Methane

Posted on 3 September 2010 by Erik Hare | 13 Comments

Just in case we didn’t get the message the first time, another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. It was evacuated safely and there appears to be no leak. But given that it was another BP rig, the nooze and politicos are eager to point fingers at the oil company. They shouldn’t. Anyone who does not think that industrial accidents are always going to be a part of a dangerous industry is delusional. The blame for all of these disasters rest with a nation that has an insatiable thirst for oil.

Fortunately, there are many things that can be done. One that I favor involves a step by step process by which we move to a methane based fuel system. Let me explain as briefly as I can.

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State Fair

Posted on 1 September 2010 by Erik Hare | 4 Comments

Nothing says Minnesota better than the State Fair. For those of you who are not from Our Fair State, this is the 10 12 day celebration of all things fried and on a stick, punctuated by tremendous traffic jams. Minnesotans would read that summary of what this is about and be appalled, of course, because it’s much more than that to the people who rely on this summer’s end tradition to mark the passing of their lives. But for those of us who have “Not From Here” stamped on our foreheads, The Fair and the intense focus on it this week will always seem a bit strange. In a state where the local dialect uses the word “different” as an insult, I’d like to simply say that the experience seems to me to be a bit … unusual.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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A Saint Paul Moment

Posted on 27 August 2010 by Erik Hare | 5 Comments

I came home from a meeting with a client and there they were. A whole team of guys with buzzing and growling equipment filling Irvine Park with motion and clouds of dirt. It wasn’t an unusual scene, since the Parks Department does their share to mow regularly – but these guys were different. It was some private company out trimming and mowing and generally making our li’l park look better than it has in a long time.

What makes this a Saint Paul Moment wasn’t clear until I asked one of them what happened. Did the city contract out the maintenance? No. “The owner of our company’s son is getting married here this weekend, and he wanted it to look nice.” So he just set his crew loose on our public park and made it look great.

That is a Saint Paul Moment. You just do it.

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Community & Social Media for Business

Posted on 25 August 2010 by Erik Hare | 8 Comments

Community is a very rich word that means many different things at the same time. It evokes a powerful set of images which are both highly personal and deeply cultural at the same time. That only makes sense, given how important community is to the social animals that humans are at heart. Yet for all of this, community as a concept is still a hard sell as an guiding principle for businesses sometimes – a concept that I’ve been building my career in social media around. That’s a real shame, and not just because I need the work. The traditional and well understood concept of community is what makes the buzzy new world of social media effective.

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Connections Theory

Posted on 19 July 2010 by Erik Hare | 17 Comments

It’s been nearly a year since I first distilled down what I’ve come to think of as “Connections Theory”. I’ve expounded on the subject in many different ways, sometimes without using the same words, as a way of thinking this out in public. Many of you have responded with insightful comments and a few questions on the side – what is that guy going on about? I’d like to nail this down into a simple, direct statement.

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