No matter how ideal life or business is at the moment.

Things change.

I’ve been vibrantly aware of this during the past several months as my family has joyously celebrated two graduations, a wedding, a career shift, and a move. Now that we are at a pause in the summer of change (two moves yet to go) I’m catching my breath and contemplating change.

You can make change a way of life. Be the early adopter, grab hold of every trend and gadget that passes near enough to touch. Being buffeted by every gust that hits doesn’t exactly make setting sail an easy proposition.

You can resist change with all your might, and for a while keep your finger plugged in the dam. Won’t stop the dampness though and when it’s time to move your feet will likely be stuck in the mud.

So I’ve decided to embrace the summer of change. My daughter has gone west with a great guy. I’m told walking her down the aisle would be the toughest job I’ve had in a while, but truth is it was a joy. More a time to skip than shuffle. It was a glimpse of all the possibles in front of her and her love.

My son is off to IU starting his musical journey. It’s a special time when you get to focus with all your might on your passion. He composed a quartet to celebrate his sister’s wedding. Hard to be sad when I’m actually feeling blessed and jealous.

The misses and I will be saying goodbye to Park Ridge this summer.  She already set up a base camp in Bloomington and it will be good to see our long distance commute finally come to an end. Picking up roots ain’t easy, but family is a great anchor when the landscape is changing.  Besides, I’m looking forward to getting back to irritating my sweetie seven days a week. We’re good for each other.

So, this is my summer of change. It may be yours as well.

I hope you find the balance between wandering and stuck that lets you move forward with joy in your heart.

To get you off on the right foot here’s String Quartet Number 1 composed by Matthew K Schlegel to celebrate his sister’s marriage. Performed by the Mezzo Polipo Quartet with Ryan Murphy (Violin I), Hannah Baukert (Violin II), Eric Hollander (Viola), and Shea Acott (Cello).

Most of the inscriptions are in verse. My mother tells me that her father and mother often traded poetic notes with each other and it looks like the practice was widespread, at least in this neck of the woods. While I’m sure many of the verses were used multiple times among many friends, each page provides a touch of personality — a small window into the lives of people I never knew. It felt very personal.

“My friends in my album I ask you to write,
but to tear out the leaves I deem impolite.    A. Maiers”

Annie had a sense of humor. As did Jeannie:

“To Anne,
Around went the album
To me it came,
For my contribution,
So here goes my name. ”
Jeannie Haickey

There are other inscriptions more personal and heartfelt, but unfortunately they are not in the mood to scan for now. They have faded and are difficult to read. But they are there. The afternoon was spent talking about memories with the autograph book and a few photos to inspire the conversation. I learned things I never knew about my grandmother.

Which got me to thinking about Facebook. Today’s version of the autograph album, a complete electronic rolodex of our network of acquaintances and friends.

• Spelling – optional.
• Punctuation and capitalization – optional.
• Thoughtfulness - optional.
• Even words – optional.

Now I’m a latecomer to Facebook.  I actually joined to help my kid’s high school booster group manage publicity. But quickly I discovered some old, lost friends. Facebook is my living autograph book. A place where connections are made. But how long lasting are the memories here. Will great, great, grandchildren ever dig old Facebook files out of a trunk and feel connected to someone they hardly new?

It doesn’t feel that way.

And now there is a kerfuffle as Facebook works to generate revenue using the very contacts it helped me connect with. I don’t begrudge them the cash. They brought value by connecting me easily with old friends. But I’m a little irritated with their desire to track my steps through every website and web tool I visit. It’s as if they somehow believe that friends share every detail of their lives with no edits or consideration.

That’s not poetry. That’s personal spam.

The glimpse of life I gained through my grandmother’s high school autograph book reminds me of how at one time individuals were maybe a tad more thoughtful about how they wished to be remembered. Maybe even a bit more thoughtful about how they presented themselves. Could our ability to communicate easily be weakening the value we put on communication?

The ability to connect human beings together in memorable, long lasting ways is probably one of the most powerful selling points any business can hope to have. Facebook caught lightning in a bottle, but now seems ready to tip the balance from valued tool to overly greedy spy. MySpace went this route. Some are not amused. Taylor Davidson provides an interesting look at why we should care about the business model behind the services we use. Just because they are free doesn’t mean they are without cost.

