Kim Philby is likely the most famous spy in history. Treachery is the subject of My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy , the 1968 memoir of Philby, the double agent who headed the Cambridge Five spy ring that fed British and American WWII and Cold War intelligence to the Soviet Union. Philby became a communist and Soviet agent in the 1930s, then joined MI6 and rose to be head of British Counterintelligence before seeking asylum in Moscow in 1963 (where he lived until his death in 1988). This is Philby’s riveting tale of spycraft which offers a rather unflattering picture of the British secret service, and also addresses why he remained committed to communism. It is an amazing story. While his biography neglects to invest space on some of the horrific loss of life to the English and Americans because of his spying, it does reflect a behind the scenes look of someone who didn’t consider himself a traitor but rather a patriot (all depends on your perspective). But in reading it you wonder how someone could remain sane maintaining the duplicity necessary to be a successful spy at such a high level.
So. I had lunch with a high school friend I hadn’t seen for over 25 years (and it was a lot of fun) and she mentioned one of the guys in our high school had produced the documentary “Darfur Now.”
It is a documentary about the atrocities in Darfur, the westernmost region of Sudan. It poses a fundamental question: How do you respond to an event such as a government-sponsored mass murder of part of a country’s civilian population?
The United Nations has estimated that by 2007, 200,000 people had been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur.
The truly heartbreaking documentary takeaway is that “You see that kids really are just kids.” And there is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.
In the movie, the official voice of the Sudanese government belongs to Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations, who scoffs at the notion of a genocidal campaign against the people of Darfur. The conflict is an internal matter, he insists, and has to do with the apportioning of scarce resources.
Sudan has refused to comply with the International Criminal Court’s recent arrest warrants for Ahmad Harun, Sudan’s minister of the interior, and Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militias, for crimes against humanity.
I guess I share all of this because in my own little world this is an unacceptable action against humanity.
But I honestly don’t know what to do about it.
Does America send troops?
Does America shirk responsibility and pass it along to UN?
Is it even our role to take care of this?
I wrestle with this. And I could argue both sides. In the end I land on, if we don’t do it who will? Sort of like if I see a crime happening across the street (like a child being beaten by thugs) and I have the power to do something and I don’t, am I not complicit to the crime?
Maybe more importantly to me as a person as I think about this:
How would I be able to go to sleep that night if I did nothing?
Darfur is a horrendous example of what is happening outside our borders but it makes you start thinking. Like. You wonder if things like the holocaust wouldn’t have happened if more people had stood up and done the right thing. In the end I guess we also have to wonder what we would have done in that situation. It is difficult when you talk about theoretical life versus real life. Unfortunately, Darfur is real life. The here and now.
Anyway. It is sometimes easy to ignore these types of things happening outside our borders.
Out of sight out of mind
It is very easy even in the age of YouTube and cellular images to just not see what is happening elsewhere.
Because we have our own problems.
Recession. (And all the stuff that comes with it).
Our soldiers dying in Afghanistan (and do we want to send more somewhere else)
Maybe worse is ignorance. Where is Darfur? Does it really matter? And, of course, our overall perceptions of undeveloped African countries.
If we haven’t been there it is often easy to think of some of these places like horse and buggy countries. Absolutely some of these places have rural areas with spotty technology and living support (we forget how large some of these places are geographically because maps kind of lie with regard to size and stuff).
So. In the end I have no answers just questions. However. I do have a suggestion even more important than watching Darfur Now. A way to give yourself real perspective.
How can you gain perspective? Oh. It’s easy. Evil shows its price tag.
One of my favorite bloggers, Where’s My Jetpack? just reminded me of a recent T-Mobile ad featuring one of my childhood heroes, Eric Clapton:
Ok a couple of things.
- I’ve been a huge fan of Eric Clapton since I was a kid. I own most of his albums, I just finished reading his autobiography, hell, I wrote a 20 page term paper in college (the class was “History of the Blues”) defending the man as a “true” blues musician.
- This ad kind of bothers me for some reason(even though I like the song in the spot from one of his more obscure early 80s albums). Actually, it makes me embarrassed for him…and a little bit for me, for being a fan.
At first I couldn’t figure out why. I like parts of the ad: The music, the phone itself(i’m a sucker for anything with a sunburst finish and a Fender logo), and I even kind of got a chuckle out of the part where Buddy Guy(another blues legend and hero of mine) shows up on the caller ID.
