Published November 28th, 2009
In honor of last week’s Ohio State - Michigan game (You can take the boy out of the midwest, but you can’t take the midwest out of the boy. — Ed.), here’s one of my favorite examples of negative space.
The backstory:
In the early years of last century, when football helmets were like gloves for the head, ten midwestern universities got together to form an athletic conference. They called it the Big Ten — and the conference became an athletic powerhouse and one of the marquee brands in American sport.
In 1990, the ten schools decided to add Penn State University to the conference — which they eventually realized created a conundrum: The Big Ten now had eleven teams. (I hear it was the Northwestern rep who figured out the math. — Ed.)
I suppose they thought about renaming the conference the Big Eleven. But since that sounds like a convenience store, they devised a more ingenious solution: Keep the name, which is iconic, but include the idea of “11″ in the logo. You can see the result in the above photograph, which I snapped last month at the Big Ten store in the Columbus airport.
Category: Design | Tags: | 2 Comments »
Published November 27th, 2009
The U.S. Census Bureau last week released its twice-a-decade look at what it calls “extended measures of well-being” — and the report is a trove of fascinating data. Among the most interesting nuggets:
- In 1998, 36% of American households had a cell phone; by 2005, 71% had one. (iIn 1992, the Census Bureau didn’t even ask this question because so few Americans had a mobile phone.)
- Landline phone ownership dropped from 96% in 1998 to 91% in 2005.
- “Householders who were 29 or younger went from 35% with cell phones in 1998 to 81% in 2005. Over the same period the same group saw a decrease in ownership of landline phones from 93% to 71%.”
- In 1992, 49% of American households had dishwasher; by 2005, 64% had one.
- 96% of American households have a microwave oven.
Category: Factoids | Tags: | 4 Comments »
Published November 20th, 2009
Truth be told, writing a book doesn’t yield many moments of exhilaration. But for me at least, there’s always one: When you see your baby for the very first time. That moment always makes me giddy. (And believe me: giddy is an instrument rarely heard in my emotional orchestra.)
So here, for your viewing pleasure, is the very first copy of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us to roll off the presses. As you see, the truth really is surprising.
If you’re in the mood to be surprised yourself, go ahead and pre-order from this link or the ones to the right. You can also read what’s on the flap here and see something of a sneak preview of the book’s contents in this TED talk.
We’ll be posting details of a month-long book tour and some other cool stuff in the coming weeks. But for now, thanks for indulging me this moment.
Category: Drive, Motivation, Reading | Tags: | 36 Comments »
Published November 17th, 2009
Management theorist Russell Ackoff passed away late last month, leaving behind a lifetime of memorable insights. Here’s one of my favorite, reprised in a good WSJ story about Ackoff’s life and legacy.
“All of our social problems arise out of doing the wrong thing righter. The more efficient you are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter! If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better!”
Category: Management, Personal Productivity, Quotes | Tags: | 8 Comments »
Published November 15th, 2009
During last year’s presidential campaign, both McCain and Obama endlessly broadcast ads that promised “good middle class jobs.” And whenever an ad intoned that phrase, up popped an image like the one below, which comes from an Obama campaign stop: burly, 50-something (mostly white) guys wearing dirty uniforms.
What drove me crazy about these ads is that this isn’t what “good middle class jobs” look like in this country — and hasn’t been for about 30 years. For the latest confirmation, check out this report on union membership issued by the Center for Economic Policy Research and summarized in the NY Times:
“Just one in 10 union members is in manufacturing, while women account for more than 45 percent of the unionized workforce.”
In other words, today 90 percent of people in labor unions (!) don’t work in manufacturing. And nearly half of all union members aren’t men.
Which leaves me wondering: In the 2010 election season, do you think politicians will change their iconography to reflect the realities of the 21st century workforce? Or do you think they’ll hold out the false, empty, (and for most people, unappealing) promise that we all can return to 1950s Pittsburgh?
Category: Factoids, Politics, Whole New Mind | Tags: | 6 Comments »
Published November 14th, 2009
Rodney Martin send this example of emotionally intelligent signage from — of all places — the New York City subway. Instead of simply issuing an edict about block doors, the sign tries to explain the reason for the rule and maybe stir a few molecules of empathy.
I’m not convinced, this will be effective in the hothouse of underground New York. But as they say, if emotionally intelligent signage can make it here, it can make it anywhere.
Category: Emotionally intelligent signage | Tags: | 5 Comments »
Published November 10th, 2009
Home-based entrepreneurs “account for more than half of all U.S. businesses and employ more people than venture-backed companies. Jointly, homepreneurs employ one in 10 private-sector workers, or a total of 13 million people.”
(Source: Emergent Research via the Kauffman Foundation)
Category: Factoids | Tags: | 2 Comments »
Published November 8th, 2009
In a new report, demographer Peter Francese projects that the most prevalent American household in 2010 will be a “married couple with no kids, followed closely by single-person households.” The supposedly traditional arrangement — a married couple with children (e.g., the Pinks, the Obamas, the Gosselins) will account for only 22% of American households.
Category: Factoids | Tags: | 10 Comments »
Published November 2nd, 2009
“Strategy is what you choose not to do.”
– Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, with an assist from Michael Porter
Category: Quotes | Tags: | 3 Comments »
Published November 1st, 2009
My old friend and college classmate Sharon Roth sends this tangle of a sign, which she snapped on the mean streets of Park Ridge, Illinois.
The “Stop Means Stop” addendum at the bottom could be effective, she says. But there’s so much clutter and noise surrounding it that many drivers tune out rather than slow down. (In other words, writers aren’t the only people who need editors? — Ed.)
Category: Emotionally intelligent signage | Tags: | 5 Comments »