Communication continues to evolve. From private letters on stationery to sentiment presented on greeting cards. From phone calls to email to texting.

As everything goes digital it would be a neat trick to find a way to return the private, personal, long-lasting feel of a letter (or autograph book) while maintaining the convenience of Web 2.0 interaction. Things are being lost in our digital age. A key aspect of looking for opportunity is to mine the past for value, not to recreate history, but discover ideas primed for updating.

Of course I doubt my grandmother ever gave a thought to the idea that her descendants would be leafing through her old autograph book.  It was kept as a personal keepsake, her own memories. Which make it even more precious to us.

Solutions to the digital keepsake dilemma anyone? Let the competition begin.

A decade ago it was one of my must stop destinations before Mother’s Day or an upcoming birthday. The owner had an eye for the affordable unusual.

Through the window the shop looked familiar, still an eclectic mix. But off. Almost interesting, but not quite. Hard to explain. Leave it to say, I had no interest in going in. Haven’t been interested for quite a while.

I was no longer a customer. Why?

The new owners have done a fine job of maintaining the mix. But maintaining is the key word here. I never went into the shop because I expected to find ‘country’ or ‘humor’ or ‘handmade.’ I went into the shop to be entertained and to pass that entertainment on to my friends. While the old owner’s taste was always familiar, things changed in ways beyond simple design changes or style.

The new owner didn’t know what the old owner had been selling me.

Do you know what your customers are actually buying from you? Answering the question can be difficult in part because often your customers have no idea what the real reasons are for making their purchasing decisions. The words they use to justify a purchase sometimes match the motivation, but just as often asking can force them to string together words that try to make logical sense of an emotional step. (One of many reasons focus groups are such treacherous waters for a decision maker to swim in.) If you blindly follow what your customers tell you, then you will never take your business anywhere new. And you customers will find themselves someplace else. Not always knowing exactly why.

This weekend my daughter’s adaptation of  Aristophanes’ “The Wasps” hit the streets and it struck me how familiar the problems of our ancient greek cousins were. Having spent the past four years studying ancient history and theater, that was Sarah K Schlegel’s point of course and her goal in producing the play for a modern audience.

We know we should learn from the past, but, oh so often, it seems so far away.

Turns out Aristophanes felt he lived in a very litigious society. Sound familiar? So much so that he said lawyers had become like wasps, stinging with suits at every opportunity and swarming from victim to victim without serious care as to the consequences of their attack.

A bit about the performance: The team did an amazing job of working with the updated material, adding quick skits that brought today’s always fun TV lawyers into the mix. The relationship between siblings (one who loved to sue and the other who felt things had to stop) was great fun – with ‘LoveCleon’ fighting to escape the ideas and containment of his sister, ‘HateCleon.’ From battles with swarms of lawyers, to trials of criminal pets the action was absurd, but the message showed that many of the personal and political challenges we face today haven’t changed in millennia.

Most nights the show was performed in a limestone courtyard, bringing the audience closer to the feel of a greek amphitheater than one would expect in central Indiana. Costumes were modern, with ancient touches including Chorus masks paper mache’d from magazine photos and ‘stingers’ that stiffened when the lawyers were riled. Sets of burlap and rope (cardboard creativity at work). All performed with movement that highlighted the absurdity that took over Athens in its day.

The dots between their world and ours were connected. Arguments and lawsuits. Hyperbole and brinksmanship. I win you lose living.

There is a reason I bring up the show beyond fatherly pride. In the workplace, in politics, in our personal life – technology has changed the way we communicate, but technology has not changed what we need to communicate about.

A few lines that make the point:

“Yet in these times we have stung misguided. Lacking clear enemies we sting each other in a desperate attempt to create another ‘other.’ We see not the change we must pursue and forget the brotherhood we should already know. Change is ambiguouis and dangerous, but blind stinging is a death sentence. The sting must be directed away from our breathren and towards the misguided failing of our own creation.”  (Choir member. The Addled Wasps. Aristophanes. Edited By Sarah Schlegel)

Whether you take the ‘sting’ to be legal in nature or simply damaging argument, I think that means as much in today’s environment as it did 2400 years ago. The solution from Aristophanes is interesting. He does not expect the clash of ideas in legal forums to end, simply moderate -

“In short I give it as my deliberate opinion that in future every citizen must be possessed of a sting. But that sting’s use must have thought as a prerequisite.”

