I am putting on a Spring Term Learning Festival day at a school in Newbury. The school is a secondary co-ed, state school with mixed background and ability students. They are progressive, having previously worked with Becta and Futurelab on digital learning research projects and each year they provide enterprise programs for students with neighbours Vodafone. They have also trialled various digital programs for education providers.

This is a great opportunity for businesses to have some young people design solutions to challenges that you may have in the youth sector. Do any of these examples resonate with you?

1. You want to develop a social media marketing plan targeting the youth market.
2. You want to find out what young people are prepared to pay for.
3. You want to define a new offering in the youth space.
4. You need to address youth safety in the digital space.
5. You have a long list of product requirements and want user input to help you prioritise them.

If you can answer yes to any of the above, or have a different challenge around the youth market please do contact me – either by leaving a comment on this post or by using the Contact Form provided on this blog.

By Stephen Rhodes

To build on yesterday’s post about the changing world of marketing , I want to say that most business people I talk with are afraid of Social Media because it seems complex and involved. And it may seem a little daunting to someone with minimum online skills.

There has been so much written about Social Media over the last 12 months and it’s easy to feel uneasy and out of touch. I can’t keep track of the daily how tos on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube and Flickr.

Think of it as an  elephant, and we all know how to eat an elephant.

Amber Naslund at Altitude Branding has an excellent primer called The Social Media Starter Kit. Download it and use it as a starter and a refresher. Follow Amber on Twitter and subscribe to her blog. She can teach you a lot.

In the beginning you want to listen and observe. Build your own community by following or subscribing to people who speak to you. When you feel comfortable, talk back, share and contribute. Find your own voice.

Let me know what you think of Amber’s starter kit? Or let Amber know.

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest, that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present” [Jan Glidwell].

Tomorrow is garbage day.  The big yellow trucks will begin their rounds in our neighborhood while the skies are still dark. Picking up trash cans from front curbs and driveways, returning empty containers, ready to be filled again during the coming week.

Whether returning from the recycling center with empty containers, or rolling our trash can in from the curb, there is something awesome about getting rid of things that have outlived their usefulness.

Did you hear that after 36 years of publication, J.C. Penney is discontinuing its “big book” catalog? The days of pouring over a telephone sized book for hours are coming to an end. Just another example of “out with the old” [Stylelist].

How do we accumulate all this trash?

I know for certain that none of my friends or neighbors have ever stopped by with a bag of garbage for me. Nor has anyone in my family ever dropped off a gift box filled with trash. No, I wouldn’t put up with anyone purposely polluting my space.  Would you?

Trash sneaks into our homes with beneficial items like groceries and arrives in our mailboxes encasing that must-have item for Fall.  It’s used to transport our  new shoes and hides behind the toys we just purchased.

For some of us, trash is difficult to recognize.  Don’t believe me?  The A&E Network has a series called Hoarders that puts a spotlight on a disorder in which individuals compulsively obtain and keep belongings. Yikes!

My point is this: too often we allow trash to come into our lives and hang around.  It marches in with a colleague’s bad mood, sneaks around with a relative’s persistent ”complaining,” or arrives with a well-meaning friend’s gossip session.

Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemy.  We’re so busy polluting our lives remembering past mistakes, indiscretions, and poor judgments, we can’t see any possibility of a bright future. We keep hoarding the junk, allowing it to overwhelm the promise of something better.

Here’s my advice: take a cue from J.C. Penney. It’s time to stop what isn’t working. Toss out what’s junking up your life and distracting you from your future.

Discard the clothes you haven’t worn in forever. Recycle the newspapers. Throw out your old past. Put down that stuff you’ve been carrying around.

It’s heavy and old and discouraging. It takes up valuable space, depletes your energy,  and hides your future.

Besides, it smells funny and makes you act weird.

Empty your arms of the past so you can embrace the future.  If you want to live a life of purpose,  ”look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror” [Byrd Baggett].

Whatever you are, be a good one!

