Martial arts and Best business practices.

People who know me, should also know I am quite keen on martial arts. I have practiced karate for 10 years and kung-fu for 4 years now. And many principles are quite transposable to business practices.

- Innovate! The unexpected hit is always the hardest to avoid. If you hit someone with your knee or elbow, it is quite unusual, but it is deadly. Very good at short range, and used in few sports. Using it in real-life fight really gives a competitive advantage.

- Deceive! Pretend you surrender. Apologize like you never apologized before. You would shake so much because of fear, you would drop your wallet. If the opponent looks down, it is the best moment to land a straight punch to the nose.

- Have a long term strategy! One hit in the nose is not enough. He could recover and stab you with a knife he has hidden. Chinese emperors would kill a rebel, his wife, his family, and all his wife family to avoid retaliation In this case just make sure he does not retaliate in the minutes to come. Once he is stunned, just give a one two in the face, low kick in the knee, uppercut in the chin and kick in the nuts. Put him on the ground arm-lock him and call the police. (In that case you're supposed to have been agressed) Business-wise, never ignore a competitor, even in a difficult position.

- Always be armed! If you are being attacked, have weapons ready. I always have keys on myself, and believe me, that hurts. In the corporate world, it could be... have lawyers ready to bite, and counterattack.

- Aim low, or at the weakest points. Well you know where to hit. Eyeballs, throat, nuts, knees... In fact, attack you opponents most profitable market, the segments he needs to survive. He will have to drop the prices and react to your neverending attacks.

- First move advantage! Always try to attack first. Pretend you will not fight, and then try to lead the fight. That's only if you know that the fight is unavoidable. He who conquers a market first, has a dominant position.

- Choose the right field. Elephant or hippo, who is stronger ? Well in the water, it is the hippo. So you will want to run in a crowded zone to avoid the fight or in a friendly zone to have your friends help you.

- Outnumber! Well that's obvious. One holds the opponent, and the other beats the crap out of him. (you can also have an extra friend scouting for weapons in the meantime). It would be diversification in different markets with synergies, or just more salespersons for a better market coverage.

- Play with the rules! If the referee does not see it it is not a foul. I try to fall on my opponent with the elbow first, but hidden from the referee. The other guy is out of breath, and I can easily go for an arm-lock. Well I let you imagine how that applies in the corporate world.

So that was my insight today on that topic. I advise you to read Sun Tzu principles of "The art of War". But that could be another story.

Air France Strike

Still going.
Passengers stuck at the airport, waiting for their plane to come.
Holidays wasted.
"Why did I do to deserve that?" A strike at the worst moment with maximized inconvenience.

I am generally not supportive of strikes in France... and the concept of students going on strike usually brings a smile on my foreign colleagues face.
It's true people have to pay for their studies in the UK. Here, most of the times, students don't have to pay that much to go study. So they can really spend time going on strike, and most of them don't care if it lasts a few weeks. It does not impact thei pay slip.

But I am drifting again. I used to be an intern at Air France. I was a cabin a crew (as the ones going on strike right now), and for once, I am really supportive. I suppose I would not be if I had to take a plane and promised my 8-year-old daughter we would see Sea World in San Diego. Yes, with Willy from "Free Willy".

I remember the interviews for being accepted as an Air France crew intern. Everyone wanted to do that. It was a dream job. Flying all around the world, and being paid for that. Prestigious job, very nice working atmosphere, and very classy co-workers.

After two months of that internship, I needed 2 weeks to recover. The job was harsh, with only 24 hours abroad to recover, in between endless flights. I mostly did Europe to Northern America. The days of the week had no meaning any more. I did not care whether it was tuesday or sunday. Nor morning or evening. I slept when I could. My legs were tired of the altitude. My face and body was swelling with the change of pressure.

I could see the other flight attendants living a difficult life. They could not change a schedule that was announced the 27th for the following month. They kept trying to keep their friends, but those were fed up with tring to keep in touch with someone who was never there or to tired to come.

Cabin crews don't exchange numbers after a flight. They know they will never meet again. There are a lot more than 10000 flight attendants, and statistically, you would fly with someone you've already flown, once every 7 years.

