John Winsor

Harry and Boeing: Chapter 3

After a couple of wild weeks I wanted to say thanks to all of the amazing people that have rallied around Harry to help tell his story and to those who connected to inspire his creativity.

A big thanks to Cameron Carnegie, an amazing engineer at Boeing, who, on his one time, wrote a wonderful inspirational letter to Harry. Likewise, Todd Blecher and his team at Boeing sent him a hat, notebook and poster. And, Elliot Pesut and the other great folks from Alaska Airlines who sent Harry a model plane. He’s now even a bigger fan of Alaska Airlines and Boeing.

In the end, Todd Blecher and Boeing deserve a lot of credit for jumping into the social media fray, and not being afraid to try. Rupal Parekh, wrote a good and instructive article in Advertising Age this morning about what companies can do as they venture into social media.

We’re also working on a trip to Seattle to visit Boeing, the Future of Flight and the Museum of Flight. I’ll post some things from our trip.

Flying Down Flagstaff

Flying on Flagstaff from john winsor on Vimeo.

I had a little fun the other day when I stuck my iPhone underneath my cycling leg warmer and shot this video while descending Flagstaff. I'm blown away that you can take a phone, stick it on your leg, and do something like this. The technology has made all of us media producers. Long live democratization.

The Unbearable Lightness of Software

A couple of days ago I noticed that the bike computers, on 2 different bikes, needed their batteries replaced. Bike computers are awesome but have always been pretty finicky for me.

Just when I was on my way out to drop $20 on batteries for the computers a friend mentioned an iPhone app called, B.iCycle that essentially does everything a cycling computer does but with a few advantages. I've had a chance to use it for my last couple of rides and it works well. First, it records my rides on any of the bikes I'm on. When I ride road, mountain or cyclo-cross it keeps all my stats in one place. Secondly, the app was $9.99. Compare that to a decent cycling computer which costs $40.00. Beyond the actually dollar cost there is the energy and environmental costs of manufacturing and shipping. Software, like B.iCycle, has a wonderful lightness when it comes to the environmental, energy use and dollars spent.

It's almost impossible for a physical product to compete. Talk about a paradigm shift.

Day 8 of Super Flag: The Ego Smackdown

Yesterday was day 8 of the annual Super Flag adventure with Paul Fuller. The weather for the last couple of days has been a bit harsh. So, we were both feeling pretty proud of ourselves with only two days to go to complete the 10 days. That is, until we came upon Jim Raybin riding up with a buddy of his. Jim, 74, has been a friend of mine and mentor for a long time now. He's been riding Flagstaff for forty years.

As Paul and I passed Jim and his friend, I yelled over to Jim: "How many times have you ridden Super Flag, Jim?" I knew the number was big but when Jim said, "Probably 5000 times now," it made me smile.

So much for feeling special for the eighth day in a row. That's what I love about Boulder. Every time you think you're doing something unusual there's someone who's been doing the same thing for the last 40 years.

Pretty amazing.

The Art of Suffering

Check out Winston's great post.

Experience Versus Memory

Daniel  Kahneman was one of my favorite talks at this years TED. I love his thoughts on happiness.

A Simple Thank You

A couple of weeks ago I gave Jessica Stouder, a student at Boulder Digital Works, a copy of Baked In.

Yesterday, received a real, live Thank You note from Jessica. I was so excited. It's amazing how we've gone from being overwhelmed with mail in the US Postal Service mailbox to being overwhelmed in our digital communications.

In Media Vita

Ten years ago, when I was starting Radar Communications, a young, very smart Juan Alberto De La Roca, gave me this quote from Nietzsche. It's from the The Birth of Tragedy. Tonight, I found it in an box of old stuff. It's funny how words make more sense with time. In Media Vita (In Midlife) makes a lot more sense now, at 50, then it did when I was 40.

In media vita – No, life has not disappointed me. On the contrary, I find it truer, more desirable and mysterious every year – ever since the day when the great liberator came to me: the idea that life could be an experiment of the seeker for knowledge – and not a duty, not a calamity, not trickery. And knowledge itself: let it be something else for others; for example, a bed to rest on, or the way to such a bed, or a diversion, of a form of leisure – for me it is a world of dangers and victories in which heroic feelings, too, find places to dance and play. “Life as a means to Knowledge” – with this principle in one’s heart one can live not only boldly but even gaily, and laugh gaily, too. And who knows how to laugh anyway and live well if he does not first know a good deal about war and victory.”

Let’s Talk About the Other F Word

In our society FAIL is a four-letter word.

Yet, when I gave my CU Commencement Speech, Dare to Fail, I was blown away by the conversation it started. So many people reached out with stories of their own failures and the powerful things they learned. Failure is in the air.

I want to pour some gas on the fire. I’ve been approached by a couple of publishers to write a book about Daring to Fail and what you can learn from it.

Have you failed? I certainly have. Over and over again.

What better way to start the journey than to use the wisdom of the crowd. People’s stories are so powerful. To start the conversation, leave a comment here, write a blog post, tweet it or make a video and send me the link, answering these questions.

1. Tell a story about a failure.
2.  What did you learn?
3.  How did it help you?
4. How has it helped you to help others?

Let’s make this a big, cultural conversation. One that a book can emerge from that can inspire all of us to stop being afraid of failure and to share it and learn from it.

Thanks for participating.

 

What We're Learning at V&S #3: From Scarcity to Abundance

In the world of scarcity, product design and marketing used to be easy. You could build a product then use traditional mass media to launch it. Design and advertising agencies helped brands connect with their consumers in this world of scarcity by offering access to the scarce resource of creativity, and strategic thinking. In this age, product design and marketing were siloed.

But, product design and marketing that’s built in the world of scarcity is being challenged by four disruptive forces: the expectation of transparency, the digitally connected workforce, the rise of the curator class and larger economic pressures.

These forces have changed the world of product design and marketing forever. Like it or not, people, from professional creatives to consumers, want to be more involved in a holistic way with brands. Yet, the tools built in the age of scarcity don’t work well in the new age of abundance.

These disruptive changes can be seen as a threat to what you do or, a powerful force to distance yourself from your competitors.

There is a new model of product design and marketing emerging. It no longer tries to control a brand but recognizes that it exists in the collective consciousness of culture. In this new model guidance and inspiration go much further than command and control.

How have you experienced the paradigm shift from scarcity to abundance?