Wednesday, January 27, 2010

State of the Union IV: True: Like Ice, Like Fire


                                      


For those of you just joining us, in State of the Union Part III Thirdgarage proposed the adoption of  a symbolic Fifty-First State and a Fifty-One Star Flag.

The flag shown above may seem a little different to the eye, because it is. Mr. Robert Heft, who died on December 12, 2009,  designed this Fifty-One Star Flag. He did so around the same time that he designed our official Fifty-Star Flag as a high school project. It has been held in trust ever since.


We first made this proposal in October 2001, while the country was beginning to heal its 9/11 wounds. Our efforts to find Mr. Heft at that time were unsuccessful. So, he never endorsed the idea. On the other hand, he hadn't not endorsed it either. What does a Fifty-First State and Star symbolize to us?


1. Star 51 is about our aspirations as a nation and our place in the world; it is meant to focus us on who and what we could be; it represents our true potential, not a finite territory. It is unbounded.

2. It is not Red, Blue, or Green and is neither Left nor Right.  It is not owned by a Corporation or anybody else.


3. It points the way forward out of a series of calamities; its adoption is meant with deepest respect to our current flag and Union and the memory of many who fought or died to protect it and our freedom.

4. It will shine its light on our true and dangerous enemies, so that we see them clearly; we have enough real enemies without inventing others. Most importantly, it reminds us not to be our own worst enemy.


5. Our 51st State is honest and true "like ice, like fire" as one sage has said. It has no state capitol, therefore it has no under-the-radar legislators or their relatives and "friends" in imaginary state jobs as part of a bloated budget.

6. Star 51 will not appear on any Talk Show or on Reality TV.  There will be no book with a huge advance, and Wall St. can't  IPO it, split it, bundle it, trade it, short it, mortgage it or bankrupt it.

7. People everywhere: US citizens and others , taxpayers and cheats, church-goers or not: child, teen, adult, and aged can look upon it and rekindle their dreams (then pay their fair share of taxes!).

8.  Real prosperity will be made again in garages and free minds by girls and boys, women and men who are tinkerers, maybe just a bit odd. Star 51's killer app is to do the unexpected and to do it well. It will remind us that Wash. D.C. and Wall St. can't manufacture prosperity; they only make bets and skim their shares. 


9. The new Star's light and magnetism more firmly unite the other stars; it acts as a symbol of our creativity and innovation as a nation.

10.   A high school boy in Ohio conceived and designed the flag decades ago: a beautiful, selfless act. He had another use in mind at the time, but I'd like to think that he would have enjoyed our idea.

We're walking around in the dark as a nation, bumping into one thing, then another. Why not turn on a light where we can all see it?

Note: If you would like to know more about Robert Heft and his flags, you can read Jim Sielicki's UPI story about him at:  http://www.usflag.org/flagdesigner.html
















Tuesday, January 26, 2010

State of the Union III: Star 51



This week Wash. D.C. imagines the State of the Union for citizens. This is the ultimate insiders' viewpoint. A President gives what is usually a mildly interesting speech, while his own Party reacts as if trying to incite Bruce Springsteen to do one more encore.

The opposition usually sits on its hands, although this year, some yahoo seeking his/her fifteen minutes might just rudely interrupt. Hopefully, by now all the South Carolinian pols have exhausted their fifteen minutes. Afterwards, the pretender-party selects a promising unknown, whom with luck we will never see again, to read a dull retort.

After that, the Talking Heads will tell us what the President  really said, because we're too dull to have understood what he/she (someday soon) really said, or should have said, or would have said had he/she been more able. Sarah Palin may do her new thing and a few pundits, whom you might have thought were already dead, will do theirs. Then, MSN and Fox will go nearly-postal on each other.

Ho-Hum.

We believe it's time for some bold, imaginative action: time to tap into our collective desire and ability to transcend the forces of mediocrity gathered around us in business, government, education and media. For this purpose, we make a proposal:


Create a symbolic Fifty-First State and adopt a Fifty-One Star flag.


Some of you may have noticed that the flag at the top was a little different, because it is. Mr. Robert Heft, who died last December, designed this Fifty-One Star Flag. He did so around the same time that he designed our official Fifty-Star Flag as a high school project.
True story.

We do not mean this in any disrespectful or exploitative way. We simply think the country needs a unifying metaphor at this moment. Haven't we had enough blah-blah-blah and name-calling? Can't we rise above well-intended "Tea Parties," which gather many sincere citizens, but also those who fear extra-terrestials more than terrorists, think Darwin is the devil, and want an SUV in every garage?

What is the Fifty-First State and what is the meaning of the Fifty-First Star?

 In State of the Union Part IV, we explain.


Note: If you would like to know more about Robert Heft and his flags, you can read Jim Sielicki's UPI story about him at:  http://www.usflag.org/flagdesigner.html

State of the Union II: The Loneliness of Only-ness


                                                           

My State of the Union advice to the current President would be: remember that being President is different from being a candidate. It seems as though you did not get that on Inauguration Day, like some of your predecessors. Your street-smarts, so attractive when you were campaigning, led you to take on healthcare reform, then your corporate brain let you hand it to Congress. Ugh. Now, you're teeing up the banks, sensing another good fight. Wrongitty-wrong!

That is a candidate's populist fight at best. At worst, the "populace" sees you and Wash DC as the problem now, because they see all of you as having been enablers of the whole banking mess. Plus, you lose points for continual whining about your incompetent predecessor! Does anyone remember Lincoln's predecessor? Rise above.

A President's relationship with the People is a unique one: not the same at all as a CEO's relationship with customers. It is much, much deeper than that. Lincoln knew it was about our collective spiritual values, about our nation's soul, not just votes, not just our purse. Only great Presidents can rise above or go around the clamor. They suffer great loneliness due to their only-ness.

You still have time, but not much. The Fifty-State Union is very fragile at the moment, one more big corporate lie or one big violent event away from another steep descent.

When you write your speech, try to look out on Pennsylvania Avenue with Lincoln's eyes; forget Rahm,  Beck and all the rest. Forget "legacy." That's a term for a history pole where we stick most former Presidents who desperately wanted everyone to love them.

Can't be done.



Saturday, January 23, 2010

State of the Union I: A Fragile Unity

  
We live in an old farm house which was built in 1861 and faces the Boston Post Road, a Colonial-era internet. During difficult times such as these, I wonder what the Peck family, who built the house,  was thinking during the War Between The States, commonly known in the North as the Civil War. Was a family member fighting somewhere? Did they think President Lincoln was doing a good job?

I am especially thinking about those times this week as the President prepares to give his first State of the Union Address. On Inauguration Day last year many people made reference to Mr. Lincoln and the election of the country's first African-American President. Now, the celebrating and fragile togetherness that forged Obama's victory seem to be disintegrating.

As in Mr. Lincoln's time, we are a country at war; in addition to foreign battlefields,  the terrorists have brought the war to our own soil and, more pervasively,  into our collective mind. We are also in the midst of political rancor, based on real and imagined differences between Parties, and fueled by an incendiary and arrogant media. Then, we have the proverbial own-worst-enemy: Ourselves. We are, generally speaking, fat, under-educated, over-amused, and prone to sign our lives away to banks.

And then there are the banks themselves, who exist above us all in some parallel universe constructed by Stephen King and Barney Flintstone.

Despite all of this, people from around the world still desperately want to emigrate here and not to China, Brazil, India and certainly not Russia. We remain the world's best hope for capitalism checked by human values and personal freedom checked by a sense of the common good. But, just barely, as in Mr. Lincoln's time.

Part II offers some advice regarding the Speech.





Wednesday, January 20, 2010

60, 59, 58.....