As people loose ground with their previous friends, they try to find new contacts, and often, a cabin crew-cabin crew couple appears (regardless of the genders). But life is even harder, because they spend even less time at home, and use post-its to wish happy wedding anniversaries. Their kid grows to hate airplane which stole his parents and childhood, but still flies cheaper than the other common mortals. This way the kid spends less time at home to feel the absence of his parents.

I could see the flight attendants drifting in their world with their own vocabulary (you spend 2 weeks learning all the weird names they have for things (crasdap, watose)), and their life expectancy is now at 60 years old. (25 years lower than normal). All the jet lag and altitude radiation is something you can't run away from.

I still remember all that as a very rich experience. It made me travel. It made me aware that the real difficult jobs are not always the one we think. And after a 5 year salary freeze that has happened at Air France, I definitely believe they deserve something.

But that's my personal belief.

Oil is more and more expensive. So what? Evolution!

Yes. More than $90. Oil is really expensive.
Why is that?
We're not really lacking oil. It's just getting more and more expensive to extract.
Okay now that I've given the reason for that title, I can talk about something else. I admit that's not search engine friendly, nor reader friendly... But once again, I don't write for search engines, nor for readers... hrmmmm... Let me take that back.

The real subject of that post is Evolution. I read Dr Curry article on Evolution, and he says that our species would split into two species. Sexual selection would make handsome, tall, sexually attractive people mate together... whereas the others would have to take the leftovers.
Therefore there would be two sub-species remaining in the end. One, tall and handsome,and the other which would be gnome-like.
But mankind would depend heavily on sophisticated technology, making them like domesticated animals.

My belief is that Evolution is no more. Reproducing is for everyone. Nobody's unfit. Everyone can mate, and pass his genes. Life is a commodity, as I explained and buying you genes survival is something you can do. And money is not even discriminatory... Poor people tend to have more children as an investment (like a retirement plan, and having their children emigrate is like a risk diversification process).
We are becoming fatter, and it is not a feature the other gender is considering attractive.
There is no selective pressure. I had laser eye surgery, and could not see anything that was at a 2 meter range. I would have been killed by a predator an era ago.

In fact, what I believe is true, is that we might become technology dependent. I can't switch off my cell phone for a day, I need internet and a microwave to have an existence I can call as such.
We'll all beome couch potatoes finding our partners on facebook, and I'd send a sperm sample and my partner would send some eggs to www.sexual-progeniture.com (or anything I'm making this up).
3D live webcasting is a clean substitute for life.

Let's begin now.

My Blog, How I would have liked it to be.

It would have been nice if my blog had:

-A webcam on a drone following me 24/7
-A little sequence with the best picks of my day, with music and comments from a voice off. "Vinh chooses strawberry pie, once again. Tough choice. Blueberry seemed nice. Oooooh....Oooooohh... He must have second thoughts now..."
- A virtual avatar reading out-loud every word you are pointing. (I love it when it is annoying)
- A real stream of revenue. (I guess it'll be for the next century)
- My agenda featuring all the important people I have to meet. (Not for the moment though. Kate Beckinsale said she did not want people to see that she had business with me. Oups, sorry...)
-A flashy introduction that still remains interesting the 1000th time you see it. (whaaaaa)
- Comments from well known bloggers who really envy me and would do anything so that I link back.
- Interesting content. Yeah.... right. Nobody wants to know why I chose strawberry? It's really interesting though.
- An embedded social network. People would meet and relate socially around topics covered in my blog. They would spend time saying my blog is great. Another part would be dedicated to people who want to say it's bad. There would be a lot of people criticizing, but they'd have the pleasure to do it on my blog.
- An online shop. People would rush on the gadgets I advertize for. Because I am so good at selling things.
- A dating forum. Vinh Ly is available! Send your resume and a press book. Don't forget to send professional pictures and a 3D model of yourself. References preferred. Please fill in following form.
- Donations. Donating is cool. I will spend that money better than you do. Why don't you send it to me? Why? Really?
- Joining the cult. Participate in Vinh's cult. If we reach enough members, we might apply for tax deductions and be recognized as a real religion like catholicism or scientology.

I have other ideas, and I am working on making them come true.
Please send me a mail (vinhly1@hotmail.com) to be a part of it and share your ideas.

Give meaning to your life. Join the group.

Speed reading - Pros and Cons

Most of the people have to work in domains where knowledge is power. You know something and you leverage it to gain something else.
You surely know one of those infoholics, who would be so happy to show anyone they know something the others don't. They trade info, like they would trade baseball cards. Spot them, and become one of them.

