FRIDAY THOUGHTS – Keep Calm and Carry On

 FRIDAY THOUGHTS – Keep Calm and Carry On

19-Apr-13

I had two international flights over the past two weeks that had a bit more than your usual turbulence.  I’m pretty lucky as I have never been a nervous flier.  Maybe it’s because I did a fair amount of general aviation flying as Pilot-in-Command (PIC in aviation terms) before I had kids.  Maybe, like most consultants, it’s because of the large amount of airline miles I've accumulated over the years – I think I've seen (and felt) most of what flying has to offer.  Regardless, I feel safer in a commercial airplane, even during moderate to severe turbulence, than I feel in any other mode of transportation.

To my knowledge, turbulence has never brought down a commercial airline.  Some could argue wind shear is turbulence, but I and the NTSB put that in a different category.  What I noticed on both of these flights was the number of really nervous people in these two situations.  I felt really bad for them.  The thought that popped into my mind was the phrase one of my British colleagues uses, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”  It got me wondering, where did “Keep Calm and Carry On” originate? 

Apparently, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was a piece of propaganda created by the British Government in 1939 as part of a campaign to lift the spirits of the British at the beginning of World War II.  It was actually the third in a series of propaganda pieces.  The first two were "Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might" and "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory."  The phrase made a comeback in 2000 when one of the original posters was discovered.  Multiple companies have used the phrase and a more than a few parodies have been created. 

The next time I see a nervous flier on a commercial flight, maybe I’ll share the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On.”  If that doesn't help, maybe I can distract them by telling the story of the phrases origin and history.

How do you keep calm in trying times?

The potentially interesting but unrelated department:

• The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA is the largest aquarium in the world with ~8.5 million gallons of water.
• The world’s oceans cover ~333 million cubic miles.  That’s the equivalent of 36,614,237,300,000,000,000,000 gallons of water!!
• The original Shamu was the fourth killer whale (second female) ever captured.  She was the star of the popular SeaWorld show in the mid-late 1960s.  Her name was the combination of She+Namu.  Namu is Polynesian for devoted. 

Random Closing Thought

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

-          Thomas Edison

Periodically, on a Friday of course, I will post a “Friday Thoughts” to my GreggClarkEY Blog.  It is a lighter-side-of-life look at my experiences and how I apply them to being a better person and leader.   Hopefully there will be something here for you.

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – How to be Happy

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – How to be Happy

22-Mar-13

One of the countless things I love about my wife, Danielle, is that she sends me sayings and articles that motivate me to be a better person.  She recently sent me this blog post on 22 Things Happy People Do Differently.  I wish I had the fortitude to do all of them every day. 

Here are a few of my favorites.   Happy people…

2. Treat everyone with kindness - Did you know that it has been scientifically proven that being kind makes you happier? Every time you perform a selfless act, your brain produces serotonin, a hormone that eases tension and lifts your spirits. Not only that, but treating people with love, dignity, and respect also allows you to build stronger relationships.

4. Express gratitude for what they already have - There’s a popular saying that goes something like this: “The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.” You will have a deeper sense of contentment if you count your blessings instead of yearning for what you don’t have.

13. Never seek approval from others - Happy people don’t care what others think of them. They follow their own hearts without letting naysayers discourage them. They understand that it’s impossible to please everyone. Listen to what people have to say, but never seek anyone’s approval but your own.

20. Tell the truth - Lying stresses you out, corrodes your Self Improvement, and makes you unlikeable. The truth will set you free. Being honest improves your mental health and builds others’ trust in you. Always be truthful, and never apologize for it.

22. Accept what cannot be changed - Once you accept the fact that life is not fair, you’ll be more at peace with yourself. Instead of obsessing over how unfair life is, just focus on what you can control and change it for the better.

Do you choose to be happy?

