Jim Caruso's BLOG

Kathy Sierra: Misogyny & Death Threats

Kathy Sierra is an intelligent, accomplished programmer, award-winning author, and speaker. 

Due to vile, sick, demented and misogynistic comments and death threats directed toward her, she has cancelled her public appearances and is now holed up in her home and living in fear.  Ms. Sierra discusses the situation in some detail in her blog post today.  You can click on the link below to read it.  It is shocking and for adults only.

My blood began to boil when I read it.  I hope the authorities catch the psychopaths who have been threatening Ms. Sierra and put them away.

I also feel incredibly sorry for Ms. Sierra and my heart goes out to her.  It is heartbreaking that someone who works so hard is driven off the public stage under such circumstances.  The outrage is even greater because she is being targeted in large part because she is a successful woman.

Reference: Kathy Sierra - "Death threats against bloggers are NOT "protected speech" (why I cancelled my ETech presentations)":

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/03/as_i_type_this_.html

Additional reference:  Seth Godin - "Misogyny and anonymity":

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/03/misogyny_and_an.html

Thank you, Mr. Caruso

I just picked up a few items at my local Safeway (Cherry Creek). 

Every time I stop there, no matter what time of day and no matter how busy the store is, the employees and managers there are genuinely friendly. 

If I encounter someone working in an aisle, taking inventory or restocking, he or she usually looks up at me and says "hello", or "how are you today" or "can I help you", and not in a perfunctory way.  They actually look up at me as they're talking to me.

And, every time that I pay the person at the register looks at my receipt (my name is printed on the bottom of it as I pay with a credit card) then pauses, looks me in the eye, smiles, and says "thank you, Mr. Caruso" and, in tonight's case, "have a nice evening."

I like the personal touch.  I like the people who work at Safeway.  I feel like it's more of a neighborhood grocery store than a company that does more than $40 billion per year in sales.

I do shop at other supermarkets and I notice they're not quite the same.  In the brutally competitive grocery store business that operates on razor thin margins, the friendly people and the personal touch at my local Safeway make a big difference.

Remarkable packaging

I ordered some orange-barreled Bic Biro red fine point pens on eBay.  For some reason they're not sold in the U.S.  I like the Biros because the ink is a dark red, not the pinkish red ink that Bic sells here.  I use them for editing documents and for making lots of notes in books as I read them.  I've ordered Bic pens on eBay several times. 

The last time I received some, they came in the most remarkable packaging.  The envelope had "Thank You" stamped all over it along with several colorful Bic Biro logos; on the flap it said "Hope You Open This Pack With A Smile On Your Face" (I did); inside were not only the pens I ordered, but also four sheets of stickers with the Bic logo on them and a note that read "Thank You" and "Happy Collecting".  They came from Thailand.  I just checked Ebay and today there are 72 sellers offering Bic pens, but I'll always reorder from the last seller.  I'm guessing most buyers who receive something from this seller would do so as well.  Any product or experience can be made remarkable with a little creativity and often for little or no cost, and that remarkability pays big dividends.  I still remember opening my PO Box that day, filled to the brim with mostly unsolicited advertising and junk mail, then discovering the Bic envelope.  I stood there for a few seconds smiling and at that moment the seller earned one more customer's loyalty.

Happy birthday, Richard Dawkins

Happy (66th) birthday to Richard Dawkins on March 26th.

Reference:

http://www.richarddawkins.net/

The Dip

I just pre-ordered Seth Godin's www.sethgodin.com latest book The Dip from Amazon www.amazon.com . 

I had the opportunity to get a sneak preview of The Dip from Seth at his February seminar in NYC.  In The Dip Seth delves into the subject of how we need to think about and think through what we do and how we do it when we hit the wall.  This is another great read from one of the world's clearest-thinking business writers.

A line in Kenny Rogers' song, The Gambler, is "you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em."

Along that same line, in The Dip Seth teaches us how to know when to quit or when to press on when we inevitably find ourselves in, well, a dip.  A really low point.  Been there. 

The Dip will be released in early May.  As soon as I receive my copy it will go right to the top of my to-be-read stack.

References:

The Dip Blog

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/

Books by Seth Godin

http://sethgodin.com/sg/books.html

Thank you

A few days ago someone in my company reminded me of a thank-you note I sent to her several years ago.  I actually remembered that note and why I sent it.  After I hung up the phone I stopped what I was doing for a few minutes and thought about that.

