Being Peter Kim

Book Review: The Blue Sweater

In September 2008, I was invited by Gay Gaddis of T3 to speak at the C200 Conference in Dallas.  At the conference, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund was presented with an award for philanthropic efforts in emerging economies.  She discussed a couple of powerful personal stories of her experience with water in India and mosquito nets in Africa.  Her stories are collected and published in her book, The Blue Sweater.  

In February 2009, Seth Godin offered a copy of Novogratz's book to citizen reviewers and I took him up on the offer.  I received a copy in March from Sasha Dichter, who works at the Acumen Fund.

If you have ever been interested in driving change in the world, you should read this book.  It offers clear perspective on the realities of making a difference.

I thought a long time about what I'd say in a review of the book.  But most of the lessons I took away were reflections on how Novogratz's life made me recall my own upbringing, career choices, and future outlook. Some of my high-level takeaways:

• We all have choices. It's tough to know which ones are "correct" in advance, but the key is how you respond to the emergent outcomes you encounter along the way.
• Meaningful results take time.  Achieving success at scale takes a lot of hard work over years of foundational work.  This lesson is absent from today's instant gratification society.
• Things change.  The world is a different place today and to get value from history, you need to study strategy and adapt tactics.  Simply copying behaviors won't do much for you.

For a more traditional style review, I'll point you to an excellent video by Robert Jacobs (length 12:34):

I'm ready to share my copy of the book with someone else who can learn from the story and help share the lessons therein with others.  If you're interested, send me your name and address via email.  I'll pass it along with the same expectation that you read it, blog about it, and pass it along as well.  UPDATE: I'm sending my copy along to Chris Hall at Humana, who blogs at hallicious.com.  Chris is part of Humana's Innovation Center and in a great position to drive change similar to that which Novogratz has written about.

Thanks!

Is your social media activity a safety net?

For more visit MASS MoCA

I've been on LinkedIn for almost five years (you can find this information on your Account & Settings tab).  Over the years, I noticed that once in a while when I clicked over to the person behind a connection request, they'd have recently connected to dozens of people.  Shortly thereafter, that person would announce that they'd taken on a new role at a new company.

As social media has proliferated, I see more people getting involved to support their company brands - or just building their own.  (THE resource on how to do this effectively is Dan Schwabel's Me 2.0.)  These days it's not just LinkedIn connections, but new blogs, Twitter accounts, and ramped up public speaking appearances.

Don't get me wrong - there's nothing negative at all about this.  In today's world of work, we all need a strong safety net and social media channels provide raw material, with a different thread gauges.  But you should know that weaving a solid net takes time - and you need to start before you really need it.  (For lessons on how to do this, here's some thoughts I shared last December on Warren Sukernek's successful job search.)

Also be aware that people are watching.  And it's not just your potential future employers and colleagues, it's your current and past employers and colleagues as well.  This is public, after all.  So you may not need the old routine about a lot of sudden doctor's appointments anymore, but your boss might know what's going on anyway just by the digital breadcrumb trail of posts and tweets that you're leaving behind.

Better start weaving before you need to go fishing.

The headfake

Have you ever had something like this happen to you?

You correspond with someone online for weeks, maybe months.  Then finally it turns out that the two of you will be in the same place at the same time, e.g. an industry conference.  You happen to notice a familiar name on a conference badge among the dozens passing by in the hallway and it's your online buddy.

But you didn't recognize him/her because...they look nothing like their avatar picture.

Well.  I've decided on an appropriate term to describe this phenomenon:  the headfake.

Definition:  Headfake, noun.  A situation in which you are familiar with a person's avatar picture, which gives you an inaccurate idea of how that person appears in real life.

I know I've headfaked people myself; at SXSW this year, someone told me I look a lot older in my picture than I really am.  Another said that I'm a lot taller in real life than my picture would indicate.  (I think these might indicate that I need a better avatar picture.)

So...ever been headfaked?  Let us know in the comments, anonymity will be honored!

A trip to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory

I was in Louisville a few weeks ago and had to stop by Hillerich & Bradsby's Louisville Slugger museum & factory while in town.  It opened in 1996 and is a place that any fan of the game needs to make a point to visit.  I was lucky to get a sneak peek at renovations with executive director Anne Jewell the weekend before the new section opened to the public - and it's well worth the visit.

