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Due to the tremendous response of the Let’s Be Brief contest, I had an unusually heavy pile-up in the file cabinet this month. Ah, well, there are only so many hours in the day, you know. I mean, when you work 40 hours a week, it’s hard to fit eating, sleeping and blogging into the other 40 hours.

But I’m warning you now; some of this stuff is positively prehistoric (meaning over a week old)! Let’s blow the dust off the old file cabinet and see what’s in there… (sound of squeeky drawer)
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What’s a Rubric? Glad you asked! Jeffrey Phillips has some interesting insights into rubrics (no, it’s not paper money from Russia) gleaned from his twin teenage daughters. Don’t worry, Jeffrey, wasn’t it Nietzsche who said, “What does not destroy me makes me stronger”?

“Think about the work you are assigned. If you are unclear about the expectations, ask for a rubric. What would make the work complete? What research is necessary? How should the work and your conclusions or recommendations be reported? This approach will help you understand the expectations of your management team and will help you identify items you may think are unimportant or inconsequential.”

Ben Yoskovitz proposes 3 Business Rules to Live By, and this one’s a keeper! Simple, direct, and to the point. If you can abide by these, you’ll at least be in the game.

“Oftentimes, people know something but they haven’t truly learned it. That’s the case with my 3 business rules. Intrinsically I’ve known for some time these are rules I should follow, but it’s only this year that I really learned to follow them.”

What is it about Starbucks, anyway? Lewis Green tells a little about his experiences as Manager of Internal Communications at Starbucks, and there are a couple of good lessons here.

“Is it any wonder that Starbucks boasts one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and has grown from a multi-million dollar business less than a decade ago to a multi-billion dollar one today? Starbucks combines values, The Happiness Quotient and smart business sense to achieve the passion people demonstrate about its Brand.”

Are you an introvert? So am I! Congratulations, the vast marketing machine has pretty much missed us, at least up till now, anyway. (Run! Run for your life!) Nedra Weinreich actually received angry emails from many introverted readers on this one for giving away our secrets!

“A post I wrote on my blog last week about marketing to introverts seems to have made a connection with many people, landing on the front page of Reddit and netting thousands of new visitors to my site. What was amazing was watching the introverts come out of the woodwork to leave comments and marvel at the fact that someone finally understands them.”

Interviews, anyone? Matthew Stibbe provides a great guide on how to interview someone. I’ve never tried it myself, but if I did, I’d first memorize these tips.

“Interviews matter. Interviews are the foundation of good reporting. They are the best way of understanding a complicated situation and seeing it from someone else’s perspective.”

If you’re afraid to admit you have reservations about a particular course of action because it might make you look weak, well, here’s a great thought from Bruce MacEwan (via Jack Vinson) that just might save the day: Why not… go ahead and admit them out loud? (insert image of beverage spewing out of your nose here)

“And, surprise, admitting things might not be perfect enlists support. You’re not omniscient, and claims to the contrary alienate rather than attract. Decision; vision; reservations; speaking each individual’s language. Leadership.”

Correcting workers who report to you can be a thorny problem for any manager, but Jeffrey Phillips (yes, him again!) provides a great set of guidelines for when this challenge comes up.

“As a manager I am frequently in situations where I hear people say things or commit to things that I am not certain are correct or in our interest. Correcting the account or the expectations of others without undercutting a person who reports to you is probably one of the most delicate jobs a manager faces.”

Surely you’ve run across this somewhere! (Yeah, and don’t call you Shirley.) Seth Godin points to a PC World article about that bane to all PC users everywhere: canceling a web service account. In this case it was a NetZero dialup account. C’mon, admit it – I bet you thought I was going to say AOL! (Are you listening AOL?)

“It took me less than 5 minutes to sign up for a NetZero dial-up Internet account. But after canceling that account, I spent a week trying in vain to reverse a charge that the service levied after my cancellation request.”

Jim Kukral has a theory about why companies like Yahoo or Google will pay obscene amounts of money for some web thingie that hasn’t yet made a dime of profit (figuratively, at least). He says the answer is as obvious as why girls always went for the Fonz: You can’t just be cool, you either are or you aren’t.

