Click here to view the embedded video.

Technology has rocked our world repeatedly in profound ways. This will happen many more times and is about to happen again with Google Wave.  It’s going to be a tidal wave!

Imagine email, instant messaging, document sharing and much more integrated into a real time platform.  Or don’t imagine it and just wait a few months because that’s when you’ll be using Google Wave. TechCrunch has a great overview explaining why this is a game-changing product.

With Google Wave being announced it seems like a good time to shine a spotlight on how our world has changed from the release of disruptive technologies.  Some of my favorites have been:

• Smart Phones – before them we actually used a phone for making calls.  Now we use our phones as watches, computers, Rolodexes, calendars, cameras, alarm clocks, jukeboxes, photo albums, yellow page directories, news resources, email clients, video game consoles and a hundred other devices-in-one.
• Pagers – First drug dealers used them with pay phones (remember those?  …pay phones, not drug dealers) and parents used them to get their kids to call home.   With their arrival we began to move into a world where we could be found at any moment aside from being in the shower.
• Mobile Phones - Remember when phones were used connect with a specific location?  Now they are used to connect to a person in any location.  This created a major shift in how we communicate.
• Satellites – Before 1957 there were no satellites.  Fifty-two years later we use them for many purposes across industries as varied as radio, television, telecommunications, navigation, meteorology, land mapping, business & finance, climate & environmental monitoring, space science to name a few.  When is the last time you used a paper map instead of Google Maps on your phone or computer?
• Cable news – I don’t watch it, think it’s moronic and a tabloid distraction, but when it first debuted it was a positive revolution to have 24 hour news.  It killed the habit of tuning into the evening news and broadened possibilities before imploding into itself and beginning to be killed by my favorite disruptive technology so far…
• The Interwebs – Also know as the intertubes or the internet.  Since you’re reading this on the internet you probably know how transformational the internet and personal computers have been.  Pause for a moment and try to remember what your life was like before owning a personal computer, much less a laptop or smart phone.

Some technologies that were revolutionary and became extinct include the betamax, laser discs, vinyl albums, Polaroid pictures, PDAs, 8 Track tapes, cassette tapes and floppy discs.  The thing is, they were all necessary bridges to our modern world of digital convenience.  Much like how email and verbal voice mail may be out of use in 10 years, but they are necessary and interesting to us today.

The key to new innovative disruptive technologies is to look for the opportunities rather than being afraid because the old ways are passing away.  Dinosaur industries like music, TV and newspapers could have done much better than they have in the last 10 years.

They are still blowing it by blaming the world for changing rather than blaming their antiquated hierarchical business models.  The old models had large overheads and made a ton of money for few people while taking advantage of many others.  The new models value human, social, financial and environmental capital equally while collaborating to benefit many through innovation with low costs of entry.

There are tons of great examples like Amazon that have changed our personal and professional lives in deeply profound ways by unleashing innovative products, services and distribution models to an unsuspecting public.  Google Wave is just the next best thing, but lets welcome the changes it will bring to help us to do life in better and more collaborative ways.

As the old phrase “technology is killing face to face communication because everyone is buried in a computer or mobile device” continues to be spoken by some, it simply doesn’t ring true for people who are actually using social networking sites.

Yesterday we saw a stunning example of this in Australia with emotional tweets bringing people together through the disaster of the major brushfires they experienced.  How do you not have a visceral feeling reading: @Ingenue_Em: “I’m crying over the #bushfires – how can whole towns be decimated? Over 100 souls lost now, could be up to 200.”

That’s the power of 140 characters of text read by friends and strangers alike.  Anyone who has a pulse, and didn’t work in the Bush administration during Hurricane Katrina, will feel a connection and empathy reading tweets like that.  And because Twitter is both instant and international people near and far were able to connect and help each other.

It’s interesting to read the the ABCNews.com article on this to see how traditional media is following social media because no news outlet has enough reporters to be on the scene of an unfolding event, but citizens with cell phones and Twitter accounts are everywhere now.  Old and new media are converging to give us the best of both worlds.

