Eight Million Hits For An Ebay Auction?
Well, it's sort of an auction, and a pretty funny read.

Hat Tip: XRLQ

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:26 AM (Permalink)
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A Pitfall of Working at Home
Alas, I have never had the problem pictured in this very funny Sony Vaio commerical (which is "more or less" work-safe).

(Note: this is the first time I've attempted video on blogger, so let me know if you have problems. It worked okay for me)

posted by Director_Mitch @ 1:33 PM (Permalink)
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How Not To Do a TV Interview
An article over at Slings and Arrows about the Kerry interview and his foot-in-mouth problem reminded me of my "formal" training on how to do a TV interview. It was not a pleasant experience at the time, but it was a great course and it taught me well.

The class was from an outfit called The LeMaster Group, which are specialists in media training and crisis consulting. The class took place in an actual TV studio, and the "scenario" was that I was going to be interviewed about my job for the local morning TV news show. Since there are several people in the class, I waited for my turn in the "green room" (which didn't provide a feed of the other interviews). Once it was my turn, they took me to the studio, which was set up like a morning talk show, complete with lights and a set. The interviewer chatted amiably with me, going over what he was going to ask me while the camera man wired me for sound. I was asked if I was ready. The red light came on and we were rolling.

Then hell broke loose.

The "friendly" interviewer turned into the most hostile, vile reporter you could ever imagine. The pre-interview questions? Yeah, right. Here is an example. At the time, I was working for Texas Instruments, who was footing the bill for this experience:

Reporter: TI has a military division does it not?

Mitch: Uh, yeah, but...

Reporter (cutting me off): So you built the bombs and missiles that killed little children in the Gulf War?

I had about 10 minutes of "questioning" along these lines.

In addition, the interviewer kept pushing the envelope on things I would answer. "Who did you vote for president?" "How much do you make?" When I said that was personal and I would not answer it. He turned nice. The red light on the camera went off. The bright lights were turned off. He put down his mike.

"Come on, Mitch, the camera is off and as a consultant to TI, I'm just wondering how much you make?"

The camera was rolling. My response was recorded.

If the "interview" wasn't humiliating enough, everyone who was taking the class got to watch it in full (although they did turn it off when they did the "off the record" question, which everyone fell for). After "getting our attention" with the interview, the class then went through a series of exercises how to handle hostile interviews, how to handle the press, and showed real-life examples of good and bad interviews from recent events.

The class ended with a final on-camera interview, allowing me to put into practice what I learned as well as redeem myself from the morning disaster. It was a great class. So what did I learn:

1. You are never off the record. Ever. The mike is always on. The camera is always rolling.

2. Never lie to the press. This one should seem obvious, but you would be surprised how often it isn't followed. Why, just look at John Kerry. But you also have the right to not answer a question, which gets to the next point.

3. You have rights as an interviewee. Really. If you are being interviewed, then the press wants to talk to you. Take that opportunity to establish where you are going to be interviewed, when, and how it will be conducted. This also means you give the interview. Instead of having Mike Wallace chase you across a parking lot shouting questions as you run away (you look guilty even if you aren't), tell Mr. Wallace you would be happy to talk to him at your home this weekend. (there are obvious exceptions like if you are the fire chief talking to the news crew on an active inferno, but you can at least position the camera angle so that the fire isn't blazing behind you while you talk).

4. Since you are giving the interview and set the time and place, prepare for it. Come up with 3-4 points you want to get across.

5. Link. This was actually the main theme of the class, and you see it practiced by politicians and business people pretty regularly, even if you might not be aware of it. Linking means you answer the question asked, but you then link your response to one of the points you want to get across.

Reporter: TI has a military division does it not?
Mitch: While TI has a military division, I work in the fastest growing group, building chips for cellphones.

Most politicians are bad linkers, meaning they don't answer the question, but just go to one of their talking points. So if you are going to link, answer the question asked of you first (or demure on the question, but somehow address the question asked).

If you ever get the chance to take a course like this, jump at the opportunity. It gives you some appreciation for being on the other side of the camera as well as makes you more critical of how other people interview. And my take after looking at the recent Bush press conference and the Kerry interview: Bush took the class and Kerry didn't.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:46 PM (Permalink)
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An Arab Supporter of Bush and Israel
I just added his her blog, The Daily Spork (Formerly Minorities for Bush), to the right. Here is what heshe has to say:

How could an Arab support Israel? The answer is simple. My dad summed it up the best I think. He said something like this in response to the same question

" Whatever anyone tells you about Islam, it is not a peaceful religion. I was taught in the mosques to hate Jews. I attended rituals where young men would whip their bare backs until some bled to death and ambulances had to come take them away. Everyone is "hate Jews! hate Israel!" Then I came to the US. Here, I was taught that everyone lives side-by-side. It's a culture thing. You would hate Jews too if you had been born in Kabul and raised in Baghdad because that would be all you would ever know. That's all they ever know. That's all they have been taught. "

I remember those words distinctly because I too had asked my dad how come he supported Israel when he was raised Muslim. He gave the above answer, almost word-for-word. It made a lasting impression on me and I never forgot that answer to such a serious question.

For now, we must all join together and hold the homicide bombers in Israel responsible. No matter what happens, detonating a bomb on a school bus is never right.

I'll let Aaron know. I think he'll faint.


posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:06 PM (Permalink)
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Good Economic News for Americans = Bad Political News for Kerry
The interesting thing about the Kerry campaign is that they have to have bad economic conditions for him to have a chance of winning. Fortunately for us, the economy isn't cooperating.

