Thursday, August 26, 2010

White Lies: A personality protector?

Why DO people make up little white lies? In my opinion, truth hurts and if you are truthful 100% of the time, chances are you will not be liked by everyone. Do we have a personality protection syndrome going on, or is it out of compassion for the other person's IQ that we make them feel stupid?

Amplify’d from sethgodin.typepad.com

Little lies and small promises


"I'll be out of bed in five minutes," is not a true statement because it's a promise not meant to be kept. It actually means, "go away, I'm sleeping, I'll say what I need to get rid of you."

"Your call is very important to us," is not a true statement either. The truth is self-evident.

"I promise I'll tell the manager about this," is of course not a real promise either. It might be uttered with good intent, or might be designed to get an annoying customer to go away, but still...

You can already guess the problem with little lies. They blur the line, and they lead (pretty quickly) to big lies. The worst kind of little lies are the ones you make to yourself. Once you're willing to lie to yourself, you're also willing to cheat at golf, and after that, it's all downhill.

Companies that refuse to break small promises have a much easier time keeping big promises. And they earn a reputation, one that makes their handshake worth more.

Given that expectation and trust are just about all we have left to sell, it seems to me that little lies and small promises are at the very heart of the matter. And they're a simple choice, nothing requiring an MBA or a spreadsheet.

It all depends on what you want to stand for.


Read more at sethgodin.typepad.com
 

@sxsw Panel with @ericaogrady & @sloaneberrent

Why aren't we more adventurous?

Amplify’d from panelpicker.sxsw.com


Why Geeks Make Exceptional Rule Breakers


Sloane Berrent,
Answer With Action

Geeks are incredible people! The break all the rules to create amazing opportunities and to show you how, we're writing a book about it and previewing our themes here at SXSW. We've been chronicling the journey of geeks around the country and will share their tips and tricks for breaking the rules, getting away with it, changing their perspective and sometimes changing the world in the process.



  1. How to change your life in 18 months or less.


  2. What sets geeks apart from the rest of the world.


  3. Why it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.


  4. What sets entrepreneurs apart from the crowd, and how do you become one of those people.


  5. What specific technology tools you can use to help make this happen.



Goals, inspiration, Risk
Read more at panelpicker.sxsw.com
 

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Super Props to @startupweekend: @foodspotting gets funded.

I'm thinking a celebration in Hawaii is in order for @startupweekend. Companies born out of these 3 day weekends are becoming more and more frequent. All the more reason entrepreneurs really will take over the world!

Amplify’d from techcrunch.com
techcrunch logo

People love taking pictures of food. It’s just a fact of life. Don’t even bother arguing about it. It’s just the way it is. Case in point: Foodspotting, the service which asks you to take pictures of your food to share with others. People love this service. Since its initial launch in January 2010 (we first covered it in March), people around the world have “spotted” just about 100,000 different pieces of food.

And now a group of investors have decided to put their money where their mouths are — almost literally. Foodspotting has just secured a new $750,000 seed round of funding. The round was led by Aydin Senkut’s Felicis Ventures and anchored by Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, Shana Fisher’s High Line Venture Partners, Zelkova Ventures, and 2020 Ventures.

Other individual angels include Dave Morin (of Path), Steve Lee (product manager of Google Latitude), Derek Dukes (of Dipity), and Dan Martell (of Flowtown — which also got some funding this morning).

Read more at techcrunch.com
 

How can I use @facebooklive with @ustream? http://amplify.com/u/970g

Facebook Live on Facebook

Oh, wow! I called it. Unbelievable.


On Location Interview of the Month

WebPress Headlines

PR/Interviewing Q & A Live Daily @ 12CST

Ask Away