Intelligent Dialogue - Latest Comments

Re: Moving on

gregory — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:09:12 -0000

Good luck on the new gig! It was a blast working with you, Brad, Lisa and team on the Shorty Awards.

Re: Why are we all buzzing about Craigslist like it’s the devil’s den?

facebook-594845461 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:55:15 -0000

This isn't just an American phenomenon.

http://www.vancouversun.com/North+Vancouver+tee...

Re: Learning in real time: The Pepsi Tweet event

jazs33 — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:36:52 -0000

nice post

Re: A tale of two cars

Lisawriter — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:08:24 -0000

Good points, but Americans are addicted to larger cars. Most families need at least a sedan to haul around their electronics, soccer equipment, bicycles and the like.

The best investments Chrysler and GM could make are hybrids and hydrogen-powered vehicles. First, however, we need to educate millions of Americans about global warming and its dire consequences. For too many decades, we've been gas pigs. Also, people need to realize that hydrogen isn't as explosive as it was when the Hindenburg crashed.

Re: Michelle Obama in London

s729 — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:44:31 -0000

Flawless indeed.

Re: Your brand has been bashed, now what do you do?

imran123 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:02:05 -0000

This really hurts Dominos but i think for this irresponsibility or more i say a serious violation, only employees should be blamed of. This can happen to any fast food company.
See the article on following link:
Article about Domino Pizza Prank

Re: Your brand has been bashed, now what do you do?

pinoypolitico — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:23:04 -0000

I was once an idealist believing that Southeast Asia and its ethics/corporate governance czar and "Komandante" PLDT (NYSE: PHI) (PSE: TEL) and Chairman or CEO of 20 other companies with assets exceeding US$65 billion (not counting liabilities). What could have been a two day story turned into a one year story. My passion is based on Manuel Pangilinan's nine years of lies to global investors where he stated he was on the venerable Board of Overseers for The Wharton School, even filing it in the 2008 Annual Report to Investors with the United States SEC.

Re: Michelle Obama in London

facebook-1703772 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:06:02 -0000

Michelle is great isn't she? Check out the blog I started earlier this month...

http://wwmod.blogspot.com/

Re: Accepting change, one platform at a time

aberns24 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:08:22 -0000

This is an interesting view of the material things we cannot live without in life, especially considering the volatile times, we never know what we may have to give up one day. It's important to value what you have and always know what is top priority!

Re: The global isolation of English

facebook-647339127 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:43:58 -0000

I've always loved learning languages and it still constantly enriches my life. I've found having good French, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish has given me "ins" to so many people, places, ideas and cultural goodies. Even my smatterings of Portuguese, Greek, Bahasa and Japanese have repaid the effort many times over.

Re: The global isolation of English

Guest — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:42:20 -0000

Don't stop learning people. Just keep at it and you'll get it eventually.

Re: Accepting change, one platform at a time

gailnelson — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:01:15 -0000

So agree on the difficulty of giving up brands and devices! I can remember learning Lotus 1-2-3 as my first spreadsheet software and then being forced to switch to Excel - very traumatic in the early 1990s.

BTW: Your dogs are adorable! (I have three myself)

Re: Accepting change, one platform at a time

claram — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:13:05 -0000

loved your post. It is really amazing how fast we adapt to changes, and how after embracing them we feel we can´t live without, specially tech gadgets, connectivity and life improvement.
There is a saying in Spanish that goes: "El hombre es un animal de costumbres"; that transalted will be: "Men is an animal of customs", with the exception of emotional liasons, we can adapt to almost everything (even the idea of living without our Blackberrys).

Re: Are we numb or just holding it together?

jasonspark — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:08:52 -0000

While I cringe at the thought of any "bailed out" company passing out bonuses, the following thoughts come to mind.
1) how worse off would AIG be if employees knew mid -2008 they had lost their incentives to perform? In which case, corporate pay structure across the board needs reform, not just for top execs.
2) In an era calling for greater accountability, how proud are the Universities, professors, and teachers of the performance of their students -- those at the center of this mess, from Wall Street executives, to mortgage brokers, to "in it over their heads" homeowners? How much blame does our education system deserve? Is accountability learned at home or in school?