“MyBlogLog didn’t get acquired because of the money, it got acquired because Yahoo! knows cool when it sees it, and realized that no matter how much less $$$ they could spend on developing something similar, it would be extremely hard to reinvent cool.”

Was it something I said? (Why yes, as a matter of fact, it is!) Ed Brenegar mentions a great article from Harvard Business Review about courage in the workplace from the standpoint of personal and organizational risk.

“Business courage is not so much a visionary leader’s inborn characteristic as a skill acquired through decision-making processes that improve with practice. In other words, most great business leaders teach themselves to make high-risk decisions. They learn to do this well over a period of time, often decades.”

Lightweight. Just for the heck of it, I’ll wrap up today’s edition of File Cabinet with this one from Russell Seitz’s blog Adamant, where he calculates the weight of the internet. Huh? Well, at least the weight of the electrons on the internet.

Let’s see, this should be a snap: 1.49 x 10 to the 400th power, carry the two, square root of 5.98… the answer is – I’m not going to tell you! Click on the link, ya lazy bum! Not sure what value this knowledge has, but what the heck, at least I can sleep better knowing it.

Shameless Self-Promotion

In case you’re new to the site, first just let me say Welcome, and thanks for dropping by! You may have noticed this is number 7 in a series of File Cabinet posts. (Umm, you did notice, didn’t you?) If you like what you see and would like to check out the previous issues (some great links in there, I promise), then follow the links below.

File Cabinet #1
File Cabinet #2
File Cabinet #3
File Cabinet #4-A
File Cabinet #4-B
File Cabinet #5
File Cabinet #6

Happy trails!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Made to Stick, a new book out by the brothers Heath (I think they dodged a bullet here: that’s Chip and Dan, not Chip and Dale), is available now, and from the little I’ve read about it so far, it just might be one I’ll have to buy.

I’ve mentioned before that I rarely spend perfectly good money on business books. Aside from the fact that I’m too cheap intelligently frugal, I find most business books outlive their usefulness so quickly they’re not worth keeping around. But this one seems, at least at first blush, to have longer-lasting value than your average idea du jour.

The six principles of sticky ideas are actually pretty much common-sense, if you think about it. Here they are (from a book excerpt available here at the authors’ web site).

• Simplicity
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotions
• Stories

But as I read it, the following statement seemed to jump out from the page and poke me right in the eye (and man does it hurt!):

“Those are the six principles of successful ideas. To summarize, here’s our checklist for creating a successful idea: a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story.” [emphasis mine]

OK, bearing in mind the Sherlock Holmes story I related in a recent post, does anyone out there notice something obvious here? (sound of crickets) Yes, you in the back – with your hand up.

You got it! How many beside the two of us are thinking six-word stories? I find it ironic (an old English word meaning made entirely of iron) that the summation of their book turns out to be a six-word sentence, and with the word stories in it, too! Ironic, huh? And now that I’ve gotten you guys thinking in six-word sentences, this should really click with you.

Principle One: Simplicity

Don’t panic, I won’t quote the whole thing, but here’s what I consider to be the nub of the gist:

“To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize. Saying something short is not the mission – sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound.” [emphasis mine]

Ironically (see above), over the last week you guys have already written some examples of what might be a good proverb – a short, memorable statement that might, just might, be considered “sticky”. For example, Chili dinner leads to separate beds (submitted by Hi Kooky) seems to perfectly express (and from experience, no doubt) that essential core knowledge, and in a vivid way that’s easy to imagine. These are the essentials of a simple, sticky idea.

In the future, I’ll have much more to say on this subject (gotta wait for the book to arrive). For now, though, here’s a question only YOU can answer. What essential business (or otherwise) knowledge do you know that can be presented in the form of a proverb?

How about sharing them here and let’s see if everyone else agrees!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

May I have the Envelope Please?

I know you are all out there waiting with bated breath (go ahead – I double-dog dare you to look it up), so I’m proud to announce: it’s time! (cue the fireworks) Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! Yessir, it’s time to announce the judges choices for The Best of the Let’s Be Brief contest!