A 120' Babe Ruth replica bat stands outside the museum entrance. This one's made of steel and weighs about 34 tons. Clearly the Paul Bunyan model.

Courtesy Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

In the entryway, there's a wall of signatures plate of the hall of fame batters who've used Louisville Slugger bats - which comprises over 80% of inductees.  The most surprising fact to me was the average annual contract value - unlike megamillion dollar footwear and apparel deals, most contracts are in the 5 figure range.

The first exhibit you'll see in the new section is a case of game-used bats from Mickey Mantle, Rod Carew, Jim Thome, and David Ortiz.  Visitors can don a pair of cotton gloves and heft one of these magic sticks to home plate for a pose and picture.

The new section has plenty of kids activities, a good mix of hands-on exploration and historic explanation. You'll get surprisingly close to lumber used by Joe Dimaggio (the bat from his 56 game hitting streak), Hank Aaron (the one he used to hit home run #700), and Babe Ruth (notched once for every home run he hit that year).

The museum also had the foresight over the past year to plan a Presidential exhibit. Originally the collection contained signed baseballs from John McCain and Hillary Clinton - now the Barack Obama baseball sits on display alone.

Courtesy Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

Visitors can take a factory tour and see live production. One side churns out professional models, retail and minor leaguers on the other. The day I was there, a cart of Dustin Pedroia bats was waiting to be shipped out. The factory keeps a database of all player specs which includes length, weight, grain width, color, etc. You can have a personalized bat made to order, then step over to a batting cage and try it out vs. a 90-mph fastball.

That's all from the factory and museum...more from Louisville later this week.

Resolutions 2009

I'd like to hear about any resolutions for this year that are on your mind.

I admit: nothing specific comes to mind for me...I will be very focused on building a business this year. Looking back at 2008, I pursued three resolutions successfully but won't declare "mission accomplished" on any of them, because they're worth revisiting continually.

Some things to consider working on, if you're looking for suggestions:

• Protect your identity. Download your free annual credit report (US only).
• Build your network before you need them. Build your personal brand in conjunction with your corporate brand.
• Get yourself fit and help young people get there, too.

Would love to hear what you're planning to work on.

Working backwards to the future

Have you noticed the increased amount of work being done over the weekends?

Over the weekend of 13-14 September, banking executives met at the NY Fed to discuss a Lehman rescue.  Shortly thereafter, Congress met over the weekend to discuss a larger $700 billion bailout package.  Granted, these actions are in response to a crisis situation and the weekend work is warranted and bit different than, say, raking the leaves off of your lawn.

Over the past couple of weekends, business has been occupying social media, too.  Motrin ran into controversy on a Sunday.  The next Sunday, Scott Monty from Ford was trying to drum up support for the auto industry.  And Frank Eliason aka ComcastCares on Twitter seems to be helping out all the time.

In the U.S., most workers have been employed for the past 80 years under a mental model of working five days a week, eight hours a day.  Working outside of those limits tends to create dissonance with the concept of work-life balance.  Most white-collar workers regularly put in more time, but use the old standard to gauge how much extra effort they're contributing.

I shared my thoughts on work with Dan Schwabel recently and believe it's most important for us to be "consciously engaged" with our work, regardless of model.  Social technologies allow us to always be on and toggle quickly between work and personal activities.  We don't work in big chunks of 5 vs. 2 days or within a block between 8 am and 5 pm anymore - we work and live our lives in much more finely sliced segments. 

Interestingly enough, it was Henry Ford who first implemented the five-day work week in 1922, so that workers could not only recover from work, but also have time to purchase goods.  Now, it appears that Ford has another opportunity to transform the world of work by trying to save itself in the process.

Social technologies and today's "always on" culture will certainly need to be factored into the transformation of U.S. automakers - and will eventually impact the way all industries function.  I wonder if this means we'll return to six- and seven-day work weeks...if we're not there already.  I imagine more telecommuting, microslicing of days, greater use of social technologies for business.  These seem to be the hallmarks of the "information revolution" to follow the industrial revolution.

Strangely enough, the cadence of our work seems to resemble life before the industrial revolution, albeit with a much higher standard of living.  And I'm not sure if things are getting better or worse.