On a similar yet different note, on Thursday, February 12 over 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals – meet ups for people on Twitter to tweet, meet and give.  For $10 you meet up with others on Twitter, get a free drink and raise money for clean water charity.  Visit www.Twestival.com for details on the city nearest you.

Here’s why this is a must attend event:

• On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals.
• The events are raising money for charity and the chosen charity is clean water.
• The Twestival is organized by volunteers who twitter and 100% of the money goes to charity.
• It all started in London under the idea of drinking and socializing and doing good for others.
• It was mainly organized in less than two weeks using Twitter.
• 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. 1/6 of the world. 80% of all sickness starts here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You may have heard that tomorrow there’s some inauguration thing going on.  Apparently there’s been a little bit of news coverage on this event.

Actually, there’s been more media coverage on Barack Obama’s inauguration than any other previous inauguration.  In fact, tickets for the inauguration are going for thousands of dollars online. It seems that The Decider is out and now The Influencer is moving in.  When this man talks, people become energized to do whatever it takes to build a better tomorrow.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After eight years in office George Bush has left America the same way he’s left every business his hands have touched – crippled with his personal fortunes increased.  Lets hope The Influencer can at least steer the ship out of the treacherous storm The Decider created and back towards prosperous shores.

Barack Obama is The Influencer because he’s the first president in modern times to have the power to ignite a fire of service and action into the majority of the American population.  Obamamania has shifted the national mood from confused hopeless thoughts of “WTF?” to declarations of “Yes We Can.”

The man is not a messiah or a magician who can wave his hand and make it all better, but something about him is bringing out the best in people across the globe.  And for that we can all be inspired and thankful.

Tomorrow is not just the inauguration of the 44th American president.  It is not just a historic moment because Americans have elected a black man to lead them.  It is a symbol of change for a population ready to be influenced with integrity and ready to take that experience into how they live and influence the people they care about most and the people they share the world with.

More and more individuals and businesses are starting to catch on to the power of social media for brand building, customer relations, connecting with peers to learn and share with, etc.  One of the reasons that it can be more powerful than traditional media is that it facilitates a two way (or more) authentic conversation.  This is one of many benefits and values to building communities around your company.

When I’m asked to explain the value of Twitter I find it hard to do so in less than 15 minutes.  Newbies ask how it’s like Facebook and their minds automatically throw them in the same category while they are very different animals.  Twitter is a much faster and direct business tool than Facebook while operating on a very different platform.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth even more, I’ve added this video to the blog to help you learn how to get the most from this powerful tool. Yes, it’s even longer than 15 minutes, but it is well worth your time and will deepen your understanding of how you can benefit from using Twitter for your business.  Sarah Milstein of O’Reilly Media created this great presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the current job climate many people are more vulnerable than usual to work at home scams.  I work from home, but not for a multi-level company promising the moon for very little work.

I’m a consultant and my clients are legitimate companies that hire me for concrete services like copywriting, designing and implementing marketing strategies and improving brand stature, not to recruit others into “the business” or promise that if I buy their $100 – $3,000 program I’ll make $500 a day doing data entry work.

The bottom line is that you never have to pay to start working a legitimate job. When your gut clenches as you read these “opportunity” sales pitches there’s a reason.  Mother nature and your gut do not lie, but your mind can be fooled.

Can you make money with some of these programs?  Maybe.  Will you achieve even half the level of income promised without four times the work promised and some luck?  Doubtful.

If you search “work at home” on You Tube you’ll find 144,000 videos trying to recruit you into some companies “easy” system and even showing a picture of a check reflecting “legitimate income.”

Just pass on by.  Especially if you hear the words, “you only need to get 2 who get 2 who get 2 and then you’ll be rolling in residual income.”  …unless you want a full time job as a recruiter.

There are legitimate work from home businesses, but most of what you’ll find is a scam.  For deeper details on this visit the Crimes of Persuasion: Schemes, Scams and Frauds site.  Here’s their mission statement:

To inform the public, along with law enforcement personnel, justice officials and victim support groups on the workings and scope of telemarketing and investment fraud so that efforts can effectively be taken to minimize the impact on its victims and ensure that adequate penalties are in place to deter the perpetrators.