Deanna

Is it possible to change the world just one book at a time?  I honestly believe so, which is why I launched a challenge to myself that started yesterday to sell 200,000 copies of my e-Book, LinkedIn Made Easy, in just 30 days – I’m on day 29 already, so the clock is ticking ….. fast!

Why would I set myself such challenge you might ask?  In fact I do too on occasions, but in short it’s because I want to PROVE SOCIAL NETWORKING DOES WORK FOR BUSINESS – do you think I’ve shouted loud enough there?

Oh, and the small matter of also wanting to raise £400,000 for charity as well as help to fund The Hysterectomy Association with the majority of the rest of the money.

So, here’s what I’d like you to do:

• BUY THE BOOK – it’s only £4.99 and if 200,000 people do then I will have reached my goal
• Tell all your friends, your colleagues and your family – especially those who might benefit from using LinkedIn more effectively for their professional lives.
• Send an email to at least 20 of your contacts encouraging them to a, buy the book and b, pass along the message to anyone they think may be interested in using LinkedIn for their business or professional profile.
• Tweet, chirp, twitter and chirrup about the book AND the Challenge to raise £400,000 for charity
• Pop it in your status updates on Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo and of course LinkedIn – or any other network you care to mention too.
• Write a blog post about me, the book, the challenge
• Pop an advert on your website or even write an article about it too
• Finally, let me know what you are doing, what you think about my challenge and the book – EVEN IF IT’S TO TELL ME YOU DON’T LIKE IT!

Thank You – in advance and I will keep you posted as to what happens in this most miraculous of times.

When I speak with start-up entrepreneurs and at business groups I am always amazed that so many intelligent business people hold onto the illusion that, “If I build it, they will come.”

Don’t get me wrong here… the occasional lead can be generated by an excellent tweet or someone’s random search on Google, but I think (deep down) most of us realise these are happy, but infrequent events.

And that’s why I don’t believe that online social networking is a new way of promoting your goods/services – it’s just the old way facilitated by new technology.

If you are unprepared to share your knowledge, help people out and put your own ideas “out there” then you’re just wasting your own time. Selling has always been about reassuring people that you are the best course for resolving some, or all, of their business challenges.

So here’s the Top 11 from my perspective:

1. Focus hard on “who” you want to network with and “why”.
2. Establish where these people gather and get in there.
3. Be prepared to talk on the phone and meet too.
4. But don’t be scared to work globally and virtually either.
5. Remember, a purchase order is not a piece of paper – it’s a transfer of trust.
6. Be ready with additional information when asked, e.g. PDF brochures, testimonials, case studies, etc.
7. Have a LinkedIn or Plaxo account (or both) and use them.
8. Honour your followers, friends and recipients, i.e. succinct, useful information.
9. Keep “fun” networking (i.e. friends) and “business” networking separate wherever possible.
10. Look for complementary contacts where you can help one another generate sales or improve mutual propositions.
11. Be consistent.

All sounds like basic common sense doesn’t it? But I continually shock myself at how bad I am at actually doing it.

In a week when both Facebook and iPhone have been infiltrated by yet another viral worm, one would think we would all be on a bit of a downer. In actuality, these bugs and hickups seem to draw us digital geeks closer together.

When the Internet entered out homes, it was a scary world, full of spam, hackers and new online threats. Today, it has become a world of collaboration, sharing and a vehicle for conversations to take place.

What always astounds me is others willingness to offer help and support in the digital world. Ask a question on Twitter and you will be overwhelmed with answers, ask for advice on LinkedIn and you will be inundated with support, ask what your friends are having for lunch on Facebook and you will find out about the best restaurants in your area.

The digital sphere is no longer associated with fear but with collabaration and honesty.

If you’ve been infected by one of the latest attacks, tell us about it. You’ll find a community at your fingertips ready to help you tweet your sorrows away.

Causeway Bay was Nike’s “hood” for one night, The swoosh brand threw a three-part event on November 11, 2009 to promote its big fall/winter fashion item- a retro hoodie inspired by 1977.

The trio started at the Causeway Bay shop, which was decorated with a mini carousel, arcade games and a large jelly bean dispenser giving out lettered and numbered buttons, which seemed strangely odd.