Then Bruce pointed out exactly what bothered me: It’s a “me too” ad. It is basically a rip off of the iPhone ads.
So maybe what bothers me isn’t that this childhood hero is shilling a product. It’s that he’s shilling a “me too” product in a “me too” ad. Come on Eric, couldn’t your manager have gotten you a gig with Apple instead?
Now, this isn’t the first time ol’ Eric has done an ad that made me scratch my head. Back in 1989, Clapton had just got sober after coming out of his second stint in rehab for alcoholism(and not only has he been sober ever since, he’s also helped others get sober through a rehab center he founded called Crossroads). That’s why I could never understand why he agreed to do a commercial for Michelob using one of his classic songs, “After Midnight”:
Maybe I’m just over thinking it. What do you think of the ad? Have you ever had a similar reaction, seeing one of you favorite artists/actors etc. endorsing a product?
So. What is it about me and conflict?
First. I like contradictions in life. Smart and funny. Silent but says a lot. Liberal conservative. Cynical optimist. Things like that. Oh. And enlightened and conflict of course.
Contradictions are powerful. They create a chemistry ending in positive friction (when done right) and the fire for innovative thinking and thoughts. In general I believe they make life interesting.
Second. Conflict is part of life. Humans are neither passive nor stagnant. We move. We do. We think. Combine that fact with individuals are unique (although they may group together) and inevitably there is some conflict. It can simply be healthy competition or it can be staggeringly evil intended activity (i.e. there will be conflict because your point of view and thoughts shouldn’t exist and I am going to extinguish them).
Third. I believe conflict can be “managed”. Maybe call it competitive camaraderie. I call it enlightened conflict. I believe if people know more about stuff (I don’t really believe it needs a technical term) then conflict will be conducted with knowledge. Ignorance guides conflict toward evil interactions and knowledge guides conflict to responsible interactions.
Fourth. “Enlightened”. My focus in life, whether I have recognized it or not, has been overcoming ignorance. Fulfilling curiosity – either mine or anyone’s life I glance off of. But I would envision someone would argue I am fighting for some version of pluralism. Freedom to learn and think different thoughts. I love freedom of speech but it is less important to my thoughts globally. Possibly because I believe the less ignorant people are the more likely they are to speak out (therefore we will end up getting some form of freedom of speech as a byproduct of this whole thing).
In the end I imagine what I really care about are people’s actions. They can remain mute as far as I am concerned as long as their actions respect others opinions and lives and global responsibilities.
Summarizing my deal with conflict.
My theory is conflict will always exist (human nature). On all levels – from huge populations aligned for ‘whatever’ cause to an individual aligned behind a belief. And that is okay. The friction between beliefs and causes often creates the spark for something better. Yup. I am suggesting conflict and friction is good (I apologize to all the “why can’t we all get along” groups). Good conflict leads to positive friction and ideation and evolution of ideas. And I believe we should try to manage that conflict globally by developing kind of a ‘values’ rules of competition.
Simply it revolves around two thoughts
- Positive friction.
- Enlightened conflict.
The first is based on curiosity plus friction equals better ideas and thinking.
The second is lack of ignorance plus conflict equals respectful competition (and yes … unfortunately the competition can be war … but it is war understanding the repercussions on humanity and the toll it takes).
If I could do what I really want to do it would be to create a global program or educating a global generation of kids. I have written some fairly extensive thoughts on how to create a global program for kids (up to 8 years old) to help fight ignorance and create a more balanced global community with respect to individuals, their beliefs and the environment (it is not a math, grammar, etc. education program). Someday I hope to find someone who will ask me to implement it.
Until then? I will hope that I can impact the little corner of my world with positive friction for enlightened conflict.
“Enlighten the people, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”
Thomas Jefferson
I am sure I have missed a number of excellent Tigger moments. I really wanted to include when he peed in the office right at the feet of the CFO (who was ambivalent at best about Tigger) or when he ran almost a mile (stopping at the curb at the intersection because he knew not to leave a curb) when we moved into a new home running back towards his old home, or “The Shark,” which is what his uncles would call it as he walked figure eights nonstop in the living room as we sat talking or…well…lots of ‘em. Here are my ten. But please feel free and add any I missed. He loved all of you and certainly did something goofily Tiggeresque around you. Bruce.
