Live your tomorrow today

World Trade Center

2006-08-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I went and saw World Trade Center by Oliver Stone. 9/11 is a sad tragedy and it's one of these events were most people instantly remember what they were doing when it happened. I was on a business trip in Baltimore and first I heard was someone mentioning a helicopter went into the WTC. This sounded so unbelievable to me that I told the guy this can't be true. Then went into a meeting and it didn't take long and along came the CEO knocking on the door telling what was unfolding. I and a friend were stuck for a couple of days in Baltimore and than had to take a flight back to Seattle and from there drive back to Vancouver.

The movie makes the tragedy personal. It tells the story from the perspective of two families and seeing it makes you realize what horrible times these families went through. Even after seeing the movie it is unimaginable for me what the two police officers buried under the buildings went through. The terror they had to live through and will continue to live through for the rest of their lives.

I also saw United 93 which ends quite differently than WTC. United 93 ends showing the despair people went through on the plane and their families on the ground while WTC shows the horror two families went through but the happy ending they have. It ends with the hope we all clamor for. Both movies are very emotional but both movies tell a bit of today's history and I really hope many will go and see it. Because our western society is inflicting the same terror on innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq. The same terror is unleashed in Lebanon. Unfortunately it is innocent people who pay the price in this war. And there is no doubt this is a war, like WWI or WWII but obviously quite a different war where the enemy doesn't particularly live in a certain place you can just bomb. The enemy is a moving target and is recruiting terrorists amongst our own people.

This movie has been very well done. And like United 93 it is very moving. We can only hope that we don't have to go through such a tragedy again. I for sure would not have the courage many of the affected people and families have shown! I have the utmost respect for the individuals and families affected by this and who are than able to move forward in live!

Celebration of light - Mexico

2006-08-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I went and saw the last of the four shows. This year I made a point to see all of them. And before the show I was quite sure Italy would make it. But it didn't take long and I wasn't that sure anymore. They had a great music and choreography! And yes they made it, it's well deserved. They have put on a great show! And the crowd was just unbelievable. The show on Wednesday - Czech Republic - wasn't that well visited. But this one, I don't remember ever seeing so many folks watching it.

So this year's shows are over. All of them were great and for anyone who likes fireworks this is a must event! I am looking forward to see it again in a year! Here is a video clip from YouTube.

The Culture Code

2006-08-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

The book "The Culture Code" is quite interesting. The author through his studies and methodology is establishing the sub-conscious code we associate with basic behaviors and things. It claims that each culture has its own code, so for example the code for health in America is movement while in China it is being in harmony. This book is about the American culture code and explains the code for things like

beauty...man's salvation
fat...checking out
health...movement
nurse...mother
hospital...processing plant

And many more. This is a very interesting read and gives great insight into some of America's behaviors and values. A must read on my book list for marketers and anyone who wants to understand American behavior better.

My favorite business book list

2006-07-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

I am not a terrible fan for business books. But lately I am on streak. There are a number of business books I really like and I consider everyone should read.

The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman
Winning, by Jack Welch
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell
FutureThink, by Edie Weiner and Arnold Brown
Execution, the discipline of getting things done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Chinese Business Etiquette, by Scott D. Seligman
Five Frogs on a Log, Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt
The Offshore Nation, by Atul Vashistha and Avinash Vashista
The Culture Code, by Clotaire Rapaille

The Long Tail

2006-07-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

So today I ran into this clip and blog about the long tail. There is also a fairly new book out about this. This looks very interesting.

Who killed the electric car

2006-07-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting documentary out at the moment, called "Who killed the electric car". So in the early 90's California had a zero emission law, which meant that car makers who sold cars in California had to also sell a certain percentage of zero emission cars by a certain date. The spured innovation and the creation of the electric car.

This movie tells the story how this was fought by the car industry, oil industry and the federal government and how these cars disappeared. One might say the story is a bit one-sided. Well, that is not really how I walked away. There are some compelling arguments this documentary makes. The hardest to swallow being how the electric car - a working solution which needed improvements - was abandoned and replaced by the hydrogen car - which is an unproven technology decades away before it will be commercially available.