It was a tiny area with a strange assortment of objects that made no sense, so wasn’t long before off to part two, which was a small exhibition space on a second floor walk-up apartment around the corner.

Now the buttons made sense, as for the next two weeks people could come in to this apartment to get their own Nike hoodies custom made, by picking letters and numbers of their choice (duh!).

There were also optical illusions, sport clippings from 1977, famous Nike celeb sponsored portraits (Kobe likes 24, as only 24 hours in the day. Maria likes 87, the year of her birth) and piece de resistance Moet & Chandon…served in plastic cups…how uber chic!

Third and final stop was the after party at new Italian restaurant SML. Located in Times Square (nowhere near as big as the NYC version), drinks over-flowed as people lounged on the outdoor deck taking in the loud and eclectic mixes from performing DJ’s: Mademoiselle Yulia and Kid Cal.

J’ai souvent abordé le thème des folders, en rappelant tout aussi souvent que cet imprimé, aussi archaïque qu’il puisse être à l’heure du web, du e-couping, des forums …, reste une source d’information promotionnelle privilégiée des Belges.

Et malgré tout je commence à me demander s’il ne faut s’attendre à une révolution des stratégies média des retailers dans un avenir proche.

D’une part, il y a les considérations financières : le folder coûte cher à produire, à imprimer et enfin à distribuer (bonjours les taxes communales).

D’autre part, il y a les questions environnementales : les consommateurs ont beau les lire, leur durée de vie est limitée.  Chaque semaine nous jetons des forêts entières dans nos poubelles.

Ensuite, il y a l’inévitable question de la rentabilité.  Il y a un an un retailler DIY me demandait si j’étais en mesure de l’aider à calculer l’effet spécifique de chaque support média (radio, affichage … et bien entendu folder) sur le trafic building et les chiffres de ventes. Une question qui anime tout le monde à n’en pas douter.

Enfin, cet été je lisais que Colruyt avait pris une participation majoritaire dans une société spécialisée dans la gestion des mailings personnalisés (www.mitto.be).  Ou encore que Delhaize collabore depuis de longs mois avec la société qui a accompagné Tesco dans la mise en place de ce qui reste la référence en matière de programme de fidélité dans l’alimentaire.  Et enfin, que Makro a créé une fonction de CRM Manager occupée par Vincent Nolf.

Quoi de neuf, me direz-vous ? Rien sur le fond puisqu’en fin de compte nombreux sont les retailers qui ont déjà mis un pied dans l’engrenage. Je pense simplement que le rythme va s’accélérer. Les prestataires de services impliqués dans le processus de fabrication/distribution de folder devraient en être conscients.  Il y a danger. Pour les prestataires CRM, il va y avoir des opportunités J.

Vincent De Coster

http://www.linkedin.com/in/retailtrendwatching

http://www.facebook.com/vincent.decoster

Service helps businesses grow online and offline relationships

London, UK – 24 November 2009: WeCanDo.BIZ Limited, the online sales leads and business referrals network, has launched a Social CRM addition to its established website to assist small business owners to turn their social networking contacts into customers.  Called WeCanDoCRM, the service is free to all businesses at www.wecando.biz.

Social CRM is the merging of social networks with Customer Relationship Management to help businesses manage and build customer relationships using the information that customers freely share through their online profiles.  Social CRM also includes using social networking resources to help improve customer dialogue.

Focused towards small business owner/managers looking to use social media to help grow their businesses, the new features announced with WeCanDoCRM enable:

-          Consolidation of contacts from website enquiry forms, Microsoft Outlook, Google Mail, Yahoo Mail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ecademy and existing customer databases to one location, making contacts and customers easier to manage and communicate with

-          Improved data currency and accuracy through linking CRM records with public social networking profiles

-          Access to further rich data collected from public social networking profiles to supplement customer information already held

-          Advanced Customer Relationship Management features such as lead & sales management workflow, HTML email & mobile SMS (Short Message Service) campaign marketing, customer surveys and rich reporting as an upgrade option

-          Integration to online accounts systems, such as Kashflow, providing full sales workflow from leads through to invoicing.

