Thirty nine years ago today the world lost a literary genius, one of the most influential authors of the 20^th century, J.R.R. Tolkien.

With the success of Peter Jackson’s cinematic interpretation of The Lord of the Rings and the excitement of the upcoming Hobbit movies, Tolkien’s most popular works have been discovered by a new generation of fans.

As much as I enjoyed the movies and am looking forward to the Hobbit, I can’t help but think on this the 39^th anniversary of Tolkien’s death, that the significance of his works has been a bit neglected. (more…)

Recently I’ve read a couple of articles and seen a few charts about the “Death of the Music Industry”.   By chance I also saw a question on Quora about why rock music today is so bad (not my assessment but that of the asker of the question).  I think both of these topics are very much by-products of the music industry’s evolution.  The Internet has increased the velocity of change in the music industry however this change began just about the same time the Internet was invented, back in 1969.

I’ll address the question about rock music first and tie in a broader industry view.

(more…)

Hey, I’m back with a new blog.  Things have been busy here at Thomson Reuters, the type of busy that is both full of challenges but also full of rewarding work and collaboration amongst good people.

Outside of work I’ve continued the production of my Seasons in NY videos, Spring in NY is undergoing final edits and should be on youtube in the next couple of weeks.  I’ve also just gone through the agony known as college application/acceptance process.  An interesting and stressful experience but a good learning experience.  One particular observation was the changing value of academic achievements in some elite institutions.

It has put the question in my mind about how higher education needs to evolve or risk becoming no more than a high priced extension of secondary school.  Last fall I decided that I would take a closer look at online education and get and understanding of how evolved it has become.  I chose not the look at degreed programs, but instead who are the upcoming names to watch.

In the past I have written blogs about MIT’s Opencourseware and I’ve always been a major supporter of the program.  So much has changed since MIT introduced the program, technology has dramatically advanced, social media is changing how we view the world and there is a general sense that every aspect of our lives is open to macro level changes, including higher education.

My research included looking in the obvious places (such as iTunes University), but also looking for potential startups and/or spin-offs of major universities.  What I found was very exciting to the geek part of my brain.  There is a wealth of opportunity to take courses on a variety of subjects ranging from computer science to philosophy to science fiction and fantasy. (more…)

Since my last blog I have half written about 10 or so blogs, but can’t seem to finish them, or perhaps I’m not satisfied with my conclusions.  So here I am, streaming music on Spotify sometime after midnight writing this blog.  I blame Starbucks and their policy to give a free coffee when you buy a pound, or perhaps it’s my selection of music (Metal).  But I digress.

During the past week the subject of change came up a couple times, particularly around how information technology has risen to a prominence in corporations equal to other core business functions.

Having been in the technology field for many years has given me an amazing opportunity to participate in some of the most radical changes in the history of business.  Early in my career the concept of a “C” level technology executive was non-existent.

Over time as information technology became more pervasive, companies hired technology savvy CIO’s whose primary focus was on efficiency and lower TCO.  In some industries, companies began to think of themselves as “technology companies”, however many of these companies forgot their core business and looked to innovate in the creation of technology not innovation in how they use of technology to create ROI.

Companies evolved and we saw the emergence of CIO’s who were business savvy and understood the role of the IT department is to manage TCO while partnering with their internal business units to leverage technology and achieve a greater ROI.

We saw a digital divide in the business world.  Companies whose IT departments were great technologists and companies whose IT departments who were great at creating technology based business solutions.

But understanding the effectiveness of IT departments was a bit difficult as they didn’t fit the standard mold of measuring performance.  Large corporations are typically organized vertically aligned business units with key performance metrics being revenue generated and profit margins.  The IT department has traditionally been horizontally aligned and generally considered a support organization and is part of the corporation’s TCO with no little to no perceived contribution to ROI.

IT departments in leading companies have morphed into what could conceptually be thought of a business unit that is measured by service delivery metrics as opposed to revenue or profits.

One of the more significant trends in recent years is the IT department partnering with the business units to identify key technologies or ways to leverage technology to achieve a greater ROI.  Being horizontal, the IT department can further leverage enabling technologies and best practice across the corporate business units.