The potentially interesting but unrelated department:

•         The Panama Canal is 48 miles long and lifts ships from sea level to 87 feet above sea level in Gatun Lake, then back to sea level.
•       At the end of 2012, there were 5.981 Billion mobile subscribers globally.  That is an 86% penetration of the 2012 year end global population of 6.973 Billion.
•       According to the UN World Population in 2300 report, the global population in 2050 will be 8.9 Billion.  However, the number could be anywhere between 7.4 Billion and 10.6 Billion.
•       The same report suggests this 8.9 Billion will remain fundamentally flat through the year 2300.  Why?  Extending a number of trending assumptions, the population growth rate reaches 0 around 2050.  However, the world could have 35 Billion people….or….an asteroid could find the planet and, well, make your own projections.

Random Closing Thought

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

-          C.S. Lewis

Periodically, on a Friday of course, I will post a “Friday Thoughts” to my GreggClarkEY Blog.  It is a lighter-side-of-life look at my experiences and how I apply them to being a better person and leader.   Hopefully there will be something here for you.

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – In the Fast Lane

 FRIDAY THOUGHTS – In the Fast Lane

15-Mar-13

While visiting a client in Los Angeles this week, I got the opportunity to experience Congestion Pricing at work.  I’ve had a few other experiences with Congestion Pricing, but I wasn't writing Friday Thoughts then.

The concept of Congestion Pricing has been around for a long time.  The famous economist, Milton Friedman, co-authored a paper on the topic in 1951.  The first toll road in the US was the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, built in the 1790s. And the concepts of payment for passage dates back to the earliest of humans.  However, pilots and implementations of dynamic pricing schemes to solve urban congestion have only been around for a decade or so.

Urban congestion exemplifies the problem of effectively coordinating individual decisions to use largely un-priced goods like roads.  Drivers are adept at anticipating delays and factoring them into decisions on whether and when to hit the road.  But, absent tolls, they are not compelled to factor in the delays their driving imposes on others. (NYT “Traffic Jam Economics” Jan 20, 12).

LA is certainly a poster child for urban congestion.  To test methods to combat this congestion, LA started a demonstration program called Metro ExpressLanes in November, 2012.  The concept is simple.  High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes are being converted into High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.  Cars who wish to drive in the HOT lanes must have a Metro ExpressLane electronic pass.  Cars are then charged a rate per mile depending on traffic volume based on a target speed of 45 mph.  Rates range from $.25 / mile to $1.41 / mile.  Watch this cool video to see how it works.

Seeing congestion pricing in action got me thinking about all the possible applications for this type of strategy in the world of Consumer Products and Retail.  One of the big historical challenges was the lack of available technology to:  1) sense the constraint (speed of traffic in LA’s case) and 2) dynamically adjust price.  These hurdles are being lowered at a rapid pace. 

Are you living your life in the Fast Lane?

The potentially interesting but unrelated department:

• ·       The highest mountain peak in both the United States and North America is Mount McKinley in the Alaska Mountain Range.
• ·       The highest elevation one can drive to in the United States is Mount Evans, at 14,240 feet.  Many think it is Pike’s Peak, but Mount Evans has it by 135 feet!
• ·       In 2012, over 60 million new cars were produced globally.  That’s over 165,000 every day!  The US is 6^th in total production, producing ~5% of all cars made globally.
• ·       For the last decade, there have been ~3 Trillion, +/- 50 Billion, total miles driven in the United States.    That’s just over 16,000 round trips from the earth to the sun.

Random Closing Thought

"Be a friend to yourself and others will be so too."

-          Thomas Fuller

Periodically, on a Friday of course, I will post a “Friday Thoughts” to my GreggClarkEY Blog.  It is a lighter-side-of-life look at my experiences and how I apply them to being a better person and leader.   Hopefully there will be something here for you.