These new Social CRM features are in addition to the many business networking features of WeCanDo.BIZ, including Biz Need business sales leads; and an endorsement system to share customer endorsements on your social networking profile, blog or website.  The WeCanDo.BIZ website has over 12,500 registered users.

“As I build contacts online WeCanDoCRM captures customer data straight into the system  – that’s fantastic, as I can be straight onto potential opportunities with fundamentally no delay or need for administration,” says Will Hawkins of Healthy Business Ltd., a WeCanDo.BIZ user and early adopter of WeCanDoCRM.  “I have access to information about my customers that many large businesses can only dream about!”

“A lot of business owners are scratching their heads, trying to work out what social networks can do for them, how they build their contacts and then how they convert them into customers,” says Ian Hendry, founder and Chief Executive of WeCanDo.BIZ.  “The fact is, there are opportunities being presented all the time through social network connections, but unless you record them they’re quickly lost amongst the noise.  WeCanDoCRM assists in building rich customer profiles of your online and offline contacts; then provides tools to help advance the relationship to the point where business gets done — quickly and easily.”

WeCanDoCRM Social CRM is powered by the InTouch CRM platform and is available immediately, free to all businesses from www.wecando.biz.  WeCanDo.BIZ Pro Networker membership is an optional upgrade enabling small businesses to use social media to grow even faster from £19.95 + VAT per month with no contract.

About WeCanDo.BIZ

WeCanDo.BIZ is an online new business network for sales leads and referrals. Using social networking methods to broker valuable new business relationships, it provides simple tools to members which help generate sales leads, leverage customer referrals and win new business.  The web-based service is available to all businesses at www.wecando.biz.

Media contact:
Ian Hendry
WeCanDo.BIZ
@wecandobiz
+44 (0)7767 657977

Images:

WeCanDoCRM email campaign reporting (click to enlarge)

WeCanDoCRM sales leads (click to enlarge)

Tweets showing in WeCanDoCRM (click to enlarge)

Import your Twitter contacts to WeCanDoCRM (click to enlarge)

Raising a KashFlow invoice from with WeCanDoCRM (click to enlarge)

Will Hawkins

Ian Hendry

Lyst og pligt handler om motivation – og er det lysten, pligten eller dem begge, der bevæger Primadonnaen en fremad – og repræsenterer ‘pligtfølelse’ en indre eller en ydre motivation? Der er lavet mange studier af dette felt og nogle forskere har fundet, at ydre motivation generelt virker hæmmende på skabervirksomhed. Andre forskere har omvendt fundet, at ydre motivation generelt virker fremmende.

De amerikanske professorer i psykologi Edward Deci og Richard Ryan foreslog i 2000, at ydre motivation ikke kun reguleres udefra. Det vil sige, at ydre motivation ikke blot er funderet i institutionens pres på den studerende. Deci og Ryan beskriver flere former for indre regulering af ydre motivation. Ifølge denne teori påfører vi frivilligt os selv et slags indefra kommende ydre motivationspres. Mod, frygt, pligt, ambition og målrettethed er bevidsthedstilstande, hvor vi kvalificerer eller direkte trodser vores lystbetonede, indre motivation.

Med andre ord, når vores drømme og lyst mister pusten tager den indre regulerings vidensbaserede, normative eller arketypiske værdisæt over og driver vores projekt videre gennem alle forhindringer. Det interessante er i denne forbindelse, at Deci og Ryan beskriver de kreativitetshæmmende sider af den indre-regulerede ydre motivation som vidensbaserede mens de kreativitetsfremmende sider beskrives som sanseligt baserede. Med dette perspektiv kan vi nu se såvel den klassiske indre-ydre motivationskonflikt som dét, der motiverer Primadonnaen i et nyt lys. Og vi kan overveje, om hun netop er i stand til at opspore, italesætte og vitalisere denne sanseligt indre-regulerede ydre motivation som en primær kreativ kraft.