Grant McCracken was right

I was in New York today and had a chance to peek into the Conde Nast cafeteria.  Why did I do this?  Because I read a post on Grant McCracken's blog about a year ago about the Frank Gehry-designed space, where he described it like this:

"It's a slightly anxious place, because a) everyone looks fabulous, except of course your devoted anthropologist and, b) they are engaged in the activity that threatens their fabulousness, eating.  This is a world in which a carrot stick counts as calorie loading."

Your devoted marketing analyst has this to say about the place - confirmed, it's full of beautiful people.  Last summer I visited the Google cafeteria in Chelsea - full of smart people.  But the corporate New York cafeteria I'm most familiar with is the the ConEd cafeteria, where I spent quite a bit of time a decade ago.  It's full of...cafeteria food.

Reflections on Istanbul, or don't get punkd like me

Usually when I travel, especially outside the US, I try to squeeze in some personal time to check things out.  This can be critical to maintaining sanity when your job requires a lot of travel;  I'm scheduled to travel 22 out of the first 26 weeks of 2008.  Thankfully I'm not gone four days a week like a management consultant, but it adds up after a while.

I was in Istanbul last week.  I was looking forward to the trip, given that my last time there was January 2000.  However, what happened to me on the first day clouded my desire to explore any further.

I was with my colleague Shar and we were walking back to the hotel after taking a ferry over to Kiz Kulesi.  We were walking up a large hill between the Besiktas football stadium and a large park, towards a group of hotels including the Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, and Intercontinental.  Mid-way up, some boys catch up to us peddling travel-size tissues.  Which later seemed odd, given that it's rude to blow one's nose in public.  But for some reason, they're just too close.  I didn't understand what they're saying, but they're shoving the tissues at us, so close that I had to push one kid away.  He comes back undeterred, we keep walking, and they suddenly give up.

Shar and I had been discussing the workshop we were going to deliver the next morning, so I reached into my pocket to send an email to our client...and my Blackberry is gone.  I still have my wallet and my Nokia N95 8gb (which I've been loaned from Nokia, it's a more expensive phone) - but the Blackberry is nowhere to be found.  Neither are the tissue boys.

OK.  It's Sunday, so getting help back in the US might be tough, especially because we're seven hours ahead and it's only 8 am there.  After calling the regular AT&T 800 number for customer service, which I already know is closed on Sundays, I find that AT&T has another number:  866-801-3600.  So the SIM is deactivated.  (Later our IT gurus tell me that Blackberry administrators can send a "kill" command - we reactivated my SIM and tried it, but the phone didn't respond.)  Suddenly, I feel disconnected from the world - unable to send a quick text message to my family or browse the latest in Google Reader.

Lessons learned:

• I was a victim of social engineering.  Being in a foreign country, I didn't want to be outright rude to these beggars peddling tissues - but I let them get too close to me.
• Don't carry anything of value in easily accessible pockets, e.g. the sides of your jacket or your back pants pockets.  I've heard of people's neck wallets being robbed...
• Activate the security features on your phone - device and/or SIM lock, including PIN and PUK codes.  It only takes a second to input a 4 - 6 character password to get into your phone.  Now I know why the Europeans I worked with were obsessive about this.
• All states have laws in place where you can place a security freeze your credit file, so only you can permit access to the information with a PIN or password.

In the twelve years or so that I've owned a mobile phone, I've never lost one so I was lazy about device security.  But hopefully you can learn from this before it actually happens to you.  If you have ever been in the same unfortunate position as me, I'd like to hear what you've learned and are now doing differently.

Wanted: Your tips on Istanbul

I should've posted this a while ago, but I've been crazy busy. 

I'm heading out to Istanbul later today.  Have you even been?  I have once, but it was eight years ago.

Can you recommend the best places to eat, things to see, activities that must be done, etc.?

Your advice is appreciated! 

4 x 4 things about me

I received this meme via email and thought I'd give it some bloglegs instead - renaming the meme 4x4.  Interesting to see the "n things" make its way around in a different channel.  I was also tagged by Shiv Singh a while back but dropped the ball. (sorry!)

