Thoughts
Ideas that transform people, businesses, and industries
Deeply rooted in our organizational ethos is the celebration of authentic and unapologetic “thought.” We believe each member of our team brings with them a unique view of themselves, our clients, and of the world we live in. We make a point to not only articulate our individual experiences, senses, emotions, and actions internally, but to share them with you here.
An inspiring article
To continue my apple worshiping trend this week, here's a great blurb, "The Top 10 Lessons Steve Jobs Can Teach Us". A friend/colleague sent this to me after a deep conversation we had discussing the meaning of it all... and so maybe because I was in that mode...
And then there was two
Great little blog post about Amazon's mega announcement today. It's going to be an interesting Holiday buying season. Those who buy Amazon for the convenience and price. And those who buy Apple because well, it's an Apple. Not to mention the Apple special event...
Another Day: another iphone 5 rumor
I awoke this morning to a note on Marketplace (yes, I have my radio timed to wake me up to that daily economic newscast . . . I know . . . get a life!) about the rumored release of the iPhone 5. And, admittedly, I hopped out of my bed and ran to my computer to check...
Organizational Realignment—Big 12, er 10 style
If you're a college football fan, you've probably heard the rumblings about realignment and the rise of super conferences. And if you live in Texas, you're stuck in the middle of a 100+ year Hatfield and McCoy war between UT and A&M. With A&M's decision...
Despite macro economic issues, IT hiring remains strong
Amidst all the nasty economic news last week, it was encouraging to read this report from CIO Magazine. Even many IT professionals are optimistic about the job market. Forty-four percent of those polled by staffing firm Technisource during the second quarter reported...
Why kickoff meetings are important
It's that time of year again, the busy season for strategy work. We've been starting a lot of projects lately and the topic of kickoff meetings recently came up among our team, specifically why they are so important.Sometimes we are tempted to blow through...
Summer Lemonade Stand
One of the many wonderful benefits of being in a neighborhood with a lot of kids is the fun of driving down the street and seeing a summer lemonade stand popped up on the corner. It has been so long since I've lived in a real neighborhood during the summer that seeing...
Small Competitors
As technology improves and becomes more available, small, upstart companies can use technology to compete against the big guys. With increasing speed, technology is enabling the small to compete in new creative ways against the big boys. This trend is especially...
Copy of a Copi of a kop-EE
A little over a year ago, I was fairly certain that the acquisition of Palm by HP would be a boon for new products that HP could use to match the success of Apple's iOS and the explosion of Android. My own extensive Palm experience combined with my friends'...
I’m back!
Hi everyone... I'm back! Little "Gus" Jasper arrived on June 7th, over three weeks early, so I disappeared to the world of motherhood without getting out a notice on where I'd gone. Yes, a few things fell through the cracks with his early arrival but life...
How to sink lower than Blockbuster in two weeks or less
After my own negative reaction to Netflix's rate increase, I discovered a fascinating graphic by BrandIndex.com. Apparently, BrandIndex is estimating that they're customer rating has fallen further than I would have imagined. And I surmise, farther than...
Singing over Webex
Once a week, our company has a TIE meeting where we bring everyone together to "TIE" everything together. This week, we tried an experiment. One of my colleagues, John Justice, had a birthday so we tried to do what many companies would do . . . sing "Happy Birthday."...
It’s a Thursday. Pigs are flying, Google is down
I don't think I've ever had an issue with Google. Not Search, not Maps, not Blogger, not YouTube, not even Apps. I mean, in terms of web services, this is one of the gold standard companies in terms of my experience and I dare say the trillions of web hits that Google...
Is that a 2?
The other day, I had the strangest encounter. Well, strange in that 15 months ago, it wouldn't have been even a conversation.While waiting to get a haircut, I was wasting time on my iPad that I went on and on about in several blogs last year. The first of...
Netflix lowers the boom while raising their prices
If you are a Netflix user, you received a lovely Tuesday morning email that went something like this:Dear John,We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice:...
Were you being funny or just bored…when bidding $3.14159 billion
A little over a week ago, a consortium of companies including Apple, RIM, Microsoft, EMC, etc. outbid Google for a chunk of Nortel's patent assets. This asset auction was part of Nortel's bankruptcy proceedings and generated a winning bid $4.5 billion to be collected...
Analogous to what now?
I'm always looking for learning opportunities as a technology consultant. Either from my Thought Ensemble colleagues, my clients or through professional networking. That learning could involve theories, concept, methodologies, or even new phrases to add to my...
I don’t think I’m a nerd, but I play one during the week
My wife calls me a nerd about once a day. Maybe twice. She even uttered a comment, "I deal with this (nerd) stuff everyday" last week to a college friend of hers. In fairness, he and I were discussing the current status of the economy and...
My hair’s on fire before the Summer Swoon
I've had a slow blogging month during June. This is in large part due to a lengthy vacation for my wife and I, but also to the fact that work has been quite busy. Crazy busy projects, chasing business leads, working on proposals, and trying to grow a business, etc. A...
Virtual Workshops Part 2
We've learned several things about making virtual workshops work as well as possible. I wanted to share a few lessons learned from them. As I mentioned in my previous blog, we used Webex, but these tips should work with any of its competitors.#1. Get cameras and use...
I’d like seconds on my bandwidth order. Please.
For lack of a better expression, the graphic below and short article that accompanied it about internet traffic growth shocked me. I've read some interesting statistics recently about where and when the actual internet usage is occurring. By device type, by time...