Daily Affirmations

I make a practice of writing daily affirmations. Yeah, it’s a little Tony Robbins meets Stuart Smalley, but the practice keeps me focused. (I began doing this when I read what Dilbert creator and super skeptic Scott Adams had to say about it.)

Anyway, one phrase that I’ve been writing since the beginning of the year is this: "My work will be acknowledged by both our London and New York HQs."

Last week, that happened. Less than four months after I started writing the phrase daily.

A month ago, there was a global assignment that was open to several offices in our network. My creative director passed the brief along to my partner and me, and we sent a couple of ideas off to London. We recently received an email that our Global CD in New York selected five ideas to sell to the client: Two from Paris, two from Dubai, and one of ours. (I’d post the piece, but it hasn’t been sold yet, and I don’t want to jinx it.)

So, I’m not trying to brag. I’m just saying that daily affirmations work for me. Because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

Nope. No Cannes.

Cannes is the most prestigious international award show in the industry (not to be confused with the Cannes film festival, a.k.a. "the real one.")

But even though it's the first time in my career I could attend without shelling out over a grand for airfare, I've decided not to attend this year. It just sounds like this year's festival is going to be a economy-inspired downer. Parties have been called off. Friends have said they're not going. And I'm not really sure I want to spend five hours in a car just to network with people who are too blitzed to remember my name.

The Faux Cougar Chronicles, Part 2

I have recently received news that the European reunion of the University of Utah alumni has been canceled.

To ensure I got the message, Muriel van Alsté, President of the Utah European Association, sent me four identical emails.

She claims the reunion is postponed due to "a string of personal problems within the organizing committee."

But I can't help wonder if it's still on and Muriel just read yesterday's post.

The Faux Cougar Chronicles, Part 1

A couple months ago, while skiing with our kids, my friend Mark asked me if I wanted to be an officer with him in the Geneva Chapter of the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business Alumni.

I told him I went to the University of Utah.

Mark said it was no problem. He, in fact, went to BYU but didn’t graduate from the Marriott School of Business.

I reiterated the fact that I went to the University of Utah.

Again, he said no problem. The Geneva chapter rules state that only half of the membership has to be BYU alumni. If I joined, it would just be him and me, so we’d be covered.
I asked if there were any membership dues, and he said they left that up to the individual chapters, and that the Geneva chapter had voted not to have them.

My wife went to BYU, and (it’s taken me years to admit this) my children most likely will, too. But I wanted to know why I should possibly join an alumni group of a school I never went to.

His response was networking (always good), which would happen when the university flew the president (him) and one other officer (potentially, me) to Frankfurt this May for an alumni meeting. His only request was that I help build up the alumni chapter in Geneva.

Before I go on, I should explain something to those who didn’t have the privilege of growing up the Valley of the Great Salt Lake: The relationship between Utah and BYU isn’t so much a rivalry as it is a jihad.

Kids learn to wear red or blue during game week while they’re in elementary. It strains friendships. And it’s no great exaggeration to say that during game weeks, most Mormon congregations along the Wasatch Front are divided between those wearing red dresses and ties (Utah) and those wearing blue (BYU).

When I was about five, my grandma bought a BYU shirt for me. I had no idea what the letters stood for, but the little cougar mascot looked cool, and I liked the color blue. But my fully-grown and otherwise very nurturing parents were Utah Utes and encouraged me to use it as a finger-painting smock.

Joining a BYU alumni group as a former University of Utah Ute is kind of like Larry Bird putting on a Lakers uniform. Or Dick Cheney being Facebook friends with Hugo Chavez. It’s just not done.

But this May, I am being flown to Frankfurt, Germany and put up in a hotel as an official officer of the Geneva Chapter of the BYU Marriot School of Business Alumni.

So why am I doing this?

I think the biggest reason is because the whole idea terrifies me. I’m afraid of my BYU friends making predictable comments about how I’ve seen the light. I’m afraid of my Utah friends accusing me of being a traitor even though I’m sure they don’t really care. And I’m afraid of having to explain to other chapter officers in Frankfurt why I never lived in Helaman Halls, saw an edited movie at the Wilkinson Center, or had lunch at the Cougar Eat.

That’s my motivation: Fear, curiosity, and a trip to Frankfurt. And for that, I’m more than happy to help build up the Geneva chapter of my rival school.

More to come…

Blogosphere Experiments, Part 4: The Results Are In

Thanks to those who voted on my Blogosphere Experiment poll. Per popular opinion, I am going to post a Facebook status update encouraging others to view my page and click on links.

But I'm going to postpone this effort until after May 5th, because I've launched a new effort out involving Facebook. And I don't want to saturate the market with too many egocentric requests.

Please feel free to participate.

Where have all the Innovator's Dilemmas gone?

I'm not sure where you get good business books in Switzerland.

I used to walk into Borders and browse the new release section. There's a decent English section at Payot (Geneva's B&N - complete with white type on green). But they're mostly carrying Stephanie Meyer stuff. I haven't seen any Gladwell or Godin.

I'm not panicking because I have a stack of recommends that should take me at least a year to get through. But I need to ask my co-workers where they get their new ideas. And I've got to ask "What are our clients reading?"

Note to self: When you publish a business book, try to stay away from a white cover.

A Verbier on parle français

There's a Facebook Group called A Verbier on parle français (In Verbier, we speak French).

Verbier is a small ski resort town, about 2 hours from Geneva, near the Italian border. It's a gorgeous area that has attracted a lot of tourists and foreign investors. The result has been bartenders, waiters and salespeople who only speak English.

Although the Facebook group was started by a 23-year-old kid "for a laugh," it's grown to over 600+ members, and "A Verbier on parle français" stickers have started appearing around town.

If you've got a message that resonates, it will advertise itself.

Still looking for Sharpies.

As I've lamented before, there are no Sharpies in Switzerland. (None that visiting friends haven't brought me, anyway.)

I was surprised to see Sharpie just pitched its business and three Chicago agencies were in the running. Sad it didn't go to Y&R Chicago. But here's hoping my friends at DraftFCB get a chance to work on it. Shouldn't be too hard to beat the last campaign.