Ah, the Management Double Standard
It's the Friday before Christmas and it's time for my company's annual holiday party. For last year's party we had an evening event at a comedy club. Everyone brought their significant others. Dinner was served. Awards were handed out. Drinks were served. Everyone watched the show and had a good time.

Now 2003 was in no way a terrible year for our company; we pretty much held our ground. And all indicators are that 4Q will come in pretty good and that 2004 will be a VERY good year.

Around late October, however, word spread that the Imperial President didn't want to have as large a party budget this year since things were "tight". And sometimes you need to cut back on things to beef up the bottom line, even if it's only a little.

So a few weeks ago we all got email invitations for a work-day event (no spouses) where we are going....bowling. Yes, you are reading that right. The office is heading to a nearby bowling alley for a little holiday party (essentially giving us half a day off). Teams have been arranged by function, so there is a sales & marketing team, an accounting team, etc. Sounds like fun!

Now, there is nothing wrong with bowling. I shoot an occasional frame now and then, but it is just a bit of a change from last year. Makes me wonder what raises will be like in February, but sometimes sacrifice is needed for the good of the Company.

THEN I got an invitation for another, separate event: There is a DOUBLE SECRET HOLIDAY PARTY next week for the President and senior staff next week. This function will take place at a local country club, spouses are invited, and dinner will be served. It wasn't stated, but certainly implied, not to say anything about it to the hoi polloi residing in the cube farm.

Is there a lesson here? Well, it certainly sucks not to be in management. There might be another, but I can't figure out what it is...

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:15 AM (Permalink)
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Marcomm Hints
I got the following email today from a fellow marketing manager whose company is about to get funded:

What are some of the strategies you use to raise the awareness of your company and the product or service you sell? Currently I own outbound product marketing. I've been doing the monthly PR and getting our editorial calendar for 04 lined up and also tradeshow/conference track. But, what else can I really do to get some good lead generation and excitement about our company?

This area would fall under the area of Market Communications, which is not my particular specialty, but I worked with one of the best in the industry - I'll call her Cal Blonde (she would appreciate this appellation and unfortunately does not blog).

Cal Blonde and I worked together with Rorschach at a start-up that blew through $15MM in two rounds. We had INCREDIBLE visibility and awareness - over 100 articles were published on our company within our first 18 months of existence. Our competitors couldn't announce a product without us being quoted in the article. So how did our Marcomm Manager do this?

1. Have an Easily Understood Vision - One of Cal Blonde's strengths was that she was NOT an engineer, but worked at an engineering company. So when the geeks like the engineers and marketing people ran up and told her about the electron noise level of our particular widget, she would give us a blank stare and say "So what!"

Low electron noise level is not a vision. How many wanuzits or klampters you have on your gizmo is not a vision. You need a vision that is easily understood and gives benefit to the layman.

Part of this, of course, is spin. The layman doesn't care or understand the difference between 802.11a vs. 802.11g and which one has the fastest bit rates. What he cares about is FAST, WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY ALLOWING YOU TO DOWNLOAD MOVIES TO YOUR LAPTOP WHILE ON YOUR PATIO! You get the picture.


1a. Be First - Oh yes, you need to be out there first with your vision. If you just copy someone else's vision, you are a "me too" and will always be in the shadow of the leader. That was another reason we were quoted in press articles on our competitors: we were the leader. So if a competitor announced something, we would be asked what we thought, and we just did a big Yaaawwwn. Been there. Done that. Ended up killing that project since the parts sucked. Nothing else will infuriate your competitors as much.

But here's the main point: by being first with a unique vision, you set the tone of your industry and the benchmarks others will be measured against.

And if you're not first? You will have problems creating buzz. Figure out what you ARE first in, and see if you can spin that into a compelling vision that is easy to sell.

By the way, this is why so many companies announce "vapor ware". The need to be first with an announcement is more important than it actually being ready. Remember: perception is reality so if you announce first, and ship second, it is the perception that you led with the announcement that will be remembered.


2. Make it Easy for Your Trade Press - I am talking specifically about the technical trade press, and let me tell you something: technical reporters are NOT technical. Part of it is just the sheer scope of "technology", which covers too many markets for one person to understand well.

We were very careful to spoon feed the press people on our market, our products and our technology. We kept it simple and at high level what the benefits of our product were (see Vision above). Once they had that down, they would just copy what we gave them for the details on klampters and wanuzits.


3. Be a Source of Info for the Press - in other words, network with the important press people in your area. If there is a particular reporter that covers your space, identify him/her and keep them up to date on what is going on in your market, even if you are not involved in the story. What you want to become is a primary source to this person for your particular market so they start calling you up for quotes when your competitors announce something, or find out something you didn't know.


