Personal Thoughts Archive

Yesterday, I spent the day in Philadelphia at Supernova 2010, and enjoyed the people that came. My greatest challenge came from the topics that occurred later in the day, which covered areas on social media (having to do with will SM save media), policy and small business. The topics, while relevant in some fashion, were somewhat the same as I have seen everywhere else. Lots of great rules for engagement, conversations on well-worn case studies, and a couple of gems of details I enjoyed to learn about (e.g. I have not heard about the extent of @twelpforce until this panel).

But what got me spurred the most had more to do with the last panel:

Crossing the Abyss
Allan Frank (City of Philadelphia), Chris Lehmann (Science Leadership Academy), Brad Garlinghouse (AOL)
Organizations that thrived in the prior era will not necessarily succeed in the Network Age. Yet the inertia of established practices, incentives, and culture is extremely powerful. If an organization needs to transform, how can it determine the proper path, and what does it take to achieve real, sustainable change?(emphasis mine)

While the conversation with Brad was enjoyable (hearing about AOL and Yahoo! and the Second Acts), I appreciated the stories, but wanted to hear (in this panel) some suggestions on how to achieve real, sustainable change (see above). When Chris and Allan joined the panel, there were great details on what was wrong and what was needed, but little in what works and what are the next great achievements to drive this change.

I personally got frustrated with the litany of problems that were enumerated and the demands that were to be made - as if there were infinite resources and it could be an instantaneous change that could occur in our schools, our governments and our corporations to bring about the successes we seek. But sorry guys, coming from a ABD PhD, gratification and change comes about slowly and often imperceptibly until the critical mass occurs and then all follow due to the standards of human nature. The question is - how to we determine that path to achieve that change?
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What is a guy to say when his own President suggests that children take responsibility for their own lives and future? I mean, REALLY! - take responsibility? Where are we living now - in America? Pluh-leeze!

You can read the entire speech here (thanks Jesse!). A few excerpts:

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

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I have been watching the coverage of the passing of “The Lion” and thought of the two times I met the man.

Back in 2003, where I had joined the Kerry Campaign, we were in the DC office working away - and with the Dean Campaign having waves of good press and momentum, our office felt somewhat like a dead man walking. When JK brought on Mary-Beth Cahill, the office had an almost “game-over” feel - and suddenly, we were brought into the main conference room for a “meeting”.

As we were milling about in the room, suddenly - this enormous personality walked in with two dogs. I had never met Senator Kennedy before - and from television and other appearances, I assumed him to be a tall man like JK. This man was jovial, enthusiastic and here to raise our spirits.

He gave one of his patented “Kennedy speeches” which was designed to lift our spirits. And, truthfully, it did.

It is a shame to see a man with his legacy of service pass - but it is an honor to his memory that we commit to his work and carry on - beyond the short time he was with us on the earth.

by Tom Tomorrow

What has me thinking is - where is the direct impacting investments?

Why did the Cash for Clunkers not actually be directed for better gas-mileage, lower polluting cars versus just any car?

Why has the TARP investment now not focused the energies on freeing credit for small business and rather resolving the issues of the accounting rules to ensure solvency?

Why does the Fed allow for big banks to borrow at incredibly low rates, but charge exorbitant rates on small and medium size business loans? An article in the Financial Times on August 2nd had me thinking about how the bigger banks are leveraging their position in the market where they are the gatekeepers to the American market for small and medium sized businesses and consumers.

The sad part is - with their need to generate profits - are they forgetting that the situation that is being created is still driving to an imbalance that will need to be rectified?

Will someone please stand up and point this out - without the usual partisan rhetoric?

When will the situation turn around?

Again, I am amazed at the mainstream media’s preoccupation of the “Craigslist Killer” - as if the website itself was the birth of this psychopath’s actions. I loved Craig’s response to the ABC Nightline report:

“My first reaction is sympathy, I mean I feel pretty bad for the victims and their families. I don’t like it at all. Beyond that, well, how would you feel if … the bad guy watched what you do on TV and started calling [you] the ‘ABC Killer?’ That’s pretty much how I’m reacting,” Newmark said. “It just feels bad. You know, remember, I’m spending a great deal of time here fighting bad guys.”

Creating the name for this killer using the media source that the victim may have come from is almost as silly as it is stupid.

I can only wonder what will happen if someone swindles the members of a high-end dating site - and we will then hear about the “JDate Swindler” or the “A Small World Con Man” or whatever. Or what if someone uses a GM car to go to the commissioning of a crime? Will we be calling the bank robber “The Buick BadGuys”?

Can the MSM get over the anger it has for Craigslist and focus on building its own business model? I know that Criagslist is encroaching on the tried and true model (Newspapers Brace for Ad Battle as Craigslist Grows, NPR) Focusing on what is essentially a very simple, community-managed web site that has grown from a simple email list to a trusted, community managed source of content is nothing to be attacking. The newspapers ALWAYS had a chance to be here - and could still be here as other magazines and newspapers are doing (like The Village Voice BackPage and the New York Times).

Stop being fearful and be aggressive. Focus on building - not on bemoaning about the “death of newspapers”. We will always need newspapers - an editorial voice with the money to have the best reporters and researchers protecting our rights - and we, the people, will pay for that to happen. Especially when we need an aggregator of all of the events in out world to resolve what is “important” and what is “noise”.

Be the leaders, not the whiners. Please.

Reading the articles these past 12 hours and wanted to say, I have to agree with many of the people’s opinions extolling the selection of Aneesh Chopra as the new CTO of the Obama Administration including Tim O’Reilly and Alan Davidson. To quote Tim:

“Aneesh Chopra is a rock star. He’s a brilliant, thoughtful change-maker. He knows technology, he knows government, and he knows how to put the two together to solve real problems. We couldn’t do better. “

I, myself, have also been knee-deep in various Government 2.0 projects in recent weeks, and must admit in the wisdom of having someone who understands both technology and government bureaucracy.

