You’re Doing it Wrong

I was at the gym yesterday, minding my own business, when the TV put up the headline, “Palin to run for President?” and a talking head was (quite literally) talking away about why that idea isn’t insane.  After I dropped a very heavy weight on my friend’s foot, I stood in silence, staring at the TV.  I didn’t know whether to laugh, or cry.  I mean…that can’t be right, can it?

But then I thought about the recent strength of the TEA party movement.  Sarah Palin can say just about anything she wants (including repeatedly mentioning President Obama’s middle name, as if that’s something new) and provide countless examples of her own stupidity (when asked who her favorite founder was by Glenn Beck, Palin responded, “You know, all of them”) and people apparently still rally around her.  Republican primaries across the US are becoming struggles between the incumbent and a TEA party upstart.  

But here is my real problem: I don’t know where the rest of the US population falls on this, or almost any other issue.  Some are saying the TEA party is a pretty isolated movement, and it’s the broadcast media that is turning it into a phenomenon.  Tune in to Fox News, and you hear how well the Republicans are doing and how strong the Glenn Beck rally is.  Turn on MSNBC, exact opposite – while the Democrats aren’t strong, the Republicans are a mess.  Both channels say they are in tune with the American people, both stations conduct polls, different results.  My solution: we have the Internet.  We don’t need to conduct “extrapolation” polls on ridiculous scales anymore (interview 1,000 people, extrapolate to the country).

So here’s what it looks like: every township in America gets a “voting station” at their Town Hall.  Voting station consists of a polling machine, fully encrypted and where possible, hard-wired.  Also a bank of computers set up specifically to give people access to information on what is currently up for vote in Houses of Legislature, major crises affecting the country, etc.  I want everyone to have the ability to be as informed as possible.  Then, if the population wants to, they should provide their opinion on it.  Votes occur once a month, the White House or some other independent body (NPR) reports them.

If people don’t want to travel to the voting station, and they have home Internet, then set up a .gov site with heavy security and allow people to enter their Social Security #s to vote.  I’m just sick of the TV media making blanket statements for the nation when we have the ability to actually find out what people think.  The problem with elections is, they are so infrequent, people never make a ‘habit’ of voting.  So when you ask someone on a specific day to vote, you are likely to get the response, “Oh really, that’s what day it is?  Shoot I have a hair appointment that afternoon.”  If the population got in the habit of making their opinions heard, I believe we’d see more voter turnout and increased knowledge on the key issues.  

I’d imagine one of the responses I’d get to this idea is, “but Jeff, what about the population that doesn’t care to vote, or votes ignorant?”  Well, that’s America.  If the majority of the population votes one way, that should be the way it is decided.  And if the majority of voters in a certain state vote one way, and their representative doesn’t vote in support (no matter what Party) they should be out.  At least it would be easier to keep track of their votes against popular sentiment.  I realize there are some key times when a representative must vote in what they believe is right.  Then give the representative the chance to explain why they voted against their constituent’s wishes.  Who knows, maybe they will be convinced.

It’s possible Sarah Palin might be the worst thing to ever happen to American politics.  That’s possible.  But if the majority of Americans side with her on the issues, I want to know about it now so I can move.  I hear Brazil is nice.

img via: 

My Life’s Work

Several years ago, I worked as a corporate sous chef for a small group of restaurants.  People are always shocked to hear this, because I don’t really love to cook today.  Well the truth is, it wasn’t the cooking that I loved at all.  It was that every day, I walked into work, knowing I was probably going to get burned, cut, dehydrated, and exhausted – but that it was me against the world when I was in there.  I worked my heart out and it showed on the plates of food.  I was determined to be faster and better than anyone else (chef’s can get a little cocky about these things) and at times I was.  I knew I was not going to be a chef in the longterm (I don’t smoke cigarettes and I lost about 25 lbs working there) but the passion of the work and the feeling of satisfaction as we finished a crazy dinner service made me the happiest guy around.

For years after that experience, I looked for something else to fill that void.  My advertising job definitely did NOT.  But when I met Bill Clerico and Rich Aberman of WePay earlier this year and heard their story, I was blown away.  Here were two guys, taking on the world of payments!  They worked endless hours, with no certain payout in the future, but they did it together (with their dog Randy, of course).  They stared the very real possibility of failure in the face and went for it anyway.  They work at a Startup – and now I want to as well.

I think too many of us avoid failure like the plague – I see it at business school every day.  We make safe powerpoint slides on a safe topic and pursue safe jobs in stable industries.  Me, I need some risk involved to stay motivated.  Not only do I want to “succeed” – I want to be great.

