Author: Steve Shu

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The Value of Defending Stupid Ideas

I forget how I ran into this excellent essay by Scott Berkun on "Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas" (probably through del.icio.us), but I like it on many levels because it touches on things like business, logic, organizational behavior, and personalities.

I think two of Scott’s sentences capture an angle that I wanted to post about. Scott writes in two places:

  • "… How can smart people take up positions that defy any
    reasonable logic? …" and
  • "… I’m
    not proud to admit that I have a degree in Logic and Computation from Carnegie Mellon
    University …"

Although I’m not for defending stupid ideas unto death, I have to say that there’s a lot of value in my book in being trained to defend stupid ideas unto death. More precisely, I think there’s tremendous value in the business world in being able to take either side of an argument and to defend that position whether you like it or not. In the business world, it’s a courageous/West Point type of training that I’ve always associated with Harvard MBAs (based on those that I used to work with in the field at management consulting firm PRTM).

I’m not prescribing being irrational or two-faced in either business or personal settings. What I am prescribing is to open one’s mind, to be able to develop courage, and to develop a leadership style. By being able to defend and argue two sides of a coin, your creativity stretches and you learn to reveal weak spots in your own reasoning. That latter part may be the most important thing to me as it leads to a path of self-improvement.

I am somewhat envious of Scott’s background in logic and computation. After taking what I consider to be one of the more unusual GMAT tests on critical reasoning many years ago, I developed a deep appreciation for honing skills in weakening and strengthening arguments. Many people visit my blog seeking information out about the value of an MBA. Studying for GMAT, and in particular the critical reasoning section of the test, is unlike studying for any GRE or SAT exam I know of. You can learn a valuable life lesson before your MBA by studying for that section of the GMAT. Stupid is(n’t) as stupid does (always).

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Light Blogging Due To New Endeavor With 21Publish

I have another post I would like to write to keep up my theme of the week, but I have been busy shifting things around a bit and getting grounded with a new endeavor as COO of 21Publish, a leading cooperative publishing and a hosted multi-user blogging service. I am excited about the opportunity as I am teaming with an experienced crew in publishing, hosting, and peer-to-peer commerce (for lack of better words at the moment). These are key areas surrounding the rising, yet formative market niche of group blogging.

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Service Activation On Vonage Pretty Instantaneous

Today I placed an order for Vonage VoIP service as another line for my home office. I was pretty impressed that 20-some seconds after entering in my credit card, I got a confirmation email with dial-in numbers to set up my voice mail and greetings (note that I did not port a prior telephone number [which would likely create a whole bunch of other business & technical process flows to kick in]). I was able to dial from my normal landline and start configuring the voice mail box even without having the VoIP gear that Vonage is planning to send me via snail mail. I presume instant activation means that Vonage already has blocks of numbers already allocated to them so that there’s not any crazy network configuration/re-configuration for fresh, new telephone numbers. I have to admit that Vonage has a pretty snazzy service activation process compared to what I’ve seen for plain old telephone service from traditional carriers and despite my prior post saying quality of service (QoS) is not the same.

Although I can’t make or receive calls without the VoIP gear (which should arrive in two weeks from Vonage?), I’m now wondering whether Vonage is equally aggressive about billing me for service … not to mention that after I receive the gear it may take me two weeks to figure out how to reconnect my home network …

Update (6/6/05): I like how when you get Vonage voice mail, you get an email message indicating the caller ID and the time of the call. Of course my first few email message alerts were lagged about 3 days, but they seem to be coming in on a timely basis now (e.g., within one hour of the message).

Update (6/8/05): Pretty slick service. Got the new Linksys router yesterday and hooked it up my existing wireless network today (DSL to the home). Went much easier than I expected although I had to go hardwired Ethernet for a moment to configure the new router. Got a Uniden 5.8Ghz cordless phone to go with the setup (best phone I’ve ever had – highly recommend this line of phone from Office Depot). There is an interesting feature that Vonage has called "Network Availability Number". Basically if your Internet connection is disrupted, you can automatically have calls forwarded elsewhere. If anyone wants a free month of service (*) with Vonage, feel free to contact me via email, and I can use Vonage’s refer a friend program. No warranties from me – I’d just be using Vonage’s interface. *FREE month refers to a credit of up to $49.99 towards the second month of service based on the plan the referral selects.

Update (6/9/05): Well, I’m getting some feedback from folks that the voice transmitted from my VoIP line sounds a little bit computerized (not bad) even though the inbound sound that I hear is excellent. Perhaps it’s a difference between using DSL (which I have) and cable. People ought to do some due diligence there as I don’t have enough data points.

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When Should Product Safety Concerns Be Addressed (Product Recall) Versus When Are People Just Plain Stupid

This weekend I had a pretty scary and very painful incident with getting a towelette dispenser stuck on my finger (product is Cutter Backwoods Mosquito Wipes). I have two bruise points on the first knuckle of my right hand index finger
that look like the entry points for where a dull-toothed Dracula may have tried to suck my blood. I am surprised that my finger is not much more seriously damaged.

