Cleaning Out The Dirty Old Year

Got a few things to clear out before 2008 hits:

1. Last election's results gave me tenfold the previous number of votes. Whilst I wasn't elected (at least they haven't asked me to City Council), I DO thank all 200+ who voted for me. The reason I take your nod so seriously is that I wasn't just a knee-jerk vote. Since I didn't spend one dime on posters, placards, handbills, or other falderall, every single one of you learned of me by word of mouth, and gave rapt consideration about how I would serve you. My reputation was apparently enough to vote tenfold your confidence in my works and credibility. One and all, I consider your expression a high honor. Thank you. I'll win next time.


2. Speaking of honor, for the second time in four years I've now closely witnessed and had to deal with complete dishonor. Around a deep woods campfire this story would make your skin crawl-- and no less dramatic were days spent working with this creature.

This fellow had been employed at the advertising agency, and from the start acted as if evil incarnate. His one-note recommendations to sell all products were to create "booty billboards," his way of suffusing sex and pornography into every meeting. My partner gave him a chance, but like the scorpion who cannot help but acting like a scorpion, he reverted to his black heart.

But the joke's on him: Though this cretin slurked away one day, immediately reaching out to steal clients, utilize our vendors, actually taking physical documents (and computer hardware), we'd already taken massive steps to contain him. We knew he was on a course of self-destruction and we were not going to be collaterally damaged. So wherever he turned the steel doors of containment had already clanged closed. With the parade of evidence from every sphere and possible gathering method, our upcoming day in court will be most satisfying. He has no idea how completely and utterly his life will be changed. I anticipate he will again run as he has before run from his past, changing his name as he flees, but we have him.

Most pitiable is that everyone attests to what he apparently cannot see: He vibrates on such a low and sinister wavelength that his life is already over. He trails his scummy reputation and his dishonorable thinking, and every act spreads the word. In this day and age, he cannot escape the spread of warnings about him on the Internet. It's a new world.

But he has no one to blame but himself. While working with the agency, people gave him a chance. I know I did. I gave him every chance. I kept hoping he was taking the opportunity to pull out of his personal nose-dive. But he invariably engendered such bad feelings that people shut him down when came in on his own. They reviled him. No one wished to associate with him-- excepting one or two of the same mind who enjoy that kind of "booty billboard" darkness. Most treacherous is how he presents a lightness of being-- promising the world as all the while chatty and smiling to allay the blackness permeating his soul-- trapping, if possible, those unaware of the tarbaby he is, until he steals from them whatever he can get: Equipment, relationships, connections, things, or whatever else. So he hops from one sucker to the next, draining them of valuables.

The bottom line, though, is that anyone listening to their own 'gut feeling' would know his laughter and smiles hide a truly sinister heart; one that would (and apparently will) do them harm. It's just a matter of time.


3. And the same goes for any other damnable people, such as abusers of children, or those who terrorize the elderly. Not too long ago I encountered such a "man" who, when the police escorted him away, screamed such horrible things at his widowed mother that the police said, as recorded on video tape, "I've never encountered such foul words said by a son to a parent." He lives in a similar blackness of spirit and brings no joy-- except to depart. There are "dirty old men" and there evil old men... How tragic to reach over 70 years of age, and still foment such evil within.

Good riddance, we all say: For evil to triumph it is necessary for good men to do nothing.

I keep the Cross close in my life, and will testify against them when the time is right. In the meantime, as over 200 local people recognized when voting for the strength of my reputation, yes, I'm working on perfecting myself, yes, but more important, I'm working on keeping out the darkness that sometimes surrounds us. I don't like darkness to any degree, and fight it at every turn.

So at this turn, clean out the darkness and dross from 2007 to make a stronger and more pure 2008.

Cheers!

Holy Schmokes!

Gadzooks!

One week from Tuesday (more or less 'today') three local Salem City Council seats will be filled via election with three people. I hope to be one of them.

Yeah, I know something like that is off most people's "to do" list. It's like going out of your way to hit your thumb with the hammer. I'm not a butt-kisser politician, or someone motivated to close the ozone hole by being kind to pinecones-- but I do have a thought or two that could either help the City Council noodle things out better. That or I've got enough of a stubborn streak to just drag my feet when things are just plain 'ol going the wrong way. Common sense means heel tracks left all over the floor.

Service-- including public service-- is me. I like people and I get along with most everybody. And I think the city population will like that I'm pretty frugal when it comes to money. For example, I haven't spent one cent on political flag-waving via placards, signs, banners, posts, rope, fliers, buttons, straw hats, heated socks, or wash-off tattoos either. Let them eat cake, I say, or remember the Alamo or something like that. Keep your money and buy more ice cream to raise the GNP.

Last election I got 22 votes. (Thank you mom.) Can't wait to see how I do in the polls this time around.

Cheers!
E-LectabLee yours

Heartfelt Gratitude

I've been extraordinarily fortunate this past week to be awash in love.

I suppose I find it noteworthy in public mention first because love is such a rare and delicate treasure, and second, because I believe expressing gratitude to God is a condition of deeper fondness and Christlike attributes. I developed a keener understanding during the last decade in inexpressibly hard times, seemingly independent of cause and effect. "Pain engraves a deeper memory." (Anne Sexton, OMNI, May 1985)

So while you might not find it strange to hear me vocalize (and blog) my deep gratitude for the obvious-- family members serving unselfishly, children who love and grandchildren who innocently smile-- you would then hear me express an equivalent and deep thankfulness for coworkers and clients, people who share their instruction and insights, people who simply call to say hello, and Church leaders in quiet service... even for those over whom they have no responsibility to so serve. You know who you are-- and to you I express love.

