While having my morning coffee, I overheard a man talking to the waiter:
“I married two sisters. No, really. My first wife caught me with her sister. [Meditatively.] Who do you think is worse: the husband who sleeps with his sister-in-law, or the sister who sleeps with her sister’s husband?”
…there’s a novel in there somewhere…but probably not the sort I would enjoy writing!
I began travelling for work when my daughter Rossella was in preschool. Sometimes I went for extended periods, and took her with me; she attended daycare in several different parts of the US, which was good for her English, and gave her exposure to American culture. For shorter trips, she stayed home in Milan with Enrico, who is a very good father and fully competent to take care of his daughter.
The mothers of Ross’ preschool classmates weren’t convinced of this, however.
“I’m off to California for two weeks,” I would announce.
Collective gasp:”Who will take care of Rossella?”
“She does have a father,” I would respond, amused.
One of Ross’ teachers told me a story to illustrate just how incompetent fathers could be: a father one morning had to get his daughter up and dressed for school. She arrived neat, clean, and nicely dressed in a blouse and skirt. But, to the teachers’ shock, lacking underwear.
Years ago, we visited Enrico’s cousins in Montecchio Maggiore, a small town near Verona. We went to see the local attractions, the castles of Romeo and Juliet (yes, the original Romeo and Juliet), up on two small hills above the town. Riding in the car with us was Claudia, a very intelligent ten-year-old, who had noticed that lots of Americans come to Italy as tourists.
“Why do they come here?” she asked. “What do they get here that they can’t get at home?”
“Well,” I explained, “America is a very young country. They don’t have the millennia of history, the buildings, art, and so on, that you have in Italy. So they like to come and see it here.”
“Ah,” said Claudia thoughtfully. “You mean they come here because of a lack of culture in their own country?”
… if that’s the right term. I’ve been doing something online for about years now, but I’m not sure what to call it. Is it marketing? Customer service? Tech support? It’s hard to define because it partakes of all of these – and that’s a clue to what makes it effective. My resumé lists the details of what I’ve been doing; more explanations and thoughts are here, and on the other pages in this section (links on the left).
The Making of an Online Career
I first heard about the Cluetrain Manifesto from a customer who thought my style a good example of how a company could put the manifesto into practice. Which is a great compliment, since I had evolved this style based on what I felt was right for the company and comfortable for me personally. But, from a corporate point of view, what’s the ROI in riding the Cluetrain? The Cluetrain site doesn’t provide any case studies.
Brand New Branding: “Forget what you knew about branding. The Web changes everything. Four experts explain how and why” – Darwin magazine, July 2001
scott bedbury: “The Web has increased the consuming public’s ability to rant or rave about a company or service. Smart companies now recognize the necessity of being responsive to the criticisms, in real-time, and of making sure the brand is consistent€”and is as good as it can be€”wherever it shows up, and even after the sale has been made. The tools the salespeople use to sell it, public relations efforts and follow-up customer service all must reflect brand values and impart a consistent brand image. ”
regis mckenna: “The Internet is not a broadcast medium like television. It is much more of a service medium in which you allow people to interact and exchange information with you. ”
john hagel: “…they’d think, ‘No product is perfect. You mean my customers are going to talk with each other about my product’s flaws?’ Then I would say, ‘I’ll go on the Web and find at least five discussion forums where people are actively discussing your products and services.’ The point is, this is not a choice. It is going to happen. The only choice you have is how to participate in that discussion.”
© 2001 Darwin magazine
Unless you’re a horsey type, you may never have heard of this sport, though it’s now an Olympic event (in most countries it’s hard to get full TV coverage of equestrian events even at the Olympic level). Classic dressage is so quiet and dignified that you don’t realize how hard it is: the horse walks, trots, and canters precise figures, and shows off fancy paces, while the rider doesn’t appear to be doing much at all.
Dressage to music is an update for our stimulus-craving age. The movements and figures are the same, but are choreographed to music. Choosing the music turns out to be a complicated business: as explained on a site I found (no longer available), you have to find pieces that suit your horse’s paces and your own style, without getting on the judges’ nerves. And you have to put together a medley to cover at least the three basic tempos of walk, trot, and canter. This should ideally be done with some musical judgement and skill, and I found several sites offering to do it as a service. One site comments: “I now do all the mixing on computer and output to CD, which is 100 times easier [than tape] – don’t quite know how I managed before.”
I would love to see a live competition of dressage to music, but so far I have only seen the video of last year’s world championship finals. The athleticism and grace of the pairs was exhilarating to watch, but I was disappointed in the music: mostly tinkly versions of soft pop music (Neil Diamond must make a fortune every year in royalties from sporting events). It’s the kind of music so calculated to offend nobody that it grates considerably on my nerves, and must irritate the judges as well, if they have any musical sensibility at all.
After a number of these irritations, it was the turn of a pair from Germany: a robust gentleman with an impressive mustache, and his muscular stallion. As they entered the arena, a very different music swelled out: Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath”. I would have given them the prize on musical taste alone. The judges, alas, didn’t see it my way: second place went to a jarring mishmash of pseudo-Greek movie tunes (Zorba, Never on Sunday), and the music the first-place winners used was so unmemorable that I’ve completely forgotten what it was!