Re: The saving lifestyle

Lodengrun14 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:51:08 -0000

Well, much of the developing world was too thrifty until now, which provided the excessive liquidity (via foreign investment in the US) fuelling the asset price explosion. Not that a lot of Chinese consumers buying their first set of furniture is going to help us...

Re: Using the word “consumer”

StuartHarris — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:06:37 -0000

I'm not a total fan of Thomas Friedman but he hit the nail on the head today with his piece in the NYT where he talks essentially about consumerism as a way of life. - http://tinyurl.com/cdloeu

"We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese ... We can’t do this anymore."

The issue we face isn't "buying stuff" per se, it's buying stuff without having a clear idea of a bigger WHY of each purchase.

Re: Dubai luxury so over for now

kimdis — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:14:52 -0000

this was surely unforseen when plans were made for the Atlantis hotel

Re: Am I addicted to news?

StuartHarris — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:37:18 -0000

Too much news too often can cause a lot of damage for little benefit. Since it invariably focuses much more on what's wrong than what's right, it amplifies awareness of what's dysfunctional in the world.

I suspect that for "serious" and educated people there's a sense of obligation to be as informed as possible so that one can take appropriate action. But if one's getting deluged with 1-2 hours (or more) of big heavy stuff every day (Madoff, Detroit, climate change, peak oil, health care etc. etc.) what chance is there of processing it and finding appropriate responses?

Unlike most dtrug addictions, the next "hit" of news rarely makes you feel better for even a moment, does it?

Re: Is the crisis making us smarter and more creative?

Lodengrun14 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:12:18 -0000

There's just so much more time to be creative when you're not spending it posturing or pontificating. Since most of us now manifestly know absolutely nothing about what will happen next, we can just get on with whatever we enjoy/find cool/spiritually fulfilling/can sell off the back of the truck.

Re: Is the crisis making us smarter and more creative?

jsheets — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:10:39 -0000

I totally agree. Hard times not only inspire creative thinking, but force people to ask themselves "What can I do with what I've got?" Let's watch as innovation takes shape in 2009 through online tools.

Re: Is the crisis making us smarter and more creative?

StuartHarris — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:23:14 -0000

Tough times do indeed spur resourceful and creative people.

As regards the scare words ("nationalization" -- aaargh!!!) and other no-nos of American life, I'm planning a re-read of Joseph Heller's masterful Catch-22, which may well be the "meme" equivalent of the American genome. Among other gems of insight, Major Major Major's father receives a farm subsidy for every crop of alfalfa that he does not grow with his farmland and uses this money to buy more land to not grow alfalfa on. He believes that federal aid to anyone but farmers is "creeping socialism".

The resourcefulness and creativity required now and going forward is not just for inventing gadgets and business models, it's for finding pragmatic new approaches to dealing with huge and complex issues. In these angstful times, there are big current risks (banks collapsing, civil unrest etc.) but even bigger risks in doing what we did before collectively - rushing full speed ahead but headless, relying on voodoo economics and/or ideology.

Re: Dubai luxury so over for now

Chuma — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:19:09 -0000

Over the last week we’ve had the Barclays Tennis, the censorship at the Book Fair and the ongoing baiting of Dubai’s supposed economic denouement by the world’s media. The world is in hock, we know who is to blame but let’s not focus on that, let’s revel in an orgy of poorly researched schadenfreude. Germaine Greer, I’m talking to you. Please take direct flights in future.

The world is going through the same financial tsunami with responses to that varying. But the origins of this catastrophe were not in Dubai and we are yet to see the same financial meltdown that is crippling the car industry and financial institutions in Europe and the US. Jobs are being lost and certain projects are being scaled back but this doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up and go home. Bling made the headlines and help sell turgid tabloid rags. Over the last 30 years, Dubai has taken its natural resources and looked to build an economic oasis out of nothing. Dubai’s not perfect. Far from it. But where is?