Thanksgiving this year marks new beginnings for me. I know it will be the first time in two decades I find myself truly thankful. Year after year all color remained bleached from of my world, and I marveled how "goodly" people delighted in taking advantage of my time, my efforts, my skills, and my offerings to them. I watched them grab and go.

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these." (George Washington Carver)

Cheers!

On Perfection

I am not perfect.

The topic of perfection came to mind via two events: A huge work I recently performed that, with thousands of tiny bits incrementally performed over the course of over ten hours, was negated for a single error; I also consider the ongoing plight of my teen-aged daughter, now at the stage of life where she expects too much of herself.

Perhaps there is no answer in either case, but I try to understand.

I recall a Led Zeppelin concert on Thursday 23 October 1969. While I was unfazed, friends publicly decried the "different" sounds of the live band.

Having been a recording and performing drummer for years (and for years to come), I knew that produced music (then and now) is incrementally assembled. One "lays down tracks" --a best effort-- and then works hours to remove or replace imperfect portions one at a time.

However, my friends could only spread the word that the Zeppelin concert was nasty.

Again, I understood. This was the first time Zeppelin had played the Boston Gardens (prior to that they'd simply done the intimate Boston Tea Party-- about 500 people). At my own concerts, I knew it was all we could do to balance the mix-- hall dynamics, reverberation, amplification all changed the timbre of the drum sound... not to mention the difficulty of stage-replicating precise settings of fuzz boxes, compressors, equalization, and even imitating layers of vocals laid down in the studio by the same person!

But two decades later, in Japan in 1993 I ruminated, "Everywhere I look I am surrounded by perfection. Perfect paintings, perfect orchestrations, perfect vocalists, perfect artistry, perfect rock bands...

"We live in an astounding world of perfection and humanities. Russian operas, symphony orchestras, background rock music for games, classic and renaissance paintings, movies, faces, bodies, cinematography, cartoonists, writers, performances, hand-made jewelry creations, jingles─ the television constantly heralds a stream of one perfect achievement after another.

"But what can I do that is perfect? If someone were to come up and take inventory, what could I do that is unique, awesome, or flawless?

"I don't know. Some things I do (I think) may come close, but most don't even register. Is this a question for which most people will not know their own answer? Are [humans] supposed to do one thing perfectly?

"Maybe the answer is more to be found in the story of Vincent Van Gogh─ not in the part about his suicide─ but in that he sought for perfect expression of what was inside, yet could not express it to his satisfaction. The frustration of what he considered imperfect paintings sentenced himself to death to end the pain.

"Yet his 'imperfect' paintings top every list..." I wrote almost 15 years ago.

Without moralizing further, I'd simply say that things haven't changed all that much for humankind. People still irrationally expect perfection-- both in performance of others and by their own delivery:

...My "one mistake" amongst thousands of corrections in 2007 cost innocents honest earnings.
...Led Zeppelin's concerts disillusioned many in 1969 because the band didn't sound like their recordings.
...In 1890 Van Gogh (then 37) shot each and every one of us to death in a small way.

The sickness of irrational hopes of perfection (in others) kills everyone a little bit every day.

And you? From whom do you expect perfection today?

SeriousLee

Thoughts On Becoming A Thoroughbred

A person's honesty will usually show up in their face. Especially obvious after decades of living "just a little too close to the edge," I think it amazing how clearly will be written the roadmap of where a person has been... and usually, their faces will show the dark places they might try to go with you.

The other day I met to discuss cable broadcasting and broadcast software with a group of five professionals at BYU-B, or Brigham Young University Broadcasting. Gathered around the table, they each radiated a light and a glow so obvious I just had to ask each their backgrounds. I felt recharged, invigorated, and proud to be associated with them-- and hoped I radiated back such a light, too.

While I'm aware (oh, so aware!) that life will dent you, ding you, toss you around and scrape off layers of proud, personal paint, one can still strive to live with integrity and honor. All of us are obligated to keep striving to root out the darkness that troubles our souls, and in my case I just hope it won't leave a mark.

I'm reminded of something I heard long ago:

You're born into the world all naked and bare,
Spend your years with worry and care,
And leave this place you know not where,
But if you're a thoroughbred here, you'll be a thoroughbred there.

Cheers

America Has No Idiot Lights-- Only Gauges

These two topics might seem odd, and even unrelated, but there is a very important connection.

Not too long ago I visited someone in the hospital. I was asked to turn on the television. So I grabbed the remote and noticed there was one button, "TV." No on or off button. No channel changer. No sound control.

Just one stupid button. How do you control a television with one button?

Second, not too long ago I went to school. Of course I fought it, but I was taught the classics. I read poetry. I learned of civics, of government, of geography. I learned how to compose a coherent thought and string them together to make a point.

So it comes to a point when even a movie like Star Wars is based on an understanding of the classics: of complex cultures, wild history, and a thousand civilizations. Star Wars came directly from the likes of Homer, Aristotle, Hitler and Napoleon. Time has collected for us an array of the good, and of the bad, all centered around the difficult and complex questions of human existence.

And so it amazes me to see and read of simpletons who think, "Why can't we all just get along?"