First the obligatory thanks to the participants and their entries, all of which are listed here for posterior posterity. You guys did a stupendous job, and I thank you all for your tireless efforts in making this contest the overwhelming success it really was. Thanks a bazillion, and a wave of the blue flipper to you!!

Just so you know, each judge labored independently of the others to determine the ones that somehow stood out above the rest. Our judges, Shawn Callahan, John Koetsier, Andy Nulman and Yours Truly would like to express our thanks and admiration for the both the quantity (435 total, include mine and Mrs. MZM’s which were excluded from judging) and the quality (which ranged from weird to fantastic) of your stories. Amazing! Extraordinary! Mama Mia! Magnifique!

So without further ado (that noise you make when you sneeze with a stopped up nose), here’s our picks.

John Koetsier:

From indigoGlyph:
She shouted - lied - cried. He packed.

From Ben Yoskovitz:
“Marry me Susan.” “Yes.” “Really?” “No.”

From Denise Aday:
Found in empty nest: lost self.

And honorable mention, from Eric Turkewitz:
Need publicity. Start contest. Six Words?

Shawn Callahan:

The one I enjoyed the most, from Candice Broom
Dear kids: have a nice life!

It is a sad little story. It conjured up for me pictures of an elderly parent writing a note to the kids as one of the last things she ever does. Like many of other good six word stories, I could easily identify the protagonist and the story immediately generated strong emotions. Well done Candice.

Funniest, from Hi Kooky
Chili dinner leads to separate beds.

Creepiest, from indigoGlyph
“Nice skin”, he said, replacing it.

Cleverest, from halfnuts
Inability to complete thoughts continues to

Most Dramatic, from Moda de Magno
Yes, I really do hate you.

Most Suspenseful, from Dennis McMullin
Go ahead; nobody will ever know.

Robert Hruzek:

My Favorite, from Ben Yoskovitz:
“Marry me Susan.” “Yes.” “Really?” “No.”

This one caught me by surprise. Not only is the scene a common enough one in most people’s minds, but the last word turns an otherwise ordinary story into a truly unexpected one! Good one, Ben!

Most Tragic, from Chris Edgington:
She dove. He lunged. Lost forever.

Best Suspense, from nowcleomind:
Full moon, snapping branch, I whirled.

Most Upbeat, from mitchgroup:
Mom, dad together. Son daughter better.

And honorable mentions to:

Most Enigmatic, from Director Tom:
In between her smiles, despair danced.

Best Film Noir, from Daniel Scocco:
Smoking, thinking about his lost passions.

And this one, although not a story, would make the Best Bumper Sticker, from Hartley B. Singer:
Pets don’t mind if you fart.

There were also two who took up the “Whole New Energy Level” challenge and submitted these:

From Metapilot:
Earth heaved and mountains were born.
Water flowed and valleys peeked through.
Eneregy coalesced and naively became animate.
Variation thrives, it struggles, it expands.
Awareness, instinct develop into identity, values.
A collective mind boldly parses space.

And from Kate Anne:
Trust. Things work out. Soon, please.
Things happen. God’s time. Not mine.
Tears shed. Prayers whispered. Answer awaited.
Sleep now — all will be well.
Closed eyes. Dreams beckoned. Daylight awaits.
Blessings counted, and counted upon. Faith.

Andy Nulman

The first surprise is how many people responded to the challenge! Yikes…there went my Monday evening. The second surprise was the caliber of the stories. As Shakespeare said (in six words, no less), “Brevity is the soul of wit,” and indeed it is. It was also the soul of much drama (like “The final course was Roger sorbet”), action (”Martians attack. United Nations at last”, insight (”Liked fatty meats. Bought the farm”) and inspiration (”One testicle. Two children. Cancer lost.”). Seriously, sincerely, I was very impressed.

What I looked for, more than a mere “Gasp!”, was if the author could actually capture a thematic arc in six words, and paint a picture in my head. Many entries were great “headlines” per se (like “Jeb elected president. George W. pardoned”), effective at Surprise, but limited in their actual creation of what could be labeled a “story.”

That said, without any further adue, comes the winner, from indigoGlyph:

“Nice skin,” he said, removing it.