Anyone who has some interest in what's happening in today's world and how sometimes the system doesn't work should go and see this documentary. Also go and see "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore - see my earlier blog post. I think these are important topics and the consumer - meaning every single one of us - has a big control in this.

This also ties into some other interesting topic I recently read about - The World Is Flat. If America wants to compete with other markets and geographies and if we want to stop our environmental destruction, there is only one solution. Innovate, fast-paced innovation, which means we need to invest in infrastructure, technology, science and education. Areas we started to neglect more and more in the last couple decades. And as usual here is your YouTube clip!

Celebration of light - China

2006-07-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

So last night it was China's turn in the Celebration of Lights fireworks. The music was more traditional Chinese (at least in my view). So overall I didn't like the music as much as Italy's and the fireworks started out a bit slow. But in the second half the fireworks were awesome too. So I did like them but Italy is my favorite right now. And, it didn't take long and the first clips are showing up on YouTube. It's like your free movie clip service, love it!

Celebration of light - Italy

2006-07-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday I went and saw the Vancouver fireworks - Celebration of light. Italy kicked of this years event and they had an amazing choreography. I really liked the music and the fireworks were just awe-striking. It was estimated that about 400 thousand people saw it. The crowd was unbelievable. When you leave you see people everywhere - at least for an hour! And obviously it didn't take long till some clips showed up on YouTube!

The World Is Flat!

2006-07-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

The world has changed while we were sleeping. The world became flat again, figuratively speaking. The book called "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman is a must read on my list. The latest edition has been published earlier this year. It talks about a triple convergence which in 2000 flattened the world and now enables knowledge workers from every corner of the globe to participate, collaborate and compete via a single platform - the Internet. For example it enabled two young geeks to build a browser which got downloaded 10 million times within one month and eat into Microsoft's share in the browser market. Or it now enables workers in India, China and many more places to do creative work which not even ten years ago was believed it can only be done in North America or Europe.

Friedman makes a very compelling argument and it ties together many individual stories and reports we have seen in the media. Sure, I don't buy into all aspects but the bigger argument - hell, yes it makes so much sense. And it provides some context which allows me to see and understand things going on around me so much better. He also ties this into some of today's geopolitical events going on and into the obvious struggle of American-jobs-being-lost. And it makes a strong case that we need to rebuild some of our educational and science strengths - and you can insert almost any European or North American country here. The very same strength which allowed us to prosper. It also makes a strong argument that 9/11 has hidden a much more important problem from us. Immigration of talent, strengthening the educational system and positive imagination. The last five years were so much about FUD that we are now much more obsessed with fear and what can happen to us instead of concentrating on strengthening and utilizing our knowledge and imagination.

This book certainly has changed my context and outlook. And there are also many aspects which can be applied to corporations. The strongest one is to work horizontally instead of vertically. We need vertical structures for HR reasons, etc. But we need to work around projects and communities to get our day-to-day work done and add real value to your business.

I can only say one thing. Go and buy this book, read it and then think about it. This is a must read for all senior managers on my list!

Your YouTube playlist!

2006-07-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how easy YouTube is to use and what an incredible user experience it provides. Below is my latest YouTube playlist. Amazing music clips you can find on YouTube for free.

Yahoo Finance - Badges

2006-07-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yahoo Finance is now offering badges which you can embed into your site - http://finance.yahoo.com/badges. Just like YouTube allows you to embed movie clips into your site. And many more. Syndication of content has become a big differentiator in recent years. It allows sites like YoutTube, Yahoo, Google, etc. to embed their content to many other sites and reach a much wider audience. Check it out below

MIT Open Courseware

2006-07-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

In 2005 MIT started "MIT Open Courseware" or also called "MIT Open University". Through this it offers many courses to the public for free, yes for free. You can find its homepage here. You find many courses on Economics, Politcal Science, Physics, etc. We are today competing world-wide in a knowledge based economy. Knowledge, skills and experience are the tools of today and tomorrow. The nation, community or society with the highest knowledge will be able to compete and succeed the most in today's world of outsourcing and offshoring. What can be more powerful then provide training and knowledge for free. And there are many more universities around the world which are participating.

