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