What if David & Goliath Got Together?

Richard Canny is a very smart guy when it comes to cars and especially electric vehicles. He’s been a big cheese at Ford as well as CEO of Think, the funky EV company – he has been both David and Goliath.

So when he writes that the smaller electric vehicle companies and the big car manufacturers should consider going into partnership together we should take notice.

We’ve recently seen Modec go under, and soon Londoners won’t be able to buy the G-Whiz anymore. It would be a crying shame if the most pioneering EV brands failed for lack of muscle. 

Collaboration – not competition – is fast emerging as the default business operating system for those brands that are shaping the future. I don’t mean collaboration with consumers (like BMW’s new car share scheme) but producer collaboration (like Vattenfall and Volvo) - what we might call ‘upstream collaboration’ – sharing smarts, technology, r&d to forge new businesses and create new categories.

And when the collaborators are David and Goliath the potential is huge – Tesla + Daimler, AOL + Huffington,Green and Blacks + Cadbury, Unilever + Ben & Jerry’s, Will.i.am + Intel, Aardman + Sony, and not forgettingVice + WPP (the latter conjuring images of Sir Martin Sorrell at a rave).

It’s the new way of doing business.

Source: Wolf Olins

Life Experience

I have to admit, I find myself checking for the new Amanda Diva album every day for the last week or so. She has a real unique sound and flava. If you haven’t heard of her yet, I predict you will soon!

…oh, Amanda, If you’re still looking to have your website header re-made, hit me up!

Enjoy one of her most recent videos (ManChild) after the jump… (more…)

The Maine Labor Mural Projection Bombing On The Capital

A few weeks after Maine Governor Paul LePage requested removal of a mural depicting the history of workers movement from the state’s labor department lobby; an unknown person (YouTube user: BrokeFix) posted this video to YouTube. BrokeFix wrote: ”We put this video up to remind our peers that you have a voice, as soon as you choose to use it. If your government takes a symbol away and tries to hide history, you can make the truth resonate a thousand times stronger with your own 2 hands.”

I’m a fan of this social, artistic expression; it’s very creative and non-violent. Nice work!

Goodbye Mr. Schmidt

Eric Schmidt Steps Down As CEO: Larry Page, Google Co-Founder, To Take Over…

In a move that has shocked the tech world, Google has announced that it will be replacing its CEO.

Effective April 4 of this year, Google co-founder Larry Page will become CEO, taking over for Eric Schmidt, who has been the company’s chief executive since 2001. Schmidt will stay on as the company’s executive chairman.

Schmidt, who was initially hired as CEO to provide more “mature” leadership, joked about the management shake-up onTwitter, tweeting, “Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!” (Source: Huffingtonpost.com)

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Transparent

CNN reporter Don Lemon, the 44-year-old multiple Emmy-winning journalist has penned a poignant memoir apty titled ‘Transparent’, which candidly details the painful abuse he endured in childhood.

Scheduled for release in June via Farrah Gray Publishing, ‘Transparent’ explores the long lasting trauma abused children experience — from feeling “different” from other children to self-isolation, to the impact that abuse has on relationships. Lemon speaks to all this as well as the colorism and racism that he has experienced.


Through compelling narrative, Lemon digs deep to expose his painful past, and explains how those early experiences shaped the man he is today, as one of the most prominent African American men in television news.

Sexual abuse is a difficult topic for anyone to discuss, especially challenging for men, and arguably even more taboo for black men. Lemon, who was once named one of the most influential blacks in America by Ebony magazine, is proving with this brave book that his leadership goes beyond reporting the news. Source: Theroots.com

“The Whole City’s Behind us”

This hometown college team’s success has made the city proud! I was born in Richmond and had a chance to witness first-hand the cities pride rise high as 11 seed, Virginia Commonwealth University hustled their way to the Final Four. The team’s success might not mean a great deal to those outside the state, but during these tough times we all appreciated the lift  in spirit and the encouragement they gave us. The whole city was behind this team and they made us very proud! Go Rams!

“Entrepreneurship does not just guide the process”

Entrepreneurship does not just guide the process of having an idea and then building a business. A true entrepreneur has to predict the future. The idea that a businessperson is great because he had “built a company from the ground up” is missing a major component– the entrepreneur’s original hypothesis. Without a well-defined theory and end goal, it’s difficult to test a market and therefore difficult to start an enormously successful business. I think the original idea, the hypothesis, is sometimes given too little credit. Especially in the era of Web 2.0. Source: Dustincurtis.com

AngelList Connects Start-Ups With Investors

For Naval Ravikant, the problem with investing in start-ups boils down to coffee.

“I got really tired of coffee meetings,” said Mr. Ravikant, 37, a technology entrepreneur turned investor. So burned out, in fact, that he bought the Web address idontdocoffee.com. When start-up companies looking for financing request in-person meetings, they get a reply from the e-mail address naval@idontdocoffee.com. Read more at the Sunday Times

The National Anthem “Unforgettable”

I was loading some music on my dad’s iPod when I ran across this song…Marvin Gaye (All-Star Game). I asked my mother about it, she smiled and said it was “unforgettable”! I looked it up on YouTube and was blown away too. Check it out, here:

[LIVE] Obama Speaks on Libya

This live feed has ended. View the previously recorded video… (more…)