The Resilient corporation

2006-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

The presentation by Yossi Sheffi on the resilient corporation is quite interesting. I found it started out great with examples than it was a bit weak but finished very strongly. He makes the argument that culture and pushing the decision making and responsibility down to the lowest levels are the biggest contributors to a resilient corporation. For example a fairly freshman sailor can stop the complete operation of an air carrier when she sees a problem - that's quite a responsibility and statement of empowerment. Any assembly line worker of Toyota can stop the production line - again quite a responsibility.

Come to think of it, it does make a lot of sense. Management can not oversee everything nor make any decisions. Although management often doesn't trust employees to make the right decisions. It is the employees who are on the front-line who can identify early on quality problems, safety problems or identify that something is wrong and make the right decision to resolve it or to stop production to get someone in to solve it. Management needs to work on creating the right culture and provide leadership in case of disruptions and crisis.

You can find the presentation here. It is quite interesting and I can only recommend it!

The World Is Flat

2006-07-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Right now I am reading a book called "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. It talks how the convergence of trends, events and inventions has created a global platform for collaboration and how this new platform allows people around the world to plug in and collaborate, compete and invent. And ultimately how this platform will change everyone's lives around the globe in a rather profound way. Thomas also presented about a year ago at MIT about that same topic - The World Is Flat. It is quite fascinating to listen to it.

You can also find more about the author on his web site. His book "The World Is Flat" draws a rather compelling story, how we got here and how it will change our lives and the lives of our children. I can strongly recommend this book!

Another music clip I like

2006-07-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here is another cool music clip from YouTube!

Hilarious Charlie Brown clip!

2006-07-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic funny Charlie Brown clip!

Clip about the immigration debate

2006-07-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to chill and take these things humorously!

Flickr!

2006-07-08T01:11:00.000-07:00

I have heard about Flickr a while ago and looked at it briefly. When a couple of friends started using it and sending me links I got really interested in it. I also read once a great article about how Flickr will change Yahoo - Yahoo bought them a while ago. So today I finally signed up, uploaded a couple of pictures and connected with the two friends.

It's another fantastic example of participation. Folks from around the world are uploading pictures - thousands of them every day. And you can browse them, add them to your profile, comment on them, etc. You can also tag your own pictures and make them available to the rest of the world! What a great concept of connecting with others and sharing your experiences.

I am hooked on this. I could search and find pictures about my hometown - Telfes. Here I am on the other side of the world looking and pictures folks have uploaded about my hometown. Amazing. Go and check it out - flickr.com! Just don't search for my name - Klaus Salchner. One of my friends uploaded a - hm funny - picture about me when he and I partied in London. Just don't believe it! Visit my profile @ http://www.flickr.com/people/49312597@N00/

Alizee - a great artist

2006-07-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

While playing around more with YouTube and Google Video I ran into a number of music clips from Alizee - http://www.alizee-fanpage.com/page.php?language=en. What a great aratist. I love her songs!

Google Video

2006-07-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

So while I continued playing around with YouTube I also saw that Google is moving into this space too - video.google.com. It's not as sleek as YouTube but Google doesn't want to miss out on this!

YouTube! - you rule!

2006-07-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

There is a revolution going on! We all are touched by it, we experience it but very few of us have grasped what change is happening and have a name for it. Thomas L. Friedman calls it Uploading and Tim O'Reilly calls it "architecture of participating". Other hyped terms are Web 2.0!

YouTube is a great example of this. I have heard about it a couple of months ago but never took the time to check it out. Well, today while I was creating my LavaLife profile - another story - I also started playing around on YouTube. YouTube is a site which allows everyone to upload their videos and share them with the world. You might say, why would I do this? Well, there are thousands posted. And it's another way of sharing your life and experiences with the world. Connect with the world!

