Rothacker Reviews

The Who & the Super Bowl

"Hey Mom! These old dudes are singing the song from CSI Las Vegas!"

Fortune: A Design Treasure

Strolling along the beach on a cold, gray February morning, I notice a sea shell beckoning for me to pick her up. Dusting off the sand I get a sense of nostalgia. Although her edges are well worn, her lines and color refuse to fade away. They remain as sentinels, looking for a future generation that will one time connect again. Could they have found me for this purpose? The sea shell will go into my collection. While I will no doubt get much pleasure from her lines, diagrams, illustration, photography, maps and covers, future Rothacker's I hope, will get that much more.

Thanks to Jason Kottke for his map to this sea shell.

Fortune: A Design Treasure

Davo, what do you mean future Rothacker's? I believe that Rothacker Reviews is a message in a time bottle to my future relatives. It is sort of like a memoir in progress. On occasion I will speak directly to my future tribe, but for the most part, it is my hope that they will run my words past their own filters and form their own opinions as to who this strange bird is (was). Of course really close tribesmen-n-women will have access to my journals, providing a clear and succinct glimpse into the inner machinery that cranked all this out (not).

Do you have a personal Web site? (I hate the word blog). Think about laying down some bread crumbs for your future relatives to discover.

Can a commercial be too good?

Can a commercial be too good? It can if you thought it was so good you couldn't remember what product or service was being advertised.

There are three actors in this video. Each plays their role to perfection. But the look on the girl's face who didn't get the real pony is priceless.

Sick? Change Your Toothbrush

I was cutting out coupons this morning when I came across a Colgate ad. It said, "Got a cold? Change your toothbrush after a cold for a fresh start." This seems like such common sense that I must have heard it from someone at least once over the course of my life. I haven't. 

I did a quick Google search and found it has been a topic of discussion, but not as frequently as one might think. Another bit of advice that makes sense; microwave your toothbrush a couple of times per week. 

Well, I feel pretty good about this newly discovered info, but it prompts a question:

What product, service or thing do we interact with often, that if viewed from a different perspective, would produce an all together different result?

"David."

"Yes Rosemary."

"Did you read the article about the benefits of changing your underwear everyday?"

"No. You've got to be kidding! People really do that? Tawwssss me that tbt* when you're done."

One of Your Employees?

I went down a rabbit hole yesterday and discovered the United Breaks Guitar video along with this one. Forget the very last word in this video because it is of no relevance to me. I am more enamored in the most succinct description of many modern day corporate employees. Many thanks to Roy Williams for the inspiring inspiration.

United (Airlines) Breaks Guitars, Bullies and Indifference

United Airline's employees broke Dave Carroll's Taylor $3,500 guitar. Dave spent nearly one year trying to get United to repair his guitar, to no avail. They said no. This is old news, but when I saw the video that Dave and his band, Sons of Maxwell, composed to chronicle this customer-lack-of-service nightmare, the hair on the back of my neck came to attention, stood on end and then sent an internal message to my stomach which in turn sent a message to my brain which sent a message to my feet that then propelled me right straight to the bathroom.

Of course I'll place United Airlines on the last-airline-I'd-fly-on-list. But this company just symbolizes how corporations can act as bullies and how an atmosphere of indifference can rot away a company's foundation. Kind of like "I'm a bully, I'm a bully, I'm a bully," as the bully's body begins to slowly disappear starting at its feet.

It's all about people. I am sure that there is a United Airlines crew in one airport, somewhere, that rocks. But as consumers, once we buy a Pinto, it's highly unlikely we'd ever buy another. Lack of customer service aside, what is of interest to me is the culture of companies like UA and how it influences Generation Y. Would they base an employment decision on how the company treated Dave Carroll? Or would tough times influence them to place those feelings on the back burner and take the job if they had the opportunity? And if so, how do they cope with corporate bully-ness and indifference - once they are immersed in it?

Oh well. Sit back, warm up those facial muscles responsible for smiling and enjoy Dave and his band.

You Should be a Writer Dave!

I just got back this past week from the largest international trade show of its kind, in my industry, in the world. If I had a nickel for every person who said I should write for one of our industry's trade journals, I could buy a small fry at Mickey Dees.

To begin with, as a result of attending this trade show, I spent my first two days back home in bed. Due to chronic pain and fybromyalgia, I presently cannot work. Three hundred word posts you read here sometimes take days to write.

Let's pretend however, that I didn't have this condition. I still would rather not write for official publication. My industry is filled with talent laden writers brimming with professionalism and steeped in journalism degrees. For the most part they tow the company line, with the company keeping their voice in back of the line. The folks whose voice you can hear in their writing, are usually not paid. These people write to support their own agendas like consulting or selling products.

I consider it a privilege and honor to exercise my right to the first amendment while writing on my two Web sites. But perhaps for a more selfish reason, it just feels good. Being censored and getting your words along with their meaning hacked up by an editor, does not feel very good. I wrote a monthly column for three years for a large publication. I had an excellent editor who allowed me to be me and write me. And while this did feel good, it still wasn't the me that writes here at Rothacker Reviews.

