Japi's Blog

Guy Kawasaki at The Houston Technology Center

Guy Kawasaki came to Houston yesterday evening to give a talk at The Houston Technology Center.  I had seen him give a talk called a couple of years ago at the NTC 2006 in Seattle and it was fantastic!  So I was very excited about the event.

I was not dissappointed... Guy was phenomenal, gracious, hilarious, brilliant and just freakin' AWESOME!  His presentation was called "The Art of the Start".  Guy was amazingly gracious in staying wayyy longer than anyone expected. He took every question and even went partying (from what I understand) with some local Kawastalkers (no need to name names). <grin> 

Guy also showed us alltop.com which is a site that covers a variety of interesting topics... he specifically showed us:

• http://career.alltop.com/
• http://moms.alltop.com/
• http://egos.alltop.com/
• http://twitter.alltop.com/
• http://humor.alltop.com/
• http://adoption.alltop.com/

We've posted some pictures of the event on the HTC Web site.

I was also really excited to run into some old friends and met new ones... here's a short list of some of the folks I encountered last night (sorry if I missed anyone):

1. Erica O'Grady
2. Christine Selleck
3. Imelda Bettinger
4. Laura Mayes
5. Tracey Lee Wallace
6. Monica Danna
7. Holly Gunn
8. Kelsey Ruger
9. Richard Yoo
10. Dwight Silverman of The Houston Chronicle
11. Marc Nathan of The Houston Technology Center
12. AND I GOT TO MEET.... are you ready?... Jenny Lawson... The Bloggess!

Since several other folks have blogged about this event, I wanted to do something slightly different.... I decided to copy and paste a bunch of the tweets that were posted on Twitter during the event.  Some of them are obviously funny, others you have no idea what they mean... but here's the list, enjoy:

1. she's in beta with our second child
2. Laura Mayes of skirt has been called out several times... Freakin' awesome
3. Most people think rich and smart parses to smart. No. Most of the time it parses to 'lucky'
4. There is no reason for the survival of Apple but that there is a benevolent God
5. 2 kinds of bozos. rich and famous are the most dangerous bozos. rich/famous usually parses to lucky
6. Don't let the bozos grind you down
7. Find the influencers. the higher you go in most orgs, the thinner the air. harder to support intelligent life. CX0 are dumbest people who sucked up the longest. smartest are the influencers. not ultimate decision makers
8. i believe in god because there is no other explanation for the survival of Apple than a benevolent god
9. seed the clouds ... how you make the rain. "let a hundred flowers blossom". plant fields of flowers
10. Sales fix everything
11. Embrace your evangelists
12. embrace your evangelists... people who get it and want to help you because they believe you/they are making world a better place
13. don't ask someone to do something you would not do
14. lower the barriers to adoption. flatten the learning curve - "plug it in and it works
15. Hire people who are better than you
16. hire better than yourself ... that's very hard to do, but everyone knows they should do it
17. apple hired me because they were willing to ignore the irrelevant
18. hire infected people - infected with a love of what you
19. 10/20/30 rule of powerpoint - 10 slides is optimal number of slides in powerpoint presentation
20. holy grail of marketing - provide something only you can do that provides high value
21. All you white people look alike

So there's the list.... and if you ever have the opportunity to watch Guy Kawasaki... do anything and everything (even slashing someone's tires) to be there.... he's worth every second!

Glenn Beck - America's Addiction

I had a the pleasure of meeting Glenn Beck about 3 years ago on a visit to Philadelphia when he was doing his live, nationally syndicated radio show.  The opportunity came about because his radio show was looking to use our Tendenci software.  Glenn was very gracious and sat down to talk for about 10 minutes during a break on his radio show.

I came across an article he wrote called "America needs a 12-step program" which describes how the government used to be afraid of the people... and now it's the other way around.  He suggests a six-step program to get the country back in the hands of the people:

1. Admit we are not powerless.
2. Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.
3. Decide to take our power back.
4. Make a complete and fearless moral inventory.
5. Admit our wrongs, and our rights.
6. Be ready to remove our defects.