It didn't take long for me to create an account, listen to some professional music clips - small groups but very professional made - and subscribe to them. Didn't take long and I posted comments and filled out my profile with all my details! It literally was drawing me into participating. This is what is happening all around - individuals participating, creating and sharing content - not just consuming it. There are millions out there who create content every hour, every day. This is going to change the media companies, how we inform ourselves, how we share our experiences. And this is just the beginning. What a overwhelming and exciting world to come!

Visit my profile @ http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ksalchner. Go and check it out yourself. Go and sign up and if you have any video clips - upload them. The world wants to see them and know about you :). I am certain it won't take long and this will become a platform for new artists to get attention or even for the big music studios to test drive new talent they found. I can't wait for it!

This is so funny!

2006-07-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

Winning - what a great book

2006-07-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

So this long July 1st weekend I read the book called Winning by Jack Welch. I am a big skeptic when it comes to business books. Most of them are hard to read and when you are done with the book it is hard to count of your ten fingers what you learnt and what you can implement in your day to day work life.

Well not this one. It was an easy read and is full of ideas and processes you can implement. Some of the things talked in Winning strike you right between your eyes and you can immediately turn around and say, yes I saw that happening, yeah I am guilty of that and I wish I could undo this. None of us is perfect. We are human beings who make mistakes but we are also human beings who can strive for something better and can learn and do better.

I like the 4-E's and 1-P (Positive Energy, Energetic, Edge, Execution and Passion). Candor is a powerful statement by itself and we all crave for more of it and at the same time we are all sometimes guilty of not doing it ourselves. The 20-70-10 rule described in differentiation is not easy to implement and there are more reasons someone can list not to do it then to do it. But on closer look it does make sense.

I wish we would see more of what is described in voice and dignity. We all can tell the story where we wish we would have been given the opportunity to make our opinions heard and our believes being respected. Having a mission statement and value statement which is concise and we can believe and act upon - isn't that we all wish for? And there so much more which can be said about this book. I can only say one thing - go and buy it, go and read it and then go and implement some of it. Your boss and your employees will thank you for it!

An inconvenient truth

2006-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went and saw "An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore. At times I wasn't quite sure whether the movie was about global warming or him getting ready to run for president again. I did like the style of him presenting facts and consequences on global warming and in between seeing clips about him and his life to create credibility - he should have left out the one clip about him loosing the presidency.

There is a tremendous amount of FUD out there on the topic of global warming. And the die-hards will continue making arguments against it. But I do believe this movie makes a strong argument that global warming is a fact, created by human beings and has tremendous impacts on the environment and our lives in the years to come. The sad thing being that our society has the technology to solve this problem but so far has not acted on it. We as individuals, corporations or governments have choices and our choice so far is to ignore this problem conveniently.

American politicians are making the argument that being part of the Kyoto treaty will destroy the American economy. Personally it is hard to believe the most advanced nation is using this argument. At the same time we hear arguments that innovation and being technologically advanced is our best way to compete against outsourcing, low-cost countries, etc. At the same time the American car industry is lagging behind and in financial troubles while for example some Japanese car makers have record sales numbers. Well, because their cars are superior, uhm, more technical advanced?

Great progress has been made in the last 20 years on the Ozone layer problem. I am sure similar arguments where made back then - oh this is going to destroy our economy. Well, it didn't.

Personally I am a strong believer in innovation and technological advancement. Look at how much our lives changed in the last 100 years. Agreed, not everything is for the good but overall this has improved our life styles and even prolonged our lives. I also believe strongly that the nation - or maybe economic-block - who invests in technology saving this problem can take away huge gains. Imagine gas prices going up tremendously and there being a single car maker who can provide a hydro-car for a reasonable price. That car maker is poised in a single swoop to destroy the auto industry and dominate the market in the next decade. Imagine heat-waves to come year after year and them getting hotter and hotter (a trend which appears to have started already) and electricity prices to go up. Now imagine someone is able to provide air-conditioners which are 30% more efficient. Well, that company can dominate that market over-night.

