Tag Archives: Mark Cuban

Seth, IRS, Taxes, Customer Service and Clips

In time for the holiday season (well, actually too late for Hanukkah) I give to each of you the following links:

  • Seth Godin provides a free e-version of his latest book, What Matters Now, a compilation of short essays on single topics by a raft of 70 big thinkers.  People like Chris Anderson, Jason Fried, Arianna Huffington, Kevin Kelly, Dan Ariely, Gina Trapani and Tim Sanders.  Absolutely worth every penny 🙂
  • Amazing story about how the IRS terrorizes audits a young mother who makes $10 per hour because they can’t believe that she can support herself on that income.
  • Mark Cuban has an interesting idea on how to fund some of our most pressing problems.  I think he is on to something.  This type of tax has the benefit of being a very small amount on a huge number of transactions and will be almost invisible.
  • Customer service and large companies.  Go hand and hand like a horse and carriage?  Not so much at American Airlines.  See what happens when an employee reaches out to a customer who has some issues with their web site.
  • If you ever have to give a big presentation and you want to add video clips of famous sayings from movies, you have to catch this site.  There are over 12,000 clips and they are approved for use by the studios.

Innovation, Chicago and Entrepreneurship Education

Innovation: Allan Young writes a great article on the virtues of the Pareto Principle as it relates to your career.  You probably remember the Pareto Principle as the 80-20 rule.  In this article he also talks about the venture capitalist’s issue with the Pareto Principle.

Chicago: I have been thinking about the Chicago Entrepreneurial environment lately for a new idea and one of the big issues is that we, here in Chicago, have this notion that the financing folks (angels, VC, private equity) are socially conditioned to be risk averse and thus new start-ups don’t start or prosper here at the same rate as on the coasts. This post by Micah titled competitive cooperation, after you get past his illness description, talks about how the tech community in Boulder works to support each other, while striving for personal success. It would be great to get some of this thinking going in Chicago.

Entrepreneurship: For some reason, I am in a teaching mood today.  Here is a long post by Mark Cuban about success and motivation.

Business, Economy and Fun

Business: Seth Godin put together a good resource page to help those of us who are graphically challenged find our way in the world.

Economy: Normally, I wouldn’t take Penn Jillette’s economic advice, but he does have some good points about skidding and crashing and hoping that our leaders know the difference.

Fun: As the father of a 19 year-old and a 14 year-old, sometimes I wonder where the time has gone.  Amy Flanagan sure helped me remember how far technologically we have come in 16 years.

Economy: Several weeks ago I wrote asking why corporate CEO’s weren’t going for the PR play of telling the world that they would not lay anyone off this year.  Mark Cuban tells us the reason and what we can do about it.  Granted he is only one voice, but it makes sense.

Philanthropy, Brand Execution, Security and Distributed Systems

Philanthropy: Trendwatching.com writes about Generation G, the generation not of Greed (see Gordon Gekko of Wall Street fame), but of Giving.  In these troubled economic times, it is interesting to see that the generation coming of age now seems to be more interested in the G for giving.
Just this week, a group I am affiliated with held a fundraising breakfast.  This year’s total amount pledged was 40% more than last year and the official I spoke with said that she is seeing this trend at many of the breakfasts she hosts.
Lastly, my favorite Generation G story relates to Adam Carter. Adam is the son of a good friend of mine.  Adam spends about 7 months each year providing funds and manual labor on humanitarian missions in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia as a part of a group called 100 Friends.  The other 5 months of the year, Adam earns his traveling money as a beer vendor at Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field.  He maintains a blog with his current exploits (including a video about his visit to Senegal).

Marketing: Brand Execution. I have a friend who likes to say “It’s all about me.” In her case, it usually is :). But when it comes to your business, it can’t be all about you.  It has to be about the business.  Jeff Leitner has brought this point together with a short riff on American Idol.

I don’t know if you watch American Idol, but every now and then the judges ask the kids why they chose to sing a particular song.
And the kids ALWAYS say it’s because the song means a lot to them.
And, of course, that’s the wrong move.
Sing a song that best shows off your vocals – whether you’ve got a big voice, small voice, high range, low range, big range, whether you can do runs or are particularly good or bad at expressing the lyrics.
I see the same dynamic in business all the time.
Business owners choose locations, hire people, design logos and launch products because they like those locations, people, logos and products. That’s fine that they have taste, but they should leave the taste at home. Choose locations, people, logos and products that will make you successful in your business.

If you have thought through your business and made the vision tight, you can’t afford to bring in extraneous items just because you like them.  If your concept is a classic French bistro, you can’t hang Chicago Cubs paraphernalia from the walls, just because you are a die-hard Cubs fan. You can bleed Cubbie blue in the comfort of your home.  But unless you are opening a sports bar in Wrigleyville, the Cubs stuff needs to stay at home.   Utrillo prints, maybe. In a dark corner.

Entrepreneurship: On Tuesday, I posted about the Open Source Challenge that Mark Cuban had started. Today, Seth Godin talked about it and helps provide future entrepreneurs with some ideas to get started.

Security: Bruce Schneier pointed me to this article on Facebook security. Note than on that page, there is a link to a free Facebook security e-book to pass along to others.

Big Picture: In a post earlier this week, I pointed to a discussion with Amory Lovins where he posited that electric generators will soon be microsized and distributed into a giant web. Kevin Kelly has also broached the same general topic in his article “The Surest Way to Smartness is through Massive Dumbness”.
The future of business is distributed systems. Look at Google. Google could not serve its customers with mainframe systems; they use an extraordinary number of cheap, custom processors. Kevin Kelly’s article highlighted a most basic industry – cement delivery – and how distributed systems (computers, GPS, authority) created a competitive advantage for one company. How can you take advantage of this trend in your business?

Energy, Economics, Politics, Technology and an Award

Business: Did you ever wonder what happens to all of the sports memorabilia that gets manufactured in advance of a big event with the name and logo of the losing team?  Good news, it gets donated.

Energy: I have been interested in the path of energy use in this country, ever since I took a Senior Seminar on Energy in college.  At that time, Amory Lovins was a leading voice of the doom and gloom prognosticators.  In this easy to read  article, he talks about the future of energy distribution.  This reminds  me of the change from central phone switching systems to cellular towers everywhere.
In other news, Google has started a pilot program that will develop energy solutions, starting with providing energy usage breakdowns for your house.  If you knew the cost of using specific items, you would have an idea as to where to start conservation efforts, right?

Business: Jim Jacoby wrote a thoughtful piece comparing the macro economy to the community within a company or project team.

Entrepreneurship: OK folks, those of you with a great idea, step right on up.  Mark Cuban is proposing his own stimulus plan called Open Source Funding.  He will be reviewing business plans and looking to fund the most impressive.  There are some ground rules, though.  You must post your business plan for all to review.  You will be funded month to month.  You need to be cash flow positive in 60 days and profitable in 90 days. No advertising income.   Still an interesting idea, if you have the business plan and the moxie to publish it.

Politics: Bob Woodward has some advice for President Barack Obama based on lessons learned during President George W. Bush‘s presidency.

Technology: Have a need to generate an org chart or flowchart but don’t want to shell out the big bucks for Visio?  Check out an easy to use, free, web based alternative that is fun to play with called Lovely Charts.

Economy: Today’s “Wow, didn’t see that one coming award”. The CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, published an open letter to President Obama in the New York Times recently asking that his taxes be raised.