CONSUMERS' CONFIDENCE JUMPED in April amid greater optimism about hiring and improving economic conditions. Sales of existing homes rose 5.7% in March as low interest rates continued to lure buyers. (WSJ link requires paid subscription)

I mean, how is Kerry going to counter this? His main theme has been "job creation", but with unemployment continuing to drop and people more confident about the jobs they have (hence the improvement in consumer confidence), this is starting to sound like the lie that it is.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:51 AM (Permalink)
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Netflix Plans: Mail to Internet
In sort of an ongoing Netflix discussion that has been going on this site, I noticed yesterday that Netflix is talking about moving to internet delivery instead of mail delivery. This is one of those goals that "vision CEOs" fling around that the press and analysts eat up, but the poor saps down below have a tough time executing (yeah, I worked in a company with the same dynamics).

Why will this be tough to implement? There are a few things that come to mind:

1. Infrastructure - I have a high-speed DSL line coming into the home - to my PC. I don't watch movies on my PC, I watch them on my TV. How will the movie get from my PC to my TV (or to my set-top box or my Tivo)?

Yes, I can list a bunch of ideas that will make this possible (I would like a wireless connection between my set-top-box/Tivo and my PC), but the fact of the matter is that if Netflix offered the service today, I couldn't use it. And if they required me to buy a few hundred dollars of new equipment, I am not sure I would, which would be true of most the customer base. So from an infrastructure point of view, there is a serious problem to contend with until high-speed access to the TV (direct, through Tivo, or through the set-top-box) is commonplace.

2. Doesn't Own a Critical Piece of the Puzzle - As the article points out, there are several companies looking at this very obvious business model. So if a bunch of companies are going to offer this, who will be the winner?

Netflix's advantage is their customer base, plus the fact that these customers order and manage their account over the internet. Great. But is that enough to win in this business model when there are other critical pieces:

Content (Movies) - There are going to be serious copyright issues once movies start being digitally flung over the internet (look at music as an example). As noted in the article, most of the movie houses are starting or backing competing services for internet delivery, which will put Netflix at a disadvantage.

Equipment - As noted in point one, there needs to be a way to get the movie from the internet to your TV, probably through the set-top box with DVR (the movie would be uploaded onto the DVR/Tivo disk and be ready for viewing). And who provides the vast majority of set-top boxes to consumers? The cable companies! Think they would like to provide internet movie delivery? You wanna bet they are working on it already as a part of the cable package? Satellite service is a little different, but you can bet Rupert's boys are also working on this. If the equipment is provided gratis to customers and the feature as a part of the existing satellite or cable bill, it will be tough for Netflix to displace.

There is a connection between Tivo and Netflix since the Tivo pres is on the Netflix board, but I am not sure this will be enough to overcome the set-top box/cable cabal, which Tivo themselves seem to be leaning towards.

Capital - Netflix is public with a very high riding stock. But they will be entering this market against people with much deeper pockets (as noted in the article).

3. A Ready Business Model - When did you first hear promises about video on demand? I heard this being talked about in the mid 90s and there were at least a dozen attempts by cable companies and start-ups to provide this service on some limited bases. And they all failed.

Video on demand is the same as video rental if the selection is wide enough, is cheap, and if delivery is easy. But no one has made all three possible yet (if you have pay-per-view and Tivo, you have cheap, easy delivery and can watch when you want, but you have a selection problem). Sort of like video phones, it's one of those technologies that consumers want and companies want to provide, but technology bottlenecks have made both services out of reach for the mass market. Faster internet connections and better technology should make both possible in the coming few years, so the trick is to roll it out when it is ready instead of promising big and not being able to deliver.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:53 AM (Permalink)
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Guest Response: Business Books
Post-grad roommate Jim penned the following response to my biz book entry below for the comments section, but it is really long enough for its own blog entry. Jim was working on his Masters in Comp Sci at the time I was working on my MBA, but he wised up and later got his own MBA.

Here are my comments on your entries and some I would add:

Competitive Strategy -- Porter's stuff is a good basis, and the five/eight forces model (the number of forces depending which professor you have) is an excellent template

(Mitch: My prof used eight).

The Goal -- A quick read, and the story was very manufactured, with Jonah being the "dues ex machina," but I, too, started looking at things more operationally.

Bill Gates -- I would extend this to anything about management at Microsoft. Their books either convey extremely obvious stuff or are about people tooting their experience when Windows 95 came out.

Who Moved My Cheese -- Someone left their copy in the airplane lavatory and I read it while using the facilities. That should tell you how fluffy the text is. It did make the spoof Who moved my soap: The CEO's Guide to Prison a little funnier, though.


Here are a few others worth reading:

Economy of Errors -- this is a compendium of Andrew Marlett's material on his satirewire web site during the peak of the dot com years and pokes fun at the stupid, excessive things that went on at the time. This is really funny stuff.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street -- a classic for investment and valuation. It complements the Extraordinary Popular Delusions book Director Mitch suggested, but can be used as a basis for thinking of personal investments.

Getting to Yes -- a primer on negotiation.

(Mitch: I nearly put this on my list, along with Effective Negotiating by Karass)

Coopetition -- introduces game theory.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion -- our VP bought a copy for everyone and it's fascinating reading because it's what every good salesperson practices unconsciously. Ever wonder why the Hare Krishnas in airports used to offer people flowers? Answer within.

(Mitch: Will add it to my next Amazon purchase. I wait until I have $25 of stuff so I get the free shipping)

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:55 AM (Permalink)
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