The answer is you can only try. There is nothing in your world-- the "today" you are enduring right this moment-- that can be distilled down to just one "happy button" like that hospital television. Frustration over one's powerlessness over lack of choice will erupt, just as surely erupted my ire. It is better to trust the individual to control themselves, although some will not, rather than to take away any possibility of choice.

Mankind is not a one-button one-size-fits-all kind of person.

So this Fourth of July give a little thought to those who fought (and fight) to solve the complex issues of life. Our country was born by complex men having learned difficult lessons from the turmoils of France, of England, of Greece, and of Rome. They did not try to simplify life, but to understand it-- and deal with it.

So deal with it.

Cheers!

The Sound of Rattling Nuts

Someone asked me, "What is your glob... er, blog about?" Hmmm... the sound of rattling nuts. That's me.

"Outside the box" doesn't mean just get outside and walk around the square lines-- think different!

Mash, slash, crash, flash, dash, and splash... smoooooooothLee.

To date, my personal ROI is US$17.7M to my employers for every $1k paid me in marketing in 18 years.

I do nuts very well.

Use Things and Love People

No matter how technology captivates me, I've not found anything that exceeds my full-time fascination with people. I study how they think, how they act, what they prefer to do, and why they buy what they buy. Year in and year out I watch them, tally their actions, and test them-- and thereby become enriched.

As a result, I have a demonstrated love for the related fields of sales, marketing, and advertising.

One might think these things are quite different one from another. However, they are simply facets of the same diamond: Providing people their proclivities.

For example, in advertising, I become like a mosquito-- targeting the warm vein of someone's interest. In the shortest period I take aim on the largest segment of the population. But in marketing and market planning I work behind the scenes at companies to ensure long-term production, delivery, support, and service. Nothing breaks the bank faster than rush production and delivery... constantly falling behind because of poor planning and follow-through.

And in sales (that dreaded word for most people) I can do what I love doing most: Help people get what it is they wish to get. I love being on the phone with people, especially when I can I aid them in achieving ownership, helping them move their own lives forward. That only happens when I know what it is they want... when I learn 'how they tick'... and then I help them get it.

And in my experience, nothing is finer than to have the power and authority at a company to provide service in all three areas: advertising, marketing, and sales. That comes full circle to loving them.

I was once counseled to use things and love people; sadly, some use people and love things. As our society becomes more and more technologically advanced, my counsel is to remember the warmth of a handshake, the joy of a smile, and the fulfilment of helping someone achieve their goals in life.

Cheers!
Lee

NABbed Me Again

Gambling capital Las Vegas, Nevada holds no particular fascination for me. Not for the usual reasons, anyway.

But each year I take a four or five-day dive into Sin City to make a beeline for the National Association of Broadcaster's exhibition, an invitation-only event for those of us in the broadcast and cable industry. I've been privileged to attend annually since late last century. I'd go if I had to walk, because each year I'm struck with new products as if with a baseball bat.

For example, this year at NAB2007 I expected to see progress in the accepted format of High Definition (HD) television, but I wasn't at all prepared to see that the HD format has taken over virtually everything produced to make film and do post-production. Virtually every camera, every patch bay, every type of input and editing and output gear was all HD... and at a low cost that left me scratching my head in wonder.

For well under US$20,000 I could completely replace my anal-igital production studio from A to Z, bypassing SD cameras, large Sony FXE switching units, titling generators, and all the other "boat anchors" holding down the concrete. Truly, fully 1080i HD production could well be made with three units-- an HD video camera, my beat-up old laptop, and a BluRay DVD burner... and on my lap at the beach, no less!

Speaking of the beach, I had a long chat (in Japanese) with the heads of the powerful Japanese "PBS" empire, Nihon Hosou Kyoku (NHK), who demonstrated "the next big thing," SUPER HD, broadcasting in 4300+ ...more than four times the definition of HD! They were displaying a prototype camera that probably weighed in at half a ton, but man, what a view!

For example, I saw a video shot from (apparently) the top of Hawaii's Diamond Head, looking about five miles out into the ocean. I not only could see EVERY whitecap, but could see virtually all coral and seaweed in perhaps 1000 acres spread out before my eyes.

But wait! There's more!

At some point I tired of gawking at the seaweed. I kept thinking "There's got to be a limit to what the human eye can see..." when I noticed I could see fish! FROM FIVE MILES AWAY I could see each fish flitting through the coral! I supposed that if I kept refocusing my eyes I would eventually see plankton and sea monkeys, too.

Whereas telco and cable broadcast marketing is my personal expertise, not to mention being foremost in consulting for international HD cell phone delivery technology via 4G (after August), I can't help but remember my jungle roots making 35mm films and studying cinematography at Emerson College in Boston. I think how amazing it is that HD production has made startling visuals so affordable and pervasive that I can pack an entire Hollywood production studio into the back of my van (photo attached).

It's an amazing (and amazingly fast) world we live in. Keep on top of it (as by attending NAB or CES). Don't get stuck in a professional rut, or an amazing world of wonder can pass you right by... and put you right out of a job.

Cheers!

Keith Junior Richan (1922-2007)

My first cousin once removed and a great and kindly man, Keith Junior Richan (shown at right), died suddenly at home on Sunday 01 April 2007 in American Fork, Utah. He was 85.

Keith was important to me because he was an honorable man. Whilst my own efforts at walking uprightly fall laughably short, Keith was what I want to be.

For example, once I planned to rent a home from an old gentleman who mercilessly thrust document after document at me-- credit checks, background history, employment and wage statements, etc. etc. You know the type: ready to put a lien on your firstborn.

