Tony D'OnofrioThis week's favorite post is all about communications. It is a great reminder that communications is one of the most critical elements for the success or failure of any business. It is also the key component for a satisfying and fulfilling personal life with family and friends.
· Favorite post from this past week: From Harvard Business Review "The Silent Killer of Big Companies" ow.ly/eOUhq
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." -- John F. Kennedy
Life is either an adventure where you explore opportunities to take advantage of all the changes around you or it is bystander sport where you sit there and watch it going by. My favorite post this week was another reminder on the accelerated pace of change we are all experiencing.
This week's favorite post was a reminder of one of the initial books that started my personal journey in trying to decipher future technology and retail trends by tracking key global indicators and industry influencers. The title of this blog is actually from a quote in John Naisbitt's book Megatrends. His exact words were that "we are drowning in information but starved for knowledge". There are multiple parallels between this past week's favorite post, Naisbitt's book, and emerging retail data trends.
Favorite Post this past week: The Mega-Trends That Are Changing Retail Forever. http://ow.ly/erxlQ" The (RFID) industry got out in front of its headlights and over invested in a phenomenon that just wasn't ready to take off yet—and that, by the way, happens all the time. The RFID industry, in general, has underperformed, because it was impatient and tried to drive toward a tornado too quickly. It is easy to see that in hindsight. There are real problems to be solved, and in the current market's state of adoption, end users want to give RFID companies money, but not for tags and readers. They want to give them money for solutions to their problems. If the RFID industry responds to that, it will be successful." -- Geoffrey Moore, Author of Crossing the Chasm, as quoted in RFID Journal (June 4, 2012)
Building on last week's blog on your own unique success formula, this week we focus on translating those personal skills into profitable business ventures. My favorite news item this past week led me to re-read the Top 10 Rules for BUSINESS SUCCESS written by Wal-mart's founder Sam Walton that are on display in my office. These top ten business success rules are all about focus, passion, discipline, commitment, boundaryless communications, and motivation to win. In other words, familiar themes that build on the personal success formula discussed last week.
My favorite post this week went viral on the Business Insider web site with almost 1.4 million views. The article reminded me that the journey of life that we are all on is unique for each of us. There is no magic formula for success. Ultimately, we make the choices on which path to take in our personal future. In many ways, information around us is the food to our thoughts that leads to the choices we make. What we choose to read, what we believe in, how we decide to turn our thoughts into action helps shape the journey.
To promote excursions and products from the country, the India Ministry of Tourism has been running a marketing campaign with the brand line "Incredible India." My favorite post this past week was a reminder that this same tag line "Incredible India"can be applied to the nascent modern organized India retail industry.
Favorite Weekly Post: Government of #India opens #retail supermarket sector to foreign chains. Good news for global retailers, eg #WalmartFor the last several weeks, Time magazine has been running a series of articles on the "Future of Retail". Following are the four topics highlighted to date:
(Retail) Companies That Profit By Investing in Employees - http://ow.ly/dK1rQ Will Amazon Take Over the World? - http://ow.ly/dK1uu Reports of the Shopping Mall's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - http://ow.ly/dK1wBMeet Michelle Phan, a retail consumer turned YouTube video star by simply going shopping. Follow this link to see her "$20 Makeup Challenge Haul (video)" http://ow.ly/dzhdI that has gone viral with almost 1 million views from around the world.
Eighteen months ago, ran across an article highlighting a new YouTube phenomenon labeled "Haul Shopping Videos". Always keeping on eye on the future of retail, pondered at that time whether this was a fad or a trend of the continued industry evolution.
The current pace of RFID retail expansion and its historical roots sometimes reminds me of that age old question that an innocent child always asks on that long car trip - Are we there yet?
Contemplating that question led to the selection of the following as my favorite post from this past week:
"We are the champions, my friends, and we'll keep on fighting till the end." – Queen
On the journey to learn something new, we travel to Montreux Switzerland. After the creation of a Jazz Festival by Claude Nobs in 1967, the founding of the world-class Mountain Studios inside the local casino in 1975, and favorable tax benefits, this quiet Swiss Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman) town became a destination to create music by legends such as Queen.
The earliest settlement in Montreux dates back to the late Bronze Age. The name Montreux comes from the Latin word monasteriolum, meaning "small monastery". Over hundreds of years, the local language changed this Latin word into Mustruel by 1215, and later into the modern name Montreux.
Deep Purple got the inspiration to the song “Smoke on the water” here. The rock group Queen with lead singer Freddy Mercury recorded 6 albums here. The studio was inside the casino that burned down in 1971 that inspired the Deep Purple memorable song.
For Freddy Mercury, Montreux became his second home; a place where he could escape the spotlight and focus on what he loved most: making music. Today, his legacy lives on through the iconic Freddie Mercury statue overlooking Lake Geneva in this picture.
Being a fan of classic rock, I truly enjoyed my visit to Montreux and blasted “Smoke on the Water” in my ear pods on arrival. This particular pose with Freddy was a personal reminder that life is short and never forget to let your guard down and have fun.
Psychologist Mike Rucker once wrote that "Happiness is a state of mind, but fun is something you can do. It doesn't require education, money or power. All it requires is intentionality. If happiness is a mirage, fun is your backyard oasis."
My oasis is celebrating life, always having a positive attitude, listen to all types of motivating music, and living each single moment as it was my last. At the top of my voice, I will continue to scream that we are all champions of possibilities that must keep on fighting towards our destined end. Rock on my friends.
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