It only takes a few success stories to make anything look attractive and make you think, “Hey, I could do that too.”

It’s great marketing, but lacks integrity because they tell you what you “can” do without acknowledging that very few succeed.  If you pay attention you’ll notice the detail in never using the word “will” instead of “can” because then they can be sued for promising results that rarely come to be.

What you don’t see is the hundreds or thousands of road kill past suckers that tried the program and failed.  Twenty successes on an infomercial looks like a lot until you realize that it’s 20 out of 10,000 and the other 9,980 people who tried it couldn’t make it work.

Use common sense, keep your greed (and wallet) in check and realize that success for most people comes from steady work they enjoy and spending less money than they earn.

Get rich quick is a marketing scam, especially when it’s dressed up and labeled as a “business” or “business opportunity.”  Don’t buy it.

This video of The Young Turks helps to point out how political pundits lie to the public while kissing up to the most powerful politicians until they begin to lose power.  Then, like magic, the truth that everyone knew all along comes out of their mouths for the first time …years after it could have helped to change what wasn’t working.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s not news that how you think the world is defines how it is for you.  What’s amazing is how many of us learn this, but continue to go through life thinking that our way is THE way.  Is your glass half full or half empty?

With the unending drum beat about the economy “crisis,” pounding through our heads it seems like a good time to revisit this.  Humans are emotional creatures that react to people’s comments on perceived circumstances more often than being proactive in choosing how to create their lives.  This phenomenon lends itself to leading us astray based on our past beliefs and current assessments of our lives.

There is no doubt that the U.S. economy is slow and translates into hard times for a large number of it’s citizens.  That said, they sky isn’t falling, just like it wasn’t falling on September 11, 2001.  Unfortunate events yes, but extreme fearful reactions just make up mental suffering.  They are blips on the screen when you view the full scope of your life.

Money is a very funny thing.  These days it’s mostly digital bytes on a screen.  And economies based on money are totally made up conversations.

Who decided to create interest rates, compound interest, zero interest loans with huge interest back ends, stock derivatives, hedge funds, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificate of deposit rates, consumer price indexes, etc.?  They’re all made up structures, which can be changed, not laws of the universe.

Money is nothing but a mental agreement where we all decided that U.S. Treasury green backs have value but Monopoly money doesn’t have value even though they’re both just pieces of paper.  You could argue that money is backed by valuable minerals like gold and silver, but who decided they were valuable?

Do you know who decided that diamonds were valuable? De Beers Diamond company and their amazing PR team who intentionally lied to the public creating a perception that diamonds are the rarest gem on Earth.  If your wife perceives that diamonds are valuable, though it’s not true, then you’ll pay 3 months salary for one and she’ll be thrilled because she thinks her perception is THE real perception.

We somehow created an extra $9 billion a month for 5 years and counting for an Iraq invasion and occupation, we found $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, and over decades we haven’t been able to allocate a few million dollars to improve America’s dilapidated schools.

It’s a matter of perception and priorities.  Regardless of what you  think of the way our social systems operate, money seems to be created when it’s needed.

Before selling my house a couple of years ago I remember thinking how crazy it was that a 2,500 sq ft house built in 1992 should be valued at over $500,000.  I was right.  The market was way over valued based on dumb reactions to perceptions real estate buyers had.

They were reacting to a perception that housing values would go up forever and they were missing out if they didn’t have rental property in addition to their own homes.  The appraisal on that house is surely lower today than it was 3 years ago.  It’s the same house.  The only thing that’s different is public perception.

Today many stocks are extremely undervalued just like a few years ago real estate was overvalued.  The market reacts illogically every day to everchanging perceptions. It’s nothing new.

So take a deep breath, smile , and spend more time creating the life you enjoy rather than following the negative news of the day.  As all things do, this too shall pass and your glass will be half full or half empty based on your perception.  What’s it gonna be?

