a thought-provoking ramble on the state of life, clients and the universe at large
So who’s in charge, as in who’s really in charge? For way too long we have been caving into Google and Facebook, lamenting the loss of control that advertisers and advertising has. The Digibabble narrative went like this: Digital media has killed all else because of their vast and magical powers controlling pricing, access, supposed…
Maybe it’s the Trump effect and the focus on job creation or it’s the resurrection of jobs (once lost to technology) and the obvious cynicism that predicates a return in mass numbers to an old state. Perhaps it’s the financial analysts touting AI (artificial intelligence) as the new frontier in order to create the next…
Radio is dead! Cinema is dead! Television is dead! Restaurants are dead! Retail is dead! And, of course, we know that PCs and desktops are as dead as a doorknob! I leave most of the obituaries to you to decide on. Sadly, the knee-jerkers will jump in to prove that all are in fact dead……
WMDs. Remember that term? Weapons of mass destruction…a catalyzing fear of the Bush US Presidency and the driving force behind the Iraq War. The fear of WMDs was so deep and primal that an almost unprecedented bi-partisan group of US politicians supported the war to find them. “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam…
Imagine if the torrent of tweets we have become inured to disappeared after 10 seconds. One can only wonder what the political climate of the United States might be like today… Or, say you were a mega-diva like Madonna and you chose to launch your latest collection of songs with a video that was ephemeral……
Amazon is opening a book store at The Shops at Columbus Circle, right across from my office. I see the banner from our windows every day and I smile. Jeff Bezos gets it, he understands the time is ripe…but more on that later. Warby Parker continues to build out its physical presence, as does Bonobos….
“[What information consumes is] the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” -Herbert Simon, Nobel winner, Economics (1978) Think about that for a moment. Since the advent of movable type heralded the evolution of readily accessible information, our senses have been assaulted with ever-growing, ever-changing sources of information…
“I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.” —December 11, 1936, King Edward VIII abdicates the Crown of the British Monarchy in an address directly to the British…
Oscar Wilde, ever one of my favorite sources for inspiration, once said: “In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.” Now, while I hate to be partisan in my writing, I do believe that while I will be primarily quoting US sources and focusing on recent events in “Lower…
So what was it that made it so hard to predict the recent US election that caught the data scientists; the media; the pollsters; the pundits and the bettors by surprise much like Brexit did in the UK a few short months ago? Could it be as New York Times (who got it dreadfully wrong…
It doesn’t matter where in the world you live. It doesn’t matter what your politics are. The negative, nasty and vindictive tone of the US presidential election—from all sides—has affected us throughout the globe. Saturday Night Live, the famous US comedy show, has been skewering both presidential candidates for the past few months…so well, in…
How do I begin 2016? Big Data? Drones? IOT? Need it now? More mobile? Post-digital? Pre-apocalypse? More on Star Wars and Adele? Nah… Instead I opted for a great story. One that encompasses everything that I love and admire about the age we live in and an age that is past. 2016 begins the sixth…
“Goodwill towards all men”…in the nonsexist, nongender-specific and gluten-free way…before the knee-jerkers call me out for not being PC… “Goodwill” seems to be a reasonable wish and an admirable goal for all of humankind…no? That will be my only point – the rest I leave up to you, dear reader. Here is the question, the…
Every year, around this time, as the United States approaches its national day of commemoration…for those who have given their lives in the various wars fought by US troops…aptly called Memorial Day…I am struck by the nature, the very essence of memory and what it really means, what it can achieve and the flip side…
They are ageless. Age does not define them…nor is it central to who they are. They are empowered. They believe it’s up to them to make their lives meaningful. They are global citizens. Borders are for maps…their interest in other cultures is as important as their own. They are self-directed. Success is about how you…
What separates the good guys from the bad guys? Hollywood once made it really easy because all the good cowboys wore white hats while the bad wore black ones. Wish it were so easy in our world. And I wish that the answer was technology… But it just ain’t that simple. Technology in and of…
The United States is currently tangled up in a racially charged debate around police violence, or maybe better put, excessive and biased use of force against people of color. We have seen riots and demonstrations over the past few weeks, reminiscent of the worst days of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the inflammatory rhetoric, from…
Thank you…. Such a small phrase. Yet one fraught with such deep possibilities. Its English origins are rooted in the concept of gratitude…a more meaningful concept I think… And culturally…around the world…while its use and meaning might vary – I think it’s safe to say that the basic concept is the same – we have…
Unplug and reconnect. Amazing how the message seems to resonate…or maybe not so amazing…. I imagine that back in the day, some cave mom told her intense, wall-painting son to get out and hunt a mammoth or two and reconnect with what is real…and I have no doubt that advice made him a better painter…I…
The Dichotomy. The same technology that allowed Edward Snowden to access, download and share thousands upon thousands of classified documents is the same technology that listens to thousands upon thousands of phone calls and reads thousands upon thousands of messages…which frightened Snowden and catalyzed him to action and so on…. Yet the same people who…
Facebook dies on its initial public offering and the Royal Mail in the UK jumps 38%…. Is it like the Hare and the Tortoise? The old-fashioned dinosaur, the last-century, so-over-it snail mail…beat out the latest and greatest? Sounds almost like one of those unfounded Internet myths that get passed around and around and around until…
“I want to put a ding in the universe.” Don’t we all? At least so I fantasize…. But that quote isn’t from me – it’s classic Steve Jobs. In fact, I’d argue that it’s a defining statement and a lens through which to judge Apple…. Bottom line from Jobs: that ding isn’t a fantasy, it’s…