Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Podcasts: Blogging marketers, bad lawyers, spiritual entrepreneurs and smart airlines

Great podcast listening this morning. Good to hear Joseph Jaffe back after just a week since his last one! And better still to hear of a groundswell (not to be confused with the Groundswell) of blogs written by actual marketers and agency folks, not just consultants like us who recommend people write blogs.

Then there was chapter 17 of David Maister's podcast/book Strategy and the Fat Smoker, What's wrong with Lawyers. Not being a lawyer, I didn't have to listen to this and found it interesting. Particularly since most politicians are former lawyers. Almost as harmful to innovation and collaboration as journalism!

Then there was Mitch Joel's excellent interview with E-Myth author Michael Gerber. Absolutely inspiring. My gem of the day: "Being an Entrepreneur is a truly spiritual thing. Spirituality is more pragmatic than we thought, and pragmatism is more spiritual than we thought."

Finally, HBR's Ideacast looked at how Singapore Airlines is zagging when everyone else is zigging in the airline industry. Very good bits and pieces!

Some random thoughts:
  • It is sooo good to get some exercise in today, not just for the exercise but also because I get to listen to podcasts
  • It will be so weird when I finally meet the likes of Mitch Joel and Joseph Jaffe, because my mind mixes up where I am when I hear them, and makes those into shared experiences. Eg I associate the opening music of Foreword Thinking with walking around my street in Titirangi, yet Mitch himself has never been there. It's different from video, where you see the face behind the voice, in their setting, not yours.

2 comments:

Marissa said...

Thanks for the podcast links. Maister's "Trouble with Lawyers" should be required listening at all firms' next partner meetings. HUGELY accurate, and hits upon most of the reasons I adored the work at a big law firm but never "fit" into the environment at a big law firm. Fascinating not only for how much it resonated with my experience, but also for the lessons it gives for the business world & relationships at large.

Simon said...

Thanks Marissa! Yes, how much really important stuff about an industry remains unrecognised until someone like Maister really nails it like that?