The man stopped cold when he saw my family name, Richan. "Any relation to Keith?" the old curmudgeon snarled.

"Yes, he's my cousin," I said tentatively.

"Then we don't need these," he said, and grabbed the papers back. "He and I went to school together," he said. "Anyone who knows Keith is alright in my book." And truly, that was a frequent experience.

Keith ran for public office back in the 1980s, and won handily the title of Utah County Commissioner. It seemed that everyone who knew Keith had a bold statement to make about how Keith had helped someone, or gone the extra mile, or had done something remarkable.

When you shook hands with Keith, he didn't keep you at arm's length-- he pulled you in. "What can I do for you?" he'd ask at first. As you tried waving him off, he'd insist, "No, really-- what can I do for you?"

That's the kind of man I want to be. I'll miss you, Keith. Nothing 'junior' about you at all.

Oh, and in that photo-- his name tag reads, "Yippee!"

Cheers.

Fixin' It Up

Curious George ain't got nothin' on me.

Ever since I was a small lad in western Massachusetts, I took things apart.

As my grandfather defended, "to see what makes it tick." His smile didn't dim (much) when I took apart my grandmother's favorite brass lamp, replete with chains, threaded projections, and ornate base. Can't quite recall whether or not I ever put the thing back together, but my parents suggested a few corrections to my personality during the drive home.

Nevertheless, I'm constantly amazed at what I've learned in the past few decades about how things tick.

For example, after about ten hours tonight I fixed a complex stepping motor control central processing unit that drives an industrial engraving machine. It's a big ol' computer, but with fingers and toes. Funny thing (that even amazes me) is that the fellow never told me what was wrong with it, how it stopped working, or even had schematics (detailed electronic plans) for clues. But when my wife saw me tracing a circuit board to visually uncover the electrical workings, she shook her head as if I were doing rocket surgery... which, in a way, perhaps I was.

But this is all is not about me, really. I'm nothing special, nor do I have a magical wand.

Point is that when I counsel youth, I tell them the story of how my skills appeared-- whence they came as if by magic: I can do what I do because I was poor in my teens. I think back on years and years of personal poverty (mostly through poor decisions about the use of money) and realize that I learned to repair electronics and mechanical things precisely because I didn't have the money to buy what I wanted. So I had to settle for broken motorcycles, or for cars abandoned by others-- and many "basket cases" of plain ol' stuff disassembled and cast aside. Most of my stuff started out in the trashbin.

It was through fixing things (and breaking them enough by myself) that I learned how things really tick.

Quite honestly, while I might not have made money, I was always paid experience.

And so warmly quoth I the words of Mr Harold Geneen, "In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later."

Cheers!

Wars of the Worlds

Peace? War? Is it a decision so simple?

No endless prattle here involving reason and civics. No thumping of chest. No politics. Nothing (I hope) but sincere 'heart.'

In the wake of all the carbon offsets, with Al Gorp on the one hand loudly proclaiming the solutions to all ills (with Rush Windbag 'all-knowing-ly' and 'all-seeing-ly' describing Mr. Gore's hidden hand), I honestly try to decide which camp I belong.

I deeply desire to make sense of a senseless topic. Yes, I prefer the warmth and tranquility of peace. I also realize peace has a price. And I'm well-enough read to be able to see, in my mind's eye, the brutal reality of that cost of peace... which brings me back to the question: "How might one decide?"

In my humble opinion, understanding can only come when walking with the Prince of Peace... and even then, hand in hand, I believe both He and thee will shed many tears at the apparent folly of trying to outdo the other side. Whether contesting through war, or protesting too loudly otherwise, both sides fail when tussling to prove they are the 'righter' side.

As my once-esteemed Frank Zappa sang in Dumb All Over:

Whoever we are
Wherever we're from
We shoulda noticed by now
Our behavior is dumb
And if our chances
Expect to improve
It's gonna take a lot more
Than tryin to remove
The other race
Or the other whatever
From the face
Of the planet altogether...

We are dumb all over
Dumb all over
Yes we are
Dumb all over
Near 'n' far
Dumb all over
Black 'n' white
People, we 'is' not wrapped tight...

As I learned when dating, stop trying to "find" the right person. Work on "being" the right person.

Dumbness stops here.

Cheers!
Lee

Goodbye, Old Friend

Last night I killed a part of me: I buried my Nikon F2 camera system.

I then threw into the trash five new cans of Kodak film. It was sad to see it all go.

Despite having two photo books published (1975 and 1984), and decades of experience as a professional commercial photographer, an era has officially ended. I hoped for some use for the dozens of rare Nikkor lenses, scientific bellows, special finders, focusing screens, esoteric filters and other accessories I'd collected during four decades, but alas... I couldn't even recall when I'd purchased those rolls of Kodak film.

I hadn't used the camera for perhaps five years. Film cost, processing cost, slide costs, print costs, archival page cost, scanning costs... in the end, all proved to be unnecessary.

To be sure, I'm still shooting photographs. My most recent, "Perseverance," won an award and is slated to be published soon. But I shoot digital for all my advertising and publishing work.

My latest Sony S70 with Zeiss-licensed optics has accounted for nearly 50,000 photographs. I'm hoping to buy the Leica D-LUX or Leica M8 digital camera soon, although I must admit I'm deeply smitten with the beauty and functionality of the Leica M7 or MP rangefinders... which models still use film, however.