The article is dead-on target! We DO need to take back our government.

Body of War - A Powerful Documentary

Ellen Spiro (a friend of my brother Joaquin) and Phil Donahue have produced and directed a powerful documentary called Body of War. 

It is the story of a young man, Tomas Young, who joins the military to fight the evil doers and is wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Here's a synopsis from the film's Web site:

"Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it's like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man."

Watch the preview below:

Last Speech by Dr. Markin Luther King Jr

40 years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, TN.  He was a great American who has left a legacy of peaceful resistance against inequality and injustice which is still alive.

His final speech (see excerpt below) sounds prophetic as he mentions that he is not worried because he has been to the mountaintop.  He continues to state that he would prefer to live a long life, but that he's not concerned about that. 

It was a very sad day for the world to lose such an amazing and valiant human being.

Don't Push The River, It Flows By Itself

Ruby Sinreich was the facilitator for a session called "Don't Push the River, It Flows by Itself".  With an interesting name... the idea behind it is to allow social networks to flow and naturally evolve.

Use and organize networks by the power of the individual which can grow to a large wave of support for a particular cause or goal.

What makes a network effective:

1. Strong social ties -personal relationships, trust, awareness.
2. Common story - shared values, collective narrative, language and words that resonate (tagcouds).
3. Dense communication grid - online and offline: blogs, e-mail, IM, phone & SMS, face-to-face, twitter.
4. Sharing culture - Opensourcy: data, information, skills & expertise, money, space (meeting rooms).
5. Network awareness - feeling like a member, knowing what the network is for.

Some of the takeaways include:

1. A better understanding of the different social networking sites and how to use them
2. How social networking can impact the nonprofit world
3. Strategies on how to use this medium for outreach and advocacy

Ruby is a wonderful and confident speaker - she is very active in the social media universe which is obvious in the delivery of this content.

Changing Your CEO from Barrier to Partner

Marnie Webb, David Geilhufe, Michelle Murrain and Steve Heye were part of a great breakout session.  It was fantastic in that Marnie had the CEO's point of view and David had some excellent examples of situations where he presented to his CEO.

The audience was not huge which allowed for great interaction with real-situation questions and comments.

I filmed Marnie for a few minutes where she explained situations where she has eithe shot something down or chose to move forward with a particular project.  She also explained that there are some piece of information that she DOES NOT want to know... for example:

If you need to purchase a new firewall and you present Marnie with all the details of the research you've done and given your recommendation.  If you give her details such as the brand of firewall, she may delve deeper into why you chose that one and not the one that he buddy CEO purchased or the one she saw on the magazine in the plane, etc... there are some things that she prefers not to know... but if she's put in the situation that she has to decide on something, she will use her best judgement based on the information she has gathered.

Some of the other take-aways from this session include many concepts I've heard our CEO, Ed Schipul, mention many times:

1. Bad news must travel fast - if an approved project is going badly, inform the CEO immediately!  This helps them make a decision on where to go from here.
2. Research and SoundBytes - be sure to do the appropriate research and be able to present it in a quick manner so it makes sense to your CEO (ROI, bottom line, etc)
3. Think risks/security first - Be sure to verify the risk factors of this project and how it can affect the current and future situation of your organization.  Even if it's a very risky project, present an objective view of it... your CEO may be willing to move forward in spite of those risks.
4. Succinct Communication - CEO's typically have many different things going on so it's important to make sure you present/talk to your CEO in THEIR language and in the least amount of words necessary.

This panel was very informative - the team of individuals were well-informed and had wonderfully natural presentation skills.

NTC 2008 1st Day

Wednesday at the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans was primarily about networking, meeting new folks, running into old friends, learning about the new technology offered by the organizations marketing themselves at the NTC Science Fair. 

However, one of the events I most enjoyed happened to me by accident.