The list I received had nine groups, which seemed odd to me for lists of four - but let's roll with it.  So here's my 4x4:

Four jobs I've had in my life:
1. Ice cream scooper at White Mountain Creamery.  First paid job ever.
2. Tennis instructor for Louisville Metro Parks.
3. Firewood broker.  Arbitrage in the community, buying at $30 from one side of town and selling at $50 on the other.
4. Stockbroker's assistant.  Called inactive clients all summer long.  One lived in Hawaii, who I woke up at 5 am.  More than one was dead, which explained the inactivity.

Four TV shows I DVR:
1. Prison Break
2. American Idol
3. Lost
4. 24 (despite its growing y/y plot ridiculousness)

Four places I've been:
1. New Iberia, Louisiana (on a July 4th weekend - hottest place ever)
2. Mobridge, South Dakota (due diligence on a warehouse)
3. Pyongyang, North Korea (its a long story)
4. Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (nothing better than a free Spring Break trip)

Four favorite foods:
1. Chipotle burritos
2. In-N-Out burgers
3. Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches
4. Korean fried chicken

I'd like to hear about from these four bloggers: Chris Brogan, Josh Hallett, Brian Haven, and Jeremiah Owyang.  Come to think of it, would love these four as well:  Ann Handley, Toby Bloomberg, Becky Carroll, and Marianne Richmond, too!

(If you prefer to substitute, the other groups were: people who email me regularly, places I'd rather be right now, people I think will respond, things I look forward to next year, and music artists I'm listening to right now.)

Business travel can be hazardous to your health

The next time a subordinate or significant other insinuates that business travel is a perk, refer them to this post and let them know what's up.

If it isn't the [rodents], then it might be the [bed bugs]; or perhaps a lack of [security] ...oh, and don't use the [hotel glasses]!

Many people also advise to remove the rarely-washed comforters from beds.  One time I also discovered that the cap on my $7 water bottle lifted off, no doubt refilled from the tap, not from Fijian volcanic rock water.  Take care out there!

Resolutions 2008

Dear Universe,

I have three main resolutions for 2008.  Please feel free to suggest ways to facilitate their accomplishment and check in during the year to see how things are going.

1.  Be more green.
[Any suggestions on how to measure this?]  I did not own a car in 2007.  That may not seem strange if you live in New York, London, or Tokyo - however, I live in Boston.  Unfortunately, externalities require that I buy a car this spring (but I'll still take the train to work).  So I'll compensate by trying to be more green in other ways.  For example, we've piloted a coffee mug program at work, where I've been told we use over 5,000 paper cups a week.  I may never go as far as my childhood friend and wind power guru Dave, but it's a start.

2.  Lose some weight.
Metric: 10 pounds - what I've gained over the past two years.  Okay, I may not need seat belt extenders when flying, but I haven't exercised on a regular basis since joining Forrester in December 2005.  Thankfully, my analyst picture was shot the month I started.

3. Save more money.
Metric: break-even cash flow.  You may find this silly, but I got some great ideas from watching Oprah.  I think for the past five years it's been easy for any self-directed investor to think that they've made good choices.  A 60% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average...doesn't take much skill to buy an index fund and forget about it.  But life has become more complicated with 401(k)s, 529s, and a global credit crisis looming - time to find a good financial adviser. 

That's some of what being me will be like in 2008.

Sincerely,
Pete

What Is Love, GooTube style

Over the past year, Google has handled a majority of web searches - over 4 billion queries and about 60% share, according to Nielsen Online panel data.  For people querying the Google for advice, no question was more popular than "what is love."

If those people had searched directly on YouTube, they'd have found answers in music.

And they're not alone. For example, there are others, foreigners perhaps, that wanna know what love is and they want you to show them.  Others are somewhat timid; they ask what is love and ask that you don't hurt them.

Answers abound, but not without disagreement.  Love is real.  Only a feeling. Alive. Dead. Color blind. Blue. Orange. Pink.  Here. Gone. A killer. Like oxygen. Heavenly. A bitchslap.

My favorites:  Love is all around.  It's a battlefield.  It's all you need.

Happy 2008!  I hope you find all the love you want/need this year, whether eros, philos, agape - or just some geeky link love.

Reflections on Toronto

  Toronto 
  Originally uploaded by Pete Kim.