In one of my engagements, I met with a number of CIOs, deputy CIOs and other members of the technology community of a large Northeastern state, and I was encouraged by the restrained frustration they felt in wanting to do new things, but were concerned about the bureaucracy that they all felt might hamstring their progress. My most poignant story came from one of the project managers who described their outreach program for helping citizens with insurance issues, and when we discussed the idea of “crowdsourcing“, he rightly introduced me to the legal issues that a state government might face with information coming from a government source that may or may not be correct.

In the Government 2.0 Camp event in DC last month, there were some incredible people from the IRS that have really stretched the horizon working on building a community that will expand the reach of services, but always have to be cognizant of the constraints of the law and mission of their organization.

And at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco earlier this month, Andrew McLaughlin described the issues that the government faces when attempting to address the need for transparency while maintaining the safety and security of the nation.

In all cases, the need for an understanding of the bureaucratic lay-of-the-land is paramount in the largest business organization on the planet. While he may not have a technical background (his degrees are in public policy), I wish him nothing but the best in resolving the many issues he has to face.

Chief Performance Officer

One thing that may be overlooked in most stories is the announcement of Jeffrey Zients as Chief Performance Officer - a role which I have become intimately familiar with over the past five years. When you place a CIO with a CTO, the CIO’s role is often to deal with the budgetary issues of the organization, changing policies that govern the business practices within an organization. The CTO (in a startup) usually focuses on new technologies and is supposed to be familiar with the issues that can make or break a product direction - in the case of government, the goal is to understand the issues that will shape the public policies that can affect the infrastructure of the nation as a whole.

But the role of CTO and CIO rarely has any performance metrics on them - aside from revenue and costs - how to make money (grow the GDP) or to save money (reduce the costs within the organization). In the case of a CIO of such a large organization, someone must take the lead in understanding other secondary and tertiary benefits for optimization in the long run. TO this, I am happy to see someone had the forethought to consider this role.

Best of luck to the team.

This morning, I got down to New Work City (a coworking space I am a co-founder of) and met with the Mayor of New Work City, Tony Bacigalupo and headed to 160 Varick Street - home of a new incubator that was being spearheaded by NYU-Poly, the NYC Economic Development Corporation and other interested parties (including the real estate developer Trinity, which is one of the oldest real estate developers in the City).

I joined Tony at the space because we were part of the effort that helped bring together a bunch of other space providers (think Regus but different) that had come together to offer the City an alternative to building incubators, without first considering what some entrepreneurial space developers had already formed for small businesses in NYC. The coalition (known as Coalition of Space Providers) came together and is currently made up of providers from:

• eEmerge from SL Green Properties
• TechSpace
• Sunshine Suites
• nutopia
• New Work City
• GreenDesk
• Work Space Offices from Edison Properties

Check out the press releases and articles on the efforts:

• EDC Website News
• Press Release
• WSJ: Bloomberg To Help Ex-Wall Street Execs Start New Firms
• CNN: $45 million to help laid-off Wall Streeters
• AP: NYC launches program to encourage entrepreneurs

You will see more about the COSP and their efforts at http://www.bootupnyc.com.

From a mutual Democratic friend, David Rose:

Sent by my brother on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day. And wishing all of my readers a Happy Thanksgiving.

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Yesterday, I pulled out of my mailbox a couple of letters - and one of them came from GE Money Bank looking somewhat ominous. The letter started out innocuous enough, thanking me for being a valued customer at a particular department store. And then it went on to say:

Based on a recent review of your credit history, we have decided to lower your credit limit to $100. Your account remains open and available for use, subject to the new credit limit and will continue to be periodically reviewed.

Now, truthfully, the department store is one I rarely go to (as evidenced by the reasons provided by Equifax which included “# trades active in last six months” - and they had pressed the signup of the credit card on me - but it brought back a conversation with one of my business partners on how the bailout was progressing - and how, like the Surge in Iraq, there were no terms/strings associated with the increased support.

The one case he brought up was about American Express. Amex is asking for $3.5B from the Federal Government to address defaults to their business, and to become a bank. Amex, as was explained in the article,

American Express relied on packaging pools of credit card debt and selling them to investors in the securitization market. As investors have shied away from purchasing all but the safest forms of debt, the market for credit card-backed securities has dwindled.

But, in speaking with friends who are running small and medium-sized businesses have found their own credit-lines cut off from Amex. Now, it may not seem like much, but these credit lines are the life-blood of any small business - especially since these companies require a line of credit to carry them through the delays other accounts payable need to resolve. Heck, even my clients need to get their payments to me with delays (since their customers are delayed), and so I also need a line of credit at times.

Where are the strings?

If the Federal Government just hands over the cash to Amex without ensuring that the money is effectively used to help the consumer and small/medium sized business owner, then what are we doing? The frozen credit markets hurt us all the way down here - when we need to make purchases, keep our businesses afloat - and by only focusing on the banks hording cash (as the article is suggesting)

The credit card company now has access to financing from the Fed and the ability to grow a large deposit base.

the Federal Government is enabling banks to choke the mainstay of the American economy - small businesses.

Please Mr. Treasury Secretary, look out for the little guys and make sure that Amex (and the other banks) do not just focus on their bottom lines - they should be thinking like any other sustainable and responsible business does - thinking about the impact they have on their local economies, and their potential for damage when hiding from the storm.

The Great Depression was locked in place for so many years due to government inaction and the fear the large corporates had when they held onto their reserves. If we do not mandate a process where corporates are required to put the money directly into action within the economy, we will find ourselves in even worse trouble.