Better days ahead...

Almost 3.5 years ago I started following a woman named Carlota Perez. She’s a senior research fellow at the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance at Cambridge University, and author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, a book she wrote to discuss financial cycles in technological revolutions.

Let me digress for a second and I’ll come back to Carlota.

I watch a lot of different things, but the assignment of our country’s first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, is the most compelling indicator that the next generation is upon us. If you don’t take the time to read about Vivek, just keep this in mind…he’s all digital, and should he not blow the opportunity as Obama’s CIO, he will have at least 4 years (if not 8) to reshape the way our country operates using IP technologies.

Other present day indicators: (linked to articles)

Reid Hoffman – CEO of LinkedIn
“I actually think every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.”

Adeo Ressi – Founder of TheFunded.com
“wants to do his part to help jump start the economy with fresh ideas and leaders.”

The Big Shift: Constant Disruption
“If this premise is right--that the pattern of disruption followed by stabilization has itself been disrupted--then it may be we're facing the mother of all disruptions, a big shift into a world without equilibrium, one that will continue to shift rapidly even once the current recession has passed”.

Back to Carlota:
She answers two questions in her 2005 Strategy + Business interview that I feel shed more light into the environment we are in now and what’s to come:

S+B: On the airplane here, I read two articles about the future. One predicted economic clear sailing and the other foresaw crisis and collapse.
Perez: They’re probably both right. We may well have a jolt or two in the near future, and then a great boom probably lies ahead. But the Nasdaq collapse of 2000 was not big enough to force the changes necessary to get there.

S+B: For people who lost their retirement savings, that’s a difficult statement to hear.
Perez: I couldn’t agree more, but that’s the price we’ve historically paid for our ability to reach great booms. The collapse has to be disastrous enough to make it clear to everyone that the time when the stock market drives the growth of the economy is finished. Finance capital has done its job; it’s brought forth the resources to pave the way for the next wave of technology. Along the way, it’s created an environment in which companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Google could emerge and flourish. Now we need to spread out the new paradigm of our era through all the economies of the world, just as in the past.

Our country is calling for more innovation, business leaders are helping by creating avenues to product creation, the world is in a major shift, and a long wave theorist (with credibility) is saying this is really the beginning and not the end.

When I read items like this, it doesn’t tell me we’re done, it tells me we should be taking advantage of this opportunity by creating new products, opening lines of communications, creating more value with existing products, and driving more innovation into our customer businesses.

This is how we navigate this pullback and ready ourselves for better days.
Ben

Social Network is more than just "Connecting"...

Social Networking is more than Facebook, MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn and any others. They are considered tools in helping people connect with each other.

Social Networking was destined for the enterprise and Groundswell just reported how far into the enterprise it goes. Here are some quick facts:

* 91% of these technology decision-makers were Spectators -- the highest number I've ever seen in a Social Technographics Profile. This means you can count on the fact that your buyers are reading blogs, watching user generated video, and participating in other social media. Note that 69% of them said they were using this technology for business purposes.

* Only 5% are non-participants (Inactives).

* 55% of these decision-makers were in social networks (Joiners) -- despite as mature businesspeople and not college students, you'd think they'd be participating a lot less.

* 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.) and 58% are Critics, reacting to content they see in social formats. Again the numbers are very high compared to other groups we've surveyed, and again the level of participation for business purposes is also very high.

Its not only finding its way into the enterprise; its becoming a standard in the overall buying process.

The part I like most about the report is when it says, "If you're a B2B marketer and you're not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you're late". Not "you still have time" but "LATE". The last thing you want is your company & products to be late to the game. Not taking a stance now will only leave you like Microsoft, who pushed out the Zune years after the iPod, only to see it slowly dwindle away.

Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption said it best, "Get busy living or get busy dying" or "Get busy being social or get out of the game".

Ben

Realization Through Learning

I pulled this together over the last couple of weeks. Little here and a little there.