Closer to home, Rosemary tells me I should be a writer too. The seeds of a book related to my industry sprouted up in 2004. I have worked on it on and off since, and created my other site last year to serve as sort of a laboratory as I continue to work on it. I wrestle with whether or not I truly have the passion to move forward with it though. And health issues grinds progress into the dirt at the most inopportune times. Rosemary says that my knowledge and experience combined with the fact that no one else has written anything like it, are enough reasons. 

I am looking out the back of my house towards the lake. I see a small green and brown frog attached to the window. As I move closer, I notice that his mouth is moving. I pause while I attempt to decipher his words, like a novice taking Morse code. No, it cannot be. I rub my eyes and look again. And then I write his message down on my pad: You should be a writer Dave!

Managers and Goals

Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm.

That is what is known as drone, a continuous low dull humming sound. It is the audio that accompanies the axe that managers bury into their coworker's heads.

The Axe

In chapter four of The Cluetrain Manifesto, authors Doc Searls and David Weinberger describe the axe in our heads:

We know that the real purpose of marketing is to insinuate the message into our consciousness, to put an axe in our heads without our noticing. If the axe finds its mark we toe the line, buy the message, buy the product and don't talk back.

Substitute manager-speak for marketing. Their message is everything surrounding the practice of goal setting and goals. The difference in our example is that the axe of goal setting was buried into our parent"s and grandparent"s heads. Although management gurus spew out the low, dull humming of the importance of goal setting, we are immune to it. It's like that hair that grows out of your ear. Your body inherited the ability to do that from your parents. You never think about it until it becomes unsightly. When it does you cut it off. On another note, it kind of reminds you of the torture incurred while being reviewed by your manager, doesn't it?

So, how do we dig the axe out of our heads? Marketing is still a most worthwhile endeavor. How does the marketer get through to her market? Being different creates awareness and loosens the axe. The basic concept of goal setting is worthwhile. To create an awareness however, we need to be different. While the marketer is an essential cog in getting out the message (is she really?), I am not entirely sure the role of manager as we now know it, is to the goal setting/achieving process.

Moving forward I am going to introduce different terminology related to goal setting. I suspect that those of you who get tripped up on the semantics, are those who have found success in goal setting and goal achieving. That's cool... "I hear two ladies out there singing in harmony. That's all right though this is a free country live like you wanna live, free country, nobody's gonna bother you."

Also, moving forward in the spirit of, do we really need managers? I'm going to look at this through the window of the person who takes hold of his own work, education and career to grow and get results.

Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Maybe we're onto something Davo?

Cluetrain Manifesto Note: If you haven't read this book, you must! The authors spoke about everything you see and hear today about social communities and the value of relationships, conversations and voice... eleven to twelve years ago.

I Despise Goals!

Yes it's about semantics. And ridiculous expectations. And out-of-touch-with-reality managers. And corporate. And I state that with every ounce of conviction that I can muster like the big ugly wad of gum stuck on your shoe that it is. And it's about lack of achievement. And crutches for managers. And reasons to not engage. And big ole hockin' stomach aches.

The gurus say you must have goals and grade to those goals. So those of us who secretly disagree with the whole notion, keep to ourselves. I was recently talking to a twenty plus year ex-manager and she told me that she HATES goals. I was shocked. Did I mention that she was an extremely successful manager? It turns out she just did to her corporate manager what most teenagers do to their parents. "Yes mom, yes mom, yes mom." They did the goal thing on paper and then she went about working with her coworkers in ways that produced excellent results. I believe that the physical description of this event involves taking one's hand and sliding it up and down a fictitious pole.

I do not disagree with the practice of setting a target and then striving for it. There's just so much muckety-muck slimed around the practice of what is known as goal setting and in most cases the inevitable failure to achieve such goals, that I think a change in both terminology and view are in order.

Marcus says that most people don't change much. I agree. I don't however, have the time, energy and evangelistic characteristics needed to mount a crusade. So all you folks out there who are goalies, no sweat, keep on keepin' on with your goals. I am more interested in folks like the young ex-manager above who despises goals. 

How deep-seeded have this woman's sentiments run? Well I've known her since 1974, married her in 1977 and produced offspring with her in 1981 and 1992, and I never knew she despised goals. For one stretch of twenty years when we were both managers at the same time, we spoke every single day after work, about all things management. I think the whole goal-crap thing is burnt so deep by corporate and the gurus into our neural pathways, that we have become desensitized to it...kinda like going to the bathroom. Given our druthers we'd rather not do it, but its part of human nature so we just do what we have to do.

I'll follow up this post with some different ideas in terminology and viewpoints.

The Book Writing Process & Brett Farmiloe

The closest answer that I've ever come to the question, what do you want to do when you grow up? I want to be like Brett Farmiloe when I grow up. My mission on the road would be slightly different than Brett's, but not much, not much at all. (I even have a name for it and have reserved its URL)

The Book Writing Process

View more presentations from Brett Farmiloe.

What is Pursue the Passion? Load up the gang in that RV and cruise over here to find out.