We try to stay away from political themes at thirdgarage on the theory that it should be left to the suicidal mainstream newspaper and network TV folks who already bore you to tears. It isn't so much that politics is boring: it isn't. It's just that mainstream political reporting is so predictable. We already know what MSN, Fox, The Times, The Journal and George Stefademopoulis will say.

But, we can't resist commenting on the result in the Senate race in MA yesterday:

1. The aforementioned Times's page one headline: "A Year Later, Voters Send a Different Message." Exactly wrong! Voters sent a resounding message of change when they elected O, especially indie voters. They did exactly that in MA, because they didn't get any change; they got DC business as usual. O ceded leadership of healthcare "reform" to Congress, while citizens watched, baffled as to what it was if not what it might cost. Wham!

2. Experts last night mentioned recent elections in VA and NJ as other examples of voter discontent. Perhaps true, but they missed the mother of them all in my mind: the NYC mayoral race. If you recall, a man whose name we've already forgotten almost toppled "Republican" Mayor Billionaire. Mayor B had found democracy to be inconvenient due to a term limit law. Also, citizens remembered that he had made his fortune by serving the banking industry. He came very close to a humiliating defeat. Also, Pres O's public dissing of Dem candidate Whatshisname actually backfired and helped the guy. That's voter anger.

3. While MSN, The Times, and O Inc. will begin rationalizing this election in their favor somehow, they should think about this: Brown won in MA despite having Rudy Giuliani stump for him! The most unattractive candidate imaginable in MA (or anywhere else), a self-proclained Yankee icon in Red Sox country, and the guy still wins. That, my friends, is a Green Monster of mammoth proportions.

4. Rumored Palin Conversation with husband last night: apparently she called after hearing the MA result to find out how many miles they had on their truck. He had to ask which one she meant, the new Escalade or the new Ford 150, purchased with book advances. That cha-ching sound you hear is the end of your political fifteen minutes, Girl. See you soon in your Pradas on your new Fox show.

5. Hapless and hopeless Republicans in Congress may be rejoicing this morning and dreaming of great things to come. Enjoy the brief moment, then look around: that message yesterday was for you guys too. you have no leadership, no electable 2012 candidate in sight. Fox isn't just your press agent anymore; it is you. Don't believe me? What would happen if Beck/Hannity ran against you on a third-party "Tea" ticket in 2012?

6. Advice to Senator-elect Brown: order the best security team and bodyguards that your party can afford. You might want to pass on the Blackwater guys, whose federal contracts might make them an awkward choice, not to mention dangerous. You think your Tea Party supporters are mad? You, my friend, are not only a threat to the healthcare bill; you personify a threat to the entire Media-Political-Financial complex. Have someone else start-up that truck for you in the morning.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Our Little Red Boats




My boss came to the door one afternoon three years ago this week and I immediately knew my time was up. Management had carefully leaked the day and the number of people who would have to go. The previous year, the CEO had been burned by sudden massive pre-holiday firings. She was smarter this time.

I had just hung up on a colleague who had called to see if I was still there, when my bosses' head showed above the frosted glass on the door. I knew because this boss never visited me. He didn't need to do so, according to him, since all of my areas ran smoothly. That didn't matter anymore. Numbers mattered. I had already figured that out: if they didn't get this same boss, they might very well get me. They did.

He talked a long time and I only heard some of it. It was a classic "this may be harder for me than you" speech. You've done a great job, lived up to the challenge of a new promotion four years ago, he went on. It wasn't about performance and it wasn't personal; the magazine business just stinks is all, he said. It's always personal, I said. Finally, I had to kick him out, call my wife, lawyer, the woman from HR.

When you are fifty-eight and a half and get blown away in corporate America from a company where you have worked for seventeen plus years, it hurts. Don't let anyone tell you something different. If it doesn't sink in right away, it will when you tell your wife, spouse, partner.

I told direct reports one by one: saw the fear in their own eyes. What about us? My job was being split three ways: Finance, Procurement, IT; they would be fine as far as I knew. Why you, they said, it doesn't make sense. Then, I got in the HR queue with 999 others that day.

The HR rep, whom I knew a little, said that she had been surprised to see my name on the list. It hadn't been on the original list. How about taking it off then, I said. Sorry, she said, but with your talents you'll do really well, and we can do some things for you. I didn't really hear much else and couldn't make much sense of the paper in my hand, which was mainly about this having nothing to do with my age. This was, of course, a lie, but I knew all about this stuff and they would be squeaky clean. I told her I wanted a bridge to twenty years' retirement, and she said she'd look into it.

I knew she already had. My duties had taken me literally from the mailroom and the kitchens to the board room and the corporate jets. I knew how it all worked.

I had little need to sneak out of the building. Word had spread quickly, everyone gave me a wide berth. That you were out and they were still in was all that mattered. I went out the door one last time and hit the street, as if from a long jump. The physical and spiritual vertigo set in. I just put one foot in front of the other.

I went to meet an old, old boss for a drink and he offered a free office. My sometimes lawyer, a high school class mate, gave free advice and an intro to the lawyer "who wrote the book" on this kind of thing, although his name was not Stephen King.

The next day, I got into my little red boat with my mates, Fear and Hope, and headed out to sea. No Pinta or Santa Maria to port or starboard. Just a single oar, a small sail, no breeze yet, and a horizon. I began to row.

I'm still rowing, with family, friends and a network trying to blow some wind in the sail. The horizon is still there. Some days it looks closer and like a land mass. Other days it's just a distant line. When I look around now, I see thousands of other small boats.

Even Columbus didn't get where he was meant to go. But he got somewhere pretty good. So will I. In some as yet indefinable way, I already have.

Note: Thirdgarage is a long time supporter of Dr. Paul Farmer's Partners In Health, which specializes in helping Haitians. These are people in real need. Please try to help at: http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti    Thank you.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Some Losses Are Bigger Than Others

One winter Sunday evening a few years ago, I received a phone call from the Headmaster at my daughter's boarding school. Immediately, I began to calculate what could be wrong, since Mr. Hamblet  had never before called me at home.

My daughter had been visiting a college over that weekend; we had not heard from her that day. Obviously, I thought, she had transgressed in some way and was being expelled. I would have to go to the local high school in the morning to get her admitted. Etc and etc.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hamblet kept talking about this and that. He hadn't gotten around to dropping the bad news. Impatient, I finally said, "Chuck, why are you calling me?" There was a short silence, before he said, "I and the school would like it very much if you would make the graduation address to seniors on Prize Day in May."

I thought of this conversation last Sunday night, when word arrived that Charles A. "Chuck" Hamblet,  Headmaster Emeritus of St. George's School, had died. If that name doesn't ring your bell, don't worry, Chuck didn't go around ringing bells for himself. He was one of those people on whom our culture depends to hold us all together. You might not have known Chuck, but I'm certain that you've experienced people like him in your own lives. These are the ones with sound values, operating daily with intelligence, generosity, a sense of higher purpose, and courage.

Chuck and others shine the light on us, especially young people, rather than on themselves. They don't need their allotted fifteen minutes of celebrity in our celeb-obsesed world.

After writing six drafts of that speech, I finally arrived at a final version. I'm happy to say that it went well, didn't embarrass my daughter, and Chuck seemed very pleased.

When it was over, the faculty, trustees, seniors and I paraded out of the chapel under threatening clouds. Chuck and I stood on the steps where graduates would receive their diplomas and he asked me if I thought we should move the ceremony indoors. "Your call," he said. He wasn't shirking responsibility; he was simply comfortable putting himself on the line by trusting another's judgement. It was a small gesture, but said much about who he was and how he lived.

"Well," I answered, "You're retiring, and I'm not likely to be in this position again, so let's keep it outside. If it rains, they can't fire us."

Chuck Hamblet was a great educator, leader, role model.  I will miss knowing that he is in this world, but his legacy continues through the minds, hearts and souls of thousands of people. Some losses really are bigger than others.