4. Ditto #3 for Analysts - If you have any analysts that cover your particular product space, make sure to befriend them and become a source of info. Analysts can have amazing influence on deciding who is "hot" for a particular product. (For those of you outside of tech, there are investment banks and research companies that follow technology trends).


The whole idea of these little pointers is to keep having your company name come up in the press and analyst reports. When it does, you WILL get hits to your web site asking for info, and I don't think I have to tell you what to do there. It's a long, drawn out process, but if you have an easily understood vision that creates excitement, it really isn't that difficult.

Then, of course, there is the standard Marcomm stuff you should keep up and do - advertising (if appropriate), tradeshows, etc. Here is a standard slide I throw up on this which you might find helpful as well and is self explanatory.




Rorschach, you have any other inputs? Maybe we can get Cal Blonde to give some additional insight?


posted by Director_Mitch @ 4:43 PM (Permalink)
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More Funding For Virtual Keyboards
I first stumbled across "virtual keyboard" technology over a year ago while researching emerging markets. This is one of those technologies that I just think "cool" when I see it. It consists of displaying a keyboard through a laser beam. As you type, sensors pick up your movement and input the corresponding data into your device - cellphone, PDA, laptop, etc.



There are several companies working on this, but Canesta is one of the better known start-ups and just landed more funding.

The technology is currently buggy and has a ways to go before being a mass market feature, but I think this is promising technology since it follows several of my rules of consumer electronics . Namely, it replaces moving parts (keys, input buttons) with electronic input and increases portability and integration. In addition, I think data input technology hasn't kept up with data output technology. We have flat panel displays and high resolution microdisplays, but the mechanical QWERTY keyboard is still the basic template for nearly all input.

There will be several consumer acceptance roadblocks, such as the "feedback" you receive from buttons as you type, and the increasingly important ergonomic issues with repetitive stress, but I think by the end of the decade this will be an accepted technology, most likely in applications we have no clue about today.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 8:39 AM (Permalink)
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"Selector" Time
A couple of "Selector" quizzes have been making the blogging rounds: one for Presidential candidate, one for philosopher. What I can't understand is why the two for me don't exactly match (i.e. my top presidential candidate would not have the same philosopher rankings as me).

No surprise for president. The first 4 (including my "theoretical") would be how I would rank them. After that it is down hill and probably not statistically significant.

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Bush, President George W. - Republican (87%)
3. Libertarian Candidate (50%)
4. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (42%)
5. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (38%)
6. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (36%)
7. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (35%) WHO is this?!?!
8. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (35%)
9. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (25%)
10. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (12%)
11. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (12%)
12. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (9%)
13. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (4%)

I was a little surprised about the philosophy rankings, but I had a tough time with some of the questions. I tend to separate philosophy from religion, which is probably why Kant went up so high, and why I wouldn't match Bush's picks.

1. Kant (100%)
2. Jean-Paul Sartre (99%)
3. Ayn Rand (96%)
4. John Stuart Mill (93%)
5. Epicureans (83%)
6. Jeremy Bentham (80%)
7. Prescriptivism (76%)
8. Nietzsche (73%)
9. Aquinas (66%)
10. Aristotle (66%)
11. David Hume (62%)
12. Spinoza (60%)
13. Ockham (60%)
14. Plato (57%)
15. St. Augustine (57%)
16. Stoics (56%)
17. Cynics (41%)
18. Thomas Hobbes (41%)

No surprise Hobbes is on the bottom.

One thing that is interesting is how this list has changed over the course of my life. It would be a different list 10 years ago, so I assume there would be some additional changes in a few more years. Somthing about age and wisdom, I think.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:35 PM (Permalink)
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I Thought There Was Only One That Keeps Getting Mailed Around
It must be Christmas season if fruitcake articles and jokes start making the rounds. A pretty good fruitcake write-up is over at Early Passions with links to jokes, their history, you name it.


posted by Director_Mitch @ 5:07 PM (Permalink)
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Hey, Save a Bundle, Hire Me for Only 10%
From the Wall Street Journal today on the compensation package for Motorola's new CEO:

Mr. Zander, already worth about $100 million, will be well rewarded at Motorola, according to two people familiar with his compensation package: a $1.5 million base salary, a target annual bonus of about $2 million, and a hiring bonus of just under $2 million to be paid in cash and restricted-stock units. In his first year he also will receive more than two million stock options and about 350,000 restricted-stock units.

Look, pay me 10% of what you were going to give him and throw in a nice company car and you can have the WINDOW MANAGER running your company.

What are you laughing at?

posted by Director_Mitch @ 2:41 PM (Permalink)
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The Dance Begins
I have posted several times about unsoliticited job leads. One of the first ones, back in early November, is just now moving forward.

