KevMcCord

Moving Fast

Do you get to move fast at your work?  How hard is it to go from idea to execution?  Maybe the better question is: if you go too fast with your idea is the result an execution?

This is such a big deal to me.  I thrive when I have the trust to take calculated risks.  I enjoy getting something out there then figuring it out.  I haven't taken this liberty in a while and yesterday I did.  I added something to the church website without much thought and without any real discussion.

This is often unwise and it can definitely backfire.  However...

If you are trusted

If you are talented

If you are trained

If you are transparent

If you will take responsibility

...It sure is nice if you can step out and try something and work out the issues along the way.

The Illusive Typo

Am I the only one who, while typing a message, makes a typo that subconsciously registers then cannot be found later during proofing? 

I hardly ever worry about spell check. I should, but I'm not one to sweat the occasional mistake that I might have made.  I actually don't mind if someone points it out.  However, to make a typo that I know about, then fail to find it and then have spell check fail to find it, simply drives me nuts.

note: funny that the address of this blog post has just such a typo in it!  I knew I hit publish too soon!

http://kevmccord.typepad.com/weblog/2009/01/the-illusive-type.html

I changed the title of the article, but TypePad sets the URL on the original title and I haven't found where I can fix that!  I'm too lazy to copy and paste and start a new article.

PCN-You Are Being Watched

What if everyone was issued a personal communication number (PCN) at birth or upon entering the country?

What if said number always rang on any telephony device near the person?

What if any computer opened to the email account of the individual sitting at the terminal?

Now, what if the only way to get on the internet or otherwise communicate was to do so through your personal account?

By now the libertarians out there have already passed out for failing to breath while reading this post.

The efficiency of this sort of system would be amazing.  The control we'd be granting to human institutions is unthinkable.

God already has this kind of access to your life.  Think of that as you surf, chat, tweet, and google.

Be Normal

I'm not really a bumper sticker guy.  My car is not a billboard. I would rather impale myself with a pin under my shirt than go around wearing one outside my shirt.  However, I think it is a useful exercise to come up with bumper stickers and slogans that truly do sum up how I feel now and again.

I keep running into people who are trying too hard to be unique or interesting or distinguished.  The thing I want to say to them is to just

Be Normal

The biggest problem with that statement is that no one remembers what normal is anymore so I need another clarifying statement to go with that statement like "Be Like ____________".  I need someone who is normal that everyone would know.  I thought long and hard and came up with ... NOBODY.

Can you do any better?

 

 

Employer, Client, Market

If you aren't a risk taker you might consider a journey along a path towards entrepreneurship that is slow but relatively safe. 

First, a bit of definition:

Your employer gives you stability.  He takes profit from your labor to produce his product or deliver his service.  You gain skill and insight into an industry.  You earn steady revenue and benefits.  Being comfortable is about the best you can hope for.

Your client pays you for your insight, knowledge, and special attention.   You keep all the profit, but there are fewer benefits and less consistency.  You may feast, you will famine.  You observe more situations and develop insights for different situations.

Your market will buy your mass produced creativity for a price.  If you continue to meet its needs you will employ others and eventually create equity others will want to buy

The trick is to move deliberately from one to the othe overlapping where possible.  Take on clients while gainfully employed.  Develop a product while serving your clients.

Ready to start?

1. Pick the right industry.  Work hard, pay attention. 

2. Develop knowledge and begin to share it.  Solve problems, take notes.

3. Package the solution and distribute it.  Improve the solution, re-release, repeat.

Why Should We Keep You Around?

In tough economic times I think it is important to know exactly what value you deliver to your organization and to your team.  Then, make sure you are visibly working in your area of strength.  If your organization doesn't need much of what you are good at, then make sure your resume is current and that you are in touch with the network of people who would help you find a new place to work.

I know why people keep me around.  It isn't because I make them feel good about themselves.  It is NOT because they like my humor,  or because I inspire them, or because people naturally follow my lead, or because I am deeply spiritually. 

I'm gainfully employed because I can organize things so that problems are solved and work gets done.  In particular I excel at creating and managing processes that allow people to leverage systems to get things done.  If asked, I'm ready to share concrete examples from past successes, current projects I'm working on, and future areas that I will tackle.

What's your thing?