I send out quite a few thank-you notes, but not nearly enough.  As I think about the people in my company who work tremendously hard, our customers who choose to spend their hard-earned money with us instead of someone else, and other people who are exceptionally kind or helpful to me in many different ways, I realize how important it is to send out more thank-you notes so that those people know how much their hard work and human kindness are appreciated. 

It's a priority, but one that too easily gets pushed aside by the tyranny of the urgent. 

One of the things I decided as a result of that brief conversation was to un-jumble some of my priorities.

Goliath vs. Goliath

WIKIPEDIA VS. GOOGLE:

In the April 2007 issue of Fast Company www.fastcompany.com , the feature article is about Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org , and his intention to take on the Google search engine www.google.com with his Search Wikia, www.search.wikia.com , modeled along the lines of Wikipedia.

GOOGLE  vs. AMAZON:

In the March 24th Economist newspaper www.economist.com , in an article titled "Not bound by anything", the author discusses Google's progress in digitizing books.  According to the article, it is estimated that Google is scanning in 10 million books per year.  The total number of books in print is estimated to be about 65 million.  The article describes Google's effort, "in scale and ambition, [as] off the charts" compared to Amazon's www.amazon.com .

It's impossible to predict which of these powerful Internet giants will emerge as the leader in those areas, but without a doubt the BIG WINNERS are going to be all of us users as they each try to provide the most remarkable services in the world!

If I had to place a bet, it would be on Google, but I'm cheering them all on.

Thresher 2.0

Hugh MacLeod www.gapingvoid.com is considering repeating the 40% off discount with the Thresher wine stores www.threshergroup.com .  Don't do it, Hugh!

Discounting is not the way to build brand value.  Charge a fair market price, then work to raise the perceived value of the product and/or service in the mind of the consumer.  Discounting may boost sales in the short-run, but it erodes margins, especially if there is a lot of trade-down from existing consumers.  Trade-down is nearly impossible to measure, which is one of the problems with discounting; you never really know the true cost.

The real problem with discounting, however, is that it can be addictive and it devalues the brand.  It's too easy to lower prices to goose sales.  Before you know it, consumers come to expect the discount and you've lost a lot of that hard-earned brand equity that was built up over the years.  Some brands never recover it.

Everyday low prices, as opposed to discounting, is a valid strategy, but it's nearly impossible to be successful at such a strategy unless you've got real purchasing power or other distinct cost advantages.

Reference:

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/003800.html

Seasons of change

     Tomorrow, March 20^th (at 6:06 p.m. MDT, to be precise), the vernal equinox occurs or, more simply, spring begins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox .  It marks the moment the sun crosses the equator and moves into the northern hemisphere, where it will remain for the next six months.

     I look at my “have to get done list” with a jeweler’s eye at the start of each season.  It’s a bit out of sync with the calendar quarters that most organizations follow, but I think there’s something refreshing and more natural about flowing with the seasons.

     No matter, however, whether it’s the start of each season, calendar quarters, or on some other regular schedule, the important thing is to look carefully at the “have to get done list” to ensure that those activities are still relevant.  Adapting to changing conditions in today’s brutally competitive and ever-shifting marketplace is essential to success.  Not being able to let go of last season's ideas is often a major impediment to evolving.

usps.jedimaster.com

There's a new mailbox in the neighborhood.  The old blue mailbox has been transformed into the droid "R2D2" from Star Wars.  It's definitely eye-catching and according to an article in the Denver Post www.denverpost.com it's part of a nationwide promotion with LucasFilm Ltd.  Hundreds of mailboxes nationwide will be similarly transformed.  R2D2 "is a feisty little droid who embodies the trust and dependability for which the United States Postal Service is known" says the agency in that same newspaper article.  If you visit the website www.uspsjedimaster.com you'll see an entertaining clip from Star Wars with a little twist at the end.

I think the Postal Service is amazing.  For $ .39 I can drop a letter in a mailbox on a street corner, it gets mixed together with millions of other letters, sorted out, then delivered to its exact destination.  It's one of the best deals I know of.  And, the people who work at my local post office are wonderful. 

I like R2D2, but I think the saying that begins "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow . . . " quite perfectly expresses the Postal Workers' dedication to their work.  There's something very real and tangible about that phrase, the origins of which apparently date back to Herodotus around 400 B.C. http://www.bartleby.com/73/1439.html . 

How do I know the weather is REALLY, REALLY bad?  If there is supposed to be a mail delivery and there isn't!