A Few Parting Thoughts

For the most part, we found there were many good beginnings or even good endings, but the goal was to write a story that was complete in and of itself, and that was much harder (as you no doubt discovered). Overall, though, you guys did a great job, exercising your creativity in some really surprising ways.

Our choices are entirely based on our own preferences, etc., so of course you may have your own thoughts about which ones were better or worse than others. Feel free to add your comments if you like. In fact, please do – I think everyone would benefit.

Oh, by the way, the title for this post was my favorite story from Mrs. MZM.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Here’s a little something from Roger von Oech:

The question is: “How do you see the obvious?”

Who hasn’t been caught with egg on their face because they missed something really obvious? (“Honey, where are my sunglasses?” “They’re on top of your head, Dear.”) Do yourself a favor and check this one out. Roger is asking for people to tell him what techniques they use to make sure they’re not “missing the obvious”, and there are already some good suggestions in the comments.

If you’ve got one, then by all means, run (don’t walk) to his site and share it!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

IT’S OVER!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Let’s Be Brief contest has officially come to a grinding halt (that grinding noise you hear). To all those who participated, let me just take a moment to express my appreciation to you for a stupendous effort! What a fantastic response! Good job, everyone, good job; it wouldn’t have been a success without YOU!

(If you want to see the contest entries, click here.)

Even as we speak (uh, so to speak) the judges are working feverishly to tally up the scores (we’re even using specially-made dart boards).

Please bear with us - we’re coordinating our efforts from three different locations around the world. Rest assured, as soon as I have the results I’ll post them here, so check back occasionally.

I also want to say thanks to all who sent in kind words about the contest. It’s been great fun, and I hope it was for you as well. You are of course all invited to drop by the Zone anytime - you never know - you might like what you see, and occasionally we might even talk about serious stuff once and a while (seriously)!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

I know you’re sitting on pins and needles (and that’s gotta hurt!) waiting for the Let’s Be Brief contest results to come in, so as a treat for all you wonderful folks who worked so hard (or was it hardly worked?) on your six-word stories, I’ll post one of the many exciting (!) regular features here at the Zone.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen – the time has come for another exciting edition of… OOB!

Small Appliances Dept.

Okay, Christmas is long over, but say you’re still searching for a gift for that special someone, and you’ve beaten your brains out trying to find that elusive “something different”. Well, search no more – I may have stumbled across the ultimate… blender. That’s right, a blender. Ah, but this is no ordinary blender! I found it listed in “20 gadgets we love” at, of all places, the Scientific American website. The description below is hilarious enough, but you just gotta see the video of this thing in action – definitely worth 1000 words!

Relax to Win Dept.

If you typically stay away from fast-action games (like… well, practically every game there is) because you don’t enjoy the pressure, then this may be your venue (or at least it would have if you could go back in time). Back on December 28 & 29, the Science Museum in London sponsored a sleepy quiet snooze fest relaxing game of Mindball, a game with an interesting new twist: it uses brainwaves to control the action, and you must be relaxed to play it well.

“Mindball is a game in which two players compete to push a ball over the other’s goal line. But there’s a catch–this is a game of mind over matter and the way to win is to relax. You can watch a video (WMV format 1.8MB) of a Mindball game in action here.” The only thing is… (and I’m sorry to be the one to have to think of this) I wonder if they’ll need a drug test for the winners…

Dept. of Transportation

A story about the biggest traffic headaches in the US in 2006 tells of one that occurred back in July when a truck traveling through the Bronx (New York City) overturned and a Tomahawk missile fell out. Oops! (Man, I hate it when that happens.) But not to worry; the story reports that “The weapon did not have a warhead and all ended safely…”

For those of you who don’t know (or perhaps are actually from the planet Mars), you need to understand that for better or worse, the Bronx enjoys a certain, uh, reputation as being a “tough” neighborhood. (It reminds me of the joke Johnny Carson told once about a bar that was so tough that they searched you for guns; if you didn’t have one, they gave you one!) So considering how most of the rest of the country thinks of the Bronx, I wonder – if it had gone off, would anyone have noticed?