During the member appreciation luncheon, I ran into several people I've met the last couple of NTC's... including: Corey Pudhorodsky, James Jones, Beth Kanter, Katrin Verclas and Britt Bravo.  When I was talking to Britt, she mentioned that they were having a Netsquared Meetup at a local bar that night.

Just the day before, I had discussed Netsquare with Jessica Rohloff of the Louisiana Technology Council and she expressed interest in setting up a chapter here in New Orleans. 

So I asked Jessica to come out and here's the magic moment captured for eternity <grin>  Britt Bravo and Jessica Rohloff talking about what Netsquared is and the details she needs to set it up in New Orleans - pretty exciting stuff!

Let's hope it DOES lead to the formation of a New Orleans Netsquared group!

Biggio - leadership, selflessness, sacrifice

Craig Alan Biggio, my favorite Houston Astro (Major League Baseball Team) and one of the most amazing ball-players I have seen play the game of baseball.

Craig was born on December 14, 1965 in Smithtown, New York... less than 5 hours from Cooperstown, New York where he will eventually be immortalized at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

I've been attending baseball games since I was very young.  My father used to take me to games in Venezuela to watch our favorite passtime (Yes, baseball is Venezuela's most popular sport!).

I used to watch my team, Los Leones de Caracas (Caracas Lions), battle against Navegantes del Magallenes, Cardenales de Lara, Tigres de Aragua, Aguilas del Zulia and Tiburones de La Guaira.  Venezuela's league has added some teams since that time... but that's the old-school group of teams!

My Leones had a mix of Venezuelan players (some Venezuelan major-leaguers) and American Major League players - usually young (up and coming) players trying to hone their skills in Venezuela's Winter Ball League.  Some names from the past who have played in Venezuela include: Rod Carew, Dave Parker, Pete Rose, Cecil Fielder, Andre Dawson, Ken Forsch and many more. 

Every Venezuelan player who has been a major leaguer started their career in the Venezuelan League.... including Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, current White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, shortstop David Concepcion (member of Cincy's Big Red Machine), magical shortstop Omar Vizquel.

So... with that, I wanted to set the table that I have seen and enjoyed a lot of baseball.  I've watched great players and others that I'd like to forget.  I've enjoyed fantastic playoff runs and heart-breaking seasons.  Through many of these years, there was a constant and his name is Craig Biggio.

My favorite baseball player of all time is Craig Biggio. 

He played his career with the same team, played the game the right way (run out every ball, play hard every minute) and generously gave his time and money to his favorite charity, The Sunshine Kids.

Biggio ended his career with 668 doubles (5th on the Major Leagues all-time) so it was PERFECT that his final hit was a double to complete an amazing career spanning three decades (from 1988 to 2007).  Here are his hitting and fielding statistics (from www.Astros.com) :

Hitting Stats:
SEASON	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
1988	50	123	14	26	6	1	3	5	43	7	29	6	1	0.254	0.35	0.211
1989	134	443	64	114	21	2	13	60	178	49	64	21	3	0.336	0.402	0.257
1990	150	555	53	153	24	2	4	42	193	53	79	25	11	0.342	0.348	0.276
1991	149	546	79	161	23	4	4	46	204	53	71	19	6	0.358	0.374	0.295
1992	162	613	96	170	32	3	6	39	226	94	95	38	15	0.378	0.369	0.277
1993	155	610	98	175	41	5	21	64	289	77	93	15	17	0.373	0.474	0.287
1994	114	437	88	139	44	5	6	56	211	62	58	39	4	0.411	0.483	0.318
1995	141	553	123	167	30	2	22	77	267	80	85	33	8	0.406	0.483	0.302
1996	162	605	113	174	24	4	15	75	251	75	72	25	7	0.386	0.415	0.288
1997	162	619	146	191	37	8	22	81	310	84	107	47	10	0.415	0.501	0.309
1998	160	646	123	210	51	2	20	88	325	64	113	50	8	0.403	0.503	0.325
1999	160	639	123	188	56	0	16	73	292	88	107	28	14	0.386	0.457	0.294
2000	101	377	67	101	13	5	8	35	148	61	73	12	2	0.388	0.393	0.268
2001	155	617	118	180	35	3	20	70	281	66	100	7	4	0.382	0.455	0.292
2002	145	577	96	146	36	3	15	58	233	50	111	16	2	0.33	0.404	0.253
2003	153	628	102	166	44	2	15	62	259	57	116	8	4	0.35	0.412	0.264
2004	156	633	100	178	47	0	24	63	297	40	94	7	2	0.337	0.469	0.281
2005	155	590	94	156	40	1	26	69	276	37	90	11	1	0.325	0.468	0.264
2006	145	548	79	135	33	0	21	62	231	40	84	3	2	0.306	0.422	0.246
2007	141	517	68	130	31	3	10	50	197	23	112	4	3	0.285	0.381	0.251
Career Totals	2850	10876	1844	3060	668	55	291	1175	4711	1160	1753	414	124	0.363	0.433	0.281