I was in Toronto last week.  Some thoughts on the trip:

- I went to Tim Horton's for a coffee.  In my change, I got a US penny.  Oddly enough, this is on the border of getting stiffed like getting Canadian change in the US, now that the currencies are about equal.
- People don't jaywalk.
- Some of the handlers working the YYZ customs queue are complete control-freak idiots.  Not what the world needs at 6 am before a 6:20 am flight.

5-year-old bear killer; it's red again; W+K shows off digital acumen?

Hi everyone who came here looking for posts on Twitter.  Those are further down.

I read this story last night - bizarre.

The bear theme carried through to the graphic from today's Ad Age Daily (it was a late night).  I decided to create one of my own, you can too.

Which reminded me that W+K posted about different campaign executions for Starbucks, including a link to "the interactive work" i.e. banners and a microsite.

If that's their best digital shot, seems like a weak cup of joe...maybe Starbucks should ping the agency that did their guerilla work a couple of years ago and get a double-espresso idea instead.  After the highly publicized Running to CP+B deal, I'd think W+K would want to be stronger than this.

Seeing green in London - how about online?

As someone from the US, it's hard not to notice the overwhelming focus on energy conservation when visiting Europe.  It's not just messages on napkin backs or food containers.  Mainstream media seems to run related stories frequently and strong educational program(mes) exist.  One that struck me in particular was the Energy Gallery that I saw during a revisit to London's Science Museum.  I've never considered myself an "environmentalist" by any means, but I'm thinking it's time to start...

Marketers are doing a lot of good deeds by rallying fellow bloggers - Age Of Conversation and The Ultimate Marketing Bookstore among others.  Hopefully we'll see more green initiatives in 2008.  I stumbled across a report from Umbria that says we're talking more about it - now let's do something...

Family-friendly Paris and London

I'm heading to Paris tomorrow.  Last time I went was January and got some great suggestions on family-friendly activities, which I'll repost here.  Then on to London, where the dollar is worth even less than last year.  Any additions to the ones below - especially places to go without going broke?

- Seine boat tour
- France miniature
- Parc Asterix
- Disneyland
- Playmobil Fun Park
(thanks to former Forrester colleague Michelle Bouquet!)

- Le Bois de Boulogne (e.g. jardin d acclimatation)
- L'Entrecote
(thanks to Eric Kintz, HP!)

Reflections on Barcelona

  Las Ramblas 
  Originally uploaded by Pete Kim.

I was in Barcelona last week.  Some thoughts on the visit:

- The weather was colder than I anticipated.  The Spanish people however were warm and friendly.
- Tapas were delicious - I especially enjoyed Ciudad Condal.  For a cozy experience, visit Can Paixano.
- Good souvenirs at Art Escudellers, in an alley off Las Ramblas.  They carry art from every region of the country.
- Sagrada Familia is starkly different from traditional cathedrals.
- The smaller the store, the more interesting the name.

And I would really appreciate if anyone could tell me more about the children's song behind this shirt from Nanoniano!

Panwapa

This is a good thing.  Sesame Workshop and Merrill Lynch have created Panwapa, in their words:

"A multimedia, global initiative that is designed to inspire and empower a new generation of children, ages four to seven, to be responsible global citizens.  In the Tshiluba language, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa, the word "Panwapa" means "here on this earth."

Panwapa has five objectives for kids:

1. Build awareness of the wider world
2. Appreciate similarities and value differences
3. Take responsibility for one's behaviours
4. Participate in community and be willing to take action
5. Understand and respond to economic disparity

Kids can create global connections through the site.  The environment is safe as no personal information is ever exchanged - nobody types anything. 

This is a much more important form of social engagement than finding friends on Facebook.

Turn a kid you know on to Panwapa today.

Reflections on New York

  times square 
  Originally uploaded by Pete Kim.

I was in New York this week.  Some things I noticed:

- The weather was hot and humid. More like July than September.
- Three people reading TIME magazine.  Not in doctor's offices either.
- I didn't see many people wearing Yankees caps.  Where's the pride?
- Subway ads are mostly educational.  Learn English, public health info.
- The Airtrain rocks.  $7, no stop-and-go traffic.
- New Yorkers talking on the phone walk like tourists with cameras.
- Heads of state prefer the Intercontinental or the Waldorf-Astoria.  Their entourages stay in the W and the Marriott.