As a recap, I called the Senior VP (SVP) of a competitor/customer ("coopetitor") about a potential business deal. He wasn't interested, but asked me for my resume. He called back two weeks later and said someone should be calling me.

That was mid-November.

By early December I had really given up on the lead, and conversations with Mrs. Director indicated she was not willing to relocate to this particular location, so it looked like I would have to drop it anyway. Since they never called, and I couldn't move, I left it at that.

On Monday, I finally received a call from the hiring manager and we had a quick chat. It took only five minutes to figure out I am an excellent fit for this particular position. I talked myself up, sounded excited about the position, and told the manager I had to talk to my wife about relocating before moving forward (note: I already knew she didn't want to move, but wanted to string him out for negotiation). I told him I would call back on Tuesday.

I waited until the end of the day Tuesday and called him, sounding upset. The wife didn't want to move, and although I sounded perfect for job, it wasn't going to happen unless they let me work from where I am in SoCal...

"Do you want me to look into that?", he asked.

"Is it possible?" I replied. "The job also requires a bit of travel, so it's not like I would be in the office all the time anyway."

"We have a sales office in your area, so it may be possible. Let me check it out and get back to you."


So I am waiting to hear back from him. This is by no means a slam dunk, and he could always come back and say "it isn't going to happen", but I have him at least looking at the possibility, which is a move in the right direction.

I also have a phone interview with another company on Monday. They are in SoCal, but would give me a LONG commute. The strategy is to get both of these opportunities moving forward so I have two bidders by late January, although that may be a bit optimistic.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 8:57 AM (Permalink)
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I Knew Money Would Win This Argument
But good news indeed: Jackson to Film "Hobbit" , prequel to Lord of the Rings.

The article states that the current Gandalf (Ian McKellen) would be used, but it does not mention if the "Bilbo" in the Fellowship (first movie) would be the same. Ian Holm is already 72, and if the movie is not made for a couple of years, he may be too old, or not last the part. My guess is they get another, younger Bilbo to play the part.

Since Jackson is making another remake of King Kong, I assume we won't see this for a few years.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:30 PM (Permalink)
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Hey, Cardinal, Don't You Have Some Internal Problems To Worry About?
While I criticized a singer for making a political statement while an invitee to a Vatican concert, I don't have any problem criticizing the Catholic church in an appropriate setting, like here.

Apparently one of the Cardinals feels pity and compassion for Saddam after seeing his medical exam on television. Maybe the Cardinal is okay with the slaughter of 100s of 1000s of people as long as they are Muslim, or he would be expressing compassion for their fate, not the executioner. In addition, I think he has bigger problems with rapists in his own organization and needs to feel some compassion about their victims before feeling pity for a deposed mass murderer.

Remember, Cardinal, compassion starts at home, and you have your own victims you need to be worrying about.

Update: Apparently I am not the only person pissed off by his statement - lots of Catholics and non-Catholics alike are blogging away at this.

Another Update (5 days later): The Vatican is now saying that the Cardinal was expressing his personal views and not the Church's

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:13 PM (Permalink)
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Yeah, THIS Will Change by Habits
Consumer Group Seeks Nutrition labels on Alcohol

Yeah, I am really concerned whether I am getting my RDA of vitamin D and E when I am pouring myself a martini.

Okay, in all seriousness they are asking for alcohol content, which is already included as "proof" on nearly all liquor (although not on all products, like beer), and calories, which are on some beers (lite versions), but not liquor.

This is one of those deals that will make the people pushing it feel better, but won't have any effect on, well, anything. I don't think people are going to change their drinking habits if there is suddenly ANOTHER label with calories to go with the general warning that is already required on alcohol.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:01 PM (Permalink)
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Two Minute Review of Two Movies
My wife gave me two afternoon passes from the Jr. Director to see movies this weekend. Saturday: Master and Commander. Sunday: Last Samurai

M&C - I am not familiar with the books the movie is based on, although I have read a similar series about a soldier (rather than a sailor) named Sharpe who has all sorts of adventures during the Napoleonic wars. Since I enjoy these little historical novels, I was excited about seeing M&C.

The movie has some interesting history, great battle sequences, and I thought Crowe did a good job, but the pacing of the movie was a bit slow. Some professional viewers stated that this is simply the pace of a sailboat during the early 1800s, which the director was trying to convey, but it didn't work for me. And I could predict which guys would end up dead after the main battle. I give it 3.5 out of five stars.


Samurai - This movie had more plot material that bugged me, but I actually enjoyed it more since it had a better pace and much better fight sequences (I am sooooo American - I picked the movie with more action over the one that would give me more time to think).

Again, many professional reviewers have remarked on the Dances with Wolves aspect of the movie, and there is a not-so-thin layer of PC involved in the plot (killing of Indians = bad, Custer was a megalomaniac, people are happier in a simple agrarian society over a industrialized one, etc.).