I wanted to get it posted before this week since I'm taking time off. The slideware is me offering my thought on the importance of learning and communities in product creation. Just had a thought and figured I throw something together.

Hope you see what I see.

Ben

Realization Through Learning

View more presentations from 5tacos. (tags: learning product)

Thank you Mr. Ortega...

A couple of weeks ago I went to meet with my son’s class to talk about “Circuits, Switches, and Everyday Communications”. Here is the presentation if you’re interested. What a great time I had watching them LEARN about our topic.

Now remember, these are 9-10 year olds, so their understanding of communications and telephony is nothing like ours. We get most of it and understand how we got to these points in technology but they don’t fully know. They don’t know what internet dial up was, or what Crocket held to his ear, and most importantly what is in front of them.

What they do know is the DSL or higher internet experience, cell phone availability, wireless internet connectivity, and even Facebook. Yeah, one of them mentioned it as a form of communication which is what Jeff Pulver is arguing is a growing market right now at the SocComm meetup in NY.

The kids knew that these technologies were around them but they didn’t know how delivery was accomplished and as I started to dive into how the fundamentals of an electrical circuit and switch have led us to where we are today; their mouths dropped. They couldn’t believe it. The same thing happened to me about 9 years ago when I first learned how packet based voice works. I couldn’t believe it was done so fast.

Of everything we talked about, my highlight was when one of the kids said, “American Telephone & Telegraph is AT&T…now I get it”. It was so cool to see it come together and I think I was having more fun than them.

So as much as they’ve said “thank you” to me…I have to tell them, THANK YOU!

I can’t wait for our next session.
Ben

Amazing Storm...

I'm not speaking of the financial, housing, banking, or business storms, I'm talking about the ice one that just finished hitting New England this weekend.

Over the last few days my family and our community have been recovering from a very damaging storm. Look at how much ice accumulated in a 8 hour period:



The night of the storm was incredibly loud. It was impossible to sleep because every time you got to the point where you'd doze off, a tree would break and it would startle you because it sounded like it was falling right near your house. (Here were my twits)

I live in an established neighborhood so the trees around us have been around a while. It was amazing to see how the additional layers could bring them to their breaking point. There wasn't anything that they could have done; they were at the mercy of the storm. The look and feel of our neighborhood will suffer.

Now that the storm is over, in its wake is the clean up. Here is a pile I built up from my backyard.

I'd ask a neighbor for help but since they were also impacted, I had to handle the care and load on my own. It was good exercise but getting it done took much longer than expected.

Overall I took a lot of good out of the storm. I got to spend time with the family in ways I couldn't have created myself and it isn't everyday you boil water in your fireplace or listen to PBS on the radio.

It felt good to step back to a day when life was simpler.

5tacos

Give Thanks...

I wished a bunch of friends a Happy Thanksgiving today and most of the responses I got were to have the same.

I'm thankful everyday for what's going on in and around my walk in life. Some of the things I'll be most thankful this year are:

- health & safety of my family
- my mind
- the ability to be helpful to others

There are more but those are core to me. I couldn't move the way I do without knowing my family is safe and healthy. I don't even know where I'd be without my mind. Being a helpful creative type, I am extremely thankful for the ability to help others whether it be in business, life, or financially. I enjoy that so much.

I hope everyone has a great day celebrating things they are thankful for.

5tacos

Get your Sketch On!!

I'm not sure how long its been out but I just stumbled on Google's new 3D drawing application called, "SketchUp".

I downloaded and trialed it out today and all I can say is, it is very, very cool. I'm not an architect or mechanical engineer and you don't have to be in order to enjoy this application. It is extremely easy to use and their tutorials are easy to follow in order to get going quickly.

I showed it to a friend and she said, "all my engineer friends can kiss their years of experience using other drawing software goodbye".

Go check it out and if its not something you want to use, I'm sure someone you know will.

5tacos