So I guess my memories come full circle. I can recall the pure pleasure shooting all over Japan with my Leica IIIf (shown below)-- as flawless and indestructable a machine as man ever made. I recall making a living photographing stage and movie sets with my whisper-quiet Leica M3, and recall how I shot virtually all my children's pictures with my Nikon F2 system. But it's all a bygone era.

What matters is not which machine I used, but the fact that I used it at all. I am grateful that my life story is now copiously preserved in many tens of thousands of photographs. Deep nostalgia extends an hundredfold to life depicted in their rectangular frame, but I always will remember the feeling of a fine machine in my hands... and the sound of the tight "snick" of a finely attuned shutter.

Goodbye, old friend. I will not forget your uncommon service. I also will not forget the hands that made you.

May mankind seen through future lenses be as skilled as the hands that made your parts from raw ore and sand.

Secret of Life

If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap.
If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing.
If you want to be happy for a year become a millionaire.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, serve others.

Air: Necessary, But Unseen

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." --Anatole France, Nobel Prize-winning author

I have two ears and one mouth. I try to use them in that proportion.

But when I was in my 20s, it wasn't that way. It was with some pride that I was the first foreigner-- ever-- to work at Omron Japan, a huge company (http://omron.com/index2.html). I was surrounded by (it seemed all) 25,000 Japanese co-workers, and for a very long time I felt like the lightning rod in a fishbowl with an electric eel... with electric toasters soon to fall in with me.

As the days ticked by, I remember crescendos of panic-- perhaps the same emotions that grip all college graduates when they enter the real world: "What if I can't produce something of value right away? How can I show how I'm brilliant? Where should I look to uncover some lost revenue, or suggest a better process, or make changes to so I can show immediate worth? I gotta get going!"

At some point, my boss and the man responsible for my hire, Tsutomu Narita (later named President of Omron Electronics in 1999, photo insert), saw my struggles and took me aside with a sage smile.

"Richan, I want you to forget your western expectations of greatness. Yes, I expect great things out of you. But until two years have passed, you have only one job: 'Be like air-- necessary but unseen.'"

Like air? Unseen? Two years? Oh, the humanity.

I sputtered and protested that I wanted to do great stuff, that I was a brilliant engineer, that I was hired because he saw some existing value in me, etc.

But in the end I agreed to be malleable. Very humbled, I quietly studied Omron's product line.

And I learned I also had two eyes and one mouth.

I studied companies like Gould, Square D, and Cutler-Hammer. Then I studied switches, and then timers, then counters, then programmable logic controllers (PLCs). I studied pricing, markets, and marketing schemes. I took notes, clipped articles, made comparison charts, sales charts, and corporate charts. I studied the Wall Street Journal for competitor information and press releases. I studied London's Financial Times, and Singapore's Straits Times, etc.

In short, I kept a very low profile, proving 'oxygen' to company internal functions (like evaluating advertisements written in horrible English), but I kept quietly learning the basics of my industry before I began to reach upward. I was 'breathable' insofar as I was always available for questions from co-workers, whilst I quietly kept gathering information, per Mr. Narita's advice.

Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at once.

And eventually it happened. Slowly I became an expert in competitors' tactics. In due course I was included in meetings all around the company, becoming consultant for all kinds of new products. I found I was at the right hand of product division managers, and spent about 25% of my time at the R&D facility counseling engineers and project managers of every stripe.

After my tenure spent steeping in the basics, my suggestions carried weight.

I was able to eventually make those great quantum leaps into the unknown... based squarely on the good footing obtained by quietly reading a dry catalog. It was because of this "planting and growing cycle" that I became a key player in pushing sales to over US$3.6Billion by the time I left... billions still accredited to me to this very day.

But that's the story. Few care to hear the details. Fewer still can understand them.

Another place? Another time? Another galaxy far, far away? Yes. Antiquated, irrelevant ethics? I think not.

My story can be told in simplest terms, in the words of the great Marvin J. Ashton,
"Listen... or thy tongue will keep thee deaf."

Cheers!

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is Under Construction

While I'm not quite Monk (of OCD Friday night television fame), I do like order and reason.

So I recall quite clearly the sweet-sour feelings I had when in Fuji, Japan years ago, I met a young man who would have driven Monk out of an upper-floor window. Unorthodox, daring, brazen and clever, David C. Kravetz of Murray, Utah (and Arizona) put apples and oranges together... and made us all like the blend.

Public relations and promotions were things for which he had a special genius, from starting a radio station, teaching volleyball and soccer at public schools, and "our public relations work was second to none. I was privileged to spend Christmas with him, and we 'did up the town' [Fuji] with banners, leaflets, newspaper ads, publicity shots with famous people (not counting two Santa Clauses), free distribution of candy, oranges, etc. He's a real man." (The Life of Myself, page -792H)

Not to be outdone-- even by himself-- David again shows that he's still got what "it" takes.

This time, though, he is staring into the mirror to face his own demons... and has started what promises to be the epic reality show-- paring down his nearly 500-lb (227 kg) bulk in the public spotlight.

For any of us wanting to whittle off a few bulky lumps here and there, we can hardly relate to what he must be going through. For the human oddities amongst us who rubberneck a bad automobile pileup, there's plenty more of Dave (and wife Julie's) dance with demon food to be had by reading his blog footprints:

http://hmrjournal.sumoflam.biz/2007/01/25/details-details-details--some-interesting-calculations/trackback.aspx

And for the pure few who just champion success... jot him a note.

Tell him that Monk Jr. says hi.

Cheers

Vista-wrapped Dog Doo

I'm pretty opinionated when it comes to anything made by Microsoft.