Money is always the strongest motivator and consumers will be demanding and shortly be forced to make choices. Governments, countries and corporations which continue to ignore this inconvenient truth will be hurt economically and not the other way around as the American government tries to convince us. I applaud Al Gore for the fact that he is picking up the topic of global warming and makes us think about this. As the movie ends, we all have choices. Go to http://climatecrisis.org/.

Is America loosing it?

2006-06-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

There is an ongoing debate in the media and in the industry whether America is loosing its competitiveness. This discussion has intensified recently. No wonder with all the recent developments of outsourcing, offshoring, layoffs while companies have record profits, etc. There is a recent series of articles which have highlighted this debate:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13123358/site/newsweek/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13117432/site/newsweek/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13117440/site/newsweek/

The irony being that America is seen as the main driver for globalization and its effects. Much of today's global interconnectedness exists because of America. And today it is feared by American citizens like nowhere else - well maybe Europe is fearing it even more. The irony being that in the dot-com boom it let in thousands from India, helped to build their experience and then in the dot-com bust laid many of them off which forced them to go back to India. Back in India they helped to fuel the offshoring craze and lure contracts worth billions of dollars to India. Irony being many who are now competing with America on a global base went to American schools and universities. Irony being America helped educate in one way or the other the very same people which are now competing with them. Irony being that many who want to come to America and work and live there - help to make America prosperous - are no longer allowed in so they now stay at home and compete with Americans. There is no simple answer to this, even so we continue to search for one. Maybe the answer lies in what we try to invest in the least - education. Most western countries are cutting back funding in schools, funding in research projects and funding in training their employees. America and Europe is busy becoming a knowledge based economy while doing everything we can to make it as hard as possible to gain knowledge and experience. We can only compete on the basis of knowledge and experience. We can not compete by producing product cheaper. But we can compete on invention, by creating ever more sophisticated but at the same time easier to use products.

Unfortunately this problem is not owned by a single group or person. Governments need to own this problem as much as corporations and individuals. And by getting protective we are just making the problem worse. This will get worse till America lets go of its short-sighted profit drive, short-sighted fix-the-problem and the short-sighted let me make as much money as I can. Europe's perspective which is much more on the long-run has much higher chance of succeeding.

Commander in Chief

2006-05-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so I was finally able to watch all the episodes of Commander in Chief available on ABC's web site (see my post from May 10th). I really enjoyed this TV show. It has quite an interesting story and the characters are playing it very well. I thought all of them played very strong. I also like the fact that this show captures the politics involved, the childrens perspective as well as the tough choices which need to be made quickly. It drives home for me that so much in today's world is a people business. It's about trust, collaboration, knowing the right people, people skills, etc. Look around and you will see that this applies as much to today's business world. Quite a change from just a decade or two ago.

The show also captures very well the challenges a first female president will have. There will be tremendous pressure on her to be tough and as mentioned in one episode everything she does will be second guessed. There is ongoing speculation that Hillary Clinton will be running for president in 08. I really hope so. It would be the best thing this country can have - a female president. It would truly show democracy and the values of freedom this country stands for.

Today I also learnt that you can buy these episodes on iTunes. Even shows like 24, Alias, etc. Apple has revolutionized with iTunes the music download business and is quitely doing the same for the movie download business. They have the brand and they have the technology. Now it is all about getting the content quickly enough online and offer it up for reasonable price. As a consumer I can only cheer them on! But I wish they would offer this also up outside of the US, like Canada!

Ice Age 2 - a meltdown?