The REAL thing that bugged me is that the "honorable" society that the Japanese "traditionalists" in the movie were trying to protect was a feudalistic society where the laborers at the bottom were no better than serfs. The reason the Samurai would resist change is that they were at the top of this feudal food chain, controlling all land, goods, and the people that farmed the land. By industrializing the army, it made a peasant equal to a samurai in arms, so the samarai rebellian had nothing to do with "honor". (A real good look at Japanese feudal society is seen in the book Shogun, by James Clavell, which is an outstanding read).

Anyway, if you put these little historical niceties aside, the movie was pretty good and I would give it four out of five stars.

So both were "good" movies, but I would call neither "great". Of course the movie I *REALLY* want to see is LOTR, which is going to blow both of these other guys out of the water.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 4:42 PM (Permalink)
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Can't Her Aides Even Read My Message?
A couple of months ago, I decided to send Senator Feinstein a letter via her website about a resolution on the Ukrainian Genocide that was up in the Senate. I thought it a waste of time, but thought I would see what I got in response.

I got my response today, and it appears they didn't even read my letter. Here is what I got in response via email:

Feinstein Aide (as Senator Feinstein): Thank-you for writing to me about the current state of United States foreign policy. I appreciate your letter and welcome the opportunity to respond.
Director Mitch: My note was about the Senate resolution condemning the Soviet Union for the 1933-34 Ukrainian Genocide. So this isn't exactly "current".

FA: Please know that as the United States Senate continues its work in the 108th Congress, I will closely monitor the Bush Administration's foreign policy agenda. The views of my constituents are important to me and I will keep your letter in mind when the Senate debates foreign policy.
DM: Hey, #$%, I don't want 100 senators butting their noses in on foreign policy. That the President's job and it's going great.

FA: For your information, I am including a copy of a recent speech I made on U.S. foreign policy.
DM: Gee, thanks, just what I wanted, some anti-Bush screed from November made by a senator who has no clue about foreign policy.


So this speech is called: Unilateralism and Preemption: A Flawed Doctrine

You can guess what it says without me telling you. Rather pathetic. I wrote a nasty email back saying that they had not even read my email, that I SUPPORT unilateralism and preemption since anything else would make the U.S. weaker and increase the chances of my family being blown up.

Pathetic.


posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:07 PM (Permalink)
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Didn't Her Parents Teach Her Any Manners?
When you are invited to someone's house, you don't insult the host. It's just simple courtesy and respect. And if I were invited to some flaming Dean supporter's house for a social function, I would not go around telling him and his other guests that he is some sort of wacko as soon as I walked in the door. If I had a problem with his views, I could always turn down the invitation.

This is why I think this person is a total scumbag for denouncing the Catholic church during a concert where she was singing. If she doesn't like the Catholic church, that's fine, she should have turned down the invitation. But to accept the invitation and then to shout out that her hosts have "moral corruption, exploitation and abuse" is simply wrong. It shoes real lack of character and class, and she actually points the finger at herself for willing to exploit her invitation (whether paid or not, which the article doesn't say and is irrelevant).

In fact, she acted like what many people consider to be a stereotypical American - loud and boisterous of her own views while totally ignorant of the aspects of common decency. Whether you agree with her is irrelevant - she was invited to sing at a Christmas concert. If she has political/social commentary, there are appropriate venues for that.

I hope any future employers take this into consideration when thinking about hiring her.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 2:12 PM (Permalink)
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Bush's Press Conference
I have Bush's conference playing in one ear while I am doing email this morning. While focusing on Saddam's capture, there have been other questions ranging from withholding military contracts from countries that didn't participate in the coalition (as I predicted, Bush is holding firm on that) to Dean's assertion that Bush had foreknowledge of the 9-11 attacks (he said it was absurd).

I can't say how he is coming off on the tube, but over the air he is doing quite an impressive job.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 8:53 AM (Permalink)
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Odds Just Went Up on Bush
I am not a Sunday morning talking-head watcher, so it wasn't until I got in my car to do my Sunday Starbucks run that I heard about Saddam's capture.

The first thing that went through my head: Bush just captured the election!. Think about it: the dem attacks on Bush were centered around the economy and foreign policy. The economy plank has been knocked out as more and more information is being released about the improving economy, leaving foreign policy. One question the dems kept bringing up: where is Saddam?

Now perhaps I was just being overly optimistic when I heard the news, but I do believe that now that Saddam is captured that stability will come back to Iraq that much faster. It gives the dems one less sound bite, making capture of the presidency that much harder.

And, as expected, various supporters of Dean are accusing Bush of some vast conspiracy, that Bush knew where Saddam was all along, etc. It just shows you how out of touch the angry left is and why they simply have no business being in power.


posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:53 AM (Permalink)
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