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – Looking Through the Worm Hole

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – Looking Through the Worm Hole

8-Mar-13

One of the coolest things about my job is that I get to spend a good deal of time thinking about emerging digital technologies and how they may impact the world of Consumer Products and Retail in the future.  My hypothesis is that all of our human senses and systems will be digitally enabled in the very near future.  I will provide a feel for what I’m talking about by looking at our sense of sight.

Humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years.  However, it isn’t until last few thousand years that we have been able to do anything to enhance our sense of vision.  The earliest records of enhancing vision through magnification date back to the 1^st century AD when  Seneca the Younger wrote "Letters, however small and indistinct, are seen enlarged and more clearly through a globe or glass filled with water."   The first eyeglasses appear to have been made by Dominican Friar Giordano da Pisa around 1300 AD.  While there have been improvements of the past 800 years, the eyeglasses of today fundamentally are the same as da Pisa’s Italian models.  The earliest versions of contact lens as we know them have been around since the 1950s.

Now, let’s look at the advances in digital enhancement of vision made in just the past few years.

• ·       In 2010, Google released the Google Goggles app that provides digital enhancement to a person’s vision for items such as text, landmarks, contacts, books and logos.
•        The earliest versions of Google Glass were seen on Google employees in 2012.  Google Glasses provide a number of digitally enhanced elements to a human’s vision.
•        The Centre for Microsystems Technology at Ghent University in Belgium is taking things one step further.  They have developed a contact lens with a built-in, curved HD-LCD display that effectively acts as a heads-up display indistinguishable to anyone else.
•         Second Sight has developed the first commercial retinal implant prosthesis, fundamentally curing certain types of blindness.  They will likely solve broader causes of blindness in the near future.

All this advancement in just a few years.  I bet I look back at this Friday Thoughts in a couple of years and say, “Oh, that was so yesterday!”

Are you ready for the digital technology of the future?

The potentially interesting but unrelated department:

•        One inch of rain is equal to eight to twelve inches of snow, depending on the moisture level.
•        According to STR Global, there are 187,000 hotels offering ~17.5 million hotel rooms in the world.
•        The Guinness World Record for spinning multiple plates is held by David Spathaky, assisted by Debbie Woolley, who spun 108 plates simultaneously in Bangkok, Thailand, on television in 1996.

Random Closing Thought

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it"

-          Groucho Marx

Periodically, on a Friday of course, I will post a “Friday Thoughts” to my GreggClarkEY Blog.  It is a lighter-side-of-life look at my experiences and how I apply them to being a better person and leader.   Hopefully there will be something here for you.

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – A New Journey

FRIDAY THOUGHTS – A New Journey

1-Mar-13

I always get excited when I start a new journey.  There are no obstacles on the horizon.  Fears have yet to set in.  Expectations and excitement are running high.  I am starting just such a journey today with the re-launch of my Friday Thoughts blog.

I first undertook Friday Thoughts in 2008 as a way to connect with distributed members of my team around the world.  I was humbled to see how that proliferated.  This is now my third iteration of Friday Thoughts and I hope it provides those who read it with a break, however short, from busy weeks.  I hope to convey some wisdom, a little bit of humor and some fresh insights.

While Ralph Waldo Emerson may have said it first, I like Aerosmith’s version:

That one last shots a permanent vacation

And how high can you fly with broken wings

Life’s a journey not a destination

And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings

-          Aerosmith, Amazing track from “Get a Grip”

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

— Lao Tzu

Where are you in your journey of life?

The potentially interesting but unrelated department:

• There are 47,182 miles in the US Interstate Highway System.
• A Swiss free diver, Peter Colat, holds the record for holding ones breath under water at 19 minutes, 21 seconds.
• Apple claims to own 20% of the global smartphone market, but 75% of the profits.

Random Closing Thought

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.”

- The Dalai Lama

Periodically, on a Friday of course, I will post a “Friday Thoughts” to my GreggClarkEY Blog.  It is a lighter-side-of-life look at my experiences and how I apply them to being a better person and leader.   Hopefully there will be something here for you.