So I guess the title of the post is a bit of a misnomer – I don’t know what my life’s work is going to look like when I’m done.  But I know what it won’t look like: I won’t be taking a boring yet steady job this May in the hopes of working up to VP of Sales when I’m 60 and retiring at 65.  I’m going to make some waves while I’m here.  So if you are looking for someone who wants to ROCK, come find me.  

The Health Reform Bill, Explained by Youtoon People

The non-partisan, non-profit research group The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation put together this neat 9 minute video detailing the Health Reform Bill.  It’s so refreshing to watch, since there is no bias, no arguments, just facts.  Enjoy.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

 

via Time

What’s Worth Reading

I’d say my number one activity online has gone from checking Fantasy stats to reading news and articles – a tectonic shift that I had not anticipated.  To see the articles I’m reading (or want to read when I get the time), check out my delicious listing.

Since I spend so much of my time reading, it seems only natural to share the contents of my Google Reader.  I will continue to try and post articles I enjoy or learn a lot from, but for today, I thought I would post just the list of blogs/sources I follow closely.  Please add your favorite content resources in the comments!

(grouped by content type)

Startups

A Smart Bear – When you want to learn about startups, the best source is someone who has done it and lived to tell the tale.  Jason Cohen is the model for people like me, and here he provides his thoughts on what made him one of the 10% of successful startups.

Rafael Corrales blog – HBS grad and CEO of Learnboost, a startup I really admire.  He provides advice on maneuvering the world of startups.

Jason Shen’s blog – I only recently met Jason, but I think he and I have a lot in common.  A media-junkie who loves the startup environment.  His stuff is must-read as well.

Onstartups – A site by Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpot, an SEO startup here in Boston.  I’ve watched his Startup Bootcamp talk again and again – his slide design and presentation style is brilliant.

Startup Quotes – A simple and awesome site.  Creative design, addictive quotes.  I love stealing stuff from this site, and it will continue to get better and better.  Always good for inspiration.

Innovation

GOOD – Most people have probably heard of GOOD.  GOOD is the combination of good scientific thought, disruptive creativity, and engaging writing.  Good for learning, thinking, relaxing.  An excellent site.

Business Week’s Innovation Section – Their regular writers find thought-provoking and challenging topics, and their guest authors bring incredible expertise.  Always at least one great article every week.

Innoblog – Much like BW Innovation section, Innoblog covers case studies of innovation in action.  How was it executed, how did the leader overcome hurdles, advice on pursuing innovation in a constructive way.  This stuff is so important to know.

Technology

TechCrunch – No explanation really needed here.  If you want to be up on the universe of technology and business, read this blog.

Engadget – Again, everyone probably already knows this site.  While it can get a little too mobile-heavy at times, there are always some good articles on the tech industry in here (hint: I use gReader’s “List” reading format to skip the cellphone stuff.  Apple, just bring the iPhone to Verizon.

BostInnovation – This site has a little bit of everything that is cool and is going on in the Boston Area.  While I love to read TC and EG, those blogs can be “Valley-centric” (write what you know) and it’s good to be up on what is in my backyard.

Boy Genius Report – Another site that covers the tech industry very well.  Between TechCrunch, Engadget, and BGR, theres no chance I miss a big story.  BGR also has a habit of breaking news first.

All Things D – Their digital daily is a must.  This is experienced journalists and great writers covering the angles of a story.  Also, they tend to be much funnier than the other tech blogs.

Venture Capital and Business

VentureBeat – I think that I’m unique in that I love the concept of working in a startup, yet I do have the classic MBA background that pulls me to the VC world as well.  I think Venture Capital as a concept is the coolest job on the planet – listen to great ideas, help entrepreneurs grow and run a company, and in the end deliver value to your shareholders and the world at large (if you pick the right startups).  In practice, it doesn’t always work that way, but I like to pretend it does.  If you are interested in Venture Capital and the latest news in Startups, no place better than Venture Beat.  Easily the most read blog in my entire Google Reader portfolio.

A VC – The blog of Fred Wilson.  Fred was one of the first people to start following my posts on Tumblr way back in 2006.  Not sure why he did that, but it got me into his stuff and since then I have been permanently hooked.  I really enjoy his verson of “MBA Mondays”, where he covers a concept I should have learned but have probably forgotten.  If you love to learn finance-stuff, but also application and execution, Fred is your guy.  He also loves good music.

Seth Godin – The guy is a god.  Just read it.  How he can continually churn out incredibly insightful blog posts on 400 words or less is just mind-blowing to me.

HBS “The Conversation” blog – Guest posts by HBS grads and professors on the latest topics in business.  Always something great to learn from an expert here.

Signals vs. Noise – The now (in)famous 37 Signals blog.  These guys do things their way, and on their terms.  They make great money doing it.  That is gold for any entrepreneur.