So as this happens, the IT department will increasingly become an accountable partner with the business units to achieve what I’ve called efficient revenue.  Efficient revenue is all about rapidly achieving economies of scale throughout the value chain while maintaining predictable margins, margins that can support profitability as well as growth.

For companies to maintain their competitiveness, their CIO needs to have cross-functional skills with knowledge in diverse areas such as finance, business models and strategy.  Depth of technical knowledge is no longer a requirement for the CIO.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts.

Recently some colleagues of mine were discussing the topic of being entrepreneurial at a large company. The most obvious questions were if it is possible to be an entrepreneur at a large company and if so, what does that really mean.

There was a good exchange amongst a couple of people, but I found the discussion lacking in diverse thought since the active participants are in the same group and we frequently collaborate. To me this is a bit ironic given that in my opinion, one of the top ways to fuel Entrepreneurship involves collaboration across people with diverse thinking. We did agree that it is possible to be an entrepreneur is a large company is possible.

So what exactly does that mean?

Well, I’ve not seen any real accurate definition of what being an entrepreneur is all about. That’s probably since there is way too much “conventional wisdom” about what it means. Wikipedia isn’t always a good source or as in this case is too narrow in its scope, relying on the legacy of the word and “conventional wisdom”. Note the term “conventional wisdom”, a bit of an oxymoron for the entrepreneur since most are not conventional in thought and have a bit of wisdom in their domain.

One key aspect to drive Entrepreneurism is a redefinition of success and failure. In many ways success is a product of acquired knowledge gained through a series of failures (as defined in the conventional sense).

I’ve been in quite a few startups, most were financial failures, but all succeeded in some fashion, either through the creation of intellectual property that is useful for future ventures, pushing the state of the industry forward, expanding the network of contacts or acquired knowledge by the individuals involved. The common element for each was thinking differently. The common mistake was thinking so differently that it was a revolutionary not evolutionary change in thinking from the target customers.

In many ways, large companies have a unique advantage. When managed effectively, large companies have the potential to take more controlled risks, knowing that each attempt will progress the final product and ultimately achieve a more competitive offering.

They are able to use their brand and strong marketing to support the perception of a disruptive change in the market even though their products have gone through an evolutionary change. This can create the aura of a revolutionary product.

However, successful revolutionary products/services have always depended on the evolution of the target market to be open to different thinking. The iPod wasn’t revolutionary; it built on the evolution of portable music players dating back to the Sony Walkman and prior products that none of us knew or heard of.

One could say that the iPod was technically inferior to competing products in many ways. But that was judging the iPod conventionally. Steve Jobs was smart enough to understand that the product was only a part of the experience so he went about evolving everything from the consumer product to the back-end systems while leveraging Apple’s strong brand and marketing machine to create the disruptive change. That was revolutionary and unconventional thinking.

As I mentioned before, collaboration en masse is especially key. Part of the entrepreneurial spirit is transparency and collaboration, especially in the early stages of initiatives. Many large companies have the tendency to over-govern initiatives, seeking approvals toward the end, when in fact the end approval should be fait accompli if an appropriate amount of collaboration is used through the process.

The last overused word in this area is risk. So often we see big companies look to avoid all risk without understanding risk. An entrepreneur does not look to implicitly take greater risks, but looks to achieve greater differentiation involving thinking that is based less on something deterministic but something more stochastic.  In growing any business, risks can be mitigated or controlled, but never eliminated.

The behavior that is needed to be encouraged is for people to be bold in their thinking and open to bold thinking from others. The most successful ideas may begin with an individual, but only through collaboration can achieve success.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

For most of us, our life’s journey has been wrought with uncertainty these past few years and Tolkien’s quote seems so appropriate in these challenging times.  We are in the midst of an economic and sociological genesis, a time that arguably has little parallels to other periods of transformations.  Its breadth is wider, velocity is faster and ability to obliterate the conventional, shocking.

The coming year will bring challenges beyond what we have seen in the past few years.  Governments and Corporations will need to accept the reality that social media may have a pedigree based on connecting between friends, but it has evolved to be a force in the democratization of every aspect of life, for good or bad.  Those who oppose this force will risk obsolescence.

