Reinventing the Wheel (Honest!)….A Web of One….The Second Worse Thing that Can Happen to a Company….Recon: Housing: Not as bad as it looks

“There are two ways to live:  

You can live as if nothing is a miracle;

You can live as if everything is a miracle.”

 Albert Einstein

Reinventing the Wheel (Honest!!)

The phrase  “reinventing the wheel” is usually applied to persons who are oblivious to the fact they are merely replicating what has already been created. It appears, however, that someone has actually created a new design for the wheel; one that promises a remarkable new level of mobility for the wheelchair bound… including the navigation of steps and curbs with remarkable ease! Cyclists can look forward riding on these wheels sometime in 2015.

Take two minutes for a remarkable video and brief article demonstrating this incredible “re-invention “ of a device we take for granted. As you watch it, consider whether you might breathe new life into one of your old products or services before you look for something completely new and different.

A Web of One

It’s hard to imagine not having the wealth of information that Google, Facebook and other web tools give us. What you may not realize is that you and I can Google the same terms and be offered completely different results based on the searches we’ve each conducted previously.

In short, you may be getting the search results you think you want, but not the ones you might need. Check out this TED Talk (9 minutes and well worth the time) by Eli Pariser and learn why you should be aware of creating “filter bubbles” or as he calls it, a web of one.” 

If you’re using the web for research, especially in the marketing area, this is required viewing.

“The Second Worse Thing that Can Happen to a Company…

Is SUCCESS“  according to Vistage Speaker Pat Murray. Two companies that were once synonymous with success, Blockbuster and Enron, are long gone. But once they were on the verge of partnership that might have saved them both. Check out this one page article for a quick business model cautionary tale in which Enron was about make Blockbuster into Netflix before the latter put the former out of business. Explore what might have been “If Only Blockbuster Had Listened to Enron.”  

Econ Recon: 

Housing, not as bad as it looks: We’ve heard a number of depressing housing statistics in the past few months. Taken alone and at face value, they don’t bode well for the economy. But economist Brian Wesbury says other economic indicators point to an expanding economy…. and that housing is in fact contributing, but in ways that the data doesn’t make clear. Check out his one page summary of why housing is not as bad as it looks.

Hope from Europe: Despite Putin’s machinations in the Ukraine, the economic news out of Europe remains positive, which, says Vistage Staff Economist and ITR Economics President Alan Beaulieu, bodes well for the US. Find out more about the Good News from Europe.