Both Sides of the Table – The Mark Suster blog.  He has an interesting viewpoint, since he has the experience of both startup CEO and VC.  Posts can be a bit long, but always informative.

Education

Learning is Messy – the Brian Cosby blog about his classroom.  After watching a fantastic TEDx Talk Brian gave, I started following his blog posts.  Great stuff.

Infinite Thinking Machine – ITM is a blog dedicated to “helping teachers and students thrive in the 21st century”.  Webinars, interactive projects, new app descriptions, even a TV show.  This blog seeks to connect new educational media to the teachers who need it.

Moving at the Speed of Creativity – the weblog of Wesley Fryer, a digital learning consultant and author.  But what really makes reading his blog fun are his stories.  Always in-depth and involving.

Other

NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series – NPR’s music office invites musicians to come in and play in a cramped corner of their office.  The results can be stunning.

TED Talks Listing – After watching no fewer than 50 (and many of them twice!), I actually feel smarter.  Seriously the best source of expert thinking on the planet.

Alex Bogusky – In my former life as Ad Exec, this guy was considered the leader of the pack.  I enjoy reading his thoughts on the advertising world and more.

Innovation and Charter Schools

“This is what drives me crazy. Folks are absolutely furious that we want to innovate. ‘This guy wants to say public schools are failing!’ Well, they are. ‘He wants to say some teachers are lousy and should be fired.’ Well, they are and they should be. The fact that people get mad when you say that stuff, it’s amazing to me. People have no intention of having this business change. None.”

– Geoffrey Canada, from the excellent John Heilemann article, Schools: The Disaster Movie on Waiting for Superman in New York Magazine.

image credit: http://edufaqs.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/geoffrey-canada-cbs-60-minutes-feature/

British School of Boston: Using Marketing to Expand Class Sizes Presentation

BSB Final presentation

View more presentations from jeffvincent.

Apple and Console Video Games

I’ve had an article by Dean Takahashi of Venture Beat queued up for reading for a few days now, and when I finally got to it,  How Apple could undermine console gaming with TV app games reminded me of exactly why I find it so hard to post here sometimes – other people are just better writers than me!

In short, I believe in Dean’s premise, that Apple could disrupt the console gaming industry at the fundamental level.  They could be making double-digit millions sales by the end of 2011 just by including the Games Center and the App Store on the new Apple TV.  But I’m not sure they are going to do that right away.  Sure, that’s easy to say now that the new Apple TV has been announced without an App Store – but here is my reasoning for why they don’t do that within the next year or so (although I really really wish they would):

1. Apple is only looking to fight for MAJOR pieces of business right now.  When I had the chance to pose a console-gaming question to Phil Schiller, Apple’s CMO, he told me the management team had had discussions about a move to console gaming in the past, but just didn’t think the market size (~15 bn in video game software sales per year, and probably shrinking) warranted their attention.  My counter argument was that very little development costs would be necessary to enter into the market.  But I think Phil was also looking at the future (and the products in the pipeline) and seeing potential battles with Sony and Microsoft looming on other fronts as well.  While I believe Apple does want to dominate the consumer electronics markets, they want to be very focused and ensure excellence in each category as they do it.  If they could not enter the video game industry and completely dismantle the Microsoft and Sony model (meaning deliver HD and in-depth games, as Microsoft and Sony are moving towards, at a fraction of the price) they probably wouldn’t do it.  Apple would not want to simply replace Nintendo as the #1 casual games supplier (which they basically already have), they would want to demolish the entire market.  And as Phil pointed out, the costs to do that (both physical costs and engineer focus costs) would outweigh the possible gains.  They would rather fight these giants on a larger playing field.

2. Apple is looking to slowly change the consumer mind-set about the boxes connected to the TV.  While those of us who actually talk about this stuff would immediately grab a “fully-functional” ATV that incorporated 1080 video, App Store/Game Center, 1 TB+ of video/audio storage, ability to stream from iTunes, etc. the larger public may not be excited to pay the $400+ per unit that would cost.  While the product would be excellent, the sales would likely not reflect it.  The negative press Apple would take for an “overpriced” TV-related flop would set them back years in trying to convince the public to purchase their envelop-pushing products.  So they are slow playing their hand.  This $99 dollar Apple TV is not as revolutionary as it could have been, but it’s a step in the right direction.  They will see how the public plays with it, when/where they use it, what functionality they demand.  While us geeks can continue clamoring for the high-end updates we want, Steve & Co. know where the real money is.  They will wait to hear the cries from the mainstream before the update the product (by which time, they might be able to offer all of that high-end functionality for under $200 anyway).

I for one and hoping I’m playing some fun and intense games through my TV using my iPhone as a controller soon.  But I’m not so sure Apple sees that in their immediate future, no matter how awesome it may seem to us.