Long Arm of the Law Dept.

If you’re a law student, this one’s for you! Now that the end-of-year exams are over, and you find yourself wondering how law school professors went about determining how to grade said exams, you can stop wondering now.

I give you the definitive A Guide to Grading Exams from Daniel J. Solove, Associate Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. What better authority could you want? I won’t give the technique away, but here’s a hint: think of a staircase, a stack of papers, the laws of physics, and… gravity.

“Elevate Me!” Dept.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s not a bird, nor a plane, nor some over muscled bonzo in a spandex suit. Nope, it’s… dinner! Yep, it’s Dinner in the Sky, the latest thing in that ever-advancing quest for the most memorable dinner location ever. How does dinner for 22, plus a chef, waiter, and an entertainer sound? (Let’s hope the entertainer is REALLY good, because the consequences of bombing THIS set could be, well, look out below!)

For a cool 7,900 euros you can have your dinner suspended from a crane at 40 to 50 meters (that’s more than 120 to 150 feet for us metrically-challenged Americans) above the common rabble. In fact, for additional charges you can have several suspended platforms: one for dining, one for the band, one for that new car being awarded for “best attendance” at work…

Saving Your Bacon Dept.

Okay, this one is almost a “gimmie”. When a British farm worker was attacked by a herd of pigs, it was the first time in anyone’s memory this had happened. But what the story doesn’t say is what might have prompted the angry pigs to become so ornery they would attack the very man who brings them their dinner every day. (After all, anyone who brings me dinner automatically goes on my Christmas card list.) But (and you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) I have a theory.

I think the last line in the story provides the clue: “The police spokesman said it was the first time he had heard of a pig attack in the area — but it was unlikely the herd would be put down.”

A wise move, no doubt, but it begs the question, doesn’t it? Just how long has this farmer been ‘putting down’ his pigs, anyway? Could they have finally gotten fed up with being called… pigs?

Home Decorating Dept.

And rounding off this edition of OOB is the latest thing for home remodeling enthusiasts – the aquarium toilet. Words can hardly describe this beauty. The manufacturer guarantees at least one thing – people will be talking about it when they leave. Well, I guess so, but I bet that’s not ALL they’re talking about (if you know what I mean). It raises “cleaning the toilet” to an entirely new level, don’t you think?

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Shameless Self-Promotion Dept.

And finally, for those of you who might be new to the Middle Zone, or unfamiliar with the concept of OOB (it stands for “Out Of the Box” and rhymes, appropriately enough, with “boob”), you might want to check out the earlier episodes (#1 will explain it all):

OOB #1
OOB #2
OOB #3
OOB #4
OOB #5
OOB #6
OOB #7

Then again, you might not (but remember, one day you will be assimilated).

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well, It ain’t over yet, folks… but it’s close!

Instead of a progress report today, I need to say a few words regarding Judgement Day. (I know we’re not supposed to be all judgemental and everything, but sometimes ya just gotta make the call.)

Anyway - once the floating contest notice is gone, folks, it’s over. BUT (and that’s a BIG but), if you are still in a creative mood, by all means keep ‘em coming. I’ll be happy to keep posting them as long as you want to keep writing ‘em. (At least until I, you know, die. Or something.)

However, once the contest is closed (when the contest notice disappears), I’ll ship the sealed list of contest entries via special courier (OK, email) to our all-star panel of judges, who will then deliberate over them until they either run screaming from the room, or successfully identify the winners (whichever comes first - so cross your fingers).

Anyway, what we’ve got here is what you might call the pregnant pause (Get it? A pregnant dog? With paws? A pregnant paws? Oh, forget it.), that period of time between the end of the contest and when the winners are announced. So please bear with us a bit (one of the judges, Shawn Callahan, lives in Australia and he has to sleep sometime, you know). So keep your eye on this space - hopefully it won’t take too long.

And speaking of winners, I think each and every one of you should consider yourselves winners! I mean it! You guys were stupendous! What a great response to a simple idea - I’m truly honored and humbled to have been your host for this little exercise.

I want to take this moment and again thank you all for your fantastic effort and participation; all I can say is:

‘way to go!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!