Welcome 2010! What has made the last year for me, were words of wisdom about life, work, technology, culture, you name it. I’ll share a few of them with you here.
On getting Started
Inspiration is for amateurs.
Ken Bernstein is a friend and Boulder artist who kindly reminded me, while I was complaining of writer’s block, that if you’re a professional, waiting around for the muse is not an option.
On organizational culture
Your culture is your brand.
Tony Hsieh, zappos.com CEO, has this as his mantra and you can find it on their company website. Maybe it is even in the corporate restroom stalls, I don’t know. It’s so tempting for a company to go for ROI right off the bat, but Tony’s philosophy has been to hire optimistic, problem solvers who love to give good customer service. They know customers will come back. And a culture like that is going to be around for a long time.
On what makes great technology stand out
It’s actually counter intuitive. To me it’s the thing that’s the least complicated. When I was writing at Wired, any time I got some new, fancy technology that people would tell me, ‘this is gonna change the world,’ I’d send it home to my mom and dad. And if they said, ‘uh we don’t understand how this works,’ then I kind of knew this wasn’t going to gain wide adoption, at least in its early phases.
Ball State University Prof, Brad King, emceed last year’s Business Accelerator at SXSW. In his Level3 Red Couch interview, we got to pick his brain for a few minutes. This response to the question “What makes great technology stand out?” reminded me how easy it is to get caught up in the slickest, coolest looking app that performs awesome tricks for tech junkies, but may not sell to the average person. Isn’t that our goal? Creating new technology because you think it’s cool is fun, but producing something useful, that is accessible, now that’s progress!
On change
The first step towards change is acceptance. Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change.
My friend Myrna shared this Will Garcia quote. Myrna Weinreich shares inspiring thoughts like some people breathe. Whenever I need a new perspective, one of the quotes she shares is right there for me. We are in a state of rapid, constant change and it helps to take a breather and remind yourself to adapt.
These words are still relevant for me and will be moving forward. Not a lot of luggage, but something that will get through security anyway.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
I really like the quote “inspiration is for amateurs”- it’s a little lacking in the romanticism some of us Pisces feel we need to live within “our craft”… but it is the stark reality of what we have to live with as professional creatives. When I sit down with pen and paper, I’m waiting for the muse to tap me on the shoulder or I’m scurrying to catch up with her. But when I am producing work for either a client or my “day job”, I can’t wait for her to appear… I gotta drum it up from within because baby needs new shoes!
That’s the difference between the concept of “amateurs” and “professionals”- amateurs have the luxury of waiting, professionals must produce on time… with or without the blessings of the muse!
Here’s to hoping the muse wants to come along for the ride this year! (But here’s to hoping we find that well of creativity full when we need it as well.)
Tim, just read you’re a pisces. We have a good month, great in fact especially after the 15th so get ready!
I’m going to be looking forward to that! My birthday is the 18th and my wife is due to give birth with our daughter by April 11th, but i have a feeling she’ll a little early… so we’ll just have to see.
Deb, my ‘no sugar chocolate mousse maven’ pal, thank you so much for your appreciation. Glad to be of service to you anytime.