A little inspiration for a Tuesday in December. Take a look at slide #8 – a simple yet interesting idea. It reminds me of young music artists selling tapes and cds out of their car. I wonder if we’ll see more of this at the outdoor art festivals come next spring/summer?
As the founder of PlanetYou, I’ve been a consultant for over ten years. During those years, I’ve worked on a number of projects with varying impact. Some projects were wildly successful, others died on the vine, while others never saw the light of day. My wife would often worry about me because I always took the “failures” so personally.
As I move into my second decade of PlanetYou, I’ve been thinking about how I can make my experience as a consultant less emotionally “painful”. You would think the answer would be to take projects less personally. Yes, sometimes it is easier to “do it for the money”. However when the business is yours and you are the face of the company, it’s nearly impossible for it not to be personal.
And then it hits me: My job is not to ensure the success of any given project. No.
My job is to put my clients in a position to be successful.
Here’s my rational: In many ways, being a consultant is like being a coach. Just as a coach can’t turn every athlete into an Olympic champion, there are way too many factors that influence the success or failure of any given idea/solution. Timing, organizational culture, budget and institutional will just to name a few. Is it naive to think that one person or a small group of people can overcome these hurdles and guarantee the success of a project? No, of course it’s possible. But I’ve learned that it’s important to know what battles you can win. And seeing as owning your own business is a long-term endeavour, loving your job is an imperative. As my father often reminds me, “There is no dream without the dreamer.”
My job is to put my clients in a position to be successful.
I like the sound of that. Happy consulting!
A very interesting example of an augmented reality book. Although we have the iPad (and a slew of tablets coming soon), this experiment excites me regarding the potential of digital ink. Of course, maybe I’m stuck in the “book” format paradigm whereas the new digital generation have no nostalgic ties. That said, there’s something comforting about a book and with digital ink, the interactive experience you see with Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde wouldn’t be so disjointed. Nice job though!
For you undergraduate and graduate school innovators out there: The National STEM Video Game Challenge
Here are the covers from the booklet series we designed for Save the Children Sweden, War Child Holland and Plan International. The goal of the series is to teach young people about various terms and concepts related to the UN. I’m pretty excited to see the published versions.
Earlier, I wrote a piece discussing my thoughts on educational software in the app age. One of my main concerns regarding the successful maturation of an educational app industry was distribution. Apple is clearly the leader when it comes to distributing apps. The problem as I saw it was the App Store didn’t work for institutional buying. Well, it looks like this will no longer be the case: Apple Allows Developers to Offer 50% Discount to Educational Institutions for Bulk App Store Purchases
I think this is a step in the “right” direction although I question the interactivity of the application. From what I can see, the museum has merely offloaded its brochure info to the iPhone. I think the real opportunity is to extend or augment the experience – give access to more information, let visitors engage with one another and the exhibits. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next.
Happy holidays!
Here’s a little holiday-themed game I created for your enjoyment. Play!