On October 22, 2009, Play in Lan Kwai Fong hosted the 2nd anniversary party of Kanchan Couture, the fashion line designed by Kanchan Panjabi (pink hat mistress for the night). The new collection was also debuted in a runway show down the centre of the packed venue and outside into the streets of Lan Kwai Fong!

My girlfriend Callie was one of the models for the night and did a great job despite her being too tiny for the obviously-too-large-for-her-frame clothes.

Male models decked out as modern day Donald Draper’s showcased Ermenegildo Zegna’s amazingly tailored suits at the Tsim Sha Tsui shop opening on October 15, 2009.

Local Canto celebrities and Mrs. Zegna herself joined in for the glitzy affair.

In Paris, wheat ended 1,25 €/T higher. There was no fresh fundamental news. Wheat futures found strength from financial markets (CAC40 +2,25%). At the closure of the Matif, US grain markets were driven by a weaker USD, higher oil prices and financial optimism. During the late session ,CBOT lost strength due to a drop in oil prices. The crop progress report (USDA) seems to fulfil analysts’ expectations: the US corn harvest is at 68% (54% last week) and soybean harvest is at 94% (89% last week).

Greedforwheat

There has been a flurry of discussion around social media and its implication in the last few  months , So I thought it would be good to have some of these arguments laid out in one single post. Social Media has entered every business and industry even, inside the US Intelligence Community, who sorted out their knowledge-sharing problem and a problem with locating expertise—throughout the  bureaucracy of 16 federal agencies—using  simple tools like an intelligence community–wide Wiki and blogging environments among other things

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Social Media and Sales

“My sales people are wasting valuable time on Facebook and Linkedin when they should be selling”: that usual rhetoric many sales managers would say now a days.   Does Social Networking help sales people sell I liked that statement especially since it came from Microsoft executive.  As I have also faced the ire of top management for using social media in my career, . So this report is an eye opener for opponents of social media for sales. Read the Full Article.

LinkedIn insiders know that you can use the site’s information for more than job, sales, and partnering leads – you can find out what others are up to as well. There are downside to using Linkedin last fall an Apple employee revealed that he was managing a team developing a new chip for the iPhone while the information was still secret. . So be careful LinkedIn or any other social tools can bite you back if not used properly.

I would partly agree to the argument that social media and internet created a lot of distractions, but I dont think this is something new, we had distractions in our daily life and in office environments even before theadvent of internet. the only difference now it is easier not to do your job and indulge in something else while you are supposed to be at work when in office.

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Social Media and Influence on Decision Making

Second on my reading list was the study conducted by Don Bulmer (Vice President Global Communications- SAP ) with Society for New Communications Research. Take a look at this in his blogpost  at Social Media’s Impact on Business and Decision Making Everyday Influence blog .  Result of the study concludes that Top execs  are influenced by social networks . The copy of the report is on SNRC website

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Social Media Investments

Third on the reading list was a New Study from Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research Indicates Despite the Recession, 94 Percent of Enterprises Continue to Invest in Online Communities & Social Media  Full Article

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Then there was  presentation by Steven Tylock, on Social networking meets sales , the presentation is on  Microsoft website

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Compliance and Social Media

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association conducted a survey among compliance and ethics professionals in late August 2009 to see what employers are doing about the use of these sites by their employees.

They got back almost 800 responses from their members using an online survey tool.

• 50% of respondents reported that their company does not have a policy for employee online activity outside of the workplace
• Of those companies that do have a policy, 34% include it in a general policy on online usage
• Of those companies that do have a policy, just 10% specifically address the use of social network sites

It would be interesting to see How companies are going to include a clause on their information protection and compliance rules to define what information an employee can add to his linkedin profile during or after his tenure with the organization, especially information related to projects.

For example When an IA rep uses Twitter to send a link to an article from an online magazine, newspaper, or other site to clients and prospects “following” him, that communication is subject to SEC advertising rules. However, Bernstein says that merely sending a link is not advertising—as long as you don’t give your opinion.