One of the best marketing books ever written is Seth Godin’s latest: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

In reading this book I was reminded of the tribes I’ve gravitated to and been a part of throughout my life.  They ranged from a church youth group, cliques in school, friends who liked the same music, peers working in the same industry to people who shared similar interests, ideas or beliefs.  Think of the tribes you’ve ran with as you grew up, moved to different cities, started a family (or not) and changed jobs or careers.

The idea of tribes is nothing new, but with social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, tribes are larger and more powerful than ever.  And because they are self-chosen groups based on relationships, the likability, and trust factors that lead to persuasion coalesce much faster than traditional marketing campaigns searching for eyeballs.

In the last week someone created a Facebook group for a teen night club I went to in the 80′s.  This idea had someone else start a photo page for the Las Vegas 80′s music scene I was a part of which in turn caused me to start a Facebook Group for KUNV, the radio station the scene was based around where I was the Program Director.  I’ve reconnected with over 50 people in 3 days from a long lost tribe that’s over 20 years old because of the connective power of Facebook to rekindle and build relationships.

In the 2008 election the Obama campaign had the highest number of followers on Twitter, over 100,000.  This was a large part of making their campaign successful.  They got their messages out instantly to their target market (who all opted in voluntarily) multiple times each day.  This was one major factor in making the Obama tribe feel that they were a part of the action.  And they were, even the ones who don’t know Twitter exists.

There’s a lot more that will be said about the power of tribes and how we’re now in a time of leaders (anyone in the tribe can lead others) and followers rather than a time of managers and employees or people with big titles giving orders to others.

Just read Seth’s book.   It’s a fast engaging read with information broken down into simple ideas and story chunks.

Read the review from Publisher’s Weekly here: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us and read Seth’s awesome blog

“Tribes is a must read for all of us. It’s up to each one of us to lead in today’s new kind of world.”
—Former U.S. senator Bill Bradley

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Frontline recently had a show exploring the life of Lee Attwater, who was the mentor to Karl Rove in how to win at all costs in the arena of politics.  It was a fascinating show revealing how dirty politics get in the pursuit of power.

Politicians and political operatives know that perception is reality.  He who molds public perception controls what the public thinks is reality even when it obviously is not.

Through this historical look back many political operatives admitted the outright lies and manipulations they knew of, instigated, or were a part of  that were promoted to the public, you and me, to blindly influence our perceptions in service to their personal and political goals.

Before I go further, it’s important to acknowledge that this is not a demonization of Lee Attwater, the Bushes or the Republican party.  Your brain probably went to a “Republicans bad, Democrats good” or vice versa conversation.

Drop the illusion of an “us versus them” mentality.  That’s another result of blind influence from PR campaigns and the hard wiring of your brain looking to compare and be on the side of the “best team” when there isn’t a “best team.”  We’re all living creatures on the same planet who have to live with the results of our actions.

Humans of all shapes, sizes, colors and political affiliations act out versions of what is exemplified by the life of Lee Attwater.

He’s just an extreme example of a political operative like Madonna is an extreme example of a musical entertainer.  They both possess a lot more drive, charisma and chutzpah than your average human so they stand out with their over the top success in their endeavors.

This legacy lives on in tactics created by Lee Attwater that have been improved upon and are used today:

- Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat talking points, whether they are truths or lies, ad nauseum to promote your agenda and mold public opinion (Iraq has WMDs, mentioning 911 and Saddam Heussein together to link them, mentioning that Heussein is Barack Obama’s middle name, talking about Barack Obama being connected to Roy Ayers, mentioning that Sarah Palin has a pregnant daughter, etc.)

- Use symbols like American flag lapel pins or call out Obama for not having his hand over his heart while the national anthem plays. For example, Attwater had George Bush Sr. pull up his pant leg at a press conference to reveal that he was wearing cowboy boots wih the Texas flag on them to send a message that he wasn’t a WASP from Connecticut, but a salt-of-the-Earth Texan.

