchange,) Nantucket stands out among industry conferences I’ve attended within the past 25+ for these reasons:

The ACK Conference is a unique gathering where attendees genuinely connect with other participants not to benefit themselves, but to find common ground and to help one another.

While I’m sure the bucolic setting, steady flow of food and alcohol have something to do with it—Nantucket unites the entire ecosystem of technology (entrepreneurs, thinkers, investors, facilitators) in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.

Whereas other moderators at other conferences let the presenters drone on with their standard spiels, on Nantucket open & candid reflection is the standard for speakers and audience members alike, encouraged by conference Co-Founder and Content Czar Scott Kirsner, New England's Innovation Economist.

Paraphrasing Robert Fulgum’s “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten”, leaving the island, it occurs to me that “Everything I need to know about the right way to do business, I learned at the Nantucket Conference.”

Here's What I Learned (or Re-Learned) on Nantucket:

Keep talking
Sure asynchronous messaging through email and Tweets help us communicate, but nothing compares to a great face-to-face conversation in which both participants speak honestly and directly, and listen to each other without distraction.

Give and ye shall receive
A significant number of Nantucket’s attendees are successful serial entrepreneurs of whom a handful stand out because having made their millions--- now they want to give of themselves to help other entrepreneurs on the way up. Bill Warner (founder of Avid and myriad other ventures) and Jit Saxena (founder of Netezza and Applix) are two notable examples.

Follow your dreams
There are lots of ways to make a living. I’m always impressed by Nantucket attendees who follow their dreams, and who pursue their ambitions (despite being told by others to do otherwise).

Blend the best of youth and experience
Circa ten of the attendees at this year’s events were startup CEOs under the age of 30. This group embodied an enthusiasm and fearlessness that is common among young entrepreneurs, and often sorely missing among many older workers. At the same time --- I was impressed by two things: i) Respect shown by the young CEOs in how they talked with and learned from the more experienced, gray-haired attendees. ii) Similarly, I enjoyed seeing people in their 40s, 50s, 60s engaged in deep discussions with people more than half their age.

Be customer-focused
Whereas many industry conferences are filled with self-important pundits who are inhaling their own exhaust, a recurring theme of Nantucket this year was that conducting business with the interest of others front of mind is both smart business, and right-minded. War stories and perspective from Gary Hirshberg, (CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt) on “How to Make Money and Save The World” were inspiring. Comments from enlightened marketer Mark Troiano (Principal of Holland-Mark) who exhorted us to be “solely focused on delivering value with those that follow us” rang true for me as well.

Beyond the inspiration that Nantucket gives me, the trick of course, is to practice these principles every day. :-)

Back to work.

Wanted: Digital Ambassadors

The ever-savvy Barbara Bix (@bbmarketingplus on Twitter) has written a thought provoking article entitled "Will marketing consultants and agencies switch places with in-house staff in a digital world?" which leads me to think about one of the "side effects" of the shift to a new world of digital communications:

As companies increasingly want/need and can themselves be involved in the design, creation, curation, distribution and management of content--organizations will find out:

1) Communicating is hard, Creating quality content is hard. Both require skills

While the economics of old-line, ad-sponsored journalism has shaken up the world of the Media: the public and businesses continue to have an insatiable appetite for quality content. Becoming world-class storytellers (comparable to professional reporters, editors) is not something many marketers have the skill or the time for. (Ed. comment: Couldn't resist ending the sentence with a preposition!)

2) Self-publishing is attractive, yet requires a major investment of money & resources

As companies see inherent value in publishing their own content-- they'll need to invest and build internal and external infrastructures to author, refine and deliver that content. I think a majority of companies underestimate the enormity of that reality.

3) Social Media changes everything

As Web-based interactivity becomes mainstream-- companies who may have previously interacted with "audiences" and "target" will now find those marketing concepts are disconsonant with the new world in which conversations replace campaigns, broadcasting is replaced by valuecasting (a dialogue between multiple participants on topics of mutual and highly personal relevance). To be empathic and responsive in real-time, while also proactively endeavoring to simultaneously do what is perceived to be in the best interests of the company—is a tall order.

Whoever does social media engagement for a company (internal staff or external consultants) functions as an “Ambassador” for the company. Accordingly those people need to have Ambassadorial qualities: first-rate written and interpersonal communications skills, combined with judgment, diplomacy, tact, patience, and more. Would you trust the public persona of your company to a marketing intern?

4) Will businesses take a leap of faith and trust?

In the producer/consumer, reader = editor, critic today: booster tomorrow environment that the Web has created: companies will need to recognize that proactively cultivating a better relationship with “all those who matter” (formerly known as prospects, customers, partners, influencers) is an imperative for success. In a world where messaging is more honest, dialogue--more earnest, expressions of service and value--more genuine: both buyer and seller win. In a self-regulating information stream, the Web can be an ideal aggregator of content created by and for those who will value it most.

The Bottom Line:
To meet the needs of the new digital world, companies will need to hire a new breed of PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORS, and staff their evolving requirements with a mix of internal employees and experienced external consultants and agencies who collectively represent a diplomatic corps to represent them.

Organizations who forestall investing in communications talent and the need to communicate better (in order on short-term gains) are penny wise and pound foolish.

Corporate America: Go hire some Ambassadors!

Best-Ever Case for Social Media ROI

Ever since I had the chance to be part of the creative team that produced the uber-successful John Cleese "Institute of Backup Trauma" viral video, I've been a huge fan and booster of the power of small screen programming to entertain, inform, drive traffic & accelerate awareness and revenues.

One of the best wideos (web-videos) I've seen recently is "Social Media ROI: Socialnomics" from Socialnomics' author/creator Erik Qualman. This animation does a great job providing statistical proof of the Return on Investment of social media (or as I like to re-define ROI as "return on interaction).

Erik's masterpiece has all the right elements of an effective wideo:

1) Crisp, simple text treatments

2) Compelling content

3) A catchy, hip rock theme

4) Delivers value to those who watch it

5) Inspires virality

Check it out: