The Inspired Business

The Shape of Things to Come

2011-10-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Shape of Things To Come (July 8, 2011) - Charles Hugh Smith

The Great Reset could take many forms. The only certain thing is that today's profound political disunity and our destabilizing financial Plutocracy will force a crisis.
Yesterday I laid out why the U.S. will inevitably experience The Great Reset. What comes after that systemic devolution/crisis is unknown, but we can speculate on the shape of things to come.

Though we cannot know the outcome, we can certainbly discern the outlines of the crisis itself. These destabilizing conditions will force a crisis at some point and will be resolved one way or another:

1. Profound political disunity. As I noted in Survival+, this was a key feature of the Roman Empire in its final slide to collapse. The shared values and consensus which had held the Empire's core together dissolved, leaving petty fiefdoms to war among themselves for what power and swag remained.

Today we have several types of political disunity. Superficially, the two "political theater" wings of the Demopublicans stage a bitter partisan war over whose vision of the U.S. as a "Plutocracy, but with benefits" holds an increasingly enfeebled political power.

But this is all theater and artifice. Neither wing has any vision or values of substance; each slavshly serves their masters, the corporate cartels and financial Oligarchy, while feeding their vast constituencies in the Savior State great gobs of borrowed treasure to maintain the "Plutocracy, but with benefits."

The real disunity is between a doomed Status Quo and those willing to deal with reality. Right now those willing to deal with reality are few, but they have the distinct advantage of reality on their side, while the Status Quo has only propaganda, artifice, phony political theater and empty promises.

The disunity stems from the public's innate desire to hold onto the empty promises and cling to the hope offered by the Status Quo that these grandiose, impossible promises will be met, despite the abundant factual evidence to the contrary.

Every attempt to lead the public toward the realization that the present is unsustainable will be crushed by a frantic assault of the fiefdoms, cartels and players who will lose power and profits when the Status Quo crumbles under its own weight.

Promises always sound better than reality until a crisis punctures the promises. But the anger generated by this deflation of "too good to be true" promises threatens both rationality and stability.

2. A dearth of leadership. The weakness of what passes for "leadership" today is not just a matter of bad luck but of the corruption of politics to the point that it only attracts sycophants, moral midgets and sociopaths. It's easy to blame those attracted to the game for this, but the real cause is the American people, who reject honesty in favor of artifice and promises. The American public is child-like, self-centered, myopic, ill-informed and ultimately uncaring about anything but getting their share of the swag.

Thus anyone who promises that their share of the swag will remain untouched wins, and anyone who suggests the swag is unsustainable is rejected as "judgmental" or "negative." To the degree a nation gets the leadership it demands, then the U.S. is in trouble. We're now a nation of spoiled teens who get to elect their parents. No surprise, the 'rents who never enforce any rules, never challenge their own bosses (the kleptocrats) and who dole out the most allowance win every time.

Thus we get leaders who refuse to challenge the Financial Power Elites, cartels and fiefdoms because the Status Quo would devote all its stupendous wealth and influence to defeating a challenger, and we get leaders who refuse to be honest with the American people because that honesty is rejected as unwelcome.

Ideally, a leader persuades the public to grow up rather than pander to their basest desires, but such a leader would only have one term of office.

3. The unstable double-bind of rule by Financial Plutocracy. A funny thing happens when a nation allows itself to be ruled by kleptocrats: such rule is intrinsically destabilizing, as there is no longer any center to bind the nation together. The public sees the value system at the top is "I, Me, Mine" greed fed by complicity/corruption, and they follow suit by pursuing whatever petty frauds and corruptions are within reach: tax avoidance, cheating on entrance exams, gaming disability, lying on mortgage and job applications, and so on.

Meanwhile, the diverting of national income into a few power centers is also destabilizing, as Central Planning and Market Manipulation (TM, Federal Reserve, all rights reserved worldwide) are intrinsically unstable as price can no longer be discovered by unfettered markets. As a result, imbalances grow until some seemingly tiny incident or disruption triggers a cascading collapse.

The double-bind is two-fold: the Power Elites can't bear to part with any of their power or wealth, so their resistance guarantees systemic collapse. The political "leadership" cannot challenge the Power Elites' grip on the nation's throat because the entire Status Quo has been co-opted/sold out and is now wedded to the Oligarchy as their guarantor of financial security.

What this leads to is a Status Quo committed to a sinking ship. The very imbalances created by a Financial Elite and the enabling Central State Central Planning doom the system, but since everyone within the Status Quo depends on it for their own slice of wealth and power, then no one dares speak up in favor of reality. Complicity is the order of the day, but complicity can't stop the ship from sinking.

4. The political corruption of religion. Jesus did not say, "Go forth and lobby the Roman Senate, to make laws which impose your interpretations on others." Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36)

Although it is unpopular to say so, some aspects of religion in the U.S. have been corrupted by a desire for wealth and a focus on acquiring it, and by a desire for political power masquerading as morality.

Very few (I know of none) commentators, mainstream or independent, see the potential for a Great Awakening, a spiritual, non-denominational renewal of faith not as some political force in the greasy halls of power but as a motivator of personal responsibility and resolve. I may be alone in this, but American history is replete with examples not only of political upheaval but of broad-based spiritual renewals that reject the earthly excesses in favor of a renewed moral center.

Such movements need not be associated with any one religion or denomination; they tend to be cultural in nature, drawing inspiration from religious faith but extending beyond the confines of the church.

Complicity and dependence erode the soul; political or financial "fixes" alone can't fix the rot. In a fundamentally corrupt, complicit society, rules and laws are routinely evaded, bypassed, undermined or simply ignored. Making more rules fixes nothing if the rules are merely for show, or only for the bottom 99%.

The resolution of these brewing instabilities could be orderly or disorderly. In an orderly scenario, a new Constitutional Convention is convened, and a leadership backed by an enlightened public hammers out a consensus to limit the political and financial dominance of Financial Power Elites and corporate cartels. The new consensus reorients the Central State to its original purpose of limiting predation of the citizenry by Elites and criminals, defending the nation and imposing the rule of law as defined by the Constitution. The Savior State would be dismantled in an orderly process.

In a disorderly resolution, the Status Quo and the public both refuse to deal with reality and instead cling to the Titanic, demanding magical solutions that will keep the doomed ship from sinking. There is no such magic, of course, and so the ship will go down, and disorder will reign.

It might take the shape of a financial crisis such as a devaluation or hyperinflation, or it might take a political crisis such as a "Quiet Coup" by Elites or an outbreak of resistance to the heavy-handed Central State.

At the outer boundaries of such disorder, then the nation could split apart, along the lines of the book The Nine Nations of North America, or into permutations of civil war as invisioned by author/blogger Chris Sullins in his novel series Operation SERF.

The salient feature of instability is its unpredictability. The longer the nation waits to deal with unwelcome realities, the greater the eventual destabilization. What happens as a result of that inevitable destabilization will be up to us.

Are you Future Ready?

2011-10-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

Data tsunami.

When everything has an IP address, what is the meaning of this hyperconnectivity.

Always connected.

Always aware? Blended reality. In multiple information reality.

Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno

2011-10-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

Empowering the micro- entrepreneurs will reduce the gap between the ultra rich and ultra poor.

Find What You Love

2011-10-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Life's Change Agent

2011-10-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Connecting the Dots

2011-10-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Steve Jobs ( 1955-2011)

Why People Fail According to Les Brown

2011-10-08T12:20:00.002-07:00

Think of a personal goal, a business goal and a contribution goal and dramatically increase those goals.

The Pain of Changing Yourself

2011-10-08T12:16:00.003-07:00

The pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change. For the confident change is opportunity.

Nido Qubein speaks about how he learnt English when he came to the USA at age 17 learning ten words every day and built up his vocabulary to 62% of the average American and yet did not prove to be an obstacle.

Your Time is Limited

2011-10-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs ( 1954-2011)

Edward de Bono and flying upside down

2011-03-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Single minded determination and expectation that you will get there are the essential qualities for huge success.

Threadless

2011-03-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

Advice for Young Creatives

2011-03-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

Leslie Koch: Think Big, Act Small

2011-03-11T04:44:00.000-08:00

Frans Johansson

2011-03-11T04:36:00.000-08:00

Frans Johansson talks about the burkini and Professor Yusuf.

99% Conference: Stop Dreaming and Start Doing

2011-03-11T04:33:00.001-08:00

Michael Bierut: 5 Secrets from 86 Notebooks

2011-03-11T04:29:00.000-08:00

Seth Godin:Quieting the Lizard Brain

2011-03-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

Duncan Heinz Guide to Good Eating was born out of his need to find a good place to eat.
Roy Parks teamed up with the Duncan Heinz money.

From becoming a wandering generality to someone who ships on time and budget.

Steve McConell's Software Product Management is a good book on thrashing. You must thrash on it in the beginning.

What you do for a living is ship not creativity ( everyone is creative). Someone who ships has a discipline and part of a discipline is thrashing early.

Why do human beings sabotage their work so often? A chicken has a lizard brain-it is hungry, scared, selfish, horny ..how are we going to survive and how are we going to have kids. The lizard brain is the source of our primal doubts.

The first couple of breaths is very difficult to fill up the balloon.And then its a breeze.

Successful vs Faithful

2011-03-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

Changing the Brain

2011-01-28T02:07:00.000-08:00

Transform your Mind, Change Your Brain

2011-01-28T01:58:00.000-08:00

Presented by Richard J. Davidson

Brain Plasticity

2011-01-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

Dr Michael Merzenich on brain power..think faster, focus better.

How to make a book

2011-01-27T02:10:00.001-08:00

Where Good Ideas Come From

2011-01-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

Steven Johnson

Chance favours the connected mind.

Drerek Sivers on Goals

2011-01-26T19:57:00.001-08:00

Eric Schmidt at DLD ( Digital Life Design) in Munich January 2011

2011-01-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

The internet has been the biggest disruptor.The economics of scarcity ( pricing powere, holding things back)has been replaced by economics of abundance.

You can be a truly global citizen and realise how interesting we all are.

Your children are in two states : either asleep or online.

It just the beginning.

Time wasting is a well known human activity we engage in. Instead of tv now online eg videos etc.

Cars on autopilot.

Not only available to the elite but accessible to the common man.

Lifting a couple of billion of people from poverty to middle class mainly in Asia.

A future of ideas, intuition, solutions and doing what we love to do.

Promoting Charities

2011-01-25T03:33:00.000-08:00

Are you a UK-based charity with a compelling story to tell? Do you want to connect with your supporters, volunteers, and donors on YouTube?

To find out more go to:

http://www.youtube.co.uk/nonprofits

See the charities included in this video at:
http://www.youtube.co.uk/beatbullying
http://www.youtube.co.uk/deccharity
http://www.youtube.co.uk/friendsofthe...
http://www.youtube.co.uk/missingpeople
http://www.youtube.co.uk/wateraid

Rumi etc

2011-01-24T02:08:00.000-08:00

‘It’s morning and the musk-scattering breeze is passing;
Know that it is passing out of a certain person’s lane.
Get up! How can you sleep when the world is passing?
Buy some perfume, for the caravan is passing’
(Mevlana, Divan-i-Kabir no.1750)

‘Forgetfulness is also a bounty. It allows one to suffer the pains of only one day, and causes the rest to be forgotten’
(Said Nursi, Risale-i Nur, 16)

‘Watch out that you don’t regret the matters of the past.
You are a sufi, so don’t mention the name of the past.
You are the ‘son of the moment’ during youth and old age,
As long as the present moment doesn’t pass away’
(Mevlana, Divan-e Kabir no. 1753)

‘Don’t worry but let yourself sleep,
For worry is a veil on the face of the moon, a veil.
The heart is like the full moon. Don’t keep worry near the heart.
Throw worry-making into the stream’
(no.1754)

Government and the Good Life

2011-01-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Taken from preface by Simon Griffiths:

In 961, reflecting on a long and seemingly successful life, Abdul
Rahman iii, Caliph of Cordoba, wrote:
I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved
by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my
allies. Riches and honours, power and pleasure, have waited
on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been
wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered
the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my
lot: they amount to fourteen.

edward gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (electric book Company, 2001), Volume V, 401.

1
Two weeks of happiness in a lifetime of abundance is pretty scant.
More than 1,000 years later the Caliph’s gloomy reflections are
more relevant than ever before, and are mirrored in two related
questions that run through the chapters in this book.
First, why are we no happier now than we once were (or to
use the language of the social scientists, why is ‘subjective wellbeing’ no higher)? even in recession, most of us in the west are far
wealthier than at any time in previous decades. between 1957 and
2006, the UK’s gDP per person almost trebled in real terms, rising
from £6,960 to £19,978.
2
Roughly speaking, orthodox economics
equates a rise in the level of purchasing power with an increase
in the wellbeing of a society.
3
Yet, during the same period, the
proportion of people in the UK who said that they were “very
happy” fell from 52% to 36%.
4
other surveys present a slightly less
pessimistic picture of wellbeing trends, but in almost all cases they...

To read further please go to:

http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/Well%20being.pdf

The Two Companions

2011-01-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

‘You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary, you should bring yourself to account, structure your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spiritual blessing (baraka) in each period. But, if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted. Each of your breaths is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved. Do not be like the deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens. What good is an increase in wealth when life grows ever shorter? Therefore, be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children, and friends stay behind’
(Imam al-Ghazali, Bidayat al-Hidaya)

Marketing with Meaning

2011-01-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

How the challenges of the media and advertising landscape are giving way to a new paradigm in which businesses must create Marketing With Meaning.

Geoffrey Moore on Innovation

2011-01-23T02:17:00.000-08:00

Author of 'Crossing the Chasm' talks about innovation which is different depending on whether it is a growing, mature or declining market. Customer experience innovation or operational excellence innovation.

Try to find an opening in the market where the leading vendors are not exploiting.

Kaplan on Successful Entrepreneurship

2011-01-23T01:45:00.000-08:00

Believe that you can make a difference.

Action bias..can make things happen.Doing things is more important than being smart.

Burn up the markets with new ideas.

Urgent patience.Story of gardener. 'I thought you were going to plant an apple tree'.'Its going to take a hundred years' The etate owner replied 'So you better get started'.

Unjustifiable optimism- believe you will succeed in the face of all evidence.

The recklessness of Jeff Bezos was the key to his success.

A tolerance for uncertainity. Never enough information, very stressful to live in such an environment.

Genuine concern for other people creating a reserve of goodwill for people around.

Peter Drucker

2011-01-23T01:39:00.000-08:00

Transform data into information which very people know.

Productivity of knowledge workers still incredibly low.

Frederick Winslow Taylor looked at work and saw that it was all wrong and that is the the great revolution and within 60 years productivity of manual workers went up 60 times.

Warren Bennis on Crucibles

2011-01-23T01:23:00.000-08:00

Getting the best out of people and thereby get the best out of oneself.

We are imprisoned by the stories we construct ourselves. 'The story of our life is a story not our life' John Bart.

'One has to overcome the story and become the author of one's life'.

How do you know what you will excel at - have patience with yourself and open yourself up to many possibilities.

'Generous company' is the epitaph he would like.

A crucible is a test or event which has a verdict.

The Hedgehog Concept

2011-01-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

Engage your energy and time:

1. Something for which you have great passion, love to do and absolutely reflects your values.

2. Find out what you are genetically encoded for, genetically encoded is not same as what you are good at, that you feel like a fish in water.

3. You provide great value, social or economic or both . You are useful.

Maslow's self actualisation. ( discovering what you were meant to do and committing to the ardour of pursuing excellence)

Culture of Discipline

2011-01-23T00:57:00.000-08:00

Jim Collins talks about the culture of discipline and how it is not a business idea but a greatness idea.

Pranav Mistry and Sixth Sense Technology

2011-01-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

People come into your life for a reason

2010-12-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

Music: Native Spirit by Tomiko

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

— Unknown

NLP- Modalities and Sub modalities

2010-12-25T01:23:00.000-08:00

David Shephard explains two techniques to deal with self talk and zooming.

Heartmath

2010-12-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Howard Martin v. p. at the Heart Math Institute in N. Ca. discussing with Red Ice Creations Radio show host Henrik Palmgren talking about some of the philosophy and scientific discoveries made over the years at Heart Math.. Including how heart waves go out from ourselves possibly a great distance, but surely several feet , and has effects on others around us. 12-22-09 (for total interview visit Red Ice website(s) ! )

Kurt Wallander

2010-12-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

Henning Mankell on Kurt Wallander, the famous Swedish inspector.

The Science of Miracles

2010-12-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

Gregg Braden talks about the power of prayer, the holographic universe,thoughts, emotions, feelings, belief and how we each have the capacity to change the world around us giving us scientific experiments to support some of the things he talks about.

Intrinsic Value

2010-12-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

Intrinsic value is not a target but more like a range depending on the following factors :

1. Assets

2. Cash

3. Dividends

4. Earnings

5. Prospects

Charlie Munger

2010-12-10T04:16:00.000-08:00

Easiest way to get what you want is to deliver what you want. Getting deserved trust. Deliver what you want to buy.

There's no love that so right as admiration based love. Don't be in a diseased based love as in Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage.

Aquisition of wisdom is a duty. You must be a learning machine. Go to bed wiser than in the morning.

Alfred North Whitehead referred to rapid growth in civilisation due to invention. Only when you learn the method of learning can you progress. Half the time Warren Buffet spends reading and the other half talking with very talented individuals whom he trusts.

Values like the pathologist on bone tumour who took a sabbatical to work on his book 17 hours a day for a year to publish his 2000 copies of his book in all the cancer centres in the world.

Multi-disciplinary approach

Learn all the big ideas in all the big disciplines. Went through life practising this multi disciplinary approach, but keep your light under your bushel so that you don't cause offence to those who does know a lot but less than you. Cicero is famous for saying that the man who doesn't know what happened before he was born, is foolish. In addition to history, you need to know the big ideas in the other disciplines, but learn them in a way so that they are in your mental lattice and you are constantly using them. If you don't then you will live in the middle ranks or shadows.

Inversion will help you solve problems. What will really fail in life. Sloth and unreliability. Avoid sloth and unreliability. If you are unreliable it doesn't matter what your virtues are. Doing what you are faithfully engaged to do should be a part of your conduct.

Self pity is a disastrous mode of thought. This can drift into paranoia.

You should appeal to individual interest. Perverse incentives (quota of billable hours per year) or perverse associations ( working under people you do not admire) should be avoided.

Objectivity maintenance . Checklist routines avoid a lot of errors.

Non egality. John Wooden said to the bottom five that if you don't get to play , you spar. The top seven got to play and they did the more learning. The game of life is getting a lot of practice into the hands of those who tend to be learning machine. Get the power into the right people.

Max Planck went around Germany giving talks on Quantum mechanics. His chauffeur travelled with him and asked Planck if he could deliver the lecture this time ( he had memorised it).

The chauffeur of Max Planck gave the lecture.

'I am surprised that in an advanced city like Munich can ask such an elementary question. I will let my chauffeur answer that question.'

Planck knowledge - the person who does know it, they have paid the dues.

Chauffeur knowledge , learnt to prattle the talk. 'I have described all the politicians in the USA.'

Job is to to get the responsibilty into the hands of the Planck knowledge.

Intense interest in the subject is indispensable.

Have a lot of ass a do it. A two partnership rule:

Whenever we are behind in our committments to other people we will work 14 hours a day until we catch up.

Life will have horrible blows but it doesn't matter. The attitude of Epicetus was :

Every mischance in life was an opportunity to behave well., learn something and utilise the terrible blow and not to submit to self pity. Epicetus.

The thoughts of others..poem by Houseman. Like Houseman went through life anticipating troubles.

A seamless web of deserved trust

Proof is in the Proceeds

2010-12-10T03:51:00.000-08:00

Proof is not in the pudding but in the proceeds. Donald Van de Mark explains.

Reality recognition tips include don't make snap judgements, resist categorisation ( root of -isms eg racism), pay attention to the pollster ie if a third person calls you an ass you are an ass. Argue using data, don't argue with the date .Always do your own analysis, Wall street has its own motivation, seek reality checks from those you admire.

Carl Jung on Death

2010-12-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, influential thinker, and founder of analytical psychology. Here he speaks about Death and the Human Psyche.

The Black Swan

2010-12-08T05:49:00.000-08:00

Who wants to live in a world of 90% probability

"Imagine a speck of dust next to a planet a billion times the size of earth. The speck of dust represents the odds in favour of your being born; the huge planet would be the odds against it. So stop sweating the small stuff. Don't be like the ingrate who got a castle as a present and worried about the mildew in the bathroom. Stop looking the gift horse in the mouth - remember you are a Black Swan.

Skills is essential ( from zero to upper middle class) but to go to billionaire , luck is essential to add to the skills.

Before the discovery of Australia swans were thought to be white. You cannot rule black swan because you haven't seen it.

His black swan is an event, the impact of the highly improbable. Perpectively unpredictable and retrospectively predictable.

The computer is a black swan, the rise of religion is a black swan, Harry Potter is a black swan

Illusion of control

Mother nature doesn't like leverage, mother nature doesn't like 'too big to fail'. Mother nature doesn't like debt.Debts versus spare parts. We all have two lungs, if economists had thier way it would be optimum allocation and we will have one lung. Mother nature doesn't like the ricardo concept.

Milkaholic - Great E trade advert from Grey, NY

2010-12-08T05:41:00.001-08:00

Whats in a name?

2010-12-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Coca cola or Pepsi?

Blackberry or Palm?

Alliteration and rhyming is the key according to Eben Pagan.

The importance of the phonological loop as it bounces around for longer than the average couple of seconds and is addictive like a song that you cant get out of your mind.

Business Model Generation

2010-12-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Art of Non-Conformity

2010-12-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Unconventional Book Tour stops in Durham, NC. from crystal street on Vimeo.

Web collaboration

2010-12-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

Perhaps worth trying out. Webcollaboration.com

Keith Rosen - Setting Expectations

2010-11-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

Junoon Razi Imam

2010-11-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

The powerful force of top achievers. A state of obsession, the inner energy that keeps us in a state of positive obsession that will give us maximum happiness.

1. Pure Inspiration

2. Sixth Sight

3. Fanatic Focus

4. Metaphysical Energy

5. Social Junoon

Walt Disney

2010-11-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

1. Find something you love

2. Keep pushing the boundaries

3. Stay top of mind

Entrepreneurial Traits

2010-11-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

Living with risk. Operating without a net. Entrepreneurism is a mindset not necessarily the founder.

Two types of entrepreneurs.

1. going to change the world, nobody has done it before

2. i recognise that enough people doing this, recognise its a crowded space, but i'm gonna copy them exactly and catch up with them by executing better and then i am going to innovate. Myspace copied Friendster and Facebook copied Myspace. 45:00

What is personal for you and what is it that you want to change in your life? 1:00:00

Mobile Apps Strategy and Marketing

2010-11-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

May 27, 2010) Joe Hayashi covers mobile app product strategy and marketing from a business perspective.

Douglas Crockford

2010-11-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

JavaScript Architect Douglas Crockford provides a comprehensive introduction to the JavaScript Programming Language in this four-part video. This is the first section of the four-part video.

Douglas Crockford: "The JavaScript Programming Language"/1 of 4 @ Yahoo! Video

Web Vision for Mobile

2010-11-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

Palm executives including VP, Directors, and Senior Product Managers lead a course on mobile application development on the WebOS. Students have the unique opportunity to attain the technical knowledge needed to create their own apps, get insider information about the application submission process at companies like Apple and Palm, and network with various members of Palm's executive team.

Ben Galbraith then gives an overview of web application development.

Disruptive Innovation

2010-11-22T08:16:00.002-08:00

Legendary innovation expert Clayton Christensen explains the reason why some people are more innovative than others.

Francis Ford Coppola on Risk

2010-11-22T08:16:00.001-08:00

Five-time academy award director Francis Ford Coppola shares his views on life in this candid interview. He explains how he perceives risk taking to be a key element of living a truly fulfilling life.

Mark Zuckerberg at web 2.0 Summit

2010-11-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

1. Move fast
2. Be Bold
3. Take risks

and how this is not a zero sum game.

Mary Meeker on Internet Trends at Web 2.0 Summit

2010-11-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley talks about internet trends, disruptive innovation and how Steve Jobs has the mind of an engineer and the heart of an artist.

HTML5 or Native (SDK) Apps

2010-11-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

Reto Meier and Michael Mahemoff

Best Practice for Building Android Applications

2010-11-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Stefan Sagmeister

2010-11-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.

Ogilvy Noor

2010-11-22T02:43:00.000-08:00

Ogilvy Noor on Islamic Branding

http://oxfordislamicmarketing.sbsblogs.co.uk/

Paul Mounsey & W B Yeats

2010-11-19T15:46:00.001-08:00

THE TWO TREES

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start,
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light;
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night;
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody,
And made my lips and music wed,
Murmuring a wizard song for thee.
There the Loves a circle go,
The flaming circle of our days,
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways;
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the wingèd sandals dart,
Thine eyes grow full of tender care:
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives,
Roots half hidden under snows,
Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
For all things turn to barrenness
In the dim glass the demons hold,
The glass of outer weariness,
Made when God slept in times of old.
There, through the broken branches, go
The ravens of unresting thought;
Flying, crying, to and fro,
Cruel claw and hungry throat,
Or else they stand and sniff the wind,
And shake their ragged wings; alas!
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

South African Digital Landscape

2010-11-19T02:11:00.001-08:00

Why is Advertising Important?

2010-11-19T02:07:00.000-08:00

Some senior people in advertising discusses the importance of advertising.

Projection Advertising

2010-11-19T01:39:00.000-08:00

Emerald City Design, Sydney

2010-11-19T01:33:00.000-08:00

http://emeraldcitydesign.wordpress.com/

Hyper Island, Sweden

2010-11-19T01:32:00.000-08:00

Drayton Bird

2010-11-18T15:05:00.002-08:00

David Ogilvy's Early Years

2010-11-18T15:05:00.001-08:00

Peter Dixon Futurist

2010-11-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.globalchange.com Institutional blindness thinking outside the box, radical innovation or just benchmarking against competitors. Reducing risk and issues in the credit crunch / sub-prime crisis. Convergence v divergence. Business strategy development and leadership insight. How to bring fresh perspectives into the organisation. Secrets of successful business and winning competitive advantage. Finding new approaches in marketing, banking and financial services. Innovative teams and new products, processes and services. Change management new structures and ways of seeing things. by Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon.

Trend hunter

2010-11-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Innovation keynote speaker http://www.jeremygutsche.com Jeremy Gutsche is an innovation expert, futurist, trends expert, founder of TrendHunter.com and "one of North America's most requested keynote speakers." In this innovation keynote speech, Jeremy is speaking for 3,000 Meetings Professional International members sampling his: strategy, marketing and innovation keynote speech, Exploiting Chaos.

Babs Rangaiah

2010-11-16T09:52:00.001-08:00

Babs' team works with all Unilever's Global Brands and their Agencies to infuse Media Strategy and Channel thinking into the creative development process. He shares his insights into what it takes to digitise a global organisation.

Broadcasting the fight on radio in the 20s was reframing the thinking. It was pioneering but he stayed with the idea.

80% of the guys used the mobile as an alarm clock and made an application to pick the girl of your choice and make her to wake you up.

Smile recognition software, and you get a free ice cream. ( Sapient)

Flora application- how old is your heart?

Babs Rangaiah

2010-11-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

Natalie Massnet

2010-11-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

There is No Answer

2010-11-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Being the one with the smart questions rather than answers. Tools like Facebook are great for asking questions.

Global Strategy

2010-11-16T09:45:00.001-08:00

Case Study in Real Time Marketing

2010-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Say something conversational, say something interesting.

Turn advertising space into a game space. Launched a dozen sites linking them.

Think Marketing

2010-11-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

interesting tension between traditional media and social media, bad advertising is dead.

All paving roads together, no set model, big ideas don't butcher them, keep searching.

Just do it don't wait until you completely making your mind up, or someone else will be eating your lunch. JFDI

Collaboration, opening your business up, clients working from the agency's offices energises the organisation and breeds business on both sides.

exhausting, interesting, engaging and inspiring.

How many have books, or digital or electrcity or marketing in their title? Before electricity used to be in title but so important that it has been dropped.

Google insight for example can see the poularity for example of 'maxi dress'.

What are people searching for? Look at google zeitgeist. For example if it is cholesterol, Flora brand can go there and give information. Or start a conversation, make the advertising space into a gaming space. Office Max suppliers tried elfyourself link where you an your family can put your photo on dancing elves.

A Business in Perpetual Beta

2010-11-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Jon Williams, Chief Digital Officer of Grey Digital gives his talk at Think Marketing.

Cannot use a cookie cutter approach.

Creative Director is more a mentoring rule. Empowering the teams to get on with the work with the quality assurance and quality control,

Open Teams- Client is at the heart. Brief, planner , creatives, word of mouth specialists, coders- creates collisions and serendipidity.

The idea is the constant thread.

Tinder=News=Potential Flame

Tinder is so entertaining or so useful that people want to get involved.

Personality not Included

2010-11-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

Unique, authentic, talkable ( word of mouth element, want to tell somebody else about it)

The back story- the story of your brand.

Rohit's blog: Influential Marketing Blog: http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/

David Lynch on Meditation

2010-11-15T02:35:00.000-08:00

Seek the kingdom of heaven within?

Lynch gives some background on how he got involved in transcendental meditation and how it informs his consciousness and creativity.

When you are making something and this knowingness is flowing you just know.

You have to feel good to create something.

Its money in the bank for me- this meditation.

Ideas are like Fish

2010-11-15T02:32:00.000-08:00

we are fishermen , we need patience and we need bait. Desire is the first bait, desire is on the hook and lower into the water. How deep it goes depends on your consciousness. If you catch one fish you will have more bait, and form a story in time, one fish at a time.

If we practice a technique that infuses the base of matter and mind to expand that consciousness we can go deeper.

Women IT Entrepreneurs

2010-11-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

Working with the support of Microsoft, Trestle Group Foundation's Empowering Women IT Entrepreneurs Partnership Program supports Luna Shamsuddoha of Dohatec New Media -- a woman-led software company in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Get more information at http://www.trestlegroupfoundation.org

Disney Tron Legacy Plus CokeZero

2010-11-14T05:04:00.001-08:00

Livecycle mobile application to download. First location based mobile game.

http://www.cocacolazero.com

Web application for Pilot

2010-11-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

Enabling people to create their own digital handwriting.

Oglivy Fiesta Ad

2010-11-14T04:06:00.000-08:00

Music by Pluxus, Transient

Parle Lite Bon Bons

2010-11-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Dancing Sumos in great advert!

Aitel Ad Boat and the Girl

2010-11-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

Airtel's new ad featuring a small school girl playing with a paper boat and her 5 Special Friends Rescues Her Boat

Moon River

2010-11-13T04:36:00.000-08:00

Sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys

Moon River, wider than a mile,

I'm crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,

wherever you're going I'm going your way.

Two drifters off to see the world.

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end--

waiting 'round the bend,

my huckleberry friend,

Moon River and me.

Leo Burnett group Predictions

2010-11-13T04:23:00.000-08:00

Trend Predictions Report 2009 by Leo Burnett Group. http://www.leoburnett.com/ViewPost.as...

New Realism

Economic conditions will profoundly affect our cultural context moving forward. As our creative content becomes more tangible and honest in reflection, we will be forced to be more realistic about everything over the coming years. The human story will be one of value reflection and reassessment, as both our priorities and purchases are examined in light of what is truly meaningful to us. As the language of hopes and dreams is replaced by one of pragmatism and prudence, new value systems will emerge. We will be more open to expressions that are confident, secure, uplifting, connected, honest and progressive.

Hyper Reality

Major developments are now happening at lightning speed and changing status quos are revealed in real time with very real consequences. Governments will be judged by how they manage change and, ironically, by how much they bring about change itself has become the mantra of modern politics. Businesses will face major challenges to keep up with and evolve to meet peoples rapidly changing needs. As economies, societies and cultures are recast, the need to know whats next has never been greater.

The Trust Economy

Trust is set to become a critical success factor for brands in 2009. Where we place our trust is changing dramatically. In turbulent times we look to organisations that share our concerns, manage anxiety and take the lead. With the trust spectrum up for grabs, organisations that show they are going the extra mile for people will prosper. Supermarkets in particular have positioned themselves as consumer champions for some time and look set to benefit in this new era.

Eco Austerity

Being green was once costly, time consuming and a matter of conscience. A major juncture is about to be reached in the future of the planet as austerity turns the environmental case into an economic one. Energy efficiency saves money as well as the planet, and the uptake of this critical message is about to define our future development. The recession will hijack the green argument, turning it from a moral argument to an economic one.