Once you're in that group... how do you acquire knowledge?
1) Either you know the right people and you have access to confidential information
2) Either you don't.

If it is 1), then you are really wasting your time reading my blog. I mean, you should spend more time with your connections, or your girlfriend or boyfriend, or anything else. You are wasting time here. Switch your computer off and go get a life. Hop hop hop.

You're still there?
Well for those who are reading the blog at work, do you think your boss would be happy to know that? Because I am going to tell! I can see when you are connecting from work!

For those who really don't have a life, welcome home.
Now that we are amongst the happy few...
Let's consider how you can acquire information from data everyone has access to.
How do you do that?
Read everything! Read it all! Your brain will get the most important details and you will extract the interesting information from all those sources. That's multi-layered intelligence.

You don't have time for that?
Have you tried speed reading? You should.
Remember when you learnt how to read at school? Letter by letter, you had a word and then a sentence, reading it out-loud.
If you still have that habit, then your reading is SLOW. (S-L-O-W) or sssssssllllllllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwww.
You are limited by your subconscious voice. You should not be reading the words. You should be recognizing them. Even more, you should be recognizing the sentences.
When you see a tree, you know it is a tree. You don't have to look at each part seperately to eventually conclude it is a tree.
Going to speed-reading is hard. You should never look back to a word you've already seen, because your brain has recorded it, but because it is not the way you're used to reading, you won't feel safe until you read it a second time. WRONG!
Never look back. Like a porcupine you ran over with your car, don't look back. You know it's happened anyway.
But be sure you see everygroup of word and that you don't miss any of them, and that your inner voice stays quiet. (you can say one-two-one-two while you read).
So speed reading is great and it is a very disturbing process, and does not work with new complicated litterature. Other tricks are involved, I might talk about that in a future post.

Let's end with Woody Allen's thought about speed reading:
"I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."

Thank you Woody.

Life is a commodity.

You marry one... then you die. -That's an ancient.

Wikipedia:
Commodity is a largely homogeneous product, traded solely on the basis of price

I know that's a pretty pessimistic point of view, but I got this one when I was working at American Express and saw what money could buy.
Lifestyle, looks, friends, Women, enough to fulfill every step of the Maslow pyramid (Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Self-actualization).
Everything has a value on the stock market. Ask your insurance how much is a life worth.

One Guy talks to a stunning Model
G - Would you spend the night with me for 1 million?
M - Sure I would!
G - And for $50?
M -... Do you think I am a prostitute?
G - We both know what you are. Now, we just need to settle on the price.

I know what you are thinking.
Happiness? Health? Love? (Who said money can't buy me love?)... You are right. You can't actually buy those things. But you can buy whatever you need to obtain those. If happiness involves a big house, you're already halfway there!

What I am really touching here is that putting a price on things brings up difficult questions. It creates a value order and a classification amongst everything.
For example, you can't compare a duck and a chicken but the price tag in the supermarket is different. So, you can compare them. If you prefer one, you'd be ready to pay more.

Now. How much would you like to have for your arm? Is it more expensive than a leg?
Liver is the cheapest right now, because it can grow back if it is cut. Stem cells might create a huge supply in that market, and we'd be able to harvest lungs by the dozen.
Right now, the market really lacks liquidity. Not enough donors!
In America people are paid for giving their blood, we still haven't made the step here. But blood has a price and it can be quoted like gold or oil.

When you say life is a commodity, the fact that it can be bought is not the scariest part:
It's the acknowledgement that everything can be put on a scale, some are worth more than others, even if everybody is unique and different.

Still, I'd trade my life for a better one. Wouldn't you?
Really?

Transport solutions

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Supply and demand

One of the basics of Marketing is to match Supply and demand.
1) I need a drink, I know Coke is refreshing, I want Coke.
That's Business to Consumer or B2C, also called irrational marketing, when used car salesmen use the same ol' pitch again and again. Or when showing a naked woman taking a shower increases dog food sales.
2) I sell tomatoes to the Heinz company.
That's Business to Business B2B. Arguments are much more rational. Every mistake will be used to put pressure on the price, which is bottomline for the buyers whose function within their company is simply to cut cost.

