The biggest thing I've struggled with is switching gears with customers who are at different levels of understanding. I'm getting much better at it though and have slowed discussions down so we're on the same wavelength more often than not.

It always seems to boil down to:

a) Don't be judgemental (especially early on)
b) Don't pretend to know things you don't
c) Continually adjust your approach to meet the other party's style

1) Left the Indianapolis Star to join a small technology reseller that focuses in network storage solutions.
2) Learning other industries and sharing knowledge gained from past ones with new customers.
3) Daughter is still getting bigger every day.

I've been meeting a lot of interesting people and it's amazing how different it feels to be out in the open. The Star was a great place but it feels like a big gulp of fresh air to be out and exposed to a lot more. If you're always wondering about what you could do in life just ponder this, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

I've always told people that motivational seminars just rehash things you probably already know and just need to be reminded of. The post above talks about how not to manage geeks. I've had a lot of conversations lately on improving employee morale and investing in people and making them feel valuable are touched on.

We often spend too much time putting out fires not realizing that neglecting our employees makes fighting each one even more difficult.

Recently I've been a part of some groups planning online community strategy and stumbled across this article. It basically says that of a couple of online communities approximately 1% of users generate the content. A number of roughly 10% comment and interact but don't necessarily seed new content.

Online communities don't sprout overnight and that is the biggest challenge for people to understand, especially those who may now manage communities but weren't part of their build-out.

Using other brands and sites for cross promotion can only work so well before the community must build itself through interaction and viral marketing. This is why there usually is some sort of key element that raises the barrier to entry by competitors.

Some examples:
1. Disruptive technology
2. Featureset differentiation
3. Cost advantage

These things can help spur community growth outside of the traditional pace.

iwillteachyoutoberich.com took a choice quote from Seth Godin and it starts off like this, "Do you want to invest your personal brand, your personal time, in recruiting that's not getting you anywhere? Or are you actively trying to change it or leave?" I should be doing this every single day of my life but I like many others forget. I should be asking myself, "Am I investing in myself to reach a goal, whatever goal that may be?"

The answer is both yes and no. I'm making changes so I can answer yes most of the time. I believe my friend Ade would be able to answer yes.

Link above has tons of pictures on soldiers who have been injured or maimed in Iraq. All because of those imaginary WMD's. Or to remove that horrible dictator from power and replace him with internal strife and civil war.

Whatever.

A couple years ago I posted about meeting etiquette here. There are 9 key points. It talks about having an agenda and sticking to it without wasting everyone's time. I'm going to paste it on the inside of a folder that I'll carry with me.

Anyway I didn't think about it much initially but over the last year once again I've lost many people who were in my direct sphere of contact. People who are bright, charismatic, gracious and interesting. I wish them the best and hope we can keep in touch. I also hope that many more will come in the near future.

I think I'm going to snag this book when I get some time to read. It documents how subsidies, tax breaks and other benefits were doled out to telecom companies who promised to upgrade the broadband architecture in our country to give all broadband users 45mb both ways.

This is a perfect example of how honest and consumer-driven big companies are. They aren't.

The iPod is often a recipient of as much criticism as it is praise. If you got one of the holidays then you will probably find yourself in a conversation about how the iPod is just another trendy gadget that is more asthetically pleasing than it is functional. The article from the link above actually rebukes a lot of the criticisms quite well. The iPod has some worthy competitors but all of them struggle so hard to do what Apple seems to do so simply.

The biggest thing for me has been my new daughter (http://www.saipetch.com/ekm/) . Christmas was good but juggling family and timing wasn't so easy. We bought a new 61" InFocus DLP projection TV and Crate & Barrel tables for the family gift. Mallory got a lot of clothes, a piggy bank, some dvds, some Baby Einstein music cds and an activity gym.

Abandoned buildings have fascinated me since I saw the Chernobyl ghost town pictures. It's amazing to look at emptied out rooms but with things abandoned in place at a moments notice. The signs, colors and style evoke a lot of thought and imagination as to what things were like back then.