10. Trained to not go after tennis balls on a tennis court, he sits watching from a spot on the side of the court, gets up, wanders from one post to the other (staying close to the net) while play continued over his head to get in the shade on the other side. We never stopped, he/we didn’t care and maybe he would stop and look to see if anyone would play with him before proceeding and plopping down on the other side. Sometimes he needed to be encouraged with a “take a break.”
9. The infamous “tuck and roll” off the Danuser front porch as he stepped off the side of it by mistake. Eyesight not as good as it used to be he kinda missed the steps, as he tumbled over the porch he did a perfect “tuck and roll” into the shrubs and came out onto the lawn a little confused but ready to start walking. Would have drawn a 10 from the Russian judge.
8. Caught in one of those side road suburbia traffic jams Tigger proceeds to jump out the back driver side car window, “sticks” the landing (to avoid the opposite lane traffic) like an Olympic gymnast then immediately bolts around the back of the car to the other side to a small patch of grass he had spotted from the car and went to the bathroom (cause he knew to not go in the car). All the while I freaked out.
7. The tennis matches with my tennis partner’s son, Brandon, bashing Tigger with a big Flintstones plastic bat in the space where all the people sat watching the matches and Tigger just standing there staring at me through the fence with huge brown eyes pleading with me to let him come on the court.
6. The Hannibal Lector crate. After he had opened a single lock crate as well as destroyed the wall plaster almost 6 inches behind his crate as a puppy, I bought a new 2 lock crate, moved his crate to the middle of a room and elevated it slightly. Hannibal Lector couldn’t have got out.
5. The infamous Tigger “harrumph” after the ‘take a break’ command. The best command he ever learned was the “take a break” command (about the only thing that kept us all from killing him on occasion). But. While he would follow the command when he didn’t want to he would lay down with a loud audible “huff” or “harrumph.”
4. Uncle Jim’s shoes. My place was a hotel walking distance from our favorite bar Laseters for rotating uncles after tennis and beer. One morning we woke up to uncle Jim yelling “Tigger!” He woke up to find the tongues, and only the tongues, chewed out of a pair of $100 shoes. From that night on Uncles staying over would put their shoes up on their bed, or the futon, next to them.
3. Car sick on the way to the lake. In the car driving to the lake with a friend she says “I think Tigger is going to get sick.”
“huh?, Tigger never gets sick.”
“well, you know how people get green when they are sick, Tigger has that look.”
(I turn and look and he is sitting in the back bed of the car with a droopy look and a green muzzle. And she was right, he did look like he was going to be sick). “Wow, you are right. He does look green sick.” (he had eaten an entire bag of sour cream and onion potato chips, and part of the bag itself, and his muzzle was covered with sour cream “dust’). And, yes, he did throw up when we stopped.
2. Tigger and his nose. Tigger loved “giving kisses” to women (having learned this from an early dogsitter friend who let Tigger lavish her with kisses). He was intent on giving kisses regardless of situation. Unfortunately Tigger never grasped the length of his nose and mastered the “unintentional spearing” transgression. From a standstill he could spring (Tigger-like) up to nose spear, oops, kiss, up to maybe 5’ 6” or so.
1.Lastly. Oh. I believe everyone from the original Tigger family will probably be on board with this one. While Tigger loved women and was really affectionate with them he was a “guy’s dog.” My number 1 is the ongoing memory of Tigger by my side and from the distance we would hear a “Tigga-boo” shout from Uncle Gary, Uncle Jim, Uncle John, Uncle David, any uncle in the tennis crowd and from a standstill he would be running 100 miles an hour to see his favorite uncle (whichever one it was yelling). He lived to hear a “Tigga-boo” call in the distance. (although Aunt Jen could get a good sprint out of him also)
As a good friend told me…he adopted everyone.
Are newspapers dying? Despite all the bad press, no. (I will explain later)
Could they restructure to become more viable long term and increase profits? Yes.
How?
1. Restructure printing production schedules and issue newspapers for three days a week (let’s say Wednesday-Friday-Sunday).
2. Charge to access content online.
Yup. That simple. (and I will get back to those two)
Newspapers just aren’t as bad off as people want to make them out to be.
