Tag Archives: Quotable

The Religion War

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“The Internet (is) God’s central nervous system, connecting all the thinking humans, so that one good thought anywhere could be available everywhere. The head would know what the feet were feeling. It would be an upper consciousness, above what the human beings that composed it would understand.” (Pg.151)

“God is everything, all the matter and empty space that now exists, or ever will exist. He expresses his preference in the invisible workings of gravity, probability, and ideas. God is that which is unstoppable, permanent, all-powerful, and by its own standards perfect. God was in no hurry. He was reforming. He didn’t think in the way that humans do, as that is unnecessary for an entity whose preferences are identical to reality. Humans think in order to survive and entertain themselves. God has no need for a tool that is useful only to the frail and unsatisfied.” (Pg. 177)

“You’re a collection of molecules and those molecules are made of smaller bits, and those bits are made of even smaller bits. The smallest bits in the universe are all identical. You are made of the same stuff as the concrete in the floor and the fly on the window. Your basic matter cannot be created or destroyed. All that will survive of what you call you life is the sum of your actions. Some might call the unending ripple effect of those actions a soul, or a spirit.”

“Consciousness is a feedback loop. It has four parts: You imagine the impact of your actions, then you act, then you observe the actual result of your action, then you store that knowledge in your brain and begin again to imagine the next thing.” (pg 31)

Excerpts from The Religion War, by Scott Adams

Seth Godin: No more job interviews

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I’ve long held that job interviews are a waste of time. They tell you nothing. And once someone is hired, you usually know within a week if you made the right decision. But then it’s too late. My man Seth Godin (I know, I know) suggests a better way:

“There are no one-on-one-sit-in-my-office-and-let’s-talk interviews. Boom, you just saved 7 hours per interview. Instead, spend those seven hours actually doing the work. Put the person on a team and have a brainstorming session, or design a widget or make some espressos together. If you want to hire a copywriter, do some copywriting. Send back some edits and see how they’re received.

If the person is really great, hire them. For a weekend. Pay them to spend another 20 hours pushing their way through something. Get them involved with the people they’ll actually be working with and find out how it goes. Not just the outcomes, but the process. Does their behavior and insight change the game for the better? If they want to be in sales, go on a sales call with them. Not a trial run, but a real one. If they want to be a rabbi, have them give a sermon or visit a hospital.”

I’ve been thinking about the various job openings we have at Learfield, wondering if this could work for us, and I can’t see why it wouldn’t. But more to the point, the traditional interview technique is worthless, so what have you got to lose?

Maybe means no

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I spent a good chunk of 1987 driving around Iowa, trying to sign radio stations to the new statewide news network we were starting. My first pitch (Roger Gardner was with me) was to Larry Edwards, the GM at WMT in Cedar Rapids. Probably the #2 station in Iowa at the time. We told him what we were planning to do and he asked if we had a contract with us. We did, and he signed it on the spot.

The next day we met with Betty Baudler and Rich Fellingham (GM and Ops Mgr) at KASI in Ames, Iowa. We told them about the network and they signed on the spot. I think the same thing happened a few days later with Andy Anderson at KMA, Shenandoah.

The point here is not that I’m a great salesperson (I’m not). The point is, these managers did not say “maybe.” Eventually, we got to some that wanted to “think about it.” But these guys understood what we were going to do and decided –on the spot– they wanted to be part of it.

They weren’t all that easy and I got a lot of “maybe’s” over the years (“Could you send me another copy of your proposal?” or “Let me talk it over with my program director and we’ll get back to you.”) Somewhere in about year 15 I remember saying to a couple of prospects:

“If you had to give me a yes or a no today, which would it be?”
“Uh, I don’t like being pressured!”
“No pressure, I’m just curious. If you HAD to say yes or no right now, which would it be?”
“If you’re gonna pressure me, then the answer is no!”
“Great. I won’t take any more of your time.”

Anybody that was EVER going to say yes would have stopped me before I got to the door. Or called the next day to say she changed her mind. Never happened. (End of 20 year flash back)

In Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin reminds me that “maybe means no.” He also explains the intellectual dishonesty that is behind most “maybe’s.”

“Dealing with change ultimately does make you confront one thing: dishonesty. And dishonesty–intellectual dishonesty, decision-making dishonesty, not-willing-to-face-the-music dishonesty–is the greatest enemy that a company can have. We disguise it as waiting to get more informaiton or looking for more input. In fact, the real deal is that we’re not willing to look the situation in the eye and make a decision, right or wrong. And so companies and individuals put off acknowledging what they already know and acting on it. They don’t commit to a decision until they have to–even if they’ve already made the decision in their minds, and a delay in making it official means spending more money, making mistakes, and staying up all night to catch up.” (Pg. 133 Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin)

So maybe I’ll respond to the next pitch I get with:

“I’m not going to say “yes” to your proposal. Ever. You can have a “no,” or a “maybe.” Which would you perfer?

Early adopters and the masses

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“I’m astonished at how long it takes an idea to filter from the early adopters to the masses. What sort of person just read the Da Vinci Code or just discovered the iPod? I was standing in a nice store in a nice suburb and heard one 25 year old explain to a 30 year old what gmail was… it’s so easy to assume that everyone already gets it.”

— Part of the answer to one of ten questions Hugh Macleod posed to Seth Godin

small is the new big

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Just received my copy of Seth Godin’s new book, small is the new big and flipped it open to page 155:

“The number of channels of communication is going to continue to increase. And either you’ll have a channel or you won’t. Either you’ll have access to the attention of the people you need to talk with (notice I didn’t say “talk at”), or you won’t. So the real question to ask isn’t, “How much will I get paid to talk with these people?” The real question is, “How much will I pay to talk with these people.”

The title of the book refers to a blog post from June, 2005. Godin talks about the new book in a half-hour, moderated Skypecast this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. CDT.

Update: Poor old Seth had to introduce himself because the moderator has tech issues and was late getting into the Skype call. Looked like about 25 or 30 folks on the call and they never got around to taking questions. Typepad — which sponsored the Skypecast– plans to post portions of the audio on their blog.

Weinerschnitzel adjustment

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“Now sometimes a pair of briefs – for reasons I cannot understand – have the most annoying characteristic you could ever imagine: In the course of normal walking and sitting, the wearer’s weinershnitzel ends up poking halfway through the flap hole like a turtle coming out of its shell. And before long, the most sensitive part of your body is wedged between your briefs and the harsh denim material of your pants. As I walked toward the departure gate, I was choking Private Johnson and giving him a noogie at the same time.”

— Scott Adams

Phone Whores

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In case you are not familiar with a term that I just made up, a phone whore is a woman who goes to the airport with no magazines, laptops, books, puzzles or other means to entertain her. All she has is a phone, and she’s going to use it, no matter how many people are annoyed.

The phone whore is motivated by the desire to talk with people. The phone asshole (male variety) is motivated by the need to have everyone on the flight know he’s negotiating important business deals and that he has staff members that must receive his wisdom.

— Scott Adams

 

Scott Adams: Flag burning

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“It seems to me that the great thing about the flag is that it symbolizes something inherently indestructible: the concept of freedom. You can burn the flag as many times as you want and the concept of freedom is not only still there – it’s stronger. I like that about my flag. I would go so far as to say it’s my flag’s best feature.”