Facebook for Missions

Missionaries need to network.

It was ironic when a missionary friend of mine asked me to describe what Facebook was.  His son and daughter are both on there as my friends even though it has been decades since we have seen eachother in person

Missionaries depend on networks of people praying and supporting them.  There are so many ways to creatively do this with the Internet.  Facebook just happens to be one of the best.  Missionaries are finding it increasingly necessary to connect with people directly since MOST CHURCHES ARE NO LONGER INTERESTED in supporting RANDOM missionaries indefinitely.  That's the subject of another post.

Anyhow back to my story, soon after I told my missionary friend of Facebook, I got an alert.

A mutual friend of ours had read my one line "status" update on Facebook that indicated I was with this missionary for the morning.  She promptly wrote on my wall that she wanted his phone number!  I got that email on my phone and put them in touch!  They hung out before he left town.

You can't get a better, more personalized explanation of why missionaries should be on Facebook.

Now, all you Twitter people will say that it is better.  I agree (sort of), but twitter is much harder to explain and seems to take a lot more action on the part of the user to build a network.

Hurricane Proof Prayer Closet

It is amazing I am not yet a millionaire with ideas like this...

While others are sufing the web for porn or sermon illustrations, I was surfing for blog ideas and found this...

http://www.prayerclosets.net/prayer_closets

and then I found this...

http://eecoexcavation.com/7.html (storm closet)

By combining these two business opportunities into one, I can eliminate 99.5% of the market and focus on my target .5% of people who have more money than faith so they need a safe room, but don't have enough faith in the safe room so that they will want to pray while they are in that safe room.

With a business plan like this, how can I fail?

Please email me if you are a carpenter and happen not to appreciate my admittedly poor sense of humor therefore thinking this is a real idea.

The Assumption of Malice

To those annoying people who are constantly worried that we are about to offend someone I say lighten up.  You are sucking all the fun out of the world.  Your obsessive concern with potential offenses and perceived offenses is tiresome. 

Somewhere there is a group of people who think just like you.  They have an empty chair waiting for you. The chair is facing a wall where paint is drying.  They are eagerly awaiting you in silence even as they worry obsessively that the paint may be of a color that a marginalized sub-culture in the Mangnese Islands* believes is too holy to be used. When you sit down they won't laugh or comment if the chair squeaks emitting a strange fart-like sound.

I actually don't mind if you are offended by this post.  I could tell you I am not writing it with malice, but you wouldn't believe me.  Your over-developed concern for offenses that have not (and probably will not) happen is making the world boring and jumpy.  That is why I happily take the risk of offending you.

* Note:  the Manganese Islands are strictly made up.  On the off chance there are Manganese Islands and you were born there, I hope you will accept my deepest and most sincere apologies for using your here-to-fore unknown islands as part of my tirade.** 

**Note on the note: For those who can't tell, the first note is sarcasm.  The Manganese will have to get over it.

Potholes

• Gas prices are just going to keep rising.

• Home values are going to keep falling.

• Foreclosure rates are going to keep rising.

There is a big pothole in our neighborhood right now.  Potholes remind me that I should almost always ignore news reports that say things like...

At the current rate there will be no more of... by 2020

or

At the current rate we will be over run with ... by 2018

Think about it.  Potholes start out small and everyone ignores them.  They could be caused by water accumulating under the road, but they are made worse by passing cars.  As each car runs over the hole it makes the hole bigger.  At some point it gets big enough that it bothers us, but not so big that we avoid it.  If it keeps growing we'll ultimately start slowing down and trying to miss the pothole to protect our cars.

The pothole might have grown at a fairly steady pace for several weeks or months.  Maybe the city will never come and fix it.  Still, it does not follow that the pothole will grow at the same rate for ever.  It does not follow that the pothole will destroy all cars in the neighborhood.

At some point people will start to find alternate routes or just simply drive around the hole.  If cars are the only or primary reason it is growing, then it will stabilize or at the very least stop growing quite as fast when drivers start to take it into account.

The main thing to consider here is that what matters is not only the rate of growth, but also the cause or mechanism of growth.  Also, the growth itself has a consequence on the world around it that may eventually impact the growth rate

That's why I ignore so many news reports.  They are trying to get attention so they are all too quick to accept the simple projection of short-term trends.