I’m not sure if anyone has been following the SOPA/PIPA issue that also follows this blog, but it is possibly the most important issue of the day for many in technology, media, copyright related fields, or even relies on the internet (most of us). Regardless of your position on this bill there is enough angst…
Collaboration with people you don’t know
One of the most powerful drivers of change is new ideas. Without new ideas we would stagnate and get stuck where we are. It’s not always a bad thing to stay the same, but our nature is not to be the same everyday for 80 years. Groupthink has become a bad word in many communities…
Balancing the solution with education
As a service provider of real estate services, I work with a lot of clients that are in the middle of problems they have never encountered and may never encounter again. But I also work with a lot of clients that are in the middle of a problem that is going to be coming up…
Disrupting my life….change is good.
I received a Nook for Christmas. This is surprising because anyone who knows me has heard me go on and on about how the actual books will always be better than a screen. I’ve been saying it for a couple of years. It wasn’t a secret. Apparently I don’t talk to my Aunt much because…
What are your real costs?
Real estate is a cost center for most organizations. Every square foot you occupy (whether you lease or own) is an expense that you can’t spend on R&D or sales or marketing. But without that real estate you couldn’t do those things anyway. There’s a balance there that must be identified and maintained. So yes,…
Build your community, not your network
In the real estate industry (and sales in general) there is a heavy emphasis on “networking.” It generally involves the process of going out and meeting new people to create loose connections that you will then attempt to grow into tighter connections (and hopefully become friendly). Over time, these tighter connections are your network. Communities…
Just discovered this “Twitter” thing….
So I’ve been writing on boxthoughts for about five months or so now (don’t prove me wrong with “math”, but I know it’s not half a year yet). Just this past week I decided it was time to see if Twitter could also fit into my view of social media. Funnily enough it has a…
Logistics Providers
When you think about logistics – the infrastructure needed to move goods from one point to another – it’s common to think about your warehouse, your supplier, your customer, transportation costs, labor costs, weather – days lost, etc. But too often companies forget to think about their transportation provider’s infrastructure. If you ship through UPS…
Keeping Score
It is possible to score anything. Want to choose between 5 cars? Use the analytical hierarchy process and give them each a score! Want to choose between Coke and Pepsi? Keep score in the Pepsi Challenge! Employers want to give unbiased appraisals? Score each employee! We’re a competitive society (and I’ll raise my hand as…
Understanding What You See
I’m a data junkie – give me a few thousand (or million 0r whatever) rows of information and I’ll be happy for awhile going through it and finding the patterns and connections. Over time I’ve learned that most people don’t enjoy spending their time this way (it still shocks me!). For those that do follow…