For those that may have used cleaning wipes or baby wipes, some of these dispensers have holes coming out of the top of the dispenser with plastic teeth all around the inner circumference that grip the towelettes as they come up through the hole. When towelettes come up through the hole, I (now) presume that people are not supposed to stick their fingers back into the hole to push things back in. As I might do with a Kleenex box at home, I tried to push back in a towelette after two too many came out.

*Very* wrong thing to do. The hole in this case is just a little larger than the size of my index finger, plus the killer here was that the teeth were both pointed and the plastic was much stiffer than other product packaging I’ve encountered. It was *not* just a matter of getting my finger stuck and waiting for the right solution to present itself. My finger was turning purple, and the teeth created a lot of pain just by waiting around. As I tried to get the product off of my finger, the teeth dug into my finger harder – I imagine that the experience would be similar to the difficulty to get a barbed arrowhead out of your body (in the direction of the entry point) upon penetration. The temptation was to push or twist, but this only drove my index finger in further. My wife tried to help me with a blunt butter knife as a wedge … after two to three more fractic attempts of finding something to get the thing off my finger, luckily my wife finally found a needle nose set of pliers laying nearby that we could use to bend the stiff teeth away from my finger. A bit of an emotional release on my part after the whole thing was over and done with.

I personally think that the product packaging on this Cutter product should be recalled (or the the product packaging should be modified with softer and/or non-pointed teeth). That said, sentence number seven on the back label of the Cutter product does say, "Do Not push finger through lid opening".

When do (generally) sensible people become stupid? When do products need to be modified for safety reasons? Would your answer change if it were a child’s finger that got stuck in the story I recounted?

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Speaking Quotably Versus Incoherently (To The Press)

Something I need to work on. For those who don’t know, I’m more of a right-hand man than a front-man. What this means for me is that I’m good for a "on the one hand there’s this" and "on the other hand there’s that" type rants. Doesn’t mean I’m a slouch for having a definitive opinion, but for persons that have played a facilitative role in consulting or other areas, being balanced and level-headed comes with the turf. I’m familiar with the scenario where the client CEO confronts you in the elevator and you need to give the 30-second pitch on where the engagement is at while at the same time justifying your existence. All said, giving an executive business summary is a bit different from "speaking quotably", the latter which is required for talking with press reporters.

Ford Harding, in his book "Rain Making" (a very good book for those looking to hone their skills in attracting new clients in the professional services or consulting world), has some good examples of speaking quotably (categorization is mine):

  • Colorful words – "… like Bambi caught in the headlights …"
  • Cliches – "This is only round one."
  • Dramatic – "That issue is as dead as the flat earth theory."
  • Despair – "Many will never work again."

This past Friday I was called by a reporter as related to an article on corporate blogging just being finalized for one of the major East coast newspapers. The reporter was extremely friendly, smart, nice, and precise about her work. Have no idea whether the statements I made will be used, but it made me realize I have something to work on.

Caught off guard I was. Use this encounter as a signal I will. Make improvements I shall. Have any thoughts do you?

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Blogs Are Hot And Not

Cheryl Gidley, managing partner of Gidley Consulting, former GE Capital Exec, and a Northwestern MBA, says that while blogs are hot now, they are going to get old. She provokes thought and makes some excellent points in an ePrairie article. In particular, she writes:

Segment marketing is both the medium and the message. Blogs are simply place
in the latest deliverable format. The reason this isn’t news is that
there will always be evolutions in place. Right now, post cards with
fabulous color and great copy are still hot.

They’re going to get old.
Everything does. Sending text messages is hot – that is, until schools
outlaw the use of cell phones because kids are cheating. It’s hard to
reach that age group when all the messages are stored up and they’re
blasting through them to clear their message cues.

What’s hot and what’s not is
pure and simple. It’s segmented marketing. Understanding any segment –
whether it’s generational, ethnic, cultural or educational – means
understanding what makes its members tick and what makes them buy
whatever it is you’re peddling.

The thing I resonate most with is her comment that "blogs are simply the place in the latest deliverable format". I agree here.

Where I think such a characterization can be a little misleading though is that I think such an argument reduces any communication and Internet technology down a bit too much to the point that people just don’t want to understand things at all. The telephone system has been around for quite awhile. R&D related to the telephone system networks have extended the life of underlying technologies, created the seeds for wireless phone technologies, and we are now seeing disruptive forces like VoIP having an impact on people’s lives. Accounting systems get old too. Should we not install those? Perhaps not with the cost of S-O, right [joke]?

I guess my point is that the blogging hype will likely get deflated over time and come back to reality, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore or even pass on learning about blogs and using them. Heck, the investment is not that big, right? And even if the total invested $$ in blogging is small, there’s more people (VCs, subscribers, software R&D) longing the market with real money and actual dollars than shorting the market. True in Bubble 1.0 too I suppose … perhaps I need to go to Warren Buffet to get a hedge instrument for this market  …

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