Sheikh Mohammad was interviewed on 60 minutes a few years ago. (Still on youtube). It’s an interesting piece constantly sent and resent on emails around the UAE. Dubai’s “fight back” is about getting back to the dream laid out in the piece not just about giving Lindsey Lohan somewhere to kick back. Yes things aren't perfect here but if Blair or Brown had given me a reason to believe the UK was somewhere one could chase one’s dreams, perhaps more of us might still be trudging to work on the Central Line (well the replacement bus service today). However, this morning’s Sunday Times tells me otherwise. Throwing stones at Dubai’s glass buildings seems to be a salve for those in Europe (especially the UK) suffering from an equally bad economy, poor weather and economic systems moving toward nationalization. Doctor heal thyself.

We may be suffering a from a bout of sickness but I’m hoping that the reports of Dubai’s death may have been a little exaggerated and so, I’m off to the Atlantis for our client event while one of my colleagues deals with the Tennis. Oh, Roddick’s pulled out now…

Re: Dubai luxury so over for now

Chuma — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:05:25 -0000

Over the last week we’ve had the Barclays Tennis, the censorship at the Book Fair and the ongoing baiting of Dubai’s supposed economic denouement by the world’s media. The world is in hock, we know who is to blame but let’s not focus on that, let’s revel in an orgy of poorly researched schadenfreude. Germaine Greer, I’m talking to you. Please take direct flights in future.

The world is going through the same financial tsunami with responses to that varying. But the origins of this catastrophe were not in Dubai and we are yet to see the same financial meltdown that is crippling the car industry and financial institutions in Europe and the US. Jobs are being lost and certain projects are being scaled back but this doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up and go home. Bling made the headlines and help sell turgid tabloid rags. Over the last 30 years, Dubai has taken its natural resources and looked to build an economic oasis out of nothing. Dubai’s not perfect. Far from it. But where is?

Sheikh Mohammad was interviewed on 60 minutes a few years ago. It’s an interesting piece constantly sent and resent on emails around the UAE. Dubai’s “fight back” is about getting back to the dream laid out in the piece not just about giving Lindsey Lohan somewhere to kick back. Yes things aren’t perfect here but if Blair or Brown had given me a reason to believe the UK was somewhere one could chase one’s dreams, perhaps more of us might still be trudging to work on the Central Line (well the replacement bus service today). However, this morning’s Sunday Times tells me otherwise. Throwing stones at Dubai’s glass buildings seems to be a salve for those in Europe (especially the UK) suffering from an equally bad economy, poor weather and economic systems moving toward nationalization. Doctor heal thyself.

We may be suffering a from a bout of sickness but I’m hoping that the reports of Dubai’s death may have been a little exaggerated and so, I’m off to the Atlantis for our client event while one of my colleagues deals with the Tennis. Oh, Roddick’s pulled out now…

Re: Back by popular demand: “The Millennials Are Coming” on 60 Minutes

katepi — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:03:13 -0000

Just downloaded your report: Influencing Millinials 2008. Excellent job. Deep insight into a generation so different, yet, which seems to be living out many of the hopes that Baby Boomers had for social changes, re-examination of worn out methods, and belief in community, as well as, change that begins at an individual grass-roots level. I am also hoping this generation will have a positive impact on some of the mind-numbing practices of the current corporate culture.

Or, another way to look at this...a lot of undiagnosed ADD/ADHD adults had ADD/ADHD children who chose adapting society to their reality, rather than self-medicating in order to live within the narrow confines of outdated styles, forms of communication, and social structures.

And of course technology supports this evolving worldview. You have pushed me to rethink my own approach to public relations/marketing/communications in the coming new-age.

This is very exciting news.
Thanks for all the hard work.
Great graphics.

Re: Is crime on the rise?

Ajlouny — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:02:08 -0000

The economic stress that leaves everyone in a financial bind causes people to take desperate measures. The average person that was part of the middle class America is finding themselves in poverty. It is a bad combination to folks that are used to having things, to not having anything anymore. Of course crime rates are going to rise.