"Uncertainty now drives the business agenda..."
"How can you thrive in the economy of indecision? Stick to your customers with electronic glue." Read my latest Profit magazine article from March 2003. [ 
article ]
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Adventures in high speed hotel Internet use
Traveling a lot. I often use the Telus Mobility Velocity wireless service, so that I've got an Internet connection anywhere I can do a cellular call. But I've also been in quite a few Westin's and Fairmont's that feature in room Ethernet -- so I've been using that too.
Fascinating experience -- the Fairmont is a piece of cake, plug in, click and agree to the fee, and you are online. The Westin!? Aiiieee! You have to call the front desk to get a user ID and password -- I can just imagine all the transcription errors that are happening as people write this stuff down.
Clearly hotels are moving in this direction, but there is going to be lots of fun and challenges along the way as they put it in place.
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"non-traditional careers..."
I've just been profiled in the most recent alumni magazine of my university, Dalhousie. "...sometimes, a chosen academic direction leads to a different career path. For at least three Dalhousie grads, rather traditional academic studies have led to very non-traditional careers. All three detoured in ways that transformed them into internationally recognized and widely sought advisers in Canada and around the world." [ article ]
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A moment of reflection...
It is striking how the Internet has come to help people in times of deep sadness; and how it has come to alert people far and wide to the most earth-shattering of all events.
This week, I heard of the death of a friend that I hung around with extensively in the late 70's / early 80's. Through e-mail, months ago, I had heard he was struggling with cancer. Jimmy Stuart was a wonderful person. You can read memorials to his spirit from friends and relatives here. [ link ]
A year ago this week, I lost a sister to cancer. Nancy also was a tremendously strong and powerful person. Her memorial too lives on, online. [ link ]
It is striking to me when you read the "online condolences" that people now leave for their friends and loved ones. Decades ago, the loss of long ago friends and family would most often be known only to those within a local community, and to close friends and relatives.
Today, with the speed of e-mail, and the massive connectedness of the Internet, all of us are touched far more often by the realities of life.
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I seem to be a walking electronics store
The absurdity of the way I travel became evident to me today when I went through airport security once again....
Out comes my cell. My Nomad Jukebox for Mp3 tunes. My digital camera, because I'm writing an article about them. My blackberry. My laptop.
And oh yeah, a humidifier, because hotel air sucks.
Sigh.
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Is Your Sales Team Getting a Tad Stale?
"...a constant, relentless focus on innovative sales methods and approaches might be the key to helping deal with your customers changing needs." Read my February '03 article from Contact Magazine -- "Time for A Little Innovation Oxygen"
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I dropped my laptop!
NOTE: SINCE I POSTED THIS IN 2003, I'VE HAD A LOT OF VISITORS -- IF YOU DROPPED YOUR LAPTOP, PLEASE E-MAIL WITH YOUR STORY! I'M STARTING TO COLLECT THEM! jcarroll at jimcarroll.com I'm thinking of putting them on a Web site!
Youch! I was in a store yesterday after speaking at an event, and I guess my case was open a bit. Out it dropped onto a hard concrete floor. A great big crack in the my Thinkpad -- and the DVD seems rather destroyed. It still boots, and still works, but I'm nervous as heck.
Time to restudy my article from Contact Magazine on laptops from a few months back and figure out what to do. Maybe this dude will get a Dell -- although the Thinkpad survived, I'm not thrilled that it cracked so easily. [ article ]
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"We’re Witnessing the Destruction of Corporate Value"
I've just put together an outline of a keynote presentation I'll provide to corproations and associations eager to understand what the heck is going on with all these security and privacy challenges.
"Hackers, Crackers and Crashes : What Companies Must Do to Master Today’s Security and Privacy Challenges" takes a look at how actual corporate value is being destroyed as a result of as a result of inadequate oversight of key business network and infrastructure issues. Concerns related to security and privacy are no longer something that can be dismissed out of hand as “something that happens to everyone else” — it is obvious now that every type of organization is being affected. The result? This is now a critical business issue that must be dealt with by the CEO, senior management and the Board of Directors. They must be prepared to ask themselves this question: Are we doing everything necessary to protect our corporate value in an era in which one seemingly small technology problem can spiral out of
control?
Take a look at the Acrobat page for more information. [ brochure ]
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Security has to start at the top!
Enough is enough. Consider these headlines from the last few days:
There is a common theme here -- companies continue to ignore security issues, and the result is significant business damage. And to be frank, this isn't just a small issue anymore -- we are witnessing the actual destruction of corporate value due to negligence! THIS IS A CEO LEVEL ISSUE NOW, FOLKS!
