Bad Design Files

I found this on my credit card statement yesterday, it's a new feature:
Apparently, I can save money by paying more than the monthly minimum.

I'm pretty sure that the new credit card law made them list the payoff time for the minimum payment. To be helpful the credit card company shows how I can save by paying off more than the minimum balance.

What they don't show is that if you pay off the entire balance today I can "save" $2,766.97 in interest payments.

Instead of trying to squeak more money from the customer for the same service, why isn't the credit card maker finding new markets that have higher margins?

Don't Mess With The Whales

A special addition of whale facts; a feature of things that quite possibly only interest me.


A Seaworld trainer died today when a Killer Whale attacked him.1

In 2006, a Seaworld trainer was attacked. He had been attacked two other times.

In 2004, yet another Seaworld trainer was attacked.

Sometimes the messages in life need to be taken seriously. Don't mess with killer whales.

Notes:
1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240004575085841459502312.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

Drew Boyd Gets It

Drew Boyd, a working guy at J&J, gets it.

Link

The Corporatization of Local Sports

There's a new trend emerging in local sporting events. Corporatization.

In the past local road, triathlon, or adventure races were put on by the local promotion company. You'd see a flier at the local store and decide last minute to show up with cash and enter the race. If you were lucky you would get a bagel at the end.

Sure there were always the "big" races, events like the Boston Marathon, but a vast majority of events for the average duffer were simple home grown affairs.

Not anymore.

It started with the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge which is a 5K race that companies enter teams in.

From there it's grown to a Marathon Series (The Rock "n" Roll Series), a Triathlon Series (The Amica 19.7 Series), and an Adventure Racing Series (The Warrior Dash).

What's heartening about these trends is that they are evidence that innovation is alive and well in America. Where there is opportunity, capital will flow, and businesses will be created.

Innovation Zen

God Bless The Greek Debt
Maybe if we watch them implode it will spook us enough to do something about our bills.1


You Might As Well Try
"It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you fail by default." - JK Rowling


You Might As Well Try II
A life spent defensively, worried, is to me a life wasted…life, to me, is a series of false limits and my challenge as an athlete is to explore those limits.- Lance Armstrong


Notes:
1. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=atayGT7Y7Jbk

Best of 2009

January
F-22 Too Much of A Good Thing
When technology overshoots need

February
Details Matter
Who's egg is it anyway?

March
Coach Everyone
The great get the best from everybody

April
Innovation Requires Super Smart Guys
The really big problems require the smart folks

May
Whale Facts
Things that quite possibly only interest me

June
Just Do It
Reduce organizational friction

July
Yuck: The Economy Part II
Everything is different now

August
You Cannot Outsource Responsibility
You sold it, you own it.

September
Tractor Time
You need to check your position

October
Thank You, Captain Obvious
The Wall Street Journal Catches Up

November
Block and Tackle
Keep it simple

December
Unflappability
Fake it till you make it

This Could Change Eveything

Be Vertically Integrated?

ArcelorMittal is the largest steel maker in the world. Usually a manufacturer is subjected to the volatility in the raw materials used in the produciton of their product, in this case iron ore and coke.

That is unless you own your own mining operations.

From today's Wall Street Journal:

For the most part, steelmakers are expected to pass on higher iron ore and coal costs [in 2010] to consumers including appliance and auto makers. Some steelmakers, notably ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel Corp., and Russian steelmakers, own their own iron ore and coal reserves. ArcelorMittal's iron ore mines can supply about half of its needs, while it can produce about 15% of its coal requirements.

As a result, its costs will fall relative to other steelmakers that have to buy more iron ore and coal, but it will sell its steel at about the same price, resulting in higher profit margins. "The future is looking more positive for ArcelorMittal. It will earn extra margin," said Thorsten Zimmermann, metals analyst for HSBC Bank PLC.

ArcelorMittal is expected to report Wednesday that it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter of 2009, with analysts' earnings estimates averaging about 40 cents a share. A year ago, the company lost $2.63 billion in the fourth quarter 2008.1

So what happened to the nuggetization of everything? Aren't we just supposed to just buy the components and then assemble them?

It turns out the answer is not necessarily.

Charles Fine, author of the book Clockspeed got it right when he summarized that value chains undulate depending on the market forces; oscillating between vertical and horizontal integration.

Notes:

1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704182004575055450914638726.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_business

Whale Facts

Things that quite possibly only interest me....

If a company splits in the woods is it still synergistic?
Today, the combined values of the companies [AOL and Time Warner], which have been separated, is about one-seventh of their worth on the day of the merger.1

But It's Only the 8th Highest Rate in the World
Scots aged 16 and older drank an average of 12.5 quarts of pure alcohol each in 2007, the equivalent of 42 bottles of vodka apiece and the eighth highest rate in the world (In England, the figure was 10.5 quarts per capita).2

Because Drunk, Stupid, and Awake is Way Better
Buckfast Tonic Wine, The drink is 15 percent alcohol by volume, proof, a bit stronger than most wines. Also, each 750 mililiter bottle contains as much caffeine as 8 cans of Coke. In a survey last year of 172 prisoners at a young offenders’ institution, 43 percent of the 117 people who drank alcohol before committing their crime said they had drunk Buckfast. 2

Still Going The Wrong Way
The federal government is expected to borrow $1.6 trillion this year, or about $15,000 for every household in the country.(3)

Notes:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?hp
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/europe/04scotland.html?hp
3. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041461919200320.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_personalfinance

Why I'll End Up Paying For E-Mail

E-mail is free, information is not. Information is costly to obtain.

More and more business transactions are taking place online. It's not just ordering figurines from Amazon.com anymore. Things like banking, insurance, registrations, and unemployment all take place via e-mail.

So, all of the information that you need to run your life - your account number, your payment receipts, etc - resides in those e-mails.

With the "free" e-mail all of those e-mails are on someone else central server somewhere. Should they choose to shut you out, your hosed. Controlling your information becomes valuable.

It then becomes worth it to upgrade your e-mail account to one where you can download the e-mail and thus take control of your information.

Yesterday's Innovations

A lot of business people think that he who shows emotion first loses. The thought behind this is that those who are emotional aren't acting consciously, rather, they are unconsciously reacting to their emotions and are therefore unreliable. Weak. Prone to error.

The problem with this attitude is that you can overlook the human element. The part of us that makes us human. Passion, emotion, heart; they matter. A lot.

AMEN

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers does a good job describing what it takes to be successful; hard work, smarts, and luck.

But there are other key factors that most people overlook.

Specifically, according to some research published you should also be able to:

* Listen to others
* Follow the steps
* Follow the rules
* Ignore distractions
* Ask for help
* Take turns when you talk
* Get along with others
* Stay calm with others
* Be responsible for your behavior
* Do nice things for others

Sometimes easier said than done.

Back

It wasn't so much having to re-image the machine. Or wasting the time on the phone with the tech center in India. Or having problems with recovering the files from the back up hard drive.

No, the special joy was the upgraded virus protection causing the machine to crash. The proverbial cherry in the aged Manhattan so to speak.

Regardless, Grassroots is back.

We will not longer click on links sent to us; not even funny links from our friends at Christmas time that have our heads pasted on dancing elves. Because as funny as the laugh is, it's not worth days on end of getting back to even.