Fielding Stats:
SEASON	POS	G	GS	INN	TC	PO	A	E	DP	PB	SB	CS	RF	FPCT
1988	C	50	---	---	323	292	28	3	0	3	---	---	---	0.991
1989	C	125	---	---	792	728	56	8	6	9	---	---	---	0.99
1989	OF	5	---	---	15	14	0	1	0	---	---	---	---	0.933
1990	C	113	---	---	609	546	54	9	4	7	---	---	---	0.985
1990	OF	50	---	---	121	111	6	4	0	---	---	---	---	0.967
1991	C	139	---	---	963	889	64	10	10	13	---	---	---	0.99
1991	2B	3	---	---	14	5	8	1	1	---	---	---	---	0.929
1991	OF	2	---	---	1	0	1	0	0	---	---	---	---	1
1992	2B	161	---	---	769	344	413	12	81	---	---	---	---	0.984
1993	2B	155	---	---	767	306	447	14	90	---	---	---	---	0.982
1994	2B	113	---	---	570	225	338	7	63	---	---	---	---	0.988
1995	2B	141	---	---	728	299	419	10	78	---	---	---	---	0.986
1996	2B	162	---	---	811	361	440	10	76	---	---	---	---	0.988
1997	2B	160	---	---	863	341	504	18	108	---	---	---	---	0.979
1998	2B	159	---	---	764	318	431	15	92	---	---	---	---	0.98
1999	2B	155	153	1351.1	812	370	430	12	117	---	---	---	5.33	0.985
1999	OF	6	3	25.1	7	6	1	0	0	---	---	---	2.49	1
2000	2B	100	99	852.2	471	183	282	6	57	---	---	---	4.91	0.987
2001	2B	154	152	1344.2	680	280	389	11	86	---	---	---	4.48	0.984
2002	2B	142	140	1236.2	673	313	352	8	88	---	---	---	4.84	0.988
2002	OF	1	1	9	1	1	0	0	0	---	---	---	1	1
2003	OF	150	150	1313	336	326	9	1	1	---	---	---	2.3	0.997
2004	OF	149	149	1225	263	250	4	9	0	---	---	---	1.87	0.966
2005	2B	141	141	1172.1	662	250	396	16	82	---	---	---	4.96	0.976
2006	2B	129	127	1062	559	219	334	6	80	---	---	---	4.69	0.989
2007	C	1	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.5	1
2007	2B	114	111	936.2	468	191	267	10	54	---	---	---	4.4	0.979
Career Totals		2780	---	---	13043	7169	5673	201	1174	---	---	---	---	0.985

photo courtesy of Jeff Balke

Juan Vicente Gomez - Venezuelan President beginning in 1908

As expressed in my previous post, I aim to learn more about Venezuela's history and political climate to better understand and try to predict its future direction.

After Cipriano Castro left for Europe to be treated for syphilis, General Juan Vicente Gomez (the vice president) was left in charge.  Gomez had been instrumental in bringing (and maintaining) Cipriano Castro to power.  When Gomez began to see the mess that the previous administration had left... he decided to let Castro know that there was no need to return.