A “recommendation” on your Linkedin profile by a client does indeed constitute a testimonial and, thus, violates SEC rules prohibiting RIAs from using client testimonials in advertising.

The SEC will be busy in coming months addressing the many issues posed by advisor use of social media. FDA has already release its framework on use of social media in Drug Marketing.

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Drugs, Heallthcare, FDA and Social Media

The FDA is currently considering how to handle social media, such as SideWiki, Facebook, etc. Companies such as Google, Sermo, and Twitter are playing an increasing role in marketing products to consumers and healthcare professionals, whether our customers like it or not. Technology and Life Sciences companies are pushing the FDA to come up with standards and templates. The following article has some great links to presentations from PhRMA, Google, and even from Pfizer’s Chief Medical Officer.  

Read about Googles pitch to FDA for online Drug Advertisements from the wall street journal

An archived webcast and other details of the FDA  Public Hearing on Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools is available at the FDA website

Here what emerged from this hearing

FDA explained in the Federal Register notice that “entities should review any Internet sites sponsored by them for Drug Adverse Event Information, but are not responsible for reviewing any Internet sites that they do not sponsor; however, if they become aware of an Adverse Drug Event on an Internet site that they do not sponsor, they should review the adverse experience and determine if it should be reported to FDA.”

Numerous speakers stated that drug manufacturers are hesitant to fully engage in online social media specifically because they want to avoid learning about potential AEs and the resulting reporting obligations, particularly because the guidance in this area is unclear

Pending further guidance, companies should prepare for further FDA scrutiny of this area by developing compliance
policies to address the challenges of involvement in Internet and social media tools, including but not limited to:
„„policies relating to employee involvement in social media, and in particular statements regarding company products;

„„company involvement in physician and patient-focused social media, including both company-sponsored sites and third-party sites run by third-party organizations (and particularly those receiving manufacturer support through grants or other funding);

„„addressing the challenge of Sidewiki and similar functions that make third-party generated information directly available in conjunction with company websites;

„„updating promotional review policies to ensure consistency with developing FDA approaches to risk communication on the Internet, including sponsored links;

„„policies regarding statements that company-affiliated parties (e.g., investigators, patients) may make on the Internet, which may constitute endorsements or testimonials requiring both review and specific disclosures; and

„„ensuring a consistent and compliant approach to pharmacovigilance with respect to Internet-reported adverse events of Drugs.

I know one company that provides  Content Monitoring, Control & Recording across Web 2.0; User Behavior Reporting over Multiple Modalities, Regulatory Compliance for management and security of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking, blogs, wikis, webmail and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube instant messaging, and Unified Communications. But at a cost of $9,200, it would be out of reach for individual and SMEs.  Still have a look at the recent press release by factime on its FaceTime’s Unified Security Gateway

Classy, sophisticated Fall/Winter 2009 Longchamp Launch at members only club Kee on September 9, 2009. Superb styling that blended military with femme-fatale, showcasing the new must have IT bag “Gatsby” is all its forms.

Everything is close when I cook, especially my olive oil

A day without olive oil in my home is like a day without sunshine. Two bottles – one extra virgin and one light – sit on a broken old piece of marble, along with a collection of specialty vinegars within an arms reach of my stove. They bookend an antique crystal cruet given to me by my mother’s college friend Ann.

 After years of wishing I had a gourmet kitchen the size of my first apartment, I’ve come to realize that it’s not the size of my kitchen that matters. Rather it is the life that blossoms in my kitchen that hopefully will live on long after I’m gone.

 I like my kitchen to look like it could pose for a model home on short notice. Everything must be cleaned and organized. There has to be a place for everything and I like when everything is in its place. I will not, however, completely clear off the countertops or take kid art off the side of the refrigerator.  A family lives here.

 Within two footsteps of my stove, I can reach a handful of small Cuisinart appliances that I can’t live without, my chef’s knife and sharpener, the sink, refrigerator, a small pantry and an entire 42-inch cabinet of herbs and spices (The backyard container garden was fruitful this year.) On the top edge of my stove are two hand carved salt and pepper shakers and a funny toothpick holder that looks like a woman with her mouth wide open. My brother John bought sets for all five sisters about 17 years ago when he was stationed in Germany with the Army. Affectionately, he always claimed that the toothpick lady was his twin sister Alessandra. (She’s still mad about that.) 