I almost forgot: it didn't rain that day.


Thirdgarage has made a donation in memory of Charles A. Hamblet to Partners In Health for earthquake relief in Haiti. We ask that you consider making a donation at:  http://www.pih.org/home.html
Thank you.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Twitter: Getting Engaged

You've heard all the Twitter jokes. Yet, millions of what ThirdGarage  calls NetWorkers believe Twitter is an important tool in the emerging Experience Economy, rather than just the most overrated phenom since the Pet Rock.

At first glance, Twitter appears to have done for the internet what USA Today did for newspapers: think short, shallow and prettily shaded like a rainbow. But, if we look deeper, into the ways that millions of solo NetWorkers and small firms use it, we may begin to see some real value.

What's the Experience Economy? Forget celebs tweeting nonsense. As Tim Brown of IDEO explains in Change By Design: services are becoming more like experiences, this is a profound evolution engaging people - both employees and customers - at the deepest level.

For large companies, new business owners and small established firms competing in the Experience Economy, Twitter acts like a pointer to more engaging web sites and blogs. Twitter is a free billboard on the internet highway, the 21st Century Post Road, a digital, virtual US1 in your office or den.

Many NetWorkers came from companies whose remaining staffs are over-worked and under-managed. Netties must work harder, longer, cheaper, smarter in hopes that they will be able to expand and thrive. Or, they hope that the next Apple or Google will hire them. Meanwhile, Twitter is their trusted colleague, aways on and at the right cost.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Little Economy That Could



Last week, when just about everyone on my office floor was taking the holiday week off, I was working. Somehow, I had convinced a director of  a west coast consulting firm to have breakfast with me, and I wanted to prepare.

It seemed a little strange to me that, in the midst of a downtown Manhattan office building,  I would be nearly alone at work. The large companies that reside in the building, fairly well known names, had basically shut down.

Above is the photo of the office water cooler, with closed doors behind it. For Gen Y's and Xer's, who might not know, this is where we used to connect, collaborate and complain. It's a lonely place today in more ways than one.

There are millions of people right now, who would do just about anything to fill one of those empty offices on any day that these companies would hire them. Now, some of those people have chosen to work solo, and many more were downsized and have little choice. Whatever..

On New Year's Day, gathered at a neighbor's house to celebrate together, a friend noted that the best thing about the day was that it was Friday. He and other guests would not have to work for the  next two days.

Like millions of people now searching for work or clients, that sounded very strange to me. All we want to do is have a place to work, customers to meet, colleagues with whom we can engage. We work every day and most nights, and have gotten to like that. We've had our fill of "free time."

"Holiday" to us is when we get a work assignment, a retainer check in the mail, or MSN Money picks up our blog-post. We have to be plugged-in constantly, to find opportunities to pitch a client or a possible employer.

Some of us fall asleep at night searching for just one more idea; hopefully, we awake with an even  better one. We may work solo one minute, then be linked to dozens, hundreds, sometimes even thousands in our networks in the next. We have become a NetWorker Nation.

We are, in a very real sense, a developing economy within the ultra-developed US economy. If this sounds  a bit desperate to you, you may work in one of those companies which closed for the holidays, while your customers still had to cover your rent.

Our determination should not be mistaken for desperation. We are focused and persistent too,  like Brazilians, Indians or Chinese. The B, I and C in BRIC. Personally, I like that connection.

Many people seem to be waiting for  things to get back to where they were before the "credit crisis recession." I am not one of them. I do not believe that everything will return to some norm forged in the past.

It has taken some time, NetWorkers are moving into the fast lane, looking to the future, making that future. Don't be surprised to see them passing by in the fast lane.

Is that your customer in the back seat?

3G recommends: http://lifehacker.com/  ,Gina Trapani's brilliant tool for anyone living the NetWorker life. Thanks, Gina, for building the  cooler water cooler. And, of course: http://www.recessionwire.com/