I really enjoyed the performance, and while I’ve gushed about my kids in the past I’d like to list all the folks involved here for now. I suspect we’ll be seeing more of them.

Editor/Director/Producer: Sarah Schlegel
Assistant Director: Kelsey Sheppard
Costume Designer: Nicole Zausmer
Poster Design: Christopher Knarr
Faculty Advisor: Murray McGibbon
Lovecleon: Stephanie Kuschel
Hatecleon:  Ted Timothy
Sosias: Lauren Bourke
Xanthias: Sam Gurnick
Chorus 1: Katie Harmon
Chorus 2: Mandie Van Osdol
Chorus 3: Shanta Parasuraman
Chorus 4: Sam Petry
Chorus 5: Colton Irwin

And wrapping up with a few wise words from old Aristophanes:

“He was right who said, ‘decide nothing till you have heard both sides’”

This has bothered me all weekend.

I believe that most positive change comes from optimists building what they believe is possible. (Have you ever worked with a pessimist trying to build what they believe is impossible? It makes for a long day.)

Could it really be that the the U.S. is depending on 22% of the population for that optimism? Maybe that is enough in Ayn Rand’s world , but I like the odds when more folks are on board.

So this evening, rather than thinking about how much I enjoyed watching Mr. Burns drink a Coke during the Superbowl, I’m thinking about what is the American Dream. The study by Context-Based Group softens the blow a bit by indicating respondents felt the meaning of the American Dream might have been hijacked by materialism of the past few decades – so maybe it is not dead, maybe it is changing.

What is the American Dream?

For me, the answer is personal but I think rings true:

The opportunity to better myself as I choose and establish a launching pad so my children will have even better opportunities than I.

There is no question that the recent financial upheaval has shot a few bullets at people’s ideas of betterment.

• The idea that Wall Street can make everyone rich.
• The idea that we all can borrow ourselves to riches.
• The idea real estate always goes up.

Good bubbles to pop in my opinion, but when did the American Dream become only about wealth.

Maybe the American Dream has been lost because we fear for our children.

• The threat of Global Warming.
• The threat of pollution driven illness.
• The loss of good jobs.
• The burdon of debt on our government and us.

And yet we live in amazing times.

• I carry a phone with more computing power than Dick Tracey or Flash Gordon every dreamed of.
• Anyone can open a shop and be selling products internationally in the space of a day.
• I can listen in to courses at Stanford, Northwestern, and Harvard. For free.
• A 7 year old can make a big difference by riding his bike 5 miles and raising £72,000 for Haiti.

The tools of betterment and more are available more widely, across more socioeconomic groups than ever before. It seems that anyone can change the world.

So if the American Dream was to consume till we drop – Good riddance.

If the American Dream involved success without hard work – I’m glad we’re waking up.

If the American Dream is the chance to do something extraordinary no matter where we are in life — Then sign me up.

I think the American Dream can be as alive for my children as it was for me.

But only if we believe. (Shall we clap? Will Tinkerbell live?)

What does the American Dream mean to you? (And is it Alive or Dead?)

I’m not usually one to point out spelling mistakes (glass houses and all) but this sign was pointed out to me by my lovely wife during a quick stop in Peoria the other day to see my son perform in the All-State Honors Band and I figured I would share.

Even in today’s wonderful world of spell check, misspelled or misused words are all around us. I usually gloss over it. Poorly executed marketing is a depressing thing to see.

But here we have the former offices of a Private Detective Agency. The sign had been there a very long time. Covered most of their window.

And the question that comes to mind is what the heck are they going to be able to find if they never noticed the missing ‘E’ and ‘L’ on their own sign.

Poor marketing execution often indicates other details are being missed as well.

The number of patents involved at IBM is a simply mind-boggling 4,914. That’s over 13 patentable inventions a day. Not a bad brain trust.

But what caught my eye was a paragraph at the bottom of the story:

As a defensive measure, the company also published details on almost 4,000 inventions in a publicly available company journal last year.