 Standing in front of my stove, I can see all of the things I use to cook meals that my family will remember. It’s my favorite spot in our home. I just love when the coffee is freshly brewed and my cookbooks lay on the counter waiting for their next assignment. The kitchen is where a family comes together. Where stories are told, moments are shared, and meals are blessed.

 Olive oil has been gracing our family dinner table for generations. It’s a part of our family history, because it’s always there when the family comes together to share a meal. It’s how we live.

 My entire life I’ve known that I was related to the Bertolli Olive Oil family through marriage. For the life of me, I could not retain the story no matter how many times I asked my mother. Thankfully, at 88 my mother Nina Camuti Danielsen, has amazing recall.

 My great grandmother Louisa Biggi Landi was the oldest of eight children from Cararra, Italy. She and her husband Fidaro Landi, a well-known Italian sculptor, arrived in the United States when he was commissioned to create a bust of President McKinley. (Just to complete the family lineage, their daughter – my maternal grandmother – Alexandra Landi married Louis J. Camuti in 1920)

 Louisa’s younger brother Antonio married Helena Bertolli, the granddaughter of founder Francesco Bertolli.  Mr. Bertolli opened a small storefront business at his first olive farm in Lucca, Italy in 1865. He sold regional foods such as olive oil, cheese, and wine there.  As new immigrants settled across the United States they wrote to Mr. Bertolli for crates of his olive oil.  By the 1890’s the business grew to farms in several locations in Tuscany and distribution centers in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

 When Antonio and Helena Biggi were married they presented their wedding guests with a silver compact filled with Jordon almonds.  My mother still has one.  They went on to have four children – three boys and a girl. The oldest Sandro was the cousin my mother always spoke of. He came to visit my grandparents here a few times and even studied in New York. Mom has wonderful memories of him.  My mother still has the favor from the wedding of Sandro’s sister, a small silver candy tray.  

 I do and don’t buy Bertolli Olive Oil because there is a random distant family connection.  I would love to meet today’s distant relatives or visit the original Villa Bertolli that still stands at piazza S. Donato.  For a moment in time, I would love to touch that history and be in the same place that my great grandparents and their friends once stood.  I would love to sit and listen in Nonna’s kitchen, seek advice and, then, push my happy belly home from all the sampling. I would love the opportunity to shoot photographs at the Villa as the late summer sun rises over the olive branches, just before the harvest. For a moment, I’d quietly imagine Mr. Bertolli advising me on the proper etiquette for using olive oil. That is a day dream that I’d take back to the kitchen.

 For decades that wove through generations, the family olive oil was both a gift and an obligation to support an extended family business. Remember, back 100 years ago distribution wasn’t what it is today.  Back then, when new shipments arrived in the United States it really was a holiday.

 No olive oil would remain in our homes, however, serving generation after generation, if it wasn’t a good quality product. There were times when I strayed to a different product, but I always came home.  I came home to cook for my family. That connection is what I will pass on.

If you’re gonna spend money on training your people, do it right or don’t do it at all.

Assume that a new project is about to start up and the corpo hierarchs decide to use it as a springboard to institutionalizing SysML into its dysfunctional system engineering process. The system engineering team is then sent to a 3 day SysML training course where they get sprayed by a fire hose of detailed SysML concepts, terminology, syntax, and semantics.

Armed with their new training, the system engineering team comes back, generates a bunch of crappy, incomplete, ambiguous, and unhelpful SysML artifacts, and then dumps them on the software, hardware, and test teams. The receiving teams, under the schedule gun and not having been trained to read SysML, ignore the artifacts (while pretending otherwise) and build an unmaintainable monstrosity that just barely works – at twice the cost they would would have spent if no SysML was used. The hierarchs, after comparing product development costs before and after SysML training, declare SysML as a failure and business returns to the same old, same old. Bummer.