2006-05-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I finnaly got around watching Ice Age - the meltdown. Opinions are really split about it. Some find it quite funny and a good movie while others just don't see it living up to the coolness factor of the first movie. I agree that the first movie was quite cool. The second movie was funny and some characters kept their coolness. I liked the introduction of Ellie and the dynamic between Manny and Ellie - quite funny. Scrat the quirrel is quite funny - I think it is the best of all charcters in this second movie. You gotta love all the stupid things Scrat is doing to get its beloved nut. Sid the sloth was quite funny two - all the goofing around, everyone finding him an embarrassment but still being a great friend you can have. I had a good laugh when he was surounded by a sea of tinny sloth's and they called him the lord of the flame and next thing they throw him into a vulcano. I found Diego the saber tooth tiger a bit disappointing, there is nothing new or funny in this character. The goofing around of the other two new characters Crash and Eddie (possum's) is quite funny two.

I think overall this is a great movie. I had a great laugh - the reason why I wanted to see the movie in the first hand. I hope they are not doing another one. Most movies which try to do a sequel fall short, it is just hard to live up to the coolness factor of the first one.

ABC, are they serious with the digital media

2006-05-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

All of us are just too familiar with Hollywood being in denial of the digital age. There are still many out there who think denial of the digitial media is the best way to deal with IP (Intelectual Property) issues. It's not. Listen to your customers. They are changing and they want to consume content in many different ways, be it the good old TV and DVD or through new channels (or devices) like on your laptop, on my iPod, on my PDA like device and many more. I truly believe the first studio or distributor which really figures out how to distribute content through all these different devices and channels but at the same time can take care of the IP will dominant the consumer media business for the next decade. Yes, there are issues to deal with and yes it is a struggle to make this economically work. But boy will this business suddenly be the media power-house in the digital economy.

So I ran into ABC's new site - http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming. It allows you do view four of their shows online. The quality is great. It would be great if it worked really in full-screen, but even in its current size its quite impressive. Obviously you need a pretty decent high speed internet access but today that should be no problem. You have problems watching it outside the US - well use a public proxy server like http://www.proxy4free.com and you can bypass that check. Try it out, it's quite a treat.

I am cautiously optimistic to see that some of the media houses are willing to experiment with the digital age and see how they can make it work. I do believe they will go through tremendous changes in the next decade. Renting and watching a movie over the internet should become a reality. Also being able to watch TV over the internet should be the norm - you can see already some experiments with this too. Those on the fore-front of this, as a consumer I can just cheer them on!

United 93

2006-05-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

All our lives have been touched and changed for ever with the tragic events of 9/11. And all of us are still struggling with the aftershocks of 9/11. So are we ready to watch "united 93" - the movie which tells the story about what happened on that flight? Some are of the opinion that yes we are while others have a strong opinion of the opposite. So I wasn't quite sure whether I was ready myself. Finally last weekend I decided that I am gonna go for it.

Has it been worth? Has it been schocking to see a pretty realistic version what might have happened on that flight? Had it an effect on me? Yes. Yes. Yes. If I would have to tell you what I will remember about this movie in 30 seconds, here is what I would say - "The movie and its actors have done a fantastic job telling the story. It is very humbling to see in detail what happened to these people - on the ground and on the plane. It is humbling that the families of the victims have helped telling this story and must have lived through it again with all its anxiety. It is humbling to see that so many have played themselves - yes there are many who played there real life story in this movie. It is terrifying to see and live through what these victims on the plane had to go through. What is telling that when I watched it in the theather not a single person talked, not a single interruption and at the end it was quiet, very quiet and people left the theather humbled in silence".

So yes, I can only recommend to everyone, go and see it. I hope you will. Not for your entertainment but to remember what happened on that day and be influenced by it and hopefully when a moment of posibility comes up that you will make a difference in life. Whatever that will be or mean. I wish all the families who lost someone on 9/11 all the best.

Today is the day

2006-05-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

I have toyed with the idea of blogging for a while. I was intriguide by its idea at the same time I told myself, why should I blog about my life. Well, maybe I finally realized that life is about sharing, collaborating, touching each other and making a difference. So today I finally decided to create my personal blog to talk about things which have me touched and sometimes change me and my outlook on life.

If you have made it this far, then I know you are interested (at least a bit) what I have to say. Contact me and share your thoughts and moments with me and all the other bloggers in this world. Don't be shy!