Consider Air Canada Jazz. Yesterday, the CEO announced they would like to sell that division in a bid to raise money. Who would possibly be interested in buying an airline that saw its entire ability to provide service grind to a halt -- because a single hard drive on a single computer failed? They had no redundant backup system in place! Absolutely appalling, massive negligence with resultant destruction in corporate value. This is no small issue – at a time of critical business strategy, the organization has managed to effectively destroy significant value at the time they need it most.
ISM, a subsidiary of IBM, had a hard drive stolen due to lax security. What company might ever entrust their business to this organization again? Regardless of the spin that we will see, my guess is that ISM is finished, kaput, done. Computer services are all about confidence, and this company has truly destroyed any confidence customers might have. Through one fatal security mistake, it is likely that the company has been forever destroyed.
Slammer? Companies can't complain -- they've ignored security for so long.
The point is this -- what more evidence do we need that SENIOR EXECUTIVES are security-negligent?
Security is a CEO-level issue – it isn't just some small-fry geek thing that needs to be taken care of.
Until senior management wakes up and realizes that without action, they can see their corporate value destroyed over night, we'll see more of this.
If I was on a board of any company, I would be demanding to know, from the CEO, today, right now, what the corporate attitude is towards security. If I didn't get the answers, I'd suggest that I get them -- damned quick.
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"....stick carrot slices in your ears and nose.."
This has absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of this weblog or my business, but it was too good to pass up.
We have in our kitchen one of those 'page-a-day' calendars -- about Moms. My wife gave me this one today as I headed to the airport.
Thurs. Jan 30 (ok, she was a few days behind)
If you want to lose wieght quickly, follow the toddler's diet:
Breakfast: eat two bites of scrambled egg and throw the rest on floor; eat one bite of toast with grape jely and smear jelly on your face.
Lunch: chew and then spit out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; pour milk on the table and slurp two swallows.
Dinner: pour half a glass of milk into mashed potatoes and squish between your ingers; eat two chicken fingers and throw the rest of sbiling; stick carrot slices in your ears and nose.
It might work!
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A lack of courage in I/T?
I spoke at the first of a series of 10 Microsoft events yesterday; a workshop and customer session focussing on the opportunities of business intelligence/corporate portals. One of my points when talking with people is suggesting that when it comes to the world of I/T, a lot of people have lost their motivation to try something new. A wide variety of very sophisticated technology has emerged in the last few years, but few folks seem to be willing to stick their necks out to implement it. It's a point that I alluded to in my brochure topic on "innovation." Read the quote below.
"A lot of people stuck their neck out in the 1990’s and tried out new ways of doing business, new technologies, and innovative methods of dealing with markets and customers. Yet many of those efforts have collapsed in spectacular fashion due to the dot.com/technology meltdown. A dangerous new sense of complacency has set in. Innovators must now hang their head in shame, and the nervous nellies who dared not innovate reign supreme! Organizations must bring back the courage to innovate – otherwise, current attitudes will settle in like a wet sponge, smothering any chance for new innovation. Innovators need to be put back on a pedestal – and should be encouraged to help analyze what actually went right during the crazy 90’s!
[ Jim's "innovation" brochure ]
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"....the wholeness of space; the wonders of the skies"
In 1998, my family and I were privileged to watch the launch of STS-90 in Florida; we had been invited by the Canadian Space Agency.
And for years, we've regularly visited a site called Heavens-Above.com in order to know when to see a space shuttle, the International Space Station and various satellites pass overhead. The site is well worth a visit.
Last night, I wrote a short note that follows, to the fellow who maintains the Heavens-Above site.
"This is one site on the Net that has become a part of my life the
last eight years.
My two boys are 7 and 9.
They've grown up learning to go out into the backyard to watch the
satellites, ISS, and when its up, the shuttle go overhead (Toronto,
Canada). They've learned to dream.
We had the privilege of being invited to watch Columbia launch -- I
think, STS-98 -- in 1998. (Dave Williams, a Canadian astronaut, was
on board.)
They've grown up to appreciate the wholeness of space; the wonders of the
skies. Heavens-above.com has played a *huge* role, in that they've learned
that there is a site that can tell them when to go out and look -- and
what it means. They understand what is going on in the heavens-above --
and right now, are very, very sad.
As we all deal with the tragedy in different ways -- understand this: the
work you do in creating this site and keeping it going changes lives,
values, views, people. It impacts many people in far away places -- you've
touched us, you've brought the heavens to us. As we all grieve, we must
say thank you though for helping to teach us what is up there.
So just a small thanks in a time of tragedy.
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