Have you felt frustration this week? Get inspired. Watch the video of Andy Mackey. Now get out there and follow your own passion.

Dan Robles nails it again. 4 Square, redefining currency, revaluing knowledge. What’s your personal economy going to look like in 10 years?

http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=9557

Our national attention finally turned to our aging transportation infrastructure this past decade, although we’ve just begun to restructure and fund these priorities.

But we may be even father behind in communications technology, despite private and public efforts. Most people’s eyes glaze over when you mention ” broadband”.

Here’s a good article that presents a different meme, “soft infrastructure”. While it will never overcome the focus on Dancing with the Stars, maybe this can better capture our group consciousness and attention, so we can really do something about it.

http://archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4404

If you don’t yet subscribe to the daily blog posts at relationship- economy.com, please check it out. This us one of my favourite blogs.

http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=9564

Today and tomorrow, Twitter hosts their first developer conference, TwitterChirp in
SanFransisco. It’s sold out, but you can watch it live on Justin.TV, embedded here.

strategic planning: innovation: management:success

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO KILL A MOUSE

When stuck looking for a new solution to a persistent problem, look for a novel approach. Here’s an example of collegiate ingenuity.

BEER INDUCED CREATIVITY

The fraternity poker game participants were locked in mortal combat as Tom staggered into the dining room (a.k.a. the poker emporium). Tom was fresh from his self-described part-time job (6 hours of sitting at a nearby tavern letting patrons buy him drinks while he scooped loose change off the bar). He made a few boisterous comments and then disappeared as quickly as he came in. The poker game renewed its heated intensity. Everyone assumed Boston Tom was in dreamland hitting home runs over the Green Monster at his beloved Fenway Park. Read the rest of this entry »

Music & Arts:Take A Listen at the Mayville Bluegrass Festival
By Nick Corsi

ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR

Nothing much in the world is more soothing then sitting in a field and listening to acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, stand up basses, sweet vocals and all the other sounds come along with Bluegrass.

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Food & Design: Beyond the Survey, 1 of 2

TED.COM – MALCOLM GLADWELL ON BEING EXTRA CHUNKY

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Food & Design: Buying Local

We are all feeling the pinch of the recession. Times like these makes everyone look at their spending and see where the can cut back and conserve. One noticeable changes individuals can do to save money is to cut back on their weekly grocery bill. Clipping coupons, choosing wisely on their meal plan or just being aware of what you buy could save people hundreds of dollars in a year. However, being aware doesn’t mean cutting corners.

BUY LOCAL Read the rest of this entry »

Music & Arts: Edinboro takes us somewhere else…

By Nick Corsi

DOWNTOWN EDINBORO ART AND MUSIC FESTIVAL

We kicked off the summer season at Raven with the Edinboro Art and Music Festival. This small but packed venue really gives us a chance to get back into the swing of things. I remember someone saying if you like what you do, then you never work a day in your life, when you are working at this festival…”work” is the last thing on your mind.

DONNA THE BUFFALO

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Food & Design: Vino Volo

A few weeks ago, I was traveling back to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia, when I was stopped in my tracks. Heading out of the newly renovated security terminal in the Philadelphia International Airport, I was greeted by Vino Volo. Derived from Italian for “wine flight”, Vino Volo is a retail store mixes its fresh boutique style with the elegance of a wine bar. Featuring wines from around the globe, locally grown cheese and a imported meats to suit their clients taste buds, this bar currently does more than give Vino Volo is not so much as creating the concept of the wine bar in airports, they are just RECREATING it.

ATMOSPHERE AND LOCATION OF AN AIRPORT WINE BAR Read the rest of this entry »

strategic planning: innovation: management:success

SOME DO’S AND DONT’S OF THE PROCESS

You’re finally going to do it. You are a born again believer in the benefits of business and strategic planning. To prepare you for the plunge here’s some rules of the road to guide you through the process.

The planning process can be exhilarating, frustrating, enlightening, demanding and a host of other descriptive adjectives. Hopefully you’ll find a nugget or two in these do’s and don’ts that will keep the emphasis on the positives of your unique organizational growth experience. Carpe Diem!

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.“-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Food & Design: Redesigning the Beloved

Wonder Bread is the American favorite, even if you have never tried a slice of the company’s bread.  As “America’s first sliced bread” it inspired the phrase the next “best thing since sliced bread”.  In a way, Wonderbread changed not only the bread and baking world forever, they created a revolution for the field itself.