And my opinion is that they suck... they 'suck BAD.'

Admittedly I have found one or two fine products they've offered over the years (e.g., PhotoDraw), but about once every month I go to use it and it informs me that I've got to insert the Install CD again... because it just vaporizes on its own.

Oh well. You get used to their non-thinking ways.

Anyway, the other day I expressed to an experienced programmer (and recovering lawyer) how I thought the brand new operating system, Vista, was simply a marketing ploy by Microsoft to convince us to love something we'd otherwise dislike. I said, "Microsoft is largely trying to solve their own piracy problems, but they've put out the spin that Vista is good for us.

"It's like they took dog doo from your yard and put it on a plate... and with the pretty girls showing a big smile and colored balloons and a brass band they try to sell us on the idea that it's really GREAT stuff!"

He promptly disagreed, citing other's opinions (e.g., the press). Yes, I was surprised that a developer-- a programmer-- someone who is knee-deep all day long in code-- wouldn't detest the stuff by now.

However, it's my studied opinion (remember, I have nearly thirty years experience delving deeply into computers, with twenty of them working the insides of a laptop running some form of Microsoft products) that he's wrong. Microsoft is ill-conceived, horribly mangled, and ill-executed... and so far, no new release has ever done more than stick Band-aid over Band-aid over Band-aid. Here's why:

1. Microsoft operating systems have always been a hideous amalgamation of mistakes cobbled together by teams who hardly speak. Their versions (95, 98, 2000 and XP) are Band-aided by patches covered by security holes covered by revised routines that should have been done right in the first place. The company never should have released a product before its time, but it's their habit to continually do so.

2. Microsoft hasn't the ability to keep a straight course-- even internally. Just look at the products they themselves release-- Microsoft products from their own hands! Note that features are never consistent. SHIFT-TAB does something in one program, and something else in another. Even their menus-- which identical features would ostensibly operate the exact same way-- are unnecessarily different, like when pressing ALT+R for Properties. You get something that happens in Word, that doesn't happen in Excel, but "something else" pops up in Project. It's a nightmare of confusion.

3. Microsoft focuses on the "pretty" and "nice" stuff-- like those Macintosh-like highlighted, glowing buttons, and screen animations fading in and out... every one stealing valuable processor time and memory. The more clever the animation, the slower operates your program.

But, gosh, I forgot... the way they address their problem, yes indeed-- like with Vista-- is to yet again force us out to buy another "modern" computer with gaggles of memory and dazzling hertzes of speed.

It's like giving a safety rating to a car by putting airbags in despite it can't steer, stop, or handle.

Bottom line is that in my opinion, Vista (which in fairness I must yet try), was NOT made to solve our problems. It was conceived, constructed, and marketed to solve Microsoft's own piracy problems by interlocking software keys, registration, distribution, and CPU authentication... stuff that they should have corrected before it left the factory in the first place. But because they tossed in some glowing buttons and animated screens, and told us Vista will be wonderful-- as long as we toss out nearly everything and every device we've gathered in the past five years to make their lumpy, chunky, herky-jerky XP function properly-- we should embrace it.

That whole concept is dog doo.

No matter that everyone is still pretty much doing the same tasks we always do (e.g., writing reports, surfing the web, balancing our checkbooks), now we have to pay more money to do the same things.

It's dog doo for the masses, but gosh, ain't that screen pretty?

Cheers!

Tools Of The Trade

While in Japan, one thing that struck me was how tradesmen (say, carpenters) carried only a few basic tools, and yet created breathtaking structures. In their little toolbox were carried only a hammer, a wood plane, a few chisels, and a saw (Japanese-style, with teeth on both sides). Day in and day out these quiet men worked with these tools, growing more proficient.

Their skills increased, not their tools.

Indeed, this was most obvious when I bought a small pair of illuminated wooden toro (lantern) that astound me to this day-- the finest cut hardwood lattices mate perfectly with the cross-pieces. There are no gaps, no flakey little bits of wood, no slathering of glue, and incredibly, no corruption of any kind. After nearly 15 years the wood has not warped or changed in any way, except, perhaps darkened as belies the hard miles we both have traveled.

The lesson I learned is contrasted with the world in which I live.

First, I would do better to stay with a "tool" (e.g., computer software, camera, some process) until I have mastered it. Second, I'd do well to remember that "ease of use" by its nature will remove a certain degree of control. In other words, I've lost the ability to grow towards perfection because an "easy" feature invalidates some honed skill I've learned.

And third, I should remember that not all things I can do with new features or new products is something I ought to be doing. I found this out when I started digitizing old vinyl record albums-- about 300 in the collection. After the first dozen, it occurred to me that the time tradeoff wasn't worth the family time I was consuming.

Thus the lesson of life: We're at our best when we work to perfect our thoughts, our attitudes, and learn to hold our tongues and tempers. We, too, have just a few tools in our tiny mental toolbox (e.g., love, language, actions, perseverance, fidelity), and so much the better for our souls-- and our relations-- if we look to perfecting ourselves through perfecting these "little" skills.

Cheers!

Half Robot, Half Human

A little while ago a friend touted loudly the features of Vonage, voice over IP (VoIP), “A better way to phone for less.” Anything had to be better than normal Qwest (non-) service, so I gave it a look.

Fully automated companies can afford to offer great prices.