You can argue there is People to People (P2P) (e-bay), but it's still e-bay trying to get people to come and use their service.
This is one of the fundamentals of Marketing. Surprizingly, some people get carried away and forget that.
You can't have a one-product-fits-all strategy, if you think that's the case, then you have one product that suits nobody. People must feel they are personally addressed.
"Remember that you are unique, just like everybody".

I'll use a common example of supply and demand (for people who have interrest in internet business)
When you type in a query in google, you willl want to appear in the first lines. (e.g in the sponsored links section).
Some words are very demanded, such as "camera", "laptop", and some others are less demanded for advertizing "cowabunga", "neutron accelerator".
So prices for advertizing will vary depending of the moment (peak traffic), and the keyword asked.
Where do we go from there?
Looking for discrepancies between the queries made and the price of the keywords for certain markets can help you position your advertizing. If a keyword can generate a comparable revenue for a lower cost, then you should go for it.
It is always strange to see that an everyday-life action triggers so much business behind. But just remember that every business who makes money on the web, gets it some way or another from a user like you. Once you buy anything (service, item...), you participate in this whole business. You are an advertizing target.

No wonder I am so reluctant to click on commercial banners. I am always wondering if the guy really deserves my click, and 4 seconds of my attention span.

See ya...

The next internet millionaire

Joel Comm is making a free online reality TV. It is called the Next internet millionaire.
Basically it is a mix of Survivor (see my post about it) and the apprentice.
People want to get rich on the internet, they take crash courses and and they get eliminated until one remains and can make a Joint-venture with that guy on the picture.
The show is pretty off the mark, business-wise, and some friends of that guy come and turn their lessons into obvious marketing for their firms.
The trials are the stupidest I've ever seen (and I doubt they prove any business skills any time): eat worms (that's a classic, now), play ping pong, poker, answer questions about one Joel Comm's friend's firm (oh la la).
And participants get to have lame gifts such as free software subscriptions if they win.
Wow. I am impressed.

But what brio! What marketing! Bravo!

The reality show is an obvious marketing machine, but it works really well, whatever you're doing Joel. The show is somewhat entertaining, and the characters are interesting.
Just hope nobody takes it too seriously.

See ya guys.

Protect Your Brand!

A friend of mine learnt that his name has been googled by his girlfriend's aunt before they met.
In that case, what do you want to appear as results?
I do not want some stupid posts or compromising pictures of me being displayed, - if there were such things...
I would like to choose what my image would be. A picture of me wearing a suit and a nice tie, with a nice headline such as "Corporate Marketing". That would be nice.

Now, how can you convince anyone that his mediatic image is important?
("Blogging is for losers"-"Go get a real life"-type of person)
I will choose that person, make a fake e-mail adress with his name.
Then buy his domain name, put a fake offending porn blog with his picture on the banner.
Updating his site regularly with the worst content ever, create a fake profile on ziki.com. This way, it would be well referenced.
Then I will post on other people's blog and insult them. Every comment will go to his fake mailbox, but automatically forwarded to the real one.

Over time, I guess anyone will be ready to pay to keep the last bit of credibility that remains.
Then I guess we can question the sustainability of that business model.
See you next post.

Good night and good luck.

Web 2.0 life

I've realized things have changed lately.

I spent a week-end without internet. Life is not really the same.

Social networks such as facebook help you keep in touch with people. They help you spot the current trends. You are part of a community. You can send someone a gift for free, and people love the attention. It's cheaper than postcards or flowers.

I couldn't stand TV any more. I couldn't get the responsiveness, the interaction I had with internet. I could go in a Web drifting frenzy. If I wanted to know about a subject, I just had Google. Then hyperlinks. Or if anything had changed, I could check my RSS.

I knew nothing about "heelies". In two hours, I knew everything about it and had the tips to perform the deadliest tricks that I could see on Youtube... and I was on the verge of buying them... But then my attention shifted to what Web 3.0 could be.

When you are on internet, you can surf on the flow of information. You can get anything you want if you focus enough.

TV is static, limited channels and it doesn't adapt to your attention span. And what if I did not catch the beginning of the show?

TV will definitely change. Added value can come from an enriched experience, such as 3D, smell, videogames, but sooner or later, media will merge into one medium.

This media convergence is a powerful learning enabler, and new generations will need to know how to access information and synthetize it in a meaningful way.
I guess my cell phone will make coffee in 2010.
Wanna bet?