Picture My World

Guy points out this video of Steve Jobs speaking to the Cupertino City Council. Guy comments that this is a great informal presentation, but it seemed very awkward to me (especially the conversation at the end). However, in spite of that or maybe because of it, I do think it was a brilliant example of how to influence people.

If you’ve read Cialdini’s book titled Influence: Science and Practice, you’ll be able to pick out what he did. Jobs didn’t ask for anything, but the council gave him a lot.

Cialdini outlines several influence strategies but I’ll just mention two. “Reciprocity” is the you-rub-my-back-I’ll-rub-yours give and take principle that we often react automatically to. When someone gives us something, we feel compelled to return the favor. “Consistency” is the drive for us to stay self-consistent. For example, if someone can get you to state that you’re charitable, you’ll most likely give more charity in the future. The book goes into much more detail, of course.

I think Jobs does a great job exploiting these two influence principles and it really wouldn’t have mattered how poorly he spoke. First, he doesn’t ask for anything — he just wanted the council to hear the good news. I think the council was actually taken aback a bit. Here’s a busy, important, famous CEO just popping by to give them an update. Wow! The council members seemed surprised and went out of their way to tell Jobs how happy they were that Apple was staying in Cupertino. At the very end, the Vice Mayor told him that an Apple employee should visit with one of their planning committees. There’s reciprocity at work.

The more subtle win, I think, was the fact many of the councilors said how happy they were that Apple was staying in Cupertino (and they all applauded at the end). These comments were driven by the reciprocity principle, too, but they feed into the consistency principle. Now that it’s on public record that they value Apple, their future decisions will be based on that. They will be driven to stay consistent with that outlook. For example, they may vote to give Apple tax breaks because of these simple statements.

Brilliant.

Good news today as the follow-up testing showed the cancer did not spread.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

VPD tightlipped about details of a fatal shooting today

This happened two blocks from our house.

I think I’ve just lost my right to complain about my job for at least six months.

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the rest of your life, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. – The Outer Limits opening narrative with a slight twist

We have such a strong conviction that we are in control.  Of everything.  Our bodies, our careers, our family, our car, our friends, our attitude, our garden, and even our planet.  However, the illusion fades a little bit each time we hear about a tragic crash, the successful business man that falls into poverty, the killing of innocents, or a potentially terminal disease.

Earlier this year a good friend was diagnosed with MS.  Yesterday I learned that a small lump removed from my mom’s breast was malignant and she may have to undergo more treatment to fight the cancer.

I find it particularly troubling that one’s own body can turn on itself and erase the illusion of control entirely.  It makes me want to jump up and down screaming, “Not fair!”

When your day starts at 5 am with a loud beeping sound coming from inside your home, you know it’s going to be a bad day…

(more…)

I’m on my way home from a quick trip to Edmonton where we visited a couple of printers.  I always take along a digital camera on these trips, but there was a mixup yesterday and the camera wasn’t available.  Luckily, we had some visitors from Kodak corporate who had an Easyshare One we could borrow on short notice.

Unfortunately, we didn’t take a charger (I forgot to ask in the panic to get to the airport) and I just hoped it would be alright given it was just for a day.  Of course, it wasn’t and the camera’s battery died after the morning visit.  We had a couple hours to kill, though, so we decided to go to West Edmonton Mall, get lunch, and try to find someplace who would charge the battery.

So, we go to London Drugs’ camera department and first ask if they have a battery we could purchase.  It turns out new batteries don’t come charged, though.  So, we explain our situation and ask if they can charge the battery for us.  The nice woman says sure and asks for my contact info, so I give her my card.  My Kodak card.

She says, “You work for Kodak and you don’t have a charger?!”

I laughed and replied, “Don’t ask!” and quickly walked out as fast as possible as a crowd of people looked on.

Guy Kawasaki (great blog, BTW) points out this interesting (and longish) Salon article titled The Name Game. It’s all about companies that provide naming services for other companies. My favourite quote:

“I’m not suggesting that a company couldn’t get it right with a stroke of insight or genius or luck. But if it’s your own brand, how can you possibly be objective? I mean, would you name your own baby?” Redhill thinks for a minute, then backpedals. “I mean, of course you would name your own baby. But wouldn’t you ask your friends and family for suggestions and recommendations?

We did name our own baby and I think we did a damn fine job of it.

This hilarious link is courtesy of Instapundit.

I finally had some time to kick back and relax, so I thought I’d catch the Vancouver Canucks playing the Montreal Canadiens. I tuned in during the first intermission to find the score was 6-1 for Vancouver.  This is the first hockey game I’ve had time to watch in a long time, and the thing was over before I got to it.  Thanks, Canucks, for the real nail-biter.

Kodak Vancouver is hiring a Usability Engineer (update: the link now points to the job posting).  That means my team is finally growing — doubling in size, even!

Hiring is tricky business and, because this is an important position, we want to make the right choice the first time.  At the same time, I know that a candidate’s life is not easy, either.

So, what are your best and worst interview experiences (either has the hiring manager or as the candidate)?

I hate it when taxi drivers ask you which route you prefer. “Do you want to take Main Street or Oak Street?” I want to reply, “Ummm… you know the city inside and out, you’re driving around all day, and you have a fancy computer on your dashboard. Shouldn’t you know which route to take?” Instead, I think about the time of day, possible traffic and construction and pick one. Then I feel like an idiot for doing what should be his job.

In the end, it feels like a big scam and a lousy customer experience. The driver must be taking a 50% chance of me picking the wrong route and getting a bigger fare. If he were smart, he’d just take the slower route without asking and I’d be happier. Ignorance is bliss.

My friend Morey has started blogging, so I thought I’d give him some link love.  Go check out his very cool header graphic and see what he has to say at http://moreyaltman.blogspot.com/.

Another one of life’s little mysteries: One day, you can carry a cup of coffee as if it were sailing along without causing even a ripple. The next day, you fight the cup in order to keep it steady and not drip coffee on your shoes.

In other news, things are exciting again but I can’t blog about it. If you’ve spoken with me personally, you know what’s going on. Needless to say, it’s resulted in extra work and less blogging time. However, I’m finally taking some time to go out photo shooting on Monday, so I’ll hopefully have a pretty picture to post soon.

According to [this article](http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/12/07/googleusers/index.php?lsrc=mwrss), Google users are richer and more net savvy. Make [Google](http://google.com) your home page today!

Go and watch the [Barnyard trailer](http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/barnyard/barnyardlg.htm) and help me out. Aren’t cows female? Why do all those cows talk like men? Am I too much of a literalist?

You print something out on the office printer. You think, “I’ll grab a cup of coffee and grab the printout on the way back to my office.” Then, you find yourself writing blog entry about how you always forget to pick up the printout.

I got a flier in the mail today and couldn’t resist a quick comment. If you have the patience to load a large Flash page, check out [Waterstone Pier](http://waterstonepier.com/), a new condo development in Richmond right on the waterfront. That surf sound you hear will be coming directly from your living room after a few more years of global warming!

Has anyone successfully sold a used book on Amazon? I’ve had 3 books for sale for about 3 weeks and nothing, so far. They are all technical books with hefty price tags, so you’d think people would be tempted to buy used.

Someone took our jogging stroller off our porch last night. I am not happy.