Qwest advertises, “’There’s No Comparison’ [to their phone and Internet service] for under US$98 a month!” Among other things, they’re right— on the face of it there’s no comparison to a price more than twice Vonage. There’s also no comparison in services (the other half I pay is for cable internet service), as Qwest provides only 1/10th Vonage features… not to mention all the free calling to Europe and Canada (and other places), calls which if I made, Qwest would bill me with glee. So Vonage installation went smoothly, and customer support people were actually helpful around the clock. Top marks so far for Vonage.

Fully automated companies complete orders fast.

Well, many wonderful customer support people (located in India or the Philippines) hear my problem, and counsel me to simply re-enter my billing information. I again check the accuracy of my data, and yet a day later I get an automated e-mail telling me the account number is invalid. Hey, guys, my payment works just fine. There’s apparently a glitch in their billing software.

Fully automated companies are fine until you fall between the cracks.

Today, however, I determined to get as high in the Accounts Management Department as I could. Then I demanded I keep in contact the person to whom I telephoned, Kerri Hellwig. Instead of trying to slither away behind company anonymity policies “Oh, you can just call Customer Service and talk with anyone,” she first gave her e-mail address, and told me she’d lead this matter to a conclusion. Six hours later she’s kept that promise having worked on the problem all day, although we’re slated to resume in an early Monday meeting to keep going. She painted a satisfying picture of various know-it-alls sitting around a glowing computer screen, inputting my payment information, and then watching extra digits insert themselves into the data. So it wasn’t me after all.

Fully automated companies are fine until you find a real person with backbone.

[To be continued…]

Marketers Unite

Marketing is not sales. Yes, they are similar. Both are related, but the work is different.

My work as a marketing planning guy is centered on helping companies unify, codify, and operate their plans forward. Many companies have good ideas for products, but other than hopes of "just get out there and sell it" really don't know precisely how to move things forward.

That's where I come in.

I'm surely no genius, and (per the latest blog entry regarding Dr. Matsushita) I can't see forward 500 years, but at the same time, I can help these companies... by first seeing what is being done by competitors; second, by coming up with plans and directing production of support items (e.g., catalogs, websites, infomercials) to help support sales; and third, by helping them stay on track once they've decided what they will do.

That last item I find is the most important... and the first to be discarded in our current world. A unified company via a unified strategy is an unstoppable union. There is monumental strength is waking up each day and knowing, precisely, where to start chipping.

So I often help companies remove "the idea of the week" syndrome and keep them on course.

Seems this is somehow novel that someone would plan the work and then work the plan, but there it is.

MAKE it a great week!

Cheers

Long-term Planning... For A Better Society

In a conversation today with Bryant Eastham of Panasonic's Electric Works Laboratory of America (PEWLA) in Salt Lake City, I recalled a story I heard while working at Omron in Japan.

As Omron occasionally teamed technologies with companies like Panasonic, it was not unusual for us to brag a big about various personal encounters with notable and great leaders. Omron Chairman Dr. Tateishi Kazuma (1900 – 1991), with whom I spent a fair amount of time from 1986 until his death, was a dear contemporary of Panasonic's founder, Matsushita Konosuke (1894 - 1989). Since our offices were located in the Crystal Tower near Osaka Castle at Kyobashi, exactly across the street stood the Twin Towers of Panasonic (founded 1918, and also known as National, and Matsushita Electronics-- one of the world's largest electronics giants— founded by a visionary man). I've never heard this story elsewhere, so hopefully you haven't either.

As I best recall it, when Mr. Matsushita grew ill, news organizations beset Panasonic headquarters to grant interviews before the 95-year old leader passed. Newspapers, magazines, and media were granted organized access, but under the conditions that only one member of any publication was sent, that only one question was asked, and that each reporter stay no more than five minutes.

As each representative from world news organs filed into Mr. Matsushita’s hospital room, they politely asked their obligatory question, quickly scribbled the answer, and left.

The American reporter turned out to be a cub— with little experience in the world, and (from what I heard) little understanding of the greatness of the dying man before him. Yet the reporter managed to squeak out his single question,

“Sir, what are your long-term plans for the company?”

Mr. Matsushita paused for a long time before replying,

“Well… young man, do you want to hear the 500-year plan, or the 1000-year plan?”

It’s fair to say Mr. Matsushita was totally serious. I don’t know for a certainty that he indeed had a workable business strategy that actually ran to year 2989, but I can attest that Omron operated from a detailed 25-year operational plan. Every five years details were adjusted and with great fanfare 25,000 employees renewed efforts, all with a singular understanding of our work this year, next year, in ten years, and towards a better overall society through our efforts.

I've noted this vision is frequently absent in our western companies. Other than making a living, we're not focusing our efforts towards solving problems of community or society.

For example, Omron devoted a great deal of resources to solving ethical, social and philosophical position. (See http://www.jimpinto.com/commentary/omron.html#2) I recall when Omron spent millions to create Sun Taiyo, two factories created— entirely— to employ the handicapped. Each station is manned by someone whose physical challenges are minimized by customizing for their ranges of movement, and in some cases, production is improved by persons who have sharpened their senses, such as the blind woman who checked relays with her acute hearing for any signs of sticking contacts. The factories were surrounded by dormitories and included stores, supermarkets, nightclub and lounges. People who worked and lived there tearfully told how wonderful it was to actually fit into and benefit society at large with the impact they could make.

With vision, planning, and hard work, all of us can make similar impacts as did Dr. Matsushita, and Dr. Tateishi. It involves long-term follow-through, not typical wishy-washy on again/off again thinking.

