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All about the standing-upright chimps that really love to talk about themselves.

FADS Marketing

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You know who you are. At least you think you do, although a lot of marketers think they know you even better. And if you are willing to kid yourself or indulge a little, they have what you are looking for.

That’s the main premise of FADS Marketing: Food, Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, and the New Marketing World Order, a new book by Tony Harris. He’s an experienced marketing professional willing to sharing a few of the secrets of the industry in part because they clearly alarm him.

They should alarm you, too. And that’s what makes this relatively short but dense book a quick but incredible read.

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The Eyes of a Child

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This is my first holiday season with no children at home.  So enjoy this piece from 11 years ago, when my life was very different.  Consider this a note to my future self, now being repeated.

This time of the year, the holidays bring back memories that allow us to see the world, once again, through the eyes of a child. This is not some sentimental side effect of the rituals we go through, but is in many ways the reason they are important. A few moments spent contemplating this over a swirling mug of cocoa can show that seeing the world through the eyes of a child is actually a vital lesson.

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“Civics”

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While sorting out the goals and needs of People’s Economics, one thing stands out: how do we wind up with some general agreement on the system(s) of our world?  That’s where this piece, first run two years ago, comes in.  

Driving down the interstate, your safe travel and even your life depends a lot on the competence of many other people. Sure, there is a body of law and court precedent and paid agreements with insurance companies that enforces the basic codes of decency and safety. But in the end it really comes down to the skill and attention of comrades in gasoline and steel being at their best not just casually but constantly.

Of course this fails from time to time, but considering how much time people spend behind the wheel it’s amazingly seamless and simple. The system largely works – we all get there nearly all the time. We depend on each other to not be stupid and the vast majority of the time it comes together.

This basic lesson in civics is a good place to start as the nation unravels into some kind of dark hole that frankly promises to only become darker with time. It’s a thought experiment, a self-taught lesson worth thinking through by malcontents and eggheads alike, by both those in power and those in pain.

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A Charlie Brown Christmas

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Christmas is a time for remembering everything that has come before us. It’s not a kind of memorial day when we remember what we lost, but instead a day to remember the great gifts that have come to us over the many years. The circle of gratitude is widened every year as the holiday expands with new love and new memories.

It may be more important this year than ever.

One tradition for many people about my age is “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. In many ways this defines the tension of Christmas itself, even though very little in popular culture has been willing to decry the commercialism that is the true “War on Christmas”. And in the process it gave us a new definition of holiday cheer, bringing Vince Guaraldi’s cool jazz into the warm holiday like a sprig of winter itself.

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Knowledge Economy, Connected Economy

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This piece is a re-run from over nine years ago, but it has been fleshed out considerably as People’s Economics.  The topic at hand is 52 years old, so none of this is new.  And yet we still aren’t exactly sure as to how we need to implement this “knowledge economy” in a way that truly benefits everyone.  This was part of a series from 2009 entitled “Systemic Connections” and if you have some time the whole series is still worth a read.

The art and skill needed to put knowledge to practical use is more than just what technology is really about – it’s generally seen an increasing share of our economy.    The term “Knowledge Economy” comes from Peter Drucker in his 1966 book, “The Age of Discontinuity”.  It includes this:

“In a knowledge economy where skill is based on knowledge, and where technology and economy are likely to change fast . . . the only meaningful job security is the capacity to learn fast.”

True enough, since a lot of knowledge applied as an art went to revolutionizing economics itself since that time.  But as many of us have learned, the ability to think fast means nothing without the right connections.

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