FROM BALLOONS CAME A LEGEND Read the rest of this entry »

Music & Arts:Raven Sound Utilizes Twitter
By Nick Corsi

FOLLOW @RAVENSOUND

I recently began utilizing Twitter to promote Erie, PA based sound reinforcement company Raven Sound. I knew that I wanted to include at least one social networking site into Raven’s marketing mix, and the fast and easy updating potential of Twitter while on the road and on stage doing gigs was the deciding factor in incorporating the ever growing Twitter.

THE TWITTER PLAN Read the rest of this entry »

Consciousness: true selfishness

By Bob Martin

BILLBOARDS ARE NICE, BUT …

Ever drive past a billboard and get frustrated because you can’t figure out what it says? I do. Billboards can be an extremely effective method of advertising when done right. When not done right, they can be an enormous waste of time and money.

You have a very short amount of time to get your message across on a billboard. You have anywhere from 3-6 seconds, if you’re lucky and traffic is reasonably slow. That’s not a lot of time. I constantly see businesses trying to cram in all their information on billboards. Address, phone number, a picture of the owner with his dog, the product, a customer testimonial, the product logo … it goes on and on. The message gets lost and nothing is remembered as the driver tries to drive and read through the jumble.

MY RULE OF THUMB HAS ALWAYS BEEN …

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strategic planning: innovation: management:success

HOW TO EVALUATE WHAT YOU NEED

We all need good information to monitor and manage our organizations. We need timely, efficient and effective management information to drive the decision-making process. To meet these needs, managers should be aware of the available criteria for a proper evaluation.

“You can not feed the hungry on statistics.“-Wilfred Laurier

The following 14 evaluative criteria are offered as a frame of reference for the planning, developing and monitoring of organizational information needs.

It is important to note that proper use of the criteria will involve the assessment of qualitative as well as quantifiable attributes and will require dealing in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable qualitative arena. Also, since the criteria will not generally carry equal weight, management will need an adequate grasp of the critical criteria of its own organization. Use of the evaluative criteria should, however, provide a framework for “relative ranking” of competing data requests and thus allow for a rational allocation of available organizational resources. The evaluation job will still be difficult, but a systematic approach should increase the likelihood that all the “bases” will be covered.

WHAT CRITERIA  TO LOOK FOR: 14 TO BENCHMARK AGAINST Read the rest of this entry »

Food & Design: The Art of Design

TED.COM – MILTON GLASER: HOW GREAT DESIGN MAKES IDEAS NEW

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Consciousness: true selfishness

By Bob Martin

WHAT’S YOUR USP?

I spent a week in Chicago many years ago. I attended a school put on by the Giant Killers, a marketing instruction company. The first question they asked us was… What’s your USP? Well, we all looked at each other, shrugged and developed blank stares. Our instructor continued to explain that a USP is a “Unique Selling Position”. Basically, what makes our product the best buy.

YOU NEED TO DETERMINE YOU USP FOR YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.

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Consciousness: true selfishness

By Bob Martin

THE CAR DEALER & TV

Years ago I represented a Chevrolet car dealer. He was reasonably successful, but wanted to take the dealership to next level and he hired me to accomplish this. One of the things he wanted to do was sell Chevets, a good solid second family car. It’s low price made it a great car for the blue collar family.

I produced a nice TV spot featuring the car and proceeded to map out the running schedule for the ads. When I presented the budget to the dealer he immediately threw out all the 11:00pm news spots. I protested, but he wouldn’t budge on the ads.

THE SCHEDULE WAS PRODUCING RESULTS, BUT NOT TO THE DEGREE I WAS LOOKING FOR.

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strategic planning: innovation: management:success

SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PLANNING MODEL

Technology and alternate ways of doing things are always in a state of flux. Whether it’s outsourcing some of your operations or looking at techniques that aid your decision process, it’s important to keep emerging tools and practices on your radar screen.

One example is the evolving nature of financial planning and analysis software that transcends beyond traditional spreadsheet tools. Do you ever wish you had a crystal ball to aid your business decision process? Would you use such a tool if it was available? With operations becoming more and more complex, having the ability to anticipate, analyze and assess alternate strategies BEFORE committing valuable time and resources is becoming vital.

“Anyone who says businessmen deal in facts, not fiction, has never read old five-year projections.“-Malcolm Forbes

Does your current financial forecasting model provide answers to these  SEVEN TYPICAL INQUIRIES? Read the rest of this entry »