First. Most papers are pretty healthy. The problem is they are owned by corporations demanding 30% profit margins. If they don’t, it is often more profitable to divest what is typically some valuable real estate and shut paper down. Smaller papers with ownership content with comfortable but not exorbitant profits are doing just fine. Maybe newspapers need to reevaluate profit goals.
Second. The source of revenue. I believe it was just last year NY Times circulation revenue topped advertising revenue for the first time in a very very long time. Once again. That is ok. Just a different revenue model. It’s been done once before (like when newspapers first came into existence and the first 100+ years of their existence).
Third. High ad revenue is a relatively recent phenomenon. For rounding sake let’s say for the first 125 years or so circulation revenue drove the newspaper industry (don’t worry. I am not gonna get stuck on printed paper. Just going through successful models that would apply to digital news also. Uh. Paid circulation). There is no reason why today’s newspapers cannot go back to the original “circulation revenue” model and live with less ad revenue.
Fourth. Government support. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…what do I mean by that? Tax breaks on production expenses and a favorable mail rate. Both those things lower expenses pretty significantly and then the news reporting infrastructure can go back to focusing on generating responsible news.
Ok. Here we go. So why I believe it’s easy. Because newspapers actually control professional news output. Simplistically they own the network of news gathering and fact finding and responsible reporting.
Unfortunately the simple solution (those two little things I listed upfront) carries with it a lot of complex maneuvering and actions.
The first is simply a choice they need to do or don’t do. But it would be silly to not do it. They would minimize print production expenses, maximize circulation days, probably be flat with existing ad revenues (when it is all said and done) and maintain readership.
The second simple thing to do is a little trickier.
So.
A rare Picasso painting at New York’ City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art was damaged with a 6-inch tear when an art lover lost her balance and stumbled into the $80 million work of art.
She lost her balance and fell against The Actor, damaging the lower right corner.
Insert a HUGE ‘uh oh’ here.
I do not believe they allow alcohol within the Met so it was sheer clumsiness.
What the heck do you tell your mom when you get home?
If you tell the truth she will absolutely think you are lying.
If you lie (or say nothing) you run the risk of her picking up a paper and seeing you trip and do a face plant in a Picasso.
Anyway.
I personally believe she improved the Picasso and wish the hot dog mustard had splashed a little more.
Click here to read “Business Development Part 1: Breaking down the buying process.”
Ok.
It’s like business leaders have a brain cramp when it comes to the business development ‘how to build my business’ discussion.
Who should be on my list?
How many prospects on the list is the right amount?
Consultants will say “pick your top 50 prospects.”
Say what?
I don’t get it.
This may sound flippant but I don’t care how many are on your list. If you use the idea below, your list will be more driven by your objectives and plan than by “here is who I want to go after.” And the sheer number will become irrelevant … ok … maybe less relevant if you apply the total list against the buying process in part one.
Why? Because all of a sudden instead of a zillion prospects the prospects will start dropping into slots in the buying process and group together instead of being one giant mass of prospects.
So you can have a zillion but they will be grouped together in manageable numbers.
So.
Here is what I suggest. (it is pretty simple and I cannot remember who in my past gave me the idea).
Stack triangles.
Put your two largest clients at each of the two bottom points on the bottom triangle. Add them up. That is the size of the largest prospect on your first customer prospect list. It reflects a reasonable size your current process and capabilities can absorb. You can keep them happy. And you can keep the two (and all the others on the bottom) happy so they stay.
As soon as you get one that size (or close). You are now at the bottom of the next triangle. Slide that one to the bottom left (or right if that floats your boat). Put your next largest client on the other point and add them up and do it all over.
In the meantime go ahead and put all your clients in the triangle. Give them dots. Triangles with dots in them always look great. There you go. Your growth plan. You’ll stop stacking triangles when you see a number that looks like what you want for your organization.
Oh.
That also means your prospect business development list changes. Should you have had all these new guys on your original list? Of course not. Why waste your time preselling someone you like but probably weren’t capable of properly servicing?
On occasion, do one of those not on the list track you down? Sure. And you deal with them if they do.
Is it good to change your prospect list like this? Sure. When you get to a certain size some prospects drop off your list because they aren’t worth your while.