Cheers! 今年も宜しく

The Eyesight of an Eagle and the Vision of a Clam

Today's headlines of Ford's violent thrashing and gasping to cope with slumping sales saddens me. It's not news, but business as usual.

While I have no love for planned obsolescence in engineering, Ford and all their Tier1's are fellow countrymen. I feel coming tensions in their marriages, see the faces of their pained children, and watch the encroaching reality of foreclosures, just because the dingleberries in management can't get it right.

I think back on my own experiences working in Asia, and wish others could see what I saw.

Let me explain...

"Tom" Tsutomu Narita of the huge international electronics company, Omron Corporation, hired me to work in Japan in 1980s. A young engineer fresh out of Brigham Young University, I had no real idea of the fortunes that lay ahead. Yes, riches and fame and success et cetera came my way during the next decade, but far more valuable were simple lessons of humanity in business. Lessons drawn from something as simple and as deep as not wantonly crushing the ant that walks past just because 'you can.'

For example, Omron experienced extremely hard times in the mid- and late 1980s. The worldwide depression downturns lasted for years. My western experience told me to worry about being laid off. Omron still sold around US$1Billion annually, but profit margins ranged from 1% to 3% for many heart-stopping quarters.

But President Yoshio Tateishi (also written Tateisi) with founder and aged Chairman Kazuma Tateishi stated that "ALL would stay– workers were as family. As the company fared, so would all," they said.

So I became part of an astounding show of support.

When 25,000+ workers in 40 factories around the world making over 100,000 electronic products showed their sincere appreciation by putting 'shoulders to the wheel’ with voluntary overtime, extra-mile service, ZERO defects (not a concept-- a reality), and even sometimes foregone paychecks, Omron prospered, becoming the 10th to 15th largest company in Japan.

Oh yes, we invested– gladly– to support the leaders who similarly cared for us.

Smirk all you like, but it happened because we felt loved, wanted, and valued... and somewhat secure. Times were rough but virtually no one was cut. And so everyone worked smarter AND harder, and results arrived.

Back to Ford for a moment longer: For those mis-trained in western ways of quarterly profits, easy layoffs, middle-management house-cleaning (and the idiotic practice of asking high-school-grade dimwits to run HR), all I can say is companies reap what they sow. In business, Ford's laughable 'Bold Moves' show that Americans often have the eyesight of an eagle and the vision of a clam. It's not about CARS, people, it's about PEOPLE, people.

The lesson is this: “Human Resources” isn’t a euphemism.

Tom Narita showed how to treat employees right, and I wish we'd dare make such bold moves in our culture.

Cheers

XTree, XTreeGold, XTreePro, and now ZTree... For Me

With the new year, it's official-- I've been using a laptop for 20 years!

When Toshiba introduced the first J-3100 series computer (with a 10MB hard drive), I didn't care how much it cost... I had to have one. I'd spurned the first IBM laptop (junk), and the Wang laptop (compatibility issues), so my desire was ripe. And my intuition was right-- despite the $7,000 price tag, that laptop changed my life.

October 1987 a friend from Germany introduced me to XTree, a powerful disc maintenance program that allowed all kinds of DOS disc operations. Keep in mind that at the time, the normal process to copy a single file required an exact string "at the C prompt" that looked something like C:\>copy c:\whattheflip a:\*.* /-n

Yes, I've seen a few changes over the years.

But the other day I discovered that my former power-tool still lived! ZTree aced Windows in the same way XTree aced the DOS operating system. The new ZTree delighted me to the point I installed the trial version, but contacted Kim Henkel (khenkel@zedtek.com) and bought it within hours.

Impossible to detail everything ZTree does, but believe me, it's an amazing program-- and even more earth-shattering and necessary than it was 20 years ago. Like you, I hate it when Billy Freakin Gates tells me with goofy popup window, "Whoah little fellah! You can't do that!" ZTree allows me to blow right past normal Windows limitations of all kinds as if I were in control.

What a concept.

For example, in a classic case of "Where'd I put that??" today I had to locate an important file in which I'd written the word "SymbianOS." But I wasn't certain where I'd written it, or under what conditions. So I wasn't sure what to open. The obvious suspects were MSWord documents, Notepad, WordPerfect 5.1 text-based processing files, but I also could have made a note in Excel, my appointment calendar, any of my five databases, as an embedded note in a jpg photograph, or even in the 1980s program TornadoNotes (aka InfoSelect).

It would have taken me hours to open two dozen user programs, and then "search" specific directories for files. In short, I was screwed. But oh yeah! ZTree to the rescue!

In less than three minutes (that's 180 seconds, stupid MicroSloth), I "tagged" 500 to 800 files in two or three suspect directories, and with one command search-examined every file irrespective of formatting, for any occurence of 'Symb' --and found exactly one. The one I sought by three minutes of complete control.

Most Windows sheep cringe when they hear the "ding" and see the little Windows "ERROR!" popup message. Mr. Gates has them cowed. But for those of us with an endlessly enquiring mind, who know something CAN be done, ZTree is not just another new shiny chrome wrench in your toolbox. It's puts a very godlike power in your hand.

Check out ZTree in a sample download at http://www.ztree.com/

My tip is to pay attention to the menu screen at the bottom. Note that the menu selections change when pushing CTRL or ALT. The power of this program might take you a while to master, but keep at it.

Trust me: After 20 years of using it, I can verify that it's worth every moment of your time.

And if you start using it today, by the year 2027 your blog will squeal about it, too.

Cheers!