By publishing I believe they ensure that no one can patent the ideas. Since many companies are racing towards the same goal the prospect of inventors stepping on each other’s toes is not far fetched. The value of publishing trade secrets outweighed the negative impact of letting folks in on what they were doing. I’m sure the published advances had less strategic or economic value than those that were patented, but it still does seem to go a bit against the grain of corporate secrecy one has come to expect.

The shelf life of a corporate secret has been greatly diminished over the past decade.

Patents have real economic value but bringing an element of open innovation to the table can also have its own significant value. In this case preventing the patent process from slowing down development of other initiatives by both IBM and their competitors.

As children most of us were thoroughly trained to censor our thoughts before letting go with the ridicule inducing comment. (The Cubs are going to win the pennant! – ah, some of us never learn.) This sometimes serves us well. In the world of ideas it can be deadly.

Ideas are fragile things in business. Any number of stray comments, poor politics, and concerted efforts at logic can drive a good idea (and it’s conceiver) into the mud. Problem is, most of the tools we use early on to sift through ideas are little more than personal opinion. But decisions must be made and so politics end up playing a very large part in determining what ideas receive funding and what don’t.

Ideas that at first seem terrible, yet stick, came to mind following a tweet from Nate Towne (@fancy_lad), a favorite follow from Milwaukee.

Yes, a yodeling pickle seems very much the definition of a terrible idea. Logic indicates that pickles do not yodel. At best they crunch.

Enter Archie McPhee novelty maker. And the Yodelling Pickle is born. Doing reasonably well I assume. Ranked #1 Amazon noisemaker #3780 Amazon toy.

Rather respectable for a Pickle.

The Yodelling Pickle is deceptively attractive for a novelty company. Unexpected. Maybe viral. It reminds me of my own family’s favorite dinnertime device – A pepper grinder in the shape of a chef who yells “You’re Breaking My Back” every time pepper is ground. (Encourages extreme pepper use on the plate next to you. You’ve been warned.)

Obviously the Yodelling Pickle would be a terrible idea for GM. For Archie McPhee it is so delightfully terrible it has raced around the strategic track right back to brilliant.

Filtering through ideas has a lot to do with context.

It’s been my experience that companies with strong product development pipelines have three basic things in common. They know what they are, they know what they want to be, and they make clear decisions about what to pursue with their resources. Less waffling. More impact.

This is true about individuals as well. The more talented you are the more decisions you have to make about what you are not going to be. No decisions, no focus.

In the forward to Kevin Maney’s Trade-Off, Jim Collins describes a key conclusion Maney made “about the best people he’d covered:

“They have the courage to make rigorous choices. They don’t delude themselves into thinking they can do everything, so they focus on only what they can do with great distinction.”

To me that is a powerful paragraph. I think it plays as well for an organization as it does for an individual.

Are you focused on ideas that will maximize your impact or are you waiting for something else to make those decisions?

Do you hear the call of the Yodelling Pickle?

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The relationship hasn’t improved since Chicago Parking Meters have been ‘upgraded’ over the past year with space age technology and higher rates. Most retailers understand that parking is one of those critical things you don’t want customers thinking about. You want them to just feel like it will be there, not some barrier to entry. I blame the meters for the loss of my favorite store, Cut Rate Toys. Don’t mess with a man’s toy store people.

Which sets the scene for my latest run in with a parking meter.

My lovely wife and I were set for a romantic evening thoughtfully concocted by the kids. Dinner and a show. Just the two of us.

We arrived at the restaurant early, so had a chance to scout parking options. Garage, pay lot, valet, and wonders of wonders, a street space right next to the entrance.

I’ve not used the new street meters often. Only once actually. I’m more of a subway kind of guy when it comes to going downtown. But tonight was special. Which would indicate the correct, romantic choice would have been to use the valet. However, as my lovely wife LaVonn has on occasion reminded me, my ability to think romantically appears critically impaired.

Some of you will understand, this was street parking right in front of the restaurant. The holy grail of Chicago parking. Something I could brag about over wings and beer. (Again, remember, romantically impaired, OK?)

We pull up. Unfortunately, the meter for the space was half a block away. No problem. My loved one waits in the car and gets the full impact of the door side space while I gallantly slide through the 5 degree, slightly icy weather to the meter.