What do you say to the new prospects when you begin communicating? Easy. “Hey. We have grown. We always had the expertise, but now we have the process/infrastructure capabilities to work with you.” (Prospects like that kind of stuff. It’s called realistic truth or honesty)
The triangles plan of action shows two things (other than you actually have a plan):
1. A reasonable logical growth plan
2. How high or how big do you want to go plan of action (and how to get there).
Hey. I am not a big “5 year plan” type of guy. But. I do like a plan. I just believe you are adjusting the plan to accommodate reality more often than not (so the whole 5 year thing goes to hell in a hand basket pretty quickly).
Sure.
There are exceptions.
Sure.
You make adjustments.
Sure.
Stuff happens (like you stop paying attention to a client who was on the bottom of one of your triangles, and they get pissed off and leave).
But this is about a reasonable growth plan. And retention plays a role but that is a different post (but it is very easy to build retention into your business development plan because you know your average length of client relationship so you can factor that in.
So.
Just answered that. Excellent. I just eliminated something to write.
(The close) So.
Those are two basic and relatively simple infrastructure ideas for a business development program.
Pretty simple huh? Yup.
You know what?
Business development is fairly simple. It’s not about cold calling (which really isn’t that effective and in most business categories isn’t really the way to jump start a relationship).
C’mon.
How often do you pick up the phone to blindly call some girl (or guy) and say:
“Hey. You don’t know me but I am guessing you have had a bunch of relationships that didn’t work out but I am a really neat guy (or gal) so why don’t we meet and go out some time?”
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Imagine a dial tone somewhere in that scenario.
Does this work?
I almost guarantee if you play the numbers right in what I just described you should get a couple of meetings fairly fast (out of sheer dumb luck your message will hit a couple of people in the stimulus phase). You will generate some ongoing meetings without cold calls. And you will grow so you can revise your prospect list often enough to keep it fresh. But. Remember. It is a program not a tactic. So you gotta keep it going to make it work.
Oh.
Also.
Remember.
A business development program should simply be an extension of everything else you are doing as an organization. Not some mysterious voodoo program where everyone looks askance at the biz development people (I have been looking for an opportunity to write askance for awhile). They shouldn’t be using wacky business development words and phrases that make people think they bumped their head on a dumb stick, but rather use words and process the entire organization uses.
Last warning.
Beware the business development person or consultant who comes in with “here is the process and what we do.” Just shoot them then and save yourself a lot of heartache. They should be coming in saying “I know the principles to have a successful program, but let’s talk about what makes you successful – and vocabulary – with existing clients and I will build a business development program around that (Don’t shoot that person. At least right away).
There you go.
Good luck. Add some business.
So.
This was the morning.
The first morning in 15 years I woke up without my best buddy.
While these recent days, as he got older and older, the mornings were typically quiet instead of the earlier hustle and hyperness associated with border collieness there is still a silence that is somewhat overwhelming. There is an emptiness where the space was so full.
“and then there was one”
we stand
by the edge of the field
where tigger and ginger used to play
but today
there is silence.
and it seems
all the stars are without wishes
for they fall without a sound.
and it seems
the leaves are so still
and fall without a sound
for they desire to drop
without disturbing
the memory of what was.
we stand
by the edge of the field
and see
the emptiness
where once they were there
but now
there is silence.
and where they played
the grass stands alone.
i stand
and then there was
just one.
“Last Summer” is one of those addictive little songs you hear on the radio and the first time you only catch a portion and then the radio doesn’t play again for weeks. There is a live version of this song floating around that may actually be better than the CD version.
“Last Summer” kind of chugs along in that Pete Yorn upbeat rambling fashion. And it sticks in your head (as good Pete Yorn songs do). His voice is unusual enough to make his bad songs … well … really bad. And, on the flip side of the musical coin…it makes his good songs eclectically very good.
If you are not familiar with good ole Pete, his CD musicforthemorningafter is on my all time “here is why I will never be able to understand how record labels decide what should be played on the radio” list of great CDs you’ve never heard of.
So. When he writes a good song it is just plain fun to listen to … and “Last Summer” fits into that category. The majority of his new cd is crap (every time I use that word I want to say “if it’s not Scottish it’s crap”). But. That is way off topic and I am pretty sure Pete ain’t Scottish so that is probably a whole different post.
Hope you enjoy this edition of addictive song. (Don’t worry. I get no proceeds if you buy his stuff).