I’m not sure yet – but there’s a chance I may migrate to a Tumblr Blog.

The Management

In a terrific mash-up designed by Rothejfunk – the ominous soundtrack from Inception that inspires curiosity completely transforms the feel of a comedy in Ghostbusters. After watching the trailer it made me that much more hopeful that the rumors around Ghostbusters 3 are true. “Who you gonna’ call?”

Jason is the co-founder of his software company which boasts over 3 million customers with only 20 employees running the shop. They offer simple organizational and productivity solutions for their clients that help projects get finished. What I’m most interested in however, are his and his company’s views on the modern day workplace. Jason lets his employees come in and out of the office as they please, has no set 40 hour work week and bases all his evaluations on the actual work that gets done. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Then why don’t all companies adopt this modern day approach?

Trust seems to be the problem. Managers don’t seem to hire employees that they trust enough to incorporate this type of work setting. This is what Jason calls out to be the problem in his TED talk above. “M&M’s” he says, “mangers and meetings.” His views were dynamic enough to capture a blog post from me (no easy task as of late) and enough for me to get a copy of his book on his ideas “Rework.”

I suppose the next step for me will be to incorporate these type of behaviors to become more efficient and effective.

So… the question stands, too social or not too social?

In the video above, Gary Vaynerchuck (social media ninja, wine enthusiast, and author) and Paul Carr (author and ex-social media ninja) discuss whether or not social media is overrated. Take a look, then tweet me your thoughts on it.

This guy is wicked smart. He’s a professor of international health who is absolutely obsessed with stats. He studies, teaches, writes, etc.

In this short video he shows the statistical changes in 200 countries over 200 years with the focus on wealth and health. Watch it and seem smarter when you try to explain it to friends at your favorite watering hole.

I know I will.

Disclaimer: You’ll probably completely mess up the point of this video if you try to tell it to your friends and you will probably lose your friends by doing so. Send them to my site instead so they can watch the video and check out the rest of my random posts.

Cheers to @catskittyns for sending me the video and woodleywonderworks for the homepage photo.

So naturally I was stoked to be a a guest on the Hawaii Biz Tech radio show along with Anna DeQuintanaroo from Play Hawaii. In a super relaxed atmosphere where we simply talked story, Hal Wilkerson (although I’m convinced it’s really Sunday Night Football’s Chris Collinsworth in disguise) got to know both of our technology start-ups a little bit better.

• Play Hawaii is Hawaii’s deal and coupon source that offers amazing deals (sometimes upwards and over 50% off) on a daily basis. Check them out and subscribe to their email blast so you never miss a great discount.

• The Honolulu Civil Beat is Hawaii’s new online news service. We’re 100% dedicated to Hawaii with a new fresh take on investigative journalism on the islands. No advertising and a heightened level of discussion through accountability – you’ll never look at news in Hawaii the same way again.

I may have been a little nervous because my already fast pace chatter seemed to hit the very limits of ‘Ludacris Speed‘. Other than that, I think the audience got a good understanding of what Civil Beat is all about.

In a short three minute rant, Grant inspired me to change some of my habits. I’m not sure if they’re bad or not, but they are definitely habits. For example, Grant brings up how some of us (you know who you are) like to wake up and check email, Twitter and Facebook – all before both of our eyes are open.

He talks about multi-tasking to the point of inefficiency and the over-saturation of choices throughout our day. He covers “negative-space” and the need for a little of it in all of our lives. Seems like a lot for three minutes doesn’t it?

It is. And it was well executed. Check it out, and leave me some feedback below. I’d love to hear what you think about it. Thanks.

The slides above are from the presentation I gave at the Hawaii Social Media Summit and Technology Expo. If you have any questions or notes about them, please drop me a line in the comments section below. I’ll do my best to get back to you as quickly as I can. Thanks!

This past week I got the chance to talk about community on the web with an enthusiastic crowd that knew the space well. We covered the days of old, when the web was one dimensional and a lot less conversational. We thanked Al Gore for inventing the internet. Thanks Al.

We discussed what the future might look like – with vending machines that dispense shoes and jeans, and how the internet will be available everywhere and on everything. Yes even your dishwasher will update itself and learn new rad spin cycles. But the majority of the conversation was about what was happening on the web right now. Most importantly, the focus was on the people that make up the web, and the expanding community that we are becoming.

Although the presentation is a bit bland without the commentary (the audience’s commentary not mine), it still has some facts, figures and outlooks that focus on the community on the web. It also covers the dilemma of the ad model vs. the subscription model – a dilemma that The Honolulu Civil Beat has made a clear decision on by displaying no advertising on the site. As a marketer, I always thought it was tricky to have too many chefs in the kitchen. A relationship between a service and its members seems to work, but what happens when you throw in a third member that represents the advertising relationship. Content or page-views, what gets the priority, and how do you maintain a balance?

I’m not saying I have all the answers. I’m not sure I even have any. A year from now the ad-model can be fixed and all will be well. But for now, I see talented people losing their jobs and good publications that are falling by the waist-side. So something new needs to happen. Something has to change.

At CivilBeat.com we’re trying a model that promises to deliver in-depth local journalism to its members for a fair price. No ads and no anonymous comments. The comments portion reiterates the strength of our web community because  for us to trust each other, we have to be responsible for the things we say. Our commitment is to our members. If they’re happy, we’re happy.

How is going? It’s still too soon to tell, but I’m excited. So ask me again in a couple of months.

Because on October 5th, Hawaii will be Facebooking, Twittering, Foursquaring and possibly even MySpacing (probably not) all into this year’s Technology & Internet Expo and Social Media Summit. They’re going to have the latest technology products, services, and innovations through exhibits, seminars, and live presentations. Rock on!

I was lucky enough to be invited to represent the new online news start-up, the Honolulu Civil Beat. So from 10:45am to 12:00pm, join us as we talk about “Community on the Web, Then, Now and Tomorrow.” We’ll be talking about the evolution of the web and how its communities are growing stronger with each passing year. The future will be a digital world where the customer rules, and the business that ignores them well – drools. Ad-model or subscription-model? Tablet or notebook? Twitter or Facebook? I won’t have answers to any of these questions, but I do plan on having snacks! So I hope you join me as we talk digital, look at some trends, analyze some analytics and hopefully share a laugh or two.

Other than my blabbering, there will be lots of other folks presenting that are far smarter than I (or is it me?). They’ll be speaking about web analytics, monitoring your brand online, and strategic social media. So regardless of what you’re interested in, the expo will have something for you or your business. When you register, make sure to use the coupon code FB245 to save some cash. Cool that’s it, I’ll see you there!

My personal favorite was the line about how Apple needed to get angry at the right people. For instance, AT&T. A company synonymous for ruining the iPhone in one critical way, having it work as a phone.

Enjoy.

Disclosure, I love my Mac. No seriously, this post was written on one.

Also, good on Droid for buying the media space after this segment. Genius (but not the Apple kind).