- Use Orwellian “newspeak” to frame or spin the story where you name something like the failed attempt to call rural dwellers “real Americans” though 80% of America’s population lives in urban areas, calling an increase in the number of troops a “surge,” renaming global warming “climate change,” naming the bill that allows corporations to pollute more the “Clean Air Act” and so on.

Frank Luntz took this to another level.  Read his book Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear for a deeper lesson in this.

- Stay on message by answering questions with the message you want to convey, even if it doesn’t answer the question.

“Spin” the story – Make sure the press hears and promotes your version of the story, even when, and especially when, it’s a lie.

There’s more, but you get the picture.  The point is to recognize these tactics so that you don’t get duped easily by them.  Newer tactics keep evolving to manipulate public perception all the time.

The way to be more immune to these tactics is to remember that what’s really going on is at least 3 to 5 steps behind the veil of the perception promoted to the public.

Back to Lee Attwater, what’s amazing is that after having no conscience about destroying people’s lives in the pursuit of building his own power he developed a brain tumor at the age of 40.  His illness caused him to rethink his positions and he apologized to everyone he had harmed before his death soon after.

He also admitted that he felt his deeds in politics had been bad for the country and had hurt America.  Lee Atttwater grew a conscience and made peace with himself, though his legacy of harmful actions are copied by today’s power hungry working on blindly influencing others for personal gain.

You have the power to see through their tactics since you now know more about how they work.

First off, I’m happy that Obama followed my lead and is choosing to get a puppy to open this new chapter of history.  The picture above is my puppy who’s still too young to come home, but I’ll have him well before inauguration day.

Most of the world appears to be ecstatic and elated that America somehow found a man to elect who is the polar opposite of George W. Bush in every imaginable and important way possible.  Then there are political pundits that seem as clueless as ever.

I must disclose that I rarely watch television news which makes cable “newscasters” seem a bit cartoonish when I do watch them.  (Don’t watch the news for a month and come back to it and you’ll see what I mean.)  The fact that most of the content these “news” channels provide is opinion rather fact shows the dilemma of creating 24 hour infotainment to win ratings wars with ever-declining viewership.  Therefore I have a little compassion for them, but only a little.

After Obama’s speech as our new President-elect I surfed through the cable news channels to see what the political “experts” (who are usually over 80% inaccurate in their predictions if you follow them) had to say.

What was interesting is that they were focused on statistics of how white men, Latinos, black women, white women, and other factions voted that they missed the whole point.  Everyone I know who felt that electricity when it was announced that Obama won felt they were having a JFK moment.  This kind of electricity hasn’t surged around in America or around the world since the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Finally we may have a President more interested in equality and rebuilding America than one focused on serving corporate and monied interests.

No, he’s not a messiah, but he does seem to be intelligent, thoughtful, heartful and effective in getting Americans to get involved in creating positive change.  After seeing millions of people donate time, money or both to the campaign it seems like we could be revisiting our historic roots of banding together to clean up after our current natural disasters.  Most of the people who worked on campaigns this season had never done so before and some were over 60 years old.

While pundits over analyze strategy, race and other factors, the electorate that voted for Obama did so for other reasons.  Obama supporters  feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves – righting the wrongs, misdeeds and missteps our nation has embarked upon with imperialistic policies.

Older generations see electing a black man to be president as an historic occasion while younger generations who never saw blatant racism and grew up on hip hop music see this as a “duh” moment.  The most qualified person was elected and skin color is irrelevant in what he can achieve.  Both generations are right while the pundits are still busy ignoring the obvious fact that Obama won because he connected with voters like no other candidate in recent history.

No one knows exactly why anything happens.  We make up reasons in hindsight that fit our particular views and tell ourselves that our interpretation is a fact.  This is just how the human brain works.  So for once, lets not waste time looking to “experts” to see how it happened or listen to them about their inaccurate predictions of what will happen.  (Remember how the election was destined to be between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Guilliani?  …How did that work out and why are the same pundits still employed?)  No one will ever be in the same circumstances to create the same experiences that we went through the last two years.  So lets just enjoy the moment and prepare to start a ride on a much different train than any we’ve been on this century.