The meters now take credit cards. Good deal. Pumping quarters has become a hassle since rates went up. Back when I was a kid my dad had a gadget that only makes sense when your thinking quarters and meters. A small parking meter timer attached to his keychain about an inch across and all dial. Like a pocket egg timer. Made with springs, gears and a bell in the days before we discovered the transistor. Until his business could afford a monthly space, he parked on Lower Wacker where quarters would buy you a few hours at a time. Trick was you had to get back down to feed the meter or tickets would sprout from your wiper blades. Set the timer to go off with time to get down to the space and away you go.

A marketer thought of that. “When a watch simply isn’t enough…”

The credit card slides into and out of a slot. It goes difficultly. Like it needs oil.

I push buttons. There are several.

Nothing happens.

I try again, however, this time pulling the credit card out required my gloves come off – holding them in my mouth – and use of thumb and index finger of both hands. I gag on my gloves. I yank. It takes several tries.

I push buttons.

Nothing happens.

Now we are at a point dear reader, where, as a male, I needed this parking meter to work.

Parking on the street. Bad idea. Fine.

Walking half a block to get a spot right next to the door. Bad idea. Fine.

Letting the lovely wife wait in the car while I wander off on a lonely downtown Chicago street. Bad idea. Fine.

But going back, starting up the car, and pulling up to the valet at this point is distinctly unacceptable to my admittedly testosterone addled brain on this fine romantic evening.

I try again. This time there is a click.

I am excited.

I push buttons.

Nothing happens.

I grab the card with near frozen fingers.

It does not move when I grab it with one hand.

It does not move when I grab it in two hands.

It does not move at all, Sam I Am. I believe I’ve hurt my hand.

(Pause. Fight Panic. Resume.)

I read the instructions.

…

Yes, the instructions confirm that I should not leave my credit card in the parking meter slot. Had to check, you never know.

I walk back to the car, visions of the romantic evening declining into calls to credit card companies, funny looks from the lovely wife, and a trip to the valet. Yes, even I can see when things are going bad.

Distinctly unacceptable. This is a ROMANTIC evening. Must Fix.

“Sceuse me my dear. Must fix the parking meter. Slide aside a second while I grab the pliers.”

This is not something my wife wants to hear. Ever.

The meter surrenders without a fight when it saw I was armed.

A quick yank.

I push buttons.

Score: Man 1 – Machine 0. It gives up a small receipt indicating my 2 hour victory. I set my iPhone timer ap. Ain’t progress something?

I slide back to the car.

“I have fixed the parking meter.”

I am a hero. (Again, addled non-romantic mind. Don’t forget.)

Gather lovely wife on my arm as we slide ten steps to the front door and go on to enjoy a lovely dinner at Cafe Pazzo. I recommend the duck. Fabulous.

So, if Wilber and Orville had decided to open a different kind of shop to pay the bills, let’s say a bakery for example, would they have flown today in 1903? (That would be December 17th, 1903)

“While most engineers assumed that a successful aircraft would need to be inherently stable, as bicycle builders the Wrights made their living building vehicles that were inherently unstable.” NOVA Wright Brother’s Flying Machine (Currently on Hulu.com)

The bike shop turned out to the the perfect training ground for the first successful aeronautic engineers.

The leap concerning stability -

…led to a focus on control -

…onto a critical insight about wing warping which came when Wilber reached for a cardboard box containing an inexpensive tire tube.

From giving a box a helical twist to steering a biplane.

Serendipity.

But as with all serendipitous moments (and most instances of luck for that matter) the inventors had to put themselves in the right frame for inspiration to strike.

Which brings me back to the power of Need, Structure and Serendipity when it comes to personal creativity.

The Wright Brothers were pursuing flight. They knew the research of the day, figured out where others were going wrong through a progressive series of experiments, and ingeniously transfered skills learned from the bicycle trade.

Their bike shop paved the way for their flight shop.

So with the new year approaching I think it could be fun to think about ways to enhance our chances for big serendipitous moments – Personally, professionally and businesslly. (I know, I know, businesslly is not a word. But if you know what I mean maybe it is now. We’ll see.)

Any pointers you’d like to add to the discussion?

Photo: First flight December 17, 1903 from Wikimedia Commons