Digital.tv

While no media has ever replaced another, TV has been trapped in a corner for some time. In 2009 we will reach the tipping point for broadcast quality Internet Television. Yes, people have been watching TV online for some time, but watching TV on YouTube is not the most satisfying experience a bit like watching YouTube clips on TV. This year such painful experiences will become a thing of the past as media neutral TV finally goes mainstream.

Thread Marketing

In the future content will need to be free from central control and tradable in the new networks - tomorrows Facebook or Bebo. The aim will be not to drive people to a home page but to scatter diverse pieces of content in multiple contexts and thread them back to the brand. In this emerging era unifying ideas, brand logos or simple short codes will form the threads that link content together. As many adverts already carry URLs, in the future we will see bus ads linking to desktop widgets, on-pack promos leading to corporate-led films, and so on ad infinitum.

Generation Game

Video games used to be the preserve of disenchanted adolescents, but as gaming becomes a truly mass pursuit, soon we will all be part of Generation Game. With economic pressures set to encourage us homewards, the cultural clout of gaming will be further accelerated. The future of the medium is unlimited as the educational potential and social networking possibilities of games platforms are further explored. Gaming will be a fulcrum for future innovation across multiple areas.

The End of Fact

Perceived wisdom now changes on a daily basis and we should expect more contradictory opinions and diverse solutions being presented as definitive. Fact checking is becoming a thing of the past as online opinions blur the line between truth and hearsay. Authority will increasingly become a key communication metric and for media organisations editorial oversight will be a key differentiator. In a time when truth is more contested than ever, objectivity and impartiality will become rarefied and more in demand.

Brands as Vehicles

Brands are landing points; we follow our needs and invariably end up at a brand. This is all set to change. The brands of the future will be vehicles and not just destinations. The success stories of the last decade were built on this principle; Google and YouTube being the two most prominent human gateways. Our journey does not finish with Google and YouTube, thats where it starts. The days of the static brand are increasingly numbered, as they become a means and not an end. This is not just a new economy dynamic; all brands must take heed of this.

Credits: Ben Hourahine, Dan Bevis, Giles Hedger, Ian Robinson and Michael Jackson.

How Television Affects Brain Chemistry

2010-11-13T04:18:00.000-08:00

Trends

2010-11-13T03:57:00.000-08:00

In keeping with one of our trends for 2010—Visual Fluency, referring to the growing preference (and need) for a graphic synthesis of information vs. an avalanche of reading material—we've created an animation that encapsulates our 32-page report in less than two minutes.
To read more about our 10 Trends for 2010 or to purchase the report, visit JWTIntelligence.com

The Power of Simplicity

2010-11-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

PSFK presents a series of how-to videos that explore the world of exceptional account planners. Through a series of interviews with top planners, they highlight the key skills planners need, and provide a clear picture of how these "rockstars" work.

In the second episode, the importance of storytelling and clear, inspiring communication is discussed.

Planners and Strategists

waht key skills a great planner needs today?

Rigour,good ideas, storytelling, communicate the idea and thers buy into it and raise their hands and say they want to be part of it.

Partners not only creative teams but come from all different areas

Great planners seem able to find threads in seemingly disconnected ideas and weave those ideas to add value.

Great planners are able to find what the clients customers wants and needs and crystallise it in a way that is useful for the client.

Simplify and able to make people feel through simplicity.Cut to the chase and cut through simplicity.

Ability to seduce people into the idea, get people excited. Articulate it in a seductive way.

One of the greatest qualities is humility and belief in giving ideas away, the ability to have a lightness of touch.

Articulate the salient points.Make it succint but relevant, dense and pithy.

The problem, the answer, the insight that led to the answer and the strategy used but in a clear succint manner ( how you solve problems, how you put ideas together) Short and sweet.

The Rocky Story

2010-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

The end scene encapsulated it all.

At the end of our lives if we can say that we took all the blows and lived our life with integrity and still prevailed. No man is an island and together you are invincible. When you have the right components in your life,the love of a woman and friends, the right people that gel with you then you are invincible, you can take whatever life has to dish out.

He wanted to make movies to inspire people.It wasn't working so he changed his approach. If I burnt all my bridges , then I would still have that hunger. He went to the library and found a book of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, which made him get out of himself. He wrote a script called Paradise Alley which he sold for $100.

He then watched a fight with Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wagner and wrote for twenty hours solid. He tried to sell it but no one would buy it and then finally he meets a pair who wants to offer $125,000. The final offer was $325,000. But he refused and he agreed to $35,000 with shares in the picture so that he could play the part.

He tried to buy his dog back, but the man refused to pay. He knew the outcome and so kept changing his approach. He paid the guy $15,000 to buy the dog back and put him in the movie.