Castro presided over Venezuela for close to 30 years (on and off) during a critical period in the country's history - oil was discovered in Lake Maracaibo in 1918 which prompted unprecedented economic growth.  Gomez was definitely a great leader during this period, but was also enriching himself and his family by stealing from the country's coffers.

General Juan Vicente Gomez treated Venezuela as his personal "hacienda" (plantation) and this has created two opposite views of his regime.   Some historians consider him Venezuela's greatest president.... and others write him off as a tyrant and one more in a long line of corrupt presidents.  However, he was a great leader during Venezuela's historic growth in the early part of the 1900's.

In my previous post, I made some parallels between Venezuela's current president Chavez and Cipriano Castro.  In the wikipedia entry about Juan Vicente Gomez, the parallel is made between Gomez and Chavez.  Personally, I would prefer to make the parallel with Cipriano Castro since his time in power was much shorter and was replaced by someone considered a strong leader who lead the country to wealth and economic growth.

I expect that either Chavez or Venezuela's next president will have a very strict hand but will be able to help spur new economic growth.  The one factor that will affect this is the level of technological growth they are able to promote.  If Venezuela is able to catch up technologically to some of its neighbors, it may have opportunities for future growth... otherwise it will continue to fall apart.

Cipriano Castro - Venezuelan President 1899 - 1908

To better understand what is currently happening in Venezuela, it's important to go back in time and see cultural and political factors that have affected its people.  Through these writings, I am also learning more about my birth country's history... I hope you find it useful as well. 

Wikipedia and my father's Web site will be the primary sources of information for the following blogposts.

Cipriano Castro was Venezuela's 37th President from 1899 to 1908.

The following is a letter written by Cipriano Castro to Venezuelans in 1908 (I have translated it to English):

Dear Venezuelans:

Special circumstances force me to leave for Europe today, for just a few days. 

The country is on a path of prosperity and growth, due to its responsible debt re-payment, its balanced revenues and the solid peace enjoyed by our nation, all of which will fall on your hands to maintain and help this success endure.

As stated in our constitution, our Vice President General Juan Vicente Gomez will be in charge of the Presidency.  I ask that you support and lend him your cooperation in his important mission, as if it was me, in this you will fulfill your duty.

Caracas, November 23, 1908.

Cipriano Castro

Thanks to Joaquin Avellan Cachazo for making this letter available on his Web site.

The little I know about Venezuelan history includes the horrors of General Juan Vicente Gomez's 3 Presidencies (1908-1914, 1922-1929 and 1931-1935).  However, as I read further in both my father's article and Wikipedia, I learn that Cipriano Castro was actually much worse than Gomez.  Castro took power with military force and went on to lead one of the country's most corrupt periods in its history.

My father's article parallels Castro's reign with that of current Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.   Both men took power before the turn of their respective centuries, both had military backing and hid behind a slogan of helping the poor.  Neither President was a true leader as Castro was managed by the Germans and British... just as Chavez is being managed by Fidel Castro and other totalitarian regimes around the world.

Cipriano Castro's excesses lead him to contract syphilis in 1908 which is the reason he left to Paris for treatment.  When Chavez first took power, we hoped his regime would last just a few years, now it looks like it will last more than Cipriano Castro's 9 years.

Shortly after his departure, Gomez took power and began a progressive time in Venezuela that was contrasted by his heavy hand in dealing with anyone who opposed him. 

I will cover Gomez in my next post... but understanding a little bit about Venezuela at the turn of the 20th century and seeing its similarities with today's situation, have made me both sad of its past and its impending doom as the past is likely repeating itself.

Will Venezuela one day learn from its past and find a way to improve its future?

NOTE: First photo is in the public domain of the United States.  The political cartoon is Wikimedia Commons. It is a Caricature of Cipriano Castro, by W.A. Rogers, published in the New York Herald, January, 1903.

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