Yet I find the light of inspiration always shines brightest when the darkness of adversity is at its worst.

Along with the challenges, 2012 will bring about significant opportunities to evolve the world we live in.  The world is looking for leaders who can harness the power of viral democracy and collaborate to help create a new world, one that is based on peace and equality.  Leaders that support the balance of meritocracy while offering opportunity to all. Leaders who can inspire.

But, we all have a part to play in this genesis.  The success or failure of the genesis can only occur through an organic growth of small incremental change.  Each day we have opportunities to make that change, make that small step towards achieving the most significant transformation our world has ever seen.

All we need to decide is if we should step onto that road keep our feet, yet not fully knowing where we might be swept off to.  One thing is certain; progress is not made without embracing the risk of change.

I wish all of you and your families health and happiness for the new year and beyond.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a day in which we should reflect on the good things in our lives and not dwell on any negatives. It’s a day that should give us hope for a brighter future. A day where we join with the people we hold dearest to us and remember how special life is when these people are around us.

Thanksgiving is about tradition and unity. As I was growing up it was always about starting the day watching the Thanksgiving parade (usually on TV), getting ready to visit family and friends. Its one of the very few days you will find me wearing a suit and tie (yes a shocking thought, don’t get used to it). The dinner is about Turkey, late harvested local produce, chestnuts and pumpkin pie. Maybe a fine Long Island wine and it’s the making of a great event.

The last couple of years have been a struggle for many people. We have seen economic meltdowns, more conflicts raging around the world and acts of terrorism. We are witnessing unprecedented social unrest on a global scale, with the world looking for balance and real leadership.

But even as these events occur we see reasons to be optimistic, we have relationships that give us inner strength and we witness small acts of kindness that give us hope. This is the time of year to recognize and appreciate the good that does exist, the goodness that friends and family can bring to warm the soul, and always remember that the light of inspiration always shines brightest when the darkness of adversity is at its worst.

So to me, Thanksgiving is special. I will always remember the good things in my life, my family and friends, my health and a strong sense of optimism for good things ahead and I never forget that success in life is measured by how much you’ve gained…but how much you’ve given.

So regardless if you celebrate Thanksgiving, take the time to be thankful for those around you. Have a Safe, Healthy and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Always interested in hearing your thoughts.

Its been 10 years.

It began as another beautiful day in New York. We had a string of beautiful days leading to September 11th. This time of year in New York can be the best time of the year with moderate temperatures, low humidity and the sun shining with optimism.

September 11th, 2001 began that way.

The year had been a challenging one, but things were beginning to look better. It was the beginning of a new school year, the weather in New York reflected people’s mood, optimism and full of life.

I was at home that day, my younger daughter turned 3 a couple of weeks earlier, my oldest had just gone to school, and her new teacher was considered the best in the school. She was full of energy anticipating a good year. Things could not be better.

All that changed when I received a call from my neighbor who was watching the news and saw the events unfolding. I turned the television on and was stunned. I watched for quite some time until I began to realize how many of my neighbors worked in the World Trade Center, how many friends and when I heard about the Pentagon I thought about several friends who worked there.

Throughout the day phones were busy, many of us stood outside watching for people to come home. Slowly during the afternoon we saw our neighbors begin to come home. We stood there thankful for each person we saw coming from the train and hopeful for those who had not yet returned.

At the end of the night we went to the train station parking lot and saw the handful of cars remaining. It was a shock to all of us.  Our town is small by most standards, seeing those cars in the parking lot and knowing who they belonged to made us all feel numb.

I began to think about the World Trade Center and my experiences related to it. I always felt it was an ugly building, no style. To me it represented a “bigger is better” attitude, reflecting much of the arrogance that New Yorker’s are reputed to have.

At various times in my career I worked in the WTC on various floors, been to the restaurant that was on top and attended many meetings there. The building swayed constantly with the wind, the elevators took forever and it just was not a place I had any desire to have a job.

I began to read stories about people who were lost in 9-11. One story changed my view on the WTC forever. The story was about a restaurant worker who moved his family from Central America to New York so his family could have a better life. I don’t recall this man’s name, but I do remember that a NY newspaper ran a story about the restaurant workers and they mentioned this person.

Like many of his 80 or so peers working at Windows on the World, he was a humble man and a hard worker. Like many better restaurants in NY, Windows had their pick of people with many more applicants than jobs. When the man was picked for the job, it was a dream come true. Unlike many workers in these positions elsewhere, Windows offered this man a stable income, benefits and if he worked hard, a job for as long as he wanted. His hard work paid off, his kids would be guaranteed a good life, one that would be full of joy and opportunities. He was on top of the world.

Until September 11th.

When I read his story, I realized that the WTC wasn’t about style, wasn’t about bigger. It represented personal achievement for many people. The American dream of improving your life and ensuring your kids have more opportunity to be live a happy and fulfilling life.

For those people that dream was crushed.

In my town people remember. We remember the families affected, the dreams lost. Our town and New York City may never be the same, but we will cope and survive and hopefully never lose perspective on what is important in life.

Take this day and reflect on those things you value in your life. Your friends, family and neighbors. Be thankful for the simple things you have and always be a value to others.

I think most of us are aware of the high profile corporate network security breaches that have occurred this year.  It seems like every couple of years we experience a wave of security events, quite a bit of activity occurs leading to some nominal changes.

You may think I use the word nominal very casually, however recently I took a look back to see how far security has come in the last 20 years and stand by my use of the word nominal.

Why 20 years?  It was about 20 years ago when the first commercially available firewall was introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation.  Security in the form of authentication and access controls were widely used prior to the firewall, however security was considered to be primarily a system level function.

By today’s standards the DEC firewall was quaint, however conceptually and architecturally it represented a major change in how we thought about securing an Enterprise.

The industry has evolved since then and while technology has advanced, comprehensive information security is far more extensive than the conventional wisdom of relying on technology based solutions such as firewalls, anti-virus and perhaps monitoring.

Information security is something that needs to be inherent in all business functions and processes.  From an information technology risk view, this includes the information itself and the software that accesses the information.

But it doesn’t stop there. (more…)

I was reading reuters.com over the weekend (I really was, no gratuitous plug here). While in the technology section, I came across a blog titled “The real meaning of hack” by Adam Penenberg.  Anyone who knows me would realize that a blog title like this is a great way to get my attention.

The first part of the article was all about Mr. Penenberg trying to convince us that he is an expert on hacking.  All Mr. Penenberg convinced me is that he is a prolific writer and uses his interpretation of hack and hacker in his writings.

Mr. Penenberg goes on to state that the use of the word “hack” and all associated words is a bit out of control.  I certainly think he is definitely correct in that these terms are overused and misused.  What he fails to mention (or perhaps is not aware) that both terms were widely used long before becoming exclusively used in technology.

Back in the early 1980′s while I was at MIT, the terms hack, hacking and hacker were widely used, sometimes associated with technology but not exclusively.  For more information on the “real” meaning of hack and the rich history behind hacking, I would suggest reading the book “Nightwork” by T. F. Peterson.

During the 1990’s the use of the term hacking began to evolve into the Merriam-Webster definition.  As Mr. Penenberg mentions, many of us in the industry attempted to counter this by using the term “cracking” to differentiate the malicious activity versus the pranks or constructive use of hacking.  There are quite a few of us who still insist on differentiating hacking versus cracking, but that is likely to diminish over time.

For me, I’d change the Merriam-Webster definition of hacker and revert back to the original MIT definition: “…someone who does some sort of interesting and creative work at a high intensity level. This applies to anything from writing computer programs to pulling a clever prank that amuses and delights everyone…”.  Quote courtesy of the MIT IHTFP Hack FAQ site.

But as is often in the English language, certain words have a standard definition or origin, but a more common use of the word that does not necessarily adhere to the strict definition or original use of the word.  The collection of terms associated with the word hack has become exclusively associated with computers and the Internet, while at the same time lacks a bounded definition.

I admit that I am guilty of creating my own use of these terms.  I commonly use the term “hack” to describe a successful effort to extend the value of a product or technology beyond its original intended use.  This would include bypassing product or technology barriers or creatively adding functionality to the product or technology.

Makes for an interesting debate, but in the viral world of the Internet it’s more likely that the word hack will take on more definitions as time goes on.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts.